The destruction of the Kakhovka dam has caused €1.2 billion of damage, Ukraine's environment minister said on Tuesday, warning that mines unearthed by flooding could wash up in other European countries. Early Tuesday morning, Russia launched a widespread overnight air attack on Ukraine targeting the capital, Kyiv, and cities from east to west. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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02:30am: Russian Navy to receive two new nuclear submarines by end-2023, reports Russian media
The Russian Navy will receive two new nuclear submarines by the end of this year, Russia's TASS state news agency reported on Wednesday.
Alexei Rakhmanov, head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, told TASS in an interview the strategic nuclear-powered submarine missile cruiser Emperor Alexander III and the multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine Krasnoyarsk will be operational by end-2023.
9:45pm: Ukraine 'actively destroying the enemy' in east and south, Zelensky says
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine's forces were destroying Russian forces in the two main theatres of the conflict, the east and south of the country.
"At this time, our soldiers in the south and east are actively destroying the enemy, physically cleansing Ukraine," Zelensky said in his nightly video message.
"A defence against terror means destroying terrorists. And it is a guarantee that the state of evil will never have the opportunity to bring evil to Ukraine."
Referring to a conference to take place in London on post-war recovery, Zelensky said rebuilding Ukraine was "a vehicle and a guarantee of security" and a means of "protecting against any repetition of Russian aggression".
7:01pm: Ukraine says it has repatriated three POWs from Russia via Hungary
Kyiv repatriated three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary after a group of POWs was transferred there from Russia without coordination with Kyiv, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Hungary, which under Prime Minister Viktor Orban has forged strong political and economic ties with Moscow, said on June 9 that Budapest had received a group of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia.
"The Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest managed to bring back three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary," Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on his Facebook page.
Nikolenko added that Ukrainian diplomats and other relevant Ukrainian authorities were working to try to bring back the remaining prisoners of war.
6:34pm: Kyiv official named as suspect in bomb shelter deaths probe
Prosecutors served a notice of suspicion to the head of Kyiv's municipal department for security on Tuesday after three people died in a Russian air attack when they were unable to get into a bomb shelter, the prosecutor's office said.
The deaths of the people on June 1 after they rushed to an air raid shelter that failed to open caused a public outrage and prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow a harsh response.
>> Read more: More than 1,100 air raid shelters in Ukraine found ‘unfit for use’ or locked
The prosecutor's office said the suspect was accused of improperly performing their official duties and that a lack of control over the maintenance and readiness of city bomb shelters led to the deaths and injuries of people.
6:07pm: Ukraine says Kakhovka dam collapse caused €1.2 billion in damage
The destruction of the vast Kakhovka hydro-electric dam has caused €1.2 billion of damage, Ukraine's environment minister said on Tuesday, warning that mines unearthed by flooding could wash onto other European countries' shores.
Speaking by video-link to a meeting of European Union countries' environment ministers, Ukrainian Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets said assessments of the damage was ongoing but the dam collapse was already the largest environmental disaster since Russia's February 2022 invasion.
Strilets did not specify what comprised the estimated €1.2 billion ($1.31 billion) in damage, but said the dam collapse had left around one million people without drinking water after the Kakhovka reservoir's volume plunged by three quarters, and debris would be washed into other countries.
5:53pm: France and Italy need to keep up military support for Ukraine, says Macron
France and Italy are united in supporting Ukraine's war effort, said French President Emmanuel Macron as he met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday.
"We need to continue, in particular so that the counter-offensive launched a few days ago should be as effective as possible", said Macron.
Before meeting the French President, Meloni said there was "no doubt on the fact that Italy and France will continue to support the Ukrainian cause for as long as it will be necessary".
5:52pm: Fighter for Ukraine is jailed for 16 years in Russia
A former deputy commander of a Ukrainian militia unit was sentenced by a Russian court on Tuesday to 16 years in a penal colony for taking part in what Moscow considers an illegal armed group and receiving "terrorist" training, Russian media reported.
Denis Muryga was a senior member of Aidar, one of dozens of volunteer battalions that emerged in Ukraine after fighting broke out in 2014 with Russian-backed groups that declared breakaway "republics" in the east of the country.
The units, some with ultra-nationalist roots, were later absorbed into Ukraine's armed forces.
