Timeline: day 110 of Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression
Фото Reuters
Today is June 13. russia's military attack on Ukraine has been going on for 110 days. We're reporting on the current news. The article will be updated.
What about today?
Key points
All the front-line directions are flashpoints. One question everyone is worried about is when the military lend-lease equipment promised to us by the United States, which is so critical for our soldiers, finally arrives. As of May 21, when US President Joe Biden signed the funding, it will take at least 4-5 weeks. After all, only the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to a European port takes about half of this time. So the first HIMARS will arrive in late June-early July. Before that, we need to be patient and help the Ukrainian Armed Forces in all ways: volunteering, donating and supporting the economy with work. We believe in the Ukrainian army and will be grateful for the help of partners.
Ukraine can change its weapons to NATO standards in a month, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov said in an interview with The Economist.
"Our soldiers mastered Western artillery in just two weeks. As comrade Churchill said, give us the tools, and we'll finish the job," said Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
Currently, the front's width is 2,450 km, of which 1,105 km are active hostilities, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi informs. Also, according to him, the Ukrainian troops moved to counter-offensive actions in some areas.
The East Operational and Tactical Grouping continues to deter the aggressor in the area of responsibility and reports on the past day's achievements. The Ukrainian forces destroyed:
- 18 soldiers of russian personnel;
- one AFV;
- one AT-T tank;
- one mortar;
- one SPG gun;
- one ammunition depot.
Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression, russia has lost 32,300 soldiers in Ukraine. "russian generals see their people simply as cannon fodder to gain an advantage in the workforce, in the amount of military equipment. This means only one thing: russia may cross the barrier of 40,000 lost soldiers in June," Zelensky predicted in a daily address.
Humanitarian missions
Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, stated that Ukraine was negotiating the withdrawal of civilians from the Azot plant in Sievierodonetsk. "We are trying to agree, with the help of Iryna Vereshchuk [deputy PM], to organize a corridor, so far without success. The Azot's bomb shelter is not as strong as in Mariupol's Azovstal, so we need to take people out with security guarantees," he said. According to him, the russians control 70% of the city. There are about 500 civilians in the industrial zone the Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed, including 40 children.
Path to the EU
Ukraine should join the EU, not in decades, but in years, Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais. "Let's give Ukraine the possibility of being a candidate to enter the EU as soon as possible. This is a powerful symbolic message and incentive for the Ukrainian people. We will decide on Friday," she said.
Who's coming to Ukraine?
On financial and information aid, weapons and politicians
The Prime Minister of Italy Draghi, the Chancellor of Germany Scholz, and the President of France Macron will pay a visit to Ukraine on June 16, the German newspaper Spiegel and the Italian newspaper La Stampa write. Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany, Andrii Melnyk, hopes the German Chancellor will finally keep his promises on arms supplies and Ukraine's accession to the EU. "The announcements alone will not help us in the war against the invaders, so we hope for specific dates from the Chancellor when Germany will deliver the weapons. Especially since they made the promises a few months ago," said Melnyk.
Lithuanians bought four modern Estonian-made drones for Ukraine. Two more drones are planned to be delivered later.
News from partners
Our friends and good neighbors set an excellent example: Poland has built a 140-kilometer "wall" on the border with Belarus. They will install the electronic equipment for this barrier soon, the Polish Border Guard Service writes.
Germany can create a monetary fund to export grain from Ukraine by rail. According to the Government Commissioner for Railways Michael Theurer, "in the most optimistic case" of the 23 million tons of grain stored in Ukraine, the railway will be able to export 10 million. In addition, the Association of Agricultural Traders increased the threshold of such cargo in one warehouse from 40 to 44 tons. The German federal government is discussing the creation of a fund for the purchase of grain containers for wheat, as well as assistance with terminals for the transshipment of grain on the Ukrainian border because the track there is wider.
Speaking at a conference in Singapore, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said that China-russia relations are "a partnership, not an alliance that is not directed against any third country." The head of China's defense ministry said that his country was not helping russia with weapons in the war against Ukraine. At the same time, he blamed the United States for starting the war.
The risk of using nuclear weapons has reached its peak, according to a study by the Stockholm Peace Institute SIPRI. Researchers note that nuclear-weapon states continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals and are likely to increase in the next decade. And russia has openly threatened to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine. This, in turn, has exacerbated relations between nuclear powers. "The risk of using nuclear weapons seems higher than ever since the Cold War," said SIPRI Director Dan Smith.
Sanctions on the aggressor!
