[Korrespondent] 23:01 Zelensky spoke about the situation at the front: “The invaders are building up forces in the Kharkiv direction, in the Zaporozhye region. They fired at our fuel infrastructure again - they want to aggravate the situation with fuel. Of course, we will respond to this. Super-violent battles continue in Donbas. The Russian army uses more artillery there, more offensive forces. But Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, Avdiivka, Krasnogorovka and other hot spots hold out.
22:46 Zelensky announced a "historic week" in an evening video message : "Tomorrow begins a historic week. One of the most important of all time since 1991. The week when we hear a response from the European Union about the status of a candidate for Ukraine. And in such a week follows expect Russia to intensify hostile activity. Specially - revealing. And not only against Ukraine, but also against Europe. We are getting ready. We are warning our partners. And we thank everyone whose strength today is our victory tomorrow."
22:36 Invaders fired at the Seredino-Budsky district of the Sumy region during the day. According to preliminary data, there are no casualties, information about the destruction is being specified, said the head of the OVA Dmitry Zhivitsky.
22:31 Australia has already handed over four of the 14 promised M113 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine as part of a new shipment of military assistance. According to 9News, four M113AS4 armored personnel carriers were loaded onto a Ukrainian cargo plane last week and delivered to Ukraine as part of a $285 million military aid package.
21:19 The New York Times writes that experts have identified more than two thousand munitions used in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and concluded that most of them were unguided. At the same time, 210 identified munitions are prohibited by international treaties.
20:44 Russia has stopped the shipment of Kazakh oil after Tokayev's statement about the non-recognition of the LDNR. Since June 16, in the port of Novorossiysk, the waters of the Caspian oil pipeline, through which Kazakh oil was transported to Western markets, have been completely closed to ships, Kommersant writes. According to the official version, 50 explosive objects from the Second World War were found in the waters of the Caspian oil pipeline, and in order to neutralize them, the Russian side suspends oil transportation until the end of the month.
The Kazakh edition of ORDA notes that the suspension of oil transportation became known immediately after the speech of the President of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Zhomart Tokayev, at the economic forum in St. Petersburg, where he announced his refusal to recognize the "LDNR".
20:40 The salaries of the Ukrainian military will not be subject to military dues for the duration of the war. This decision was made by the Rada by voting for bill No. 7432. In particular, the payment of military dues for military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the State Border Service, privates, commanding personnel, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Department of State Security, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, other military formations and other persons - in case of their participation in repulse and containment of Russia's armed aggression under martial law.
19:42 The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is developing a mechanism for obtaining visas for Russians, and soon a country will be determined that will represent the interests of Kiev in Russia, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleg Nemchinov said on the air of the telethon.
19:39 Kuleba said that Ukraine is actively urging McDonald's to return to work: "A few weeks ago, we established contact with the Ukrainian office, and then with the headquarters of McDonald's in the United States. We also raised this issue in official contacts with the US government, because McDonald's is one of America's most famous brands and the process is moving forward."
19:17 The head of the Chernihiv OVA, Vyacheslav Chaus, warned that strikes on railway infrastructure facilities in the region are possible today, and urged citizens not to ignore the air raid sirens.
19:01 The Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully repelled an enemy assault on the outskirts of the village of Berestovo, Bakhmut district, Donetsk region, at the same time, the invaders are strengthening the air defense system in the occupied territory of the Kherson region, the General Staff reports in the evening report .
17:55 Adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vadim Denisenko said on the air of the telethon that the situation north of Kharkov is quite difficult: Russian troops are trying to get closer to Kharkov in order to try to make it a "front-line city" again.
17:52 Occupants are holding Azov commanders in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in Moscow, Russian state propaganda agencies report.
17:50 EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore announced that he arrived in Kiev: "Today I am in Kiev, Ukraine, to show my solidarity. Having met with refugees on the Polish border at the beginning of Russian aggression, I now track their steps."
17:37 Almost all athletes from Russia are suspended from participation in international competitions. However, some federations want the return of the Russians under a neutral flag, said the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Vadym Gutzeit. "We will continue to increase pressure so that Russian and Belarusian athletes are not on international sports grounds," the minister assured.
