June 21, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

The World Bank Group announced an additional $1.75 billion in support for Ukraine on Wednesday.

Additional support for Ukraine. More than 400 global companies pledged support Wednesday for rebuilding the war-torn economy at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Citi, Sanofi and Philips are among firms that have signed up to the Ukraine Business Compact, signaling their intent to boost investment in the country. The UK government has also set out a package of support for Ukraine, including $3 billion of new guarantees to unlock World Bank loans and 240 million pounds ($305 million) of bilateral assistance.

More than 400 global companies pledged support Wednesday for rebuilding the war-torn economy at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Citi, Sanofi and Philips are among firms that have signed up to the Ukraine Business Compact, signaling their intent to boost investment in the country.

Ukraine faces an enormous fundraising challenge, and it’s one that governments and development finance institutions won’t be able to meet without help from private investors. The World Bank estimated in March that the cost of rebuilding the country one year on from the start of the war amounted to $411 billion — a huge figure that is set to increase as the conflict drags on.

If you’re just now catching up, here’s what you should know:

Attacks. Russia claimed Wednesday that its forces had attacked units of the Ukrainian army in the area of the Vremivka ledge – one of the epicenters of fighting, located in the southeast of the country near the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions – and destroyed their equipment. Meanwhile, heavy fighting continues in the eastern Donetsk region as Russian forces keep their focus in the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka, according to an earlier update from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Sanctions. European Union ambassadors have agreed on the 11th package of sanctions against Russia, the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council said Wednesday.

Dam collapse latest. Mines displaced by flooding after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam could end up on beaches around the Black Sea, the head of a United Nations mine program said on Wednesday.

Military equipment. Russia will boost the mass production of drones and increase their deployment to the battlefield, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, during an address to graduates from Russia’s military academies in the Kremlin. Russia will also continue improving its armed forces based on the “invaluable” experience gained in its “special military operation” — a term Russian officials and leaders use to refer to the invasion — in Ukraine, Putin said Wednesday.

Zaporizhzhia developments. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine will use multiple different water sources — which have sufficient water for some months — for cooling after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam earlier this month, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said in an update.

Black Sea grain deal. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. They discussed “a wide range of areas where Ukraine and Türkiye can advance bilateral cooperation,” Kuleba said in a tweet. The Black Sea Initiative agreement is up for renewal on July 17. 

US journalist Evan Gershkovich, stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his arrest at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, on April 18.

The US State Department said it would surely have US embassy representation at detained journalist Evan Gershkovich’s hearing Thursday in Russia, but did not have specifics about what to expect at the hearing.

Patel did not know when US officials were last granted consular access to the detained American. Multiple past requests for access have been denied by the Russian government.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

“We discussed a wide range of areas where Ukraine and Türkiye can advance bilateral cooperation. I reaffirmed Ukraine’s interest in maintaining and expanding the Black Sea Grain Initiative, as well as mobilizing global support for the Peace Formula,” Kuleba said in a tweet.

In an update on Tuesday, the United Nations said exports under the initiative had “dropped significantly from a peak of 4.2 million metric tonnes in October 2022 to 1.3 million metric tonnes in May, the lowest volume since the Initiative began last year.”

The Black Sea Initiative agreement is up for renewal on July 17. 

Some more context: The deal, which is key for preventing a global food crisis, was last renewed in May.

Ukraine is a major supplier of grain to the World Food Programme. According to the European Commission, Ukraine accounts for 10% of the world wheat market, 15% of the corn market, and 13% of the barley market. It is also a key global player in the market of sunflower oil.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is contemplating withdrawing from the grain deal, noting Moscow took part in the agreement to maintain relationships with “friendly” countries.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine will use multiple different water sources — which have sufficient water for some months — for cooling after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam earlier this month, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said in an update.

The nuclear plant, which is under Russian control, was supplied by water from the dam’s reservoir.

“Together, the large cooling pond, the smaller spray ponds, and the discharge channel have sufficient water for some months,” it added.

