Summary of the day
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, is set to become the next Nato secretary-general, after Klaus Iohannis, the Romanian president, withdrew from the race.
During a visit to Vietnam today, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said that Moscow and Hanoi are interested in building what he called a reliable security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region.
Putin also said Russian companies were ready to invest in liquified natural gas projects in Vietnam.
South Korea’s presidential office has condemned an agreement reached by Russia and North Korea that vowed mutual defence assistance in the event of war, and said the country will reconsider its policy of limiting its support to Ukraine to non-lethal supplies.
Four people were killed and four injured as a result of Russian shelling in northern Donetsk, a Ukrainian official said.
Russian missile and drone attacks caused “significant” damage to a thermal power plant and maintained pressure on the electricity grid.
Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, has said that Kyiv and the EU “have extended the agreement on the liberalisation of freight transport by one year, with the possibility of an automatic extension until the end of 2025.”
EU ambassadors agreed on a 14th package of sanctions targeting Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said today that he is “grateful to Zambia for joining the Peace Summit’s Communiqué and supporting efforts to achieve a sustainable, comprehensive, and just peace.”
Mark Rutte was selected as a compromise candidate for the top Nato post, which requires the unanimous agreement of the defensive alliance’s 32 members.
He was picked in large part because he is seen as an experienced politician on the international stage who is very pro-Ukraine but not as hawkish as possible candidates from the alliance’s eastern flank.
But he faced some obstacles, including initial opposition from Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and a rival candidacy from Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis.
Rutte, whose government had been a voice advocating for respect for rule of law norms in the EU, met with Orbán on the sidelines of an EU leaders’ dinner earlier this week.
Following the meeting, Orbán dropped his objections – in return for written assurances from the Dutch leader.
Explaining his decision, Orbán wrote:
We reached an important agreement with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. We agreed that no Hungarian personnel will take part in the activities of NATO in Ukraine and no Hungarian funds will be used to support them.
Our next step this week was to ensure that this agreement can stand the test of time. After yesterday’s meeting in Brussels, PM Mark Rutte confirmed that he fully supports this deal and will continue to do so, should he become the next Secretary General of NATO.
In light of his pledge, Hungary is ready to support PM Rutte’s bid for NATO Secretary-General.
Updated
Romanian president withdraws from Nato leadership race, securing spot for Mark Rutte
Klaus Iohannis, the Romanian president, has withdrawn from the race to become the next Nato secretary-general, paving the way for Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte – long considered the frontrunner for the job– to formally get the post.
The move came after Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, dropped his opposition to Rutte’s candidacy.
Updated
EU and Ukraine extend agreement on freight transport
Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, has said that Kyiv and the EU “have extended the agreement on the liberalisation of freight transport by one year, with the possibility of an automatic extension until the end of 2025.”
“This is an important step towards integrating Ukraine into the EU area, increasing Ukrainian exports and European imports, strengthening the economy and stability,” he added.
🇺🇦 🇪🇺 Ukraine and the European Commission have extended the agreement on the liberalisation of freight transport by one year, with the possibility of an automatic extension until the end of 2025. This is an important step towards integrating #Ukraine into the EU area, increasing…
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) June 20, 2024
The West is in the midst of a summer of “missed opportunity summits” that will leave Ukraine and the West without a plan to defeat Vladimir Putin at least until next year, Kurt Volker, the US Special Representative for Ukraine between 2017-2019 said on Thursday.
Speaking at Chatham House London Conference Volker said:
We are not going to have a plan this year. Everyone would like to put this in a box rather than rise to the challenge. We need a plan but we are not going to have one.
He said the West was in “the middle of a summer of missed opportunity summits”.
He said the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin ended last week without any describable outcomes whilst the Ukraine Peace Conference in Switzerland showed countries ranging from Brazil, China and India are not willing to stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty.
“India cares about democracy, but they do not see this as their problem”. The G7 summit last week had agreed to provide a $50m loan but it could have seized the Russian assets worth $300bn, Volker said.
He predicted the EU summit at the end of this month will start accession talks on Ukraine membership, but the Nato summit in Washington in July will not start a parallel accession process, adding Joe Biden does not have a strategy to win the war. He said:
We are stuck into not inviting Ukraine into the alliance because people fear it means going to war with Russia. The problem is that it gives every incentive to Putin to keep this war going.
He predicted it will be easier to pass aid supplements for Ukraine after the November congressional elections, but said it was simply unknown how Donald Trump would address the Ukraine issue, pointing out that the evidence of his attitude to Russia goes both ways.
Mariia Ionova co-chair of the Equal Opportunity Caucus in the Ukrainian parliament, said a Nato refusal to give Ukraine a date to join missed an opportunity to make a demonstration of strength. “Hybrid world war three has already started”, she said.
She pointed out for the first time in 45 years Vladimir Putin had gone to North Korea to increase the amount of artillery shells it receives from Pyongyang from the current estimate of 5m. By contrast she pointed out that Ukraine was “still waiting for 1m shells from the EU after seven months of delay”.
South Korea says it will consider supplying arms to Ukraine after Russia-North Korea deal
South Korea’s presidential office has condemned an agreement reached by Russia and North Korea that vowed mutual defence assistance in the event of war, the Associated Press reported.
The office also said South Korea will reconsider its policy of limiting its support to Ukraine to non-lethal supplies.
“It’s absurd that two parties with a history of launching wars of invasion — the Korean War and the war in Ukraine — are now vowing mutual military cooperation on the premise of a preemptive attack by the international community that will never happen,” the office of South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, said.
“In particular, Russia’s decision to support North Korea and cause harm to our security, despite its status as a permanent member of the Security Council that has endorsed the sanctions resolution against North Korea, will inevitably have a negative impact on (South Korea-Russia) relations,” it added.
