WAR IN UKRAINE: June 23, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 485
Ukraine's air defenses downed all 13 cruise missiles launched by Russia in an overnight attack on a military airfield in the central region of Khmelnitskiy, the military said in a statement on June 23, adding that the attack was carried out around midnight by aircraft from the direction of the Caspian Sea. "In addition, the air defenses destroyed a reconnaissance UAV of an unknown type," the statement said - RFE/RL
In words that’s offended many Ukrainians, former US President Barack Obama suggested the Ukrainian people weren’t ready to stand up for themselves when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 - and on his watch. He told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that at the time Crimea was Russian speaking and that there were pro-Russian elements in the Ukrainian parliament. He said, "given both where Ukraine was at, at the time, and where the European mindset was at the time, we held the line." Obama also said European allies had to be dragged kicking and screaming to sanction Putin. Most analysts agreed had Obama and western allies had indeed drawn a red line, grown some spine and held it, Putin wouldn’t have gone through with further territorial grabs later in 2014 and last year. In August 2012, Obama was asked about what could lead him to use military force in Syria. “We have been very clear to the Assad regime,” he said, “that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus.” The Assad regime had in fact used chemical weapons in April 2013, killing nearly 1,500 civilians, including more than 400 children. Horrific video footage showing people with twisted bodies sprawled on hospital floors, some twitching and foaming at the mouth after being exposed to sarin gas, had ricocheted around the world. Politico reported. And in response the Obama administration buckled, not deploying the U.S. military and instead publicising a decision to aid the Syrian opposition.
Russia is 99.9% certain to quit a U.N.-brokered deal on the safe wartime passage of Black Sea grain next month because it no longer needs Ukrainian ports to export ammonia, a senior Ukrainian diplomat said. The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Moscow and Kyiv last July to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Russia's invasion of its neighbour and a blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Moscow has threatened not to extend the agreement beyond July 18 unless a series of demands, including the removal of obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports, are met. The Black Sea export deal also allows for the safe export of ammonia - an important ingredient in nitrate fertiliser - but none has been shipped under the initiative. Russia has been pushing for the resumption of ammonia supplies via a pipeline through Ukraine to the Black Sea port of Odesa that has lain idle since last year. Olha Trofimtseva, Ukraine's foreign ministry ambassador at large, said Russian ammonia producer Uralchem had found an alternative route and does not need to export ammonia via Odesa. "The grain corridor. 99.9% that Russia will leave it in July," Trofimtseva said on the Telegram messaging app late on Wednesday.
On the battlefield, Russian forces made more attempts at attacking Ukrainian positions in the eastern region of Donetsk, the General Staff reported, with heavy fighting under way in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka, where more than 30 close-quarter battles were fought over the past 24 hours.
Joe Biden’s top national security aide will fly to Denmark this weekend at the behest of Kyiv’s government for an unannounced meeting with representatives of several developing countries that have not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, has agreed to attend the meeting in Copenhagen with officials from countries including India, Brazil and South Africa, according to people familiar with the plans. The list of attendees has not been finalised and could change before the gathering, one of the people cautioned. The diplomatic offensive comes as Ukrainian leaders have acknowledged their highly-touted counteroffensive is progressing more slowly than hoped. Officials from Turkey and possibly China could also attend. One of the people familiar with the plans said that, following the Ukrainian request, Washington has been encouraging China, India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa to attend. Sullivan will travel with Victoria Nuland, the number-three official at the US state department. A senior EU official will also participate. The White House declined to comment. The planned meeting to expand the pro-Ukrainian coalition comes after Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, warned that Kyiv’s counteroffensive launched earlier this month to roll back Russian advances had been “slower than desired”. With the war expected to rage into next year, western officials worry about preaching the virtues of Ukraine’s resistance to the converted without making sure their arguments have wider appeal. “Only little do we realise how much the rest of the world is not convinced,” said one European official. “They are not convinced. It’s a terrible thing to acknowledge” - FT
The United Nations has put Russian military forces and armed proxy groups on its list of shame over violations of children's rights in its war in Ukraine. An annual report on children and armed conflict distributed to members of the Security Council on June 22 said the deaths of 136 children killed in Ukraine were attributed to Russian forces and affiliated groups. The report includes a list intended to shame warring countries in hopes of pushing them to implement measures to protect children - RFE/RL