Closing summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s main news:
The chief of mercenary group Wagner has reportedly accused Moscow’s top brass of deceiving Russians about the course of Ukraine’s offensive and pointed to Kyiv’s progress on the battlefield.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, accused opponents of waging a campaign to discredit him and force him out of office on Wednesday after a rift with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Reuters reported.
EU governments agreed to an 11th package of sanctions against Russia, aimed at stopping other countries and companies from circumventing existing measures.
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said all Nato allies are backing a plan to give Ukraine a fast track to Nato membership of the kind offered to Sweden and Finland earlier this year.
Vladimir Putin announced that new Sarmat nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles would soon enter service. The missiles are designed to carry out nuclear strikes on targets thousands of missiles away but their deployment has proceeded slower than planned. He reportedly said Moscow had seen a “lull” in the Ukrainian counteroffensive, and that Kyiv had suffered heavy losses in attacks in the south.
Russia’s top investigator reportedly claimed that over 30 Ukrainians had been given long jail terms in Russian-held Ukraine for committing what he described as serious crimes such as killing civilians.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy accepted in a BBC interview that progress in the country’s current counteroffensive against Russian forces had been “slower than desired”. Zelenskiy told the Ukraine Recovery conference that Ukraine had made the west, including the EU, more united than ever before and could become an engine for green world growth and security for decades.
Rishi Sunak outlined how Ukraine must be supported to fast-track recovery and support this “help Ukraine unleash its potential”. “It’s clear Russia must pay for the destruction that they’ve inflicted. So we’re working with allies to explore lawful routes to use Russian assets,” the prime minister said at the conference, held in London.
Russian air defences downed three drones in the Moscow region on Wednesday, the defence ministry said, in what it called an attempted Ukrainian attack, Reuters reported.
Updated
Wagner chief accuses Moscow of 'misleading Russians' over Ukraine offensive
The chief of mercenary group Wagner accused Moscow of deceiving Russians about the course of Ukraine’s offensive and pointed to Kyiv’s progress on the battlefield, AFP reports.
Early this month Kyiv’s military launched its counteroffensive in the east and south of the country in an effort to claw back territory lost since last year. Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s offensive is failing.
But the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose forces had for months led an assault for towns in eastern Ukraine including Bakhmut, accused the defence ministry of not telling the truth and losing territory to Ukrainian troops.
“They are misleading the Russian people,” he said in an audio message released by his spokespeople.
A number of villages, including Piatykhatky has been lost, Prigozhin said, pointing to a lack of arms and ammunition.
“Huge chunks have been handed over to the enemy,” he said, adding: “All of this is being totally hidden from everyone,”
“One day Russia will wake up to discover that Crimea too has been handed over to Ukraine,” he said.
Kyiv has reported modest gains, retaking eight settlements in the first cautious steps of a fightback against entrenched Russian positions.
Updated
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine plans to resume pumping water from what remains of the massive reservoir behind a nearby dam that burst two weeks ago, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports:
The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week it was unclear whether it would be possible to pump water from the reservoir to cool reactors and spent fuel at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant given how much the reservoir’s level has fallen.
While the plant can fall back on other water sources, including a cooling pond with what the IAEA says is months’ worth of water in it, whatever can be pumped from the reservoir should buy more time before stocks have to be replenished.
“Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is planning to resume pumping water that still remains accessible despite a major loss of water in the Kakhovka reservoir caused by the destruction of the downstream dam earlier this month,” the IAEA said in a statement.
For the past two weeks, Zaporizhzhia has received its cooling water from the reserves of a water outlet from a nearby thermal power plant. That so-called discharge channel has also been used to replace water in the cooling pond that evaporated, the IAEA said
Updated
Kyiv is “not optimistic” about the renewal of an agreement allowing grain from Ukraine to reach the global market, a senior Ukrainian government official has said.
“We are not optimistic at this time,” deputy prime minister for the restoration of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, told reporters on Wednesday, according to AFP.
“Since the beginning of May, the corridor efficiency has decreased,” he said, adding that Ukraine recently exported more agricultural products via other routes than through the corridors under the agreement.
The deal that grants safe passage for Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea was signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN in July 2022. It was renewed again in May but for only two months, until 17 July.
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Speaker after speaker at the conference drew applause by saying that Russia will have to contribute to the cost of Ukraine’s recovery - put at $400bn by the World Bank in May.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said: “Let’s be clear: Russia is behind the destruction of Ukraine. And Russia will end up bearing the cost of rebuilding Ukraine.”
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the aggressor must be held responsible.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said: “It is clear that Russia must pay for the destruction it has inflicted. This is why we are working with our allies to explore legal avenues for the use of Russian assets.”
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said his country was preparing “a fair mechanism that will allow us to confiscate up to $500bn of Russian assets frozen in the west”.
But a preliminary paper prepared by the European Commission suggests no legal avenue has been found to seize frozen Russian sovereign assets that does not risk legal challenge. The commission, according to a paper seen by Bloomberg, is proposing a windfall tax could be imposed on Russian companies, but that it is not likely to raise much money.
The UK this week proposed that sanctions can be kept in place until Russia has agreed to pay reparations, a route that might lead Russian businesses to put pressure on the Russian government to offer reparations.
In the immediate future, Shmyhal said his country needed $14.1bn for 2023 alone and faced a shortfall of $6.5bn that he hoped would be overcome at the conference.
Despite it not being a pledging conference, Washington announced an additional $1.3bn directed mainly towards its essential infrastructure and a green power industry.
The US promised credit guarantees from the World Bank reaching $3bn over three years to finance Ukrainian public services and £240m of bilateral aid, intended in particular for mine clearance and humanitarian projects.
Germany announced an additional €381m of humanitarian aid in 2023, and Paris, €40m, for emergency reconstruction and medical equipment in particular. On Tuesday, the European Commission had proposed an aid package of €50bn until 2027.
But the thrust of the conference was to convince sceptical if well disposed private investors that Ukraine is a politically and militarily safe country in which to invest, and a vibrant civil society, and a reformed judiciary, will block the return of corrupt oligarchs once peace returns.
