22:45 The 13th meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine has ended in Brussels. The priorities were the provision of the Ground Forces, air defense systems, as well as the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters. In addition, the defense ministers of Luxembourg and Estonia agreed to take on a major role in building a new "coalition". Read more in the material Results of the meeting at Ramstein .
22:37 A bill on the confiscation and transfer of assets of the Russian state to Ukraine as reparations has been registered in the United States, Zelensky said in an evening video message and thanked US senators "for the strong bipartisan support for this issue of justice for Ukraine and all victims of Russian terror."
22:06 Journalists from the Russian independent publication Nestka talked to a number of sources close to the Kremlin, the Russian parliament and regional authorities. They all claim that most of the staff members known to them, representatives of the government, and even more so public politicians and members of the elite, have "swelled more" over the past year. More details - in the material How the top of the RF gets drunk .
21:34 As part of the meeting in the Ramstein format, a new group will be created to support Ukraine - this time in the IT sphere, Reznikov said: "Today my colleagues, Minister of Defense of Luxembourg Francois Bausch and Minister of Defense of Estonia Hanno Pevkur, supported my idea of creating an IT coalition within Ramstein. They are ready to take a leadership role in the creation of this group."
21:08 Zelensky said that he had a conversation with President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Chavez Robles, thanked for regional leadership in the work of the coalition to create a special tribunal on the crime of aggression and support for the resolution on the Formula of Peace.
20:37 The African delegation is going to offer Russia to withdraw troops in exchange for easing sanctions, Reuters reports with reference to the draft document. The delegation is also going to propose the suspension of the International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of Putin and the withdrawal of Russian tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus.
20:32 The Russians fired at Berislav, Kherson region, one person died. Also, Russian aircraft hit Kazatsky, one person was injured, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin.
20:29 The Croatian government recognized the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.
19:47 Canada and Italy have announced new packages of military assistance to Ukraine, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said following the Ramstein meeting. According to him, Canada has pledged to send another $500 million to support Ukraine, including by providing 200 critical air defense missiles. Italy has announced the latest tranche of aid, which includes "the most important weapons systems for the defense of Ukraine."
19:44 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with Belizean Prime Minister Juan Antonio Briceno, invited him to take part in the implementation of the Ukrainian peace formula and in the organization of the Global Peace Summit, to join the coalition to create a special tribunal. We discussed the possibility of holding a Ukraine-Latin America summit.
19:39 Reznikov announced that he was taking part in the meeting of defense ministers of the Ukraine-NATO Commission in Brussels, which is taking place for the first time since 2016. "We managed to overcome certain barriers and revive the format," the minister said. According to him, the dialogue between NATO ministers will give impetus to the political, military and bureaucratic mechanisms that exist within the partnership between Ukraine and the Alliance.
19:18 As of now, offensive and defensive operations are continuing in different directions, said Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar. In the east, the enemy continues to concentrate a significant amount of forces and means and pulls up reserves from other directions. In particular, a division of air assault troops was moved from south to east.
In the Bakhmut direction, offensive operations continue in the areas of Razdolovka - Krasnopolovka and Brekhovka - Yagodnoe, there is success. Offensive operations continue in the Berdnyansk and Mariupol directions. There is advancement on all directions of advance - about 1 km on each. In the Berdyansk direction, fighting continues in the Makarovka area. In the Mariupol direction, fighting is taking place in the areas of Novodanilovka and Novopokrovka.
19:09 Russian upgraded Kh-35U missiles to the division of the coastal anti-ship missile system Bal in the Bryansk region have an increased range of destruction, besides, they are smaller compared to other cruise missiles, so they are more difficult to detect, Air Force speaker Yuri Ignat said.
At the same time, he expressed doubt that the range of these missiles is really 500 km: “We can’t know for sure what the range of destruction is. which they want to hit from the Bryansk region. A missile from this complex has a warhead of up to 150 kg. Compared to the Kh-101 or Kalibr, it is 400-450 kg."