Muryga was detained in spring 2022 on the Russia-Ukraine border. Russian military news outlet Zvezda published video of him listening with his head bowed to the sentence, which was slightly less than the 18 years prosecutors had demanded.
5:18pm: Ukraine says it successfully deploys 1,000 km drone
Ukraine has successfully used a domestically produced drone with a range of 1,000 km (620 miles), state arms producer Ukroboronprom said on Tuesday.
Ukroboronprom spokesperson Natalia Sad posted a selfie with a smiling Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's commander-in-chief, Mykola Oleshchuk, commander for the air force, and Yurii Husev, head of Ukroboronprom on Facebook. She said the picture was taken "after successful use of our drone for 1000 km".
She provided no other details nor say if use of the drone meant it had been tested or actually deployed in the conflict.
Ukraine's military, government, and private companies are working to create an arsenal of cheap and easy-to-produce drones whch they hope could become a game changer in the war against Russia. It has already employed drones for both reconnaissance and attacks
3:50pm: Ukraine top commander’s baby Yoda badge goes viral
Ukraine released video of its top commander, apparently to rebut Russian suggestions that he had been killed, injured or had fled, and his Star Wars badge stole the show.
The video, released by the General Staff late on Monday, showed Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, leader of Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces, poring over maps with other generals. A clock in one shot showed Saturday's date.
On Zaluzhnyi’s combat uniform is a badge of Grogu, the pale green, pointy-eared hero best known as "Baby Yoda" from the hit Disney Star Wars TV show "The Mandalorian".
Ukrainian internet users pounced on the image, creating memes linked to the character, who, despite his small stature and cuddly appearance proves an unexpectedly fearsome fighter. Many featured the catchphrase of the show's tribe of Mandalorian warriors: "This is the way".
3:45pm UN has told Moscow its grain deal grievances cannot be solved, says Russia
The United Nations has confirmed that it cannot do anything to address some of Russia's central grievances around the Black Sea grain deal, the state TASS news agency cited Russia's Foreign Ministry as saying on Tuesday.
The international body is unable, in particular, to ensure the resumption of piped ammonia exports from Russia, the reconnection of its agricultural bank to the SWIFT payment system, or to ensure supplies of spare parts for agricultural machinery, the ministry was cited as saying.
The current deal is set to expire on July 18.
3:38pm: One Ukraine rescue worker killed, 8 injured by Russian fire in Kherson, minister says
At least one emergency worker was killed and several others were wounded in Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday, the head of the president's office said.
Russian forces fired at rescuer workers who were clearing mud from flood-hit Kherson and seven people were wounded, the official, Andriy Yermak, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a separate post that eight of the rescuers were wounded. Russia denies targeting civilians.
3:15pm: EU countries to train 30,000 Ukraine troops in 2023, says Kyiv
Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that European Union member states plan to train as many as 30,000 members of the Ukrainian armed forces this year, including personnel of Ukraine's territorial defence units.
"In 2023, the EU Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine plans to train 30,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel, including soldiers of the territorial defense forces," the Ukrainian defence ministry said in a statement.
1:53pm: EU asks member states for €50 billion to support Ukraine
Brussels on Tuesday asked EU member states to provide 50 billion euros ($55 billion) more to support Ukraine over the next four years, as part of a boost to the bloc's budget.
"This financial reserve will allow us really to calibrate our financial support according to the evolution of the situation on the ground," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
The proposal from the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, is aimed at helping prop up Kyiv's finances and covering immediate reconstruction costs caused by Russia's war.
Overall, the EU has already committed 30 billion euros from its budget to support the country since Russia's all-out invasion in February 2022.
1:44pm: Kremlin says it sees scant grounds for Ukraine peace talks after African mission
Russia sees scant chance of peace talks with Ukraine due to Kyiv's stance on the issue despite constructive efforts by an African peace mission, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had held "very productive" talks with African leaders on Saturday and remained open to dialogue and contacts on Ukraine, said Peskov.
But he told reporters that what he called the history of Kyiv's position meant "one can hardly talk about stable grounds" for peace negotiations.
1:35pm: Russia warns Ukraine against targeting Crimea with Western weapons
Russia's defence minister has claimed that Ukrainian forces are planning to use Western-supplied missiles to strike targets inside Russia and the annexed peninsula of Crimea, threatening "immediate retaliation".
"The leadership of Ukraine's armed forces plans to strike Russian territory, including Crimea, with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a meeting with military officials.