In a show of support, thousands of businesses with a capitalisation of $1trillion signed a “Ukraine business compact”, an initiative inviting companies from all over the world to commit to supporting the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Zelenskiy has enlisted BlackRock and JPMorgan to advise on the Ukraine Development Fund, a vehicle that seeks to mobilise capital from private and public sector investors toward rebuilding the Ukrainian economy.
Updated
Clearing the landmines in Ukraine will require an operation comparable to clearing Europe of explosive hazards after the second world war, the UN said on Wednesday.
The task will need up to $300m a year over the next five years to clear those landmines causing the biggest drag on Ukraine’s economy, Paul Heslop, the head of UN mine action for the UN Development Programme in Ukraine, was quoted by AFP as saying.
“What we’re facing in Ukraine is very much what was faced in Europe at the end of world war two,” he told a news conference in Geneva.
He said Europe solved its explosive hazard problem within 15 years of the end of the war.
Updated
Kyiv mayor says political foes trying to discredit and oust him
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, accused opponents of waging a campaign to discredit him and force him out of office on Wednesday after a rift with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Reuters reports.
The former boxing champion’s political future is uncertain after a public outcry over the deaths of three people locked out of an air raid shelter during a Russian attack on Kyiv this month.
An audit ordered by Zelenskiy found only 15% of Kyiv’s 4,655 bomb shelters were suitable and only 44% were freely accessible, and prosecutors on Tuesday served a formal “notice of suspicion” to a senior Kyiv security official accused of mismanagement.
Klitschko posted a video message on Telegram in which he appeared to criticise investigations over the situation with the shelters, decrying “endless searches” that were making it hard to run the capital efficiently.
He said:
Today there is a heavy campaign to discredit the capital authorities and personally me. In wartime, they bring chaos to the management of the capital.
Updated
My colleague Patrick Wintour has more on the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, indicating that Nato allies back fast-track membership for Ukraine of the kind offered to Sweden and Finland earlier this year (See post at 15:00).
Speaking on the margins of the two-day Ukraine Recovery conference in London, Cleverly said the UK was “very, very supportive” of Ukraine being able to join the alliance without the usual need for it to meet the conditions set out in a Nato membership action plan (Map), he reports.
The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, was more cautious but said circumstances had changed since 2008 when Ukraine was last offered Nato membership on the condition it met the terms set out in an action plan.
You can read the full story here:
Ukraine expects to be invited to join Nato with an open date at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius next month, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said on Wednesday.
“We expect that Ukraine will be invited to Nato with an open date,” Andre Yermak told a webinar held by the Atlantic Council thinktank, according to Reuters.
However, on Monday, Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, said Nato leaders would not issue an invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance at the summit in Vilnius in mid-July.
Yermak said that consultations were ongoing between the US and Ukraine on measures that Nato leaders would approve in Vilnius to bolster Ukraine’s security until it receives the alliance’s collective security guarantee.
Updated
US bomber jets land in Sweden for first time in modern history for training exercises
US bomber jets have landed in Sweden for the first time in modern history for training exercises with the Nato invitee, the military said Wednesday.
AFP reports:
Sweden, which abandoned two centuries of military non-alignment to seek Nato membership last year, announced earlier this month that it was ready to host Nato troops and material on its soil even before it becomes a member of the alliance.
Two American B-1B Lancers landed at Lulea-Kallax airport in northern Sweden on Monday 19 June, the military said.
“We are carrying out a joint exercise, both the air force and the army, with the Bomber Task Force,” air force spokeswoman Louise Levin told AFP. She did not say how long the exercises would last…
Sweden has been a Nato “invitee” since June 2022, but its membership bid, which must be ratified by all 31 member states, has been blocked by Turkey and Hungary.
A special Swedish parliamentary defence committee said on Monday the country’s defence must adapt to focus on the threat posed by Russia and a military attack could not be ruled out.
Updated
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, has tweeted to say his team are coordinating efforts to document and investigate alleged Russian war crimes.
He said:
We must modernise our approaches, practices, and techniques. I told colleagues about the ‘Standards for War Crimes Investigation’ developed by the prosecutor general’s office of Ukraine with the support of our international partners.
I emphasised the importance of using modern IT solutions to collect and store evidence and organise the work of prosecutors and investigators.
We are coordinating efforts to document and investigate #RussianWarCrimes. Discussed means to increase the work efficiency of law enforcement agencies and other state institutions involved in these processes at the Coordination Headquarters meeting.
— Andriy Kostin (@AndriyKostinUa) June 21, 2023
We must modernize our… pic.twitter.com/OMyA0TA5uS
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires of the war:
Kyiv said the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine earlier this month caused an estimated $1.5bn in damages to the environment, AFP reports.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of “ecocide” by blowing up the Soviet-era dam on the Dnipro River, while Russia has blamed Ukraine.
The Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has said the “preliminary estimates” of $1.5bn in environmental damages following the dam breach do not include “losses to agriculture, infrastructure, housing, and the cost of rebuilding the plant itself”.
Updated
We have some updates on the new sanctions the EU has agreed to be taken against Russia (See post at 15:16).
The new package forbids transit via Russia of an expanded list of goods and technology which might aid Russia’s military or security sector.
The EU package also extends the suspension of EU broadcasting licences of five Russian state-controlled media, Reuters reports.
To curb the practice of ships loading Russian crude oil or petroleum products at sea, the package bans access to EU ports for ships which engage in ship-to-ship transfers if there is cause to suspect the cargo was of Russian origin.
The package adds a further 71 persons and 33 entities to those banned from the EU and with EU assets frozen.
The deal, in the making since April, had been held up by objections from Hungary and Greece over the listing by Ukraine of some of their companies as sponsors of war, because they did business with Russia or in other ways contributed to Moscow’s war effort, according to Reuters.
Summary of the day so far...
The EU has agreed an 11th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, AFP reports. Sweden said the new measures were approved at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels.
Nato leaders are expected to endorse Ukraine’s membership aspiration at a summit in July, but the alliance is wary of letting the country in during a war, according to reports. The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, on Wednesday indicated the UK would be “very supportive” if Ukraine was able to go through a simplified process for joining Nato.
