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Kyiv's two demands of 3 July 2023
Summary
Two events on 3 July 2023 showed Ukraine's president pressing on air defence at home and on a diplomatic case abroad.
What did Kyiv ask for in the days before 5 July 2023? Two requests, made on 3 July, pointed in different directions: one to Ukraine's allies and military planners, the other to Georgia.
The first followed a Russian drone attack on Sumy, which killed two people and injured 19 others. In response, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a major upgrade of anti-aircraft defences. The attack was part of the wider Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure that had continued since 2022.
The second was diplomatic. Zelenskyy asked Georgian ambassador Gela Dumbadze to return home within 48 hours. The aim was to negotiate the transfer of Mikheil Saakashvili, the imprisoned former Georgian president and a Ukrainian citizen, to a Ukrainian clinic. The request was prompted by Saakashvili's declining health.
Taken together, the two requests showed Ukraine's leadership working on security and on a case that strained relations with Tbilisi at the same time. The 48-hour window gave the Georgian side a short deadline, while the air-defence call was open-ended and depended on the capacity of those who could supply the systems.