17:25 In the battle in the Izyum direction, the founder and head of the Legion of Freedom, the commander of the Karpatska Sich battalion (49th separate rifle battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) Oleg Kutsyn, was killed, said Oleg Tyagnibok, head of the Svoboda party, of which Kutsin was a member.
16:41 The Rada adopted bill No. 7398, according to which all residential buildings under construction in Ukraine will be required to have bomb shelters. Urban planning documentation must now include information on the planned engineering and technical measures of civil protection.
16:18 Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov told the Financial Times that the fuel situation will stabilize by autumn, as Ukraine will conclude a large number of long-term contracts with foreign suppliers by this time. According to him, due to the existing deficit, Ukraine is forced to buy fuel in the Netherlands and Belgium.
16:02 Russian telegram channels confirmed the change of command of the airborne troops of the Russian Federation, as previously reported by sources in the West and in Ukraine. Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinskiy, a native of Donbass, became the new commander. He fought in the first and second Chechen wars, and during the current war in Ukraine, according to Russian publics, he commanded the capture of Liman.
15:39 Governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov said that the Lithuanian Railways notified the Kaliningrad railway about the termination from Saturday, June 19, of the transit of a number of goods that fell under EU sanctions. According to him, up to 50% of the range of goods, including building materials and metals, will fall under the transit ban. The Kaliningrad authorities consider Lithuania's decision to ban transit "an economic suffocation of the region, they will seek revision," the governor added.
Lithuania's actions to restrict transit to Kaliningrad are "illegal and could have far-reaching consequences for the European Union," Alikhanov said. And vice-speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said that Lithuania, which began the "blockade" of the Kaliningrad region, is "the flagship of the destruction of international law."
15:01 Mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov said that the Ukrainian military approached the borders of Kherson, in the Zaporozhye direction, the front line advanced 10 km. According to him, this is happening thanks to weapons supplied by the West.
14:43 The head of the Kyiv OVA Oleksiy Kuleba warned that the military commandant's office would conduct raids together with the police in order to control the security of the Kyiv region at night and enforce the curfew, which is currently in effect from 23:00 to 5:00.
14:18 Italy will be able to survive the winter without Russian gas, said the head of the Eni oil and gas group, Claudio Descalzi. To do this, according to him, the country needs to fill storage facilities up to 70-80% by October - and this is quite realistic.
14:04 The Rada banned Russian music in the Ukrainian media and public space by adopting bill No. 7273-d, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said. 303 people's deputies voted for this decision. The parliament also banned the import and distribution of books and other publishing products from the Russian Federation, the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by it, and from Belarus.
12:36 The new Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, Chief of the General Staff, General Patrick Sanders, appealed to every active soldier with a call to be ready for a new war in Europe with the Russian army in a potential Third World War. According to The Sun, the warning came in his first speech since he became Chief of the General Staff this month.
“Now our urgent need is to create an army that can fight alongside our allies and defeat Russia in battle. <...> We are the generation that must again prepare the army for battles in Europe,” Sanders said.
11:53 Poland disagrees with the decision to postpone Eurovision 2023 from Ukraine. This is stated in a joint statement by the Ministry of Culture and the board of the Polish national television channel TVP.
11:47 In the Sumy region, a saboteur was detained, who painted the symbols Z and V on his own house, justifying the actions of the aggressor, said Deputy Interior Minister Yevgeny Enin. According to him, in total, about 100 DRGs were exposed throughout Ukraine. In June alone, about 30 saboteurs were identified, 11 of them in Kyiv.
11:45 In the Zaporozhye region, the invaders are trying to intimidate the resistance with the death penalty. According to the head of the OVA Oleksandr Starukh, the Ukrainian partisans will continue to resist, "at this time, the Russian servicemen continue to fight among themselves for power and finances."
11:43 One of the victims of a rocket attack on an oil depot in the Novomoskovsky district of Dnipropetrovsk region died in the hospital. Thus, as a result of the shelling, two people were killed, said the head of the OVA, Valentin Reznichenko.
