22:49 The United States initially understood that the Ukrainian counteroffensive would be difficult, said Deputy Pentagon Speaker Sabrina Singh: “Our assessments were initially quite clear. We understood that it would be a difficult battle ... We counted the losses. We know that there will be losses on the field combat. Unfortunately, this is part of the war." She added that Kyiv needs time to succeed, but Washington is confident that the Ukrainians "have the necessary capacity" to launch a counteroffensive.
22:41 Zelensky said in an evening video message that now the Defense Forces in the south, in the east "are very actively destroying the enemy, physically clearing Ukraine, and this will continue." The President also said that tomorrow at the London conference he will present some aspects of the philosophy of Ukraine's transformation. "The full meaning will be presented later this month, and already in Ukraine," he added.
21:58 In the Kherson region, as a result of the explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, 21 people died, five of them were due to shelling. Another 28 people were injured, 16 of them were liquidators, the interior ministry said.
21:07 Portugal will transfer 14 more M113 armored personnel carriers and nine 105-mm towed howitzers to Ukraine. In total, Portugal transferred 45 vehicles of the M113 family to Ukraine, the country's Ministry of Defense reported.
21:03 In Belarus, the preparation of storage facilities for storing nuclear weapons continues, but Russia has not yet transported a single nuclear warhead, Budanov said: “The process of preparing for a possible transfer is really underway. Storage facilities are being prepared. But as of now, not a single warhead has been moved ".
20:24 Kiev is negotiating with manufacturers from Germany, Italy, France and Eastern Europe regarding the production of drones in Ukraine, Sergey Boev, Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries, said in a comment to Reuters. "We are having very detailed discussions with them. And we are confident that we will have contracts signed within the next few months," he added.
20:19 France changed its position and decided to support Ukraine's membership in NATO on the model of Poland and the Baltic countries, writes Le Monde, citing sources. According to the publication, at a meeting of the Council of Defense in the Elysee Palace on June 12, the possibility of Ukraine's entry into NATO "as an independent guarantee of security" was considered. "This could deter Russia from continuing the war or, in the event of an end to the conflict, prevent further aggression," the newspaper notes.
In addition, Paris believes that a hint at the prospect of Ukraine's membership in NATO could convince Zelensky to start negotiations with Russia when he decides the time is right.
20:15 During the day, the Russians fired four times at Nikopol and the Marganets community of the Dnipropetrovsk region. One person was injured, a canteen, an administrative building, a sports facility, eight private houses, cars, power lines were damaged, said the head of the OVA, Serhiy Lysak.
20:02 In the south, the offensive of Ukrainian forces continues in several directions, there "everything is going according to the plan established by the military," Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said. She clarified that there are “certain advances” in all directions where the Ukrainian military is moving. "But the enemy will not just give up their positions, and therefore fierce battles and a very powerful duel continue," she added. Also, the enemy mines fields and even settlements.
At the same time, the Russians are advancing in the Kupyansky and Limansky directions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are on the defensive. Malyar stressed that it is incorrect to assess the effectiveness of the actions of the military solely by kilometers or the number of liberated settlements, "because there are a lot of evaluation criteria - this is a whole complex of evaluation, and many tasks are set for the military."
In turn, the commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, also noted that the enemy has become more active in the Liman-Kupyansk direction, is attempting assault operations, and is conducting reconnaissance. The defense forces repel attacks and destroy enemy UAVs.
19:53 The Slovak Parliament recognized the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.
19:49 The New York Times, citing documents from the Ukrainian government, writes that everything is not so smooth with the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine. According to the publication, part of the Western military equipment was not delivered to Kyiv, despite the signed contracts, and the other was in such a bad condition that it was suitable only for parsing for spare parts. More details - in the material Weapons from the West .
