June 30, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The Russian barrage continued on the eastern city of Lysychansk and Russian troops have “completely taken over the refinery,” Vitaliy Kiselev, the assistant minister of the interior of the Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), announced on Russian-backed media outlet Zvezda. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine says Russia is still conducting assault operations in the area of ​​the Lysychansk oil refinery and “had a partial success, and holds the northwestern and southeastern parts of the plant,” according to a Thursday evening update from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said on Thursday night that Lysychansk is an “extremely difficult situation.”

“The shelling comes from several directions. Because the Russian army approached Lysychansk from different directions. As always, they reported that they controlled half the city. It is not true. But the shelling is very powerful. They even are deliberately shooting at our humanitarian centers. There are wounded. Now we advise people to be constantly in shelters. Evacuation is not possible. This is extremely dangerous. They mine the access roads with anti-tank mines. Russians on the outskirts. There are no street fights inside the city,” Hayday said. 

Sweden promised to extradite 73 people to Turkey as a result of the memorandum that was signed in Madrid on Tuesday between Sweden, Finland and Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.

Still, Erdoğan called the memorandum a "diplomatic victory."

Prior to the NATO summit where the trilateral memorandum was signed, Turkey said it will veto Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership bids, claiming they harbor members of Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK which Turkey, EU and USA recognize as terror organization, as well as FETO which Turkey sees behind 2015 coup attempt.

The 10-article memorandum says Sweden and Finland will address Turkey’s pending extradition requests of terror suspects in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition.

Turkey dropped its objection to Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership as a result of the memorandum signed by those three countries and after Erdogan spoke to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

For the first several weeks after Snake Island in the Black Sea fell to the Russians on the first day of their invasion into Ukraine on Feb. 24, it was relatively quiet. That all changed on May 2, when the Ukrainians began utilizing Bayraktar TB2 drones to target Russian forces and equipment on and near the island. 

Since then, almost every week, the Ukrainians conducted drone strikes on the island. The strikes have been overwhelmingly successful, knocking out military vehicles, buildings, ships and even a helicopter. 

Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian troops left the island on Thursday, after they carried out what they said was a “successful” operation. Meanwhile, Russian army spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing that its forces left the island “as a gesture of goodwill.”

The small but strategic territory was the scene of one of the opening salvos of the war in Ukraine, with demands from a Russian warship calling for the Ukrainian defenders to surrender, who boldly replied with “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”

See some of the satellite images from the strategic island here:

The NATO summit this week in Madrid, Spain, made headlines as it renewed its focus to address Russia's war in Ukraine and China as a threat. US President Joe Biden said these developments show that the US-led military alliance is "moving to a place that reflects the realities of the second quarter of the 21st century."

Here's a look at key remarks from Biden's speech at the conclusion of the summit.

A message of transatlantic unity against Putin's goals: The global response to every crisis created due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine shows Russian President Vladimir Putin is "getting exactly what he did not want," Biden said, citing Moscow's anger at Sweden and Finland's decision to join NATO.

"We're more united than ever. And with the addition to Finland and Sweden, we'll be stronger than ever. They have serious militaries, both of them. We're going to increase the NATO border by 800 miles along the Finnish-Russian border. Sweden is all in."

Russia is feeling the impact: While pledging to "support Ukraine as long as it takes," Biden said that the war in Ukraine has already taken a toll on Russia as it defaulted on foreign debt for the first time in a century. "They're paying a very, very heavy price for this," Biden said. 

Inflation is a problem globally and Russia is to blame: Biden also addressed the increase in gas prices and food shortages around the globe and especially back at home in the US, squarely placing the blame on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "The bottom line is ultimately the reason why gas prices are up is because of Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia. The reason why the food crisis exists is because of Russia."

While the Russian forces have withdrawn from Snake Island in the Black Sea, it may be “too early” for Ukraine to establish an outpost there, said the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Military’s Southern Command, Natalia Humenyuk.

Humenyuk reported the island remains engulfed in heavy smoke as explosions continue. Although the Ukrainian military saw Russian troops evacuate using speedboats, Humenyuk said investigation needs to take place into possible “diversion tools left behind” before claiming back the island.

Humenyuk suggested the Russian military set anti-air missile systems and radar station on fire “to cover their tracks.”

