Tuesday 06 June 2023
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council in connection with the Kakhovka dam explosion. This is what the Secretary of the National Security Council Oleksiy Danilov writes on Twitter.
+++ 06:40 TASS: No immediate danger for the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from the collapse of the dam +++
According to the Russian statement, the collapse of the Kakhovka dam poses no immediate danger to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. This is reported by the Russian state news agency TASS, citing an administrative representative deployed by Russia in the occupied Zaporizhia region. The nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe and has long been under Russian control. The dam, 30 meters high and 3.2 kilometers long, was built on the Dnipro River in 1956 as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. The reservoir formed as a result holds around 18 billion cubic meters of water and supplies the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
+++ 06:22 Kiev: Ukrainian army is advancing in the east +++
According to the Ukrainian armed forces, they are conducting offensive operations along the Eastern Front. Ukrainian troops advanced 200-1,600 meters toward Orikhovo-Vasilivka and Paraskovivka, and 100-700 meters toward Ivanivske and Klishivka, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reports Telegram. In a previous Telegram message, Maliar said that the Ukrainian military was moving towards Bakhmut on a broad front.
+++ 05:54 Ukraine: Russia blew up the Kakhovka dam +++
According to the Ukrainian military, the Kakhovka Dam in the Russian-controlled part of the Ukrainian region of Kherson has been blown up by Russian forces. “The extent of the destruction, the speed and volume of the water and the probable flood areas are currently being clarified,” writes the South Command on its Facebook page. According to the Russian state news agency RIA, the mayor of the occupied city of Nowa Kakhovka in the Kherson region denies reports that the dam has been blown up. “Everything is calm and relaxed, there is nothing at all,” RIA quoted Mayor Vladimir Leontiev as saying. He later says that only “the upper part of the power plant” was damaged, but the dam itself is intact.
+++ 05:45 Russia buys back weapons from India +++
Russia may “buy back” military equipment previously shipped to India and Myanmar, the Kyiv Independent reports, citing Japanese news agency Nikkei. Based on Nikkei’s analysis of customs clearance data, Moscow is re-importing tank and missile parts to convert older weapons for use in Ukraine. On December 9, 2022, Russia’s leading tank manufacturer UralVagonZavod bought back its own products worth US$24 million from Myanmar.
+++ 05:15 wave of air raids on Kiev: 20 missiles intercepted +++
Ukraine reports renewed wave of Russian air raids on the capital Kiev. Officials speak of 20 intercepted cruise missiles. “Everyone was shot down, there were no hits,” said the head of the military administration, Serhiy Popko, on the Telegram news channel. Witnesses say they heard several explosions that sounded like anti-aircraft systems. The city has been on air alert for more than four hours from just after midnight. According to the military, falling debris is damaging roads and overhead power lines in the Desnyansky district of Kiev. Located on the left bank of the Dnipro River, the district is the most populous in Kiev. According to preliminary information, there are no injuries.
+++ 04:24 Wild imagination: Wagner boss mocks Moscow’s victory message +++
The latest jubilation of the Russian Department of Defense (see entry at 01:15) caused mockery and derision from Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. While Moscow puts the daily losses of Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk direction at more than 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers, 28 tanks, including 8 German-made Leopards, three French-made AMX-10 wheeled tanks and 109 armored fighting vehicles, the mercenary leader holds the figures for wild fantasies, where the baron of lies Münchhausen would have to sit down. With such losses, “we would have destroyed the earth five times already,” Prigozhin scoffs.
+++ 03:13 “Air defense active”: Klitschko reports explosions in Kiev +++
According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, loud explosions can be heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. They came from the anti-aircraft missiles, Klitschko said on the Telegram news app. The sirens are also wailing in all other parts of Ukraine, as “Ukrajinska Pravda” reports.
