Key events on day 1,204 of the Russia-Ukraine war are highlighted here.
Here’s the situation on Thursday, June 12:
Fighting
- Six people, including nine children, were killed, and 64 were injured during a nine-minute Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
- The Ukrainian military claimed responsibility for a strike on a major Russian gunpowder plant in the western Tambov region, causing a fire.
- Russian mechanised infantry units, along with a tank division, have advanced to Ukraine’s Donetsk region’s western border and are pushing their attack against the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry.
- Russia’s air defence systems shot down 32 Ukrainian drones, with half intercepted over the southern Voronezh region and the remainder over Kursk, Tambov, Rostov region, and Crimea, the Defence Ministry stated on Wednesday.
- As of now, Kyiv has repatriated the bodies of 1,212 soldiers killed in the conflict, while the Kremlin has acknowledged the return of 27 Russian soldiers’ bodies.
Regional security
- Russia conducted a flight of long-range Tu-22M3 bomber planes over the Baltic Sea, seemingly demonstrating its ongoing capabilities following a significant Ukrainian attack on Russian airbases in Siberia.
- Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov of Russia claimed that the nation’s nuclear capability was not significantly impacted by the Ukrainian strikes and that reports to the contrary were exaggerated.
- President Putin of Russia stated on state television that 95 percent of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces are up-to-date with the latest weaponry.
International relations
- US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, described the Ukrainian drone attack on Russian strategic bombers as both “badass” and “a little bit reckless, and a little bit dangerous”.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged for increased pressure on Moscow to prevent further military threats, addressing a conference in Odesa.
- President of Serbia, the Kremlin-friendly Aleksandar Vucic, attended the summit in Odesa, marking the first visit to Ukraine during his 12-year term in office.
- Finland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry requested a meeting with a Russian diplomat regarding a suspected Russian aircraft violation of Finnish airspace on June 10.
- Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that the country would not support the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia unless the European Commission addresses the potential impact of phasing out Russian energy.
- Germany saw a 95 percent drop in imports from Russia and a 72 percent decrease in exports to Russia between 2021-2024, according to Destatis.
- The EU witnessed a 78 percent reduction in imports and a 65 percent decrease in exports from Russia, resulting in a 4.5 billion euro trade deficit in 2024 compared to 147.5 billion euros in 2022, as Destatis reported.
Russian affairs
- Opposition politician Lev Shlosberg has been placed under house arrest for two months and faces unspecified restrictions for “discrediting” the Russian army by referring to the Ukraine conflict as “bloody chess”.
- Russian dissident Leonid Volkov, a key ally of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison for spreading false information about the Ukraine conflict and “justifying terrorism”.