Meanwhile, even as the war intensifies in the region, ZNPP is taking steps to “preserve and replenish these reserves as much as possible” and also “exploring alternative ways of getting water,” the update said.

With the “extremely fragile” security situation around the nuclear plant, the dam’s collapse “added to the severe difficulties for this major nuclear power plant,” the update said.

Ukrainian soldiers from the 60th Battalion of Territorial Defense shoot rounds into Russian positions with an S60 anti-aircraft canon placed on a truck, outside Bakhmut, Ukraine, on June 19.

Heavy fighting continues in the eastern Donetsk region as Russian forces keep their focus in the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka, according to the latest update from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

More than 30 combat engagements took place in those areas in the last day, the General Staff said, noting that Russia conducted several “unsuccessful offensives” in those directions.

Both Ukraine’s General Staff and Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, a commander of joint forces in the country’s south, said that Russian forces are on the defensive in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions, while the Armed Forces of Ukraine are advancing.

Within the last day in Tavria, a town in southern Ukraine, “enemy losses in killed and wounded amounted to almost three companies. Ukraine destroyed and damaged 68 units of enemy military equipment,” Tarnavskyi claimed.

The General Staff said Russian forces were unsuccessful in offensives in the village of Piatykhatky in the Zaporizhzhia region, while they also conducted air strikes in the areas of Preobrazhenka and Stopnohirsk in the Donetsk region.

In Bakhmut, Ukraine’s acting Commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade Maksym Zhorin claimed that Russian troops were unsuccessfully attempting to regain some of their lost positions on the battlefield.

“The result — dead and wounded Russians,” he said.

What Russia says: The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed on Wednesday that its forces attacked units of the Ukrainian army in the southeast of the country near the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, destroying their equipment. 

On Belarus: Ukraine’s military also noted that “no signs of (the) formation of offensive groups were detected in Belarus” near the border with Ukraine. 

“However, combat training and coordination of the Russian Armed Forces units before their deployment to the areas of combat operations in Ukraine are ongoing at the training grounds of the Republic of Belarus,” the General Staff claimed. 

Belarus, one of Russia’s staunchest allies since the invasion of Ukraine, made changes to its constitution renouncing its neutrality on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives for a meeting with graduates from Russia's military academies at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21.

Russia will continue improving its armed forces based on the “invaluable” experience gained in its “special military operation” — a term Russian officials and leaders use to refer to the invasion — in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

“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. Already about half of the units and formations of the Strategic Missile Forces are equipped with the latest Yars complexes,” he said during an address to graduates from Russia’s military academies in the Kremlin.

Putin met with graduates of universities and academies of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Emergencies, the Federal Security Service, the Federal Protection Service, the Russian Guard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee and the Federal Penitentiary Service, according to the Kremlin.

On Ukraine’s counteroffensive: Putin told reporters that there is a “certain lull” in fighting, with no active offensive operations being carried out by Ukraine yet. He claimed Ukraine is suffering heavy losses on the battlefield.

CNN is not able to independently verify Putin’s claims about Ukrainian loses or the course of the operations on the ground. 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks via videolink at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, on June 21.

More than 400 global companies pledged support Wednesday for rebuilding the war-torn economy at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Citi, Sanofi and Philips are among firms that have signed up to the Ukraine Business Compact, signaling their intent to boost investment in the country.

The UK government has also set out a package of support for Ukraine, including $3 billion of new guarantees to unlock World Bank loans and 240 million pounds ($305 million) of bilateral assistance.

The United States would send an additional $1.3 billion in financial assistance to Ukraine to “overhaul its energy grid” and modernize other critical infrastructure, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Ukraine faces an enormous fundraising challenge, and it’s one that governments and development finance institutions won’t be able to meet without help from private investors. The World Bank estimated in March that the cost of rebuilding the country one year on from the start of the war amounted to $411 billion — a huge figure that is set to increase as the conflict drags on.

To help meet that need, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has enlisted BlackRock and JPMorgan to advise on the Ukraine Development Fund, a vehicle that seeks to mobilize capital from private and public sector investors toward rebuilding the Ukrainian economy.

