‘Provocation, Blackmail and Military Threats’ – Ukraine at War Update for June 19

Just before dawn on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin touched down in the North Korean capital Pyongyang to meet with his ally Kim Jong Un, the Kremlin said. Video footage showed the two leaders on a red carpet along the tarmac, then leaving in their motorcades for Kumsusan State Guest House where Putin will be staying, North Korean state media KCNA reported.

This is the first time Putin has visited North Korea since 2000, shortly after he was first inaugurated as President. It is also any country's leader's first state visit to North Korea since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pyongyang has denied Western accusations that it has broken international sanctions and has supplied Moscow with weapons. However, Putin has many times expressed his gratitude for Kim’s support of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

In an article in North Korean media on Tuesday, Putin was quoted as saying, “We highly appreciate that the DPRK is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine.”

The international pariah countries, both heavily sanctioned by the United Nations and the West, are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership,” Putin wrote. He went on to commend Kim for “defending [North Korea’s] interests very effectively despite the US economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades.”

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In a Kremlin press conference on Monday, Putin aid Yuri Uskakov said the two dictators will share a “very eventful” agenda, and plan to sign a new strategic partnership. The spokesperson added that the visit is meant to ensure greater stability in northeast Asia.

Putin will travel to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi after his Pyongyang agenda.

Some 50 civilians remain in Vovchansk as street fighting rages

In an interview with state media outlet Ukrinform, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said that the death toll in the northeast border city of Vovchansk could be in the dozens and that about 50 civilians remain.

Street fighting is fierce, with regular artillery attacks on residential areas. According to the regional head, all the city’s multi-floor buildings have been damaged,

“About 50 people are still there,” Syniehubov said. “If we take the government-controlled territory, almost everyone has left. The National Police is conducting house-to-house visits.”

“We are more concerned about the territory controlled by the occupation forces, as there are definitely people there,” he continued. “And they are in an extremely difficult situation… because they did not want to leave there in time for a variety of reasons. I will not dwell on them now.”

In terms of counting the dead, the military administrator said, “According to our data, it is dozens of people - given the degree of destruction of the city and the fact that there were people left there. Videos of the military from copters give grounds to believe so.”

Human rights chief warns that Moscow is tempting Ukrainian minors to burn military vehicles

According to Ukraine’s parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, Moscow has launched a social media campaign to lure Ukrainian youth into setting fire to military vehicles and offering them a reward to do so.

“The aggressor country does not disdain any means to achieve its goals and uses Ukrainian children for this purpose,” Lubinets wrote on social media. “Currently, they are recruiting minors to set fire to military vehicles. In return, they promise them a monetary reward of several thousand dollars.”

His office claims that cases of arson attacks on military vehicles have already been recorded in Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro, reminding the public that this is a criminal offense. A woman from Nizhyn and her son were arrested recently in Kyiv for setting fire to military vehicles, as urged by Russian agents.

“Children must be vigilant on social media and not succumb to Russian provocations!” Lubinets wrote.

US debt to climb to 7 percent of GDP, Congress forecasts, naming foreign aid as one reason

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said that the US national deficit will be about $400 billion higher than last projected, in February, taking the debt to about 7 percent of GDP.

Director Phillip Swagel said the federal budget deficit in 2024 will hit $2 trillion. He called attention to the $145 billion in student loan forgiveness and the recent $95 billion allocation for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific (laid out after February) as contributing to the upward pressure.

Proponents of military aid to Ukraine and the other regions point out that the increased military spending went towards American arms manufacturers to replenish US military stocks sent abroad. As well as, Swagel said, industrial revenues such as that, a recent spike in immigration, which allows for increased production, have helped temper the debt-to-GDP ratio.

“The immigration surge is projected to increase the nation’s nominal GDP by a total of $8.9 trillion, or 2.4 percent, over the 2024–2034 period,” Swagel said.