+++ 02:15 US Russia expert fears division of Ukraine +++
Fiona Hill, who has worked as a Russia expert for several US presidents, fears that an end to the war in Ukraine could mean a partition of the country, similar to the Korean partition. “We mustn’t let Putin turn back the clock,” Hill demands in an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”. The West must do everything “to make it extraordinarily difficult for Putin to assert himself”. “With its invasion, Russia skilfully exploited the deep-seated global resistance to US global dominance,” Hill told the paper. “The way people view the war in Ukraine is defined by how they view the US.” The widespread anti-Americanism plays wonderfully into the hands of Putin’s propaganda.
+++ 01:15 Moscow: Another major Ukrainian attack in Donetsk failed +++
Russia claims to have thwarted another major offensive by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk. “After suffering heavy casualties the previous day, the Kiev regime reorganized the remnants of the 23rd and 31st brigades into separate, consolidated units that continued their offensive operations,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on its official telegram channel with. Russian ground and air forces inflicted defeat on Ukrainian forces with rockets, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems. The report cannot be independently confirmed, and Ukraine has not issued a statement. On Monday, Ukraine already rejected the Russian claim that a counter-offensive had been launched in the Donetsk region.
+++ 00:25 Prigozhin trusts Ukraine to recapture Bakhmut +++
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin trusts the Ukraine to win back Bakhmut quickly. If the Russian Defense Ministry sticks to its current stance, the city will be under the control of Kiev’s armed forces again in a month and a half, the mercenary leader says in a video message.
+++ 23:30 attempted coup in Moldova: USA sanctions seven people +++
The United States has imposed sanctions on seven people with contacts to the Russian secret service for alleged coup attempts in Moldova, neighboring Ukraine. Those now under sanctions “were part of a conspiracy aimed at capitalizing on protests in Chisinau and occupying Moldova’s government building,” US National Security Council communications director John Kirby said in Washington. Her assets in the United States have been frozen. The US Treasury Department sanctioned anti-government groups in neighboring Ukraine to demonstrate in order to overthrow the democratically elected government – in cooperation with an oligarch from Moldova who lives in exile.
+++ 22:55 “Well done, warrior”: Selenskyj praises his soldiers +++
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the successes of his country’s troops, which according to Ukrainian reports have achieved near the destroyed city of Bakhmut. “Well done, warrior,” says Zelenskyj in a video message. “We see how hysterically Russia reacts to every step we take there, to every position we take.” Zelenskyy goes on to say that “the enemy knows that Ukraine will win”. The Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malijar had previously announced land gains near Bakhmut in the east of the country.
+++ 22:13 EU sanctions nine Russians after verdict against Kremlin critics +++
The European Union has imposed sanctions on nine Russians in connection with the detention of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Mursa. Among those sanctioned are the deputy justice minister, judges and other judicial representatives as well as a high-ranking prison official, explains EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Their assets will be frozen and they will not be allowed to travel to or through EU countries. In mid-April, Kara-Mursa was sentenced in Moscow to 25 years in prison in a penal colony with “strict conditions” for his criticism of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
+++ 21:40 Training of Ukrainian fighter jet pilots in Great Britain starts +++
According to Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal, Ukraine is preparing to train its pilots on fighter jets in Great Britain. At a meeting with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Kiev, Schmyhal thanked London for its willingness to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on the planes. At his meeting with Cleverly, Schmyhal also called for tougher sanctions against Russia. “This will bleed the Russian war machine dry,” he says.
+++ 21:18 Kuleba: Ukraine has enough weapons for a counteroffensive +++
According to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine has enough weapons for a counter-offensive against Russia. This will bring his country the victory needed for Ukraine to join NATO, says Kuleba. According to Kuleba in an interview in Kiev, Ukraine would “probably” only be able to join the alliance after the end of the fighting. According to him, NATO membership is the next big goal on Ukraine’s agenda after allies agreed to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. “We (already) unlocked all weapons.” When asked, Kuleba did not say whether the counter-offensive that had been expected for months had now been launched. The most important thing is not when it starts, but that it ends with a Ukrainian victory.
You can find the events of the previous day here.