19:04 The Kremlin "recommended" the heads of a number of Russian regions not to publish information on the number of deaths during the "special operation" and obituaries. The publication of this information "worries the inhabitants of the regions", and journalists use it to count the number of victims. The Nestka publication received confirmations from Buryatia, the Vologda Oblast, Tuva and three other regions. Also, a high-ranking representative of the parliament told reporters about the decision to hide obituaries.
A source in the parliament clarified: this is precisely the request of the Russian Defense Ministry to representatives of several regions, where there were especially many losses, because "there was a fear that this would lead to unrest." Also, the Ministry of Defense reacts very painfully to the publication of journalistic investigations that refute the official information of the military department about the number of military dead.
18:55 In early June, the Russian Orthodox Church announced that it had handed over 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary. The transfer took place without the knowledge of official Kyiv, and Budapest was silent for a long time about this. The story of the Ukrainian prisoners is quite confusing and continues to this day. For more details, see Captured Ukrainians in Hungary .
18:14 The Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest managed to take three Ukrainian prisoners of war out of Hungary. They are already on Ukrainian territory, they are being supported, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said. The Ukrainian side continues to take measures to return home the rest of the Ukrainian defenders evacuated from Russia to Hungary.
17:57 Blinken announced a new aid package, which he will announce on Wednesday, June 21, at a conference on the restoration of Ukraine in London.
17:33 Danilov said that one of the main priorities for the Ukrainian army is the "artillery bleeding" of Russian troops. According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are destroying artillery and other fire destruction systems and their crews to the maximum to clear the theater of operations. The destruction of Russian command posts, ammunition depots, fuel, food, supply routes is also underway. "Such work by Ukrainian defenders is excellent. The indicators of the destruction of enemy equipment have reached almost the maximum since the start of the war," the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council noted.
17:19 Budanov said that half an hour before the destruction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, a command was recorded by the Russian military to leave the territory of the station. He emphasized that this artificial man-made disaster was committed by Russia deliberately, and there are many facts confirming this:
“The most interesting thing is that in half an hour they reached the unit located at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station via the radio network and told them to pack up and leave this territory very quickly. At the same time, there was a special group. And after that, what happened happened. an interesting fact is that all the units of the Russian occupation forces that were nearby did not really know that this action would take place. And this event took them by surprise."
17:06 The Russians mined the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, in particular the station's cooler, Budanov said. He recalled that due to the fact that the invaders destroyed the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, they violated the normal access of water to the coolers at the ZNPP. "But the second, the worst, is that the ZNPP was additionally mined. And the worst thing is that the cooler was mined. If they put it out of action, then there is a high probability that there will be significant problems," the head of the GUR noted.
16:47 Trump said that his conversation with Putin allegedly delayed the war in Ukraine for several years. According to the former US president, he warned Putin that the invasion would cost "hellishly expensive." At the same time, he described relations with the Russian leader as "very good" and once again stated that Putin would not start a full-scale war against Ukraine if he were the President of the United States. Trump also reiterated that he could end the conflict within 24 hours.
16:42 The Armed Forces of Ukraine, when advancing in the south, faced well-prepared Russian defenses, Stoltenberg said: "We know that the Ukrainians are facing heavy rain, Russian resistance. The Russians were able to establish well-prepared defense lines with minefields, trenches." At the same time, the Secretary General expressed confidence that the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is making the right operational decisions, and the Ukrainian army is advancing, despite the resistance of the Russians.
16:18 Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova published a joint photo with the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov and Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine Matsuda Kuninori. "Not a dummy, all participants of the meeting are alive and well," she wrote.
Also, a fresh photo of Zaluzhny appeared on the network: it was published by the speaker of the Ukroboronprom concern, Natalya Sad. Also present in the photo are Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykola Oleshchuk and Director of Ukroboronprom Yuriy Gusev. “After the successful use of our drone for 1000 km,” Sade wrote.
For several weeks now, Russian propaganda has been spreading rumors about serious injuries, then about the death of Budanov and Zaluzhny.
