Ukraine: Hungary ignores requests to contact transferred prisoners of war

5:48 a.m.: Ukraine said on Monday that Hungary was ignoring requests to contact prisoners of war. According to Kiev, these are Ukrainian prisoners of war who were secretly transferred from Russia

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Hungary, which has maintained strong political and economic ties with Russia under Prime Minister Viktor Orban and has not broken ties since Moscow invaded Ukraine 16 months ago, announced on June 9 that it had taken in a group of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia .

“All attempts by Ukrainian diplomats in recent days to establish direct contact with Ukrainian citizens have failed,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on his Facebook page.

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry has not yet responded to the accusation.

EU prepares 50 billion euro aid package

5:20 a.m.: According to a report, the European Union (EU) is preparing another aid package for Ukraine of around 50 billion euros. The Bloomberg agency reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Russia attacks Kiev with drones

04.02: Air raid alarm again in Kyiv. According to Ukraine, the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the surrounding region are again the target of a Russian drone attack during the night. The air defense systems are in use and are in the process of repelling the attack, the military administration announced on Telegram.

Kremlin critic Navalny launches new campaign against Putin

Tuesday, June 20, 00:25: Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has announced a new campaign against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. “We will campaign against the war. And against Putin,” he explains about his lawyers. Although his movement has been officially banned, it can have a major impact through targeted messages, since “every grandma now has WhatsApp and Telegram”. The campaign will be classified by the authorities as “illegal and subversive”, predicts Navalny. Nevertheless, he will fight with all his might against “the apparatus of war, corruption and stupidity”.

Selenskyj: So far no terrain losses in counter-offensive

10:58 p.m.: According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian army has not suffered any losses in its ongoing counter-offensive. “In some areas our fighters are moving forward, in some areas they are defending their positions and resisting the attacks and intensive attacks of the occupiers,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video address on Monday. “We didn’t lose any positions, only liberated.” Once again, he promised his compatriots that the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag would eventually fly again over all currently occupied regions in the south and east.

Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and has been waging a war of aggression ever since. Almost two weeks ago, the Ukrainian army launched a long-awaited counter-offensive and, according to its own statements, has been able to liberate eight villages and a good 113 square kilometers since then. At the same time, however, there was talk in Kiev of bitter resistance by the Russians and of a “difficult situation” at the front.

Ukrainian counter-offensive: “Germany is currently experiencing a shock”

10:30 p.m.: According to Christian Mölling, there is currently a great deal of skepticism in Germany about the success of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. The security expert from the German Society for Foreign Policy said “t-online”: “Germany is currently experiencing a shock. There is hype surrounding this counter-offensive, which is also accompanied by despondency. We partly assume that it will fail anyway.”

However, one had to assume that recapturing individual areas by the Ukrainian troops would be a long process. Mölling is of the opinion that there is “no reason to panic”. “It’s good that Ukraine isn’t blindly charging at Russian positions.”

According to Ukraine, it has recaptured eight towns in the south of the country, most recently Pjatychatky. As Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar announced, the troops had penetrated up to seven kilometers into Russian-occupied territory and had taken 113 square kilometers of land under control. Pjatychatky is located about 90 kilometers from the Sea of ​​Azov. If it were actually possible to advance so far, the land bridge to the Crimea could be cut and the Russian line of defense could be breached.

“We are still in the late phase of the first chapter of this counter-offensive, in which Ukraine now has to adapt a bit,” said Mölling on “t-online”, “she is facing deeply staggered defensive positions with anti-tank barriers and minefields.” The Russian Front must now be thoroughly tested.