‘A Classic Example From the Russian Playbook’ – Ukraine at War Update for July 1

A civilian was killed and nine others were injured in Kharkiv on Sunday, including an eight-month-old infant, when Russian forces struck a post office, the head of that region’s administration posted to social media.

“A man, a post office employee, was killed,” Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

Russia has been shelling that northeastern corridor relentlessly in recent months, trying to create what the Kremlin is calling a “buffer zone” between Kharkiv and the oft-targeted Russian city of Belgorod.

Meanwhile, in the nation’s capital, a tall building in the Obolonskyi district was destroyed by falling missile debris, causing a fire to break out. Six were injured in the attack, including a child.

On Sunday evening, air raid warnings were issued in various locations around the capital and northern Ukraine. Air defense systems around the capital reportedly intercepted at least one of the Russian missiles.

At about 8:45 p.m., Vitalii Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, reported that debris had fallen onto a 14-floor residential complex, igniting a fire, nearly collapsing a balcony and causing 10 women to be treated for injuries and traumatic stress. An 11-year-old girl was also rescued by medics, while another man and an elderly woman were hospitalized.

Kanye “Ye” West pulls a Rodman in a naked attempt to brighten his imploding stardom

In what has become a common strategy for fading US celebrities to reinvigorate their careers by visiting a pariah state, the once-superstar rapper Kanye West was in Moscow for a private visit, Russian media reported on Sunday.

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Trump tapped Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as his future National Security Adviser. Both are seen as relative hawks on Russia.

West, who recently made tabloid headlines by changing his name to “Ye,” also launched a bid in November 2022 for the Republican candidacy for US president, asking Donald Trump to be his running mate before the former president and reality TV star had to explain to West why that was not going to work.

The artist known for such hits at “Devil in a New Dress” and “Gold Digger” has, much like Trump, expressed admiration for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and has also been accused of making remarks sympathetic to Adolf Hitler, losing him many sponsors, including Adidas.

Russian media was abuzz with the news of West’s arrival in Moscow, but no concert has materialized.

“Kanye West is already in Moscow! This is great news, he is staying in the heart of the capital,” TASS state news agency quoted a producer as saying on social media. Another Russian news anchor posted a short video on Telegram she said showed the rapper observing Red Square from the roof of the GUM department store, reporting that West was in Moscow to celebrate the 40th birthday of his friend Gosha Rubchinskiy, a Russian fashion designer. About a hundred people gathered in front of the Four Seasons hotel to catch sight of him, AFP reported.

There were rumors that West would perform at the capital’s Luzhniki Stadium, but the managers of the venue told state media it did not have information on any such concert. 

Another sun-setting media darling, Tucker Carlson, after being fired by Fox News, famously tried to resurrect his own entertainment career a few months ago by interviewing Putin in Moscow, garnering millions of views. Perhaps most famously, ex-basketball star and aspiring pop-culture icon Dennis Rodman pulled a similar stunt by visiting North Korea in a media coup that turned out much more profitable for that country’s dictator Kim Jong Un than it did for Rodman.

UK’s Conservative Party sounds alarm on Russian election interference

As Britain’s parliament has been dissolved and voters head to the polls on Thursday, the UK’s deputy prime minister and now Conservative Party leader Oliver Dowden  warned Sunday that the election faces threats from hostile actors such as Russia seeking to influence the UK's democratic process. 

AFP reported that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said it had uncovered five Facebook pages spreading the same pro-Kremlin talking points, some of them boosting the UK’s right-wing Reform Party, which poses a threat to Dowden’s party. Overall, the opposition Labour Party is expected to make large gains.

“There is a threat in all elections, and indeed we see it in this election from hostile state actors seeking to influence the outcome of the election campaign,” Dowden told Sky News, warning of a wave of Moscow’s bots posing as far-right supporters. “Russia is a prime example of this, and this is a classic example from the Russian playbook.”

Reform Party leader and Trump fan Nigel Farage dismissed those claims out of hand, telling the BBC only, “I'm fighting very hard and I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.”

Farage went on the record last week as that saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was due to “provocation” by the West.

Kyiv’s troops now control all access to industrial plant in central Vovchansk

Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have nearly completely encircled an important facility in Vovchansk, the Institute for the Study of War reported on Sunday, citing confirmed images. Kyiv’s troops now control all access and egress from the Vovchansk aggregate plant, which processes materials used in construction and other industries.

The scenario is reminiscent of the battles in Avdiivka last year, as that city’s major industrial plant and slag heap were a central focus of the Kremlin’s campaign. Whereas Avdiivka was critically the last major AFU stronghold in Donetsk at the time, Vovchansk is mostly important to Moscow because of its location between Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and the Russian border, and has been a target of ground forces’ attacks for weeks.

Only a few dozen Ukrainian civilians are reported to have remained in that area.

Geolocated footage published on Sunday seems to show that Russian forces recently advanced within central Vovchansk along Soborna Street, but according to Ukrainian journalist Junior Lieutenant Yevhen Nazarenko, reporting from Vovchansk on Saturday, Ukrainian forces now control all approaches to the aggregate plant in central Vovchansk and have encircled elements of the Russian 83rd Airborne (VDV) Brigade within the plant.

Nazarenko added that Ukrainian forces are not conducting assaults directly on the aggregate plant because it would lead to unnecessary casualties. The ISW noted that it while it “has not observed confirmation of Ukrainian forces encircling Russian forces in the aggregate plant, ISW's control of terrain assessment in the area indicates that Ukrainian forces would likely need to only advance roughly 200 meters to completely encircle the plant.”