The Ukraine update: what happened last night

Zelenskyj: Russia should prepare its citizens for the loss of occupied territories

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia should prepare its citizens for the loss of occupied territories. Russia has not only destroyed its own future with the war in order to take the territories, but will also lose all occupied territories, said Zelenskyj in his video distributed every evening in Kiev on Sunday evening.

“There is and will be no alternative to our steps of de-occupation.” Step by step, Ukrainian forces were moving forward to liberate their country, he said.

Zelenskyi announced that Ukraine expects new military aid commitments from its allies in the coming days. On the visit of representatives of several African countries to the head of the Kremlin Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, he said: They could have been convinced there that Ukraine was out for peace, while Russia wanted war in order to “continue to destroy life”.

According to the African delegation with representatives from South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Zambia, the Republic of Congo and Uganda, they developed a ten-point plan as part of their peace initiative. However, after almost 16 months of Russian war of aggression, the hope of success is extremely slim. Before their visit to St. Petersburg, the delegation visited Zelenskyy in Kiev on Friday. This presupposes the withdrawal of Russian troops for negotiations.

In his video, Zelenskyi also poked fun at Putin, who claimed on Friday in St. Petersburg that Russian forces in Kiev had already destroyed five US Patriot anti-aircraft systems. According to US media, however, there are only two of these systems in Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader said all systems are intact. “Not a single patriot is destroyed!” he stressed. In the past seven days alone, three dozen Russian missiles have been destroyed.

Ukraine wants to collect $40 billion for “Green Marshall Plan”.

According to the government, Ukraine wants to collect around 40 billion dollars for the first phase of a “green Marshall Plan” for reconstruction. “If you need to rebuild something, it is logical to rebuild it green and in line with new technologies… Our vision is to build a 50 million tonne green steel industry in Ukraine,” says Deputy Head of the Office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Rostyslav Shurma.

In this way, the country could become the world’s cheapest supplier of green steel and support European efforts towards decarbonization. Preparatory work is expected to take between one and a year and a half, although “realistically, actual construction will not begin until after the war is over.” The World Bank estimates that Ukraine’s reconstruction will cost around $411 billion, three times the country’s gross domestic product.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia should prepare its citizens for the loss of occupied territories. Russia has not only destroyed its own future with the war in order to take the territories, but will also lose all occupied territories, said Zelenskyj in his video distributed every evening in Kiev on Sunday evening. “There is and will be no alternative to our steps of de-occupation.” Step by step, Ukrainian forces were moving forward to liberate their country, he said.

Air Force exercise “Air Defender 2023”: ground attack aircraft to Lithuania

In the shadow of the Russian war against Ukraine, the participants in the Air Defender 2023 exercise this week will be flying fighter jets on NATO’s eastern flank. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, six A-10 ground attack aircraft would fly to Lithuania for take-off and landing, the Air Force told the German Press Agency in Berlin. At the start of the week, four F-16 aircraft and two each of F-15 and Eurofighter and a tanker aircraft fly over Poland.

According to this information, eastern NATO partners have asked for such a signal of reassurance and military cohesion. 25 nations with 250 aircraft and 10,000 soldiers will take part in the exercise under German leadership until June 23. NATO is involved. “Air Defender 2023” is the largest relocation exercise of air forces since the founding of NATO and uses a fictional scenario in the airspace over Germany to practice how the western defense alliance reacts to an attack by an eastern alliance and in doing so reconquers areas already occupied by the enemy.

In the meantime there have been more than 1000 flights during the exercise. The inspector of the Luftwaffe, Ingo Gerhartz, described this as an outstanding achievement on Sunday. He said: “Half is done.” The relocation of more than 1,600 tons of material and 100 aircraft from the USA to Germany went smoothly.

The lieutenant general said about the exercise: “In the beginning there was a crunch here and there. Different levels of training, language challenges and the technology first had to get up and running.” It is becoming clear that “Air Defender 2023” has operational, logistical and human added value for everyone involved.

What will be important on Monday

In the east and south of Ukraine, the offensive of the Kiev troops against Russian aggression continues. Recently, there had also been gains in territory, in which the Ukraine freed towns and regions from the Russian occupation.

A meeting between Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang in Berlin is likely to be about the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Beijing is trying to mediate in the conflict with its special envoy Li Hui.