Shoigu warned of swift retaliation in the event the weapons were used to strike targets inside Russia or on the Black Sea territory that Moscow annexed in 2014.
12:47pm: Putin and African delegation discussed importance of Russian grain supplies to continent, says Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting African leaders discussed the importance of Russian grain supplies to the continent at weekend talks in St Petersburg, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
"The importance was underlined of grain deliveries, especially Russian grain, to the African continent, to the poorest countries," Peskov told reporters. "The importance of continuing these deliveries was underlined."
12:25pm: Chinese imports of Russian oil hit highest level since Ukraine invasion
Chinese imports of Russian oil last month reached their highest level since Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to Chinese customs data.
In May, Beijing imported 9.71 million tonnes of oil from Russia, detailed customs data showed, up from 5.4 million tonnes in February 2022 and 6.3 million the following month.
The figures show that imports of Russian crude by China since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine have almost doubled.
Beijing says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine war, but has been criticised by Western countries for refusing to condemn Moscow and for its close strategic partnership with Russia.
During a summit in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin pledged to boost trade to $200 billion in 2023 as they hailed their "no limits" partnership.
11:45am: Ukrainian refugees helped push German population up 1.3% last year
Large numbers of refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine helped push up the number of inhabitants in the European Union's most populous country to more than 84.4 million, official statistics show.
Germany's population expanded by 1.12 million in 2022, the Federal Statistical Office said. That compared with an increase of just 0.1%, or 82,000 people, the previous year.
At the end of last year, Germany was home to 12.3 million people with only foreign citizenship, the statistics office said. They included 1.05 million Ukrainians, an increase of 915,000 compared with 2021.
10:55am: Russian drones expose gaps in Ukraine's air defences
Ukrainian air defences downed 32 of 35 Shahed exploding drones launched by Russia overnight, most of them in the Kyiv region, in a bombardment that exposed gaps in the country’s air protection.
While Russian drones mostly targeted the Kyiv area, the attack was part of a wider bombardment that extended as far as the Lviv region in the west of the country, near Poland.
The Shahed drones made it all the way to Lviv because of the inability of air defence assets to cover such a broad area, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told reporters.
>> Read more: Ukraine faces new Russian threat from Iran-made ‘kamikaze’ drones
Air defence systems are mostly dedicated to protecting major cities, key infrastructure facilities, including nuclear power plants, and the front line, he explained.
“There is a general lack of air defence assets to cover a country like Ukraine with a dome like Israel has,” he said, in a reference to Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system.
6:35am: Russia launches overnight air attack on Ukrainian cities
Russia launched a widespread overnight air attack on Ukraine targeting the capital and cities from east to west as most of the country spent the night with air raid sirens blasting for several hours.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said that according to preliminary information, Ukraine's air defence systems shot down 28 out of 30 Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia launched.
About 20 enemy targets were identified and destroyed by the forces and our air defence in the airspace around Kyiv, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
"Another massive air attack on the capital," Popko said.
The military administration of Lviv, a city of about 700,000 people and 70 kms (43 miles) from the border with the NATO country of Poland, said Russia hit a "critical infrastructure" in the city, sparking fire.
According to preliminary reports, there were no casualties.
4:15am: Biden says threat of Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is 'real'
President Joe Biden said on Monday the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is "real", days after denouncing Russia's deployment of such weapons in Belarus.
On Saturday, Biden called Putin's announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus "absolutely irresponsible".
"When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy," Biden told a group of donors in California on Monday.
"They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It's real," Biden said.
9:50pm: Russian army 'better prepared' than before for counteroffensive
During the first two weeks of the counteroffensive, eight villages on the southern front have been recaptured, according to the Ukrainian government. FRANCE 24's Ukraine correspondent Gulliver Cragg has the latest from the ground.
“The Ukrainians are also admitting that they are facing a Russian army that seems rather better prepared in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk now than the army they faced in the Kharkiv region in late August/early September last year,” he says.
Key developments from Monday, June 19
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had lost no positions in their counteroffensive against Russian troops, while enemy forces had sustained only losses.
"In some sectors, our forces are moving forward, in others they are defending positions or resisting assaults and intensified attacks from the occupiers," Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
Earlier on Monday, Kyiv accused Hungary of barring access to eleven Ukrainian prisoners of war that Russia handed over to the EU country.
Read yesterday's liveblog to see how the day unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
