EXTRAORDINARY ONLINE Russians claim to have conquered the entire Luhansk region: According to Zelensky, Ukraine will regain the lost territories – Topky.sk

Live from Ukraine Destruction of a Russian tank in the Donbas steppes ONLINE 09:21 Moscow accused Ukraine of the explosions that rocked the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border on Sunday. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the explosions were the result of a Ukrainian missile attack, which Kiev denies. It was reported by Reuters and The New York Times. “I emphasize that this missile attack was deliberately planned and aimed at the civilian population of Russian cities,” declared the spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov. According to local authorities, the explosions in Belgorod caused a fire that damaged 11 apartment buildings and 39 family homes. At least four people lost their lives and several others were injured in the incident. According to the governor of the Belgorod region, Viacheslav Gladkov, the explosions activated the city’s air defense system. The spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Belgorod air defense neutralized three missiles of the Tocka-U type, while fragments of one of them fell on residential buildings. He added that the system also shot down armed drones that were allegedly heading for another Russian border city of Kursk. Adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, Anton Herashchenko, believes that Russia itself is behind the attacks on Belgorod, which is also trying to use them for propaganda purposes. 09:05 After capturing the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Lysyčansk, the Russian invasion troops will focus on the complete occupation of the Donetsk region. This was stated by the British Ministry of Defense on Monday in a regular assessment of the development of the war in Ukraine. “Ukrainian forces have withdrawn (after a week of intense fighting) from Lysychansk, a front-line town in the Luhansk region, probably to prepared defensive positions,” the ministry said, citing British intelligence reports. “The battle for Donbas is a war of attrition and destruction, and this will most likely not change in the coming weeks,” the Ministry of Defense in London wrote on Twitter. 08:53 Two planes took off from Bulgaria on Sunday with 70 expelled Russian diplomats and employees of the Russian embassy there and their family members. Referring to the statement of one of the expelled Russian diplomats, the AP agency reported on this. Last Tuesday, Bulgaria announced that it would expel 70 diplomats and technical staff from the Russian embassy in Sofia. They were supposed to leave the country by Sunday evening. Acting Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said in this regard that the relevant Bulgarian institutions identified these Russian citizens as people who worked against Bulgaria’s interests. He also accused Moscow of using “hybrid warfare” practices in an attempt to topple his government. 08:42 On Sunday (July 3), 3,238 people from Ukraine crossed into Slovakia through border crossings. Of these, there were 704 men, 1759 women and 775 children. Zuzana Eliášová, spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, informed about it. 19 applicants applied for temporary asylum. 4114 persons crossed the border crossings from Slovakia to Ukraine. “All activities related to refugees from Ukraine were ensured by 145 policemen, 14 firefighters, 92 customs officers, 86 soldiers, 17 volunteers and seven employees of the migration office,” Eliášová explained. 06:39 The Ukrainian president emphasized that Ukraine will reach a level when the firepower of its army is equal to that of Russia. “We don’t waste a single day. We convince partners, establish new contacts, use all opportunities — political, diplomatic, informational.” According to Zelensky, Russia has enough Smerch, Uragan and Grad missile launchers to destroy one Ukrainian city after another. In addition, the occupiers have gathered their largest firepower in Donbas and can use tens of thousands of artillery shells per day in one sector of the front. “This is the reality. We are therefore destroying the potential of the occupiers — day by day, calculatedly, powerfully. Of course, the HIMARS systems and other weapons that we received from our partners play an important role in this,” said the Ukrainian president. 06:18 Ukraine is not giving up anything and territories , which it lost, will be regained thanks to tactics and the supply of modern weapons. In his regular speech, published on his official website, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this on Sunday evening. “If the command of our army evacuates people from certain places of the front where the enemy has the greatest fire superiority — this applies specifically to Lysyčansk — it means only one thing: that we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons. Ukraine is not giving up anything,” Zelenskyi said. According to him, the Ukrainian army is gradually moving forward — both in the Kharkiv region, as well as in the Kherson region and at sea, a good example of which is Snake Island. “The day will come when we will say the same about Donbas, ” stated Zelensky. 06:08 Moscow yesterday accused Western countries of obstructing peace negotiations with Ukraine and thus prolonging the war. Ukraine will present its post-war reconstruction plan Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala will speak today at an international conference in Switzerland, which aims to outline of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. Among other things, in Lugano he will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal, who will introduce the participants to the plan for the reconstruction and development of Ukraine according to Kyiv’s ideas. At the end of the conference on Tuesday, the so-called Lugano declaration on the principles of further cooperation is expected to be adopted. Debates on the restoration of infrastructure and institutions in Ukraine, which will likely require tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, v more than four months after the invasion of Russian troops, they are gaining in intensity. The topic was also discussed at the recent summit of the G7 group of major economies, after which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke about the need for a similar Marshall Plan. In the meantime, Russian bombs continue to fall on Ukrainian cities, but discussions about post-war developments are also appropriate, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “In order to achieve a decisive victory, we must ensure that Ukraine will be able to rise from the ashes,” says the preface to the upcoming conference. In the south of Switzerland, the matter will be discussed primarily by European leaders, including the President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen or the head of British diplomacy Liz Trussová, as well as representatives of UN agencies and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). During the opening plenary session, President Zelensky plans to address them remotely, followed by speeches by Prime Ministers Šmyhal and Fiala. Later in the afternoon, they have bilateral negotiations planned, after which Fiala will also have separate meetings with Swiss President Ignazio Cassis and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrid Šimonytéová. The two-day meeting in Lugano follows a series of conferences on the reform of Ukraine. In connection with the Russian war, the name of the event was changed to “Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine”, which is a topic that Fiala has been emphasizing in recent days in the context of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union.