The Ukraine Development Fund is still in the planning stages and is not expected to launch until the conflict ends.

CNN’s Jo Shelley, Mariya Knight and Yulia Kesaieva contributed to the reporting.

A sign warns of mines along the shore of Kakhovka Reservoir, on June 13, in Novovorontsovka, Ukraine.

Mines displaced by flooding after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam could end up on beaches around the Black Sea, the head of a United Nations mine program said on Wednesday.

“I would not be surprised to see that those mines have either got down as far as the sea, or (will) over the coming months, as the water is continuing to flow, (and the mines) will be transported down there,” Paul Heslop of the Mine Action at the UN Development Programme in Ukraine told journalists at news conference in Geneva. “Unfortunately, we could see anti-personnel pressure mines washing up on beaches around the Black Sea.”

According to Heslop, “butterfly mines” – which are small, airtight and plastic – are filled with liquid explosives and able to float on water. Heslop said that he is certain these mines will have been “dispersed in different places.” Other, heavier explosives, like anti-tank mines, would not be able to travel as far.

Heslop said that the collapse of the dam was “almost a biblical disaster — and that’s before you throw in the mine equation.”

“We don’t know what we don’t know,” he continued. “We do know that there was widespread use of mines on that south bank, obviously to prevent an attack across the river. … I can only draw the conclusion that a number of explosive devices, be they UXO (unexploded ordnances) or mines and anti-personnel mines, will have been washed downriver.”

Remember: The city of Kherson, which sits on the west bank of the Dnipro river, was taken back by the Ukrainian military in November 2022 after eight months of Russian occupation. But much of the east bank of the river south of the Nova Kakhovka dam remains under Russian control.

Russia will boost the mass production of drones and increase their deployment to the battlefield, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, during an address to graduates from Russia’s military academies in the Kremlin. 

Putin said in the course of what Russia calls euphemistically its “special military operation” in Ukraine, “the latest models of armored vehicles, attack missile and aviation systems, air defense and electronic warfare systems make a huge contribution to the solution of combat missions” and that “their production and improvement will certainly continue.” 

Some context: Earlier this month, a White House official said they believe that an attack drone manufacturing plant Russia is building with Iran’s help could be fully operational by early 2024.

On Tuesday, Moscow launched “another massive air attack” on Kyiv using Iran-made drones, Ukraine’s military said, marking the second time this month that Russia has used those drones against the capital.

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the opening session of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, on June 21.

European Union ambassadors have agreed on the 11th package of sanctions against Russia, the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council said Wednesday.

“The package includes measures aimed at countering sanctions circumvention and individual listings,” it said on Twitter.

“Our anti-circumvention tool will prevent Russia from getting its hands on sanctioned goods,” she tweeted.

From left: Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sits alongside Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, on June 21.

Rebuilding Ukraine is as much a battle of logic as it is a potential Sisyphean challenge. In Vladimir Putin’s world, smash and dominate? Or Volodymyr Zelensky’s where you can invest and repair, at the risk of seeing every gain rolled back?

The Ukraine Recovery Conference in London is taking up the challenge to show the Russian president that Ukraine’s allies are as determined to win a post-war peace, as they are to help Ukraine vanquish his illegal, unprovoked invasion.

Not for nothing did US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warn Putin by saying, “So let’s be clear, Russia is causing Ukraine’s destruction and Russia will eventually bear the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction.”

In the meantime, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched a war-risk insurance framework to boost investment from the private sector.

Against a background of ongoing war, stubborn inflation, governments can’t afford to foot the whole bill — either economically or politically — despite statements to stand by Ukraine “as long as it takes.”

Like US President Joe Biden, Sunak faces an election next year, and both need to signal to tax-paying voters that they are not alone in rebuilding Ukraine.

According to the World Bank, there is a $411 billion recovery and reconstruction hole. So how and why fill a potentially bottomless pit — which is assuredly what Ukraine will become if the war drags on, and not get greenbacks stuck to the side through corruption? For four of the previous five years, it was the Ukraine reform — not recovery — conference.

