Russian state news agencies have redacted the comments of Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev .
Official media indicated that he had said that the Ukrainian state would not exist until 2034, possibly to support the Kremlin's efforts to prepare the Russian public for a long war in Ukraine, while promising that Russia would meet its goal to destroy Ukrainian statehood within a decade.
This is noted in the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) daily analysis.
Medvedev stated that "not in vain" NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has suggested that Ukraine could join the alliance within the next ten years, concluding that Ukraine would "never" will not join NATO because by 2034 the NATO leadership will have changed and because "the infamous 404 country is quite possible [a mocking use of the 404 computer error code to suggest that Ukraine is not a real country] also not exist".
Russia's cryptomobilization campaign continues to generate increasing financial costs for the Russian government.
The Russia-focused analytics platform Re:Russia estimated on July 16 that between July 2023 and June 2024, government payments made to Russian servicemen fighting in Ukraine, to wounded servicemen and to relatives of fallen soldiers , amount to approximately 2.75-3 trillion rubles ($31-33 billion).
Re:Russia notes that these payments represent about 1.5% of Russia's GDP and between 7.5 and 8.2% of Russia's federal budget in 2024
The Russian government, possibly at both the federal and regional levels, is reported to have spent 1.55 to 1.8 trillion rubles ($17.5 to $20 billion) on Russian military personnel, which consist of monthly payments and one-time contract signing payments, and 1.2 trillion rubles ($13.5 billion) in compensation for injuries and deaths.
Russian volunteers continue to supply Russian forces with domestically produced and commercially available quadcopter drones to augment Russian combat needs in Ukraine.
Russian officials continue to use diplomatic meetings with European countries to create the impression that Russia is normalizing its relations with the West.
Russia and India continue to strengthen their bilateral relationship amid reports of continued Russian arms exports to India.
On July 17, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 95 prisoners of war each in a "one-for-one" prisoner exchange.
Kremlin officials continue to try to curry favor with Russian ultranationalists by appealing to anti-immigrant sentiment, even as such appeals strain the Russian government's efforts to implement the Kremlin's broader migration policy.
Ukrainian forces have regained positions south of Toretsk, and Russian forces have recently advanced north of the city of Kharkiv and near Kupyansk, Svatove, Avdeevka and Vukhledar.