16:05 The Russians fired on the rescuers in Kherson, who were clearing the silt. As a result of the shelling, one employee of the State Emergency Service was killed, eight more were injured, the President's Office reported.
15:39 The defense forces are advancing in the Tauride direction, Alexander Tarnavsky, commander of the Tavria operational-strategic grouping, said. According to him, over the past 24 hours, the enemy’s losses in killed and wounded amounted to more than five companies, 46 pieces of enemy military equipment were destroyed and damaged, and five ammunition storage sites were destroyed.
15:13 Russia believes that July 18 "will be the time for the completion of the grain deal," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said.
15:11 Lavrov said that if NATO is against freezing the conflict in Ukraine, "it means they want to fight, Moscow is ready for this."
14:44 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed the EU plans to provide Ukraine with a financial assistance package worth 50 billion euros for the next four years.
14:37 The working group of the "Crimean Parliament" came to the conclusion that "there was not a single reason for the transfer of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954." "Head of Parliament" Vladimir Konstantinov said that the "deputies" would seek the "cancellation" of all the acts that "formalized this arbitrariness."
14:34 The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a law on the possibility of conscripted conscripts to military service under a contract. According to the document, during the period of mobilization or in wartime, those who committed minor crimes, if they wish, will be able to conclude a contract.
14:25 People began to return to their homes after flooding, said Alexander Khorunzhiy, spokesman for the State Emergency Service. According to him, the main work on evacuation from the disaster zone after the explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station has already been carried out. At the same time, he warned that the course of the Dnieper could bring explosive objects into the yards - they must be reported to 101.
14:21 In Russia, after the start of the war in Ukraine, for the first time in 20 years, the number of violent crimes increased. The largest growth occurred in the front-line regions, according to the Can Explain channel . Thus, in 2022, in the Belgorod region, the registered number of murders and attempted murders doubled (from 52 to 102), in the Kursk region - by a third (from 58 to 89). There is also growth in regions with a large number of mobilized: in Buryatia, the number of murders and attempted murders increased by 24%.
13:56 The Russians have stepped up in the Limansky and Kupyansky directions, said the speaker of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergey Cherevaty. According to him, the main attacking force was the so-called Storm Z assault companies. Russia is repeating the practice in these areas that was previously used in the Bakhmut area, which "led to the same consequences," Cherevaty added.
13:37 The transfer of F-16 fighters to Ukraine will take months, said Stanley Brown, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs. According to him, one of the first steps will be a license to train Ukrainian pilots. Brown noted that the State Department is already working on relevant requests from third countries to begin training pilots. "Our actions are historic. Things that used to take months and weeks are happening in a few hours," he added.
13:34 The Office of the President named some figures after the Russians blew up the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station:
Slicks of oil and oil weighing at least 150 tons are drifting along the Dnieper, they can reach the Mediterranean.
More than 50,000 hectares of Ukrainian forests have been flooded, and at least half of them will die. This is more than the area of forests in Iceland.
The Kakhovka reservoir is covered with dead fish - this is about 95 thousand tons of living biological resources.
On the shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria and Turkey, dead dolphins from the Ukrainian coast are found - more than 150 cases have been officially recorded. It is possible that the current will bring roe deer, foxes and hares from the southern region of Ukraine to these countries. About 20 thousand individuals of wild animals lived in the flooded area.
"There should be strict responsibility for ecocide for Russian terrorists," the OP stressed.
13:09 Ukrainian prisoners of war were not released after being transferred to Hungary, spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate Andrei Yusov told Radio Liberty: “There is information, in particular from relatives of several prisoners, that in fact they were not released all this time. They were in conditions under supervision, contacts and communications were limited. Communication with relatives in the presence of third parties, limited." According to him, Ukraine has a preliminary list of prisoners of war transferred to Hungary, but it cannot confirm their names.
Yusov said that the Ukrainian side knew about Russian plans to transfer Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary even before official statements, Kyiv sent requests to confirm or refute this information, but Budapest denied the fact of this operation.
