►Moscow says Ukraine is “regrouping” forces
Russia said on Thursday (June 22) that Ukrainian forces had scaled back operations in southern and eastern Ukraine and were “regrouping” after losses sustained during their counteroffensive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been repeating for a week that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has failed, nevertheless noted that Ukraine has “offensive potential”. Finally, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted on the heavy Ukrainian casualties without mentioning those his forces may have suffered.
►The counter-offensive “will take time”, according to the Ukrainian Prime Minister
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal warned on Thursday that the army’s counter-offensive against Russian forces “will take time”.
“The counter-offensive consists of many military operations, some offensive, some defensive,” he explained, adding: “Unfortunately, while we were preparing for this counter-offensive, the Russians were also preparing. There are so many minefields that it greatly slows down the advance of troops.
However, Denys Chmygal remains “optimistic about the liberation of our Russian-held territories”.
► Zelenskyy accuses Moscow of preparing “everything” for “a terrorist attack” on the occupied nuclear power plant
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday (June 22) accused Russia of planning a “terrorist attack” that resulted in a radioactive leak at the Russian-held Zaporizhia power plant in southern Ukraine.
“Our intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist attack on the Zaporizhia power plant, an attack with the release of radiation. They have prepared everything for this,” he said in the Telegram.
► Project “attack” on Zaporijjia: The Kremlin denounces a “lie” Zelenskyy
The Kremlin on Thursday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claims that he made preparations for a radioactive leak at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant a “lie”.
“It’s a new lie. “We just had contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” whose director Rafael Grossi visited the Zaporizhia power plant last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
► A bridge between annexed Crimea and Ukraine was damaged by a Ukrainian attack
A bridge connecting annexed Crimea and a region in southern Ukraine partially held by Russian forces was damaged by a Ukrainian attack, local Russian authorities said on Thursday (June 22).
“During the night there was a strike on the Tchongar bridge. There are no casualties,” said Crimea’s Russian governor Sergei Aksionov, adding that the damage was being estimated. This bridge connects Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, with an area of Ukraine’s Kherson region occupied by Russian forces.
► Scholz calls on NATO at the Vilnius summit to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday urged NATO leaders, who will meet in Vilnius in July, to focus on stepping up military aid to Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian government has itself declared that NATO membership is out of the question as long as Russia is waging its war against Ukraine,” Olaf Scholz told the Bundestag. “Therefore, I suggest that in Vilnius we focus on what is now the top priority, namely strengthening Ukraine’s combat capability. »
► The US National Security Advisor in Copenhagen for a meeting on Ukraine
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will attend a Ukraine-hosted meeting in Denmark this weekend, bringing together several countries, including some that have remained neutral after the Russian invasion, an official said Wednesday. Western official.
The Copenhagen meeting, which has not yet been announced, aims to discuss ways to achieve a “just and lasting peace,” said this source, confirming information from the Financial Times.
——