Here is the situation on Friday, June 7, 2024.
Fighting
- Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, said one woman was killed and three people injured in Chasiv Yar, which is under assault from Russian forces. Filashkin also ordered the evacuation of children and their guardians from several towns and villages in the region as a result of the “constantly deteriorating” security situation.
- The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 17 out of 18 Shahed-type drones in a Russian attack targeting four regions of the country. A shot-down drone triggered a fire at an infrastructure facility in the Khmelnytskyi region, but there were no reports of casualties or other damage.
- Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the military said. There were no reports of damage.
- Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said it destroyed a Russian tugboat off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea.
- Russia’s TASS news agency, citing the Ministry of Defence, said Russian forces had captured a Colombian national who was fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers. It published a video of the man in which he urged other Colombians not to join the war.
- Sergiy Zhadan, one of Ukraine’s most celebrated writers and poets, announced he had joined the country’s military. The 49-year-old said he was undergoing training.
Politics and diplomacy
- United States President Joe Biden made an impassioned call for the defence of freedom and democracy as he joined European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Biden said it was “simply unthinkable” to surrender to Russian aggression, and he promised no letup in support for Ukraine.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also attended the ceremonies in Normandy, from where tens of thousands of allied soldiers began an offensive in 1944 to defeat Nazi Germany. He also drew parallels with today’s situation in Europe and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “Allies defended Europe’s freedom then, and Ukrainians do so now. Unity prevailed then, and true unity can prevail today,” he wrote on social media platform X.
- Separately, Zelenskyy said he had spoken to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his election victory and urged India to participate in the June 15-16 Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland.
- Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Hungary would attend the peace summit, which aims to build support for Zelenskyy’s peace proposals, which include the full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. Hungary has maintained close ties with Russia even as other members of the European Union have sought to distance themselves since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
- Visiting Beijing, Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga urged the Chinese state and private companies to “take a more active part in helping Ukraine” and boost trade and investment.
- Ukraine’s hydroelectric company Ukrhydroenergo said it had initiated international arbitration seeking damages over Russia’s alleged destruction of the Kakhovka Dam and power station a year ago. The state-run company said damage was estimated at 2.5 billion euros ($2.72bn).
- Ukrainian prosecutors in northeastern Kharkiv said a former Ukrainian soldier who sent the location of sensitive military targets to Russia had been jailed for five years. They did not name the man.
Weapons
- President Macron said France will transfer Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of a new military cooperation with Kyiv. Macron did not specify the number of planes or when they would be sent, but said the pilot training was likely to take place in the coming weeks.
- The French president also said that Ukraine has asked its Western allies to send military instructors to train its forces on its soil. Macron said France and Ukraine’s other partners would decide on their next steps together.
- The US will send about $225m in military aid to Ukraine, including munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as well as mortar systems and a variety of artillery rounds, several officials told The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity.