12:48 Zelensky signed laws on the abolition of VAT and import duties on components for drones. Now importers are exempt from paying for materials, assemblies, assemblies, equipment and components for UAVs during martial law, said Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov. According to him, this is the next step towards scaling the production of drones.
12:46 Shoigu said that the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly plans to strike "on the territory of Russia, including Crimea," with Himars and Storm Shadow missiles. According to him, the use of these missiles "outside the special operation zone" will mean "full-fledged involvement of the United States and Britain in the conflict and will entail immediate strikes on decision-making centers" in Ukraine.
12:42 In the morning, the Russians fired at the residential areas of Kherson - residential buildings, a kindergarten, an educational institution and a service station were damaged. According to preliminary information, one person died, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin. An ambulance brigade also fell under enemy strikes, medical workers were not injured.
12:17 G7 countries will step up efforts to deprive Russia of access to components used to manufacture missiles, the Japanese presidency announced.
11:44 NATO will not yet provide Ukraine with a clear timetable for joining the Alliance, as required by Kiev, Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said. At the same time, he confirmed that the Alliance would take "a step towards rapprochement" with Ukraine.
11:23 Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest was not involved in the removal of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia. According to him, the transfer of Ukrainians to the Hungarian side took place after "discussions between the church and religious organizations, in which the Hungarian state did not take any part." Szijjarto added that the prisoners transferred to Hungary can contact the Ukrainian authorities "if they want."
11:20 "Authorities" of the occupied Nova Kakhovka said that Ukrainian kamikaze drones attacked the city, allegedly four employees of the utility company were wounded.
11:18 The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation stated that it had appealed to employees of Ukrainian government agencies abroad, inviting them to come to Moscow and promising that they would be "guaranteed safety" there. According to the SVR, "large-scale purges" are allegedly going on in the foreign institutions of Ukraine, aimed at identifying "disloyal to Kyiv" employees. Against this background, the trend towards non-return to Kyiv of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and special services, whom Moscow is calling to itself, is allegedly gaining momentum.
11:13 A court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Denis Muryga, a Ukrainian soldier from the Aidar battalion, to 16 years in prison. He was "accused" of blowing up a bridge in the occupied part of the Lugansk region. Russian media write that he "admitted his guilt in full."
10:49 Russians fired artillery at the Yunakovskaya and Krasnopolskaya communities of the Sumy region - one person died, three were injured, including a 12-year-old child, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported.
10:24 In the occupied territory of the Kherson region, the death toll after the explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station has risen to 38, Russian media report, citing emergency services.
10:19 Drones flew to Lviv tonight due to a lack of air defense systems, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: "Today, air defense is located where it is most needed, protecting large cities, infrastructure facilities, nuclear power facilities and the front line. Trite there are not enough air defense systems, and this is to put it mildly, in order to cover a state like Ukraine with a cap, as the state of Israel did."
According to Ignat, it is difficult for mobile fireteams with small arms alone to shoot down attack UAVs at night, which, moreover, fly along riverbeds using different routes. Soviet aviation also cannot effectively shoot down "Shaheds".
10:07 Biden, speaking to a group of donors in California, called the real threat of Putin's use of nuclear weapons: "When I was here about two years ago and said that I was worried about the drying up of the Colorado River, everyone looked at me like I was crazy. They looked at me the way I did when I said I was worried about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It's real."
09:50 In the Kiev region, as a result of a night attack by drones, non-residential buildings and several private houses were damaged in one of the districts. In addition, the grass bed caught fire due to falling debris. There are no victims or injured, said the head of the OVA Ruslan Kravchenko.
09:38 In Lvov, the Russians delivered three strikes on a critical facility, said the head of the OVA Maxim Kozitsky. The ceiling between floors was damaged, windows were broken, a fire broke out. There are no victims or injured.
