Two Kyiv demands on 3 July 2023

What was Kyiv pressing for in the days before 5 July 2023? Two requests, made on 3 July, pointed in different directions: one at home, on air defence, and one towards Tbilisi.

On 3 July, Russia launched drone attacks on Sumy, killing two people and injuring 19 others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded by calling for a major upgrade of anti-aircraft defences. The attack belonged to the wider series of Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure in 2022–2023.

The same day, Zelenskyy asked Georgian ambassador Gela Dumbadze to return home within 48 hours. The purpose was to negotiate the transfer of Mikheil Saakashvili, the imprisoned former Georgian president and a Ukrainian citizen, to a Ukrainian clinic because of his declining health. That 48-hour window ran to about 5 July.

Taken together, the two moves show Kyiv acting on a military need and on a diplomatic and humanitarian case at once. The Sumy strike gave the call for stronger air defences a concrete, deadly example. The ambassador's recall to consult on Saakashvili put a direct request to Georgia, tied to his health and his Ukrainian citizenship.