The military situation – especially in eastern Ukraine – remains extremely tense. “The fierce struggle for the Luhansk region continues,” said the Ukrainian supreme commander, Valery Zalushny. The Russian troops attacked there from nine directions at the same time, he wrote on Facebook.
“The enemy is using planes, multiple rocket launchers and artillery to drive our troops away,” wrote supreme commander Zalushny about the fighting in the east. The key to the Ukrainian defense operation is the city of Sievjerodonetsk, which has been fought over for days. The big city is the seat of the Ukrainian administration The Luhansk region is already largely in Russian hands. For Ukraine, the abandonment of the city would be a significant symbolic defeat. For Russia, the complete conquest of the Luhansk region is an important war goal.
The Institute for the Study of War reports that Russia is struggling to carry out its agenda in the occupied territories. For example, Ukrainian teachers refused to teach under Russian curricula. Therefore, schools could not be opened in Berdyansk, for example. The experts write that this will make administrative control more difficult for Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will represent the interests of his war-torn country at the G7 and NATO summits at the end of June. In his evening video, Zelenskyi listed all of Wednesday’s international contacts: phone calls with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a meeting with the heads of government from Albania and Montenegro, Edi Rama and Dritan Abazovic. The meeting of the US-led Ukraine contact group on Wednesday in Brussels sent the signal that arms deliveries would be stabilized, Zelensky said.
After the phone call with Zelenskyy, Biden announced another $1 billion in arms deliveries. The United States also provided an additional US$225 million (around €217 million) in humanitarian assistance to the country.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) promised the delivery of three Mars II multiple rocket launchers. However, this is one system less than expected. At the beginning of June, on the fringes of a general debate in the Bundestag, government circles said that Germany would deliver four multiple rocket launchers.
An expected visit by Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi would also fit in with Ukraine’s close international contacts. However, as with other visits to Kyiv under wartime conditions, it was not to be expected that this trip would be officially confirmed until the three politicians had safely arrived.
The Russian energy group Gazprom has again reduced the gas delivery volumes through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline to Germany. Gazprom announced that from Thursday night only a maximum of 67 million cubic meters would be pumped through the pipeline every day. The state-owned company once again justified this step with delays in repair work. Gazprom had already announced on Tuesday that the daily volume would be reduced by around 40 percent from 167 million to 100 million cubic meters of gas per day and pointed to delays in the repair of gas compressors.
That’s going to be important today
The defense ministers of the 30 NATO countries are meeting in Brussels to discuss outstanding issues in connection with the major summit meeting in Madrid at the end of June.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, wants to speak to representatives of the automotive industry at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg in view of the Western sanctions.
You can read more updates on the Ukraine war on the following pages.