According to Ignat, the missile itself is smaller, and therefore more dangerous, because it is more difficult to detect. In addition, it is designed to fly over water, so it is pressed lower to the ground. In addition, Kh-35U missiles are used from air-based aircraft and helicopters. At the same time, Ignat noted that the Russians had already used such missiles for attacks on the Odessa and Nikolaev regions, some of them were shot down.
18:54 Denmark and the Netherlands have ordered an additional 14 Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine, Handelsblatt writes, citing sources. The first cars should arrive in January next year, and the contract must be completed in full before the end of 2024.
18:28 Speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ignat denied Stoltenberg's statement about the start of training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16: "I honestly don't know what he had in mind. Perhaps it's somewhere in the statement there are translation difficulties. Because that the statements of various leaders are taken and taken out of context ... We have already said more than once: this is a difficult and lengthy process. It’s just that everyone really wants this, so they constantly update information that the pilots supposedly left just about and will arrive soon. We will wait for let's go faster."
18:16 The Russians many times show the same five units of equipment destroyed in Ukraine from different angles, said the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, commenting on the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the offensive. He added that "this is a war, there will be casualties on both sides." Austin also stressed that Ukraine should be able to repair damaged equipment in order to return it to battle.
17:30 Lukashenko said that Belarus allegedly began to receive Russian tactical nuclear weapons, which, according to him, are three times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. In Ukraine and NATO, they are talking about a certain information-psychological operation of the Kremlin to deploy a "nucleus" in the Republic of Belarus. For more details, see the article Russian "nucleus" in Belarus: why the world is silent .
17:09 Since the beginning of June, the air defense forces have destroyed 74% of cruise missiles fired by Russia and about 60% of UAVs, said Alexei Gromov, deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to him, during this period, the enemy used more than 140 missiles of various types and more than 250 attack drones.
Gromov also said that in June MiG-29 fighter jets received from Poland and Slovakia entered service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
16:42 The EU countries have completed the training of 24,000 Ukrainian soldiers, Borrell said.
16:23 The United States, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands will send hundreds of air defense missiles to Ukraine, the countries said in a joint statement. Deliveries of missiles and other equipment have already begun and should be completed within a few weeks.
16:20 Zelensky, during an appeal to the deputies of the Swiss parliament, called for unblocking the export of weapons to Ukraine to bring peace closer.
16:12 As part of the Army of Drones project, the second stage of training for UAV operators begins, during which another 10,000 people will be trained, said Mikhail Fedorov, head of the Ministry of Digital Development. He recalled that at the first stage, 10,000 drone operators have already been trained, most of them successfully carry out combat missions at the front.
The minister noted that during the first stage, future operators were mostly taught to fly reconnaissance-class copters, and now new categories are opening up - FPV drones and bomber aircraft. In particular, it is planned to train 7,600 operators of conventional reconnaissance copters, another 2,000 FPV drones, as well as 400 bomber pilots.
16:03 In the Kherson, Nikolaev and Odessa regions, swimming and fishing will be banned from June 19 due to a significant deterioration in the indicators of river and sea water, said chief medical officer Igor Kuzin. At the same time, he added that while the epidemic situation in Ukraine is stable and there is no outbreak of infectious diseases. However, in the Odessa region, according to him, "the situation is quite risky."
Kuzin also noted that water from wells and supplied centrally in Mykolaiv and Kherson regions is safe, and water in individual wells can be contaminated.
15:59 Switzerland may sell 25 of its 96 decommissioned Leopard tanks to Germany for further modernization and shipment to Ukraine, Bild reports. This proposal was supported by the upper house of parliament, but it has yet to be discussed in the lower. Zelensky is also expected to speak in the Swiss parliament today.
15:56 According to the NBU, the undermining of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station will cause an additional increase in prices in Ukraine at the end of the year at a level of about 0.3 percentage points due to complications in the work of a number of enterprises and partial loss of crops, especially vegetables.