Ukraine’s president vowed reforms to government, and Blinken offered millions of dollars to help: $100 million alone for “digitizing customs” to combat corruption. 

The European Union’s Ursula von der Leyen, to whose institutions Ukraine is pledged to align, spoke about the importance of “clarity and transparency,” and everyone praised Zelensky’s reforms so far.

And why invest at all? Zelensky said “600 million people” worldwide depend on Ukraine’s agricultural products, adding that his country would become a net “clean energy” provider. Blinken announced $1.3 billion dollars of US aid, some earmarked to rebuild Ukraine’s power grid shattered by Russian attacks. It will be “clean, resilient, and integrated to Europe,” and one day able to export electricity.

Ultimately, the message to Putin is: Ukraine is gone. How loudly that’s heard in Moscow will depend in part on how many businesses want to put their money in harm’s way.

Russia claimed on Wednesday that its forces had attacked units of the Ukrainian army in the area of the Vremivka ledge – one of the epicenters of fighting, located in the southeast of the country near the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions – and destroyed their equipment. 

“As a result of the strike, one tank, an infantry fighting vehicle and three armored fighting vehicles were destroyed,” it added.

According to the ministry, Russian troops repelled two attacks of the 65th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of Novodanilivka and Yablukove settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region. 

The Russian defense ministry said it struck advancing columns and “the accumulation of manpower and equipment” in three Zaporizhzhia region towns.

The ministry also claimed that Russian forces stopped “the activities of three Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups” in the area of three other settlements in the region.

What Ukraine says: Earlier on Wednesday, a senior Ukrainian defense official claimed that Kyiv’s troops were “entrenching themselves” on the southern front, while continuing to conduct “offensive operations” in the direction of two Russian-held cities that lie deep into occupied territory.

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports. 

The footage is grainy and disturbing. A Ukrainian soldier from the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center fights his way through a trench, apparently on the southern front, shooting Russian soldiers repeatedly at point-blank range. The dust kicked up adds to the sense of chaos, and the dense panic and brutality of this counteroffensive’s start. 

It was never going to be simple, and would always involve the sort of ghastly, face-to-face combat shown in the special forces video. But the success of Ukraine’s onslaught still rests on whether it can surprise and outwit Moscow’s forces — not in grinding close combat, but on a larger strategic level. And this is likely why we are seeing a slow — and at times incremental — start to this first phase of open operations.

At present, Ukraine appears to be keeping its options open. The priority is progress along the expansive southern front, which marks the valuable land corridor between occupied Crimea and the Donbas, and the Russian mainland. Most observers agree it is the singular goal of this counteroffensive to break that land bridge.

A Crimean peninsula isolated from the Donbas is much harder to resupply and defend, leaving Russian President Vladimir Putin with a stark choice: expose his military assets in Crimea to a long standoff, or cut his losses and pull them back.

Few analysts contend he can stomach the latter, and so we may face a long siege of the peninsula over the winter months, as Kyiv returns Moscow to the boundaries it stole in 2014-15, or worse. It is arguably a symbolic defeat for Moscow (and a definable victory for Kyiv) to see Russia’s past 16 months of carnage and losses end in no strategic gain.

The question for July is how this is achieved. 

Read the full analysis here.

Volunteers and municipal workers recover a body from a flooded house in the Russian-occupied town of Hola Prystan, Ukraine, on June 16, as flood waters recede following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

The destruction in flooded parts of the Russian-occupied town of Hola Prystan is “catastrophic” and bodies are still under the rubble, the settlement’s Ukrainian military administration said in a Telegram post on Wednesday. 

The town was flooded following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in the southern Kherson region on June 6. Russia and Ukraine have both blamed each other for the collapse.

There is no gas and electricity supply in most of the town, it said, and sewage systems in parts of the town are still underwater.

The post said that some residents had to cook “on fires in their yards.” 

World leaders pledged international support for Ukraine’s economic and social recovery from Russia’s invasion, as part of a wide-ranging conference on Wednesday hosted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London.

