8:00Kiev: 300 children deported to RussiaMoscow’s occupation forces have taken nearly 300 children from the Ukrainian district of Berdiansk to the Russian Chuvash republic, exiled mayor of occupied Melitopol Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. “They are sending the children 1,600 kilometers from home deep inside Russia and are going to hold them hostage,” wrote Fedorov quoted by Ukrainian media.9:00Kiev: Shot down 2 Russian helicopters and 12 drones Ka-52 attack drones, four Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 attack drones and a Lancet UAV between yesterday, June 17 and the early hours of today, June 18. This was reported by the Ukrainian Air Force on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.10:30Dam explosion: the dead from the floods rise to 45The toll of the floods caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam worsens: at least 16 are dead in the territories controlled by the Ukrainians and 29 in territories controlled by Russia. Furthermore, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, 31 are missing. Meanwhile, the New York Times states that the evidence clearly indicates that the “dam was paralyzed by an explosion caused by the party that controls it: Russia”. The US media interrogates engineers and explosives experts, claiming that the dam had “an Achilles heel” and being “built in the Soviet era, Moscow had every page of technical drawings and knew where it was”. The dam, they go on to explain, “was built with an enormous block of concrete at the base” and is crossed by “a small passage, which can be reached from the engine room”: right here “the tests suggest”, “the charge that destroyed the dam”. 11:00 Putin: the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces is abroadRussian President Vladimir Putin said he believed that the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces – General Valerii Zaluzhnyi – was abroad. Putin last Tuesday held a meeting with military correspondents and a new excerpt of their conversation was published today by Rossiya 1. During the meeting one of the correspondents asked Putin if he knew about Zaluzhnyi’s whereabouts. I think I know. Well, ask him. But to do that you have to switch to a foreign language. It seems to me that he is abroad. But I could be wrong”, Putin said.- – : – -The Pope: let us pray for Ukraine Pope Francis invites us to pray “for the population of battered Ukraine”. Angelus.13:02Moscow: 2 dead in the Zaporizhzhia regionThe death toll from an air raid carried out by the Ukrainian armed forces on a village in the Zaporizhzhia region under the control of Moscow is two dead, according to the local emergency services cited by the news agencies press Tass and Ria Novosti. Among those injured there is also a child in a village of Zelenopol.13:40Ukrainians capture a village in the Zaporizhzhia regionUkrainian forces have captured a village in the Zaporizhzhia region. It is Piatykhatky, reports the pro-Russian administration of the region.Meanwhile, the Russian defense ministry announces that a series of Ukrainian attacks have been repelled in three sections of the front line.14:23NATO to African countries: “Peace in Ukraine must be just”The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg replied to the African countries that had met Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, underlining that “the more occupied territories Ukraine manages to free, the more cards it will have at the negotiating table to achieve a just and lasting peace”. In the interview with Die Welt, Stoltenberg adds that “we all want this
war ends”, but “for it to be lasting, it must be just” and “it cannot mean freezing the conflict and accepting a pact dictated by Russia. Only Ukraine alone can define acceptable conditions.”
15:48 Kakhovka dam collapse, CNN: “At least 45 dead” The death toll from the collapse of a large Kakhovka dam is now at least 45 people, after authorities on both sides provided updates. CNN reports it, adding up the 16 missing persons announced by the Ukrainian authorities and the 29 dead declared by the pro-Russian authorities. Ukraine also claims that there are also 31 people missing due to the flooding, and that 3,614 people have been evacuated from the flooded areas “including 474 children and 80 people with reduced mobility”. 17:18 Zelensky’s message for Father’s DayUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a message of good wishes for Father’s Day, which is celebrated in
Ukraine and in many countries of the world today, the third Sunday of June. Zelensky thanked the soldiers and wished them a speedy return home. “Dad… this word is heard millions of times a day, and every time it conveys protection, strength and limitless love. On this Father’s Day I would like as many Ukrainian men as possible to hear this word: Dad!” the president said. “May our fathers live long and in good health. And may all fathers who find themselves at the front go home. Thanks to every Ukrainian father, to every family
Ukraine, for our strong and brave soldiers who defended our independence and are fighting with their lives for the
Ukraine”.
18:27Kherson 14 thousand without electricity“In the Kherson region, 14,000 grid subscribers are without electricity, mainly in the Korabelnyi district. Engineers work every day. Yesterday, the power supply was restored in Yasna Poliana and several houses around this district”. This was stated by Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, reports Ukrinform, according to which about 80% of the electrical equipment has not been affected. “Therefore, if the weather conditions are favourable, the restoration work will continue,” he added. Ukrinform recalls that the current average water level in the Kherson region is 93 centimeters after the Russian army blew up the Kakhovka dam on the night of June 6. 20:50 How the Kiev counter-offensive is going ?
How is the Kiev counter-offensive in the territories occupied by Moscow going? This is the crucial question in this phase of the war, in which Ukraine has repeatedly announced its objective of recovering the regions controlled by the Russians. Zelensky on one side and Putin on the other answer the question in diametrically opposite ways, and it couldn’t be otherwise. According to Kiev, its army has advanced in all southern areas where the counterattack has started, especially in the area between Zaporizhzhia and Donbass.
The troops, according to the deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, are having “tactical success” and “are gradually advancing”. The opinion of the Kremlin is quite different. The president himself reiterated at the St. Petersburg economic forum that Ukraine’s chances of winning the war are zero and that if it wanted Russia could destroy any building in the center of the capital at any time.