15:51 According to Greenpeace, as a result of the explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, 32 objects with chemicals, oil and gasoline were flooded - these are oil refineries, gas stations, thermal power plants and warehouses. At least 150 tons of engine oil leaked into the water in the early days of the disaster.
15:45 Over the past week, the Defense Forces have liberated seven settlements in the Zaporozhye direction, restoring control over 103 square meters. km of Ukrainian territory. The advance of Ukrainian units deep into the enemy’s defenses ranged from 3 to 6.5 km, said Oleksiy Gromov, deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff.
In particular, according to him, in the Melitopol direction, the advance of Ukrainian troops south of the village of Malaya Tokmachka amounted to 3 km, 22 square meters were taken under control. km and the village of Lobkovoe was liberated. In the Berdyansk direction, Ukrainian forces liberated six settlements: Levadnoe, Novodarovka, Neskuchnoe, Storozhevoe, Makarovka, Belogorivka. Control resumed over 81 sq. km.
15:28 The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on NATO allies to invite Ukraine to the Alliance. It is assumed that "the accession process will begin after the end of the war and will be completed as soon as possible." MEPs also call for the development of security guarantees "which should be implemented immediately after the war, until full NATO membership is achieved."
The resolution states that Ukraine's integration into NATO and the EU will "strengthen regional and global security, contribute to stability and strengthen the bonds of cooperation and common values between Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic community." The document also called the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam by Russia a war crime.
14:54 In the Donetsk region, people are being evacuated from recently liberated villages, OVA speaker Tatyana Ignatchenko told Radio Liberty. At the same time, she added that there are few people there, since the evacuation began much earlier, and a large number of local residents were taken out of there. According to Ignatchenko, the settlements that were under occupation were almost completely destroyed. In total, 97,000 residential buildings were destroyed in the region.
14:30 The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has not yet recorded signs of the Russian Federation preparing for the next large-scale mobilization, said Alexei Gromov, deputy head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff. However, according to him, the enemy continues to recruit mercenaries from among the prisoners. Thus, in May, 460 prisoners were recruited into the RF Armed Forces from places of deprivation of liberty in the Smolensk, Lipetsk and Tyumen regions. Those who refused were threatened with the opening of criminal proceedings under the article "disorganization of the institution's activities."
At the same time, the FSB ordered the administrations of Russian prisons to stop recruiting "special contingents" in PMC Wagner due to "the lack of interaction between PMCs and units of the RF Armed Forces at the front," Gromov said.
14:27 Ukrainian troops are advancing in the Tauride direction, in the Ugledar area in the Volnovakhsky district, the advance was up to 1 km, the Joint Press Center of the Defense Forces of the Tauride direction reported. Yesterday afternoon there were 25 clashes, and seven more tonight. In just a day, the enemy lost more than four companies of personnel, 59 pieces of equipment and a Ka-52 attack helicopter in this direction.
14:12 The Ministry of Defense calls on weapon developers to offer their innovative projects for implementation, said Anna Malyar, deputy head of the department. According to her, now the most relevant for the Armed Forces of Ukraine are unmanned systems, communication systems, intelligence and analytics of the collected data, as well as the modernization and improvement of the effectiveness of ammunition and military equipment.
14:09 Russian troops are increasing the number of tactical groups of missile troops in the regions bordering Ukraine, said Alexei Gromov, deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In particular, we are talking about moving a division of the Bal coastal missile system to the Bryansk region. According to Gromov, because of this, the threat of enemy strikes with X-35 missiles is growing, especially on the territory of Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Poltava, Cherkassy, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
Gromov added that the Russians were focusing on targets related to logistics, industrial facilities, and oil and gas supply.
13:47 For a week and a half, the defense forces have advanced more than 3 km in the eastern direction, said Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar. In the southern direction, according to her, "the Ukrainian Armed Forces are also gradually but surely advancing." She added that the enemy is putting up strong resistance, the Defense Forces are faced with continuous mining of fields, the use of kamikaze drones, and intense shelling.
