Ukraine and Eastern Europe

On Monday evening (7 July), US President Donald Trump announced that the US will supply more weapons to Ukraine. According to Trump, recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities left him with little choice. “We are going to send more weapons,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They are being hit very hard.” It is unclear what kind of weapons Trump is referring to.

According to various Ukrainian media reports, several Ukrainian cities were hit on the night of Tuesday 8 July into Wednesday 9 July by the heaviest Russian missile and drone attack since the large-scale invasion in February 2022. The capital, Kyiv, was among the cities that came under heavy fire, according to Kyiv Independent journalists who were on the scene.

After months of fierce fighting, Russia appears to have finally taken control of one of Ukraine's largest lithium reserves. Russian troops have been in control of the town of Shevchenko for several days now, where an estimated 12 to 14 million tonnes of lithium ore lie underground to the east. Lithium is an important mineral needed for producing rechargeable car batteries, among other things. This information comes from the Reuters news agency. Ukrainian media outlets such as Kyiv Insider are also reporting on the news.

The United States has halted deliveries of certain anti-aircraft missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine promised by the Biden administration due to fears of dwindling supplies. This was reported by political news site Politico on Tuesday night (1 July), citing three anonymous sources within the US Department of Defence, and was confirmed by the White House after publication.

A Russia-appointed official in Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region was quoted by AP on Monday saying that Moscow’s forces have overrun all of it, one of four regions Russia annexed from Ukraine in September 2022. If confirmed, it would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war with international peace efforts led by the US failing to make progress on halting the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn’t budged from his demands, which include Moscow’s control over the four illegally annexed regions. 

Several countries that border Russia intend to leave the Ottawa Convention which bans anti personnel land mines. They include EU member states Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as Ukraine. Russia has not signed the Ottawa treaty and continues to stockpile and use landmines. Ukraine is withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, stockpiling and production of anti-personnel mines, according to Roman Kostenko, People's Deputy of the Golos party and Secretary of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine . He said this is a step that the realities of war have long required. "Russia is not a party to this convention and is massively using mines against our military and civilians. We cannot remain constrained in conditions where the enemy has no restrictions," the MP noted.

According to experts from Yale University and Ukrainian groups, Russia’s forced removal of Ukrainian children during the war constitutes the largest abduction of children in a conflict since World War II. Such a violation has been described as a clear war crime.