Friday, June 7

Russia’s war against Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron while arriving at a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day at the Normandy American Cemetery on June 6, 2024 in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Zelensky arrives in France for D-Day commemorations. President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in France ahead of the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy on June 6.

Parliament ratifies EU Ukraine Facility framework agreement, Ukraine to receive more than $17 billion in 2024. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, ratified on June 6 the terms for which Kyiv will receive 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in macro-finance support from the EU until 2027, known as the Ukraine Facility.

Putin threatens to supply weapons to third parties to strike Western targets. “Secondly, we think that if somebody considers supplying such weapons to a combat zone to strike our territory… then why don’t we have the right to supply comparable weapons to regions where they could be used to strike sensitive targets of countries that do this to Russia?” Vladimir Putin said.

Kakhovka power plant could be rebuilt in 6-7 years once liberated, Ukrhydroenergo says. Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the adjacent dam exactly one year ago, on June 6, 2023, causing a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine.

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Military: Russian forces using thermobaric munitions in attacks on Chasiv Yar.

Thermobaric munitions “destroy and burn everything in their path,” said Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia group of forces.

AP: US to announce $225 million military aid package to Ukraine, including HIMARS rockets. The new package will include new HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) ammunition, mortar systems, and artillery shells, among other ammunition and equipment, the AP reported.

Russian proxy in Ukraine claims occupied territories may be incorporated into new Russian federal district. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and subsequently expanded its unlawful seizure of the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia after the full-scale war in 2022.

France to transfer Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine, Macron announces.

Speaking to French TV after the end of the 80th anniversary of D-Day commemorations in Normandy, the French president also said his country would train Ukrainian pilots.

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Ukraine war latest: Russian tugboat destroyed, Biden calls Putin ‘tyrant bent on domination’

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) carried out a naval strike in occupied Crimea overnight on June 6, destroying a Project 498 “Saturn” raiding tugboat, the agency said.

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Why did US hesitate to allow Ukraine to hit Russia with American weapons?

The lifting of some restrictions comes after a vocal push in recent weeks by leaders across Europe and NATO’s parliamentary assembly, pressing the United States to allow for Ukraine to defend itself by striking Russian territory.

Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds /AFP via Getty Images

Looking back at the Khakhovka Dam explosion one year later (Photos)

When Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Dam on June 6, 2023, they changed the landscape of southern Ukraine permanently.

Photo: Roman Pilipey/Getty Images

Opinion: Elon Musk, ‘Civilization,’ and Ukraine – how computer games shape our reality

For better or worse, memes and video games might now play a more significant role in shaping people’s worldviews than textbooks, movies, and literature.

Illustration: Heorhii Cherednichenko

Human cost of war

Russian attacks on Donetsk, Kherson oblasts kill 1, injure 5. Russian attacks against Kherson and Donetsk Oblasts on June 6 killed one person and injured five, regional authorities said.

Culture Ministry: 91 media workers killed by Russian invasion. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has so far killed 91 media workers, the Culture Ministry reported on June 6, a day marked in Ukraine as Journalists’ Day.

Photographing Ukraine’s modern saints

International response

Russian warships heading for Caribbean exercises, US not notified, AP reports. Russian warships are being tracked on their way to the Caribbean, U.S. officials said on June 5, adding they had not been notified in advance by the Kremlin of the military activity.

Hungary to participate in Ukraine’s peace summit, FM confirms. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto confirmed his participation at Ukraine’s peace summit while visiting St. Petersburg for the International Economic Forum, the Hungarian news outlet Telex reported on June 6.

‘We’re not authorizing strikes on Moscow,’ Biden says on Ukraine’s use of US arms. Washington is not authorizing Kyiv to carry out long-range strikes with U.S.-supplied weapons on locations far from the border with Ukraine, such as Moscow, U.S. President Joe Biden told ABC News on June 6.

Budapest not planning to lift ban on Ukrainian grain import, Hungarian FM says. The Hungarian government isn’t planning on lifting its ban on Ukrainian grain imports, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on June 6 while visiting St. Petersburg, Russia, for the International Economic Forum, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.

‘A tyrant bent on domination,’ Biden says of Putin during D-Day speech. Speaking in front of 180 World War 2 veterans, Biden linked the struggle against the fascism of Nazi Germany with that of Kyiv’s against Russia.

Taiwan prohibits export of essential component for shells to Russia and Belarus. Taiwan’s Ministry of Economy has decided to expand sanctions against Russia and Belarus by prohibiting the export of nitrocellulose, a crucial component used in projectile production.

In other news

At least 2 Ukrainian women killed in train collision in Czechia. The death toll included two Ukrainian women, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said, adding that the citizenship of the other two fatalities is being determined.

International reserves declined by almost 8% in May, National Bank says. The NBU’s international reserves have fluctuated significantly since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war, dropping as low as $22 billion in July 2022.

US imposes ‘first tranche’ of sanctions against Georgian officials. The initial round of sanctions entailed travel bans on “dozens” of individuals, including members of the ruling Georgian Dream party, other members of parliament, law enforcement, and other private citizens, said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Polish border guard dies after being wounded in attack on Belarusian border.

The guard was stabbed with a makeshift spear through the border fence between Poland and Belarus on May 28.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Sonya Bandouil, Dmytro Basmat, Teah Pelechaty, Elsa Court, Dominic Culverwell, Martin Fornusek, Elsa Court, Kateryna Hodunova, and Chris York.

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