[Korrespondent] 23:02 Ukrainian pilots will be able to master the F-16 in four months, not the standard six, but Ukraine will not receive aircraft until 2024, since the training course for engineers and technicians lasts longer, Reznikov said. He also noted that the airfields for these aircraft will be on the territory of Ukraine.
22:56 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he had held a meeting of the military cabinet: "Our commanders are generals Syrsky, Tarnovsky, Zaluzhny, Shaptala. And our commanders in specific areas of active operations - I don’t name names yet: there is a time for everything. Our movement forward - this is the most important thing. And there was Budanov - separate steps."
22:51 In the Donetsk direction, the Russian attack helicopter Ka-52 was destroyed, the command of the Air Force reported.
22:46 The United States does not see any signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said, commenting on Putin's statement about the transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus. According to him, Washington also sees no need to change its defensive position.
22:35 Ukraine has agreed with the Czech Republic and Slovakia on the purchase and repair of infantry fighting vehicles, Reznikov said, promising to announce the details of the agreement later.
22:02 The Defense Forces continue to carry out both offensive and defensive operations and have partial success, although they operate in the conditions of the enemy's aviation and artillery superiority, said Anna Malyar, Deputy Defense Minister. According to her, in the areas where the Armed Forces of Ukraine are on the defensive, not a single position was lost and the enemy could not advance. In the east, the enemy holds a significant number of forces, which he continues to build up, moving additional units from other directions to the Bakhmut direction.
In the Bakhmut direction, the overall intensity of hostilities somewhat decreased. Ukrainian troops carry out offensive operations in separate areas, occupying dominant heights, forest belts in order to gradually oust the enemy from the approaches to Bakhmut. In the south, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are conducting active offensive operations in several directions at once, they have tactical success in almost all areas, moving forward up to 2 km in each direction.
21:54 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, during a press conference with Zelensky, nevertheless confirmed rocket attacks on Kiev: "Today, during our visit, we heard rocket attacks. Such activities do not work very well in the matter of establishing peace, so we are talking about the need de-escalation on both sides so that peace can come and the problem is resolved."
21:45 Zelensky said that in the course of negotiations with the African delegation, he invited African states to take part in the Global Peace Summit, as well as present his vision of how to overcome the consequences of the crimes committed by Russia and prevent their recurrence. In addition, the President addressed the participants of the meeting with a proposal to present their vision of how we can do more together for food security and the creation, in particular, of grain hubs.
"But first of all, we must restore the full force of the UN Charter and stop this brutal Russian aggression and liberate our land, our people from the Russian imperial evil. This requires global efforts," Zelensky stressed.
21:09 President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa named ten components of the position of the countries of the African Union in relation to the Ukrainian-Russian war. "The main component that we brought here is that this war must be settled, there must be peace through negotiations through the diplomatic path," he said.
20:37 The Polish Sejm adopted a resolution on Ukraine's membership in NATO.
20:06 During the day, the Russians fired several times from artillery at Nikopol in the Dnepropetrovsk region - one person was killed, one was injured, the head of the OVA, Serhiy Lysak, said. 17 private houses and 16 outbuildings, three gas pipelines and a power line were damaged in the city.
20:02 The points of the African "peace plan" involve the easing of sanctions against Russia in exchange for the withdrawal of the occupying troops. For more information about what message the leaders of African countries brought and what kind of "peace plan" they are promoting, barter is offered to Kiev in the material .
19:38 The Belgian Council of Ministers has approved the 15th military aid package for Ukraine, said Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder. As part of the package, the country will purchase and transfer tracked armored personnel carriers of the M113 type to Kyiv as soon as the Belgian defense industry enterprises bring them into proper condition. The vehicles were decommissioned by the Belgian army ten years ago, their number is not specified.
19:33 Zelensky said during a meeting with an African delegation that "the cessation of Russian terror and the withdrawal of all their troops from the territory of Ukraine is what can stop this war." The President stressed that Ukraine and the world do not need either frozen conflicts or smoldering wars - they need peace.
19:27 The Ukrainian military has already managed to break through the initial positions of the Russian army on a wide sector of the front, but so far they are far from the main defensive line. About how the counteroffensive is going on - in the material Decisive phase ahead .
