The Biden administration made it clear in May that Washington would not prevent its allies from providing F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv, which would be a move widely seen as highly escalatory and one that could lead to direct conflict between NATO and Russia. However, it has also been largely understood that training Ukrainian pilots to fly Western combat aircraft could take at least a year, if not longer.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has told Russian state media that Minsk has begun receiving Russian tactical nuclear weapons that Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously would be stationed in Belarus.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave detailed comments regarding the progress of the war in Ukraine. The Russian leader said that Ukraine’s counteroffensive which he confirmed was launched on June 4, is failing. He went on to say that Kyiv has lost 25 to 30 percent of the Western-supplied military vehicles that had been transferred to Ukraine, including tanks.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he will not hesitate to use Russian tactical nuclear weapons, which are in the process of being moved to Belarus if his country faces “an aggression.”
In statements on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Kyiv’s counteroffensive has started. “Counteroffensive and defensive actions are being taken in Ukraine,” Zelensky announced in Kyiv alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Zelensky’s remarks came days after international press reports had indicated that Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive had finally begun.
As NATO’s summit approaches, former NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen has warned that some of the alliance’s Eastern European states are considering sending their troops to Ukraine if NATO does not make substantial pledges to Ukraine during the summit.
Russia has accused Ukraine of sabotaging the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline, which runs some 2,500km and is the longest ammonia pipeline in the world. It is utilized by Russia to export the chemical for industrial use as it is a core component of fertilizers. According to a Wednesday statement by the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD), “A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline” near the village of Masyutovka in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Nova Kakhovka dam sabotage for the first time in public comments blaming the Ukrainian government and military for the “barbaric act.” Putin’s comments came after the Russian defense and foreign ministries had accused Ukraine of the “catastrophic” attack.
On Tuesday, an explosion at the Nova Kakhovka dam, which sits on the Dnipro River in the Russian-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, unleashed a massive wall of water flooding Kherson city, Kakhovka, and 80 villages located downstream of the dam. Upstream, many residents have suddenly found themselves with an unstable water supply The apocalyptic event has also led to the loss of power for some 12,000 residents in the area as the Ministry of Energy has proactively been cutting power to customers as there are concerns about maintaining the water levels in the cooling pools for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) suggested that Ukraine launched its highly-anticipated counter-offensive on Sunday only to have it immediately quashed within hours by Russian forces. According to the MoD, Ukraine began a “large-scale offensive” when it attacked 5 sections of the frontlines in the Donbas region. Russia has said that it stopped the major attack before it got off the ground and killed some 250 Ukrainian troops in the process. As part of the offensive, Ukraine sent 6 mechanized and 2 tank battalions to Russian-controlled Donetsk in the south.