As the war enters its 846th day, these are the main events.
Here is the situation on Thursday, June 20, 2024.
Struggle
- At least two people were injured and residential buildings were damaged in Ukraine's western Lviv region after a wave of Russian drone attacks on energy infrastructure in six regions of the country. The air force said it destroyed 19 of the 21 drones launched by Russia.
- Ukraine's military said Russian forces had “intensified” their attacks near Toretsk on the front line in the eastern Donetsk region and “launched five assault operations at once”, targeting surrounding cities and towns. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had “improved” their positions around Toretsk, which had a population of around 32,000 people before the war.
- Rostov Regional Governor Vasily Golubev said a fire caused by a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil terminal in southern Russia continued for a second day despite firefighters' efforts to extinguish the flames. The facility was attacked on Tuesday.
- Viktoriia Litvinova, Ukraine's deputy prosecutor general, said the country had created a national registry to document cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces. Litvinova told The Associated Press news agency that 303 cases of conflict-related sexual violence had been recorded since Russia began its large-scale invasion, 191 cases involving women and 112 involving men.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to a new comprehensive strategic partnership treaty during Putin's first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years. Putin thanked Kim for his “unwavering” support in Ukraine, while Kim pledged “full support and solidarity” to the Russian invasion.
- Putin then traveled to Vietnam. In an op-ed coinciding with the visit, Putin applauded Hanoi for supporting “a pragmatic way to resolve the crisis” in Ukraine. Vietnam has not condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine, but has built alliances with the United States, its largest export market, and the European Union.
- French far-right leader Jordan Bardella said he supported Ukraine's right to defend itself against Russia, but if elected prime minister in elections on June 30 and July 7, he would not provide Kiev with missiles that would allow it to attack Russian territory. Bardella also said he would uphold France's commitments to the NATO military alliance if he became prime minister.
- Ukraine's security service (SBU) said it had arrested a Kharkiv resident allegedly recruited by Russian agents on an online dating platform, saying he had tried to provide Moscow with confidential information about Ukrainian military facilities and equipment. The man faces up to eight years in prison if he is convicted, he said in a statement.
- Separately, the SBU said a man arrested in March last year on suspicion of being an agent of Russia's Federal Security Service had been jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of helping Russia identify targets for attacks on the southern region of Odessa.
Weapons
- Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, said North Korea was “actively cooperating” militarily with Russia and called for greater international isolation of both countries. “There is no doubt that North Korea … deliberately provides resources for the mass murder of Ukrainians,” he told the AFP news agency. United Nations sanctions monitors, in their last report before Russia blocked the renewal of its mandate, said North Korean missile fragments had been found in Kharkiv.
