WAR IN UKRAINE: June 11, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 473
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday offered the strongest confirmation yet that the long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive to drive Russia back had begun. “Counteroffensive and defensive actions are being taken in Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said at a news conference in Kyiv. ”At what stage, I will not disclose in detail.” His comment confirmed what military analysts, U.S. officials and the Kremlin have been indicating for days: that Ukrainian troops with Western battle tanks and armored vehicles were assaulting fortified Russian positions in several places in the south and east - NYT
Britain's defence ministry reported on Saturday there has been "significant Ukrainian operations" in the country's east and south since Thursday morning, with gains in some areas. The ministry reported mixed results from the Russian army, with some units holding ground "while others have pulled back in some disorder, amid increased reports of Russian casualties as they withdraw through their own minefields." The ministry also noted "unusually active" Russian airstrikes in southern Ukraine, where it is easier for Moscow to fly planes. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus next month, a move that the Belarusian opposition described as an attempt to blackmail the West ahead of a July meeting of the NATO military alliance - CP
Today, I travelled to Mykolaiv to listen to the painful stories of despair from elderly and not-so-elderly who fled flooded areas of Kherson with the clothes on their backs and no documentation. Even before the floods, reliable work was tough to come by in Kherson. One woman told me of the harshness of life under Russian occupation with frequent searches and endless harassment. In Mykolaiv itself, there hasn’t been running drinking water since April 2022 and folks spend plenty of time going to water distribution points. And now waters have risen in shoreline areas to erase beaches and make swimming and fishing unsafe. The once-thriving city is a shadow of its previous self, locals tell me, with so many having fled and business activity down. In short - the needs are enormous and the worst thing that could happen right now is if the world averts its gaze, and if trusted and reliable eyes are made to face obstacles to telling these stories.