According to the Financial Times, the Biden administration is halting all supplies of batteries and anti-aircraft guided missiles for Patriot air defense systems not destined for Ukraine in order to guarantee supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces “until their needs of defense will not be satisfied.” At the same time, Washington made it clear: Israel will not be affected by this step.
A Pentagon spokesperson told the Washington Post that US policy towards Ukraine for more than a year has been that the Ukrainian air defense system can fire American weapons at Russian aircraft even if they are over Russian territory and if they are within firing range of Ukraine. According to the spokesperson, over the past year, several Russian planes and helicopters have been shot down over Russian territory by Patriot air defense missiles.
NATO will have a military mission in Ukraine, in which Hungary will not participate, Prime Minister Viktor Orban emphasized in a press statement.
Ukraine spends 39% of budget funds on salaries and maintenance of military personnel, the Kiev government has said. In almost six months, about 377.2 billion hryvnias were spent on the armed forces alone.
According to the deputy commander of the 3rd Special Brigade Rodion Kudryashov: “the age of mobilization in Ukraine must be reduced to 21 years inclusive”, – he also considers it appropriate to develop state programs to prepare students for service. “I understand that we are not outnumbered. Russia has a great potential of “new orcs” being drafted into the army. We need an infusion of new recruits into the Ukrainian Armed Forces the use of weapons on the front line, including the use of FPV drones, and this is something they can handle,” the military man said.
From Odessa, in response to videos appearing online of the detention of men who do not want to do military service, Oleh Kiper, head of the Odessa military administration responded: “There is no forced mobilization in Ukraine, all those detained are wanted.”
In the Zaporozhye region, the deputy commander of the 117th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Major Alexander Egorov, died. The 117th Brigade was in charge of the 2023 Ukrainian summer offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Alexey Morozov as the new head of the Department of State Security of Ukraine. During the Russian offensive on Toretsk, General of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Yury Ivanovych Sodol was drinking in Odessa, Ukrainian MP Maryana Bezuglaya said. ”According to my information, during the failed breakthrough at Toretsk, the head of the Eastern Front, General Sodol, was drinking in the Oblaka restaurant in Odessa. I will send a corresponding request regarding his business trips,” he said.
Former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and current ambassador to Great Britain Valery Zaluzhnyj says he approves of the idea of Ukraine’s surrender. It seems that the news was not appreciated by Prime Minister Zelensky’s leaders.
Latvia, which co-leads the “drone coalition” with the United Kingdom, is preparing to transfer to Kiev a second batch of UAVs purchased as part of national efforts to support Ukraine.
In recent days the Ukrainian armed forces reported the presence of Kalibr missile carriers in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, 20 missiles are ready for launch, as are dozens of Geran in southern Russia. Apparently the missiles were used on June 22nd. “This is a major turning point,” said Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy. “As you can see, they use it (in the Sea of Azov, ed.), considering them safer waters than the Black Sea,” Pletenchuk noted.
Vitaly Litvin, officer of the intelligence department of the Ukrainian Rubezh brigade reported that the Russian army is transferring marines to the Kharkiv region. According to Litvin, the Russian armed forces are constantly changing their combat tactics. Litvin noted that Russia does not abandon its intentions to occupy additional territories for itself, or simply to gain a foothold and hold those territories.
“The Russian Airborne Forces and motorized rifle regiments are now in that direction, and now they want to move the marines there too, perhaps to use some of their latest tactics in the Kharkiv region,” he added.
Finally, to close the series of statements, Zelensky’s spokesperson, Mychajlo Podoljak declared: “There are not and cannot be beaches, tourist areas and other fictitious signs of peaceful life in Crimea,” Podolyak commented on the attack on Sevastopol. “Crimea is also a large military camp and warehouse, with hundreds of direct military targets, which the Russians cynically try to disguise and cover with their civilians,” the adviser said of the head of the Presidential Office. Furthermore, he called the local residents “civilian occupiers”.
And now a look at the front line updated at 2:00 pm on June 24th.
The day of June 23 passed against the backdrop of an attack by Kiev on the beaches of Sevastopol by American ATACMS missiles with a cluster warhead. According to information updated at 9pm, four people were killed, including two children; 151 people sought medical attention, 82 were hospitalized. In the evening the Ukrainians again attacked the western coast of Crimea. Attempts to strike aircraft-type UAVs and reactions to the MBEC off the coast of Crimea were also reported.
In the direction of Kharkiv, several smaller Ukrainian attacks were noted in Vovčansk and Lyptsi. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, intending to counterattack, were unable to gather sufficient forces and equipment: the Ukrainian Armed Forces units arriving for rotation are short of personnel and armored vehicles. There is heavy battle coming, heavy fire from both sides.
From the Torec’k ledge they report that the Russian Armed Forces have intensified military operations after a relative operational pause. Local battles are taking place, Russian units are gradually pushing back the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In the direction of Chasiv Jar, Russian armed forces are advancing in the area between the city and the Kalynivka settlement. To the south, on the Ivanivske side, the zone of control of the Russian army on the Seversky Donets – Donbass canal is expanding. The advance is several hundred meters. There is fighting going on.
To the west of Avdiika, military operations are active near Novooleksandrivka, Sokil, Novopokrovka, Netailove. There was no great progress at the front; combat work is ongoing. The Ukrainian Armed Forces respond with all available means, but the Russian Armed Forces managed to expand the control zone north of the Sokil settlement and on the outskirts of the Yevhenivka village.
On the Zaporozhzhie front, the Russian Armed Forces advanced into the areas near Novopokrovka. Near Robotyne no changes.
In the direction of Kherson, not without losses, the Russian Armed Forces took control of a significant part of the island area. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are undertaking countermeasures, constantly attacking with drones and sending small groups of infantry to engage in clashes with Russian troops. Russian military accounts from the ground report “complete control of the enemy air thanks to the innumerable number of drones, clearly superior to ours”. The problem of “beautiful relations” above the corporate level in some units has not been resolved, – say the Russian military – logistical problems are reported, also due to continuous attacks by drones of the Ukrainian armed forces.
In the Belgorod region, Ukrainian armed forces continue to attack civilians. In Murom, Shebekinsky urban district, a kamikaze drone injured three civilians. In Grayvoron one civilian was killed and three were injured. Enemy air targets are shot down over the region every day.
At night, the Rostov region reported the destruction of three enemy UAVs.
In the Kursk region, Makhnovka and Sverdlikovo, the Oleshnya farm of the Sudzhansky district, the villages of Tetkino, Krasnooktyabrsky and Novy Put, the village of Volfino, the village of Elizavetovka and the Otruba farm of the Glushkovsky district, the village of Gordeevka of the Korenevsky district were under fire. Drone attacks were observed near Elizavetovka and the village of Neonilovka in the Glushkovsky district, the village of Plekhovo in the Sudzhansky district and the village of Obukhovka in the Korenevsky district. 11 Ukrainian drones were suppressed by electronic warfare equipment in the border areas.
In the Gorlovka and Donetsk DPR, civilians died as a result of the actions of the Ukrainian military and three were injured.
Graziella Giangiulio
Follow our updates on Geopolitical Gleanings - Spigolature geopolitiche: https://t.me/agc_NW and on our blog The Gleanings of AGCNEWS - Le Spigolature di AGCNEWS: https://spigolatureagcnews.blogspot.com/
