We will be pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine and returning in a few hours to bring you all the latest developments. You can find a summary of where things stand here.
Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- Russia’s war in Ukraine could take years, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. “Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices,” he added.
- Five civilians were killed and 12 injured on Saturday in a Ukrainian bombardment of the eastern separatist city of Donetsk, according to local authorities. “As a result of the bombardment by Ukrainian forces, five people were killed and 12 others were wounded in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the local authorities said in a statement posted on Telegram.
- The Pentagon is considering sending four additional rocket launchers to Ukraine, Politico reports. According to US defense department officials speaking to the outlet on anonymity, the US may likely send four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, making the total about of HIMARS eight. The decision will be “based on Ukrainian immediate needs,” the official told Politico.
- Yuliia Paievska aka “Taira”, the Ukrainian captured paramedic who was freed from Russian captivity earlier this week, has released a video thanking the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for her release. “I thank the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for organizing this exchange. I always believed that everything would be exactly this, and everyone who is now on the other side, they know everything will work out,” she said to the camera.
- Russia and Ukraine have carried out a prisoner exchange, the Kyiv Independent reports. Five captured Ukrainian individuals were returned to Ukraine on 18 June in exchange for five captured Russian individuals, according to the Ukrainian defense ministry’s intelligence directorate.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented state awards to border guards in Odesa as he visited the troops in southern Ukraine on Saturday. “I want to thank you from the people of Ukraine, from our state, for the great work you are doing, for your heroic service. It is important that you are alive. As long as you live, there is a strong Ukrainian wall that protects our country,” Zelenskiy said.
- A big explosion rocked an area near the besieged Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk on Saturday. Rodion Miroshnik, an official in the self-styled separatist administration of the Luhansk People’s Republic, posted a video of what he said was the cloud on the Telegram messaging app.Miroshnik said he could not tell whether the blast had occurred in the city or near it.
- Russian missiles destroyed a fuel storage depot in Novomoskovsk, a town in eastern Ukraine, on Saturday. According to the head of the regional administration, three people have been sent to the hospital.
- Russian forces have targeted a gas processing plant near Izium, Kharkiv, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to Khariv governor Oleh Synehubov, several missiles hit the plant and caused a large fire.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia who will bring you the latest updates on Ukraine. Thank you and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Russia’s war in Ukraine could take years, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told Bild am Sonntag, a German newspaper.
“Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices,” he added.
Stoltenberg also said that the supply of state-of-the-art weaponry to Ukrainian troops would boost the possibility of freeing the Donbas region from Russian control.
A NATO summit in Madrid later this month is expected to agree an assistance package for Ukraine that will help the country with the move from old Soviet-era weaponry to NATO standard gear, Stoltenberg said earlier this week.
Five killed and 12 injured in Ukrainian bombardment of Donetsk
Five civilians were killed and 12 injured on Saturday in a Ukrainian bombardment of the eastern separatist city of Donetsk, according to local authorities.
“As a result of the bombardment by Ukrainian forces, five people were killed and 12 others were wounded in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the local authorities said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Donetsk is located in the Donbas coal region of eastern Ukraine and is part of the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic. It has been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Since the Russian invasion into Ukraine in February, the region has been the subject of fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
“From this morning, massive enemy bombardments are targeting the capital of the republic,” pro-Russian forces said in a statement, adding that more than 200 artillery shells of 155mm calibre fell on several districts of Donetsk on Saturday.
Updated
The Pentagon is considering sending four additional rocket launchers to Ukraine, Politico reports.
According to US defense department officials speaking to the outlet on anonymity, the US may likely send four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, making the total about of HIMARS eight.
The decision will be “based on Ukrainian immediate needs”, the official told Politico.
Another official said: “We expect to be transferring more HIMARS and more [guided] rounds soon.”
Nevertheless, Ukraine has been asking for additional weapons, as Oleksandra “Sasha” Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, told Politico:
The Russians are 200km on our land … To shoot them there, we need a long range to be used on our territory, because otherwise, it’s just a ping pong game of artillery.
Ustinova went on to say that the four HIMARS already approved by the US will not be enough, adding: “We asked for 10 times more.”
Updated
Yuliia Paievska aka “Taira”, the Ukrainian captured paramedic who was freed from Russian captivity earlier this week, has released a video thanking the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for her release.