In the Bakhmut direction, the Russians are pulling up reserves and "trying with all their might to prevent the advancement" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Forces do not allow the enemy to realize his plans, the enemy cannot advance and cannot effectively deter the Armed Forces of Ukraine there," Malyar added.
13:16 The CEC of the Russian Federation has officially scheduled "elections" in the "DNR", "LNR", occupied Zaporozhye and Kherson regions for September 10.
12:45 Japan is negotiating the supply of artillery shells to the United States so that they replenish stocks for Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal writes, citing sources. According to the publication, the countries agreed on hundreds of thousands of 155-mm shells, but when Japan will transfer them is still unknown.
12:31 The Russians fired on Zelenovka, Kherson region - one person was killed, one was wounded, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin.
12:10 Training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters has already begun, Stoltenberg said before the Ramstein meeting: "It is already clear that training has begun, and then we will be able to provide aircraft. Because pilots who can fly them will be ready."
12:02 Allies of Ukraine will provide its army at a high pace with everything necessary during the counteroffensive, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said before the start of the Ramstein meeting in Brussels. According to him, a “military marathon” has begun on the territory of Ukraine: “Therefore, today we will consider the most urgent needs that Ukraine has. We will also aim for a long-term perspective and long-term peace for Ukraine, which lives next to such a neighbor.”
Austin noted that the contact group will focus on ensuring that Ukraine can protect its population and critical infrastructure with air defense systems: “We are talking about Patriot and NASAMS systems that keep Ukrainians alive. And today we will dig even deeper in order to Ukraine received new shells, ammunition for air defense systems."
11:43 IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi announced that he had begun a visit to the Zaporozhye NPP.
11:38 Russia is transferring the remnants of prisoners from the so-called Z assault companies to the "volunteer corps". According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the units manned by the "special contingent" showed extremely low combat capability. Alcoholism, looting, and desertion flourish among the prisoners.
To regroup and replenish the so-called "volunteer corps" with convicts, the military leadership of the Russian Federation created a special commission, which was ordered to select about 2,000 people from among the "special contingent", conduct training with them at training grounds and transfer them to the combat zone. Enhanced security is provided for members of the special commission in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and groups of the military police of the Russian Federation will monitor discipline among "volunteer" prisoners.
11:22 Podolyak said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have not yet launched a counteroffensive, but are conducting offensive operations in order to identify weaknesses in Russian defense. According to him, Ukraine is now pursuing three goals: to destroy as many mobilized as possible, "to add psychological pressure on the Russian army"; destroy as much Russian equipment as possible; testing that allows you to move forward, "create panic".
11:19 The African delegation, which will visit Ukraine and Russia on June 16-17, will meet with President Andrzej Duda in Poland today, his office said.
10:56 SBU warns about the preparation of a number of new IPSOs by the special services of the Russian Federation. In particular, the alleged Russian citizenship of Ukrainian government officials, the leadership of the Defense and Security Forces and their families, as well as other officials will be reported. According to operational data, the start of the implementation of the enemy IPSO in the Ukrainian information field is scheduled for the near future.
10:37 In Rostov-on-Don, on June 14, the "trial" of 22 captured Azovians who defended Mariupol and were captured in May 2022 began, AP reports. If they are found guilty, the Azov residents face a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment. Of the 24 people who were charged, two were exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. Of the remaining 22 defendants who appeared in court, eight were women who cooked food for the Azov battalion.
10:25 In the Kherson region, a steady decline in water continues with an intensity of 2-5 cm per hour. During the day, the water level decreased by 0.4 meters and as of 8:00 am is 2.04 meters, Ukrhydroenergo reported. During the day below the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, the water levels continue to decline by 1-10 cm per hour with the retention of flooding.
