These are the major developments as the war enters its 477th day.
This situation stood on Thursday, June 14, 2023.
fight
- Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said her troops had “partial” success in counterattacks amid “extremely fierce” fighting with Russian forces.
- Russia said it had withdrawn Ukrainian forces on three fronts in the past 24 hours, including Zaporizhia, and targeted Ukrainian weapons depots.
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it was early in Ukraine’s counteroffensive and it would be too soon to tell whether it would be a “turning point in the war”.
- UN nuclear chief Rafael Grassi has delayed a visit to the Russian-held Zaporizhia nuclear power plant over security concerns.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would “drive Russian evil from our land” after six people were killed in overnight missile strikes in Odessa and Donetsk regions.
- There were conflicting reports on the fate of senior Chechen commander Adam Delimkhanov. Russian Defense Ministry television channel Zavezhda reported that he was wounded in combat, while Ukrainian outlets said he may have been killed. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov later denied the reports, saying that Delimkhanov was “alive and well”.
- More than 20 soldiers from Ukraine’s Azov Battalion who were captured fighting for Mariupol were tried in southern Russia. They are accused of joining a “terrorist” organization and participating in a move to overthrow the Russian-backed authorities in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
- The head of Russia’s Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, reiterated that his tenants would not sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, a day after President Vladimir Putin called the contracts a necessity.
- Russia’s lower house of parliament has given initial support to allowing suspected or convicted criminals to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
diplomacy
- Germany announced its first National Security Strategy (NSS) and called Russia the biggest threat to peace in the Euro-Atlantic area.
- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has visited 1,500 prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine, often sharing desperate news with their families.
- A group of six African leaders is due to travel to Poland and Kiev by train on Thursday, as part of continued efforts to persuade Ukraine and Russia to negotiate an end to the war.
- Bulgaria indicts Eleonora Mitrofanova, Russia’s ambassador to Sofia, for spreading “propaganda and confusion” after the country claimed it would deploy troops to Ukraine. Bulgaria has repeatedly denied such claims by Russia.
weapons
- Jim Risch, a senior Republican on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was blocking a $735 million arms sale to Hungary because of his refusal to approve Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
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