Hm, that's worrying Magic. It's going to take mighty efforts by Lukashenko to avoid getting drawn into the war now.
Key Takeaways
Russian forces entered Lysychansk and advanced within the city on July 2.
Russian forces are conducting offensive operations southwest of Lysychansk likely to push westward towards Siversk and complete the capture of the entirety of Luhansk Oblast.
Russian forces continued unsuccessful ground assaults north of Slovyansk.
Russian forces conducted limited attacks southwest of Donetsk City but did not make any confirmed gains.
Ukrainian troops are likely planning to threaten Russian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) throughout Kharkiv Oblast using Western-supplied weapons.
Ukrainian counterattacks and partisan activity continue to force Russian troops to prioritize defensive operations along the Southern Axis.
Proxy leadership may be setting conditions for the direct annexation of proxy republics by the Russian Federation.
Ukrainian forces likely conducted a deliberate withdrawal from Lysychansk, resulting in the Russian seizure of the city on July 2. Geolocated footage showed Russian forces casually walking around northern and southeastern neighborhoods in Lysychansk in a way that suggests that there are few or no remaining Ukrainian forces in the city as of July 2.[1] Ukrainian military officials did not publicly announce a troop withdrawal but neither did they report on defensive battles around Lysychansk. Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Vadym Denysenko vaguely noted that Russian forces have a “high probability” of capturing Lysychansk but that they will have a difficult time advancing in Donetsk Oblast past Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.[2] Ukrainian National Guard Spokesperson Ruslan Muzychuk rejected reports of Russian forces seizing and encircling Lysychansk, but these denials are likely outdated or erroneous.[3] The Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) Ambassador to Russia, Rodion Miroshnik, had previously claimed that Ukrainian forces began withdrawing from Lysychansk on June 28.[4] ISW will continue to monitor the situation.
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⚡️ Russian media accuses Ukraine of shelling Russian-occupied airfield in Melitopol. [how dreadful of the ukrainians]
⚡️Russian media: Explosions heard in Kursk.
Roman Starovoit, the governor of Russia's Kursk Oblast, claimed that Russia's air defense had shot down two Ukrainian Strizh drones near Kursk.
⚡️Uzbekistan drops plan to curb region's autonomy after large-scale protests.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on July 2 abandoned plans to curtail the autonomy of Karakalpakstan, a region in Uzbekistan. The plans, which would remove the word "sovereign" from the region's description and end its right to secede, have prompted some of the largest protests in Uzbekistan's history, with thousands taking to the streets in Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan. Mirziyoyev has declared a state of emergency in the region.
Kharkiv under ongoing attack for days and weeks now, considerable damage is taking place (my paraphrase)
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UkraineNOW
📷Today, outside the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, people gathered with protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
📷In Copenhagen, 30-meter Ukrainian flags were unfurled at the Tour de France bicycle race.
This year’s race started today, July 1, in Copenhagen and will end on July 24, in Paris.
❗️Mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov: on the night of July 3, the Armed Forces of Ukraine disabled one of the four Russian military bases in the temporarily occupied city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region. The armed forces hit it more than 30 times.
Ukraine NOW [English], [03/07/2022 09:02]
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⚡️There was a series of "Loud Sounds" in Russian Belgorod. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov speaks of destroyed houses, three dead and four wounded
Media reports that parts of the Pantsir air defense system were found in Belgorod. This is a Russian short-range anti-aircraft missile and artillery system.
❗️There is no such equipment in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. [false flag]
⚡️The front line moved away from Kryvyi Rih for more than 50 km, said the head of the military-civilian administration of the city Oleksandr Vilkul. [a good gain, consider just how slowly the Ru forces are advancing in Luhansk and Donetsk]
⚡️NATO sees no signs that could raise concerns about a possible Russian invasion of Moldova
“The Russian Federation does not have a military potential, but there are elements of pressure, destabilization, statements, and threats by Dmitry Medvedev,” said NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană.
🗣The city of Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia NPP located there will be liberated from the invaders during a special operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military expert Oleh Zhdanov is convinced.
‼️The Kadyrovtsy destroyed a mosque in Sievierodonetsk to blame it on the Armed Forces of Ukraine — the head of the Islamic Cultural Center "Bismillah" Timur Beridze
According to him, fighters of the Chechen formation known as "the kadyrovtsy" shelled the Sievierodonetsk mosque, opening fire on the building when people were drawing water from a well there. According to Beridze, they killed more than 20 people who temporarily lived in the mosque, hiding from Russian shelling.
Later, the Russian media arrived at the scene and filmed a story that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were allegedly destroying places of worship in their territory
⚡️Revenge of Mariupol: the warehouse where the Russians kept the loot burned down