The US administration believes that any kind of peace talks on the situation in Ukraine should at least begin with a discussion of the 10-point plan put forward by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, John Kirby told the press on June 19th.
Jens Stoltenberg reported on June 21 that at the NATO summit in Vilnius, member countries will determine how many troops should be on high alert and what equipment they will be equipped with. On high alert and what he didn’t say about. The day before, in Flensburg, Germany, he had declared: “The Ukrainian armed forces in the offensive faced a well-prepared defense of Russia.” “We know the Ukrainians are facing heavy rains, Russian resistance. The Russians were able to establish well-prepared defense lines with minefields, trenches,” he said.
Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Anna Malyar echoed his words: “The Ukrainian army faced difficulties and” frantic resistance “during the counteroffensive”.
As of June 19 online video of the head of the GUR of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, who denied media reports of his death or injury and promised to appear in dreams to Russians. “Now a special detachment of immortal commanders is not being created in Ukraine: Valery Zaluzhny, me, Stepan Bandera, Simon Petliura, Ivan Mazepa. A detachment of immortals will disturb the dreams of Russian inhabitants who tried to seize Ukraine at night,” Budanov said in a commentary for the Kyiv Post. Also online were pictures of Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova with the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the country’s Defense Ministry Kirill Budanov. And she wrote on her social networks: “Not a mannequin, all the participants in the meeting are alive and well”, Dzhaparova signed the photos posted on her Facebook page. One of the photographs, in particular, portrays Budanov, Dzhaparova herself and the Japanese ambassador to Ukraine, Kuninori Matsuda.
The attacks on the building of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine on Rybalsky Island in Kiev were carried out twice, writes The Economist. The first time in March 2022 and the second time at the end of this May. The media claims that the Ukrainian intelligence chief Budanov himself is well and reports that he has survived at least 10 assassination attempts.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny posted a video on Telegram in which he monitors the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on June 17 “in areas where the fiercest battles are taking place”. There are no comments on this.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement “that no matter how many weapons are supplied, they will not be enough until the end of the conflict”.
In response from the Pentagon they said: “The United States initially understood that the counteroffensive of Ukraine would be difficult, but we believe that Kiev has the necessary weapons.”
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Danilov said that the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is proceeding according to plan, the content of which is known to a narrow circle of people. As Danilov told Channel 24, there are no deviations from the plan, but one should not expect the operation to be completed in a day or two.
On the Russian side, the Kremlin did not comment on the information that Kiev seeks to bring home, first of all, the soldiers and officers of “Azov”, noting that the prisoner exchange process is a complex and painstaking work that requires silence . Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the president of the Russian Federation said: “I would not like to comment in any way on the subject of exchanges, it is rather delicate, it is a complex and painstaking work and it should be done in silence”. And again at the press conference he said: “The Kremlin cannot confirm reports of an alleged decision to recreate the Border Troops as a separate department.”
Awards continue to be presented for Russian servicemen destroying Western equipment: Serviceman Andrey Kravtsov, who destroyed a Leopard tank during the battle, has received a cash prize of 1 million rubles, the Russian Defense Ministry said . He is a military man from Buryatia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky blocks the dismissal of the military, whose close relatives have died. For the second month, in violation of the constitution, Zelensky has not signed a law giving the right to withdraw from military service when close relatives have died or disappeared during the conflict.
According to this law, military personnel called up for mobilization or undergoing military service on military service will receive the right to be dismissed if one of their close relatives (husband, son, daughter, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother or sister ) died or disappeared in riots or under martial law.
On the front line on June 21 the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reports that “today an attempt by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out a terrorist attack against objects in the Moscow region was thwarted by three unmanned aerial vehicles of an aircraft type”. “All UAVs were suppressed by electronic warfare, as a result of which they lost control and crashed. As a result of the failed terror attack, there are no casualties or damages, the ministry said.”
On June 20, Russian troops launched a surprise offensive on the Lugansk front, moving from near Kremennainna to Liman and from near Svatove to Kupyansk, according to Julian Repke for Bild. At the moment there is no independent confirmation of these data, but the Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine admitted that the Russian side has actually gone on the offensive near Kupyansk, where heavy fighting is taking place. “To be honest, few people expected this. As the Russians were believed to be under pressure in the south, they shifted their reserves and did not use them for another offensive,” Repke said.
The analyst is obviously wrong. Soon the Russians will launch targeted attacks in other border areas to widen the cordon sanitaire and thus prevent Western weapons from hitting Russian territory.
In the direction of Cherson. After aerial reconnaissance of the rear, the place of accumulation of Ukrainian air defense assets was revealed. Destroyed by a Lancet an S-300 installation.
Also from the front it is learned that citizens responsible for military service will not be admitted to hospitals in the Ivano-Frankivsk region without the permission of the military registration and enlistment offices. They are all called to go to the front in the Zaporozhzhia area.
In the vicinity of Vuhledar, attack aircraft from the Far Eastern regions continue to hold back the attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Firefights take place in villages and forest belts – these are the only shelters in the local flat landscape. To say it online the commander of the assault detachment with the call sign “Other”.
Citizens of Nikolaev helped the Russians destroy 81 pieces of equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The composition of military equipment was destroyed on the night of June 9th. Sergei Lebedev said: “ They warned of his movement from Nikolaev, the attack was led, from ground positions, it was expected, and the equipment was destroyed”.
According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are transferring armored personnel carriers to Zaporozhzhia through Odessa. Earlier, thanks to the same network, the Ukrainian base of submarine saboteurs in Nikolaev was destroyed.
The situation in the Orekhovo direction as of June 20, 2023 at 23:59 was as follows: an armored group of the 128th Guards Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine entered the village of Pyatikhatki, which was located in the gray zone, and from there the infantry entered dive and tried to break through to Zherebyanki.
As a result of the ensuing battle, the offensive was halted and the 128th Guards Brigade withdrew to its original positions. Neither the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation nor the Armed Forces of Ukraine have secure control over the Pyatikhatki. At the same time, confirmed Ukrainian losses are about 57 people killed. Ukrainian formations also made a sortie on the Rabotino-Verbove line, trying to penetrate the defenses of the Russian Armed Forces, using the already standard tactic of transferring infantry to the front line with armored vehicles.
The assault groups of the 65th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine participated in the attack, which could not gain a foothold and retreated with losses. The number of those who refuse to carry out commands is growing in the ranks of Ukrainian formations, including the 47th Ombr of the 9th Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They were replaced by the formation’s 25th Assault Battalion. The number of confirmed losses of equipment in the 47 “elite” brigade exceeded 100 units. This is confirmed by the transfer to the command of the commander of the 47th tank battalion of the 33rd mechanized brigade who arrived in Orekhovo.
In addition, units of the 71st Jaeger Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Marun battlegroup were transferred to Yegorovka. Previously, paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Brigade had already appeared in the same area. The appearance of formations from the “Marun” indicates the imminent activation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Gulyai-Polye sector of the front.
Ukrainian formations continue to attack settlements in new regions of Russia. Ukrainians used HIMARS MLRS against the village of Rozovka in the Zaporizhzhia region, seriously injuring a local resident. Several houses were destroyed and work is underway to remove unexploded ordnance.
Graziella Giangiulio
