Key updates on July 14:
- Ukraine has right to strike military targets within Russian territory, Stoltenberg says
- Russian attacks kill 13, injure 54 in Ukraine over past day
- Lukashenko claims Belarus is withdrawing troops from Ukrainian border
- Russia claims launch of 3-ton aerial glide bombs from Su-34 jets against Ukraine
- Bloomberg: Orban spoke against Ukraine's NATO membership during meeting with Zelensky in Washington
Ukraine has the right under international law to attack military targets located in Russian territory, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during an interview on the United News telethon on July 14.
U.S. policy prohibits Ukrainian forces from using U.S.-supplied weapons to strike targets deep within Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Washington to lift restrictions, saying the ability to use long-range U.S. weapons such as ATACMS within Russia and occupied Crimea would produce "an instant result."
In the interview, Stoltenberg affirmed Ukraine's right to self-defense.
"My position is that there is no doubt that Ukraine has the right to attack legitimate military targets on the territory of the aggressor country, Russia," Stoltenberg said.
"This is clearly defined by international law. Since this is a war that Russia started against Ukraine, Ukraine has the right to self-defense, and this includes strikes on the territory of the aggressor. This is absolutely clear to me."
The U.S. government in June gave Ukraine permission to attack Russian targets near the border with Kharkiv Oblast after Moscow's renewed offensive in the region. Stoltenberg said this was a welcome step.
Stoltenberg noted that more allies are "easing their restrictions" in light of Russia's intensified attacks.
"I welcome the decision of the allies to open up the possibility of greater use of weapons to strike these targets," he said.
The NATO chief made a similar argument on July 10 during the alliance's 75th-anniversary summit in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. has not announced any changes in its policy regarding long-range strikes in Russia. President Joe Biden dodged the question in a press conference on July 11, saying attacks against Moscow wouldn't "make sense."
Owen Racer
Russian attacks kill 13, injure 54 in Ukraine over past day
Russian attacks have killed 13 people and injured 54 others, including children, in Ukraine over the past day, regional authorities reported on July 14.
Civilian casualties were reported in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.
A double-tap attack in the village of Budy in Kharkiv Oblast during the afternoon of July 13 killed two people and injured 25 others, among them two children.
Artem Kostyria, head of the State Emergency Service's branch in Kharkiv Oblast, and police sergeant Oleksiy Koshchii were killed after Russia used two Iskander missiles to target the area near the village railway station.
The strikes also damaged railway infrastructure, including train wagons, and injured five railway workers, according to state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia.
Attacks in Kupiansk district injured a 39-year-old woman in the morning and two women aged 72 and 73 in the evening, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin reported that Russian attacks over the past day had killed six civilians and injured 11 others.
Two people were killed in the village of Novoocheruvate, and another two were killed in the village of Prohres, which lies less than two kilometers from the front line.
Another person was killed in the front-line village of Novosilka Persha, while one person was killed and two others were injured in Kostiantynopil, Filashkin said.
In Kherson Oblast, Russian attacks killed five people and injured nine others, including a child, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
A 41-year-old man was killed in Tokarivka, while two women aged 50 and 72 were killed after Russian forces shelled the village of Pryozerne. Both settlements lie on the west bank of the Dnipro River, across from Russian positions on the east bank.
Prokudin later reported that two people aged 44 and 40 had been killed in Komyshany, a village that neighbors Pryozerne. The victims were husband and wife.
In the evening, a projectile hit a house in Chornobaivka, a suburb of Kherson, injuring a 16-year-old girl.
"She has a traumatic amputation of her hand, shrapnel injuries to her body," and was taken to hospital "in an extremely serious condition," Prokudin said.
Russian attacks wounded five people in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast over the past day, Governor Serhii Lysak reported.
Artillery fire injured a 51-year-old man in Nikopol and two others in the nearby village of Pokrovske. The attack damaged high-rise buildings, houses, farm buildings, an educational institution, and a religious building, Lysak said.
Later in the day, Lysak reported that a 57-year-old emergency worker was injured when a Russian drone attacked firefighters putting out a grass fire. The attack also damaged the fire truck.
Overnight, a missile attack on the region caused another grass fire in Kryvyi Rih, which injured a 67-year-old woman. She was treated at the scene, Lysak said.
Zaporzhzhia Oblast Governor Ivan Fedorov reported that one person was killed in Vasylivskyi district, an area that includes the southern front line.
Over the past day, Russian forces carried out 373 attacks on 11 settlements in the region, Fedorov said.