Here’s the latest map of control:

Moscow said that US President Joe Biden’s comparison of Chinese President Xi Jinping to “dictators” demonstrated the “unpredictability” of US foreign policy, in comments made on fractured diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing — a key ally of Russia.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia has “its own very bad relations” with the US, while it had “very good relations” with China.

Some context: Peskov’s remarks followed Biden’s comparison of Chinese President Xi Jinping to “dictators,” during a political fundraiser in California Tuesday night.

The unscripted remarks followed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s assertion that his recent trip to Beijing had yielded “progress” in repairing the fractured relationship between both nations.

The president’s apparently off-message remarks came amid a particularly tense time in US-China relations.

CNN’s Sam Fossum, Jasmine Wright and Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting.

Belarus has renounced its neutrality and removed the wording on its non-nuclear status in light of external threats, a senior official said this week, as the threat of atomic arsenal held by Russia and its allies looms over the war in Ukraine.

“We are also considering the adoption of a new military doctrine that will give clear answers to the questions related to unfriendly countries,” the Deputy Head of the Faculty of the Belarusian General Staff Colonel Andrey Bogodel said this week, according to state news agency BelTa.

On Wednesday, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense also announced its annual mobilization exercise, which is being held from June 21 to June 30 with the military members in Minsk.

Some background: Officials in Belarus, one of Moscow’s few remaining allies amid the war in Ukraine, have ramped up rhetoric on the country’s nuclear capabilities in recent weeks.

Last week, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the country will start receiving tactical nuclear weapons from Russia in a “few days,” and that the weapons would be a “deterrent” to potential security treats.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that more nuclear weapons will be sent to Belarus throughout the summer as a warning to Western countries for supporting Ukraine.

CNN’s Mariya Knight, Uliana Pavlova and Helen Regan contributed reporting.

Activist Yaroslav Shirshikov in court in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on April 19.

Russian activist Yaroslav Shirshikov, has been released from pretrial detention, according to state news agency TASS.

“Yaroslav was released on bail. The investigation of the criminal case is ongoing. The investigator’s decision is legal and well-founded,” TASS cited Shirshikov’s lawyer, Fyodor Akchermyshev, as saying on Tuesday.

The investigation into the criminal case is still ongoing, according to TASS.

Shirshikov was arrested by Russian authorities and charged with justifying terrorism due to a social media post regarding the death of Russian pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.

In a Telegram post, Shirshikov expressed a lack of sympathy for Tatarsky’s death using strong language.

Some background: Shirshikov is known as one of the first individuals to report on the arrest of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg in late March. He told CNN that Gershkovich was looking into a number of stories and had texted him to say he was returning to the city. According to Shirshikov, they had met prior to Gershkovich’s arrest.

Gershkovich, detained while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, became the first American journalist to be arrested in Russia on spying charges since the end of the Cold War.

The Biden administration has called for his release, maintaining that he was “wrongfully detained.”

Ukrainian servicemen fire a BM-21 'Grad' multiple rocket launcher towards Russian positions at a front line near Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on June 20.

Ukraine’s troops are conducting “offensive operations” in the direction of two Russian-held cities, a Ukrainian defense official said on Wednesday.

Deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram that Ukrainian forces over the past day “had partial success, entrenching themselves on the achieved front lines and leveling the front line.”

Melitopol and Berdyansk are two Ukrainian cities that lie deep in Russian-occupied territory.

In eastern Ukraine, the country’s forces are holding back what Maliar described as “a large-scale” Russian offensive in the direction of Lyman – where there is “particularly heavy fighting” – and Bakhmut.

Russian offensive actions are focused on the east as they try “to reach the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Maliar said.

The alleged remains of drones brought down in the Naro-Fominskiy urban district in the village of Kalininets, Russia, on June 21.

Russia’s counter-drone measures have successfully thwarted a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack near a military base outside of Moscow Wednesday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. 

“There was an attack, the counter-drone means coped with their task. Now the relevant authorities are investigating [the incident],” Peskov told journalists. 

