President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had lost no positions in their counteroffensive against Russian troops and were “moving forward” in some areas while defending others. Earlier on Monday, Kyiv accused Hungary of barring access to eleven Ukrainian prisoners of war that Russia handed over to the EU country. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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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.
9:42pm: We have suffered no lost positions, Zelensky says
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.
"We have no lost positions, only liberated ones. And they have only losses. Overall, the situation is one of pressure, from us, which paves the way for our flag."
9:10pm: Russia blocks aid workers from area of Ukraine dam collapse
The Kremlin's spokesman said Monday that UN aid workers who want to visit areas ravaged by the recent Kakhovka dam collapse in southern Ukraine can’t go there because fighting in the war makes it unsafe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t explicitly admit that Russia had blocked UN access, but told a conference call with reporters that Ukrainian attacks made a visit too risky.
“There has been constant shelling, constant provocations, civilian facilities and the civilian population have come under fire, people have died, so it’s really difficult to ensure their security,” Peskov said.
The United Nations rebuked Moscow on Sunday for allegedly denying aid workers access to Russian-occupied areas where residents are stranded amid “devastating destruction”. They face a shortage of drinking water and food and a lack of power.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, urged Russian authorities “to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law” and let them in.
7:17pm: Denmark plans to increase Ukraine military aid to just under €3 billion
Denmark’s military support to Ukraine will be increased to 21.9 billion Danish crowns (€2.94 billion) during 2023-2028, the Danish defence ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The aid will be delivered through a Ukraine fund Denmark set up in March as part of the small Nordic nation’s ambition “to be among the most significant supporters of Ukraine”.
“I am proud that Denmark will continue to be a significant contributor. Ukraine remains deeply dependent on military aid,” acting Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement.
6:53pm: 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.
5:31pm: Ukraine accuses Hungary of preventing access to returned prisoners
Kyiv on Monday accused Hungary of barring access to eleven Ukrainian prisoners of war that Russia handed over to the EU country, which has maintained ties with the Kremlin during the invasion of Ukraine.
The prisoners are from Transcarpathia in western Ukraine, a region home to 100,000 ethnic Hungarians.
"All attempts by Ukrainian diplomats over the past few days to establish direct contact with Ukrainian citizens have not been successful," foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement on Facebook.
"Essentially they are being kept in isolation," he said.
3:43pm: Navalny's father decries decision to hold son's trial behind closed doors
"Shameless – no conscience, or honour," Anatoly Navalny told journalists at the trial held at the maximum security IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow, referring to the court's decision.
3:00pm: Putin critic Navalny's trial to take place behind closed doors, says Moscow court
A Russian court on Monday ruled to continue the trial against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on extremism charges – that could see his time in prison extended for decades – behind closed doors.
"The court has decided to make the Navalny trial closed," the spokesman for Moscow City Court, Vadim Polezhayev, told reporters at Navalny's penal colony where the trial is taking place. "The press is requested to leave the room."
2:08pm: One more village recaptured on southern front, says Ukrainian deputy defence minister
Ukrainian forces have recaptured the village of Pyatykhatky from Russian troops on the southern front, Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on Monday.
Malyar said on social media that "eight settlements have been liberated" in total this month since the start of a counteroffensive, with 113 square kilometres of territory recaptured.
1:55pm: Blinken says China promised not to send lethal arms to Ukraine
China has renewed promises not to send arms to Russia to fight in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters as he wrapped up a two-day visit to Beijing.
"We – and other countries – have received assurances from China that it is not and will not provide lethal assistance to Russia for use in Ukraine," Blinken said, though he also voiced concern at the actions of private Chinese firms.
1:35pm: Swedish MPs say attack by Russia cannot be ruled out
Sweden's defence must focus on the threat posed by Russia and a military attack cannot be ruled out, a special parliamentary defence committee has said in a report.
The Nordic nation has been scrambling to bolster its defences, having applied to join NATO last year as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though Turkey and Hungary have so far held up Swedish entry into the Western alliance.
"Russia's aggressive actions have led to a structural and greatly deteriorated security situation. Russia has further lowered its threshold for military use of force and exhibits a high risk propensity," the committee said.
The all-party committee, which is supported by security experts and deals with major issues such as security policy, said the Ukraine war could escalate into attacks on other countries or even the use of nuclear weapons or other mass-destruction arms.
"The preconditions for Swedish defence policy have changed fundamentally. That is a realisation about policy that Swedish citizens need to carry with them. It has consequences," committee chairman and Moderate Party MP Hans Wallmark told reporters.
12:50pm: NATO summit in July will not invite Ukraine to join alliance
NATO leaders will not issue an invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance at a summit in Vilnius in mid-July, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said.
"At the Vilnius summit and in the preparations for the summit, we are not discussing to issue a formal invitation," he told reporters after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, adding leaders would talk about how to move Ukraine closer to NATO.
