00:23
end of tracking
Long-term surveillance for Tuesday, July 11, 2023 has ended.
19:10
Sweden’s NATO entry: Biden thanks Erdogan
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday thanked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the “courage” he had shown in abandoning his opposition to Sweden joining NATO. During a meeting organized as part of the Vilnius summit, Joe Biden welcomed the completion of a major diplomatic effort aimed at getting Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop blocking Sweden’s candidacy. “I want to thank you for your diplomacy and courage. And I want to thank you for your leadership,” he told Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
19:06
NATO affirms that “the future of Ukraine” lies within the Alliance. But if?
Valerie de Graffenried Vilnius
The final communiqué of the Vilnius summit? He is at 90 points. But make no mistake: the summit continues well this Wednesday. About Ukraine, the document emphasizes: “Ukraine’s future lies in NATO.” We reaffirm and recognize the commitment we made at the Bucharest Summit in 2008 that Ukraine will become a member of NATO announced today that Ukraine’s path to full Euro-Atlantic integration has gone beyond the need for the Membership Action Plan.” If Ukraine had become “increasingly interoperable and politically integrated into the Alliance” and made “significant progress towards reform “We will be able to invite Ukraine to join the alliance if the allies agree and the conditions are met,” the statement added. Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to this, hoping for a precise timetable. And a little more enthusiasm.
18:55
For the NATO summit, Vilnius turned into a fortress
Valerie de Graffenried Vilnius
They are everywhere. According to Nato, almost 12,000 soldiers, police officers and members of the security services have been mobilized by the Lithuanian army to ensure security for the NATO summit in Vilnius (Lithuania), which will take place until Wednesday at the Lithuanian exhibition and congress center LITEXPO. Sixteen NATO allies have deployed troops to help secure the summit, which is taking place just 30km from Belarus and 151km from Russian territory. Spain and Germany have deployed air defense systems. A total of 2,400 delegates, including 40 heads of state and government, 48 delegations traveled to Vilnius. The capital of Lithuania is therefore a bit like a well-guarded fortress. The upside: If you have to walk more than 45 minutes after midnight to reach your hotel, you feel damn safe there.
18:37
Ukraine’s membership will make NATO “stronger,” says Zelenskyy
Ukraine’s membership will make NATO “stronger,” Ukraine’s president told the crowd on Tuesday in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, which is hosting a key alliance summit through Wednesday. “NATO will provide Ukraine with security. “Ukraine will strengthen NATO,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said before attending a ceremony with his Lithuanian counterpart to raise a Ukrainian flag brought from Bakhmout, the site of a long siege and the epicenter of fighting with the Russian army in Iraq of eastern Ukraine.
17:58
Russia announces a 1.5 km advance in eastern Ukraine
Russian troops have managed to break through a 1.5-kilometer-deep sector of the front near Lyman in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the Russian defense minister announced on Tuesday. After repelling a Ukrainian offensive, “Russian units launched a counterattack and advanced 1.5 kilometers deep on a 2-kilometer front” near Lyman, a town recaptured from the Ukrainian army in October 2022, Sergei Shoigu said on TV.
17:56
Ukraine announces a “coalition” of 11 countries to train its pilots in F-16 aircraft
Ukraine on Tuesday announced it would form a “coalition” of 11 countries to train its pilots in F-16 fighter jets that Kiev is requesting delivery to support its frontline counteroffensive. “A coalition for F-16 training for the Ukrainian Air Force has been formed! Today 11 partner countries and Ukraine signed a memorandum,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted. This coalition includes the UK, Canada and European countries.
It’s official: a coalition for F-16 training of the Ukrainian Air Force has been formed!
Today, 11 partner countries and Ukraine signed a memorandum setting out the terms. I am particularly grateful to Denmark and the Netherlands for their outstanding leadership in this process.… pic.twitter.com/ea1oxljX9I— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) July 11, 2023
17:51
NATO will invite Ukraine “if the conditions are right,” says Jens Stoltenberg
At their meeting in Vilnius, the heads of state and government of NATO member states agreed to invite Ukraine to join the alliance “if the conditions are right”. “We have made it clear that if the allies agree and the conditions are met, we will invite Ukraine to join NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference. He also specified that the Allies had committed to spending “at least 2%” of their GDP on military spending.
