23 June 2023
Russian war against Ukraine
Heavy fighting continues in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Maryinka sectors, where 27 combat engagements took place.
During the day Russia launched 14 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles, three Shahed-136/131 drones and four guided missiles from S-300 at Zaporizhzhya, in addition to 51 air strikes and around 50 MLRS attacks.
In the morning, Ukraine's air defences shot down all 13 Russian Kh-101/Kh-555 missiles, most of which were directed at a military airfield in Khmelnytskyy Region.
During the day, Ukrainian aviation carried out 10 strikes on Russian personnel clusters, while missile and artillery units hit four clusters of personnel and equipment, 12 artillery units at firing positions, two electronic warfare systems, and one air defence system.
Air Force Commander Lt-Gen Mykola Oleshchuk has confirmed that Ukrainian troops hit a Russian Guard base in occupied Henichesk "in response to Russian missile terror". Some Ukrainian media reported two strikes on Henichesk and one on Skadovsk.
Commenting on the course of the counteroffensive for The Guardian, Ground Forces Commander Col-Gen Oleksandr Syrskyy said the world had to be patient. Ukraine's General Staff assembled 12 new brigades for the long-anticipated counteroffensive, with nine of those equipped by Nato allies. Just three of them are believed to have been committed to battle so far.
Army
President Zelensky has instructed Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyy to dismiss Yevhen Borysov, head of the Odesa military recruitment office, following journalists' reports that his family bought a villa in Spain during the war. A special commission will check all military recruitment chiefs across Ukraine for corruption.
Ukraine has recovered the bodies of 51 fallen soldiers.
Weapons and equipment
The State Emergency Service has received 10 BlueROV2 underwater drones and 23 car radios from a charity fund to be used by its bomb disposal units.
This summer, the German concern Rheinmetall will supply 20 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, according to Die Welt.
Baykar has been licensed by the Turkish authorities to manufacture Bayraktar drones in Ukraine, according to Akit.
South
Russian troops dropped three guided air bombs on Kozatske and one on Vesele in the Nova Kakhovka community, Kherson Region, having damaged at least 13 houses, according to the regional authorities.
Three people got killed in yet another Russian shelling attack on Kherson.
One person was killed and four were injured when Russians shelled Zaporizhzhya Region this morning.
The IAEA will send a mission to flood-affected areas in the south to assess priority needs and develop a long-term action plan, as agreed during a meeting between Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko and IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi.
Nuclear concerns
Russian propaganda is hyping up a "dirty bomb" story to falsely pin the blame on Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. "When Russia first dropped this hoax last year, we granted full access to the IAEA, which debunked this lie," he tweeted.
Ukraine has deployed emergency HQs amid intelligence reports that Russia might be plotting a terrorist act at the occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. He said specialists and necessary equipment are prepared for various scenarios.
Shelters
A quarter of bomb shelters across Ukraine and a third of such facilities in Kyiv are unfit for use, President Zelenskyy said at a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council. He said that caretakers would be held to account and personnel decisions would follow.
Hungary
Ukrainian diplomats have brought home two more prisoners of war handed over by Russia to Budapest, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko. Five POWs have thus returned home, and diplomatic efforts are underway to recover the remaining six.
Naftogaz
Naftogaz of Ukraine and five other companies of Naftogaz Group filed a motion with the US District Court for the District of Columbia to confirm the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which ordered Russia to pay 5 billion dollars (including interest) in compensation for losses and lost property of Naftogaz in Crimea.
Crime
The director of the housing and utilities department of the Kyiv city state administration is suspected of embezzling 1m hryvnyas of budget funds during sidewalk and road repairs, according to the Kyiv city prosecutor's office.