Airstrikes reported in Lviv, Kiev and Zaporizhzhia; US President Says It’s ‘Real’ Vladimir Putin Can Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons
The head of the profession of Zaporizhia Oblast, Vladimir Rogov, claimed that the fuel tank of the assistant to the deputy minister of profession of Zaporizhia Oblast, Vladimir Epifanov, exploded, injuring Epifanov and two other passengers.
Rogov said the cause of the explosion was unknown, but that unspecified actors inspected the fuel tank on June 17, implying imaginable sabotage.
The ISW has long believed that Russia will most likely retain tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus to consolidate de facto control of Belarus, but argues that such a deployment has incredible effects on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In a highly symbolic gesture, the EU granted Ukraine an official club as a candidate a year ago, four months after Russia, Kiev’s Soviet-era overlord, attacked the country as part of its efforts to integrate more with the West.
But the EU has established seven scenarios, including judicial reform and the fight against endemic corruption, to start accession negotiations. Ukraine has called for talks to begin this year.
The European Commission’s report is a step in this process, which supporters of Ukraine’s quest for an early EU club hope will lead to a resolution across the bloc’s 27 member countries in December to start talks with Kiev.
Two senior EU officials who received information about the report, which was made public, said Ukraine now meets two of the criteria. One of the officials said they were similar to judicial reform and media law, adding that the report focused on the positives.
“There is progress. The report will be positive,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. example. “
Ukraine has in recent months prosecuted several high-profile corruption cases, the arrest of the chief justice of its Supreme Court for an alleged bribe of $2. 7 million.
Beyond anti-corruption efforts, other benchmarks come with reforms of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court and law enforcement, anti-money laundering measures, and legislation to control oligarchs and the rights of national minorities.
On Saturday, Biden Putin’s announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus was “absolutely irresponsible. “
“When I came in about two years ago saying I was worried about the Colorado River drying up, everyone looked at me like I was crazy,” Biden told a donor organization in California on Monday.
“They looked at me like when I said I was concerned about Putin’s use of tactical nuclear weapons. It’s real,” Biden said.
Ukrainian and Russian forces are suffering heavy casualties, British army intelligence said, two weeks after the Ukrainian counteroffensive began. British officials said the number of casualties among Russian troops is at its highest point since the peak of the March war over Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Ukraine claims to have killed or wounded 4,600 soldiers.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukraine had to prepare for a “tough duel” but that “the biggest blow was yet to come. “however, Ukrainian forces prevented their advance. She described the scenario in the east of the country as “difficult. “
Ukraine has retaken the village of Piatykhatky, an agreement on a heavily fortified component of the front line near the maximum direct direction to the coast of the Sea of Azov, Maliar confirmed. This brings to 8 the number of agreements released in the last two weeks, with 113 km2 of territory allegedly taken from the occupation forces.
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has suggested his supporters launch a broad crusade against Moscow’s moves in Ukraine as he faces trial on new extremism charges that could keep him behind bars for decades. In a social media post through his allies, Navalny said the resolution to close his trial was a sign of concern on the part of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had asked the Chinese government to be on the lookout for private corporations that could provide Russia with generation that could be used against Ukraine, though he said he had noticed no evidence that Beijing offered deadly assistance to Moscow. . . ” With regard to deadly aid to Russia for use in Ukraine, we and other countries have obtained assurances from China that it will not provide or provide deadly aid to Russia for use in Ukraine,” Blinken said in Beijing.
The British government has announced plans to tighten its sanctions policy against Russia, adding the introduction of a law to keep assets frozen until Moscow pays reimbursement to Ukraine. The new measures will require anyone designated under sanctions to disclose assets they hold in Britain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed his country’s need for long-range weapons and pushed for tougher sanctions against Russia in a phone call with Rishi Sunak. The British prime minister said the UK strongly supports Ukraine and that “small steps forward will bring success. “”.
A photograph of a car allegedly loaded with explosives parked above the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine shortly before it gave way would have provided additional evidence that Russia was the attacker. A communications official for Ukraine’s special forces told The Associated Press he believed the car was there to prevent any Ukrainian advance on the dam and magnify a planned explosion coming from the engine room.
Kiev accused Hungary of barring access to 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war that Russia handed over to the EU country, which maintained ties with the Kremlin during the invasion of Ukraine. they have not succeeded,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook. “Essentially, they are kept in solitary confinement. “
NATO leaders will not officially invite Ukraine to join the alliance at a summit in Vilnius in mid-July, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, adding that the leaders would talk about how to bring Ukraine closer to NATO. to accept a frozen confrontation in Ukraine in exchange for ending the war and “accepting a Russian-dictated settlement. “
The Kremlin said Russia’s decision to refuse U. N. aid in Ukrainian spaces under Russian flooding over the Kakhovka dam burst was motivated by security considerations and “other nuances. “
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries Sergiy Boyev told Reuters at the Paris air show that Ukraine is in talks with arms brands in Germany, Italy, France and Eastern Europe to increase weapons production, add drones and, in all likelihood, manufacture them in Ukraine. “We are in very detailed discussions with them. And we are confident that contractual agreements will be signed in the coming months,” Boyev said.
An army attack on Sweden after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cannot be ruled out, a Swedish army report said, highlighting the importance of its early accession to NATO. The Serious Times report did not name Moscow as an instigator of a possible attack, but said Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s growing influence in Asia and around the world were to blame for the emerging insecurity.