“I thank the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for organizing this exchange. I always believed that everything would be exactly this, and everyone who is now on the other side, they know everything will work out,” she said to the camera.
The 1st video of the paramedic Yuliia Paievska "Taira" after turning back from the Russian captivity.
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 18, 2022
📹: Andriy Tsaplienko pic.twitter.com/P2umtLjtOj
Updated
Russia and Ukraine carry out a prisoner exchange - report
Russia and Ukraine have carried out a prisoner exchange, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Five captured Ukrainian individuals were returned to Ukraine on 18 June in exchange for five captured Russian individuals, according to the Ukrainian defense ministry’s intelligence directorate.
⚡️Ukraine, Russia exchange 5 prisoners.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 18, 2022
Five civilians returned home on June 18 in an exchange for five Russian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate said. Four of the released civilians were taken prisoner during fighting in the Kyiv region.
Updated
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented state awards to border guards in Odesa as he visited the troops in southern Ukraine on Saturday.
“I want to thank you from the people of Ukraine, from our state, for the great work you are doing, for your heroic service. It is important that you are alive. As long as you live, there is a strong Ukrainian wall that protects our country,” Zelenskiy said.
🇺🇦На Одещині Президент України вручив прикордонникам державні нагороди
— Держприкордонслужба (@DPSU_ua) June 18, 2022
«Хочу подякувати вам від народу України, від нашої держави, за ту велику роботу, яку ви робите, за вашу героїчну службу. Важливо, що ви живі. Поки ви живі, є міцна українська стіна, яка захищає нашу країну. pic.twitter.com/YW8Ni4Uo1Y
A big explosion rocked an area near the besieged Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk on Saturday.
Reuters reports:
A large orange-coloured cloud could be seen rising into the air, a Russian-backed representative said.
Rodion Miroshnik, an official in the self-styled separatist administration of the Luhansk People’s Republic, posted a video of what he said was the cloud on the Telegram messaging app.
Miroshnik said he could not tell whether the blast had occurred in the city or near it.
Sievierodonetsk - which Russian troops have been shelling for weeks - is home to the Azot chemical plant, where hundreds of civilians are sheltering.
Russian missiles destroyed a fuel storage depot in Novomoskovsk, a town in eastern Ukraine, on Saturday.
According to the head of the regional administration, three people have been sent to the hospital.
Valentyn Reznichenko posted a photo of what he said was a large blaze at at the depot.
The head of the Dnepropetrovsk region said that three more missiles hit an oil depot near Novomoskovsk. A large fire broke out at the site. https://t.co/PLpUAF9HVL pic.twitter.com/MJVfANMPzh
— Victorvicktop55 (@vic_top55) June 18, 2022
Russian forces have targeted a gas processing plant near Izium, Kharkiv, the Kyiv Independent reports.
⚡️ Governor: Russian military shelled gas processing plant near Izium, Kharkiv Oblast.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 18, 2022
According to Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Synehubov, several missiles hit the plant, causing a massive fire. Rescuers are trying to extinguish it.
Updated
Summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 8pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s main headlines:
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that “Ukraine will definitely win” during a working trip to the southern city of Mykolaiv, as relentless fighting in the country’s east continued on Saturday.
- Several hundred potential war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are being investigated by German authorities.
- It is important that Britain continues to show it is supporting Ukraine for the long haul, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Saturday, warning of a risk of “Ukraine fatigue” as the war drags on.
- Russia is sending a large number of reserve troops to Sievierodonetsk from other battle zones to try to gain full control of the frontline eastern city, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region has said.
- Ukraine’s defence intelligence directorate said on Saturday that five Ukrainian civilians had been returned in a five-for-five prisoner swap with Russia.
- Hundreds of mourners gathered in Kyiv to say their goodbyes to a young Ukrainian activist who was killed fighting on the frontline. Roman Ratushnyi, 24, died on Saturday while battling Russian forces in Izium, which has been subjected to relentless shelling, according to Associated Press.
- Lithuanian authorities said a ban on the transit through their territory to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad of goods that are subject to EU sanctions would take effect from Saturday.
- Rockets hit a southern district of Ukraine’s central city of Kryvyi Rih on Saturday, leading to at least two casualties, local authorities said in posts on the messaging app Telegram.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Maya Yang will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Ukraine.
Updated
Russia is sending a large number of reserve troops to Sievierodonetsk from other battle zones to try to gain full control of the frontline eastern city, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region has said.
“Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, they will throw in all the reserves they have … because there are so many of them there already, they’re at critical mass,” Serhiy Haidai said on national television.
He said Russian forces already controlled most but not all of Sievierodonetsk.
Updated
Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Ukraine’s capital for a well-known Kyiv activist who was killed after taking up arms against Russian invaders.
24-year-old Roman Ratushnyi had been a teenage protester during months of demonstrations that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian leader in 2014.
He was also known in Kyiv as an environmental campaigner who led a fight to preserve a wooded park from development, AP reported.
Poppies were lain on his coffin at a memorial service, before mourners walked in a silent column behind his coffin to a vast plaza in central Kyiv where three months of protests helped overthrow then-president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Ratushnyi’s sacrifice symbolises that of Ukraine’s post-independence generations, who are giving up their best years, and sometimes their lives, in the cause of freedom.
Updated
Zelenskiy visits frontline troops in Mykolaiv
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said “Ukraine will definitely win” during a working trip to the southern city of Mykolaiv, as relentless fighting in the country’s east continued on Saturday.
The president handed out medals and posed for selfies with servicemen in what appeared to be an underground shelter, according to a video posted to his official Telegram account.
“Our brave men. Each one of them is working flat out,” he said. “We will definitely hold out. We will definitely win.”
Russian forces reached the outskirts of Mykolaiv in early March but were then pushed back to the eastern and southern edges of the region, where fierce fighting continues.
Updated
Ukraine’s defence intelligence directorate said on Saturday that five Ukrainian civilians had been returned in a five-for-five prisoner swap with Russia.
It did not say whether the exchanged Russians were combatants, Reuters reported.
The directorate said four of the five Ukrainian civilians had been taken prisoner during Russia’s occupation of parts of the Kyiv region, from which Russian forces withdrew at the end of March.
It also said the dead body of a Ukrainian civilian was recovered in the exchange.
Updated
Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Kyiv to say their goodbyes to a young Ukrainian activist who was killed fighting on the frontline.
Roman Ratushnyi, 24, died on Saturday while battling Russian forces in Izium, which has been subjected to relentless shelling, according to Associated Press.
He was among the demonstrators who had helped topple the country’s pro-Russia leader in 2014, and did not hesitate to take up arms when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in February.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry was among those to pay tribute to Ratushnyi, tweeting:
From the first day of Maidan, 17yo Roman joined the protests and was among the students beaten by police. At his 24 he decided to defend Ukraine from Russians.
We will always remember our brave defenders.
#Kyiv says goodbye to Roman Ratushnyi, #Ukrainian activist, defender.
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) June 18, 2022
From the first day of Maidan, 17yo Roman joined the protests and was among the students beaten by police. At his 24 he decided to defend #Ukraine from #Russians.
We will always remember our brave defenders🕯️. pic.twitter.com/yItAX9k5wi
Updated
Several hundred potential war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are being investigated by German authorities.
Its federal police says it has received leads in the triple digits involving both political and military officials, reports AFP.
“Our clear goal is to identify those responsible for atrocities, to prove their actions through our investigations and bring them to justice,” its head, Holder Muench, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
German investigators could be sent to Ukraine, he added, but they would need an international mandate to do so.
Ukraine last month declared 15,000 suspected war crimes had been reported since the war began.
Chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova said some 600 suspects had been identified, and included “top military, politicians, and propaganda agents of Russia”.
Russia has denied targeting civilians or involvement in war crimes.
Lithuanian authorities have said a ban on the transit through their territory to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad of goods that are subject to EU sanctions will take effect from Saturday.
News of the ban came on Friday, through a video posted by Kaliningrad’s governor, Anton Alikhanov, Reuters reported.
The EU sanctions list includes coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology, and Alikhanov said the ban would cover about 50% of the items that Kaliningrad imports.
Its immediate start was confirmed by the cargo arm of Lithuania’s state railways service in a letter to clients following “clarification” from the European Commission on the mechanism for applying the sanctions.
Updated
The British prime minister has urged the European Broadcast Union (EBU) to reverse its decision to move the Eurovision song contest from Ukraine to the UK.
The EBU decided to move the popular contest from Ukraine citing security risks and is currently in talks with the BBC.
Oleksandr’s war lasted only a week. The 36-year-old, a Ukrainian electrician working in Gdansk, hurried back to join up after Russia invaded and was deployed on 10 May to guard a chest-high trench in Donbas against the odds.