At the same time, Stoltenberg warned against accepting a frozen conflict in Ukraine in return for an end to the war.
"We all want this war to end, but a just peace cannot mean freezing the conflict and accepting a deal dictated by Russia," he said.
11:33am: Kremlin says it will continue talks with African peace mission
The Kremlin said on Monday it would continue to talk to a group of African countries seeking to mediate in the conflict with Ukraine, notably at a Russia-Africa summit next month.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave the seven-country African delegation that had come to see him in St Petersburg a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided, pouring cold water on a plan already largely dismissed by Kyiv.
10:40am: Russia flags risk of mosquito-borne diseases after flooding
The Russian defence ministry has warned that flooding in the Kherson region after the breach of Ukraine's Kakhovka dam could lead to mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile Fever breaking out in the area.
The warning comes a day after the United Nations rebuked Moscow for allegedly denying its aid workers access to Russian-occupied areas affected by the flooding.
"(Moscow) has so far declined our request to access the areas under its temporary military control," the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said in a statement late on Sunday. "We urge the Russian authorities to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law."
9:25am: FRANCE 24 reports on aftermath of 'nightmare' floods in Kherson
Kherson residents Olena and Valentin headed a clandestine resistance network during Russia's occupation of their region in southern Ukraine.
After the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed earlier this month, triggering catastrophic floods, the couple were forced to flee their home on the banks of the Dnipro River.
Meanwhile, their neighbour Oleg crossed the river in a boat to find residents on the bank still held by the Russians.
FRANCE 24’s Gwendoline Debono, Amar Al Hameedawi and Oliver Farry sent this report.
8:55am: Russia says it thwarted 'terrorist plots' in occupied Ukraine
Russia's FSB security service says it has thwarted a series of Ukrainian "sabotage and terrorist plots" targeting Russian-backed officials on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, arresting one woman as part of its investigation.
The FSB said in a statement that the attacks had targeted Russian law enforcement officials and Russian-installed government officials in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, one of four areas in Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed.
The security service said it opened criminal cases against an unnamed woman it described as "an accomplice" on charges related to terrorism and the illegal possession of explosives.
8:27am: Russian diplomat says deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus not time-limited
Russia's deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is not time-limited, state news agency TASS quoted a senior Russian diplomat on Monday as saying.
Russia announced in March that it was deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, a close ally that has provided support for Moscow's attack on Ukraine. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said the weapons began arriving last month.
The deployment is Moscow's first move of such warheads – shorter-range less powerful nuclear weapons that could potentially be used on the battlefield – outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
"As for the possible time frame for the presence of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, the Russian-Belarusian agreements do not imply any restrictions in this regard," TASS cited Alexei Polishchuk, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department of former Soviet states, as saying in an interview.
Polishchuk said the weapons could hypothetically be removed from Belarus if the United States and NATO "refrained from undermining the security and sovereignty of Russia and Belarus".
7:55am: Ukraine says one more village recaptured on southern front
Ukraine's forces have liberated eight settlements in the past two weeks of their offensive operations, including the village of Piatykhatky, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar has said.
"In the course of two weeks of offensive operations in the Berdiansk and Melitopol directions, eight settlements were liberated," Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.
A Russian-installed official confirmed that Ukraine had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, and were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery.
7:40am: Russia says seven injured in shelling of border town
Seven civilians including a child were injured overnight in Ukrainian shelling of the Valuyki town area in Russia's Belgorod border region, its governor has said.
Five multi-storey buildings and four houses were damaged with one building on fire, the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Separately, Roman Starovoyt, the governor of the Kursk region, north of Belgorod and also bordering Ukraine, said Ukrainian forces shelled two villages there. There were no casualties, according to preliminary information.
5:15am: Ukraine targets initial $40 billion for 'Green Marshall Plan'
Ukraine is seeking up to $40 billion to fund the first part of a "Green Marshall Plan" to rebuild its economy, a senior Ukrainian government official told Reuters ahead of a summit this week.
Politicians and financiers will discuss the country's short-term funding issues as well as look at long-term reconstruction efforts at the two-day meeting, starting in London on Wednesday and co-hosted by Ukraine and Britain.
The World Bank estimates Ukraine's reconstruction will cost $411 billion, three times the country's gross domestic product.
Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, external backers have poured $59 billion into Ukraine for financing needs.
Key developments from Sunday, June 18:
Russia acknowledged on Sunday that Ukraine had recaptured a village in the southern Zapororizhzhia region, its first gain on that front since it launched its counteroffensive earlier this month.
Ukraine also said its forces had destroyed a “significant” ammunition depot near the Russian-occupied port city of Henichesk.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said Russia had "so far declined our request to access the areas under its temporary military control" after the Kakhovka Dam burst on June 6, unleashing floodwaters and cutting off supplies to civilians.
Read yesterday's liveblog to see how the day unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
