War Archive 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty, Zelenskiy decree shows

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree on the country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines, the presidential website said on Sunday. Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005. “Support the proposal

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa anti-personnel mines treaty, Zelenskiy decree shows

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 29, 2025 18:56
Updated :
Jun 29, 2025 18:56

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy looks on at a press conference during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Ukraine’s Constitution Day, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, June, 28, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Files

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree on the country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines, the presidential website said on Sunday.
FE

Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005.

“Support the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to withdraw Ukraine from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of September 18, 1997,” the decree, published on Zelenskiy’s website, stated.

A senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Roman Kostenko, said that parliamentary approval is still needed to withdraw from the treaty.

“This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded. Russia is not a party to this Convention and is massively using mines against our military and civilians,” Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on national security, defence and intelligence, said on his Facebook page.

“We cannot remain tied down in an environment where the enemy has no restrictions,” he added, saying that the legislative decision must definitively restore Ukraine’s right to effectively defend its territory.

Russia has intensified its offensive operations in Ukraine in recent months, using significant superiority in manpower.

Kostenko did not say when the issue would be debated in parliament.​

 

[Saif]

Wave of Russian strikes hits Ukraine; 12 hurt

Fresh Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian regions in the night of Saturday to yesterday wounded at least 12 people, according to the war-torn country’s authorities, calling on Western allies for increased military support.

www.thedailystar.net

Wave of Russian strikes hits Ukraine; 12 hurt
Ukraine F-16 pilot killed while repelling air attack

Fresh Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian regions in the night of Saturday to yesterday wounded at least 12 people, according to the war-torn country's authorities, calling on Western allies for increased military support.

Talks on ending the fighting between the two sides are at an impasse, with Kyiv accusing Moscow, which occupies nearly one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, of wanting the war to drag on.

In the night the Russian army launched 477 drones and 60 missiles of various types, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said it had intercepted 475 and 39 of those respectively.

The strikes led to "six impacts", the air force said, without giving further details. Besides the civilian casualties, a fighter pilot was killed in the night after his F-16 jet was damaged in mid-air "without him having the time to eject", according to an air force statement.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree on plan to withdraw Ukraine from anti-landmine treaty.

Pointing to the Russian bombardment, he argued it showed that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "has long decided to pursue this war, despite the international community's calls for peace".​

 

[Saif]

Three killed as Ukraine hits Russian city

Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian city of Izhevsk on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding dozens in one of the deepest strikes inside Russia of the three-year conflict, authorities said...

www.newagebd.net

Three killed as Ukraine hits Russian city
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 02 July, 2025, 00:53

Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian city of Izhevsk on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding dozens in one of the deepest strikes inside Russia of the three-year conflict, authorities said.

Izhevsk, more than 1,000 kilometres from the front line, has arms production facilities including factories that make attack drones and the world-famous Kalashnikov rifle.

A Ukraine security services source said Kyiv had targeted an Izhevsk-based drone manufacturer and that the attack had disrupted Moscow’s ‘offensive potential’.

Unverified videos posted on social media showed at least one drone buzzing over the city, while another showed a ball of flames erupt from the roof of a building.

The region’s head said the drones hit an industrial ‘enterprise’, without giving detail.

‘Unfortunately, we have three fatalities. We extend our deepest condolences to their families,’ Alexander Brechalov, head of the Udmurt Republic, where Izhevsk is located, wrote on Telegram.

‘I visited the victims in the hospital. At the moment, 35 people have been hospitalized, 10 of whom are in serious condition.’

Russian forces in turn struck the town of Guliaipole in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, causing ‘casualties and fatalities’, Ukraine’s southern defence forces said, without specifying numbers.

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stalled in recent weeks.

The two sides held direct talks almost a month ago but Moscow has since stepped up deadly strikes on Ukraine.

Kyiv’s military chief vowed in June to increase the ‘scale and depth’ of strikes on Russia, warning Ukraine would not sit back while Moscow prolonged its offensive.

Moscow’s army has ravaged parts of east and south Ukraine while seizing large swathes of territory.

An AFP analysis published Tuesday found that Russia dramatically ramped up aerial attacks in June, firing thousands of drones to pressure the war-torn country’s stretched air defence systems and exhausted civilian population.

Moreover, in June, Moscow made its biggest territorial gain since November while accelerating advances for a third consecutive month, according to another AFP analysis based on data from US-based Institute for the Study of War.

In another sign of an intensifying offensive, a top Kremlin-installed official claimed on Monday that Russia was now in full control of Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk region.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused Russia of dragging out the peace process — something that Moscow denies.

‘We are certainly grateful for the efforts being made by Washington and members of Trump’s administration to facilitate negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP on Tuesday.

US president Donald Trump has pressed both sides to reach a ceasefire but has failed to extract major concessions from the Kremlin.​

 

[Saif]

Military aid increasingly focuses on boosting Ukraine's defence industry

Fenced off behind barbed wire, about 350 soldiers from 31 countries including Ukrainians work in a hangar and air-conditioned green tents at a US military base in Germany. Their job at the Clay Barracks in Wiesbaden is to match Kyiv's needs in terms of weapons, equipment and training with offers r

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Military aid increasingly focuses on boosting Ukraine's defence industry

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 02, 2025 23:13
Updated :
Jul 02, 2025 23:13

Fenced off behind barbed wire, about 350 soldiers from 31 countries including Ukrainians work in a hangar and air-conditioned green tents at a US military base in Germany.

