The European Union is considering transferring about $200 billion in frozen Russian assets to a new, riskier investment fund that will pay higher interest. The aim is to generate more profits for Ukraine, Politico reports, citing official sources.
The fund would involve transferring assets from Euroclear’s warehouse in Belgium to a “specialized organization” under the auspices of the EU. The main advantage of the rapid creation of a new fund is that the assets can then be allocated “to riskier investments.” The sources of the publication did not specify what kind of investments these are.
According to Politico, this move will not lead to the complete confiscation of Russian assets, which several EU countries, including Germany and Italy, oppose. The EU hopes that by only paying the interest and leaving the underlying capital intact, it can avoid accusations of violating international law. Critics of the new financing mechanism warn that EU taxpayers will end up having to pay compensation for “any unproductive investment”.
“Russia is advancing 15-20 km per day, the Ukrainian defense is exhausted”, Die Welt source. “Russian troops have partially broken through the fourth line of defense, which in some places consisted only of barbed wire. Many Ukrainian brigades are in critical condition: they lack both personnel and weapons. Earlier it was reported that the Russian Armed Forces occupied 449 km² of Ukrainian territory. The dynamics of territorial losses, for the first time since February, has exceeded the limit of 200 km² per month”.
In Ukraine, according to the Info Sapiens poll: “26% of Ukrainians are not ready to volunteer without any reward, 27% just to protect their hometown. 16% said they would volunteer on the condition of receiving full equipment, another 16% with increased payments to servicemen and social benefits for families”.
On June 18, the Russian Defense Ministry reported for the first time that the Russian Aerospace Forces used an RBK-500 cluster bomb with a universal planning and correction module to hit a temporary deployment point of the 118th Separate Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the settlement of Malaya Tokmachka in the Zaporizhia region. And again, the Ministry reports that “the launch of the Angara-A5 launcher from the Plesetsk launch site was successfully carried out”.
Vladimir Putin made numerous statements from the SPIEF, which is underway in St. Petersburg: “We are developing both military-technical and military cooperation with China.” And then he answered questions about Taurus from Germany to Ukraine. “If the German Chancellor wants to call us — we do not deny any contacts.” “The mediator in the negotiations on Ukraine must be neutral, but we consider Germany not a neutral state, but a party that supports Ukraine, even complicit in hostilities.” And he added: “A possible delivery of Taurus to Ukraine will not affect the course of the SVO, but will spoil relations between Germany and Russia.” “Deliveries of Taurus to Ukraine will mean dragging Germany into a direct armed conflict with Russia.” He reminded that only German officers can use these missiles.
Then he spoke about relations with NATO: “We do not consider any rearmament of NATO a threat to Russian security.” “Any rearmament of NATO countries is meaningless.” “We must live by the rules, by what rules?” “The problem is not that Russia annexed Crimea, but that Western countries contributed to the coup in Ukraine.” “Nuland said that they spent $5 billion on the coup in Ukraine, we will not leave.” And again: “The legend that the Russian Federation will attack NATO is nonsense. What nonsense is this, but everyone understands that it is nonsense.”
The President of the Russian Federation: “I participated in the negotiations in Minsk, when we were looking for principles for a peaceful solution, we talked for 17 hours straight. Yes, we agreed on these principles, but the Western side did not apply them. We must not only resolve the conflict in Ukraine now, but find a long-term solution. The DPR and LPR had the right to secede from Ukraine, and after the “Kosovo precedent,” they were not obliged to seek Kiev’s opinion.” “It is possible, but here it is not possible? It will not happen,” Putin explained, referring to the precedent of Kosovo and the situation with the DPR and LPR. “I am ready to meet Zelensky, the question is who will sign the documents.” “We do not care who is negotiating even if it were Zelensky.” Putin said that his meeting with Zelensky is possible at the final stage of negotiations to “put an end to the situation.” But: “If the first person of Ukraine is illegitimate, then the entire system of power there becomes illegitimate.”
“We are ready to continue negotiations with Ukraine.” “We are exchanging prisoners, this is good.” “We gave away more than 6,000 bodies of servicemen, in exchange we received 57, we are ready to give away more than 3,000 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers!”
“A new round of negotiations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation is possible after June 22,” Putin said. “Russia wants to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine as quickly as possible, preferably peacefully.” But “we will not allow the presence of armed forces in Ukraine that threaten the Russian Federation and its people.” On relations with the US: “A meeting with Trump would be useful, but it must be prepared”
Russian Armed Forces they have a strategic offensive in all directions, advancing along the entire line of contact, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are 47% manpower, and the assault units are even less, and now what will happen? There is no need to drag it out, we need to sit down and negotiate.”
“The Russian delegation will be ready to arrive in Istanbul after June 22 to continue negotiations with Ukraine,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The specific dates for the new round of negotiations will be determined and announced soon,” she noted.
At the morning press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained that: “the fact that many wounded young people were given the opportunity to return home is a very important result of negotiations with Ukraine.” “Humanitarian agreements provide an opportunity to build the potential for preparation for more serious agreements.”
Moscow intends to withdraw from the agreement between the governments of Russia and Germany on military-technical cooperation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Russia is preparing a list of children it wants to return to Ukraine; it is planned to hand it over at the next round of negotiations, Children’s Ombudsman Lvova-Belova said.
And now a look at the front line as of 15:30 on June 19. In the Smolensk region, in the districts of Pochinkovsky and Roslavl, air defense forces shot down and suppressed 12 drones with electronic warfare. In the Rostov region, one drone was destroyed in the district of Millerovsky.
Russian air-launched missile explosions were recorded in the regions of Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kiev. According to the Ukrainian social sphere, there is a technical improvement and an increase in the number of Russian-produced Geran attack drones. According to Ukrainian experts, the combination of these factors may allow the Russian military to further increase the effectiveness of their use in the near future. Ukrainians believe that it is necessary to rely on interceptor drones, which have already shown high results.
In the Kursk border area, fighting is taking place in the direction of Tetkino and Glushkovskiy District. Every day, for more than a month, the Ukrainians have been sending infantry into battle to break through the border. Yesterday, attempted attacks from Ryzhivka, Bezsalivka and Iskriskovshchina were repelled. Yesterday, Rylsk was hit by enemy fire, which set fire to a private house and an outbuilding.
In the direction of Sumy, the Russian Northern Group of Forces took the settlement of Novomykolaivka. Fighting is ongoing in Yablunivka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are constantly counterattacking, trying to slow down the advance of the Russian Armed Forces.
In the direction of Kupyansk, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported the capture of the settlement of Dovhenke in the Kharkiv region by the Western Group of Forces.
In the Belgorod region, at least four drone strikes were reported in Shebekino with at least three injured.
Near Chasiv Yar, fighting continues in the Stupochki area, located 5 km northeast of Kostyantynivka, where our troops are penetrating from several directions.
In the direction of Kostyantynivka, fighting for Yablunivka, Russian forward assault groups were reported in the Oleksandro-Kalynove area.
Northeast of Pokrovsk, the town continues to be surrounded along a wide arc. They report fighting in Myrne, whose capture will form another “pocket” in the direction of Myrolyubivka.
The Russian 35th Army in the Zaporizhia region continues to develop an advance in the Malynivka area, continuing to wedge into the enemy defense in the direction of Hulyajpole, writes GrV “Vostok”.
In the Kherson region, Ukrainian Armed Forces also hit power stations, with at least six villages bombed.
Graziella Giangiulio
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