Latest news about Russia and the war in Ukraine

A senior military official in the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine told Ukrainian fighters in Severodonetsk, the last city now partially occupied by Ukraine in Luhansk, that they must surrender or die.

The deputy leader of the splinter “People’s Militia” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR) told reporters on Monday that Ukrainian fighters in the city are now surrounded after the last bridge in and out of the city was destroyed yesterday. .

“Severodonetsk has already been blocked after they blew up the last bridge linking it to Plesichansk yesterday,” the Associated Press quoted the deputy leader of the People’s Militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eduard Basurin, as saying.

He warned that “the Ukrainian military units stationed there remain there (in Severodonetsk) forever. They have two options: either they follow the example of their colleagues and surrender, or they die. They have no other choice.”

– Holly Eliat

It is noteworthy that the Russian forces bombed the city of Kharkiv and its surroundings, killing one person and wounding five, including three children.

Ole Sinihopov, head of the administration of the Kharkiv region, said on Telegram that over the past 24 hours, Russian forces had bombed the city of Kharkov, as well as the Izyum, Bohodokhiv and Chuhiv regions in the surrounding area.

A number of civilians were injured in the bombing, and in one of the towns, a three-month-old baby girl was injured and her 35-year-old mother died.

In Kharkiv, Russian missiles caused a fire in warehouses and trucks were reported to be on fire in the area.

Senhopov said that Russian forces in the Izyum region, southeast of the city of Kharkiv, were trying to establish control over Bohorodishin and were preparing to launch an attack on Slovensk.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the information in the post.

– Holly Eliat

As Russia gradually seizes more territory in Ukraine and continues to bomb various targets in Donbass, analysts fear that Ukrainian fighters are losing the upper hand in the conflict and a war of attrition is underway.

“I’m concerned about that,” William Alberkey, director of strategy, technology, and arms control at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told CNBC. “There are great risks that Ukraine will continue to lose territory gradually.”

There was still a possibility that the Russian line could collapse somewhere, Alberki said, but what made the invasion’s turning point so dangerous was that Russia was now throwing everything it had into it in order to occupy all of eastern Ukraine.

“This is the part of the war that one really worries about because it is a war of attrition because Russia just throws tons and tons of nonsense equipment into the battle. They use Donetsk and Luhansk fighters as cannon fodder. They just draw on their huge human resources and there is a chance [Ukraine is] You will lose more territory.”

Read more here: ‘Frozen conflict’: Ukraine’s war could last 10 years or more if Russian forces are not pushed back

– Holly Eliat

Although Russia’s main objective remains the attack on the Severodonetsk enclave in the Donbass, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces “probably made little progress in the Kharkiv sector for the first time in several weeks”.

The department, which posted its latest intelligence update on Twitter on Tuesday, also indicated that Russia may begin to take advantage of its industrial base for the war effort.

On June 10, the United Kingdom indicated that an official at the Russian Military Industrial Committee predicted an increase in government defense spending by 600-700 billion rubles (up to $12 billion), which could come close to a 20% increase in the defense budget. Russian.

The UK said that “Russian government funding is allowing the country’s defense industrial base to be slowly mobilized to meet the demands placed upon it by the war in Ukraine”. “However, the industry may struggle to meet many of these requirements, in part due to the effects of sanctions and a lack of experience.”

The ministry said Russia’s production of “high-quality optics and advanced electronics is likely to remain idle and may undermine its efforts to replace missing equipment in Ukraine.”

– Holly Eliat

The city of Severodonetsk in Luhansk Province – one of the last strongholds of Ukrainian forces in the region – has now seen all of its bridges destroyed, according to the governor of Luhansk, who said the evacuation of civilians was now impossible.

Severodonetsk has been the focus of fierce fighting for weeks as Ukrainian soldiers desperately tried to prevent the city from falling into Russian hands. But the incessant bombardment from Russia took its toll, and its forces now control at least 70% of the city.

After an update on Monday in which he said only one bridge was left in the city, and it was badly damaged, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haiday Facebook status update Monday night He said, “All bridges have been destroyed, but Severodonetsk is not blocked. Communication with the city exists!!”

He added that “evacuating and transporting human goods is impossible.”

He added that the Russians had not completely captured Severodonetsk and that part of the city was still under Ukrainian control.

– Holly Eliat

The United States may announce new military assistance to Ukraine as early as this week, a defense and administration official said.

Additional assistance will likely come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which can be used to train, equip and advise Ukrainian forces. The United States used more than $6 billion in USAI funds in fiscal year 2022.

The defense official said another military aid package, with additional weapons and equipment, may be announced as early as next week through the presidential withdrawal body.

This will be the 12th withdrawal of American weapons and equipment for the defense of Ukraine.

Last month, Congress approved an additional $40 billion in aid to Ukraine after President Joe Biden’s request for $33 billion.

– Chelsea Ong

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the capital, Kyiv, “will rebuild everything destroyed by the occupiers.”

“We are dealing with absolute evil. We have no choice but to move forward,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation, delivered on the 110th day of Russia’s invasion of it.

He added that the Ukrainian forces “will expel the occupiers from all our regions.”

“We will rebuild everything that was destroyed by the occupiers, from Volnovaka to Chorkev, because this is Ukraine,” said Zelensky.

It was our destiny to go back and strengthen it.”

– Amanda Macias

Russian soldiers patrol the ruins of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, amid ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine.

The Russian army besieged the strategic port city for three months, only taking full control in late May after a group of Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the steel mill surrendered.

-Yuri Kadunov | AFP | Getty Images