Russia uses jet-powered drones in the latest Ukraine attack. Ukraine’s defense intelligence gets new evidence of Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children. The U.S. Congress needs to move on Russia sanctions bill, Putin does not deserve more time, a U.S. Senator says.
Russia uses jet-powered drones in latest Ukraine attack
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched 78 Shahed and decoy drones toward Ukraine overnight on Wednesday. Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or otherwise neutralized 51 drones in the north and east of the country.
Twenty-seven drones hit target in seven locations, and drone debris fell in two sites.
The drones were launched from the area of Russia’s Oryol and Kursk as well as from Hvardiyske in occupied Crimea.
Russia used up to eight jet-powered drones in the north in the attack, the Air Force said.
Russia is modernizing its Shahed drones so that they avoid Ukraine’s interceptor drones more efficiently, First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov said on national television on Monday. “Russia will be definitely deploying jet-powered drones, and we need to work to address it,” he added.
Ukraine’s defense intelligence gets new evidence of Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children
The Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it had obtained new evidence showing that Russia had abducted Ukrainian children from the occupied territory.
“As part of a major cyber operation [Ukrainian] intelligence personnel accessed the servers of the so-called ‘Crimean government.’ The documents that were stored on servers confirm the forcible transfer of children from temporarily occupied parts of Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk,” Ukraine’s defense intelligence said in a statement on Wednesday.
The agency said it had gained access to “several thousand lists” of children kidnapped by Russia. Among the documents sourced from the servers were also the bios of children without parental care, illegal decisions that appoint Russian guardians for the orphans and the children’s current home addresses.
According to a representative of the Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Andriy Yusov, the agency has passed to law enforcement agencies “thousands of files [on the abduction of Ukrainian children] with invaluable information for the justice process.”
“The data retrieved [from the servers] will help to find and bring back home the kidnapped children as well as hold to account those complicit in the crime,” Yusov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi earlier said that at the Istanbul talks on June 2, the Russian delegation actually admitted it had abducted Ukrainian children, but declined to say how many.
According to Ukraine’s estimate, Russia has forcibly moved at least 19,546 children since the invasion.
Congress needs to move on Russia sanctions bill, Putin does not deserve more time, U.S. Senator says
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne that the Senate needs to speed up the voting on a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill and that Russian leader Vladimir Putin doesn’t deserve to be given more time.
Everything that the U.S. President does is in the right direction, Blumenthal said, as translated from Ukrainian. He added that he advocates in favor of 500 per cent sanctions, not a 100 percent tariff.
Blumenthal said the moment was right to vote for the bill. He said 85 senators were in favor of the bill, and, if needed, it could get 90 votes.
The senator said the vote was a fully achievable and necessary goal. Now is the time to act, not only through the president’s executive order, but also through a legal initiative, in order to show unity between the President and Congress. He added that the lawmakers need to pass the bill so that the U.S. lives up to its commitments toward Ukraine.
Blumenthal emphasized that the sanctions bill will help to stop the war and that Putin has to understand that.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, July 29, that he would give Russia 10 more days “from today” to reach a truce with Ukraine.
Trump stated on July 28 that he is “very disappointed” with Putin and will “reduce” his previously articulated 50-day deadline by which Putin must agree to peace negotiations. Trump stated that he will make a new deadline of roughly “10 to 12 days from today [July 28].”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Monday he welcomes Trump’s updated deadline for Putin to reach a peace deal with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Trump’s position on Russia was “realistic and firm.”