“As soon as they understood all these systems were being targeted by us effectively and could not serve them anymore, they realized they had to fold their outpost and get out," she added. “We have to monitor their behavior in terms of their ship groupings and the use of other forces. It is too early for us to form an outpost on the Snake island. We have to finish the investigation into the result of the military operation." 

Russian military command justified their withdrawal from the island on Thursday “as a gesture of goodwill.”

An islet off the Ukrainian coast near Odesa, Snake Island had been captured by the Russian Navy in the early day of the war in February. An important outpost for marking Ukrainian territorial waters, it has become the symbol of Ukrainian resistance against Russian occupation. 

Read more about Russian withdrawal from Snake Island here.

Ukraine announced Thursday that it has severed diplomatic relations with Syria after Damascus on Wednesday recognized the independence of the pro-Russia separatist-controlled Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the decision of the Syrian Arab Republic to recognize the so-called 'independence' of the temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Syria is the only country aside from Russia to formally recognize the independence of the breakaway regions.

“In response to this unfriendly act, Ukraine declares the severance of diplomatic relations with Syria without the severance of consular relations, in accordance with Article 2 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations done in Vienna on 24 April 1963,” Ukraine's foreign ministry also said, adding that it will impose a trade embargo, as well as other sanctions, on Syria.

Read more about the two pro-Moscow regions here.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that Russian President Vladimir Putin has underestimated both Ukraine’s resistance and the unity of the NATO military alliance. 

“He [Putin] has made a big mistake; he totally underestimated the strength of Ukrainian armed forces, the courage of Ukrainian leadership and the Ukrainian people, and he also underestimated the unity of NATO and partners in providing support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour Thursday. 

Speaking from the NATO Madrid summit, Stoltenberg said that Putin had failed in achieving his objectives when it came to weakening the NATO alliance. 

“That does not mean we don’t see the seriousness of the difficulties that Ukraine is facing in Donbas,” Stoltenberg said.  

Stoltenberg told CNN that he is ignoring Putin’s rhetoric and that he will “assess him on his actions.” 

“What he does in Ukraine is a brutal violation of international law. It is a war that has led to a lot of civilian casualties, civilians killed and huge losses,” he told CNN. 

The accomplishments at the NATO summit in Madrid are a “victory” for the military alliance, according to Stoltenberg. 

“It is a victory for NATO that we once again have demonstrated our unity and ability to change, adapt when the world is changing,” the NATO chief said.

“This is deterrence, and the purpose of deterrence is to prevent conflict. And that’s exactly what NATO has done for more than 70 years — prevent conflict and preserve peace,” he added.

US President Joe Biden said the increase in gas prices and food shortages around the globe are due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has blockaded Ukrainian Black Sea ports, not allowing grain to be exported from one of the main areas of grain production in the world.

"In addition, at home ... I've released a million barrels of oil per day from our oil reserve, and in addition to getting other nations to move forward, a total of 240 million barrels of oil to release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, number one. Number two, I have asked Congress, would they in fact go and temporarily end the tax on gasoline at the pump, and, thirdly to ask the states to do the same thing. If we do these things, it is estimated we could bring down tomorrow, if they — if Congress agreed and the states agreed, we could bring down the price of oil about a dollar a gallon at the pump in that range," he said, adding it would bring "immediate relief."

While pledging to "support Ukraine as long as it takes," US President Joe Biden said that the war in Ukraine has already taken a toll on Russia.

"Look at the impact that the war on Ukraine has had on Russia. They've had to renege on their national debt for the first time since the beginning, almost well over 100 years. They've lost 15 years of the gains they've made in terms of their economy. They're in a situation where they're having trouble because of my imposition of dealing with what can be exported to Russia, in terms of technology. They're going to have trouble maintaining oil production because they don't have the technology to do it. ... And they also are in a similar situation in terms of their weapons systems and some of their military systems," he said at a news conference concluding the NATO summit in Madrid.  

Biden pledged the US and NATO will "stick with Ukraine."

"Ukraine has already dealt a severe blow to Russia: Russia in fact has already lost its international standing. Russia is in a position where the whole world is looking and saying, 'wait a minute, all this effort to try to take the whole country; you tried to take Kyiv, you lost, you tried to take the Donbas and all of it, you haven't done that yet,'" Biden said.

"The generic point is we're supplying them with the capacity and the overwhelming courage they have demonstrated that in fact they can continue to resist the Russian aggression. And so I don't know ... how it is going to end, but it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine," Biden continued.