Asami Terajima
Lukashenko claims Belarus is withdrawing troops from Ukrainian border
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed on July 13 that he was ordering the withdrawal of troops from the border with Ukraine, Belarusian state-owned news agency Belta reported.
Minsk reinforced security at the border in late June after a series of alleged "security incidents." Colonel Vadim Lukashevich, a high-ranking Belarusian military official, accused Ukraine of setting up explosives and military equipment near the border in preparation for assaults and terrorist attacks.
Lukashevich didn't provide evidence, and the Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.
During a meeting in Luninets, Brest Oblast, Lukashenko said that the situation had stabilized and that Ukraine had withdrawn its troops. The Belarusian troops will be relocated to their permanent deployment positions, he said.
"We are not going to fight and are not going to concentrate our armed forces here, except for special operations forces," Lukashenko added.
However, he warned of potential threats from the western direction, claiming that Belarus is being provoked into entering the war and should be ready.
Belarus is Russia's closest ally and hosts Russian troops and missiles. However, the Belarusian army is not directly involved in the invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation said in May that it predicted the launch of a new Russian psychological operation about the opening of a new front in the north of Ukraine near the Belarusian border, aimed at "stirring up mass panic" in Ukrainian society.
"We expect a series of provocative statements by the top leadership of Russia and Belarus threatening Ukraine soon," the statement said.
Currently, Belarus is hosting joint training exercises with Chinese soldiers, billed as "anti-terrorist training." They began on July 8 and will finish on July 19.
This follows the accession of Belarus to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Eurasian political, economic, and defense organization led by China and Russia.
Chris York
Russia claims launch of 3-ton aerial glide bombs from Su-34 jets against Ukraine
Russia has started to use Su-34 jets to launch aerial glide bombs weighing 3,000 kilograms against Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on July 14.
The Russian Defense Ministry released footage that purported to show the aerial bomb, known as a FAB-3000, attached to a Su-34 fighter jet and dropped on a target in Ukrainian territory.
The FAB-3000 has a combat power that "cannot be ignored," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims at the time of publication.
A video shared by a pro-Kremlin blogger on June 20 first appeared to show a FAB-3000 bomb striking Lyptsi in Kharkiv Oblast.
The blogger, who reportedly has ties to the Russian Air Force, claimed the footage records the first combat use of a FAB-3000 M-54 bomb with a universal planning and correction module (UMPK).
FAB bombs upgraded with UMPK have wings that flip out as the weapon is released by the aircraft and a satellite navigation system.
Kharkiv Oblast police reported that Russian forces attacked the Kupiansk district on May 5 with a FAB-1500 air-dropped bomb, the first time a 1,500-kilogram bomb had been used since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
The strike killed an 88-year-old woman and injured a 34-year-old man.
Dinara Khalilova
Bloomberg: Orban spoke against Ukraine's NATO membership during meeting with Zelensky in Washington
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke against Ukraine's NATO membership during a plenary meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Alliance’s Washington Summit, Bloomberg reported on July 13.
Orban refused to back military support for Ukraine during the summit on July 11 and suggested that Kyiv should not join the alliance, according to Bloomberg’s sources. The comment sparked backlash from other leaders.
Budapest has repeatedly opposed Ukraine's accession to NATO and the EU, sanctions on Russia, undermined Western aid efforts for Ukraine, and maintained close relations with Moscow throughout the full-scale war.
Orban met Zelensky in Kyiv at the start of July after taking over the rotating presidency on July 1. He urged the Ukrainian president to consider a ceasefire to "speed up peace talks.”
The talks were billed as an important step toward solving long-standing problems between the two leaders. But Zelensky dismissed the proposal and stuck to Kyiv's own peace plan.
Orban angered many in the EU after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 5 to discuss the invasion of Ukraine. He said that Ukraine and Russia's stances on the war and prospects for peace are "very far apart."
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the trip was "an insult to the Ukrainian people’s fight for their freedom.
The EU has distanced itself from Orban's venture, saying he does not represent the European bloc despite Hungary's presidency of the Council of the EU.
The Hungarian leader then visited China and met with former U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on July 12. After the meeting, he wrote on X that Trump will “solve” the war.
Orban’s 'peace missions' have caused outrage in the EU, undisclosed European diplomats told the media following a meeting in Brussels on July 10. While no decision was taken on how to prevent such ventures in the future, "there will be follow-ups," said Rikard Jozwiak, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Brussels correspondent.
Nate Ostiller