Vladimir Putin reportedly said Moscow had seen a “lull” in the Ukrainian counteroffensive, and that Kyiv had suffered heavy losses in attacks in the south. The Russian president said on Wednesday that Russia’s new generation of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles would soon be deployed for combat duty.
Russia’s top investigator reportedly claimed that over 30 Ukrainians had been given long jail terms in Russian-held Ukraine for committing what he described as serious crimes such as killing civilians.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said battlefield progress in Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russian forces had been “slower than desired”, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s president has said that his county has made the west, including the EU, more united than ever before, in an address by video link to more than 1,000 businesses and foreign ministers at a two-day Ukraine Recovery conference in London. Zelenskiy also urged western leaders to help rebuild his war-torn country, as he hailed the reconstruction project as a crucial part of its fight for freedom.
Rishi Sunak outlined how Ukraine must be supported to fast-track recovery and support this “help Ukraine unleash its potential”. “It’s clear Russia must pay for the destruction that they’ve inflicted. So we’re working with allies to explore lawful routes to use Russian assets,” the prime minister said at the conference.
Two drones have been intercepted on their approach to military warehouses in the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the area, has said, according to Reuters.
Updated
Latvia’s prime minister, Krišjānis Kariņš, has been cited by the Kyiv Independent as having said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference that his country is completing the transfer of all of its helicopters to Ukraine.
Updated
EU agrees new package of sanctions against Russia over invasion of Ukraine
The EU on Wednesday agreed an 11th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, AFP reports.
Sweden, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, said the new measures were approved at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels.
As part of the package, the bloc has put three Hong Kong-based companies on a list of firms to which the EU restricts exports of sensitive technologies, a document seen by AFP showed.
Five companies from mainland China included in an earlier proposal were dropped from the list, a diplomat said, after Beijing pushed Brussels to take them off.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last February, the EU has adopted 10 sanctions packages against Russian individuals and companies, inflicting economic and making financing the war more difficult.
Updated
UK would back streamlined Nato membership for Ukraine – Cleverly
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, indicated the UK would be “very supportive” if Ukraine was able to go through a simplified process for joining Nato.
He suggested the UK would back suggestions Ukraine would not be required to go through the membership action plan (Map) stage of joining the military alliance.
The Map process sees candidate countries receive assessments and advice as they take steps to meet Nato criteria on defence and other matters.
If Ukraine effectively skipped this, it would put them in a category with new member Finland. By contrast, North Macedonia took part in a 20-year Map programme before its 2020 entry.
Speaking at a press conference at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, Cleverly said: “We have seen Ukraine evolve, and evolve incredibly quickly.
“Jens Stoltenberg at the Nato informal foreign ministers (summit) said that actually, many of the requirements of membership action plan are actually being delivered.
“The reform of their armed forces is happening whilst engaged in conflict.
“I think the UK’s position would be very, very supportive if we moved on from the membership action plan recognising that the offer to both Sweden and Finland didn’t require that and Ukrainians have demonstrated their commitment to reform the military for requirement of Nato membership through their actions on the battlefield.
“And I think all Nato allies recognise that.”
Updated
The UK has pledged to offer new virtual reality (VR) training for at-sea Ukrainian cadets as part of a new package of support.
The UK government said the training would be provided through VR headsets to help participants practise for real-life scenarios.
Ukrainians will also be sponsored to take part in three-year cadetships to UK container ships and other large vessels, with the new package confirmed as the transport secretary, Mark Harper, appeared at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. He said:
Our support for Ukraine and its people is unwavering, and we’re not going to let Russia’s abhorrent actions sink Ukraine’s great reputation in areas like seafaring
By sharing the UK’s world-renowned expertise in aviation and seafaring, we are steadfast in our commitment to ensuring Ukraine’s transport system recovers from Putin’s illegal invasion.
The Department for Transport will also support secondments for Ukraine’s air traffic controllers to train in the UK, with the latest funding following on from £10m previously announced to help repair Ukraine’s rail infrastructure.
Harper joined other UK ministers in appearing at the conference, which was opened by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and addressed via video-link by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Updated
Putin says Russia is seeing 'lull' in Ukrainian counteroffensive
Vladimir Putin said in remarks shown on Russian state television on Wednesday that Moscow had seen a “lull” in the Ukrainian counteroffensive, and that Kyiv had suffered heavy losses in attacks in the south.
The Russian president also said that although Ukraine retained offensive potential, Kyiv already understood that it had “no chance” in its counteroffensive, Reuters reports.
Kyiv’s forces have had “partial success” in the last day and are digging in and attacking on the southern front, while weathering a big Russian assault in the east, a senior Ukrainian defence official said on Wednesday.
None of these claims could immediately be independently verified.
Updated
Ursula von der Leyen has said she proposed to EU members states to cover 45% of all the financial needs of Ukraine until 2027.
Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery International Conference in London, the European Commission president said:
Until 2027, Ukraine’s remaining fiscal gap is about 60 billion euros. The needs for fast recovery are about 50 billion euros. That makes in total €110bn until 2027 that are not covered. Therefore, yesterday I proposed to EU member states to cover 45% of this gap – this is in total €50bn for Ukraine.
🇪🇺The EU can cover 45% of Ukraine's financial needs until 2027, the head of the European Commission @vonderleyen said during the #Ukraine Recovery Conference. pic.twitter.com/LYzwOyU6iG
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) June 21, 2023
The EU pumped €30bn (£26bn) into Ukraine in the last year, diverting cash from energy and cohesion funds to respond to the crisis.
On Tuesday it pledged a further €50bn in loans and grants, with the UK and the US following suit with a promise of $3bn and $1.3bn respectively in financial supports.
My colleague Lisa O’Carroll has looked at the financial pledges western countries have made to Ukraine, considering whether it is enough to finance the huge recovery needed to rebuild the war-ravaged country. You can read her analysis here:
Updated
Japan will host a conference to encourage companies to invest into Ukraine some time between the end of the year and early 2024, foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Japan was also planning to support Ukraine through projects focused on mine clearance, basic infrastructure such as electricity, agriculture and strengthening democracy, Hayashi told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.
Updated
Putin says Russia's new Sarmat nuclear missiles soon ready for deployment
Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia’s new generation of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads, would soon be deployed for combat duty, Reuters reports.