17:10
In Vilnius, Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to exert pressure
Valerie de Graffenried Vilnius
Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Vilnius on Tuesday afternoon with his Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov and will attend a dinner with the heads of state and government of NATO member countries. Before that, however, he goes to Lukiškių Square to attend a ceremony to raise the Ukrainian flag and greet the participants of the marathon “Raise the flag for Ukraine in NATO”. Bilateral meetings are also planned. The one with Joe Biden will take place this Wednesday.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to press and criticize NATO’s “indecisiveness” and “weakness” without proposing a concrete timetable for Ukraine’s NATO membership. Support for Kiev is evident everywhere in Lithuania. Also on the buses that bring the media to the press center. It says: “While you wait for the bus, Ukraine is waiting to become a member of NATO.”
15:16
Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Vilnius
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived with his defense minister in Vilnius for a key NATO summit to discuss the country’s possible membership in the alliance.
14:39
The Scalp missile, a big win for Ukraine
To Great Britain France. By delivering long-range Scalp missiles, dubbed Storm Shadow, across the English Channel to Kiev, Paris is in turn giving Ukraine the ability to conduct deep attacks.
On July 11, the first day of the NATO summit, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would supply long-range Scalp missiles to Ukraine (the French version of the Storm Shadow)https://t.co/rnqRWWux39
– English Luhansk (@loogunda) July 11, 2023
This cruise missile, jointly developed by both countries, is launched from a combat aircraft. A French military source assured Tuesday that the scalps are already on the ground. They “were delivered at the same time as our president announced,” this source told AFP on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.
The range is more than 250 kilometers, more than any other weapon Western countries have supplied to Kiev, allowing access to areas in the east of the country now controlled by the Russians.
12:56
Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounces NATO’s “indecisiveness” which encourages “Russian terror”.
On his way to the NATO summit in Vilnius, the Ukrainian President denounced NATO’s “indecisiveness” and “weakness”, whose reluctance to admit Ukraine, he said, fueled “Russian terror against his country”.
We value our allies. We value our common security. And we always look forward to an open discussion.
Ukraine will be represented at the NATO summit in Vilnius. Because it’s about respect.But Ukraine also deserves respect. Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that…
— Volodimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) July 11, 2023
“There seems to be no will to invite Ukraine to NATO, nor to make it a member of the alliance,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter. He considered it “absurd” that his country had no timetable for membership and believed this encouraged Moscow to “continue its terror in Ukraine”. “Indecisiveness is a weakness,” he said.
12:25
The Kremlin says it is closely following the ‘anti-Russian’ NATO summit
The Kremlin on Tuesday said it would “follow very closely” the NATO summit in Vilnius, denouncing the “strongly anti-Russian character” of that meeting, where Ukraine must receive guarantees on its ambitions to join the alliance. “This is clearly an alliance summit that has a strong anti-Russian character. “Russia is perceived as an enemy, as an adversary, and it is from that perspective that discussions will take place,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
11:42
France supplies long-range Scalp missiles to Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday, the first day of the NATO summit, that France would supply long-range Scalp missiles to Ukraine. “We have decided to deliver new missiles that will enable deep attacks on Ukraine,” Emmanuel Macron said upon arrival at the summit site in Vilnius, Lithuania. “I think today it is important for us to send a message of support and unity of NATO to Ukraine,” he added.
In Vilnius, NATO must close its ranks: the four missions of an important summit | above @the weather https://t.co/5qY5aL4b68
— VdeGraffenried 🪺 (@VdeGraffenried) July 10, 2023
Berlin, for its part, will deliver almost 700 million euros in additional weapons to Ukraine, we learned from German government circles on the first day of the NATO heads of state and government summit in Vilnius. Germany was the second donor of military aid to Ukraine after the United States and had already announced arms deliveries worth 2.7 billion euros on May 13, a day before President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit.
10:06
The Ukrainian ambassador in Switzerland has been accused of a “judicial blockade”.
Ukrainian journalists and NGOs describe the activities of the former chief prosecutor of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova, currently ambassador to Switzerland, as a “blockade of the judiciary”, reported the Tages-Anzeiger, the Berner Zeitung, the Bund and the Basler Zeitung on Tuesday. According to these sources, she stopped corruption investigations into relatives of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and arranged for the dismissal of journalists critical of the government. The suspension of the English-language weekly Kyiv Post in November 2021 would have been at the instigation of Iryna Venediktova.
Also read: Ukrainian Ambassador to Switzerland: “We respect your neutrality, but…”
Iryna Venediktova, Ambassador of Ukraine to Switzerland, photographed at Le Temps premises on 03/21/2023 © David Wagnières — © David Wagnières for Le Temps
09:57
in The Field
Joe Biden meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Vilnius
Valerie de Graffenried Vilnius
How to ensure Ukraine’s security and increase military aid to Kiev: On the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius, the alliance will get to the bottom of the matter. The first task will be to discuss a “path of reforms” that Kiev must take in order to be able to hope for membership after the end of the war.
