Global Courant
Russian tactical combat air flights are on the rise, says UK
Britain’s Ministry of Defense identified an increase in Russian tactical combat air sorties over the past week – particularly over southern Ukraine – as a likely response to Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
The ministry said in an intelligence update on Twitter that the Russian Air and Space Force (VKS) was likely trying to support ground forces with airstrikes.
Red hot nozzles of a Russian Su-34 fighter flying into the sky.
Sopa Images | Rocket | Getty Images
“Despite the upswing, the daily number of missions of VKS remains much lower than the peak of up to 300 daily missions early in the war,” the UK noted.
“Since the beginning of the invasion, southern Ukraine has often been more permissive to Russian air operations compared to other sectors of the front.”
The ministry added that in the past year VKS has increased its use of air-to-ground weapons, such as glide bombs, which allow attack aircraft to stay far away from their targets.
— Holly Ellyatt
Russian attack on Odessa leaves 3 dead, 13 wounded
The Ukrainian port city of Odessa was the overnight target of a Russian missile strike that left three dead and at least 13 injured, officials said.
The National Police of Ukraine said on Telegram that Russia had launched four Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea towards Odessa. CNBC was unable to verify the claim.
“Civil infrastructure objects were damaged: a business center, an educational institution, a residential complex, a restaurant, shops and a warehouse of one of the retail chains. (still) being investigated,” the police said according to an NBC translation.
The latest attack is under investigation, police said. Russia denies targeting civilian infrastructure, despite numerous instances of doing so.
— Holly Ellyatt
Putin says Ukraine’s counter-offensive is failing
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with war correspondents in Moscow on June 13, 2023.
Gavril Grigorov | Afp | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has failed and that Kiev has not achieved success.
“This is a large-scale counter-offensive, using reserves trained for this purpose. It has been going on since June 4 and is still going on,” Putin said during a meeting with war correspondents on Tuesday.
“(Ukrainian troops) have not reached the frontline,” Putin said, claiming that “the adversary was not successful in any sector. They suffered huge losses.”
Ukraine says it has liberated a number of settlements in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday evening that “there is progress in several areas,” but there are also reports that Russia different villages that Kiev claimed to have recaptured.
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said on Tuesday that “the enemy will make every effort to maintain the positions it has taken” and “active use of attack and army aviation leads to intense artillery fire”.
“Our forces are faced with solid minefields combined with anti-tank guns during the advance. All this comes along with the constant counter-attacks of enemy units on armored technology and the massive use of PTURs (anti-tank guided missiles) and kamikaze drones.” she said on Facebook.
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War noted on Tuesday evening that Ukrainian forces continued their counteroffensive operations in at least three directions and made limited territorial gains as late as yesterday.
Andriy Kovalev, spokesman of the Ukrainian General Staff said Tuesday Ukrainian forces have liberated more than 100 square kilometers of territory in southern and eastern Ukraine since the start of counter-offensive operations.
— Holly Ellyatt
Nearly 3,000 people evacuated from Kherson region after dam attack
A family rescues important belongings from their home in Kherson. Massive flooding has occurred in villages along the Dnipro River following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, flooding communities along the river in the south and dangerously lowering water levels in communities in the north. The dam is located in the Russian-controlled area of southern Ukraine.
Sopa Images | Rocket | Getty Images
Ukraine’s interior ministry said on Telegram that about 2,757 people have been evacuated in the Kherson region following the attack on the Kakhovka dam last week. according to an NBC News translation.
The ministry said about 263 children and another 77 people with reduced mobility were evacuated from the rising floodwaters.
According to the data collected by the agency, more than 3,000 homes have been flooded in the Kherson region.
— Amanda Macias
Biden and NATO chief discuss additional support for Ukraine and Sweden joining alliance membership
US President Joe Biden meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 13, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
President Joe Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House ahead of the NATO summit in Lithuania next month.
The two discussed additional security assistance for Ukraine, Sweden’s entry into the NATO alliance and sharing the financial burden of at least 2% of NATO member states’ GDP for the common defense of the alliance, according to a White House readout. House.
