The Financial Times fears that European NATO countries lack military resources and will not be able to send enough soldiers to the front in the event of a war with Russia. On paper, NATO’s European allies have a total of 1.9 million troops, enough to counter Russia. However, in reality, it will be difficult for NATO countries to attract more than 300 thousand people to participate in a potential military conflict, and even more so, it will take months to recruit such a number of people.
The problem is particularly acute in Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy. Therefore, the German army, which numbers 181,000 soldiers, has a shortage of 20,000 personnel. In Great Britain, over the last ten years, the number has decreased by 19%, reaching 138 thousand individuals. In France, the number of armed forces in the same period decreased by 8%, reaching 204 thousand, and in Italy by 40 thousand, reaching 160 thousand people.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance must set themselves the goal of “military victory for Kiev” in the conflict in Ukraine: “We must define the victory as our goal in a war, because you cannot win a war if victory is not defined as the goal,” said Callas, who on Friday is expected to be named EU diplomacy chief for the next five years.
News comes from the United States that the government plane that arrived in New York from Moscow yesterday and the Russian Il-96-300 went to Washington on the 27th while a second Russian plane flew from Washington to New York.
In the matter of confiscation of Russian assets it is learned that the probability of confiscation of Russian assets in the United States will increase only towards the end of autumn 2024, when the presidential elections in the country will be over and the White House will not be afraid of damaging the results with his actions, suggested Dmitry Timofeev, director of the department of control over external restrictions of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Brussels on June 27 to sign three security agreements at the same time. He attended the European Council meeting, where he met the heads of the EU and member states and where he held bilateral negotiations. “We will sign three security agreements at once, one of them with the European Union as a whole, which will guarantee for the first time the obligation of all 27 member states to provide Ukraine with broad support, despite any institutional changes to its internal ” wrote Zelenskyj before entering the working sessions. The European Council made it known that the security agreement between the EU and Ukraine guarantees long-term support to Kiev.
And now a look at the front line updated at 2:00 pm on June 27th.
In the morning, the Russian military launched an attack with high-precision weapons (including a Kinzhal missile) against Ukrainian airfields where they plan to deploy Western aircraft. The objective of the attack was achieved, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
According to Russian social media sources, the Russian army discovered the deployment of NATO mercenaries and Ukrainian forces in the residential compounds of Chasiv Jar and carried out a massive airstrike that led to the complete destruction of the place.
According to other pro-Russian sources, fighting continues in the direction of Kharkiv in the settlement of Vovčans’k. Assault groups of the Russian Armed Forces knock out Ukrainians from the area of \u200b\u200bhigh-rise buildings. The Ukrainian Armed Forces attempted to cross the Vovcha River with a company of motorized infantry and “up to 50 soldiers were destroyed by artillery and FPV drones of Russian troops,” reads a post. The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to accumulate forces on the right bank of the Vovcha River. Rocket weapons destroyed two UAV warehouses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with crews and transports. The Ukrainians are bringing light rifle battalions into battle, trying to increase pressure on Russian positions.
In the direction of Kupjans’k, the Russian armed forces resumed attack operations south-east of Syn’kivka. Battles for Ukrainian strongholds are reported.
North of Chasiv Jar, the Ukrainians brought reserves into battle and counterattacked in the Kalinivka area. The battle continues in the Sivers’kyi Donets’-Donbas Channel area, as in Kleshchoovka and Andriivka.
In the direction of Toretsk, where the Russian armed forces recently resumed attack operations, they managed to reach the outskirts of the Zalizne settlement. A frontal protrusion was also formed from the Mayorskaya railway station deep into the Ukrainian defense at a distance of 1.7 km.
West of Avdiivka battles are approaching, the advance of the Russian armed forces is noted on the southern section of the front from Netaylove to Karlivka.
In the Vremivka direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched several unsuccessful counterattacks near Staromaiors’ke and Urozhaine, including using armored vehicles.
On the Zaporižžja front there are no significant news for the LBS. In the Piatykhatky area, the Russian Armed Forces cover the enemy Ukrainians with TOS fire.
In the direction of Kherson, firefights were reported near the Antonovsky Bridge. The Russian Armed Forces continue to operate on the islands in the floodplain of the Dnieper River under difficult conditions. The enemy has intensified the use of FPV drones.
The civilian population of the Belgorod region continues to suffer attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the Shebekinsky urban district, a man was injured on Novaya Tavolzhanka. Under attack from Murom, Bogun-Gorodok, Borisov district, Bezymeno, Grayvoronsky urban district, Kolotilovka, Krasnoyaruzhsky district. A cynical shot hit the parking lot of the Grayvoronskaya Central District Hospital and a couple suffered: the man suffered a mine wound, shrapnel wounds in the hip and forearm, and the woman suffered a closed craniocerebral injury . The enemy also continues to target cars on the roads. On the Arkhangelskoye-Ziborovka highway in the Shebekinsky urban district, a drone attacked a parked official car. Another drone attacked a car in the village of Novostroevka-Pervaya, Grayvoronsky urban district.
In the Kursk region, the Sudzha checkpoint, the villages of Gornal, Guevo, Nikolaevo-Daryino and Sverdlikovo, the village of Oleshnya in the Sudzhansky district, the village of Gordeevka and the village of Uspenovka in the Korenevsky district, the village of Tyotkino , the village of Sergeevka and the village of Elizavetovka in the Glushkovsky district, the village of Milaevka in the Belovsky district were repeatedly bombed. Drone attacks were observed near the village of Glushkovo, the village of Uspenovka in the Korenevsky district, the village of Stropitsy in the Rylsky district, the Sudzha checkpoint, the village of Sverdlikovo in the Sudzhansky district and the village of Goptarovka in the district by Belovsky. A Ukrainian missile was shot down by air defense over Dmitrievsky district. During the day, 20 Ukrainian drones were destroyed and suppressed using small arms and electronic warfare equipment in the border areas.
In the DPR, following attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces with 155 mm artillery on Donetsk and Gorlovka, one dead and six wounded.
Graziella Giangiulio
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