“We were shelled constantly during the day. There was not 10 minutes without Russian shelling,” he said, describing a fearful human cost. “Every day one person was killed and another couple wounded. Big losses, really big losses.”
On the seventh day, 16 May, it was over. A Russian drone had hovered over Oleksandr’s position near Avdiivka and, armed with the location, the invaders hurled one shell, then another, closer, and finally a third, closer still.
It felt as if he had been “hit by a stone” in his right arm, Oleksandr said, but it was worse: “I looked at my sleeve and then I tried to move my hand. It was just hanging.” Hastily he applied a tourniquet and sought refuge behind the lines.
Updated
Boris Johnson has said it is important for the UK to show it stands steadfastly Ukraine amid what he described as ‘Ukraine fatigue’.
Rockets hit a southern district of Ukraine’s central city of Kryvyi Rih on Saturday leading to at least two casualties, local authorities said in posts on messaging app Telegram.
The attack came as it was confirmed that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had visited the southern city of Mykolaiv during a working trip to the region, Reuters reported.
His office announced the trip in a statement on Saturday, without specifying when the visit took place.
“The president inspected the building of the Mykolaiv regional state administration which was destroyed as a result of a missile strike by Russian forces,” it said.
Updated
In the early hours of 24 February, Olena Zelenska became aware of the sound of muffled booms somewhere in the distance. As she drifted towards wakefulness, she realised the sounds she was registering could not be fireworks. Her eyes snapped open; she discovered she was alone in the bed. She jumped up and hurried to the next room, where she found her husband, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, already dressed for work in a suit and tie.
“What’s going on?” she asked him.
“It’s started,” he told her.
Updated
Ukraine can and should host the 2023 Eurovision song contest, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Saturday, after the organisers said they were in talks to hold it in Britain instead due to the war.
While decades-long tradition dictates that the winner of the contest gets to host it the following year, organisers said the security guarantees required to hold the competition in Ukraine meant discussions would be held with the runner-up, Britain.
“Of course I would love it to be in this country but the fact is they won and they deserve to have it and I believe they can have it and I believe that they should have it,” Johnson told reporters on arrival back in Britain after a visit to Kyiv.
“I believe that Kyiv or any other safe Ukrainian city would be a fantastic place to have it,” he added. “It is a year away, it is going to be fine by the time the Eurovision Song Contest comes round and I hope the Ukrainians get it.”
The comments by organiser the European Broadcasting Union on Friday that it was in discussions with British broadcaster the BBC to host the next event was greeted with disappointment in Kyiv, which demanded further negotiations.
Updated
UK with Ukraine ‘for the long haul’, says Johnson
It is important Britain continues to show it is supporting Ukraine for the long haul, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Saturday, warning of a risk of “Ukraine fatigue” as the war drags on.
“The Russians are grinding forward inch by inch and it is vital for us to show what we know to be true which is that Ukraine can win and will win,” Johnson told reporters on his arrival back in Britain from a visit to Kyiv.
Some members of his Conservative party had criticised him for making the trip instead of attending a conference in northern England, Reuters reported.
“When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it is very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them the strategic resilience that they need,” Johnson said.
I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be with you until 6pm UK time today.
Updated
Almost 100 miners have been trapped in a coal mine in Donetsk after power to the pit was cut.
Russian state news agency RIA blamed the incident on Ukraine, accusing it of launching attacks in the eastern region causing the power failure, according to Reuters.
“As a result of shelling [by Ukrainian forces], power to the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk was cut off, and 77 miners remain underground,” RIA said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report, and there was no immediate reaction from Ukraine.
A banner declaring “Glory to Ukraine” has appeared at the King’s College Chapel at the University of Cambridge.
The sign of support, which reads “Slava Ukraini”, appeared alongside the country’s flag, and was tied between two spires of the church.
King’s College suggested the instalment would be removed from the 80ft historic building, but shared its concern for the those impacted by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A spokesman said:
The King’s community is appalled by the suffering and loss of life inflicted by the Russian military across Ukraine in recent months, and the disastrous effect the hostilities are having on the lives of thousands of people, including displaced students and scholars,
While we regret the risks associated with the installation of a banner hung between the spires of the chapel, both in regard to the physical fabric of the historic building, and to the dangers now posed to those required to remove it, we are fully supportive of its sentiment.
