Saturday, June 15

Russia’s war against Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives in Switzerland on June 14, 2024. (President of Ukraine)

Zelensky says Putin’s ultimatum on peace talks is a ‘revival of Nazism’. “What he’s doing is a revival of Nazism,” Zelensky said. “…He wants us to renounce our occupied territories but he also wants our unoccupied territories. He… doesn’t intend to stop, and there will be no frozen conflict.”

Air Force: Ukraine downs 24 of 31 Russian aerial targets overnight. Ukrainian air defense shot down all of the 17 Shahed-type attack drones and seven of the 14 missiles launched by Russia overnight on June 14, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said.

Zelensky discusses peace, return of abducted Ukrainian children with Pope. President Volodymyr Zelensky met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy on June 14, and discussed topics including establishing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

Putin claims Russia has almost 700,000 soldiers fighting in Ukraine. Almost 700,000 Russian troops are fighting in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 14 while speaking at a public event with Russian military personnel.

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Governor: 12 Ukrainian children returned from Russian-occupied areas. Over 19,500 children have been confirmed as abducted by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and fewer than 400 of them have been brought back home, according to the Children of War database.

Zelensky arrives in Switzerland as 92 countries confirm peace summit attendance. The Delegation of the President of the Swiss Confederation released a list detailing the confirmed attendees, which include 57 heads of state and 29 representatives on a ministerial level.

Putin names ceasefire demands, including Kyiv’s complete withdrawal from four Ukrainian regions. Speaking on the eve of the global peace summit in Switzerland on June 15-16, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian troops must leave Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, and Kyiv must abandon any ambition to join NATO.

Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger Brigade says it ‘destroyed entire Russian tank company.’ Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger Brigade released a video on June 14 purporting to show its forces taking out an entire Russian tank company during fighting in the Pokrovsk direction in the east of the country.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv claims ‘entire Russian tank company destroyed’ in Donbas

Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger Brigade released a video on June 14 purporting to show its forces taking out an entire Russian tank company during fighting in the Pokrovsk area, in Donetsk Oblast.

Photo: Facebook/68th Jaeger Brigade

Ukrainian women shared their accounts of rape by Russian forces. We found their assailants

The Kyiv Independent’s new documentary “He Came Back” shares the accounts of two women who were raped by Russian soldiers in the early weeks of the all-out invasion.

Illustration: The Kyiv Independent

Human cost of war

Ukraine retrieves bodies of 254 fallen soldiers. The Geneva Conventions dictate that people who lost their lives during war are entitled to a dignified burial. Over 2,400 fallen soldiers have been repatriated to Ukraine in the last two years.

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 1, injure 20 over past day. Russia targeted a total of 10 Ukrainian oblasts — Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytskyi Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Donetsk. Casualties were reported in the latter five regions.

International response

G7 warns Russia against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Russia deploying nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine would be “inadmissible,” the Group of Seven (G7) warned in a joint statement on June 14 as the two-day G7 summit in Italy drew to a close.

EU ambassadors approve starting accession talks with Ukraine on June 25. EU ambassadors agreed on the framework for the EU accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova, allowing talks to start on June 25, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU announced on June 14.

Stoltenberg: NATO fails to agree on long-term financial support for Ukraine. NATO allies have “not yet agreed” on a long-term financial pledge for Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Jun 14 after a two-day meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels.

North Korea could send up to 5 million artillery shells to Russia, Seoul says. Seoul spotted at least 10,000 containers being shipped from North Korea to Russia, South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said. Pyongyang also sent dozens of ballistic missiles that Moscow troops launch against Ukraine, he added.

Ukraine preparing 10 more bilateral security agreements, Zelensky says. Over 30 countries have joined the Group of Seven (G7) Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine so far. The U.S. and Japan joined 15 other countries on June 13, including the U.K., Germany, and France, that have signed similar bilateral treaties to help Kyiv repel Russia’s aggression.

Germany announces new military aid package for Ukraine, including HIMARS, Leopards. Initially a hesitant partner, Berlin has become Ukraine’s second-largest military donor after the U.S.

Ammunition from Prague-led initiative arriving in Ukraine, Czech foreign minister says. Ammunition provided under the Czech-led initiative is now arriving in Ukraine and will continue to flow, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told RFE/RL on June 13.

Ex-NATO commander calls for further lifting restrictions on Ukrainian strikes against Russia. Last month Washington finally allowed Kyiv to use some U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia, but only across the border from Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts.

In other news

Man suspected of murdering 9-year-old Ukrainian in Germany arrested in Prague. Czech police arrested a Moldovan man on June 14 under suspicion of involvement in the murder of a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl in Germany, who disappeared on her way to school on June 3.

Politico: Belarus supplied arms to Azerbaijan in ‘betrayal’ to Armenia. Belarus delivered advanced weapons to Azerbaijan for years, despite being in a Russia-led security alliance with Armenia, Politico reported on June 13, citing a cache of leaked documents.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Dmytro Basmat, Abbey Fenbert, Martin Fornusek, Kateryna Hodunova, Katya Denisova, Elsa Court, Liliane Bivings, and Nate Ostiller.

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