Overview

• Russia unleashed its largest drone assault of the war on July 3–4, deploying 539 drones and a dozen rockets that strained Ukrainian air defenses and damaged civilian targets.
• Ukraine struck deep into Russian territory, targeting the Borissoglebsk airbase in Voronezh and prompting closures of civilian airspace in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
• Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko has urged Germany and other allies to deliver Taurus cruise missiles and bolster air defenses after the U.S. suspended Patriot and Stinger shipments.
• Russian forces advanced northeast of Pokrovsk, breaching defenses at Koptjewe and reaching the Kasennyj Torez river, raising fears of an encirclement in the Donetsk region.
• Western intelligence reports that Russia is using chemical munitions like chloropicrin and may deploy roughly 30,000 North Korean troops as it expands bases along the Finland border.