As the war enters its 465th day, here are the key developments.
This is the state of affairs on Saturday, June 3, 2023.
To fight
- The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said nearly all of its fighters had withdrawn from the captured eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Prigozhin said 99 percent of his units have left the city.
- The Russian Defense Ministry has announced that the Akhmat group of Chechen special forces is conducting an offensive near the town of Marinka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
- The Freedom of Russia Legion, a pro-Ukrainian force, said it fought Russian troops on the outskirts of a village in Russia’s Belgorod region, just across the border from Ukraine. “We have active fighting on the outskirts of the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka [in the Belgorod region]. Unfortunately, there are wounded legionnaires, but freedom is won by blood,” the legion said in a statement.
- Ukrainian troops in Kiev said they shot down 36 Russian missiles and drones overnight in and around the capital, injuring two people from falling debris before authorities lifted warnings of airstrikes in most of the country. Russia has launched about 20 missile and drone strikes on Kiev since the beginning of May.
- Two people were killed and six others injured in the Russian border region of Belgorod after heavy shelling from the Ukrainian side, Russian officials said. Two children were among the injured.
- A Russian-installed official in Donetsk said at least three people were killed and four injured, including a three-year-old girl, as a result of Ukrainian shelling of the city of Makiivka. Russian forces bombed the Kharkov region, killing two people and injuring four, according to The Kyiv Independent.
- A Russian-installed official in Zaporizhia said Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled port city of Berdyansk and at least nine people were injured. The Ukrainian governor of the Zaporizhia region said at least two people were killed and four injured as a result of a Russian attack on a village, while a Russian-installed official said Ukrainian troops had built a “hospital camp” in the occupied part of the country. Zaporizhia region. He gave no details.
- Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy complained about problems with Kiev’s bomb shelters after residents reported shortages of bunkers, locked bunkers and limited access to them. “This level of negligence in the city cannot be justified,” Zelenskyy said, directing his government to address the issue.
Diplomacy
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US will not support peace talks over the war in Ukraine until Kiev has the upper hand, possibly after a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Blinken said heeding calls from Russia and others, including China, for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war now would result in a “Potemkin peace” that would not undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. secure or would enhance European security.
- Zelenskyy said he knows it would be “impossible” for Ukraine to join NATO’s military alliance in the middle of a war. He said Ukraine’s entry into the alliance is still the best security guarantee. And that is why we understand that we will not be a member of NATO as long as this war continues. Not because we don’t want to. Because it’s impossible.”
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said “malicious” are making increasing efforts to destabilize Russia, and urged members of his cabinet not to allow this “under any circumstances”. Putin said Russia’s Security Council will discuss ensuring security among the country’s 190 ethnic groups.
- China’s envoy to Ukraine called on governments to “stop sending weapons to the battlefield” and hold peace talks. “China believes that if we really want to end war, save lives and achieve peace, it is important for us to stop sending weapons to the battlefield, otherwise tensions will only rise,” said Li Hui.
Staff
- The Swiss parliament rejected an exemption for arms transfers to Ukraine after most MPs voted against a proposal that would have allowed other states to supply Swiss-made arms to Ukraine. The laws of neutral Switzerland prohibit support for countries involved in acts of war.
- US Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley said training of the Ukrainian armed forces in the use of Abrams tanks has begun.
Politics
- Polish President Andrzej Duda has backtracked on a new law creating a body to investigate “Russian influence” after critics including the European Union and the US raised concerns.