Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 06-14-2024

Kyiv Post HUR sources confirmed that Ukrainian hackers posted a fake entry on the Ulyanovsk regional administration website calling for a rally in support of the “special military operation.”

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) working with the cyber group BO Team, attacked municipal web resources in Russia, Kyiv Post sources in the directorate said on Friday, June 14.

According to the sources, a cyberattack by Ukrainians targeted the Ulyanovsk regional administration and disabled two hypervisors and two communicators, destroyed 10 virtual machines, one PC, and erased a total of 20 TB of data.

On the eve of the Global Peace Summit, Russia’s president once again tries to muddy the waters with another blatantly obvious offer of peace guaranteed to be turned down by Kyiv.

In a briefing to the leadership of Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday, June 14, President Vladimir Putin again voiced his version of history and made another “offer” of peace with even worse conditions than ever before.

The Financial Times reported comments by Oleksandr Lytvynenko, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, who said that Putin’s comments were made to undermine the Global Peace Summit due to start on Saturday in Switzerland and another “demonstration that he doesn’t want to negotiate.”

Kyiv has accused Moscow of abducting almost 20,000 children.

A dozen Ukrainian children who were in Russian-occupied territory have been returned to parts of the country controlled by Kyiv, a regional official said Friday.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of abducting almost 20,000 children from parts of the east and south of Ukraine, while many more have found themselves living under Russian control after Moscow's troops invaded in February 2022.

Kyiv Post spoke to passerby on Washinton D.C., London, Paris, and Kyiv what they about Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

Zelensky envisions the Holy See playing a role in establishing “lasting peace” in Ukraine.

Meeting Pope Francis in Italy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked him for participating in the upcoming Global Peace Summit for Ukraine, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16.

In a series of precise FPV drone strikes, Ukraine’s SSO successfully hit a Russian infantry fighting vehicle, eliminated four Russian soldiers, and injured three others.

Operators of the 8th Separate Regiment of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported on Telegram the destruction of two Russian ammunition warehouses and the elimination of four Russian soldiers using FPV drones.

“FPV operators of SSO drones eliminate Russians in the east,” read the caption accompanying the video released Thursday, June 13.

Seoul has detected at least 10,000 shipping containers being sent from North Korea to Russia, which could hold as many as 4.8 million artillery shells.

North Korea has sent at least 10,000 shipping containers with nearly 5 million artillery shells to Russia, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik told Bloomberg News.

However, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is likely to ask for more ammunition during his next visit to Pyongyang.

“There is no Ukrainian football player, city, stadium, playground, or child untouched by the war,” – Andriy Shevchenko, World Cup Golden Ball Winner.

Ahead of EURO 2024, a video has been released featuring 13 players from the Ukrainian National Team, each hailing from hometowns affected by Russian aggression or occupation.

Among these, there’s the village of Velyka Novosilka, where Dynamo Kyiv player Mykola Shaparenko is from. It was completely destroyed. There is no electricity or water. Where there were once 6,000 residents, now only 300 remain.

The President of the European Parliament, spoke exclusively with Kyiv Post on the eve of the Peace Summit in Switzerland and said what she expects will be the outcome for Ukraine and Europe.

In November 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky published a ten-point “Peace Formula,” and began the process of securing international support for it as a way of securing peace, repairing the damage done to Ukraine by the Russian invasion and warning of the danger Russia poses to other countries.

The plan’s ten elements start with nuclear security and end when the end of the war in Ukraine is confirmed, emphasizing international security and justice.

According to Russian social media, the Solntsepyok, a thermobaric weapon system, exploded in a town in the Belgorod region, killing three Russian servicemembers.

Ammunition from a Solntsepyok thermobaric warhead exploded in Shebekino, a town approximately seven kilometers north of the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Belgorod region, killing three Russian servicemembers, as reported by the Russian Telegram channel Astra, citing its sources.

The Solntsepyok so-called “heavy flamethrower” is a thermobaric warhead multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS) weapon TOS-1.

Putin also warned the standoff between Moscow and the West was coming “unacceptably close to the point of no return” and boasted that Moscow “possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday branded as “theft” the freezing of Russian assets abroad and warned it would “not go unpunished.”

G7 leaders agreed Thursday on a new $50 billion loan for Ukraine using profits from frozen Russian assets, a move US President Joe Biden said showed Moscow “we're not backing down.”

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

The Group of Seven countries have reached an agreement on tapping future interest from about $300bn in frozen Russian assets to provide a $50bn loan to Ukraine, a senior US official told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 meeting. “We have political agreement at the highest levels for this deal. And it is $50bn this year that will be committed to Ukraine,” a senior Biden administration official said on condition of anonymity. The official said the United States had agreed to provide up to $50bn itself, but that amount could decline significantly as other countries announced their participation. The official said there would be multiple disbursement channels for Ukraine to receive the money, and it could be used for different purposes, including to provide support for its military, budget, reconstruction and humanitarian needs, Al Jazeera reported. The money is to be repaid from interest generated from $300 billion in assets that Mr. Putin, inexplicably, left in Western financial institutions before his February 2022 invasion, the NYT reported.