In a speech to new graduates of military academies, Putin stressed the importance of Russia’s “triad” of nuclear forces that can be launched from land, sea or air.
“The most important task here is the development of the nuclear triad, which is a key guarantee of Russia’s military security and global stability,” he said.
“Already about half of the units and formations of the Strategic Missile Forces are equipped with the latest Yars systems, and the troops are being re-equipped with modern missile systems with the Avangard hypersonic warhead.”
The first Sarmat launchers would be put on combat duty “in the near future”, the Russian president added.
Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, meanwhile, has told graduating military academy students that the “collective West” was waging a “real war” against Russia.
Updated
A UN official said on Wednesday that the mines dislodged by the flood waters from Kakhovka dam in Ukraine could float downstream and reach as far as Black Sea beaches, Reuters reports.
Paul Heslop, head of UN Mine Action at the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva that PMF-1 mines, also known as “butterfly” mines, were light enough to float downstream for a large distance.
He said:
I would not be surprised to see that those mines have either got down as far as the sea or over the coming months, as the water is continuing to flow, will be transported down there. Unfortunately, we could see anti-personnel pressure mines washing up on beaches around the Black Sea.
The collapse of the Russian-held dam on 6 June unleashed floodwaters across southern Ukraine and Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region, killing more than 50 people and destroying homes and farmland.
Poland’s ministry of foreign affairs has tweeted that it has prepared a law enabling the extension of insurance coverage for the transport of goods to and from Ukraine, as well as investment activities.
Britain, the US and the EU pledged billions of dollars of extra help to rebuild Ukraine on Wednesday.
💬 Our government has prepared a law enabling the extension of insurance coverage for the transport of goods to and from Ukraine, as well as investment activities. On this basis, 🇵🇱 will create a program of rebuilding Ukraine.
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) June 21, 2023
| FM @RauZbigniew during Ukraine Recovery Conference pic.twitter.com/1fZvHclRPg
European Commission chiefs want Hungary to answer urgent questions over claims that Ukrainian prisoners of war were transferred there from Russia without the involvement of Kyiv.
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, has forged strong political and economic ties with Moscow and said earlier this month that Budapest had received a group of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia.
Ukraine repatriated three of them on Tuesday and is demanding access to the remainder accusing Orban of a publicity stunt.
Hungarian and international media quoted Orban’s chief-of-staff, Gergely Gulyas, as saying the soldiers arrived in Hungary of “their own free will” and that Kyiv was informed after their transfer.
“It’s very important that they relevant Hungarian authorities explain to their Ukrainian counterparts. We are seeking asnwers,” said a spokesperson for the European commission.
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Counteroffensive progress 'slower than desired' says Zelenskiy
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said battlefield progress in Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russian forces had been “slower than desired”, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
“Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It’s not,” it quoted the Ukrainian president as saying in an interview.
Ukraine has reported recapturing eight villages in the south in the last two weeks.
Though small, the advances are the biggest by its forces since November as they push into heavily fortified and mined Russian-held areas.
Updated
Rishi Sunak met Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, as well as Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.
A Downing Street spokesperson said:
The prime minister met with the president of the European commission, president of Estonia, prime ministers of Latvia and Ukraine, and the US secretary of state this morning.
The prime minister thanked the leaders for attending the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London and for their strong and ongoing support to Ukraine.
Reflecting on the work that had already begun in Ukraine to recover and rebuild, the Prime Minister said it is inspiring to see that progress happening at the same time as the armed forces of Ukraine pushed back Russian forces.
Discussing the important role of the private sector in the rebuild of Ukraine, the prime minister said it was fantastic to see so many companies and businesses attend the London summit.
Updated
Officials and business leaders at the Ukraine Recovery Conference should ensure that any “Marshall Plan” for the war-ravaged country includes ensuring children are not separated from their families, Disability Rights International, Hope and Homes for Children, Human Rights Watch and Lumos say.
The groups said replacing Ukraine’s institutional care system with modern social services, that strengthen families to help keep them together, should be a key feature to the reconstruction plans.
Mark Waddington, CEO of Hope and Homes for Children, said:
There’s a hidden humanitarian crisis playing out in Ukraine, where millions of families are displaced, social services are in tatters, unemployment is growing, food prices are rocketing, daily air raids are the norm and trauma from Russian occupation is widespread.
As a result, many parents are struggling to cope, and thousands of children are at risk of being placed in harmful institutions.
Now, at a time of war, children need loving and comforting families more than ever. The Ukraine Recovery Conference offers an incredible opportunity to talk about physical reconstruction of buildings, roads and infrastructure, but it must also address social reconstruction that directly serves families and children.
This must include a commitment to closing every last children’s institution in Ukraine, and creating a modern care system that helps to keep families together. Families are the future of Ukraine, and leaders at the recovery conference must not ignore this.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine has succeeded in making the EU as united “as it has never been before”, with his country “activating the moral force of Nato”.
Ukraine’s president is pushing for Ukraine to join Nato and the EU.
Ukraine has succeeded in making the EU as united as it has never been before.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 21, 2023
This is truly a unity of values, which is reflected in many political, economic, sanction and humanitarian decisions. 🇺🇦 has activated all that power of solidarity for which the 🇪🇺 was conceived.
And… pic.twitter.com/5hk6bEtL8x
Russian investigator says over 30 Ukrainian 'nationalists' jailed for war crimes
Russia’s top investigator has said that more than 30 Ukrainians had been given long jail terms in Russian-held Ukraine for committing what he described as serious crimes such as killing civilians, Reuters reports.
The comments were made by Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, Russia’s equivalent of the FBI in the US.
He was reported as saying the courts operating on territory in parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Russian forces had been working hard to jail people who had fought on the Ukrainian side against Russia.
“After the liberation of Mariupol and other settlements, many Ukrainian nationalists surrendered. In the course of further work, we began to establish their involvement in crimes against peace and human security, including the killing of civilians,” Bastrykin told Russia’s Tass news agency.
He said 90 criminal cases had been sent to courts.
“Based on the evidence gathered, courts have already convicted more than 30 defendants, sentencing them to long terms of imprisonment and some to life imprisonment,” Bastrykin added.