Swedish authorities have banned Tetra Pak from exporting products to russia. Exports of cardboard, paper, and paint were banned in russia under the fifth EU sanctions package, adopted on April 8. Two weeks ago, Tetra Pak asked the Swedish authorities to allow exports to russia for humanitarian reasons.
The company produces 7 out of 10 packages of milk and juices sold in russia, so it asked to make an exception for itself to provide children with "humanitarian aid in the form of food." She also argued that russia would have "access to technologies it does not currently have." The Swedish National Trade Council disagreed with the company and refused permission.
Life taking into account the fighting
As a result of regular attacks by the russian army, the Ukrainian railway network has suffered $2.7 billion in losses since the beginning of the war. Forbes provides such data. The total length of the damaged railway tracks is approximately 6,300 kilometers. To some extent, 41 cities were ruined. The total size of Ukrainian railways is 22,000 kilometers. That is, the russians damaged more than a quarter of the entire length of the tracks.
Donetsk nd Luhansk regions
"Only Ukrainian nits can be worse than Moscow lice," said Symon Petliura. Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, said that law enforcement officers had checked more than 50 residents of Lysychansk who could pass information to the russians. "They came, took humanitarian aid, asked for help, and turned around and betrayed Ukraine. They knew that they were killing and destroying by their actions," he wrote on Facebook.
In the direction of Kreminna and Starobilsk, the occupiers moved more than 80 weapons and military equipment, including heavily armored vehicles and artillery systems, the General Staff of the Armed Forces says.
However, during the storming of Dolyna and Bohorodychne, the occupiers were unsuccessful. The enemy replaced more than 100 units of damaged armored vehicles and motor vehicles. Also, our soldiers successfully repulsed the assault operations in the directions of Viktorivka–Vrubivka and Komyshuvakha–Vrubivka.
The russian army unsuccessfully stormed the areas of Dolomitne–Kodema, Dolomitne–Novoluhansk.
In Sievierodonetsk, after the russian artillery shelling, the Azot plant caught fire. According to Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, Ukrainian soldiers, and about 500 civilians are hiding there.
Kharkiv region
On June 11-12, russian service members fired on a children's health camp in the Chuhuiv district, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said. The occupiers are destroying children's infrastructure in the Kharkiv region! Because of enemy shelling, three buildings of the camp were damaged.
Over the past 24 hours, the occupiers were able to gain a foothold on the northern outskirts of the village of Izbytske in the Vovchansk community as a result of assault operations, the General Staff said. russians in the region's north are clearing roads and conducting air surveillance.
Sumy and Chernihiv regions
Also, the russian occupiers again fired on the border areas of the Sumy and Chernihiv regions. In the morning, the enemy fired at the Sumy region with heavy weapons from the russian village of Popovka. There were 30 explosions and three "hit" by mortars, the head of the Sumy Regional State Administration, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, said.
The photo shows the consequences of the shelling of Ukraine's border areas. According to border guards, the occupiers dropped two dozen 120-mm mines in the Chernihiv region. The firing of large-caliber machine guns accompanied this.
Dnipropetrovsk region
One person was killed, and five were injured when the occupiers fired on the Dnipropetrovsk region at night. The enemy struck from the Uragan MRLS at the residential areas of the Zelenodolsk community. "In Zelenodolsk, they got to the city center. Preliminarily, one person was killed, and five were injured [three women and two men]," said Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration.
"Houses in Zelenodolsk and Velyka Kostroma were damaged and destroyed. The shelled areas are covered with cluster munitions," Reznichenko added.
Kherson region
In Kherson, where the occupiers attempted yesterday to force people to celebrate russia Day, everyone heard the sounds of the Ukrainian anthem everywhere. People installed portable speakers and played the Ukrainian national anthem in parks and public places.
A resident of Kherson told about the day of russia in Ukrainian Kherson. "The occupiers brought three buses of people, and no one even hid them. Ordinary Kherson residents were not allowed there; it was a party 'for their own.' There were a lot of retirees in the park, playing songs from Soviet movies. Later, when they left, we saw many people with disabilities. I think the russians brought them from boarding houses. And again, these were not Kherson residents; we heard them talking; they had a strong russian accent," the Kherson resident said.
Mykolaiv region
In Mykolaiv, residents heard explosions in the morning. The information is clarified, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich reports. In the Bashtanska district, the occupiers fired on the Shyroke community. Residential houses were damaged, and farmers' warehouses were destroyed—the shelling in the Bereznehuvate community of the Mykolaiv region proceeds.
In the morning, the Ukrainian forces brought down the enemy drone over Mykolaiv, Vitalii Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, reports.
