President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to the media alongside an F-16 fighter jet in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, August 4, 2024 (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

Sunday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy — We Need “Really Long-Range Strikes Against the Russian Occupier”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1633 GMT:

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has begun his tour of African countries, seeking to build up support for Kyiv’s resistance against Russia.

He met Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera in Lilongwe on Monday.

UPDATE 1623 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force celebrates the confirmation that its pilots are flying US-made F-16 fighter jets.

UPDATE 1616 GMT:

The Ukraine Foreign Ministry says the decision of Mali’s military junta to sever diplomatic relations with Kyiv (see 0707 GMT) is “regrettable“.

The Ukraine military indicated last week that it had assisted Tuareg rebels who killed scores of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries and around 17 Malian troops in late July. But the Foreign Ministry said Mali’s transitional government had not provided evidence of any Ukrainian involvement.

“Ukraine unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law, the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries,” the Foreign Ministry said.

UPDATE 1211 GMT:

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency says it has confirmed the destruction of an Su-34 fighter-bomber and an aviation weapons depot in Saturday’s drone strikes on the Morozovsk airfield in the Rostov region in southwest Russia.

The agency said two other Su-34s, as well as four technical buildings and two hangars, were damaged.

Satellite photos show craters caused by explosions on the airfield, 265 km (165 miles) from the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

UPDATE 1153 GMT:

Japan and Ukraine have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in judicial reform and the fight against corruption.

Japanese Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi travelled Kyiv for the ceremony. He and Ukraine Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin visited the memorial to the victims of Russia’s mass killing in March 2022 in Bucha, a suburb of the capital.

Japan has committed more than $12 billion of humanitarian, economic, and other assistance to Ukraine since March 2022. In June, the two countries completed a 10-year security agreement under which Tokyo will provide an additional $4.5 billion in 2024

Last week Japan’s Education and Science Minister Masahito Moriyama visited Kyiv to discuss cooperation in cultural and educational spheres.

UPDATE 1100 GMT:

Ukraine has received $3.9 billion from the US via the World Bank.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, “These funds will be used to finance priority budget expenditures such as the salaries of teachers, doctors and rescue workers, pensions and social benefits.”

Kyiv has been allocated $7.8 billion in direct budget support from the US in 2024.

The fnding is part of Peace in Ukraine program, the main tool of the World Bank in providing financial assistance for Ukraine during Russia’s 29-month invasion.

More than $25 billion has been raised via Peace in Ukraine, and a new deal will increase the amount to almost $30 billion, most of it provided by the US.

UPDATE 0805 GMT:

The Kremlin is stepping up its intimidation and harassment of Russian opposition activists abroad.

Dmitry Gudkov, the co-founder of the Anti-War Committee, was warned last summer by plainclothes UK police as he arrived at Luton Airport outside London.

Gudkov, wanted by Russian authorities for “spreading fakes” about the military, says:

They were there to intercept me immediately after I exited the plane. That had never happened to me before.

They told me I’m on a list of people who are in danger. They asked where I’ll be staying and what phone I’ll be using.

Ksenia Maximova, the founder of the Russian Democratic Society in London, and her colleagues have noticed a rise in cyber-attacks and attempted online infiltrations.

The British police told Maximov that “they needed to discuss the safety of me and my family,” advising her not to travel to certain countries.

“[The Kremlin is] stepping up the campaign against ‘enemies’, that’s absolutely true, ” she says. “They’re tightening the screws.”

In the Czech capital Prague, investigative journalist Alesya Marokhovskaya has received messages such as “parasites can’t sleep in peace”, accompanied by the name of the street where she lived.

She moved house, but the messages continued, calling her a “scumbag” and promising to find her “wherever she walks her wheezing dog”. When she was due to fly to Sweden for a conference, the stalker sent details of her flight, seat number, and the hotel she had booked.

Marokhovskaya left Russia after she was branded a “foreign agent” because of her work at the independent Russian news website iStories.

When I left Russia and came to Prague, I had this illusion of security. Now I realize that [Russian intelligence services] can get their hands on people almost anywhere in Europe. I can’t say I’m not afraid, because I am.

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

Around 800,000 men have gone into hiding in Ukraine, changing their address and working unofficially, to avoid being drafted for military service, says a leading MP.

Dmytro Natalukha, the head of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, gave the estimate to London’s Financial Times.

Legislators and enterprises are expressing concern about the effect of mass mobilization on the Ukrainian economy.

Natalukha said more business will close because of a lack of employees. By the end of September 2024, the situation may reach a critical point, he warned.

You can mobilize 1 million people, but if you don’t have the resources to arm them, it doesn’t make sense.

The army will be defenseless should the economy collapse.

