Ukrainian serviceman passes by a building destroyed by a bomb in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
A monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko damaged by the Russian air strikes on the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast, photographed on April 6, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Destroyed houses in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast are seen on April 6, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Emergency services workers search for people amid the rubble in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
A woman walks in front of a residential building destroyed by Russian bombing in early March, in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Dmytro Sadofiev goes through his belongings in his kitchen in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022. The town has suffered from Russian bombing in early March. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Locals pass by the remains of an apartment building in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022. The building was hit by a Russian bomb in early March. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
A view of a partially destroyed apartment of Dmytro Sadofiev’s daughter in an apartment block that had been hit by Russian bombing in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
A local woman carries belongings from the nearly destroyed apartment buildings in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Remains of an apartment building in Borodyanka, a town of Kyiv Oblast, are seen on April 6, 2022. Russia dropped heavy bombs on the city in early March. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Borodyanka, a town of 12,000 people 40 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, has suffered some of the worst destruction seen by any place in Russia's war against Ukraine.
More than 10 apartment buildings in the heart of the town were destroyed by Russia's bombs in early March. Only recently, when Ukraine regained control of Borodyanka, it became possible to start clearing the rubble. A month after the attack, there is little hope to find survivors.
Hundreds of people are expected to be found buried under the rubble.
Fires broke out across the city as Russia attacked the capital overnight on July 4. At least 23 people have been injured, with 14 of the victims hospitalized.
Moscow is organizing the deployment of a combined unit of military engineers from the Lao People's Armed Forces to Russia's Kursk Oblast, allegedly to help with demining operations, Ukraine's military intelligence said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte presided over the handover, commending outgoing U.S. Army General Christopher G. Cavoli for his contributions to modernizing NATO's collective defense and bolstering support for Ukraine.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu hopes her pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) will retain its parliamentary majority in the September 28 elections.
"The US has to make sure that the stockpiles are at the level we need for the U.S. to have, because they are crucial for our collective defense," Rutte told reporters on July 4. "At the same time, of course, we hope for the flexibility, we have to make sure also that Ukraine can move forward."
"On the agenda, there's how to maintain Ukraine in a capacity to fight, how to increase pressure on Russia, and how to continue the work on the next steps," an unnamed French official told Politico.
Robert "Magyar" Brovdi, commander of the elite drone unit "Birds of Magyar," warned on July 4 that Russian Shahed drone strikes could increase to 1,000 per day, prompting Ukraine to consider relocating drone production.
"Today we discussed the situation: Russian air strikes and, more broadly, the situation on the front lines. President Trump is very well informed," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko spent a day with an artillery crew from the 28th Mechanized Brigade in the front-line city of Kostiantynivka. Following the recent decision by the Pentagon to halt shipments of certain weapons to Ukraine, a looming shell shortage is once again on the horizon for Ukrainian forces.
A senior military review had concluded that while some munitions stockpiles, including precision weapons, were low, they had not fallen below critical thresholds, according to NBC. Still, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth opted to stop the shipment. This is reportedly his third such move since February.
Dutch intelligence services, together with German intelligence, have found that Russia is systematically escalating the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces, the Netherlands Military Intelligence (MIVD) reported on July 4.
(Updated: )
