A snapshot of recent news from sources around the world on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Political Developments
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 190 prisoners of war on Wednesday, their third swap in seven weeks, facilitated by the UAE, bringing the total number of Ukrainians returned from Russian captivity since the war began to over 3,400.
NATO’s outgoing secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the West must be prepared for the Ukraine war to potentially drag on for mor than a decade, but he reiterated that stronger support for Kyiv in the near-term would help end the conflict sooner. “When we communicate very clearly that we are here for long haul, that we have strong enduring support for Ukraine, then we have the conditions for a solution where Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent state,” he said.
President Zelenskyy called on the British Prime Minister to help ease restrictions on how Ukraine can use donated by Western allies. The U.K. has said it does not specifically restrict Ukraine from hitting targets in Russia, but Zelenskyy wants British government to convince others to remove restrictions. Ukraine has been given more flexibility to strike targets in Russia with Western gear over the past two months, but there are still some limitations, such as not using long-range weapons to strike deep in Russian territory. Kyiv is therefore limited to hitting Russian targets close to the border.
Military Assistance to Ukraine
Germany’s draft budget for 2025 reduces its military aid to Ukraine from GBP6.72 billion ($8.7 billion) to GBP3.36bn ($4.7 billion). However, the finance minister assured that sufficient funding and military aid for Kyiv are secured for the foreseeable future through European instruments and G7 loans.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country needs 25 Patriot air defense systems to provide sufficient protection of Ukrainian airspace against Russian missile attacks. He also called for Western countries to provide additional F-16 fighter jets beyond those that have already been promised.
Spain is sending a new military aid package to Ukraine. This aid includes the delivery of tanks, missiles and other equipment. This equipment will arrive in Ukraine soon, according to the Spanish government. Among the items Ukraine will receive from Spain includes 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks and a large number of anti-armor missiles. Spain has already delivered a second batch of MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) to Ukraine.
In hundreds of secret workshops Ukraine is working on different robotic systems including ones that engage Russian troops on the frontline and evacuate the wounded. One of the UGVs is called Odyssey and has s $35,000 price tag. The Odyssey weighs 800 kilograms and looks like a small, turretless tank.
Battlefield Updates
Moscow recently completed an effort to draft 150,000 new conscripts into its military, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
A Ukrainian soldier downed a Russian cruise missile using a man-portable air defense system (MANPADS), according to an online video. The Ukrainian and Russian militaries have not commented on this video. Ukraine has received different MANPADS, including U.S.-made Stinger and the British-built StarStreak. To date, the U.S. has provided more than 2,000 Stinger missiles for Ukrainian troops. An additional video shows a Stinger surface-to-air missile (SAM) intercepting a Russian-operated Orlan-10 reconnaissance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) over Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.
Ukraine is developing its own unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Kyiv is investing in UGVs to help offset its shortages in manpower and other equipment. In hundreds of secret workshops Ukraine is working on different robotic systems including ones that engage Russian troops on the frontline and evacuate the wounded. The Ukrainian military is assessing dozens of new unmanned air, ground and marine vehicles produced by local startups.
Ukrainian air defenses intercepted five cruise missiles and 11 drones fired by Russia. The missile launch sites were in the Saratov region of southern Russia. Russia fired a total of 19 drones.
A Russian cruise missile was intercepted by Ukraine’s air defense network. The Russian missile was shot down over the Sumy region on July 14. On July 13, Ukrainian air defenders intercepted two Russian Kh-59/Kh-69 missiles and four drones.
The Ukrainian government said Russia had launched 700 guided aerial bombs, nearly 80 missiles and more than 170 attack drones during the last week. Many of these weapons have hit Ukraine’s infrastructure, including its power generation network.
Ukrainian air defenses have engaged 16 Shahed attack drones and two Kh-59 guided missiles launched by Russia. This attack took place on the night of July 17-18. All engaged targets were destroyed, according to Ukrainian officials.
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