This week, fierce fighting continued to rage all across the front lines. Russia concentrates its main efforts in the Pokrovsk direction, in Donetsk region. Throughout the week, Russia continued to target energy sites across Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s air defenses destroyed 19 out of 21 drones launched by Russia over six Ukrainian regions. A Russian missile and drone attack on energy infrastructure in the early hours of Thursday damaged power equipment in four regions.
Ukraine strikes back. A representative of Ukraine’s defense intelligence said they are considering whatever possibility there is to hit with domestic Magura sea drones whatever military targets Russia has at a range of 800 kilometers. A Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze two oil storage sites in Russia’s Rostov region on Tuesday.
Early in the week, Ukraine was weighing the outcomes of a peace summit that took place in Switzerland over the weekend. Later in the week, EU countries agreed on the 14th package of sanctions against Russia. Italy will send Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package. Germany’s Rheinmetall will supply a new Frankenstein tank to Ukraine to shoot down Russian drones and missiles. Ukraine expects the allies to commit to its irreversible path to NATO at the Washington summit.
Russia will lose its war against Ukraine if West mobilizes resources to resist the Kremlin, ISW says.
Despite Putin’s rhetoric and his threats to use nuclear weapons, Russia will not be able to win over Ukraine if the West mobilizes its resources to resist the Kremlin, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a recent report. “ISW continues to assess that Russia cannot defeat Ukraine or the West — and will likely lose — if the West mobilizes its resources to resist the Kremlin.” Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a major information operation during his recent visit to North Korea and Vietnam on June 18 and 19 aimed at sabotaging efforts by Ukraine’s partners to clearly define a common strategic objective and strategy to decisively defeat Russia’s illegal war of conquest in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s partners undertook several important steps in mid-June to cohere a common strategy and define the desired strategic outcome of the war. Over 80 Western and international officials recently established a principled position on supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as the foundation of lasting peace in Ukraine in a communique adopted during the Ukraine-led Global Peace Summit on June 16.
Ukraine also signed security agreements with the United States and Japan for 10 years on June 13, and numerous partner states reaffirmed their long-term support for Ukraine within the Group of 7 (G7) and the Ramstein formats, ISW said.