Zelensky admits that Ukraine will not join NATO during the conflict

"NATO membership is the best guarantee of security for Ukraine. We are not looking for a replacement for the Atlantic Pact. But we are adequate people and understand that we will not drag a single NATO country into a war," Zelensky said Lo, in a joint press conference with fellow Estonian Alar Karis. "Therefore, we understand that we will not be members of NATO during this war

Not because we don't want to, but because it's impossible." According to Zelensky, before joining NATO, Ukraine expects to receive security guarantees. At the end of September 2022, Zelensky announced that Ukraine was applying to join to NATO on an expedited basis. Carrying out such a procedure is inexpedient, Jake Sullivan, assistant to the US president for national security, later noted. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine will not be satisfied with no other decision of the NATO summit in Vilnius scheduled for 11-12 July, other than an invitation to join the alliance.

Russia claims to have repelled with its aviation and artillery a Ukrainian attempt to "invade" the Belgorod region, on the border with Ukraine: according to the Defense Ministry, Russian troops, together with units of the FSB secret service, have repulsed three attempts by Ukrainian militants to invade the region and stage a terrorist attack against civilians with dozens of soldiers and tanks. "After an intense shelling of civilian settlements in the Belgorod region, Ukrainian terrorist groups - tank-reinforced motorized infantry - attempted to invade Russian territory," the ministry said on Telegram.

The Kremlin has denounced the lack of international reporting of the Ukrainian attacks in Belgorod: "The international community has every opportunity to see the images and read articles describing the attacks on residential buildings," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. . "And yet (it hasn't arrived, ed.) a single word that can criticize or condemn the Kiev regime for what happened". Confirmation of the attempted invasion comes from Russian anti-government groups fighting alongside Ukraine in the war against Russia who have said they are conducting another combat operation on Russian territory. Fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps have recorded a video in which they claim to be heading towards the town of Shebekino in Russia's Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

Pro-Kiev Russian militias have added that they cannot organize the evacuation of civilians from neighboring settlements due to the bombing of Moscow and have urged residents to remain in shelters and want to target the offices of the Interior Ministry in Shebekino with multiple launch rocket systems. Another anti-Kremlin group, the Free Russia Legion, also announced, "Very soon, we will advance again on the territory of Russia to bring freedom, peace and tranquility. Grayvoron is just the beginning," the fighter said, referring to the city. where the clashes occurred during the previous incursion into the Belgorod region.