As the war enters its 472nd day, these are the main events.
This is the situation as it stands on Saturday, June 10, 2023
Collapse of the Nova Kakhovka Dam
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “everything indicates” that Russia was responsible for the Kakhovka dam explosion. “The dam was not bombed. It was destroyed by the explosives installed in the areas where the turbines are located. This area is under Russian control,” Borrell told Spanish public television. U.S. spy satellites detected an explosion at the Kakhovka Dam before it collapsed, The New York Times reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official. The official said satellites with infrared sensors detected a heat signature consistent with a significant explosion. Ukraine’s security service said it intercepted a phone call between Russian military personnel in which they discussed the Kakhovka dam explosion and how a Russian sabotage team had destroyed the site. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) posted a short audio clip on its Telegram channel of the alleged conversation. Ukraine continued to evacuate people in areas affected by flooding from the dam collapse and reported that at least five people had died. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told Telegram that four people had died and 13 people were missing in the Kherson region and one person had died in the Mykolaiv region due to flooding. Floodwater levels in parts of southern Ukraine had begun to recede, officials said. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Japan will provide emergency humanitarian aid worth about $5 million after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, a government spokesman said japanese UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said it would take time to determine the full extent of the environmental damage caused by the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam. “But we all know … this is an absolute calamity,” he said, describing the reservoir as a “breadbasket” that was important to the livelihoods of people living in southern Ukraine. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg accused Russia of causing the collapse of the dam in Ukraine, calling it an act of “ecocide” by Moscow. Russia accused Ukrainian forces of shelling that had killed civilians affected by dam flooding in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the attacks “beyond barbaric.” A day earlier, Ukraine accused Russian forces of shelling Ukrainian civilians and rescue workers in flooded territory it controls.
fighting
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine has launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces, but without success. “The Ukrainian troops did not achieve their goals in any sector, thanks to the courage of the Russian soldiers, to the proper organization of the troops,” he said. Ukraine’s Zelenskiy praised the heroism of its armed forces amid reports of intensifying fighting in the east and south, in what is seen as the likely start of Kiev’s expected counter-offensive. “We see your heroism and are grateful to you for every minute of your life,” Zelenskyy said in his daily speech. Russia’s defense ministry said it had repelled Ukrainian attacks in the southeastern Zaporizhia region this week and thwarted repeated attempts by the Ukrainian military to break through the front line. A spokesman for Russia’s Vostok forces group said 13 Ukrainian tanks were destroyed in battles in the Zaporizhia region and eight in the Donetsk region. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the situation on the front line is tense and heavy fighting is concentrated in the Donetsk region in the east. “The situation is tense in all areas of the front. The enemy continues to focus its main efforts in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiiv and Marin directions. Heavy fighting continues,” Maliar said on Telegram. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia launched airstrikes against Ukraine overnight, killing at least one person in a combined assault of cruise missiles and attack drones. Ukraine said which shot down four of the six missiles launched during the attack and 10 of the 16 drones.Three people were injured by fragments of broken glass caused by a drone strike on a residential building in the southern city of Voronezh Russia, regional governor Aleksandr Gusev said. Gusev said the three people had received medical attention at the site and refused hospital treatment. Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus after the facilities are ready on the 7th and July 8, Putin told his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, at a meeting in Sochi. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that an explosion at an ammonia pipeline will be considered during consultations on the Black Sea grain export agreement with Ukraine. Russia accused Ukraine of blowing up part of the gas pipeline in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine. Kharkiv’s governor said Russian forces bombed his own gas pipeline.
military aid
Russia has received materials from Iran to build a drone factory, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. The White House released a satellite image of the location of the potential plant in the Alabuga special economic zone, about 900 km (560 miles) east of Moscow. The US Department of Defense announced an additional $2.1 billion military package for Ukraine that includes Raytheon HAWK air defense systems and missiles, AeroVironment Puma unmanned aerial systems, laser-guided rockets and other munitions. Belgium will supply Ukraine with 105mm artillery rounds worth 32.4 million euros ($35 million), a spokesman for Belgium’s defense ministry said. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Japanese ambassador over Tokyo’s announced decision to supply military equipment to Ukraine.
diplomacy
Iceland will suspend embassy operations in Moscow from August 1 and has asked Russia to reduce its diplomatic activities in Reykjavík, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The suspension is due to a “historically low” level of trade, cultural and political relations between the two countries, the ministry said. Diplomatic relations between the two nations have not been broken. The Freedom Orchestra of Ukraine will tour eight cities in Europe and the UK for the second summer in a row. The tour to support the war effort in Ukraine runs from August 20th to September 3rd.
humanitarian
Hungary said it received a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia, a release that Ukraine welcomed but expressed concern about not being informed about. The prisoners of war were from the western part of Ukraine that borders Hungary, according to the Russian Orthodox Church, which said it had assisted in the release, and Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen.
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