A man rides a bicycle in front of residential buildings in Chernihiv, a regional capital in northern Ukraine, damaged by Russian fire, on March 3, 2022. Fourty-seven people died when Russian forces hit Chernihiv's residential areas, including a school and high-rise apartment buildings. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called "a special military operation" against Ukraine on Feb. 24, de facto declaring war on the country.
Putin claimed to have “no ill intentions towards neighboring countries” and denied firing missiles on civil infrastructure during what he called a campaign to “disarm and de-Nazify” Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian troops have shelled civilians in residential areas, burned houses, schools, and kindergartens all over Ukraine.
Ten days after Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine began, hundreds of Ukrainians are dead, thousands are injured, and over a million are displaced.
The Kyiv Independent publishes photographs of Ukrainian cities, destroyed by the Kremlin.
People remove personal belongings from a burning house after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. (Getty Images)A view of the central square of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, on March 1, 2022, soon after being shelled. (AFP/Getty Images)Ukrainian servicemen assist a civilian, while people cross a destroyed bridge, as they evacuate residents of Irpin, a city northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling on March 5, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Children are being evacuated from the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling on March 5, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)An injured woman stands in front of a damaged apartment complex outside of Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2022. (Getty Images)Destroyed Russian armored vehicles in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at a damaged residential building at Koshytsia Street, in one of Kyiv's residential neighborhoods, on Feb. 25, 2022. (Getty Images)A man clears debris at a damaged residential building at Koshytsia Street in Kyiv's Pozniaky neighborhood on Feb. 25, 2022. (Getty Images)A child looks on as residents are being evacuated from the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling on March 5, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)The building of the Vasylkiv Professional College destroyed by Russian rocket fire, Vasylkiv, Kyiv Oblast, on March 1, 2022. (Getty Images)Police officers cover the bodies of people killed in an airstrike that targeted Kyiv's TV tower on March 1, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A photograph of Constitution Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, after being shelled by Russia on March 2, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A damaged apartment seen after being hit by an early morning missile strike on Feb. 25, 2022 in Kyiv. (Getty Images)A view of a damaged building following the shelling of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, on March 3, 2022. (AFP/ Getty Images)The view on the damaged building in Kyiv hit by a Russian missile on Feb. 26, 2022. (Photo by Daniel LEAL / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
Fears of escalating Chinese military intervention in Taiwan have risen sharply since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The news comes amid a major deterioration in Russian-Azerbaijani relations after a deadly June 27 operation in Russia's Yekaterinburg, where Russian security forces killed two Azerbaijani nationals.
Russian air defenses on July 5 shot down four drones advancing on Moscow, prompting a temporary halt to outgoing flights at Sheremetyevo, one of the capital's main airports.
Explosions near Russia's Vladivostok damaged a gas pipeline and destroyed a water pipeline that supplied military facilities in the area, an unnamed intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent on July 5.
"Russia is reconstituting itself at a pace and a speed which is unparalleled in recent history," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, adding that "...they are now producing three times as much ammunition in three months as the whole of NATO is doing in a year."
"Patriot (missiles) are key to protection from ballistic (missiles). We discussed several other important issues that our teams will work out in detail at meetings in the near future," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
BlackRock, a U.S. investment firm, suspended work on its multibillion-dollar Ukraine recovery fund following U.S. President Donald Trump's election victory, prompting France to work on a replacement, Bloomberg reported on July 5.
The facility develops and manufactures Kometa adaptive antenna arrays used in Shahed-type drones, Iskander-K cruise missiles, and guided aerial bomb modules, according to the Ukrainian military.
Russian troops have been escalating their assaults in the area and are attempting to breach into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which has not seen significant Russian incursions since 2022.
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."
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