WAR IN UKRAINE: June 20, 2023

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 482

  • I am here in London for the Ukraine Recovery Conference hosted by the United Kingdom and Ukraine. 1000+ participants from 60 some countries and 40+ at ministerial level. Top of mind: how to pay for the war reconstruction bill, currently said to be at north of $1-trillion. Also how to get the private sector excited about this massive rebuilding and how to ease their access.

    Among those attempting to galvanise monetary support and investment for Ukraine will be the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Japan’s Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa. Blinken said he would be announcing new US assistance for Ukraine.

    London’s been described as the largest Russian money laundromat in the world so how appropriate of a venue for figuring out how to get Russia to pay for the damage they’ve inflicted.

    Watch for my updates on my website, across social media and on television.

  • The air defenses of the Ukrainian capital repelled a "massive" Russian drone attack overnight, destroying about 20 Iranian-made drones, the governor of the Kyiv region said early on June 20.

  • The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says that, as of June 18, 9,083 Ukrainian civilians had been killed and 15,779 wounded since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion in February last year.

  • A European Union report will this week say that Ukraine has met two out of seven conditions to start membership negotiations - RFE/RL

  • Russia had the "means, motive and the opportunity" to bring down the Kakhovka dam across the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, according to a June 19 Associated Press articleciting new drone footage and inside sources. Images obtained by AP, taken from above the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, appear to show an explosive-laden car atop. The photo was taken on May 28, a week before the dam collapsed. The AP claims that Russian allegations that Ukraine destroyed the dam by missile or artillery fire can not be true, as evidenced partly by the seismic trace of the blast which could have only been triggered by a stronger explosive charge. "Nor does it seem credible that Ukrainian commandos could have sneaked in thousands of pounds of explosives to blow the dam, which was completely controlled inside and out by Russian soldiers for months," the article says. The AP noted that the car in the photos from Ukrainian drone footage was fitted with large barrels, one of which seemed to contain a land mine. However, the car bomb itself would not have been enough to bring down the dam, the article said - Kyiv Independent