“Ukraine – Russia”

Sitting in his clunky, Soviet-designed helicopter, Major Maksym of the Ukrainian air force could offer only one explanation for why he and his colleagues keep flying despite being outgunned and outnumbered by their Russian adversaries: “We have iron arses.”

A field of sunflowers swayed in the breeze outside the cabin door as he elaborated: “We have only courage, morale and experience to help us, but that’s it.”

#Ukraine: A Ukrainian M2A2 Bradley ODS-SA infantry fighting vehicle driving after suffering significant damage – it was allegedly hit by a tank projectile tearing off a side armor panel and breaking a hole into the hull. pic.twitter.com/YuAJz8Flww

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 14, 2023

For decades, it has been goading Russia into a conflict it never intended to fight.

At the Vilnius summit this week, NATO leaders have been telling anyone who will listen that Ukraine’s future lies within NATO. As US president Joe Biden put it to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine is going to become a NATO member.

Are we going to war? Because Joe Biden just mobilized several thousand more U.S. armed forces reserves to defend NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). As the Biden administration has consistently escalated the tragic situation in Ukraine, it’s an ominous move.

Standing on a steep grassy hill, a figure in uniform took aim with a rifle. Several shots pinged into a pile of tyres. Nearby, police officers took turns firing from a DShK, or “Dushka”, heavy machine gun, mounted on a green-painted military vehicle. The rounds echoed across the rustic shooting range, scattering swallows. Down a track was a farmstead with cows.

The sniper was not a Ukrainian soldier but a 58-year-old British former marine called Alan. From Plymouth, in south-west England, Alan is one of a small group of foreign volunteers fighting in Ukraine, more than 16 months after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Alan, who declined to give his second name, arrived last September. Soon he will go back to the frontline.

#Ukraine: A Russian 9A331M TLAR of the 9K332 Tor-M2 air defense system was destroyed by Ukrainian high-precision strikes in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/IFNoCaKadT

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 14, 2023

For the first time, Ukraine is significantly at odds with its backers in its war with Russia. Up to now, Kyiv could always be counted on to follow the NATO line.

Since Ukraine was dependent on Western arms, this made sense. Why would Ukraine bite the hand that fed it?

But now, the hand is being bitten. Kyiv wants to be a full-fledged part of NATO. But NATO is reluctant to give it full member status.

Russia will view the Western supply of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as “a threat in the nuclear sphere” due to the aircraft’s ability to carry nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian daily Lenta.ru, published on Wednesday, July 12th.

Among other topics, the foreign minister discussed the plans of the so-called ‘Fighter Jet Coalition,’—which includes Denmark, the Netherlands, the U.S., the UK, Norway, Portugal, and Belgium—to supply Ukraine with as many as 50 of the U.S.-made F-16s in the coming months.

Drone warfare has changed the rules of engagement

Down in a bunker a little way back from the Ukraine frontline, I am watching a key event in modern warfare: a drone attack in real time.

The command centre is a small room with three TV monitors, two of which are divided into four screens. All are showing drone footage from different parts of the front’s 20 kilometres of trenches. Four men sit in front of the screens. Two men sit off at the side — one on a laptop, one manning a two-way radio. In the centre of the room stands Bereza, the Brigade commander, barking into his phone.

#Ukraine: In the vicinity of Kurdyumivka, #Donetsk Oblast, a Russian T-90M tank was damaged and abandoned after being hit by a loitering munition and then a drone-dropped RGT-27S2 thermobaric grenade of the Ukrainian 28th Mechanised Brigade. pic.twitter.com/Glit8ocuYi

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 12, 2023

“We can state that the results of the summit are good,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday at the close of the NATO gathering in Vilnius this week, “but if there was an invitation, they would be ideal.”

Germany has found traces of explosives in samples taken from a yacht that it suspects “may have been used to transport the explosives” to blow up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, according to a letter written with Sweden and Denmark updating the UN Security Council on the probe.

The three representatives highlighted to the UN’s most powerful body that the investigation was ongoing.

According to Reuters news agency, the three representatives are conducting separate investigations and sent an update ahead of a meeting of the 15-member Security Council called by Russia on Tuesday. Russia has complained about not being informed about the probes. 

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tore into NATO leaders including President Biden on Tuesday for not extending membership to his war-torn country — introducing fresh diplomatic drama into the annual gathering of the military alliance’s leaders.

Zelensky slammed the reticence as “weakness” and “absurd” just moments after Biden referred to the development of new non-public language laying out steps for NATO ascension.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after the failed Wagner group mutiny last month, the Kremlin says.

Prigozhin, who heads the mercenary group, was among 35 Wagner commanders invited to the meeting in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added.

He said that President Putin had given an “assessment” of the Ukraine war effort and the mutiny.

The rebellion, launched on 23 June, lasted only 24 hours.

Ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania, U.S. leaders are insisting that the war with Russia must end before Ukraine is invited to join the powerful military alliance.

President Biden said during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired Sunday that he doesn’t believe there will be “unanimity” on the issue of Ukraine’s membership while the nation remains “in the middle of a war.”

#Ukraine: A Russian 2S5 Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled gun was destroyed by the Ukrainian 77th Airborne Brigade in #Donetsk Oblast after being hit by counter-battery fire. pic.twitter.com/raKuRTCQP1

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 9, 2023

With Ukraine’s counteroffensive progressing more slowly than hoped, a change in the relationship between Kyiv and its Western backers may lie in store. In an interview with CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed the West for the faltering operation, saying that slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine thwarted plans to begin sooner. 

#Ukraine: Ukrainian T-72EA and PT-91 Twardy tanks along with a M113 APC were destroyed by the Russian army in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

This is the first confirmed loss of the PT-91 donated by Poland. pic.twitter.com/fKXp577ZHx

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 9, 2023