The Russian Ministry of Defense disclosed in a statement that it had foiled “an attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime on targets in the Moscow region with three aircraft-type UAVs.”

“All the UAVs were suppressed by electronic warfare, as a result of which they lost control and crashed,” the statement posted on Telegram said.

According to the Russian defense ministry, there were no casualties or damage resulting from the attack.

Some background: Ukraine rarely comments on attacks on Russian soil, which have ramped up in recent months as the war increasingly comes home to the Russian people.

Last month, Russia blamed Ukraine for launching a drone attack on Moscow which reportedly left two people injured and several buildings damaged.

In early May, two UAVs were destroyed over the Kremlin in what Moscow claimed was an attempt to target Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kyiv forcefully denied the allegation.

Sources told CNN earlier this month that Kyiv has cultivated a network of agents and sympathizers inside Russia working to carry out acts of sabotage against Russian targets and has provided them with drones to stage attacks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, on June 21.

The United States will send an additional $1.3 billion in financial assistance to Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday. 

Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, he said the support will “overhaul its energy grid” and modernize other critical infrastructure.

Breaking down the financial aid, Blinken outlined how $657 million will help modernize Ukraine’s rail lines, ports and other critical infrastructure, $100 million will be used to help digitize national systems “to boost speed and to cut corruption” and $35 million will go to Ukrainian businesses.

More than $520 million of the total amount will go toward helping Ukraine “overhaul its energy grid,” Blinken added.

This comes after the UK also announced additional financial aid, including a $305 million of bilateral assistance and up to $318 in an expansion of British International Investment in Ukraine.

Among the businesses pledging their support at the two-day conference are are Virgin, Sanofi, Philips, Hyundai Engineering and Citi.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, on June 21.

The European Union has a “special responsibility” toward Ukraine, the European Commission president told a two-day donor conference Wednesday.

Speaking to more than 400 companies from 38 countries, Ursula von der Leyen told the conference that “we need the private sector to step in” to invest in Ukraine.

She also highlighted a proposal by the European Commission on Tuesday for a four-year financial assistance package for Ukraine, which she said would be financed with grants from the European budget, loans raised on capital markets and, eventually, with “proceeds from the immobilized Russian assets.”

Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, von der Leyen said the Commission would make a proposal regarding these Russian assets “before the summer break, because the perpetrator must be held accountable.”

Von der Leyen added that she had “no doubt … [Ukraine] will be part of our union.”

Ukraine’s fiscal gap is about 60 billion euros ($65.5 billion), von der Leyen said, adding that she had proposed to EU member states that they “cover 45% of this gap – this is in total 50 billion euros ($54.6 billion) for Ukraine.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears on screen as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak applauds during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, on June 21.

Ukraine needs “real projects” to aid its recovery and reconstruction, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London by video link, he told the donor conference “we must move from vision to agreements, and from agreements to real projects.”

Zelensky said the Ukrainian delegation in London – led by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal – would “present concrete things that we propose to do together during my [Zelensky’s] term” in office.

The two-day donor conference is being held in the UK capital.

Representatives of more than 60 states, 30 international organizations and 400 businesses are in attendance, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said as he opened the conference on Wednesday.

In April, Zelensky told a World Bank forum that it would take “hundreds of billions of dollars” to rebuild his country.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers remarks at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on Wednesday.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new framework for war risk insurance in a speech to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on Wednesday.

“This is a huge step forward towards helping insurers to underwrite investments into Ukraine, removing one of the biggest barriers and giving investors the confidence they need to act,” Sunak said. 

Sunak also said in his speech that Russia should pay for “the destruction they have inflicted” in Ukraine.

The UK prime minister went on to praise Ukraine’s “incredible spirit” and said the war, which “brought a 29% fall in Ukraine’s GDP last year,” had “only proved how much Ukraine has to offer.” 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, England, on Wednesday, June 21.

Hundreds of global businesses have pledged their financial support for Ukraine ahead of a two-day donor conference in London on Wednesday.

More than 400 companies from 38 countries have pledged “to back Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction in the wake of Russia’s illegal invasion,” president of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, said.

