The vast majority of countries gathered at the first peace summit reiterated their support for Ukraine’s independence and territorial sovereignty and stressed that Russia must be part of the discussions to achieve “a lasting and just peace.” . On the ground, kyiv judged on Monday that Russia was intensifying its attacks on the Eastern front to “maximize the exhaustion of the Ukrainian troops”.
Information to remember
⇒ Russia intensifies its attacks before the arrival of the F-16s
⇒ Peace Conference on Ukraine: “zero” result according to the Kremlin
⇒ Ukraine prepares for more power cuts
Russia intensifies attacks ahead of F-16 arrival
Russian forces have, in recent months, gained ground in the border regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv, thanks to a shortage of men and ammunition in Ukraine.
“The command of the Russian troops is currently doing everything possible to increase and expand the intensity of hostilities in order to maximize the exhaustion of our troops,” announced Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of the Ukrainian army, on his Telegram channel.
According to the latter, Moscow is aware that “time will play a role” in kyiv’s favor, with the receipt of a “significant quantity of weapons and equipment” from its allies, including the F-16 planes, supposed strengthen Ukrainian air defense. The Ukrainian commander specifies that Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the surroundings of “Koupiansk, Pokorvsk, Kurakhové and Vremivka”, located on the Eastern front, while “fierce fighting” continues in the East and South.
Peace conference on Ukraine: “zero” result according to the Kremlin
The peace conference on Ukraine, which brought together more than 90 countries on Saturday and Sunday in Switzerland, in the absence of Russia and China, produced “zero” results, the Kremlin estimated on Monday. “If we talk about the results of this meeting, they are close to zero,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the press.
According to him, many of its participants understand “that any serious discussion has no future without the presence of Russia.”
Ukraine prepares for more power cuts
Ukraine announced on Monday that power cuts would worsen until the end of July, after a series of Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure. Moscow has launched a bombing campaign in recent months, targeting Ukraine’s main electricity production and distribution centers and destroying, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, half of the country’s energy capacity.
“In the coming weeks, the situation will be much more difficult than it is today,” warned Volodymyr Koudrytskiï, director of the national operator, Ukrenergo. According to the energy supplier, maintenance work at nuclear power plants, bad weather and insufficient electricity imports will intensify already existing shortages, predicting up to 12 hours of outages per day. Volodymyr Kudrytskiï specified that this “situation will continue until the end of July”.
Trial of journalist Evan Gershkovich accused of espionage begins June 26
The trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of having collected information on a Russian tank factory on behalf of the CIA and incarcerated for more than a year, will begin on June 26 in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals.
The Wall Street Journal journalist, aged 32, was arrested in March 2023 by the Russian security services (FSB) during a report in Yekaterinburg, and accused of “espionage”, a crime punishable by 20 years in prison. prison.