- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says his country is being “provoked”, saying Ukraine fired several missiles at military targets inside Belarus.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “colossal investments” are needed to rebuild his war-ravaged country ahead of a key donor conference in Switzerland.
- Ukrainian separatists backed by Russia say they have “completely” encircled the key city of Lysychansk in the eastern Luhansk region.
- The United States is sending to Ukraine two NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, four additional counter-artillery radars and up to 150,000 155 mm artillery ammunition cartridges.
Here are all the latest updates:
1 hour ago (03:16 GMT)
Explosions were reported in the Russian city of Belgorod
A Russian official says the explosions in the city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, caused a fire in a residential building.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, said three wounded were taken to a hospital.
“The reasons for the incident are being investigated,” he told Telegram’s messaging app. “Presumably the air defense system worked.”
50 minutes ago (03:28 GMT)
The adviser to Ukraine admits that Lysychansk could fall
An adviser to Zelenskyy has admitted that the city of Lysychansk, the last major Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk province, could fall into Russian hands.
“This is really a threat. We’ll see. I don’t rule out any of a series of results here. Things will be much clearer in a day or two,” Oleksiy Arestovych said.
“If Lysychansk is taken, it will strategically be more difficult for the Russians to continue their offensive. The front lines will be flatter and there will be more frontal attack than from the flanks.”
He said the Russians should focus on taking six major cities in the industrialized region of eastern Donbas and that with each their forces would be increasingly dispersed.
“The more Western weapons reach the front, the more the landscape changes in favor of Ukraine,” he said.
2 hours ago (02:32 GMT)
“Colossal investments” needed to rebuild Ukraine, says Zelenskyy
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called for international help to help rebuild his devastated country once the war is over, being a rare hopeful note after four months of brutal conflict.
“We need to not only repair everything the occupants have destroyed, but also create a new foundation for our lives: safe, modern, comfortable, accessible,” he said in his nightly speech.
That would require “colossal investments, billions, new technologies, good practices, new institutions and, of course, reforms,” he said. “No matter how hard it is for us today, we have to remember that there will be a tomorrow.”
A meeting of some 40 potential donor countries is taking place on Monday in Lugano, Switzerland, where the Ukrainian government intends to present for the first time its priorities for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.
Zelensky also used his video address to remind Ukrainians that the war was far from over. “Their cruelty increases in some places and cannot be forgotten,” he said, calling on his compatriots to offer help to the victims of the brutal conflict.
3 hours ago (01:38 GMT)
The regulator urges the Germans to prepare for a possible gas shortage
Fearing that Russia may cut off natural gas supplies, the head of Germany’s energy regulatory agency has asked residents to save energy and prepare for winter, when consumption increases.
Federal Network Agency President Klaus Mueller urged home and apartment owners to review and adjust their boilers and gas radiators to maximize their efficiency.
“Maintenance can reduce gas consumption by 10 to 15 percent,” he told Funke Mediengruppe, a publisher of German newspapers and magazines.
Mueller said residents and homeowners should use it 12 weeks before the cold starts to prepare. He said families should start talking now about “whether each room should be put at its usual temperature in the winter, or whether some rooms may be a little colder.”
The appeal came after Russia reduced gas flows to Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia earlier this month, blaming a technical problem for the reduction in natural gas flowing through North Stream 1, a gas pipeline running under the Baltic Sea from Russia. in Germany.
The company said the reforming team in Canada got stuck there due to Western sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
German leaders have rejected this explanation and described the cuts in political movement as a reaction to European Union sanctions against Russia following its attack on Ukraine.
4 hours ago (00:15 GMT)
Lukashenko says Ukraine fired missiles at Belarus
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his army had shot down missiles fired into its territory from Ukraine and vowed to respond “instantly” to any enemy attack.
“They are provoking us,” Lukashenko told the state news agency Belta.
“I must tell you that about three days ago, perhaps more, they tried to attack military targets in Belarus from Ukraine,” he said. “Thank God our Pantsir anti-aircraft systems intercepted all missiles fired by Ukrainian forces.”
Ukraine said last week that missiles fired from Belarus had hit a border region within its territory.
Lukashenko denied that his country wanted to intervene in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but issued a warning aimed at Kyiv and its Western allies.
“As I said more than a year ago, we do not intend to fight in Ukraine,” he said. “We will only fight in one case. If … you enter our land, if you kill our people, then we will respond,” he added, warning that Belarus would respond “instantly” to an enemy attack on its soil.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continued coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Read all the updates from yesterday, July 2, here.