Among the businesses pledging their support are Virgin, Sanofi, Philips, Hyundai Engineering and Citi.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told attendees at the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Wednesday that fast-tracking Ukraine’s economic recovery was dependent on a “partnership of governments, international financial institutions, and business leaders.”

Sunak also announced a “landmark package of financial support” from the UK. The package will include $3 billion of World Bank loan guarantees, $305 million of bilateral assistance and up to $318 in an “expansion of British International Investment in Ukraine.”

This money will be used to support public services in Ukraine, such as schools and hospitals.

According to Downing Street, this package “brings the UK’s non-military assistance to Ukraine to more than £4.7 billion ($5.9 billion).”

A US Air Force F-16 fighter jet is displayed at the Paris Air Show on June 20.

Two Ukrainian jets roar just above the trees, flying in formation as they make their way toward the front lines of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. 

The Soviet-era Su-25s glide slowly, loudly, spewing thick black smoke as they go. They seem to hug the ground — flying as low as possible to avoid Russian radars, air defenses and more importantly, enemy jets. 

The Su-25s are ancient aircraft, first introduced in the 1980s, and they’re no match for Russia’s Su-35s and their advanced radars and long-range missiles.

One of the main issues Kyiv’s ground forces have faced as the counteroffensive gets underway is Russian air power holding them back. Russia still maintains air superiority, which makes it difficult for ground forces to advance.

“Their aviation works in waves, as it was in Vietnam, Afghanistan,” says a deputy battalion commander with the 128 Separate Territorial Defense Brigade. “Continuously, all day long, they work either by helicopters or by airplanes,” says the commander, who goes by the call sign “Spas.” “In general, aviation support is sorely lacking.”

In total, Ukraine has received 45 Su-25s and Mig-29s from NATO and allied nations in Europe — but it’s not just a numbers game. A Mig-29 pilot, with the call sign “Juice,” acknowledges the difficulties facing the Ukrainian air force and says Western nations could help by providing Ukraine with the coveted F-16s.

Read more here.

Two drones were taken out near a military base at Kalininets village, Naro-Fominskiy district, Russia, on June 21.

The Russian military took out two drones near a military base outside of Moscow, the region’s governor, Andrey Vorobyov, said on Telegram.

Voryobov asked residents of the village of Kalininets to stay calm following the incident.

Some context: Ukraine rarely comments on attacks on Russian soil, which have ramped up in recent months as the war increasingly comes home to the Russian people.

Multiple people familiar with US intelligence on the matter told CNN earlier this month that Kyiv has cultivated a network of agents and sympathizers inside Russia working to carry out acts of sabotage against Russian targets and has provided them with drones to stage attacks.

This post has been updated with a more accurate translation of the governor’s remarks.

Alexei Kulemzin in Donetsk, Ukraine on March 30.

At least one person was killed after Ukrainian forces shelled occupied Donetsk city in eastern Ukraine, a Russia-backed official said Tuesday.

In a Telegram post, Alexei Kulemzin, head of the Moscow-installed city administration, said three others were injured after the area was hit 11 times by Ukrainian shelling.

Kulemzin said the Kuibyshevsky, Petrovsky, and Kyivsky districts came under fire.  

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it would provide $5 million in emergency humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in response to the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

The collapse of the dam earlier this month has killed dozens, destroyed villages, flooded farmland and cut off power and clean water supplies to tens of thousands of people.

The aid package will consist of food, water, sanitation and health materials provided through the UN World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. 

According to Tokyo, the aid package was “strongly requested” by Ukraine’s government and President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Within the last day, the Ukrainian military reported 35 clashes with Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, according to an earlier update from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Russia continues to focus on the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka in the Donetsk region, the update said.

Here’s what else you should know to get up to speed:

The European Union proposed a four-year financial assistance package for Ukraine worth $55 billion, the union’s commission chief said in a news conference Tuesday. 

The assistance will be administered through loans and grants, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. It aims to provide Ukraine with “perspective and predictability” as well as “incentivize other donors to step up” their support. 