The alleged war crimes referred to by Bastrykin could not immediately be independently verified.
Russia is itself under pressure for alleged war crimes, with the international criminal court having issued an arrest warrant in March against Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin has rejected the allegation as false.
Updated
The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, has set out a new war insurance mechanism to support Ukraine’s recovery, Reuters reports.
“I’m announcing today the establishment of an insurance mechanism to cover investments in Ukraine against war-related risks via the French public investment bank,” Colonna said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on Wednesday.
She added that the French government’s plan was consistent with the insurance mechanism proposed by Britain and Ukraine.
The comments come as the UK is introducing new laws that will allow ministers to maintain Russian sanctions until compensation is paid to Ukraine, thus introducing a way for frozen Russian assets to be donated to Ukrainian reconstruction.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged western leaders to help rebuild his war-torn country, as he hailed the reconstruction project as a crucial part of its fight for freedom.
The Ukrainian president addressed the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London via video-link on Wednesday, as Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, reiterated their support for the country.Sunak outlined how Ukraine must be supported to fast track recovery and support this “help Ukraine unleash its potential”. “It’s clear Russia must pay for the destruction that they’ve inflicted. So we’re working with allies to explore lawful routes to use Russian assets,” the prime minister said at the conference.
Two drones have been intercepted on their approach to military warehouses in the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the area, has said, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian forces are “very actively destroying the enemy, physically clearing Ukraine,” President Zelenskiy said in his latest evening address.
Updated
Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog until 7pm (UK time). Please do feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.
Speaking after Zelenskiy, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she had “no doubt” that Ukraine would join the EU.
Addressing the conference, she praised the progress and speed of reform in the country, she said Europe could never match the country’s sacrifice but did stand united behind it.
She spoke about a recent visit to Ukraine:
I saw a country that does everything possible to rise from the ashes of the war. Everything they are fighting for, and what they are dying for. They show it on the battlefield. They show it on the streets. They show it in the classrooms. They are fighting for their future.
Setting out her hopes for the future of Ukraine, Von der Leyen said it would become a “country that attracts foreign investment, a country that is master of its future, a country that is a member of the European Union”.
She added:
Together we gather here to tell Ukrainians that their dream is also our dream […]
Ukrainians tell us, when they imagine their future, they see Europe’s flag flying over their cities. I have no doubt that Ukraine will be part of our union.
Updated
Zelenskiy ends his speech with an impassioned please to political and business leaders, stressing that the future of Ukraine is also the future of the world.
We are building much more than one country. We are building a world, as it will be during the lifetime of our generation and after us.
Will it be peaceful? Will it be stable?Will it be democratic? It depends on each and every one of us.
After thanking Sunak – who he mentions he has not seen in “quite a while” – and the UK, he ends with “Slava Ukraine”.
Updated
Zelenskiy moves onto to talking about the importance of Ukraine in strengthening democracy throughout the world.
Russia invaded Ukraine, not only to steal our land, resources and people, without Ukraine that can be no Russian plan. […] Russian bosses are very, very afraid of our democracy. Why? Because democracy paves the way for the rule of law [and] getting rid of corruption.
Under the key principle of our countries, every person matters. This is very important. And of course, democracy is in the nature of Ukrainians, and we will do it anyway, no matter what they think, or do in Russia.
But we all have to realise that the more democracy we have, the greater is the strength in our entire region. The more rule of law we have, the more law will work here on the eastern flank of Europe.
The Ukrainian president argues that the war is showing the rest of the world the weaknesses that other countries have to address, from the transformation of energy to modern warfare including the threat of cyber attacks.
We are doing all these in Ukraine. We need the experience of our partners in all these. We build security together and thus may convince the world that democracies can be defended.
Updated
Zelenskiy stresses the huge need for reconstruction in Ukraine.
There is currently no place in the world where there is a need to construct and rebuild as many objects as in Ukraine. Every new day of Russian agrression, brings new ruins. Thousands, thousands and thousands of destroyed houses, devastated industries, burned lives.
He accuses Russia of committing “the largest crime of ecocide in Europe” by destroying the Nova Kakhovka dam.
Zelenskiy says he sees no alternative to the green transformation of the economy, and that the war has proved the extent to which energy is a key security issue.
It is green energy that guarantees real energy stability. Ukraine can be and will be one of the key suppliers of clean electricity and green hydrogen to ensure that. The potential of this interest here alone is about $400bn.
Updated
Zelenskiy says his country is developing strong bilateral alliances with leaders of democratic world, including the U K, the US, Canada, Japan, Australia all the EU members.
These alliances provide new power in defence, the economy and global prospects for democracy, he says.
He points out that political and economic stability in Ukraine benefits the whole globe, saying that at least 600 million consumers around the world directly depend on Ukraine’s agricultural production.
Zelenskiy says that when the country underwent a blockage by Russia, the world was threatened by price rises and social collapse.
He says Ukraine has now partially restored movement of agriculture which is bringing stability and economic benefits around the world.
Updated
Zelenskiy thanks the nations supporting Ukraine and says he hopes the conference will come up with concrete projects. He says Ukraine has succeeded in uniting the European Union like never before, which is reflected in “many political economic sanction and humanitarian decisions”.
He adds:
Ukraine has activated all the power of solidarity for which the EU was configured.
The moral leadership in protecting peace “is only possible with Ukraine”, he says. Moving onto to Nato, he says:
We are already defending the common space of freedom in the alliance and are only waiting for the alliance leaders to recognise this [political’] reality.”
Updated
Zelenskiy says growth and strong investments must be preceded by trust and the plan for Ukraine must be “preceded by confidence that that’s what has been rebuilt will not fall”. He argues that while no one has the power to eradicate evil, it can be overcome. He says the world is watching to see if normal life can be restored in Ukraine. If it is, that will be an “ideological blow” to the aggressor, he adds.
And it’s not about bricks, but about life in general. The world is abandoned with ruins reminding us of the wars of the past. And politics in different regions, unfortunately, is abandoned with sick ideas of hate, rage and resentment which point to possible wars in the future.
[…]
No one has the power to cleanse the depths of human nature from the evil that some sometimes rises to the surface and destroys and kills. But given time, and right now, we are able to protect lives and overcome their ruins.