19:02 The United States is providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $205 million, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said. The new package includes food, drinking water, protective equipment, education, legal aid, affordable housing, medical care. According to Blinken, the total amount of humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine in fiscal year 2023 exceeds $605 million, and since February 2022, this figure is more than $2.1 billion.
18:28 About 112,000 residents of the Kherson and Nikolaev regions, who suffered from the Russian explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, will receive a one-time cash payment of 11,600 hryvnias: 5,000 from the government and 6,600 from the UN International Organization for Migration. Payments will begin next week, said Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk.
18:10 The number of victims of a missile strike in the Kiev region has increased to seven, said the head of the regional police Andrei Nebytov.
He also said that in the Buchansk region there was a massive detonation of enemy ammunition due to rocket attacks in the Kiev region and a forest fire near Zdvizhivka. The detonation takes place at the former positions of the Russian army.
17:59 Putin said that the task of "denazification" of Ukraine is one of the key ones. He also did not rule out that if there had been a different administration in the United States, it would have been possible to "take a different path" in the situation with Ukraine.
Commenting on the possibility of using nuclear weapons, Putin said that the Russian Federation does not have such a need, "Kyiv has no military successes." Theoretically, this will be possible "if a threat is created to the existence of the Russian state," the head of the Kremlin added. At the same time, he stressed that Russia has more nuclear weapons than the NATO countries: "They want us to reduce it - fuck them." According to Putin, Russia has moved the first part of the promised nuclear charges to Belarus, "we will complete the task completely by the end of the year."
In addition, Putin claims that Russia can destroy any building in the center of Kiev, but does not: "If we destroyed five Patriot complexes near Kiev, why should we destroy any building and structure in the center of Kiev?"
17:45 NATO intends to hold the first meeting of the newly created NATO-Ukraine Council at the Vilnius summit in July, Stoltenberg said.
17:36 As a result of the Russian strike on Kherson, 23 people were injured , including three children, the President's Office reported. The Tavrichesky microdistrict, the Ship district and the central part of the city were under fire. A medical institution, a kindergarten, a supermarket, residential buildings, cars, power lines were damaged.
17:24 Ukrainian forces continue offensive operations in the Tauride direction and have advanced to a distance of 200 meters to 1 km in the Melitopol, Berdyansk and Mariupol directions, said Valery Shershen, spokesman for the Defense Forces of the Tauride direction. According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are having difficulty overcoming enemy defenses due to powerful engineering barriers. In turn, the Russians in certain sections of the first line are pulling up reserves from the second line of defense.
16:52 Estonia has prepared a legal decision that will allow the use of the frozen assets of the Russian Federation as compensation for the restoration of Ukraine, said Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. According to him, the Foreign Ministry will soon submit to the government a draft amendment to the law.
16:23 Stoltenberg said that Kiev will not receive an invitation to the Alliance at the July summit in Vilnius, "but we will discuss how we can bring Ukraine closer to NATO." According to him, as part of the creation of a new Ukraine-NATO Council, "Ukraine will be joined to NATO members." "We agreed that the doors of NATO are open, and Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance, and this is the decision of the allies and Ukraine. Russia has no veto right," the Secretary General stressed.
16:15 Sweden, as part of a new package of military assistance to Ukraine, will train Ukrainian pilots on Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighters. The country's government reported that the total amount of the new package is about 250 million Swedish kronor (about 21.5 million euros).
15:58 Russia wants to blow up the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in order to impose Putin's conditions on Ukraine, Zelensky said in an interview with NBC News: "Russia wants to blow up the nuclear power plant. Because, just like with the dam, they are not interested in security in Ukraine. They constantly need destabilization here, and they want the world to put pressure on Ukraine for the option they want to end this conflict."
15:50 Sweden, as part of a new assistance package to Ukraine, will create logistics and service centers for military equipment that Sweden transferred to Ukraine - among other things, these are CV-90 combat vehicles, Leopard tanks, Archer and Robot 70 type artillery mounts. According to Defense Minister Paul Jonsson, the activities of the centers should begin in early autumn. They will be located in Europe, but not far from Ukraine - for example, in Poland.
