Footage showing aftermath of a drone falling in the village of Krivosheino. Photo: screenshot of a Readovka video
The Ukraine war has been raging on for 496 days. In the Moscow region, New Moscow, and the Kaluga region air-defence systems downed several drones. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the F-16 jet training schedule for Ukrainian pilots is delayed.
Unidentified persons in Chechnya attacked Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov who flew into the region to attend the court hearing where Zarema Musaeva’s sentence was to be delivered.
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake occurred in Dagestan.
Read our top headlines about the events that unfolded overnight on 4 July in Novaya Gazeta Europe’s round-up.
Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov attacked in Chechnya
Novaya Gazeta reporter Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov have been attacked and beaten up by unidentified persons in Chechnya, the Crew Against Torture reports. The human rights group notes that Milashina and Nemov were badly kicked, particularly in the face, while their equipment was stolen and destroyed.
Nemov says that their car was blocked off on the road by three other vehicles on their way from the airport. According to the lawyer, the attackers pressed a gun against their heads and threatened to shoot them.
The victims of the attack are now taken to a Grozny hospital, both have multiple bruises. Milashina has several broken fingers, she fainted a few times.
Elena Milashina. Screenshot: YouTube
They flew into Grozny to attend the court hearing where Zarema Musaeva, a woman kidnapped by Chechen law enforcers in Nizhny Novgorod in January 2022, was to learn her verdict.
Drones spotted in Russia’s Moscow region, New Moscow, Kaluga region
Air-defence systems downed two drones in New Moscow, territories that were transferred to the Russian capital in 2012, TASS reports, citing emergency services. The UAVs were all helicopter-type.
Moreover, another drone was intercepted in the Kaluga region, while one more was downed near the Moscow region’s Kubinka.
According to RIA Novosti, the two drones that were downed in New Moscow fell near the village of Valuyevo, located near Vnukovo Airport.
Baza later reported that the planes scheduled to land in Vnukovo were redirected to other Moscow airports.
According to TASS and RIA Novosti, the drone attacked a military base in Kubinka but was intercepted by electronic warfare systems. The Shot Telegram channel also notes that one of the drones downed near Moscow fell on an outhouse utility building in the village of Krivosheino, causing the structure to catch fire. Krivosheino is located near Vnukovo.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin later confirmed that the drone strike had taken place. According to him, there was “another attack attempt by Ukrainian UAVs in New Moscow and the Moscow region”.
“Currently, air-defence systems repelled all the attacks, all the identified UAVs were eliminated. Some flights were temporarily diverted from Vnukovo Airport for security reasons. At 8:00 AM, all flight restrictions were lifted near Vnukovo Airport. No one was killed or injured, emergency services are working at the sites,” he added.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that four Ukrainian drones were downed by air-defence systems in New Moscow, while another one was intercepted by electronic warfare systems and crashed in the Moscow region’s Odintsovo district.
Kyiv official says F-16 jet training schedule for Ukrainian pilots delayed
The beginning of the programme aiming to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jets is postponed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reports.
The training was initially scheduled to be launched in June. “We are now working with all invested parties, with all the countries that make up this ‘aviation coalition’, to speed up this process as much as possible,” Kuleba said.
The Danish government earlier said that the training would start in June. According to Kuleba, the country is still continuing preparations for the programme because Danish experts “miscalculated it”.
5.9-magnitude earthquake rocks Russia’s Dagestan
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck 100 km from the city of Derbent in Dagestan, the regional Emergencies Ministry reported. There is no information about any damage so far.
The earthquake occurred at 11:01 PM in the Caspian Sea at a depth of 8 km, the tremors were felt along the coast.
According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), the earthquake occurred 90 km from Derbent and 46 km from the Azerbaijani city of Khachmaz. The EMSC estimated the magnitude at 5.4.
