WAR IN UKRAINE: June 14, 2023

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 476

  • NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine is making progress in its counteroffensive against Russian invaders and predicted NATO leaders will increase military assistance to Kyiv when they meet next month.

  • The largest nuclear power plant in Europe faces “a relatively dangerous situation,” the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said, facing peril from both the Kakhovka dam burst last week and the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive - RFE/RL

  • The U.S. Defense Department has announced an additional $325 million in security assistance "to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs."

  • Moscow said Tuesday that it had captured several German Leopard tanks and US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, releasing footage showing Russian troops surveying the equipment supplied to Ukraine by Western countries. “Leopard tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. These are our trophies. Equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Zaporizhzhia region," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement. Servicemen of the Vostok group inspect enemy tanks and infantry fighting vehicles captured in battle." Kyiv has appealed to its allies in the West to deliver a broad range of modern military equipment to help Ukrainian forces recapture large swathes of territory controlled by Russian forces - AFP

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said Russia agreed to the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative several times but is now considering a withdrawal. Speaking at a meeting with military correspondents in Moscow, Putin said Russia was "once again deceived" and “nothing has been done” to implement its part of the agreement. “We are now thinking about how we can get out of this grain deal ... these corridors, along which ships go, are constantly used by the enemy to launch drones, marine drones,” he said. One of the corridors was used on Monday to attack the vessel that was guarding the TurkStream gas pipeline, the Russian leader said. Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed the agreement in Istanbul last July to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were halted after the Ukraine war in February last year. The deal has been renewed several times since then, and was extended for another two months on May 18 - Anadolu Agency

Michael Bociurkiw