11:41 Russia refuses to recognize 27 crew members of the cruiser Moskva as dead. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, officials and special services are forcing the families of Russian sailors to hide information about relatives who died on the cruiser. Thus, 27 crew members, including 19 conscripts, are still missing. In Sevastopol, only midshipman Vakhrushev was officially buried.
The cruiser commander, Captain First Rank Kuprin, who, in violation of the charter, was one of the first to leave the ship, explains his act as an attempt to save the conscripts - he allegedly received such an order after the explosions on the ship.
Relatives of the dead sailors are refused to be accepted both by the command of the Russian Navy and the command of the Black Sea Fleet, and by the authorities and social security. They are sent to psychologists, doctors and lawyers, and FSB officers come to their homes and places of work and carry out explanatory work with threats of criminal liability for disclosing state secrets.
11:37 Moldovan President Maia Sandu signed a law banning the rebroadcasting of news and analytical programs, as well as military films from Russia throughout the country. The document provides for a ban on news and analytical broadcasts from countries that have not ratified the Convention on Transfrontier Television.
11:24 Kazakhstan called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons on earth by 2045, Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi said: "The current military conflict on the territory of Ukraine, talk about the return of nuclear weapons and mutual threats to use nuclear weapons make us think more than ever about the collective vulnerability of mankind and the urgent need to ban and eliminate these deadly weapons. We call on all states, including the nuclear powers, to develop a phased plan for the total elimination of nuclear weapons by 2045, the centenary of the United Nations."
11:00 Famous Hollywood actor Ben Stiller was spotted in the center of Lviv on Saturday, June 18th. The day before, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced on Twitter that Ben Stiller, as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, arrived at the border to meet with Ukrainian refugees.
10:22 Since the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine, Russia has illegally deported 1,936,911 Ukrainians, of which 307,423 are children, Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, said. Over the past 24 hours alone, 29,733 people, including 3,502 children, have been evacuated from Ukraine and the territories occupied by the LDNR.
10:16 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the enemy on the morning of June 19. The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Bakhmut and Zaporozhye directions.
- personnel - about 33,600 (+250) people liquidated,
- tanks - 1468 (+3),
- armored combat vehicles - 3577 (+4),
- artillery systems - 745 (+6),
- MLRS - 235 (+2),
- air defense systems - 98 (+0),
- aircraft - 216 (+0),
- helicopters - 181 (+1),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 598 (+4),
- cruise missiles - 130 (+1),
- ships/boats - 14 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 2523 (+10),
- special equipment - 55 (+0).
09:44 British intelligence reports that in recent days, both Russia and Ukraine continued to conduct massive artillery shelling in directions north, east and south of the Severodonetsk pocket, but with a slight change in the front line. Combat units on both sides are engaged in intense fighting in the Donbas and are likely to experience patchy morale. Ukrainian troops have likely suffered desertions in recent weeks, but Russian morale is likely to remain particularly low. Entire Russian units continue to refuse to obey orders.
The Russian authorities seem to be struggling to exert legal pressure on dissidents, hampered by the invasion's official status as a "special military operation." Factors in Russians' low morale include perceptibly poor leadership, limited ability to rotate units out of combat, very heavy casualties, combat stress, persistently poor logistics, and pay problems. Many Russian servicemen of all ranks also seem to be confused about the aims of the war. Moral problems in the Russian military are likely so significant that they limit Russia's ability to achieve operational goals, analysts say.
09:40 Tonight, the Russians opened fire twice from their territory on the Seredino-Budskaya community of the Sumy region, said the head of the OVA Dmitry Zhivitsky. They hit residential areas of the city of Seredina-Buda from a mortar, at least ten private houses were damaged, information about the victims is being specified.
09:34 In Novomoskovsk, where Russian missiles destroyed an oil depot the day before, a fuel tank exploded. Rescuers have been fighting the fire for 14 hours, said the head of the Dnepropetrovsk OVA, Valentin Reznichenko. One rescuer died, two were hospitalized with burns. A total of 13 people were injured, one died.
