The words are not yet clear, but the facts are there: the counter-offensive is launched. Ukraine announced the reconquest on Sunday of three villages in the eastern region of Donetsk, the first territorial gains obtained following the “counter-offensive actions” mentioned the day before by President Volodymyr Zelensky. In southern Ukraine, evacuations continue after the sudden rise in water levels caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, for which both sides deny responsibility.
In this context of tensions between the West and Russia, NATO begins this Monday, June 12 its most important exercise of air maneuvers. Coordinated by Germany, the “Air Defender 23” exercise will run until June 23 and will bring together some 250 military aircraft from 25 member and partner countries of the Alliance, including Japan and Sweden, a candidate country for the membership. NATO is determined to defend “every centimeter” of its territory, commented General Ingo Gerhartz, head of the German Air Force, during the presentation of the exercise.
On the diplomatic front, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave Pyongyang’s “full support” to Moscow in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, state media reported.
Ukraine announces the reconquest of three villages
On the Eastern Front, “the glorious soldiers of the 68th Brigade […] liberated the locality of Blagodatné”, which had less than 1,000 inhabitants before the war, affirmed the Ukrainian ground forces. All accompanied by a video showing soldiers with a Ukrainian flag in a destroyed building. The Ukrainians also announced that it had captured two Russian soldiers and pro-Russian separatist fighters there.The villages of Neskutchne and Makarivka were also liberated, returning “under the Ukrainian flag”, in the words of Ukrainian border guards.
“I am grateful to our soldiers for this day […]. THANKS ! Thank you for every step, for every fight, for every occupier destroyed!” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily message. These are the first territorial gains announced in months by Ukraine apart from the few hundred meters recently taken back outskirts of Bakhmout, a devastated city in the Donetsk region, which Moscow claimed to conquer in May. Remaining evasive, President Zelensky admitted on Saturday that his army was carrying out “counter-offensive actions”, while refusing to enter in details.
In southern Ukraine, evacuations continue after floods
Three people were killed and 10 others injured on Sunday in a strike that hit a boat carrying evacuees from flooded areas in southern Ukraine, the local governor said.
According to the latest figures on Sunday evening provided by Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko, 2,722 people, including 205 children, were evacuated from the southern region of Kherson and 982 others, including 167 children, from the neighboring province of Mykolaiv. But seven people died and about thirty are still missing following these floods in the territories which are under the control of kyiv. In total, 77 localities have been invaded by the waters, including 14 in the occupied territories, said Igor Klymenko, according to whom 162,000 people are also without running water upstream of the Kakhovka dam. In the areas in the hands of the Russians, the officials installed by Moscow have meanwhile reported this week more than 7,000 people evacuated as well as eight dead and 13 missing in connection with this same tragedy.
Kim Jong-un offers ‘full support’ to Putin
Kim Jong-un sent a message of congratulations to his counterpart on the occasion of the national holiday of Russia, one of the few allied countries of Pyongyang. The statement published by the North Korean news agency KCNA does not expressly mention the invasion of Ukraine or Moscow’s involvement in an armed conflict, but praises the “good decision and leadership of Mr. Putin […] to thwart growing threats from hostile forces”.
The North Korean people extend “full support and solidarity to the Russian people in their relentless struggle to uphold the sacred cause of preserving the sovereign rights, development and interests of their country against the arbitrary and authoritarian practices of the imperialists”. North Korea called the conflict a “proxy war” by the United States aimed at destroying Russia, and condemned Western military aid to kyiv.
NATO begins its largest air maneuver exercise
This is a clear message sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin. NATO begins this Monday, June 12 its most important exercise of aerial maneuvers, coordinated by Germany and intended to show the unity of its members in the face of potential threats, in particular from Russia. The “Air Defender 23” exercise will run until June 23 and will bring together some 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO member and partner countries, including Japan and Sweden, a candidate country for NATO membership. . Up to 10,000 people will take part in these exercises designed to strengthen interoperability and protection against drones and cruise missiles in the event of an attack on cities, airports or ports located on NATO territory.
NATO is determined to defend “every centimeter” of its territory but it will not send “any flight, for example, in the direction of Kaliningrad”, the Russian enclave which borders Poland and Lithuania, members of NATO, assured General Ingo Gerhartz, head of the German Air Force, during the presentation of the exercise. These maneuvers will also aim to send a message, in particular to Russia, explained to the press the ambassador of the United States in Germany, Amy Gutmann. “I would be very surprised if a world leader did not take note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, what the strength of this alliance means, and that includes Mr. Putin,” she said. valorize. The exercise will include operational and tactical training, primarily in Germany, but also in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia.
Dam destroyed: the IAEA wants to check the water level of the reservoir
The IAEA reiterated on Sunday, in the face of divergent data, its request for access to the site where the level of the water in the reservoir used to cool the reactors of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is measured. . Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), permanently present on site, “need to access them to clarify the reason for the significant discrepancy observed between various measurements”, according to a press release from this UN body. “I hope they will be able to go there very soon in order to carry out an independent assessment of the situation”, insisted its general manager Rafael Grossi, himself expected on the spot in the coming days.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper on Tuesday caused flooding in the neighboring municipalities of this river and raised concern for the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) – the largest in Europe – which is 150 kilometers away. upstream and is occupied by the Russians. Since this disaster, for which both sides blame each other, the level of the reservoir has “rapidly” decreased, from 17 to 11.27 meters on Sunday morning, according to data received by IAEA staff. But the information now diverges: if the management of the plant reported this weekend of a “stabilization”, “the decline is apparently continuing at other points of the immense reservoir, causing a possible difference of around two meters” whereas it is a “key parameter for managing pumps”.
American detained in Russia for ‘drug trafficking’
A Russian court has remanded in custody an American accused of “drug trafficking”, Travis Leake, in the context of high tensions between Moscow and Washington linked to the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Khamovnichesky court in Moscow, Travis Leake is an American “former paratrooper and musician”. He is accused of having “organized the sale of drugs to young people”, a crime punishable by several years in prison. He “will remain in detention until August 6, 2023” pending his possible trial, a detention that can be extended, added the Moscow court on the social network Telegram.
A spokesman for the US State Department, contacted by AFP, said he was “aware of information relating to the recent arrest of an American citizen in Moscow”. Washington has accused Moscow of arbitrarily arresting Americans to use as bargaining chip and recover Russians detained in the United States.