The Verkhovna Rada is considering a draft law on economic reservation which would free around 895,000 Ukrainians from mobilization. Supporters says it will generate about UAH 200 billion ($4.89 billion) for Ukrainian military.

On June 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Cabinet changed the criteria for reservation from mobilization. Employees of charitable organizations that produce and/or purchase goods, perform works, and provide services necessary to meet the needs of the Ukrainian military are eligible.

The legislature registered the draft law the following day.

Interpipe, which forges molten steel into industrial parts, is among the companies lobbying for the law.

The firm has more than 1,000 vacancies. Its human resources director Vitalii Pakhomov says, “We are working at the limit.

Interpipe has been designated a strategic enterprise, which can exempt half its workforce from military service. However, around 1,000 men could still be mobilized.

“Without them, it’s hard to imagine how we’d operate,” Pakhomov says. “We will inevitably have to start reducing our volumes . . . which means a decrease in the taxes we pay.”

UPDATE 0707 GMT:

The Russian-backed military junta in Mali has cut diplomatic relations with Ukraine, citing Kyiv’s support of Tuareg rebels who have attacked Malian armed forces and Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries.

The junta, which seized power in 2021, said it received with “deep surprise” the statements of Ukraine’s Andriy Yusov that acknowledged Kiev’s involvement in the “cowardly, treacherous and barbaric” Taureg attack killing scores of Wagner mercenaries and Malian troops.

The Malian Foreign Ministry said Ukraine’s actions “constitute aggression,” violate Mali’s sovereignty and “go beyond foreign interference”.

Taureg rebels struck a convoy near the town of Tinzaouaten, near the Algerian border, in late July and fought for days against Malian troops and Wagner mercenaries.

Wagner-linked accounts on social media reported 20 to 80 slain mercenaries, with others wounded or captured. The former commander of the 13th mercenary detachment said, “There are more than 80 people…[dead] as a result of this operation. More than 15 people are in captivity.” A local official added that the Malian military lost at least 17 troops.

Yusov, the spokesman for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, later said, “The rebels received necessary information, and not just information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals”.

See also Ukraine War, Day 888: Kyiv — We Had Role in Deadly Ambush of Russia’s Mercenaries in Mali

In its statement, the Malian junta backed Kremlin propaganda about the 29-month invasion of Ukraine. Bamako said it “adheres to the diagnosis” established by Russia, which “has warned the world for many years about the neo-Nazi nature of the Ukrainian authorities”.

UPDATE 0700 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed all 24 Iran-made drones launched by Russia overnight.

The UAVs were interecepted over the Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the country’s pilots are already flying the first US-made F-16 fighter jets delivered by partners.

Zelenskiy appeared on Sunday, flanked by two of the F-16s with two flying overhead, at an airbase whose location was not disclosed for security reasons.

Meeting the pilots, he said, “F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it. I am proud of our guys who are mastering these jets and have already started using them for our country.”

Videos showed the warplanes over Lviv in western Ukraine and Odesa in the south.

The first six F-16s, pledged by the Netherlands, were delivered last week.

Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway are planning to send more than 60 of the warplanes. NATO officials have said 20 of them are expected by the end of 2024, to be flown by Ukrainian pilots trained in Denmark, Romania, and in the US. US officials have confirmed that Washington will arm the F-16s with advanced American weapons including air-to-ground missiles, extended range guided bomb packs, and air-to-air missiles.

Ukrainian officials say they need at least 130 F-16s to neutralize Russian airpower completely.

On Wednesday, referring to a Russian overnight attack with 89 Iran-made drones on the Kyiv region, Zelenskiy said:

Ukrainians can fully protect their skies from Russian strikes when they have sufficient supplies.

The same level of defense is needed against Russian missiles and the occupier’s combat aircraft. And this can be achieved. We need sufficiently courageous decisions from our partners—enough air defense systems, enough range. And Ukrainians will do everything correctly and precisely.

See also Ukraine War, Day 889: Russia’s Mass Drone Assault on Kyiv

Zelenskiy: A Coalition To Down Russian Missiles

Zelenskiy called on partners to examine the use of combat aircraft from Ukraine’s neighbors to down incoming Russian missiles.

He said he had instructed Ukrainian diplomats to raise the issue: “We are fighting this and will continue to work on it. In my opinion, we have a good option with our Ukraine-NATO Council.”

But he acknowledged that the step might be challenging for allies who “always fear unnecessary escalation”.

On July 8, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced plans to engage NATO allies in talks about interception of the Russian missiles.

However, Polish officials said NATO’s approval would be required, and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had already signaled opposition to Poland using its air defense systems against missiles targeting Ukrainian territory.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said downing the Russian drones or missiles over Ukraine was “out of the question”.