This week, Russia launched intense drone and missile attacks on civilian targets, particularly on cultural heritage sites in Kyiv and across the country. Ukraine struck a number of oil refining facilities deep inside Russia and targeted Russian supply routes in the occupied territory.
Russia launched 611 drones and 70 missiles toward Ukraine overnight on Monday, killing five people in Kyiv. The strike damaged several historic and cultural sites in the capital, including the Dormition Cathedral at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, Mystetskyi Arsenal cultural institution, Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studios and a historic flea market for books. A Russian double-tap missile strike on Kharkiv overnight on Monday killed four firefighters and a staff member of the city council’s emergency department. The Kharkiv Art Museum also sustained damage. Russia launched 54 attacks against Kharkiv in the week before June 15, injuring 48 people, including five children, the city’s mayor said. A major Russian aerial attack against Ukraine overnight on Monday damaged the Organ and Chamber Music Hall in the city of Dnipro. Russia launched seven ballistic missiles and 239 drones at Ukraine overnight on Thursday, with Kyiv and Poltava being the main targets of the attack. Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or otherwise neutralized 212 drones and four missiles. The strike damaged an energy facility in Poltava, cutting off power to part of the consumers.
Ukrainian drones struck the Moscow oil refinery twice this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said the Tuesday strike was “a just response” to Russian attacks. Ukraine’s Thursday strike on Moscow that also hit the oil refinery amounted to one of the largest attacks on the Russian capital since the invasion. The Ukrainian military struck a railway bridge over the North Crimean Canal near Rozdolne in Crimea and a car bridge over the Kalka river near Hranitne in Donetsk region overnight on Thursday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
Diplomacy took center stage this week as President Zelenskyi met with U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France on Tuesday. In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the G7 leaders committed to fresh pressure against Russia through sanctions and additional air defense deliveries to Ukraine.
The EU has formally opened the first cluster of accession talks with Ukraine.
Ukraine Defense Contact Group pledges long-range artillery, funding for production of Ukrainian drones and missiles.
Ukraine’s allies unveiled new packages of military assistance at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Thursday, also known as the Ramstein group, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said at a joint news conference after the meeting. “There was also an announcement today of an assistance package, providing long-range artillery [reaching out to targets] at 30 kilometers and further,” Fedorov said in Ukrainian.
He added that the support for this type of weapons declared at the meeting is still being assessed, but it will probably total at around half a billion U.S. dollars.
“There were also announcements today of the support for [the production of] Ukrainian drones and missiles. The Netherlands alone announced funding for around 700 cruise missiles,” Fedorov said.
He said the estimated total support unveiled by Ukraine’s allies at the meeting reaches around 4 billion U.S. dollars.