US President Joe Biden signed a 10-year security pact with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that Mr. Biden portrayed as guaranteeing a supply of weapons, intelligence support, advice and technology needed to win the war and deter a new one. The NYT reported that the security pact contains no funding — “just an American commitment to work with Congress to secure the tens of billions of dollars that would be required. That most likely means another bruising fight on Capitol Hill, where a bare majority of Republicans in Congress had for months opposed any more commitments of funds and the arms they buy before funding was approved in April.”

With dozens of heads of state and government flying in for the gathering at the swanky Burgenstock resort, up to 4,000 troops are being deployed in place.

Switzerland is undertaking a major security operation around this weekend's summit on Ukraine, aiming to ward off not only physical threats but also cyberattacks and misinformation.

With dozens of heads of state and government flying in for the gathering at the swanky Burgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, up to 4,000 troops are being deployed and a ring of steel has been put in place.

How the strengthening of the right-wing camp in the EU Parliament will effect support for Ukraine is still unclear, as this is yet another issue on which the corresponding parties are divided.

How the strengthening of the right-wing camp in the EU Parliament will effect support for Ukraine is still unclear, as this is yet another issue on which the corresponding parties are divided. But Europe's commentators detect a trend.

Dramatic weakening of two main engines

70 out of 80 Ukrainian drones were reportedly shot down over the Rostov region, just across the Kerch Strait from Ukraine and home to a swathe of Russian military facilities.

More than 80 Ukrainian drones attacked multiple Russian regions in the early hours of Friday, June 14, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Kremlin’s Defense Ministry claimed that 70 out of 80 Ukrainian drones were shot down over the Rostov region.

The primary target of the strike was Starokonstyantyniv in the Khmelnytsky region, which is widely thought to be home to a vast Ukrainian air base.

Russian forces launched yet another mass aerial attack against Ukraine on Friday morning, June 14, firing ballistic missiles, dozens of drones and Kh-101/Kh-55 missiles from at least five strategic bombers, targeting mostly western regions of Ukraine.

The primary target of the strike was Starokostyantyniv in the Khmelnytsky region, which is widely thought to be home to a vast Ukrainian air base.

The document provides for security and defence assistance, help with reconstruction efforts, as well as support in other areas, from cybersecurity to countering Russian disinformation campaigns.

Ukraine and Japan signed a security agreement during the G7 summit Thursday that provides Kyiv with $4.5 billion this year and support for the next decade, the countries' leaders said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the "unique document with one of the world's most economically and technologically advanced countries", signed on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting in Puglia, Italy.

The deal will see the US provide Ukraine with a range of military aid and training over the next decade, while Zelensky said it would act as a bridge for his country to membership in NATO.

In the final sessions of a G7 summit in Southern Italy that produced a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets, US President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a 10-year-security pact that locked in American military aid and training through a presidential executive agreement with the current US administration.

It also includes promises to build Ukraine’s military and its own domestic weapons manufacturing.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukraine signed bilateral ten-year security agreements with the US and Japan on June 13 as other partner states reaffirmed their long-term support for Ukraine within the Group of 7 (G7) and Ramstein formats.
• The US finally sanctioned the Moscow Exchange, other significant Russian financial institutions, and Russian defense manufacturers 839 days into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• The Russian government appears confident that these new sanctions will minimally impact the Russian financial system, and the delay in US and other Western countries sanctioning these entities has given the Russian financial system time to prepare and mitigate such sanctions.
• US President Joe Biden reiterated his opposition to allowing Ukrainian forces to strike military targets in Russia’s operational or deep rear areas in Russian territory with US-provided weapons.
• Sustained Ukrainian strikes against Russian military targets in occupied Crimea appear to be forcing the Russian military to commit additional air defense assets to Crimea in order to defend existing bases and logistics infrastructure, and further Ukrainian strikes against such air defense assets may render the peninsula untenable as a staging ground for the Russian military.
• The People's Republic of China (PRC) is reportedly using diplomatic channels to convince other countries to not support the upcoming June 15-16 Global Peace Summit in Switzerland.
• The US, United Kingdom (UK), and Canada released a joint statement on July 13 acknowledging and condemning Russian subversive activity and electoral interference efforts in Moldova, which is consistent with ISW's long-standing assessment of the Kremlin's ongoing hybrid campaign to destabilize Moldovan democracy.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced north of Kharkiv City and Russian forces marginally advanced near Siversk and Avdiivka.
• Russian federal subjects (regions) continue to increase monetary incentives to recruit military personnel.

A video circulating online was taken by a Ukrainian drone operator as she crossed the destroyed bridge in a bid to escape the occupation before showing him her Ukrainian passport.

A Ukrainian woman was seen walking across the destroyed Antonivsky Bridge leaving the occupied town of Oleshky, in the Kherson region by a Ukrainian drone operator, to whom she showed her passport to prove her nationality.

The drone escorted her safely to the position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the left bank, after which the military took her on a boat to the territory controlled by Ukraine, according to the Most publication.

The latest ban came ahead of the G7 meeting this week, where Washington said the goal is to “disrupt the Russian military-industrial base’s reliance on foreign IT systems.”

Washington will expand the sanctions against Russia to include software services beyond existing hardware export bans starting Sept. 12 this year. 

The US Department of Treasury announced the latest sanction efforts – which included hardening secondary sanctions – in a press release on Thursday ahead of the G7 summit on June 13-15 in Italy.