09:22 On the evening of June 19, in the Donetsk direction, a Ka-52 attack helicopter was destroyed by a unit of anti-aircraft missile forces of the Air Force, the command of the Armed Forces reported.
08:47 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, five people were injured, the same number in Kherson, according to the OVA.
08:40 Ukrainian troops are successful in the Melitopol and Berdyansk directions, the speaker of the General Staff Andriy Kovalev said: "Over the past day, in the directions of Novodarovka - Priyutnoye, Makarovka - Rivnopol and Novodanilovka - Robotino, the Ukrainian military had partial success, they are fixed on the achieved lines." The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on defense and preventing the advance of Ukrainian troops, using reserves, trying to restore the lost position.
08:37 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of June 20.
personnel - about 221,460 (+1010) people liquidated,
tanks - 3997 (+8),
armored combat vehicles - 7750 (+15),
artillery systems - 3888 (+23),
MLRS - 614 (+4),
air defense systems - 372 (+2),
aircraft - 314 (+0),
helicopters - 306 (+1),
UAV operational-tactical level - 3393 (+10),
cruise missiles - 1214 (+3),
ships/boats - 18 (+0),
automotive equipment and tankers - 6645 (+32),
special equipment - 531 (+5).
08:32 Air defense forces destroyed 32 out of 35 Shahed-136/131 drones at night , which the Russians launched at military and infrastructure facilities in Ukraine, the command of the Air Force reported. Launches were carried out from the northern and southern directions - the Bryansk region and the eastern coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. Air defense worked in most regions of Ukraine, but the main direction of attack by Iranian drones is the Kiev region. More than 20 UAVs have been destroyed here.
In addition, at night the Russians attacked Zaporozhye with ballistics - Iskander-M/S-300 missiles.
08:06 The Russian army is concentrating its main efforts on the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions, there are heavy battles. Over the past day, 45 clashes took place, the General Staff said in the morning summary .
07:41 The EU today will announce a new package of financial assistance to Ukraine for 50 billion euros, writes Bloomberg, citing sources. Assistance will be provided in the form of grants, preferential loans and guarantees. With the help of this money, the current expenses of the Ukrainian government and urgent reconstruction will be financed. The plan is designed for 2024-2027. Unlike previous financial packages, the new package for Ukraine will be funded by contributions from member states rather than market loans, one of the agency's sources said.
07:23 At night, the Russians attacked Lviv and the region with drones, there is a hit in a critical infrastructure facility, people were not injured, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said.
06:39 At night, the Russians attacked Kiev with drones, according to preliminary information - Shahed barrage ammunition. This is the second attack on the capital by Iranian drones since the beginning of the month and the first in the last 18 days, said Sergey Popko, head of the KGVA. Drones entered the capital in waves, from different directions. In the airspace around Kyiv, about 20 enemy targets were detected and destroyed. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
04:05 The Russian army attacked Zaporozhye and the suburbs at night - communications, property and equipment of agricultural and farming, as well as a popular vacation spot, were damaged. There was no information about the victims, said the head of the OVA, Yuri Malashko.
00:37 Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said in a CNN commentary that Hungary released Ukrainian prisoners transferred by the Russian Orthodox Church. He clarified that the Ukrainian military were released in the Russian Federation "after cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Hungarian Charitable Service of the Order of Malta." At the same time, Kovacs noted that the military left for Hungary of their own free will. According to him, most of the military also had Hungarian citizenship, while others "received refugee status in Hungary."
"Now they are free people who can stay in Hungary or leave Hungary at any time of their own free will," Kovacs said, adding that the Hungarian government no longer monitors their movements.
00:22 Macron said that the Franco-Italian SAMP / T missile defense system has already been deployed in Ukraine.
00:10 Danilov said that the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is proceeding according to a well-thought-out plan: "Everything is going according to the plan that was approved and developed. There are no deviations from the plan. A limited circle of people knows what kind of plan it is." At the same time, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council emphasized that one should not expect quick results from the counteroffensive, since this is not the work of days or even weeks.