July 1, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine says an additional person has died after Russia's overnight missile attacks in Odesa, bringing the death toll to 19.

Three Russian missiles hit a nine-story building and two recreation centers in the village of Sergiivka, in the southern Odesa region of Ukraine. Two children are among the dead and 38 people were injured, authorities said on Friday.

According to first deputy interior minister Yevhenii Yenin, there were no military targets or infrastructure in the vicinity of the areas struck by the Russian missiles. 

Speaking at the scene, Yenin also said search and rescue operations were ongoing. 

“We don't expect to find anyone alive, but there is a chance,” Yenin said. “According to preliminary information, there could have been two more people in the premises of the recreation center.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed on Friday that Russian forces "do not target civilian infrastructure" during what Moscow euphemistically calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

He said Russia targets areas where ammunition is stored -- but as with previous Russian attacks on residential or community buildings, he failed to provide any evidence that this was the case at the Odesa sites.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday reiterated her support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes," during a virtual speech to the Ukrainian parliament.

She added that five months ago it would have been “unimaginable” for Ukraine to be given EU candidate status but that the country has a “very clear European perspective.”

“It's a long road ahead but Europe will be at your side every step of the way, for as long as it takes. From these dark days of war until the moment you cross the door that leads into our European Union,” she said.

Russian citizens will from Friday require a visa to enter Ukraine, as Kyiv scrapped a decade-long visa-free regime that facilitated travel across borders for citizens of both countries.

The decision to end the visa-free regime was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, following a petition from a Ukrainian citizen.

Zelensky said that against the backdrop of Russia's invasion, he supported the introduction of stricter controls for the entry of its citizens.

Russian forces have been able to make small gains in the Lysychansk area, taking parts of an oil refinery, located on the outskirts of the city, the head of the Luhansk region military administration, Serhii Hayday, said on Friday. 

Big picture: The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said: "[Russia] is concentrating its main efforts on encircling our troops in the Lysychansk area from the south and west, establishing complete control over the Luhansk region.”

Hayday made a similar analysis. 

“The enemy tries in vain to surround the Ukrainian military, attacking Lysychansk from the south and west,” he said. 

Russian forces have also made a renewed assault on the Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway, the main supply line into the city, but were repelled by Ukrainian forces, Hayday added.

Inside the city: The situation remains dire for the nearly 15,000 residents that remain in Lysychansk.

Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, the Russian military also intensified the shelling of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff.

Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling it “immoral” and “operationally stupid,” while speaking Friday at the Seoul Forum 2022. 

When asked what military lessons could be taken from the war so far, the former US Marine said: “One is don’t have incompetent generals in charge of your operations.” 

He also called Russia's military performance "pathetic" and decried "the immoral, the tactically incompetent, operationally stupid and strategically foolish effort" of its campaign in Ukraine.

Mattis spoke of previous US efforts to try and bring Russia into the “community of nations,” but said that was not possible with Vladimir Putin as leader.

Putin had removed anyone from his circle that would disagree with him, so he "probably thought that the Ukrainian people were going to welcome him," Mattis added.

At least 18 people were killed, including two children, when three Russian missiles hit a nine-story residential building and a recreation center in the southern Odesa region's village of Sergiivka on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said.

Another 30 people were injured in the strikes, according to the Ukrainian President’s deputy chief of staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

Authorities said the numbers are likely to rise as they continue search and rescue operations.

The Southern Command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said the buildings were struck by Kh-22 air-to-surface anti-ship missiles, launched from Tu-22 strategic bombers flying over the Black Sea.

These are the same type of ammunition Russian forces used during an attack that hit a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine on Monday that killed at least 18.

Snake Island is “free again,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Thursday. 

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."

Known as Zmiinyi Ostriv in Ukrainian, Snake Island lies around 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of Ukraine and is close to the sea lanes leading to the Bosphorus and Mediterranean.

Some background: 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.”

Russian troops have "completely taken over" an oil refinery in the embattled city of Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine, 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,” but denied Russia controlled half of the city.

The NATO summit this week in Madrid made headlines as the US-led military alliance renewed its focus to address Russia's war in Ukraine and China as a threat.

US President Joe Biden said these developments show NATO 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.