(2/5) Russian-backed officials have said they will hold a referendum on Kherson Oblast joining the Russian Federation by autumn 2022. Russia is likely prioritising a pseudo-constitutional vote in an attempt to legitimise its control of the region.
(3/5) On 28 June 2022, Ihor Kolykhaiev, the elected mayor of Kherson city, was arrested, highly likely in an attempt to suppress opposition to the occupation. However, widespread armed and peaceful resistance continues across occupied areas.
(4/5) Kherson is the region which has been brought under the new Russian occupation most comprehensively since February.
(5/5) Finding a constitutional solution for the occupation is likely a priority policy objective for Russia. It will highly likely be prepared to rig voting to achieve an acceptable result.
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(1/8)
Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Lysychansk, likely falling back to prepared defensive positions. Russiaβs Ministry of Defence had earlier claimed to have completed the encirclement of Lysychansk and secured full control of the city.
(2/8)
Fighting in and around the city in Luhansk Oblast has intensified over the past week with Russian forces making steady progress.
(1/5) Russian forces continue to achieve minor advances around Lysychansk, with air and artillery strikes continuing in the district. Ukrainian forces probably continue to block Russian forces in the south-eastern outskirts of Lysychansk.
(2/5) Russia continues to employ air-launched anti-ship missiles in a secondary land attack role, likely because of dwindling stockpiles of more accurate modern weapons.
(2/5) On 30 June 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that its forces had withdrawn from Snake Island in the north-west Black Sea. The island was seized by Russia on the first day of the invasion and sits along the main shipping lanes to Odesa and its adjacent ports.
(3/5) The Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted attacks against the Russian garrison in the past few weeks using missile and drone strikes. In addition, it used anti-ship missiles to interdict Russian naval vessels attempting re-supply the island.
(1/4)
Today we published statistics looking at diversity within the Armed Forces, these help us better understand our organisation and how we can further improve the day-to-day experience for our people.
(2/4)
Some examples of how weβre improving the experience of our workforce:
β« Weβve opened all roles for female personnel, removing historic barriers
β« Weβve relaxed our policies on hair and body art to welcome cultural differences
(3/4)
β« Weβve introduced new clothing to better fit women working in Defence
β«We run a 24/7 hotline for personnel to seek confidential support whenever they need it
(1/5)
Ukrainian forces continue to hold their positions in the city of Lyschansk following their withdrawal from Sieverodonetsk.
(2/5)
Russian forces continue to pursue an approach of creeping envelopment from the Popasna direction, removing the need to force a major new crossing of the Siverskyi Donets River in this sector.
(2/7) Russian forces continue to make incremental advances in their efforts to encircle the town of Lysychansk. Since 25 June 2022, Russian forces have advanced a further 2km near the Lysychansk oil refinery, south of the town.
(3/7) There is a realistic possibility the missile strike on the Kremenchuk shopping centre on 27 June 2022 was intended to hit a nearby infrastructure target.