Key developments on June 25:
- Military reports are advancing on Bakhmut’s southern and northern flanks
- Russia reportedly killed two Ukrainian youths in the occupied part of Zaporizhia Oblast
- Germany provides Ukraine with 45 additional Gepard anti-aircraft guns
- Russia is reportedly moving troops out of Ukraine to protect Moscow
- Ukraine Air Force: Wagner group shoots down six Russian army helicopters and one plane in day-long insurgency.
Ukrainian forces advanced up to a kilometer on the flanks of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, Eastern Command spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi reported on June 25.
The advance is reported on the southern and northern flanks.
Russia had “186 killed, 224 wounded and eight captured” soldiers as prisoners of war in that area last day, Cherevatyi said on TV.
However, Russia continues to reinforce airborne troops in Bakhmut. This “clearly shows” that Moscow is trying to hold the city, Cherevatyi said.
“We know their objectives, units, commanders and tactics,” Cherevatyi said, adding that “nothing will help” Russian forces.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria military sector, reported on June 25 that Ukrainian forces had attacked Russian positions over 1,000 times in the past day.
According to Tarnavskyi, about three platoons of Russian troops were killed or wounded in the same period and a total of 16 Russian military vehicles, including a tank, a multiple rocket launcher, a howitzer and five ammunition depots, were destroyed.
However, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russian forces attempted attacks in Bakhmut, Lyman and Marinka sectors in the east, where 20 battles erupted.
In the south, Russian forces made their best effort to stem Ukraine’s advance, the military said in its June 25 evening report.
According to the report, Russian forces also attacked 30 settlements in Kherson, Zaporizhia and Dnepropetrovsk oblasts in the past day.
The General Staff also reported on the failed attempt by a Russian saboteur group to invade northern Sumy Oblast.
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Russia reportedly killed two Ukrainian youths in the occupied part of Zaporizhia Oblast
Russian officials in Zaporizhia Oblast reported that Russian troops had killed two youths in the occupied port city of Berdyansk. Moscow suspected both children of having prepared the sabotage against the Russian military.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian deputy, said on June 25 that Russian forces had killed “two pro-Ukrainian terrorists,” naming one of them – Tihran Ohannisian.
Later that day, Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said Russian troops had killed two teenagers and named the second victim Mykyta Khanhanov.
Both were 16 years old.
Lubinets included footage of Ohannisian’s assault rifle in hand, in which he says, “(The plan is to kill two (people) for sure.” That’s it, it’s death, folks. Goodbye! Glory be Of Ukraine!”
According to the Ombudsman’s office, Russian proxies have been following the two boys and their families for a long time.
In September 2022, Russian troops kidnapped Ohannisian for five days, beating and torturing him in order to extract from him a confession that he was preparing a railway sabotage to hinder Russian military logistics.
Procurators also suspected Khanhanov, but the teenager escaped extrajudicial arrest.
However, the Russian occupiers accused the two minors of planning sabotage at the end of May.
Following Russia’s sham trial, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on Russia to “end serious abuses against children affected by the armed conflict”.
“The whole world must understand that human rights are violated every day in the occupied territories,” Lubinets said. “And until Ukraine gives back its territories, it will go on and on!”
Olha Reshetylova, chair of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, said the boys’ relatives had not yet seen the bodies.
The human rights defender said Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation into the alleged murder of the children.
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Russia is reportedly redeploying its troops to protect Moscow
During a day-long armed insurgency by the Wagner group, Russia deployed two separate airborne units from Ukraine to protect Moscow, the National Resistance Center of the Ukrainian military reported June 25.
The Il-75 transport aircraft reportedly carried up to two companies of Russia’s 76th Airborne Division to Moscow, where they will remain for at least a week.
Not every plane made it through the Russian skies, however, as the Wagner Group’s columns marched toward Moscow.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat confirmed Russian reports that Wagner troops shot down two attack helicopters, four transport helicopters and one Russian army aircraft.
These include a Ka-52 attack helicopter, a Mi-35 attack helicopter, a Mi-8 transport helicopter, three Mi-8 electronic warfare helicopters and an Il-18 aircraft.
“Mi-8 transport helicopters are powerful hardware that really helps the Russian army in its war against Ukraine,” the center’s spokesman said on TV June 25.
On June 23, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an uprising “to restore justice” after claiming that a Russian missile attack on the camps of his mercenary forces in Ukraine had caused significant casualties.
The largest armed uprising led by President Vladimir Putin was short-lived and appeared to be over by the end of June 24. Prigozhin said his forces would return to military camps.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 24 that the insurrection case against Prigozhin would be dropped and he would move to Belarus.
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Germany supplies Ukraine with air defense and anti-aircraft systems
Germany announced that it would supply Ukraine with more military equipment, including anti-aircraft and air defense systems, to protect the Ukrainian skies.
In an interview with Welt am Sonntag published on June 25, German Brigadier General Christian Freuding said that Berlin would supply Ukraine with 45 Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft systems by the end of the year. According to the official, 15 of them will be delivered in the coming weeks.
Berlin will also equip Kiev with two more IRIS-T air defense systems by the end of the year and another four in 2024, Freuding said.
Freuding also said Ukraine still needs more air defenses, even as its partners are “doing everything” to provide what they can.
According to Freuding, the cheetahs are to be provided in cooperation with the USA.
The Pentagon announced in a June 1 press release that the US would buy $118.3 million worth of cheetahs for Ukraine.
Germany has already delivered 34 cheetahs with around 6,000 rounds of ammunition to Ukraine since the start of the all-out war against Russia.
The cheetahs are helping Ukraine defend itself against Iranian-made Shahed ammunition, which Russia fires to attack civilian and critical infrastructure, the German embassy in Ukraine said last November.
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