Air alerts issued for two hours as Kyiv defended itself from drone attack; Ukrainian president to meet with leaders after Nato membership rebuff
Nato must protect Ukraine from Russian aggression, and also Ukraine cannot join Nato while it is at war with Russia. That is the conundrum that leaders of the western military alliance grapple with at their annual summit in Vilnius.
Kyiv craves the security of a mutual assistance pact – the ultimate solidarity that treats an attack on one Nato member as an aggression against them all. Nothing short of that guarantee, underwritten by US firepower, will persuade Russia to respect post-Soviet borders.
Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Captain First Rank Nataliya Humenyuk stated that Russian forces targeted port infrastructure to disrupt the Black Sea Grain deal. Russia’s drone strikes on port infrastructure also coincide with the first day of the Nato summit in Vilnius and are likely intended to discourage Nato members from providing more military aid to Ukraine. Russia may be threatening the Black Sea grain deal to message the deal’s original broker, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that his recent statement of support for Ukraine’s Nato membership and the return of the five Ukrainian Azovstal commanders on 7 July has not gone unnoticed and is not appreciated by the Kremlin.
