Saturday, June 8

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech at the National Assembly in Paris on June 7, 2024. (Julien de Rosa/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainians’ trust in Zelensky decreasing but still high, survey shows. Some 59% of the respondents trust Zelensky, in contrast to 36% who do not as of May 2024, the survey says.

PM: Ukrainian state and local authorities ordered to reduce electricity consumption. A recent uptick in Russian strikes put a heavy strain on Ukraine’s power grid, with several power plants being destroyed or disabled.

Russia reportedly hit 2 Ukrainian oil depots overnight. Russia has already attacked 10 oil storage facilities in 2024, according to Kuyun. He said that such attacks would not affect the availability of fuel in Ukraine.

Putin claims Russia increased ammo production by more than 20 times. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin also said he had no plans for another wave of mobilization as Moscow had enough volunteers willing to fight in Ukraine.

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Energy situation to temporarily improve once nuclear power unit ready, Ukrenergo says. Ukrenergo expects that another nuclear power plant unit will be launched overnight on June 8.

Russia claims Ukrainian missile strike on occupied Luhansk, partisans say oil depot hit. An oil depot was hit in a strike against Russian-occupied Luhansk on June 7, and a fire broke out in the southern part of the city, Atesh partisans reported.

Ukraine charges Russian general over Kakhovka dam destruction. Russian Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, the former commander of the Dnieper group of forces, is suspected of ordering the destruction of the occupied Kakhovka dam last year, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on June 6.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Russian tugboat destroyed, Biden calls Putin ‘tyrant bent on domination’

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) carried out a naval strike in occupied Crimea overnight on June 6, destroying a Project 498 “Saturn” raiding tugboat, the agency said.

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Deer and boar could roam forests in the Kakhovka reservoir in 5 years, head of national reserve says

After Russia destroyed the Khakhovka dam last year, plant and wildlife have returned to its reservoir. The landscape hasn’t been so lush since before the Soviets flooded the plain to construct the dam in 1956.

Photo: Dominic Culverwell/ the Kyiv Independent

Putin’s big press conference, debunked

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a now-rare press conference with senior editors from international media outlets on June 5. Putin blamed Ukraine and the West for Russia’s war crimes, and made a new round of threats and jaw-dropping lies. The Kyiv Independent examines some of the more notable statements.

Photo: Gavriil Grigorov / Sputnik / AFP

What are France’s Mirage 2000-5 jets, and how can Ukraine use them?

During the D-Day commemorations in Normandy on June 6, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that Paris would give Kyiv an unspecified number of Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets alongside the required training. This announcement sets the stage for Ukrainian pilots to potentially deploy these versatile aircraft in striking deep into Russian territory.

Illustration: Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Russia attacks civilian car in Kharkiv Oblast, injuring 2 women. A 62-year-old driver and a 65-year-old passenger suffered injuries and are receiving medical care, the prosecutors said.

At least 1 injured after Russian missile strike on house near Poltava. A woman was rescued from the rubble and hospitalized in serious condition, Poltava Oblast Governor Filip Pronin said. The rescue operation is ongoing.

Russian attacks across Ukraine kill 1, injure 9 over past day. Russia targeted a total of 12 Ukrainian oblasts – Sumy, Luhansk, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Kherson. Casualties were reported in the latter three regions.

Russian attacks on Nikopol district injure 2 women. Russian attacks against the Nikopol district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast overnight on June 7 injured two women aged 61 and 70, Governor Serhii Lysak said.

Tracking down perpetrators of sexual violence in Russia’s war

International response

UN secretary general won’t attend Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland. “He (UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres) will not go. I think we have said that the UN will be represented at the appropriate level and all the parties organizing the summit have been informed,” the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Macron: France to finalize coalition to send military instructors to Ukraine. “We already know that we will not be alone, and we will use the next few days to organize a broader coalition to respond to Ukraine’s request,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

Bloomberg: Germany weighs sending one more Patriot air defense battery to Ukraine. Germany has not yet made a final decision on the delivery of the fourth battery, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

Producer of Caesar howitzers to set up branch in Ukraine. Representatives of Ukrainian and French companies signed an agreement to set up an ammunition production facility under a KNDS license during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Paris on June 6-7.

Netherlands to invest $436 million to make armored vehicles for Ukraine.

The report did not specify the type of infantry fighting vehicle, but Ukraine and Sweden last year signed an agreement to start jointly producing the CV90, considered one of the best of its type in the world.

Media: Hungary obstructs decision on Ukraine accession talks among EU members. Hungary is preventing consensus among EU members on the start of Ukraine’s accession talks, Interfax Ukraine reported on June 7, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources.

Politico: Biden against Macron’s proposal to send military trainers to Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden “expressed concern” to French President Emmanuel Macron about his proposal to send Western military trainers to Ukraine, Politico reported on June 6.

Updated: Biden announces $225 million aid package for Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden announced an aid package for Ukraine worth $225 million during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Paris on June 7, CNN’s correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported.

European Commission says Ukraine ready to start accession talks. “Now we expect our European partners to take the next step – to start the membership negotiations already this month,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Merkel withheld information about Russia’s intention to blackmail Europe with gas, German outlet reports. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was aware of Russia’s intention to reduce gas supply to blackmail Europe to speed up the Nord Stream 2 pipeline launch but concealed the information, German media outlet Handelsblatt reported on June 6, citing classified documents.

Russia returning Europe to time of Nazism, Zelensky tells French parliament.

Russia has plunged Europe back in time, turning it into a continent where there are filtration camps, deportations, and hatred, where “cities are destroyed and villages are burned,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 7 in an address to the French parliament.

Dutch political parties’ websites attacked on EU election day, Russian hacking group claims responsibility. The websites of three Dutch political parties came under attack by a Russian hacking group as the Netherlands kicked off voting for the European elections, Dutch media reported on June 6.

FT: EU pushing to start Ukraine accession talks before Hungary assumes bloc presidency in weeks. The European Commission will recommend the EU start accession talks with Ukraine before July, when Hungary will assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, the Financial Times (FT) reported on June 7.

German media: Zelensky to visit Berlin next week, speak in Bundestag. President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Berlin on June 11, where he is expected to speak in the Bundestag for the first time in person, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on June 7, citing its sources.

Polish protesters lift blockade at a Ukraine border crossing. The news comes only a few days after the protesters started the blockade of trucks at the checkpoint on June 4 over Ukrainian agricultural imports.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Kateryna Hodunova, Martin Fornusek, Elsa Court, Katya Denisova, Chris York, Oleg Sukhov, and Rachel Amran.

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