Live blog: Russia 'repels' Kiev's counterattacks at 3 points of front line

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Russia's defence ministry has said its forces had repelled a series of Ukrainian attacks across three sections of the front line, where it said Ukraine was pressing most actively in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Battlefield reports could not be independently verified on Sunday.

The statement did not mention the settlement of Piatykhatky in Zaporizhzhia region, which a Russian-backed official said earlier had been taken by Ukraine.

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1040 GMT - Both sides suffer casualties as Ukraine strikes Russia back

Russia and Ukraine are suffering high numbers of military casualties as Ukraine fights to dislodge the Kremlin’s forces from occupied areas in the early stages of its counteroffensive, British officials said.

Russian losses are probably at their highest level since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March, UK military officials said in their regular assessment.

According to British intelligence, the most intense fighting has centered on the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, around Bakhmut and further west in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province.

While the update reported that Ukraine was on the offensive in these areas and had “made small advances,” it said that Russian forces were conducting “relatively effective defensive operations” in Ukraine’s south.

The Ukrainian military said in a regular update Sunday morning that over the previous 24 hours Russia had carried out 43 airstrikes, four missile strikes and 51 attacks from multiple rocket launchers.

1031 GMT - On Father's Day, Zelenskyy praises 'brave' soldiers fighting

On Father's Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked all "strong and brave" soldiers fighting against Russia and hoped all dads would eventually return from the front.

"Thank you to every Ukrainian father, to every Ukrainian family for our strong and brave soldiers who defended Ukraine's independence, and fight for the life of Ukraine!" Zelenskyy said on social media.

He posted a video by United24, a government initiative to raise donations, which showed Ukrainian soldiers returning from home, hugging children.

"I wish for our fathers to live long and healthy lives.

And for every father who is on the front line to come home," Zelenskyy said.

1006 GMT - Europe to accelerate arms shipments to Ukraine: EU industry chief

The European Union is speeding up arms deliveries to Ukraine in support of the country's counter offensive against Russian forces, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said in an interview with the French daily Le Parisien.

"We are going to step up our efforts to deliver arms and ammunition–– this is a war of high intensity in which they play a crucial role," Breton said, citing a pledge to supply a million high-calibre weapons over the next 12 months.

"We are preparing for the war to last several more months, or even longer," he added.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive earlier this month to retake territory from Russian forces, and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last Thursday urged Kiev's allies to "dig deep" to provide more arms and ammunition.

0918 GMT - Ukraine recaptured a village in the southern region

A Russian-backed official has acknowledged that Ukraine had recaptured a village in the southern Zapororizhzhia region.

It's the first gain on that front since it launched its counter-offensive earlier this month.

The official, Vladimir Rogov, said Ukrainian forces had taken the settlement of Piatykhatky and were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery.

"The enemy's 'wave-like' offensives yielded results, despite enormous losses," Rogov said on the Telegram messaging app.

0519 GMT - Ukraine says it destroyed 'significant' Russian ammo depot

Ukrainian forces have destroyed a "significant" ammunition depot near the Russian-occupied port city of Henichesk in the southern region of Kherson, Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odessa military administration has said.

"Our armed forces dealt a good blow in the morning - and a very loud one - in the village of Rykove, Henichesk district, in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region," Bratchuk said in a morning video message.

"There was a very significant ammunition depot. It was destroyed."

Rykove is about 20km from Henichesk, a port city along the Sea of Azov in southern Ukraine, which has been controlled by Kremlin forces since the early days of Russia's incursion of Ukraine in February 2022.

2130 GMT - UK's Sunak to urge investors to support Ukraine reconstruction

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is to call on investors and businesses at a summit in London next week to match Ukraine's "bravery on the battlefield" with support to get the country back on its feet.

Sunak will use the International Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 to urge the private sector to make the war-torn nation "financially stronger" and "technologically advanced", the prime minister's office said.

More than 1,000 foreign dignitaries from 61 states along with business chiefs and global investors will join Sunak in London on Wednesday.

The two-day summit, which is being jointly hosted by the UK and Ukraine, aims to unlock the potential of the private sector to help rebuild Ukraine.

The last annual summit of its kind was held in Lugano in Switzerland in July last year.

1854 GMT - African peace plan interests Putin but 'difficult to realise'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in televised remarks that Moscow shared the main approaches of an African peace plan, but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying it was difficult to realise.

Peskov was quoted as saying Russia would continue dialogue with the African countries whose representatives brought their proposals to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

Putin showed interest in the plan, he said.

Lavrov said the African leaders had not brought Putin any message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

For our live updates from Saturday (June 17), click here.