Since the invasion we have been providing assistance to researchers stranded by the outbreak of war, as well as recently appointing the first of three displaced scholars to postdoctoral positions within the College, and establishing a fund for refugee students from all areas of conflict.
— Cambridge University Press Bookshop (@CUPBookshop) June 17, 2022
Updated
A Ukrainian medic who smuggled footage out of the besieged city of Mariupol has been freed by Russian troops three months after being captured.
Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, used a bodycam to record her team’s efforts tending to the injured, including both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers, reports Associated Press.
The day before she was captured she handed the clips over to the agency’s reporters, one of whom fled the city with it embedded in her tampon.
Taira and a colleague were then taken as prisoners by Russian forces on 16 March, the same day an airstrike hit a theatre, killing 600 people.
“It was such a great sense of relief. Those sound like such ordinary words, and I don’t even know what to say,” her husband, Vadim Puzanov, said.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Friday night confirmed the medic was home, adding work would continue to “liberate everyone”.
Updated
Russian gas producer Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was seen down to 41.4m cubic metres on Saturday, from 41.9mcm on Friday.
Reuters reported Gazprom as saying an application to supply gas via another major entry point, Sokhranovka, was rejected by Ukraine.
Russia has probably renewed its efforts to advance south of Ukraine’s eastern city of Izium in the past 48 hours, Britain’s defence ministry says.
Russia’s goal was to penetrate deeper into the Donetsk region and envelope the pocket around the embattled city of Sievierodonetsk from the north, it said on Twitter on Saturday.
Reuters reported the ministry adding that if trapped Ukrainian civilians did not take up an offer of leaving via a corridor, Russia was likely to claim justification in making less of a distinction between them and any Ukrainian military targets in the area.
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. It’s approaching 10am in Kyiv and these are the latest developments.
- A Ukrainian paramedic has been released from Russian captivity, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced on Saturday. He said Ukraine had been able to secure the release of Yulia Payevska, a civilian paramedic who was captured by Russian forces in Mariupol on 16 March.
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, tweeted that the bravery of Ukrainians had created the opportunity for Europe to “create a new history of freedom, and finally remove the grey zone in Eastern Europe between the EU and Russia”. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy hailed Brussels’ support for Ukraine’s European Union bid as a “historic achievement”.
- The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow had “nothing against” Ukraine’s possible membership of the European Union. He said on Friday after the European Commission recommended granting Kyiv candidate status of the 27-member bloc: “It’s their sovereign decision to join economic unions or not … It’s their business, the business of the Ukrainian people.”
-
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said it was “absolutely necessary” for leaders to speak directly with Putin in attempts to end the war. “I will continue to do so, as the French president will also,” Scholz told German news agency DPA on Friday.
- Four civilians died and six were wounded on Friday in Russian bombing in the Donetsk region of the Donbas, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
- Dozens of Ukrainian civilians performed military exercises on Friday in fortified positions left by Russian troops in Bucha, a town synonymous with war crimes blamed on Moscow’s forces.
- Lithuania has told the Russian region of Kaliningrad it will block the import and export of a large number of goods by rail because of western sanctions, the regional governor said on Friday. The region is home to the Russian Baltic fleet and a deployment location for nuclear-capable Iskander missiles.
- Ukraine received a $733m loan from Canada. Ukraine’s finance ministry said on Friday the funds would be “directed to the state budget to finance priority expenditures – in particular, to ensure priority social and humanitarian expenditures”.
- The Biden administration’s plan to sell four large, armable drones to Ukraine has been paused over the fear its sophisticated surveillance equipment might fall into enemy hands, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
- Russian media has supposedly shown images of two US citizens captured in Ukraine. On Friday, the Izvestia newspaper showed footage of what it said was an interview with Andy Huynh, 27. The Russian channel RT also posted a photo of a man it identified as Alexander Drueke, 39. Drueke’s mother, Lois Drueke, told the Guardian she believed the clip was authentic and it gave her “great hope”.
- US Republican senators on Friday asked the TikTok chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, about reports the social media site had allowed Russian state-approved media content but barred other videos. TikTok said it was looking forward to continuing to engage with members on these issues and answering their questions.
- A group of international investigators and experts have visited war-torn areas near Kyiv, including a burnt-out school, as part of Ukraine’s ongoing investigation into alleged war crimes.
Updated
