???? Live: Russia launches first overnight drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days

Issued on: 02/07/2023 – 06:51

4:05am: Ultra-nationalists aim to restrict travel for Russian officials’ families

The ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) is working on a bill that would temporarily ban the travel of close relatives of high-ranking officials to “unfriendly countries,” the RIA state news agency reported on Sunday.

Russia considers all countries that have hit it with sanctions over its military campaign in Ukraine to be “unfriendly.”

Citing a member of the Russian Duma, Sergei Karginov, RIA reported that restrictions may also affect, among others, law enforcement officers, judges, top managers of state corporations, and the board of directors of the Central Bank.

“Now, when Russia is forced to confront a group of Western countries led by the United States that provoked a conflict in Ukraine, such journeys … are not only inadmissible, but also dangerous,” RIA cited Karginov as saying.

2:51am: Russia launches first overnight drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days 

Russia launched an overnight drone attack on Kyiv after a 12-day break, a Ukrainian military official said on Sunday, with air defence systems preliminarily destroying all targets on their approach.

“Another enemy attack on Kyiv,” Serhiy Popko, a colonel general who heads Kyiv’s military administration, said in a post on the Telegram channel. “At this moment, there is no information about possible casualties or damage.”

Reuters witnesses heard blasts resembling the sound of air defence systems hitting targets. There was no immediate information about the scale of the attack.

Key developments from Saturday, July 1:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday that his visit to Kyiv on the first day of Spain’s EU presidency showed the bloc’s “unequivocal” commitment to Ukraine’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc. And US CIA director William Burns said that disaffection with the war in Ukraine presented the spy agency with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to recruit new intelligence assets.   

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)