The security reality here on NATO’s eastern flank depends on Ukraine. When we applied to join @NATO, we were honest: 🇺🇦 is de facto already in the alliance. Our weapons are the weapons of the Alliance. Our values are what Allianz believes in. Our defense is the real element… pic.twitter.com/V9I5wYh2j7
— Volodimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) July 10, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was invited to the summit, will be present in the high-security capital of Lithuania on Wednesday. A meeting with US President Joe Biden is already planned. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping for a clear commitment from the alliance members to his country’s membership. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg promises a “clear” and “positive” message. But Joe Biden has already warned: There is no question of moving too quickly for fear of taking NATO “to war with Russia”.
09:29
Targeted by Russian drones in Odessa, the main port of the Grain Agreement
Russia fired 28 explosive drones at Ukraine overnight, targeting a port in the Odessa region, a key area for the grain deal, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday. “A grain terminal in a port in the Odessa region” was the target of this attack, said regional governor Oleg Kiper. The Ukrainian air defense shot down 26 of these kamikaze drones out of a total of 28, the Air Force assured.
08:19
NATO sets out ‘reform path’ for Ukraine
NATO will chart a “reform path” for Ukraine to join the Atlantic Alliance, but without a “calendar,” says White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
He also announced a meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Wednesday.
07:43
Kiev and Odessa targeted by drone strikes ahead of NATO summit
Russia carried out a night-time drone strike on Kiev, Ukrainian authorities say ahead of the opening of a key NATO summit over support for Ukraine. “The enemy has attacked Kiev from the air for the second time this month,” the capital’s military administration reported on its Telegram account, stressing that the attack caused only minor damage. The action was carried out using Iranian-made Shahed drones from the south, she adds, likely from Russia’s Krasnodar region.
The port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine was also the target of a drone attack overnight, said Sergiy Bratchuk, an official with the local administration. Air defense activated. Air alerts were also activated in the Mykolayiv, Kherson, Kirovograd, Poltava, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
07:27
Tonight in the Ukrainian capital
Kiev has been under increased security measures since the beginning of the war in Ukraine at the end of February 2022. There is a midnight curfew. Night walk in the Ukrainian capital.
A banner calling for the release of Mariupol defenders hangs on the Kiev city administration building, July 11, 2023. — © Jae C. Hong / keystone-sda.ch
Destroyed Russian tanks are displayed in front of St. Michael’s Monastery in Kiev on July 11, 2023. – © Jae C. Hong / keystone-sda.ch
04:54
“In the Russian information space” the Ukrainian advances around Bachmout are worrying
While the Ukrainian army claims it has “taken control of key heights around Bakhmout”, the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) judges in its daily report that the Ukrainian claims are “credible” and points out that that there is “fear”. […] The warning of imminent threats to Bakhmut is also spreading in the Russian information space.” For the ISW, “Ukrainian counter-offensive measures in this direction can credibly endanger Russian influence” on the city, “although it is far too early” to talk about their “liberation” to be able to think.
03:16
France wants Sweden to join NATO “as soon as possible”.
The French foreign minister welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s approval of Sweden’s NATO membership. On Twitter, she wished that the accession protocol would be ratified “as soon as possible”.
I welcome Turkey’s announcement of its intention to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession protocol and hope that this will happen as soon as possible.#Sweden will make our alliance stronger.#NATO #VilniusSummit @tobiasbill
—Catherine Colonna (@MinColonna) July 10, 2023
Hungary has not yet agreed to membership either, but its Prime Minister Viktor Orban has promised not to be the last to take the step, hinting that he could act quickly. US President Joe Biden stressed he was looking forward to welcoming Sweden as NATO’s 32nd member and said he was ready to work with President Erdogan “to strengthen defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic space”.
To go deeper: In Vilnius, Erdogan’s strange game begins, which eventually opens the door to Sweden’s NATO membership
02:58
According to Moscow, Turkey is becoming an “unfriendly country”.
As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided to lift the blockade on Sweden’s NATO membership, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official has launched an attack on Turkey, reports CNN, citing Russia’s state agency TASS. “Unfortunately, the events of the last few weeks clearly show that Turkey continues to gradually and steadily transform itself from a neutral country to an unfriendly country,” said Viktor Bondarev.
He condemned a series of “provocative decisions” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Turkey on Friday, saying Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved Ukraine’s NATO candidacy and allowed captured soldiers to return to Ukraine at the Mariupol Azov valley plant. The latter were admitted to Turkey in September 2022 after a prisoner exchange and were to remain there until the end of the war. “Such behavior can only be described as a stab in the back,” said Viktor Bondarev.