The release was negotiated with the help of the Vatican. At the same time, the fighting continues: Russia announced on Saturday June 29 the capture of the village of Shumy, near Toretsk, in eastern Ukraine, an important capture because it could allow the Russian army to advance towards Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk, key objectives in the region.
Information to remember
⇒ Exchange of priests between kyiv and Moscow, including a senior Ukrainian Orthodox official
⇒ Russian Judo Federation announces boycott of 2024 Olympic Games
⇒ Russia announced on Saturday the capture of a village near Toretsk in the east
Exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests who were taken prisoner in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk have been returned to Ukraine through the mediation of the Vatican. According to him, these two priests were taken prisoner by Russia in November 2022. Their release took place as part of a prisoner exchange involving civilians.
Russia, for its part, indicated that a senior member of the Ukrainian Orthodox clergy, Metropolitan Ionafan, as well as two other priests were handed over to Moscow. Metropolitan Ionafan was sentenced in August 2023 to five years in prison in Ukraine, accused of having justified the Russian invasion of the country. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, close to the Moscow Patriarchate, is under pressure from the authorities, although it severed its ties with Russia after the start of the invasion. Russia and Ukraine had already exchanged 90 prisoners of war from each side at the start of the week thanks to mediation by the United Arab Emirates.
Russian Judo Federation boycotts 2024 Olympics
Reacting to the new list of Russian or Belarusian athletes authorized to participate in the Games published by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday, authorizing only four Russian judokas out of 14 categories, the Russian federation announced its decision to boycott the event .
In a press release published during the night from Friday to Saturday, she declared that she “will not accept these humiliating conditions”, believing that “such actions by the IOC undermine the credibility of the Olympic movement” and “destroy the status of the Olympic Games as the most important sporting event” in the world. The IOC, which initially banned athletes from the two countries after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has since organized their gradual return, under a neutral banner and under certain conditions.
Five dead in Ukrainian drone attack
A Ukrainian drone attack killed five people, including two children, in a Russian village on the border between the two countries, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region said Saturday. “Five people were killed […] including two children. Two other family members are in serious condition,” Governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram.
The drone hit a house in the village of Gorodishche, a small village in Russia’s Kursk region, just meters from the border with Ukraine. Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian territory this year, targeting both energy sites that it says supply the Russian military, and towns and villages just across the border.
Russia claims capture of village near Toretsk
Russia claimed Saturday the capture of a village near Toretsk, a town in eastern Ukraine targeted by an increasing number of Russian attacks since early June. “Thanks to successful operations, units of the central troop group liberated the settlement of Shumy,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily report.
This small village is located near Toretsk, a city that constitutes an important barrier in this sector of the front. Its fall would give the Russian army access to Kostiantynivka, and then eventually to Kramatorsk, the Kremlin’s ultimate objective in this region. Russia has been gaining ground for months in eastern Ukraine against an adversary lacking men and ammunition, without however managing to make a major breakthrough.
IMF approves $2.2 billion in aid to Ukraine
The IMF’s executive board on Friday approved an additional $2.2 billion for Ukraine as part of a $15.6 billion loan, hailing the “solid performance” of the Ukrainian economy despite “challenging conditions.” The announcement comes three days after the European Union formally began accession talks with Ukraine.
The IMF specifies that “sustained reform momentum and timely disbursement of external assistance are necessary to preserve macroeconomic stability, restore public finance and debt sustainability, and strengthen institutional reforms to pave the way for membership of the European Union.
This new tranche of assistance brings to $7.6 billion the amount now released for Ukraine through this Extended Fund Facility (EFF), a four-year aid plan that was approved in March 2023, and is part of a larger international aid plan totaling $122 billion. The funds will be earmarked for budget support, the IMF said in a statement.
Russia threatens Washington with “direct confrontation” in Ukraine
During a meeting with senior officials, Vladimir Putin said Friday that his country should “start producing” missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, previously banned under a treaty with the States -United States dating from the Cold War, and now obsolete. Moscow is indeed warning Washington of the risk of “direct confrontation” linked to American drone missions in the Black Sea. Russia has vowed retaliation over what it sees as Washington’s growing involvement in Ukraine.
US drone flights in the Black Sea “increase the likelihood of incidents in the airspace with aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which increases the risk of a direct confrontation between the (Atlantic) Alliance and the Russian Federation,” the Russian Defense Ministry warned.
After having long refused, for fear of provoking an escalation, Americans and Europeans have begun to authorize in recent weeks, under conditions, attacks with Western precision weapons on Russian soil to destroy sites and systems used to bomb Ukraine.
US condemns North Korea for arms sales to Russia
The United States and allied countries on Friday accused North Korea of violating arms controls by selling what Washington said were missiles to Russia used in the war in Ukraine.
“We condemn in the strongest terms these illegal transfers, which have contributed significantly to Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine,” said Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood. North Korea’s supply of arms and ammunition violates Security Council resolutions of 2006, 2009 and 2016 on the issue, he said.
Strikes continue in Ukraine
Russian bombings also continue daily in Ukrainian localities. Four civilians were killed and three others, including “an eight-year-old girl”, injured Friday in a strike on the small town of New York, in eastern Ukraine, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
Eight people were also injured in a bombing in Kharkiv, the country’s second city, Governor Oleg Synegoubov announced. Another attack left one dead and six injured, including a seven-month-old baby, in Dnipro (Central East), according to regional governor Serguiï Lyssak. High-intensity fighting continues on the front, particularly in the east, where Russia claimed Friday the capture of Rozdolivka, a village located north of the devastated city of Bakhmout.