Their job at the Clay Barracks in Wiesbaden is to match Kyiv's needs in terms of weapons, equipment and training with offers received from donor countries in NATO and outside the Western alliance as Russia's war in Ukraine drags on.

Six months after NATO set up a command centre at the base to coordinate military aid for Ukraine, military assistance for Kyiv is evolving, especially when it comes to drone production.

After Russia's invasion in 2022, NATO states provided support for Kyiv's military effort largely by depleting their own inventories and Ukraine was heavily dependent on Western defence firms.

Military aid today is increasingly shifting towards bolstering Kyiv's defence industry, Major General Maik Keller, deputy commander of NATO's Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), told Reuters at the mission's headquarters in Wiesbaden.

"Now, we need to change our focus," Keller said in an interview at Clay Barracks.

He said Ukraine had shown creativity, and praised the speed of its innovation, production and certification processes. The manufacture of drones was an area where NATO states could learn and even eventually buy weapons from Kyiv, he said.

"Defence procurement is not a one-way street. Looking at drones, there is certainly a lot that we might want to buy from Ukraine, though, for now, I believe they need their entire output themselves," Keller said.

NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Admiral Keith Blount, also says Western allies may learn a lot from Ukraine, in particular on autonomous weapons such as drones.

"We're learning about power of autonomy in a way that we always imagined was the future, but we are seeing it accelerated perhaps even faster than any of us could have imagined", Blount told Reuters while visiting NSATU's headquarters.

He was referring to the use of drones on the sea, beneath the sea and on the ground as well as in the air.

"That has been logarithmic, really, in the pace of adoption and actually the ability for Ukraine not just to learn how to use them, but learn how to make them, which has been fascinating," he said.

PRESSING NEEDS

Military assistance to Ukraine is evolving as European allies and Canada prepare to increase defence spending amid concerns over Russia's military ambitions and following demands by US President Donald Trump.

The companies that are producing arms for use by Ukraine will also be needed by NATO members to increase their own weapons stocks, Keller said.

Keller said Ukraine's most pressing needs were air defence systems, ammunition and anti-tank mines to hold territory without tying down too many troops in the war with Russia.

NSATU was established partly to make Western military aid less dependent on the United States, whose commitment to Ukraine under Trump has been called into question.

A decision by Washington to halt some weapons shipments to Kyiv has underlined those concerns, prompting new concerns in Ukraine on Wednesday about its ability to defend itself.

The United States, however, provides NSATU's commander and about 9 per cent of its personnel in Wiesbaden.

Most supplies are shipped to Ukraine through a NSATU hub in Poland, which NATO says sends in 18,000 tons each month, and a second hub is being established in Romania.

Keller said he expected military aid channelled by NSATU to remain at least steady for now but that this depended on what political decisions were taken.

Asked whether NSATU would be capable of sustaining Ukraine's resistance should the US drop out, he said: "Yes."

He also cautioned, however, that "Europe and Canada would be hard pressed" to replace some critical capabilities such as satellite surveillance although he made clear NSATU itself was not making use of satellite imagery.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine voices concern as US halts some missile shipments

A decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Ukraine said it had called in the acting US envoy to Kyiv to underline th

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ukraine voices concern as US halts some missile shipments

REUTERS
Published :
Jul 02, 2025 23:15
Updated :
Jul 02, 2025 23:15

A decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances.

Ukraine said it had called in the acting US envoy to Kyiv to underline the importance of military aid from Washington continuing, and cautioned that any cut-off would embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine.

The Pentagon's pause - over concerns that US stockpiles are too low - began in recent days and includes 30 Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles, three people familiar with the decision said on Wednesday.

It also includes nearly 8,500 155mm artillery shells, more than 250 precision GMLRS missiles and 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, they said.

"The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine's defense capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace," Ukraine's foreign ministry said.

The defence ministry said it had not been officially notified of any halt in US shipments and was seeking clarity from its American counterparts.

A Ukrainian source familiar with the situation said the decision was a "total shock."

Deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said the decision was made "to put America's interests first" following a Department of Defense review of military support around the world.

"The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran," she said, referring to US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last month.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the US needed to take care of its stockpiles but told Fox News that "in the short term, Ukraine cannot do without all the support it can get" when it comes to ammunition and air defense systems.

RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES

Dozens of people have been killed in recent weeks in airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and Russian forces, which control about a fifth of Ukraine, have been making gains in the east.

Since US President Donald Trump took office in January, he has softened Washington's position towards Russia, seeking a diplomatic solution to the war and raising doubts about future US military support for Kyiv.

Trump said last week he was considering selling more Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine after meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Ukrainian parliament's national security and defence committee, said the decision to halt shipments was "very unpleasant for us".

In an email, the Pentagon said it was providing Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine in line with the goal of ending the war.

Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defence for policy, said it was "rigorously examining and adapting its approach...while also preserving US forces' readiness."

All weapons aid was briefly paused in February, with a second, longer pause in March. Washington resumed sending the last of the aid approved under the previous administration but no new policy has been announced.

The Kremlin welcomed the news of a halt, saying the conflict would end sooner if fewer arms reached Ukraine.

Kyiv residents expressed alarm at the Pentagon's decision.

"If we end up in a situation where there's no air defence left, I will move (out of Kyiv), because my safety is my first concern," said Oksana Kurochkina, a 35-year-old lawyer.

On the battlefield, a halt in precision munitions would limit the capacity of Ukrainian troops to strike Russian positions farther behind the front line, said Jack Watling, a military analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.

"In short, this decision will cost Ukrainian lives and territory," he said.​