This is the situation as of Tuesday, June 12, 2023
Battle
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces were making advances, inflicting casualties on Russia amid rain and fierce fighting.
- Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the Ukrainian military had recaptured seven villages covering 90 square kilometers from the Russians in eastern Ukraine.
- The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, confirmed no progress by Ukraine and said its forces repelled attacks by Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions.
- The ministry said it signed a contract with the Achmat group of Chechen special forces after ordering all private armies fighting for Russia to do so by July 1.
- Zaporozhye Governor Yuri Malashko said at least one person was killed and another wounded in a Russian attack in the city of Orikhiv.
- Ukrainian Donetsk Governor Pavlov Kyrylenko said two people were injured in Avdiivka after Russia bombed the House of Culture and high-rise apartment buildings.
- Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said 41 people were still missing in the floods caused by the rupture of the Nova Kakhovka dam. Ten people have already been confirmed dead after the floods in the southern Kherson region.
diplomacy
- France, Germany and Poland showed their support for Ukraine’s counteroffensive, with French President Emmanuel Macron pledging that “Ukraine will not be conquered”.
- The leaders of seven African countries could visit Ukraine and Russia this week to discuss a peace initiative, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was working to gain consular access to detained US citizen Travis Leake. Leake, a former musician, was arrested in Moscow on Saturday on drug-related charges.
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was concerned that Russia would withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) on July 17. Moscow has threatened to pull out of the deal that allows Ukraine to export its agricultural products from its Black Sea ports. several times.
- In Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited wounded Russian soldiers as part of a rare face-to-face meeting with ordinary troops at the central Vishnevsky military hospital outside Moscow to mark Russia Day as a public holiday.
- The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) said it will allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete from 2024, paving the way for an Olympics appearance.
weapons
- Ukrainian pilots could start training on F-16 fighter jets as early as the summer, the Dutch defense minister told Portal. She didn’t name a month but said the entire training program is expected to be fully operational within six months.