10:08 Lithuania, together with its allies, will purchase air defense systems for Ukraine for 107.5 million euros, Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said. This will be the first of five planned assistance packages from the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU). Lithuania, together with the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland, raised almost 608 million euros for him. At the same time, the UK, which manages the IFU, pledged an additional 292 million euros to the fund.
09:57 Denmark and Norway have joined forces to transfer another 9,000 artillery shells to Ukraine, the countries' Defense Ministry said.
09:23 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed (in Pereezdnoy), three more people were injured. In the Zaporozhye region, one person died during the shelling of Preobrazhenka. In the Kherson region, two people were injured, in the Kharkiv region, one person was wounded by blowing up on an enemy mine, according to the IVA.
08:55 The defense forces continue their offensive in the Berdyansk and Bakhmut directions, spokesman of the General Staff Andrey Kovalev said. In the Berdyansk direction, fighting is taking place near the village of Makarovka, and fighting is also continuing in the areas of the villages of Novodanilovka and Novopokrovka in the Zaporozhye region. In the Bakhmut direction, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducted assault operations in the directions Razdolovka - Krasnopolovka and Berkhovka - Yagodnoye, and were successful. Where Ukrainian forces are on the defensive, no position is lost.
08:41 The Pentagon expects that the Ukrainian military will complete training on Abrams tanks before the end of summer. The end of the training program roughly coincides with the expected fall delivery of 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, writes CBS News.
08:24 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of June 15.
personnel - about 217,910 (+580) people liquidated,
tanks - 3955 (+12),
armored combat vehicles - 7667 (+14),
artillery systems - 3793 (+10),
MLRS - 604 (+1),
air defense systems - 364 (+0),
aircraft - 314 (+0),
helicopters - 301 (+1),
UAV operational-tactical level - 3333 (+9),
cruise missiles - 1199 (+3),
ships/boats - 18 (+0),
automotive equipment and tankers - 6506 (+24),
special equipment - 519 (+3).
07:35 The Russian army is concentrating its main efforts on the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Marinsky directions - 49 military clashes have occurred over the past day, the General Staff said in the morning summary .
In the village of Kamenka, Zaporozhye region, at the beginning of the year, the occupiers blackmailed the workers of the Center for Primary Health Care: if they refused to receive a Russian passport, they were promised to reduce their salaries by 60%. Since most of the workers refused to receive documents, the Russians reported the closure of the hospital.
07:29 At night, the Russians attacked Krivoy Rog with rockets, hit two industrial enterprises, one person was injured, said the head of the Dnepropetrovsk OVA Serhiy Lysak. Fires broke out at the enterprises, which rescuers have already extinguished. There is a significant destruction of production facilities, gas pipelines are damaged, a tire shop and a bus are destroyed.
07:01 At night, the Russians attacked Ukraine with Kh-101 / Kh-555 air-launched cruise missiles, as well as Shahed-136/131 attack drones, the Air Force command reported. Four Tu-95ms strategic aviation aircraft carried out four Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missile launches from the Caspian Sea. One of the missiles was destroyed, the rest hit industrial facilities in the Dnepropetrovsk region.
Iranian kamikaze drones were launched by the enemy from the northern and southern directions. All 20 drones are destroyed. In addition, an enemy UAV of the operational-tactical level, which conducted aerial reconnaissance in the eastern direction, was destroyed.
06:43 "Head" of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said that nine UAVs were recorded over the peninsula at night and in the morning, six were allegedly shot down by air defense forces, three were jammed by electronic warfare. One of the drones detonated in the Krasnogvardeisky district, there were no casualties, windows were broken in a number of houses.
04:52 Training of the Ukrainian military is now taking place at about 40 training grounds outside of Ukraine, the Pentagon said. About 67,000 Ukrainians have already been trained in tactics, weapons systems and leadership development at these sites.
00:20 A priority issue during the meeting of allied countries in the Ramstein format on June 15 will be strengthening Ukraine's air defense, the Pentagon said. They will also discuss "exercise and support to strengthen the power of Ukraine in the long term."