Nuclear safety: Norway, which is not part of the European Union, also recently announced it will allocate funds for Ukraine.

In a news release, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said Oslo will provide 250 million Norwegian kroner (about $23 million) for Ukraine’s “nuclear safety and security.” And around $9.3 million will be provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), “to ensure that IAEA experts can maintain a presence in Ukraine.”

Norway is also increasing funding for “nuclear safety and security cooperation” with Ukraine by $14 million. The funding will be administered by the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) and will be used “to reduce the risk of radiological incidents.”

Ukrainian officials and the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine on Tuesday discussed the establishment of a Community Recovery Fund, a joint approach to the recovery of Ukraine at the community level. 

According to the statement, the UN plans to mobilize $300 million “for the needs of the fund over the next five years,” with a start-up budget of $50 million. 

Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, said “a regional structure of support teams” will be created to help communities cope with the challenges of recovery.  

According to UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine Denise Brown, the UN and Kyiv are already working on the recovery of the cities of Kharkiv and Izium, where “central and local authorities, the UN and the public are working together to rebuild damaged infrastructure,” which includes demining, clearing debris and rebuilding of housing medical facilities. 

Hanna Maliar speaks during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 13.

Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces “are gnawing our way meter by meter” to advance, also noting that the main strike of the counteroffensive “is still ahead.”

“The tasks that are being given to the military are being fulfilled, so the gradual advance in all directions, where the offensive began is taking place,” Maliar said. “However, the main strike is still ahead.”

Maliar said Ukraine’s offensive is ongoing in several directions in the south; meanwhile, she claimed that Russia’s main offensive is in the east. 

The Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksii Danilov, said on Tuesday that one of Ukraine’s main priorities right now is “to exhaust” and destroy Russian artillery and armament systems. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. 

The United Kingdom and Ukraine will jointly host the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Wednesday and Thursday, which aims to work toward international investment to rebuild the country in the wake of the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainian military reported 35 clashes with Russian forces in eastern Ukraine within the past day, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Russia continues to focus on the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka in the Donetsk region, it said in the update.

Over the past day, Russia attacked Ukraine with 35 Iran-made Shahed drones, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said, adding that 32 were destroyed.

The update also claimed that Russia “launched more than 72 airstrikes and fired 36 times from multiple launch rocket systems” at Ukrainian troops and settlements, injuring civilians.

An Iskander-M ground-launched cruise missile was also used in an attack on civilian infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia, the General Staff said.

The military said Russian forces are on the defensive in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

It appears increasingly likely that the 31 NATO members will be unable to coalesce around a candidate to be the alliance’s next secretary general and Jens Stoltenberg will be asked to remain in the job for an additional year, multiple sources told CNN.

Although there are a number of prospective candidates, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, sources said there is a growing chance that there will not be agreement between the members on who should take over during what is a critical period for the defensive alliance as the war in Ukraine continues.

While some inside the White House would have liked to see a female NATO chief elevated for the first time, officials acknowledge that finding consensus has proven difficult.

The United States traditionally does not put forward a candidate, but their backing has major sway, and President Joe Biden views Stoltenberg as “a remarkable leader,” in the words of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The former Norwegian prime minister has already extended his tenure once and has served in the role since 2014.

Biden and Stoltenberg met in the Oval Office last week, where the topic of his succession was expected to arise. White House officials have declined to say whether the president asked Stoltenberg to remain in job.

Asked about the prospect, Stoltenberg has repeatedly said he has “no intention of seeking extension of (his) term.”

Read more here.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that the accounting error revealed last month was significantly more than previously stated and aid provided to Ukraine was overvalued by $6.2 billion rather than $3 billion.

The accounting error includes fiscal years 2022 and 2023 and occurred because “in a significant number of cases,” when the US transferred weaponry, military officials counted the value of replacing the weapon instead of the value of the actual weapon, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh explained at a news briefing.

That process drove up the cost of each new aid package — because new weaponry costs more than old weaponry — and resulted in the false assumption that more of the funding had been used.

Read more here.