It was not immediately clear whether the two discussed whether Stoltenberg will renew his position at NATO, which is expected to expire at the end of September. Stoltenberg has led NATO for nearly a decade, after three renewals.
— Amanda Macias
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force says Russia is resuming missile production
Remnants of Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile at an exhibition displaying remnants of missiles and drones used by Russia to attack Kiev in Kiev, Ukraine, May 12, 2023.
Oleksii Samsonov | Getty Images
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda 23 that Russia has resumed its missile production, according to an NBC News translation.
Ihnat said the Russians are ramping up production of the Iskanders and Kinzhals missiles, citing the Kremlin’s ability to evade Western sanctions for some of the components needed to produce the weapons system.
“That’s why I hope that sanctions will put pressure on Russia. If the sanctions work comprehensively and are monitored, Russia can be put in place,” Ihnat added, according to an NBC News translation.
— Amanda Macias
The Biden administration approves a new arms package for Ukraine worth $325 million
A Ukrainian soldier controls a tank machine gun after loading ammunition during military training near a frontline, amid the Russian assault on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, March 29, 2023.
Stringer | Reuters
The Biden administration announced a new security package for Ukraine worth $325 million, the 40th tranche since the start of the large-scale invasion of Russia.
“This security relief package includes critical air defense capabilities, additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, artillery shells, anti-tank weapons, armored vehicles and other equipment essential to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces on the battlefield,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote. in a statement announcing the new weapons package.
In a separate release, the Pentagon detailed the new support:
Additional ammunition for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMSStinger Anti-Aircraft SystemsAdditional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS155mm and 105mm Artillery Shells15 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles10 Stryker Armored Personnel CarriersJavelin Anti-Armor SystemsTube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided, or TOW, missilesAT-4 anti-armour systemsOver 22 million ammunition and small arms grenadesDemolition munitions for obstacle clearanceTactically secure communication support equipment
— Amanda Macias
Day of mourning announced in Kryvyi Rih as death toll rises
Editor’s note: This post contains graphic images of death from Russian missile strikes in Kryvyi Rih.
In this photo released by the Dnipro regional administration, aid workers extinguish a fire after rockets hit a multi-storey apartment building in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine June 13, 2023.
Andriy Dubchak | AP
A day of mourning will take place in Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday following what was described this morning as a “massive missile attack”.
Ten people are now known to have been killed in the attack, which hit a five-story residential building and a warehouse.
Rescuers inspect a multi-storey apartment building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, June 13, 2023.
Dnipro Emergency Services | AP
Police inspect a corpse outside a multi-story apartment building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, June 13, 2023.
Regional administration of Dnipro through AP
According to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military city administration of Kryvyi Rih, as of 1 pm local time, 10 people have been killed and 28 injured, 12 of them in hospitals and some in a very serious condition.
Kryvyi Rih is the birthplace of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Police stand by dead bodies at the site of a damaged multi-storey apartment building after a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, June 13, 2023.
Andriy Dubchak | AP
Russia releases video of captured German tanks and US combat vehicles in Ukraine
A U.S. Army soldier escorts an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle during a training exercise in Fort Irwin, California, January 19, 2013.
Sergeant Eric M. Garland II | US Army
The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday released video footage of allegedly German-made Leopard tanks and US-made Bradley fighting vehicles captured by Russian forces in a battle with Ukrainian forces.
Reuters could not immediately verify the location and timing of the footage, which the defense ministry says was filmed on the Zaporizhzhia front in southern Ukraine, one of the areas where Ukrainian forces have attempted a counterattack.
What appeared to be two German-made Leopard tanks were shown in the footage, which was released on the ministry’s official channel on the Telegram messaging application, along with two damaged US Bradley fighting vehicles.
In a brief statement accompanying the footage, the ministry called the captured military hardware “our trophies” and the video said soldiers from the Vostok (East) military group inspected the equipment.
It noted that some of the vehicles’ engines were still running, evidence it said of how quickly their Ukrainian crews had fled.
Reuters cannot verify such battlefield accounts.
Ukraine said on Monday its forces had recaptured a string of villages from Russian forces along a front about 100km (60 miles) south-east since the start of the long-anticipated counter-offensive last week.
— Reuters
