Ukrainians report liberation of places in Donetsk region

Kyiv The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of firing deadly shots at lifeboats carrying fleeing civilians in the flooded war zone of Cherson. “Even animals have more morals than you, Russian state,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video message broadcast in Kiev on Sunday. “Russian terrorists continue to shell evacuation routes, evacuation points, boats that are taking people away.”

According to Ukrainian authorities, one such boat with 21 people was fired upon by Russians on Sunday while the civilians tried to escape from the Russian-occupied part of the Cherson region in the south of the country. Three people were killed and ten injured. The information could not be independently confirmed.

First Russia blew up the Kakhovka dam, then left the people in the flooded area to their fate, and now they’re being shot at too, Zelenskiy railed. He said representatives of the International Criminal Court in The Hague saw the situation for themselves in Kherson and began investigating the disaster. The right bank of the Dnipro River is under Ukrainian control.

“This investigation is very important for the safety of the whole world,” Zelensky said. Punishing Russia is a prerequisite for this evil not to be repeated in the world. According to Zelensky, about 4,000 people have been rescued so far. Dozens of towns and villages are still flooded, and the situation is worst in the Russian-occupied part of the Cherson region on the left bank of the Dnipro. The evacuation continues.

After the destruction of the dam last Tuesday, the number of flood victims was now 14, eight of them in the Russian-controlled part of the Cherson region. There alone, 35 people are still missing, including seven children.

Although the floodwaters are now falling, the consequences of the dam failure are devastating. Experts speak of a serious environmental disaster. Russia denies any responsibility and claims that Ukrainian forces fired rockets at the dam.

IAEA concerned about the water level of the reservoir at the Zaporizhia NPP

After the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is pushing for wider access to the area surrounding the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The water level of the dam was stable for about a day at the weekend, explains IAEA boss Rafael Grossi. “However, at other points in the huge reservoir, the level continues to drop, which leads to a possible difference of around two meters.” The height of the water level is an important parameter for the further functionality of the water pumps. According to the IAEA, the water from the reservoir is used to cool the plant’s six reactors and to store spent fuel elements.

Moscow wants command of private armies

Russia’s Defense Ministry wants to bring all Russian volunteer organizations under its command by order. All these units must sign a contract with the agency by July 1, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said in Moscow. There are now more than 40 volunteer associations whose legal status should be secured in this way. The head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Sunday that he refused to sign such a contract.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu can determine the ministry and the soldiers, Prigozhin said in a voice message published on his Telegram channel. However, the minister has not yet been able to lead his own troops. Wagner will therefore not sign any contracts with Shoigu. It could be that Wagner would then not receive any weapons or ammunition – but only until the ministry needed the help of the private army.

Ukrainians announce liberation of places in Donetsk region

According to military information from Kiev, Ukrainian soldiers liberated the towns of Blahodatne and Makarivka in the Donetsk region, which was largely occupied by Russia. There are also advances around the city of Bakhmut, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar on Sunday evening in Kiev. There was initially no comment from the Russian official side. The Russian army has been claiming for days that it is repelling the Ukrainian offensive.

However, Russian military bloggers close to the Kremlin also reported that Blahodatne had been abandoned because Moscow’s fighters feared encirclement there. Accordingly, the village of Neskutschne was also taken. The village of Lobkove in the Zaporizhia region is said to have been liberated from Russian occupation. For days, the Ukrainian armed forces have been conducting massive attacks in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, among others, in order to liberate their occupied areas.

The Russian troops have meanwhile withdrawn combat units from the Cherson region in order to strengthen contingents in other parts of the front, for example in the Zaporizhia region and in Bakhmut, said Deputy Minister Maljar. She reiterated her belief that Russia deliberately destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in order to flood the Kherson region and make it impassable to the Ukrainian offensive forces. Moscow’s aim was to free up its own forces for other missions in this way.

However, the flood that followed the dam rupture also destroyed Russian defenses. According to Russian military bloggers, the Ukrainian side’s aim was to advance more easily into the larger part of the Cherson region that it does not control once the flood waters have subsided.

North Korea’s ruler Kim wants to move closer to Russia

North Korea’s head of state Kim Jong Un assures Russian President Vladimir Putin of increased cooperation. He calls for “closer strategic cooperation,” says Kim in the message published by the state news agency KCNA. He shakes hands with Putin, “according to the common desire of both peoples to achieve the great goal of building a powerful country.” Kim also defended Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and assured him “full support and solidarity”. “Justice will prevail, and the Russian people will continue to add glory to the history of victory.”

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:

Selenski expands list of sanctions

President Zelensky said in his video message that he had put another 178 people on a sanctions list who “serve the evil that the Russian state has become.” It is about those responsible for destroying freedoms and playing a key role in repressions in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia itself. Every “accomplice of the Russian dictatorship” will be held accountable, he promised.

At the same time, Zelensky pointed to successes in the war against Russia. Once again, 95 Ukrainian fighters were released from Russian captivity through negotiations. He also praised the offensive actions of the Ukrainian armed forces against the Russian occupiers. In a major offensive, Selenski wants to have the occupied areas of the country liberated – including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. There were first gains in terrain.

What will be important on Monday

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Poland’s head of state Andrzej Duda are received in Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron for a dinner that will focus on continued support for the Ukrainian defensive war and preparations for the NATO summit in Vilnius planned for July.

Macron will first meet the Polish President, after Scholz’s arrival the consultations will then continue in threes, the Élysée said. It is foreseeable that military support for Ukraine for a successful counter-offensive will be involved, as well as humanitarian aid, especially after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. Security guarantees that can be granted to Ukraine in the long term to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity are also a topic.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is on a two-day visit to Washington, where he is expected to meet US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the White House on Monday.

More: You can find the latest developments in our news blog on the Ukraine war