15:22 Press Secretary of the President of South Africa Vincent Magvenya called "funny" reports of explosions in Kiev during the visit of the African delegation. According to him, they did not hear any explosions, and people calmly walked through the streets during the alarm: “We were all puzzled when we were taken back to the hotel and we drove through the streets where people were having a normal day. This is very strange and in some In that sense, it is deliberate misinformation."
14:39 The Russians fired at residential areas of Kherson - at least six wounded are known, the Office of the Prosecutor General said. High-rise buildings, administrative buildings of medical and educational institutions, vehicles, power lines were damaged. The shelling continues.
14:18 In the Kiev region, as a result of falling debris from downed Russian missiles, more than 30 houses were damaged, four people were injured, including two children, said the head of the regional police Andrey Nebytov.
13:45 As a result of a rocket attack on the Kiev region, two people were injured, residential buildings and a store were damaged in one of the districts of the region, the Office of the Prosecutor General said.
13:29 In the Bakhmut direction over the past two days, there has been a minimum of military clashes, the enemy has become much more accurate, realizing that the Defense Forces will take advantage of any miss for counterattacks, said the speaker of the Eastern Group of Forces Sergei Cherevaty.
The enemy has been trying to attack in the Limano-Kupyansk direction for many weeks, but the situation remains under control, they have not even achieved local success, Cherevaty noted. He added that the enemy is constantly trying to strengthen both the Bakhmut and Liman-Kupyansk directions by rotating troops.
12:53 The visit of African leaders to Ukraine is going "well, as planned," said the representative of the President of South Africa after the rocket attack on Kiev.
12:32 During the daytime attack on Kiev, according to preliminary data, six Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, six Caliber cruise missiles and two reconnaissance UAVs were detected and successfully destroyed, the Air Force command reported. There were no reports of casualties or damage, said Sergey Popko, head of the KGVA. At the same time, he stressed that there is a high probability of repeated missile attacks in the near future.
12:04 Kuleba said that the Russian missile attack during the stay of African leaders in Kiev is a message to Africa: Russia seeks only war, not peace.
11:59 German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius did not rule out that NATO allies may agree to a simplified entry of Ukraine into the Alliance. At the same time, NATO excludes the possibility of Ukraine joining while it is in a state of active war.
Pistorius also said that Germany would "immediately" provide Ukraine with another 64 guided missiles for Patriot systems.
11:42 "Authorities" of the occupied Kherson region announced 25 dead after the explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, another 17 people were missing.
11:36 The military administration of Kiev and the Air Force warn of the threat of the use of ballistic missiles. Before that, air defense worked in the capital and the region. Meanwhile, an African delegation visited Bucha.
11:05 Yermak said that he had a meeting in Kiev with the EU Special Envoy for the Implementation of Sanctions David O'Sullivan. The head of the Presidential Office stressed that the EU should more actively involve the Ukrainian team in sanctions work, because the Ukrainian side has information about persons close to the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation who are directly involved in the war against Ukraine or support Russian aggression.
As an example, he cited the recent public calls by Russian propagandists for the destruction of Ukrainian equipment and the promise of a "reward" for this. "We expect these propagandists to fall under sanctions," Yermak stressed. Also during the meeting, the parties discussed the prospects for the introduction of a new 11th package of EU sanctions.
10:43 Peskov said that the "Ukrainian problem" can be solved in different ways, Putin supports "any set of ideas to end the conflict."
10:37 At the St. Petersburg Forum, mobile Internet will be turned off before Putin's arrival - ostensibly to carry out "technical work", but in fact in order to secure the forum site from a possible attack by drones, Meduza reports.
10:16 The Russians continue to move some of the most combat-ready units to the Bakhmut direction, Alexander Syrsky, commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said. "At the same time, we continue to conduct offensive operations in separate directions, occupying dominant heights, forest belts in order to gradually oust the enemy from the approaches to Bakhmut. Realizing this, enemy units are putting up desperate resistance," he said.
