3 July 2022

July 2022 in brief

Russian cruise missiles struck central Vinnytsia, killing 23 people including three children according to Ukraine's emergency service, and a strike on an apartment block in Chasiv Yar killed 46 according to Ukrainian officials; Russia's defence ministry said both strikes hit military targets. ^[1][2] The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission had verified 4,889 civilians killed and 6,263 injured across Ukraine by 3 July, and said the actual figures were considerably higher. ^[1][2] President Zelenskyy ordered the mandatory evacuation of civilians from Donetsk oblast, saying hundreds of thousands remained in combat areas, and WHO recorded attacks affecting health facilities in Bakhmut and Mykolaiv. ^[1][2][3] A blast at the Russian-run Olenivka prison killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and the cause is disputed: Russia's defence ministry blamed a Ukrainian HIMARS strike and separatist officials gave 53 dead, while Ukraine denied firing on the site and accused Russia of staging the blast. ^[1] Russia's defence ministry said its forces had taken Lysychansk and the whole of Luhansk region, and Ukraine's military said it had withdrawn to preserve the lives of its soldiers. ^[1] Russia and Ukraine signed separate UN and Turkey brokered deals in Istanbul to reopen Black Sea grain exports, and the next day Russian cruise missiles hit Odesa port, which Russia's defence ministry said targeted a Ukrainian warship. ^[1][2] President Putin said Russia had not yet started anything in earnest in Ukraine and that negotiations would get harder the longer they were delayed.

Written from the records it cites; every figure appears in a cited record.