[…]
The eyes of the world are looking at us and at whether we will defeat Russian aggression exactly as freedom deserves to win – that is without compromising our values.
Also the world is watching to see if we will restore normal life in such a way that our transformation will land an ideological defeat on the aggressor. We protect Ukraine and thus we protect freedom. And when we build Ukraine we will build freedom, country, region, continent, world. It’s a global task.
Updated
Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is now addressing the conference.
He says:
Mr Prime Minister, thank you for your kind words about Ukraine and our soldiers. And thanks for your leadership and the support the UK provides to Ukraine.
Thank you that we are really united in defending freedom.
Dear leaders of politics, business and public opinion. Dear presidents, prime ministers, ministers, heads of international organisations, and of course, dear journalists, when we are talking about recovery we are talking about millions of jobs, billions in corporate profits and GDP. And not only for Ukraine but for all our countries mine and yours. Countries that want, and will, live freely.
Updated
Sunak ends his address with a message of hope, telling the story of a Ukrainian soldier.
He says:
He was stationed in an empty house, not far from the frontline, surrounded by the destruction of war. When he could snatch a moment of free time, he used it to plant seeds.
He was trying to create a plot of vegetables, hoping that by the time the homeowners returned, they would have begun to grow. What a profound expression of hope.
And, you know, from that house to this hall, we’re doing the same thing. We’re planting the seeds of Ukraine’s future. Today, we can water them and in time the Ukrainian people will harvest them.
Sunak goes on to say the business, governments and financial institutions must partner to invest and shore up the country.
He says:
To make this happen. The British government will continue to play its full part. And I’m proud that today we’re announcing a multi year commitment to support Ukraine’s economy. Over three years, we will provide loan guarantees worth $3bn we’re also launching a new UK Ukraine tech bridge to foster investment and talent, along with support for green energy and more all part of a vast collective effort from allies and partners around the world, including significant new support from the EU, which is also being announced this week.
Financial institutions are playing their part. The IMF is putting $15bn into Ukraine over the next four years as part of a $115bn commitment by the G7 and its partners and institutions like the EBRD providing seed capital to support private sector led growth.
Because above all, we must build a platform for business. Only they can truly crowd in the innovation and investment that Ukraine needs. And that’s why we’re launching the Ukraine business compact for the private sector to pledge their support for Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction.
And I am delighted to announce today that over 400 businesses from 38 countries with a combined market cap of $4.9tn has now signed up the City of London has a huge amount to offer. And that deepened liquid capital markets and world class finance expertise.
So there is no better place to announce today the New London conference framework for war risk insurance. This is a huge step forward towards helping insurers to underwrite the investments into Ukraine, removing one of the biggest barriers and giving investors the confidence they need to act.
Updated
Sunak: 'Russia must pay'
Sunak outlines how Ukraine must be supported to fast track recovery and support this “help Ukraine unleash its potential”.
He says Russia must pay for the violence it has inflicted on the country.
Sunak says:
It’s clear Russia must pay for the destruction that they’ve inflicted. So we’re working with allies to explore lawful routes to use Russian assets. And on Monday, we publish new legislation to allow us to keep sanctions in place until Russia pays up.
Updated
The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is now speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, saying the conference is “planting the seeds of Ukraine’s future”.
We covered the trail of his speech below (see 7.47), but here is some more:
Sunak says:
Before this terrible war Ukraine’s economy was becoming a huge investment opportunity. It was the breadbasket of Europe, exporting millions of tonnes of food and grain each month.
Top five exporter of iron ore and steel, a leader in energy, pushing forward renewables hydrogen and electric vehicles, and the startup nation, which helped spark names like PayPal, WhatsApp and revolute with a thriving tech sector, which actually had a record year in 2022.
Because the truth is that opportunity is still there today. In fact, the war has only proved how much Ukraine has to offer.
When I visited Kyiv, last November, I saw this for myself. I saw Ukraine’s incredible spirit, a spirit yes of strength and defiance. But also of ingenuity and innovation.
In a converted office block, I met tech experts, civilian and military, who were working together to find new ways to bolster the country’s defences. They were networking mobile phones, so that people across Ukraine could download an app, which would allow their phone to pick up the sound of the showerhead drone feedback the location so that Ukrainian air defence could track them and shoot them down during the winter Russia tried to destroy Ukraine’s energy grid.
By February over 40% of power generation was down. But now because of that incredible ingenuity and defiance, Ukraine has got the grid back online, and they’re even able to start exporting electricity back to Europe.
As we’ve seen in backwards and Mariupol. What Russia cannot take, it will seek to destroy. They want to do the same to Ukraine’s economy. And the scale of the challenge is real. The war brought a 29% Fall in Ukraine’s GDP last year.
[more follows]
Updated
The Ukraine Recovery Conference has started in London this morning. The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is addressing the conference.
He says:
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. There are over 1,000 public and private sector decision-makers here. Governments representing 61 states, 33 international organisations, over 400 businesses and 130 civil society organisations. After nearly 18 months of Ukraine withstanding the Russian full scale invasion, the international community is coming together today with a shared belief and confidence in Ukraine’s future.
Russia’s full scale invasion has caused untold suffering, but Ukraine is rebuilding now. Recovery offers an opportunity not only to repair what was lost, but stride forward and to rebuild an economy that is more modern, more open, greener and more resilient. When I visited Kyiv recently, I could see the construction equipment from JCB already visible everywhere.
This you are see is about unlocking Ukraine’s potential, supporting Ukraine’s immediate recovery needs and unlocking a private sector led recovery. After the sacrifices and suffering of the war, Ukrainians are planning for a better future. And it is in the interests of the world, that the country they rebuild should be stronger than ever, integrated into global markets, and self reliant.
Updated
Ukrainian forces are reinforcing positions they have reached in areas of the southern front line after having “partial success” fighting Russian forces, a military spokesperson said today.
Reuters reports:
Ukrainian forces are conducting offensive operations in the direction of the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region, general staff spokesperson Andriy Kovalev said, listing names of southeastern villages.