Here are some of the latest images from Ukraine.
Vietnam’s president, To Lam, congratulated Russia’s Vladimir Putin on his re-election and praised Russia’s achievements, including “domestic political stability”, Reuters reported.
Putin is visiting Hanoi today.
“Once again, congratulations to our comrade for receiving overwhelming support during the recent presidential election, underlining the confidence of the Russian people,” Lam said.
Lam and Putin witnessed the exchange of 11 agreements and memorandums of understanding, including deals on oil and gas.
Updated
EU agrees on new sanctions package against Russia
EU ambassadors this morning agreed on a 14th package of sanctions targeting Russia.
I welcome the agreement on our 14th sanctions package against Russia.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 20, 2024
This hard-hitting package will further deny Russia access to key technologies.
It will strip Russia of further energy revenues.
And tackle Putin’s shadow fleet and shadow banking network abroad. https://t.co/iquZOtEOWf
Ukrainian infrastructure hit in Russian attack
Russian missile and drone attacks earlier today caused “significant” damage to a thermal power plant and maintained pressure on the electricity grid, Ukrainian officials said, Reuters reported.
The attack on energy infrastructure in four regions wounded seven workers and cut off electricity to more than 218,000 consumers, according to Ukraine’s energy ministry.
Yesterday, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un presented Vladimir Putin with two dogs.
Two civilians killed in Russian shelling, Ukrainian official says
Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said this morning that two people were killed in Russian shelling in the Donetsk region over the past day.
“On June 19, Russians killed two residents in the Donetsk region: in Toretsk and Rozkishne. Four more people suffered injuries,” he said, Ukrinform reported.
Zelenskiy 'grateful' to Zambia for joining summit’s communiqué
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said today that he is “grateful to Zambia for joining the Peace Summit’s Communiqué and supporting efforts to achieve a sustainable, comprehensive, and just peace.”
“We appreciate the growing support for the Peace Summit and its final Communiqué from all continents, including Africa,” he added.
I am grateful to Zambia for joining the Peace Summit’s Communiqué and supporting efforts to achieve a sustainable, comprehensive, and just peace.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 20, 2024
We appreciate the growing support for the Peace Summit and its final Communiqué from all continents, including Africa. We value that…
Putin says Russia and Vietnam interested in building security architecture in Asia-Pacific
Speaking in Vietnam today, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said that Moscow and Hanoi are interested in building what he called a reliable security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, Reuters reported.
Putin also said Russian companies were ready to invest in liquified natural gas projects in Vietnam.
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine, which today we’re leading with Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Vietnam.
The Russian president touched down in Hanoi in the early hours of Thursday and is set to begin his official engagements at noon local time with a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart To Lam. He will also meet with Nguyen Phu Trong, the powerful general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, and the prime minster, Pham Minh Chinh.
His reception is likely to be more muted than in North Korea, where he was greeted with huge ceremony and signed a defence pact with leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday.
In Hanoi Russian officials say Putin will focus on economic, education and energy issues. But observers say that in private, Ukraine and defence cooperation are likely to be on the table.
Vietnam, which officially pursues a neutral foreign policy it calls “bamboo diplomacy” in its relations with world powers, has abstained from condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a stance that Western countries view as too close to the Kremlin.
More on that soonest. In other developments:
Ukraine has bid farewell to a fighter pilots counted among the fabled “Ghosts of Kyiv”. Lt Col Valentin Korenchuk, referred to in the military as Beekeeper, piloted a MiG-29 fighter jet in the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade. He was lauded as Ukraine’s “best pilot” in an air force statement that this week confirmed his death in combat.
A senior Ukrainian presidential aide on Wednesday said North Korea was helping Russia kill Ukrainian civilians and called for greater international isolation of both countries. Leader Kim Jong-un “deliberately provides resources for the mass murder of Ukrainians”, said Mykhailo Podolyak, blasting the “absolute incapacity” of current sanctions. “We need a more rigorous approach to real isolation.
Russian forces have escalated attacks near Toretsk, a frontline town in the Donetsk region that had remained relatively calm over recent months of fighting, officials and AFP journalists reported on Wednesday. The head of the region, Vadym Filashkin, said on Wednesday that Russian fire near the town of Pokrovsk farther south had killed one person and wounded another over the last 24 hours.
Ukraine’s SBU security service said it had detained a man recruited by Russian agents on an online dating platform who had tried to provide Moscow with sensitive details about Ukrainian troops. The arrest took place in Kharkiv. “The SBU seized the man’s phone, used by the suspect to communicate with his Russian ‘friend’ and take photos of military facilities,” said an SBU statement.
Ukraine has set up a national registry for sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces. Viktoriia Litvinova, the Ukrainian deputy prosecutor general, said there had already been five convictions in absentia. Litvinova said 303 cases of conflict-related sexual violence have been registered since the start of the full-scale invasion in early 2022, with 112 involving male and 191 involving female victims. The actual number is likely to be much higher.
A man and a woman were killed by Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk on Wednesday morning, the Russian occupation’s mayor, Alexei Kulemzin reported. Two other people, including a child, were wounded and in a serious condition, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed governor of Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region, added. Ukraine denies targeting civilians and targets that do not have a military connection.
Russia has “significant amounts” of western assets and property on its territory that could be targets for retaliation by Moscow if the west seizes income from Russian assets, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Leaders of the G7 agreed at a summit in Italy last week to use interest from Russian assets frozen in the west to provide a US$50bn loan to Ukraine.
An oil terminal in Russia’s port city of Azov continued to burn for more than a day and a half after a Ukrainian drone strike on Tuesday, the Rostov regional governor said.