09:10 In the evening, four rockets hit Nikolaev: two into the plastic window factory, one into the sausage shop, one more into a residential building. At the same time, one rocket was shot down, OK Pivden reported. There was a fire at both enterprises, there were no dead or injured.
09:06 In ORLO, food prices are almost 40% higher than in the territories controlled by Ukraine, said the head of the Luhansk OVA Serhiy Gaidai: "Monitoring of open sources on consumer prices for food in the so-called" LNR "refutes the myths about the sweet life in the people's republic".
09:02 Explosions were heard in the Vyshgorodsky district of the Kiev region this morning - this was worked out by air defense against an enemy air object, the OVA reported. Smoke was not found, there were no casualties.
08:43 In Lisichansk, two people were killed, said the head of the Luhansk OVA Serhiy Gaidai. The fighting for Severodonetsk continues, the Russian invaders are pressing from under Popasna.
08:25 The occupiers are looking for spies at the captured Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Energodar. According to officials at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, the station workers and their families, several employees were handcuffed and taken away for interrogation. Many returned with injuries, more than a dozen workers were missing, writes The Wall Street Journal.
More than 500 Russian military personnel were deployed in the nuclear power plant complex. Part of their task was to weed out Ukrainian partisans among the 11,000 personnel. The occupiers patrol the station with pistols and grenades, chiding Ukrainian-speaking workers and checking their mobile phones for loyalty to Kyiv.
08:14 The war in Ukraine can last for years, but the supply of modern weapons to Kiev will increase the chances of the liberation of Donbass from Russian control, Stoltenberg said. He also confirmed the intention of the participants of the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid to announce that Russia is no longer a partner for the alliance, but "a threat to peace and stability."
07:42 The Armed Forces of Ukraine forced the enemy to retreat in the area of the settlement of Toshkovka, and also repelled the assault in the directions of Orekhovo - Zolotoe and Pervomaisk - Zolote, stopped the enemy in the direction of Vrubovka - Nikolaevka, the General Staff reported in the morning report .
06:27 Zelensky recorded a video message following a visit to the Mykolaiv and Odessa regions: "We will not give the south to anyone, we will return everything that is ours, and the sea will be Ukrainian and safe. <...> And we will definitely restore everything destroyed. Russia does not have so many missiles how many of our people have the desire to live."
02:13 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that the Russian army on June 18 achieved minor success in the vicinity of Severodonetsk, but mainly focused on other areas. Russian forces are likely to face mounting casualties, military degradation and equipment damage that will make it difficult to attempt to resume the offensive on other critical positions as the protracted battle for Severodonetsk continues.
Analysts believe that Russian troops will likely be able to capture Severodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the cost of concentrating most of their available forces in this small area. Other Russian operations in eastern Ukraine, such as attempts to seize Slovyansk and advance east of Bakhmut, have made little progress in the past two weeks.
The invaders continue to fight to push Ukrainian troops back from the occupied borders north of Kharkiv and along the south, but have made little progress in doing so, leaving them vulnerable to Ukrainian counteroffensives and partisan resistance.
01:35 The conclusion of the European Commission on Ukraine's compliance with the requirements for a candidate state proposes to allow the EU to cancel this status if Ukraine violates its obligations, writes European Truth. Such provisions have not yet been in the decisions of the European Commission on applications for membership from another state. And now Brussels, taking into account the special situation of Ukraine, has made such a decision simultaneously in relation to two applicant states - Ukraine and Moldova.
01:12 Johnson in an article for The Sunday Times urged partners who support Ukraine to prepare for a long war. In his opinion, Ukraine's supporters must maintain self-control in order to provide it with "strategic resilience that will allow it to survive and ultimately win."
The British prime minister emphasized that time is now a vital factor: everything will depend on whether Ukraine can strengthen the ability to defend its land faster than Russia can restore the ability to attack. Johnson is convinced that if Putin is allowed to keep territory in Ukraine, it will be a parody that would be "the greatest victory of aggression in Europe since the Second World War."