“They had partial success in the directions of Novodanilivka – Robotyne, Mala Tokmachka – Verbove, Vilne Pole – Makarivka, they are consolidating at the achieved boundaries,” he was quoted as saying by the Ukraine military media centre.
Ukraine is also fighting to hold back an advance of Russian troops in the east, with “especially heavy fighting” taking place along near Lyman in the Donetsk region, he said.
Ukraine said on Monday it had recaptured eight villages in two weeks of counteroffensive operations in the occupied south but that the Kremlin’s forces were trying to regain the initiative in the east by stepping up attacks.
Updated
The UK Ministry of Defence has issued its update on the situation in Ukraine:
Intense fighting continues in sectors of southern Ukraine. However, over recent weeks, Russia has continued to expend significant effort building defensive lines deep in rear areas, especially on the approaches to occupied Crimea.
This includes an extensive zone of defences of 9 km in length, 3.5 km north of the town Armyansk, on the narrow bridge of land connecting Crimea to the Kherson region.
These elaborate defences highlight the Russian command’s assessment that Ukrainian forces are capable of directly assaulting Crimea.
Russia continues to see maintaining control of the peninsula as a top political priority.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 21 June 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 21, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/JZXB5VmisV
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/bgeFU1Vt6X
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow region, and that three drones had been shot down.
Updated
UK sets out package of financial support for Ukraine
The UK has backed $3bn of World Bank loan guarantees to shore up Ukraine’s economic stability, the government announced today.
In what the government is calling the support “the first bilateral package of multi-year fiscal assistance to be set out by a G7 country”.
At a two-day Ukraine recovery conference in London today, Sunak will outline a package which will also include £240m ($306m) of bilateral assistance and an expansion of British International Investment in Ukraine.
The UK’s support is backed by the Ukraine Business Compact which consists of more than 400 companies from 38 countries, with a combined annual revenue of over $1.6tn, who today pledge to back Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction.
Virgin, Sanofi, Philips, Hyundai Engineering and Citi are among the companies involved.
The compact will, according to the government, trade, investment, peer-to-peer expertise sharing and responsible business practice in Ukraine, ensuring it can rebuild as a resilient, agile and prosperous economy.
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said:
As we’ve seen in Bakhmut and Mariupol, what Russia cannot take it will seek to destroy. They want to do the same to Ukraine’s economy.
The scale of the challenge is real, the war brought a 29% fall in Ukraine’s GDP last year, but just look at the streets of Kyiv, despite the threat of attack, people are getting on with their lives – and getting on with business.
[…]
I’m proud that today we’re announcing a multiyear commitment to support Ukraine’s economy, and over the next three years, we will provide loan guarantees worth $3 billion.
President of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, said:
The UK government’s generous guarantees to the World Bank Group will support the people of Ukraine at a critical moment.
The World Bank Group is designed to do hard things like helping people rebuild their lives after devastation. With this support, we will keep delivering on that mission and help Ukrainians imagine a life after the war.
After more than a year of war in Ukraine, the package is designed to encourage the private sector to use its resources to help speed Ukraine’s reconstruction.
To deal with the issue of insurance against war damage and destruction, the prime minister will also launch a framework a range of measures designed to “de-risk” Ukraine to increase investor confidence, including providing guarantees and insurance for reconstruction projects now while the conflict is ongoing through the Multilateral Investment Guarantees Agency.
He will also launch the London Conference Framework for War Risk Insurance at the summit and that some major companies had already signed up to the Ukraine Business Compact, a statement of support for Ukraine’s recovery.
In addition Sunak is announcing up to £250m of new capital for the UK’s Development Finance Institution - British International Investment (BII) – to support infrastructure projects, energy markets, financial services and agriculture.
Ahead of the conference, a senior Ukrainian official said Ukraine is seeking up to $40bn to fund the first part of a “Green Marshall Plan” to rebuild its economy, including developing a coal-free steel industry.
The total reconstruction bill is likely to be huge, with Ukraine, the World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations estimating in March that the cost was at $411bn for the first year of the war. It could easily reach more than $1tn.
Updated
Ukrainian forces are gaining some ground towards Melitopol and Berdiansk in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Andriy Kovalev, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has said according to Reuters.
“They had partial success, they are gaining ground,” Kovalev was quoted as saying in a post on the Ukraine Military Media Center’s Telegram channel, adding that the gains were near the settlements of Mala Tokmachka and Robotyne, among others.
Ukraine continues to hold back the advance of Russian troops in the east of the country, with “especially heavy fighting” taking place along near Lyman in the Donetsk region, he added.
“Intense fighting” is continuing in southern Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence says in its latest update on the conflict.
It reports that Russia has recently spent “significant effort building defensive lines deep in rear areas, especially on the approaches to occupied Crimea”, highlighting Moscow’s “assessment that Ukrainian forces are capable of directly assaulting Crimea”.
“Russia continues to see maintaining control of the peninsula as a top political priority,” it says.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 21 June 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 21, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/JZXB5VmisV
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/bgeFU1Vt6X
Back to the drones reportedly intercepted in Russia. The country’s Tass news agency has reported, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, that another drone was shot down near Lukino village in Moscow region, according to Reuters.
Tass also reported two of the drones were intercepted on their way to the Taman Division of Russia’s Ground Forces. The division is based in Kalininets, some 60km (37 miles) from the Kremlin.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. It was not immediately known who launched the drones.
In May, drones struck wealthy districts of Moscow, in what Russia said was a Ukrainian attack and one politician called the most dangerous attack on the capital since World War Two.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
More from the ISW analysis, which reports that the Belarusian General Staff has confirmed that Belarus has amended the language of its constitution to renounce its neutrality and non-nuclear status.
Deputy Head of the Faculty of the Belarusian General Staff Colonel Andrey Bogodel stated on June 20 that in order to respond to “external challenges and threats,” Belarus has made requisite changes to its constitution renouncing its neutrality and removing the wording on its non-nuclear status.
The move comes after Russian president Vladimir Putin last week said the first tactical nuclear weapons to be stationed in Belarus had arrived.
Responding to the announcement, US president Joe Biden said the threat that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons was “real”.
The Institute for the Study of War highlights Russia’s efforts to expand its military recruitment pool in its latest assessment, noting that it has lowered its eligibility requirements once again.
