@Ijsbear thanks for the takeaways this morning.
Wsj has updates on the situation in Lysychansk,, Belgorod and Kursk (extracts below):
www.wsj.com/articles/russia-claims-control-of-luhansk-as-ukrainian-forces-retreat-from-lysychansk-11656851582?mod=hp_lead_pos8
"Russia Claims Control of Luhansk as Ukrainian Forces Retreat From Lysychansk
Moscow blames Ukraine for morning attacks, including a deadly cross-border strike in Belgorod
[July 3, 2022]
Russian forces have captured Lysychansk, the last major Ukrainian stronghold in Luhansk, effectively placing under Russian control the eastern region at the center of the war in recent months.
Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu [dammit, Shoigu is still around], told President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that Russian forces, together with militia from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, had established full control over Luhansk, Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported.
A Ukrainian official confirmed that their troops were withdrawing from Lysychansk to avoid being surrounded.
Russia’s declared capture of Luhansk, after months of grueling battle, signals a victory for Moscow and demonstrates how the tide of the war has shifted since March.
…
Russian defense officials said the total area captured in recent days was 182 square kilometers, around 70 square miles. Russia would likely next push toward Siversk, Slovyansk and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
“They are suffering significant losses, but they are stubbornly advancing,” Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, wrote on Telegram Sunday. He disputed the claim that Russia had complete control of Luhansk, saying that a Russian attack on Bilohorivka, a small settlement a few miles from Lysychansk, had been repulsed.
The Ukrainian forces’ retreat from Lysychansk is in line with the strategy they have adopted in recent weeks of holding on as long as possible in the hopes of bleeding Russian forces, then carrying out fighting withdrawals.
Mr. Haidai said the assault on Lysychansk had been even more brutal than the weeks long battle for Severodonetsk, which left that city almost entirely destroyed.
“If in Severodonetsk there were surviving houses and administrative buildings during a month of street fighting, then in Lysychansk the same administrative buildings were completely destroyed in a short period of time,” Mr. Haidai wrote on Telegram on Sunday.
The announcement of the capture of Lysychansk came as Russia blamed Ukraine for several strikes early Sunday morning, including one deadly attack across the border.
...
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Ukrainian forces had carried out a deliberate strike using Tochka-U ballistic missiles with cluster munitions and drones on residential areas in Russia’s western regions of Belgorod and Kursk.
Gen. Konashenkov told a briefing that Russian air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones that were aiming to strike Kursk before they could inflict any casualties.
Russian air-defense systems also destroyed three Tochka-U ballistic missiles with cluster warheads that he said were launched at residential areas of Belgorod. Wreckage of one of the missiles fell on a residential building in the city, he said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor, said at least four people were killed.
Some 50 buildings were damaged, including apartment blocks and private residential homes, Mr. Gladkov said.
Ukrainian officials didn’t immediately comment on the strikes in Belgorod and Kursk. In the past, they have denied responsibility for attacks in Russian territory, including the April blast at the Belgorod oil depot."
I am not sure why Russia would want to do a false flag attack on Belgorod and Kursk. Surely they don't need excuses to inflict any more maximal damage on Ukraine, which they are already doing every single day without the need for false flag attacks. Is Russia trying to covertly mobilise Russians in Belgorod?
I hope it is not Ukraine. Why would Ukraine target residential buildings? Or maybe they were aiming at something else and it was collateral damage.