According to Syrsky, in this regard, Ukrainian plans require periodic adjustments and clarifications, this is what his work in the troops is now devoted to.
10:07 Ukraine has established the exact location and names of 11 prisoners handed over to Hungary, Oleg Kotenko, Commissioner for Missing Persons, said. According to him, until that time, there was no information about seven out of 11 Ukrainians.
10:05 British intelligence reports that Russian General Sergei Goryachev "almost certainly" died in southern Ukraine. He became the first Russian general since the beginning of 2023 whose death was confirmed. Goryachev was the head of the headquarters of the 35th Combined Arms Army of the RF Armed Forces, and, probably, at the time of his death, he served as the commander of the army.
09:58 Orban said that the military situation in Ukraine is "more and more serious", so he gave instructions to the military leadership of the country: "There are many unpredictable elements. At this time, the organizations responsible for the security of Hungary and their leaders must be constantly ready for action, which whatever happens."
09:54 At night, the Russians fired at Novoberislav, Kherson region, from rocket and barrel artillery, two people were killed, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin.
09:46 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Kiev, who, as part of the African delegation, will discuss the "peace plan" with Zelensky. On Saturday, June 17, the delegation will go to St. Petersburg to meet with Putin.
09:42 The level of water pollution in the Dnieper exceeds the norm by 28 thousand times according to certain indicators, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said in an interview with the BBC. According to him, the entire water area below the Kakhovka dam, as well as the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea, is unsuitable for use and swimming. Treatment facilities have switched to emergency disinfection regimes, and monitoring of water quality in the water supply network has been tightened, Lyashko noted.
09:23 In the Luhansk region, Russians are actively selling military property. According to the GUR MOU, these are mainly recruits from the newly created Storm-Z assault squads, who escape from their units along with small arms. Taking into account the shortfall in the payments promised under the contract, the "stormtroopers" compensate for the "losses" by taking trucks from their units, which they fill with state-owned property. These are mainly auto parts, tires and fuel. Then they try to implement all this in the nearest settlements and leave "in an unknown direction."
Desertion is also becoming more active in the regular units of the Russian army. This was influenced by both the intensification of hostilities and heavy losses, as well as the recent cancellation of vacations for the military. In particular, 90 armed Russians fled from their positions near the village of Arapovka, Svatovsky district, Luhansk region.
08:57 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, ten people were injured. In the Kherson region, two people were killed, two more were injured. In the Zaporozhye region, one victim, according to the OVA.
08:49 The units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were successful during the offensive in several directions, spokesman of the General Staff Andrey Kovalev said. In particular, Ukrainian forces successfully carried out offensive operations in the directions of Novodanilovka-Robotino (Zaporozhye region) and Levadne-Staromayorskoe (on the border of Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions).
In the area of ​​Ugledar, the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were successful in certain areas, and are fixed on the achieved lines. They also successfully carried out offensive operations in the area east of the settlement of Stupochki, Donetsk region, ousted Russian troops from their positions there.
08:41 Biden supported Stoltenberg's proposal that Ukraine would not need to implement the NATO membership action plan, Axios reports, citing sources.
08:20 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of June 16.
- personnel - about 218,500 (+590) people liquidated,
- tanks - 3965 (+10),
- armored combat vehicles - 7683 (+16),
- artillery systems - 3812 (+19),
- MLRS - 606 (+2),
- air defense systems - 364 (+0),
- aircraft - 314 (+0),
- helicopters - 301 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 3357 (+24),
- cruise missiles - 1199 (+0),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 6519 (+13),
- special equipment - 519 (+0).
07:59 The Russian army continues to concentrate its main efforts on the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions - over the past day there have been more than 30 clashes, the General Staff said in the morning summary .
07:43 At night, air defense forces destroyed two Iranian attack UAVs Shahed-136/131 in the Nikolaev region. Also, over the past day, an enemy strike UAV Lancet, Orlan-10, Orlan-30, Zala and one drone of an unidentified type were destroyed, the Air Force command said.
00:48 The Spanish Ministry of Defense announced the dispatch to Ukraine of 20 armored personnel carriers, a field hospital and four Leopard 2A4 tanks that were under repair.