It points to a report by Tass newswire which says that the Duma on Tuesday adopted the third and final reading of a law which will allow citizens with criminal records and those deemed “partially fit” for military service to sign contracts with the military during wartime.
The Russian Ministry of Defence has already recruited about 15,000 prisoners since February, according to the Russian human rights organisation Rus Sidyashchaya, the ISW writes.
The wires have sent through a series of images from the Without Limits clinic in Kyiv, which helps people learn to walk again using prosthetic limbs.
The clinic says it has seen a massive increase in demand since the Russian invasion began in February 2022 and estimates 80% of its patients are former soldiers.
Drones intercepted on approach to military warehouses near Moscow, Russia says
Two drones have been intercepted on their approach to military warehouses in the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the area, has said according to Reuters.
“Debris was found, no damage or casualties,” Vorobyov said, adding that the drones fell near the village of Kalininets.
Russia’s channels on the Telegram messaging app, including one with links to the security services, said at least one more drone was intercepted near the village of Lukino.
Ukrainian forces 'destroying the enemy', Zelenskiy says
Ukrainian forces are “very actively destroying the enemy, physically clearing Ukraine,” president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in his latest evening address.
“Protection against terror means the destruction of terrorists. And it is a guarantee that the evil state will never again have the opportunity to bring evil to Ukraine,” he continued.
Ukraine is now more than two weeks into its counteroffensive and has made small advances.
General Oleksander Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander of land forces, said on Telegram on Tuesday that his troops were making progress on the flanks of the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut, which fell to Russian mercenaries last month after months of fighting, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian troops, he said, were repelling increasingly intense Russian attacks near Kupiansk in the northeast.
Deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces in the south were “gradually, in small steps, but very confidently, making advances. We could even use the allegory that we are carving up every metre of land from the enemy.”
London set to host reconstruction conference
Leaders and representatives from more than 60 countries are expected in London from Wednesday for a two-day conference to secure funding to help Ukraine recover from the ravages of war.
The EU will provide Ukraine with $54.58bn in aid for 2024-27, the bloc’s president, Ursula von der Leyen said ahead of the summit, while the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is set to unveil a major package, including $3bn of additional guarantees to unlock World Bank lending, according to his office.
More from AFP:
The International Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023, hosted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is the second to be held since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The first, in Lugano, Switzerland, in July last year saw Kyiv’s allies commit to supporting Ukraine through what is expected to be an eye-wateringly expensive and decades-long recovery.
Ukraine‘s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal told them rebuilding could cost at least $750 billion.
The World Bank has since put an estimate of $14 billion on Ukraine‘s immediate needs for repairing the damage caused by the bitter fighting.
But a recent study by the World Bank, the UN, the European Union and the Ukrainian government said the wider recovery of the economy would cost $441 billion.
Whatever the final amount, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has likened it to the amount of money needed for the US-led Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Livingstone.
Ukrainian forces in the south and east are “actively destroying the enemy”, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in his latest evening address, more than two weeks into Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Ahead of a major conference in London at which the UK and EU are set to pledge billions of dollars in aid for the rebuilding of Ukraine, Zelenskiy also assured his international partners that “Ukraine uses every weapon and every shell as efficiently as possible and always to protect lives”.
He said Ukraine’s recovery “will become not only construction projects, but also a global project of protection”.
“A rebuilt Ukraine, a transformed Ukraine, a strengthened Ukraine is a carrier of security and a guarantor of security, it is protection against any form of Russian terror and protection against any repetition of Russian aggression,” he said.
In other developments:
Ahead of the conference, a senior Ukraine official said the country would struggle to absorb the expected billions of western private and public sector aid for its recovery not due to corruption, but a simple lack of capacity to process and invest such huge sums. “Historically the largest amount of money we have been capable of working with was $6bn a year in 2014,” said Mustafa Nayyem, the head of the Ukraine State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development.
Russia has threatened strikes on Kyiv’s “decision-making centres” if Ukraine uses western-supplied missiles against the occupied peninsula of Crimea. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said the potential use of US-supplied Himars and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Crimea would mark the west’s “full involvement in the conflict and would entail immediate strikes upon decision-making centres in Ukrainian territory”.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has accused Russia of “mining” the cooling pond used to keep the reactors cool at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine’s south. “Most terrifying is that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was additionally mined during that time … namely the cooling pond was mined,” Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR agency, said on television, without providing evidence.
The Pentagon says that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2bn over the past two years – about double early estimates – resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting found an error of $3.6bn in the current fiscal year and $2.6bn in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended on 30 September.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for an acceleration of Black Sea grain shipments from Ukrainian ports under a deal allowing safe wartime exports, a UN spokesperson said as Russia threatens to quit the pact which is due for renewal on 17 July. Guterres was disappointed by a slowing pace of ship inspections, spokesperson Farhan Haq said, and the exclusion of Pivdennyi (Yuzhny) port – one of three Ukrainian ports covered by the Black Sea export deal.
Kyiv has repatriated three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary where they were transferred from Russia without coordination with Kyiv, said Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko, who had previously accused Hunary of ignoring Kyiv’s requests for access to the PoWs. Ukrainian diplomats and other relevant Ukrainian authorities were working to try to bring back the remaining prisoners of war, Nikolenko said.
Prosecutors said they had served a notice of suspicion to Kyiv’s head of municipal security after three people died in a Russian air attack when they were unable to get into a bomb shelter. The deaths on 1 June caused public outrage and prompted the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to vow a harsh response.
The destruction of the vast Kakhovka hydroelectric dam has caused €1.2bn euros of damage, the Ukrainian environment minister Ruslan Strilets has told his EU counterparts. He also warned that mines unearthed by flooding could wash on to other European countries’ shores and that “there are things that we can never restore. These are the ecosystems that were washed away into the Black Sea.”
The Ukrainian kickboxing champion Maksym Bordus has been killed fighting Russian forces, according to a website that lists athletes killed in the war. Bordus was killed on 11 June in “fierce fighting against Russian invaders”, according to Sport Angels, a Ukrainian website set up with the assistance of the Sports Committee, which brings together NGOs and federations from non-Olympic sports.
