Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky signed a 10-year security agreement between the United States and Ukraine at the Italian G7 summit. According to the Washington Post: “Because the Ukraine-US security deal will not be ratified by Congress, any next US president will be able to withdraw from it.” As the publication writes, the agreement should overcome political differences within the United States. Furthermore, the agreement would contain no new obligations regarding Ukraine’s prospects for NATO membership.
The World Bank may be involved in providing Ukraine with a loan secured by the proceeds of Russia’s frozen assets as part of a joint plan by the G7 countries, the Financial Times reported, citing sources. According to FT, this is mainly the American share in the total of the countries of the association, which, as already reported by the AFP in reference to the Elysée, could amount to 50 billion dollars.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg did not confirm that Ukrainian F-16 pilots will be ready by the end of the summer and Stoltenberg said: “NATO does not consider the use of Alliance weapons to be an escalation, including F-16s, on Russian territory.”
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands stated the need to find a way to build relations with Moscow. He underlined that Russia is now an adversary for the West, but it is still in Europe and will not go anywhere, so we will have to look for some form of relationship.
The White House reported that G7 members have made “very good” progress on the use of Russian resources. Loans from G7 countries as part of the $50 billion aid package for Ukraine could begin to flow to Kiev. by the end of this year.
Poland will introduce a buffer zone on the border with Belarus, the head of the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs, Szymonyak, said on June 13. Furthermore, “Warsaw does not intend to transfer its Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine,” – said the head of the National Security Bureau Jacek Severa. “The transfer of an entire Patriot battery is very dangerous” and “reduces security of Poland”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Saudi Arabia on a visit where he met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported that: “A difficult period has already begun at the front; Russia has been advancing since mid-May; But there will be no Armageddon, Ukraine will survive and win.” “In the Sumy region the Russians are carrying out incursions by the DRG, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces have taken all necessary means to prevent a large-scale offensive.”
“Attacks with Western weapons on Russia will certainly alleviate the situation, and Russian horror stories with “red lines” are just a game for the public. In Crimea the Russians are strengthening air defense. We have deployed the latest S-500 air defense systems. There he will be put to the test. The Kerch Bridge is now used for military transport, especially personnel. The creation of drone forces in the Ukrainian Armed Forces is good, but no drone will win the war. Until a soldier with a flag enters the territory, nothing will happen.”
Speaking at the microphone for Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “The Federation did not have and does not have any aggressive plan towards NATO, but Moscow understands that the alliance has them.” And then she added: “France is getting deeper and deeper into the conflict in Ukraine, thus bringing the probability of a direct clash with Russia closer, which is fraught with consequences,” Zakharova commented.
For the Vice President of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev: “The United States and their damned allies have declared war on us without rules.” And he “called for the transfer of all types of weapons to Russian allies, except nuclear ones.” Medvedev called for turning the lives of the enemies of the Russian Federation into “a completely crazy nightmare”, using fakes to incite social explosions.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation approved the indictment and referred to the Yekaterinburg court the case of the American Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency, the official representative of the agency said supervisor Andrei Ivanov.
Gershkovich is accused of committing a crime under art. 276 of the Russian Federation criminal code (espionage). “The investigation established and documented that the American journalist of the newspaper The Wall Street Journal Gershkovich, on instructions from the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region on the activities of the defense enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment,” said the representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation. He noted that “the illegal actions were carried out by Gershkovich in compliance with careful measures of secrecy.” The preliminary investigation into the case was conducted by the department investigation of the FSB of the Russian Federation.
And now a look at the Front Line updated at 16:00 on June 13th.
In the Kiev region, the fire at an industrial enterprise was put out for the second day after the missile attack on June 12. “There are 249 employees, 98 pieces of equipment and four fire engines at work,” the state emergency service said. It did not specify where the fire occurred.
Fighting continues in the village in the direction of Kharkiv, Vovčans’k. In the eastern part of the city, Ukrainian armed forces, in groups of up to 100 people, have been attempting to attack Russian positions since yesterday morning; TOS were used by the Russians against the Ukrainian military. In the area of the aggregate plant, fighting is taking place inside the administrative building. It is reported that the Ukrainian military has started active operations in the eastern part of Vovčans’k in Tykhe and intends to knock out units of the Russian Armed Forces from commanding heights to open the way to the skyscraper area in the city center.
West of Svatove battles take place near Miasozharivka and Andriivka, successes of which were reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Russian troops are moving west.
The battle for the eastern microdistrict of the Chasiv Jar “Channel” continues: the assault units of the Russian Armed Forces advance in development.
West of Avdiivka, the Russian army has occupied a large part of Novopokrovs’ke, while at the same time, from the south, Russian troops are closing the front ledge of Umans’ke. There is also an advance of the Russian Armed Forces north of the Karlovs’ke Reservoir from the direction of Netailove.
On the Zaporozhyzhie front, the Ukrainians defend themselves north of Robotyne in strongholds where Russian heavy flamethrower systems operate.
The civilian population of the Belgorod region continues to be under attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the village of Golovchino, Grayvoronsky urban district, one civilian was injured. Sovkhozny and Bezymeno are also under attack. The village of Prilesye, Krasnoyaruzhsky District, was hit twice and residential buildings were damaged. Shebekino was hit by Ukrainian Armed Forces with cluster munitions, one injured.
In the Kursk region, the villages of Guevo, Gornal and the settlement of Zaoleshenka in the Sudzhansky district, the checkpoint “Tyotkino” and the village of Tyotkino, the village of Elizavetovka in the Glushkovsky district and the village of Gordeevka in the district Korenevsky district were repeatedly bombed. Ukrainian drone attacks were recorded near the villages of Medvezhye and Tyotkino in the Glushkovsky district, the village of Gornal in the Sudzhansky district and the Krupets checkpoint in the Rylsky district. Eight Ukrainian drones were suppressed by the Russians with electronic warfare equipment in the border areas.
In the DPR, following attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces against the civilian population of Donetsk, Gorlovka and Aleksandrovka, four civilians were killed and three wounded.
Graziella Giangiulio
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