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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 06-19-2024 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
The pedestrian portion of a bridge collapsed on Zhylianska Street in the Shevchenskyi district of Kyiv. Authorities said they are establishing the circumstances.
The pedestrian portion of an overpass on Zhylianska Street in central Kyiv collapsed on Wednesday evening. Authorities said they are establishing the circumstances.
There are no casualties reported at the time of publication. It’s also not immediately clear if the damage was caused by disrepair or sabotage.
The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of providing ammunition and missiles to help Russia's war.
A senior Ukrainian presidential aide on Wednesday said North Korea was helping Russia kill Ukrainian civilians and called for greater international isolation of both countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday signed a comprehensive strategic partnership, deepening military and political ties that have flourished since Russia invaded Ukraine.
German officials have warned that Islamist terrorists may be planning an attack on the Euro 2024 football championship venue similar to that in March against Moscow’s Crocus concert hall.
German intelligence services believe that the ISIS-K terrorist group could carry out a major terrorist attack during the European Football Championships that are currently taking place in the country, according to an article in the Financial Times.
Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser said “Europe and, with it, Germany, are in the crosshairs of jihadist organizations, in particular ISIS and ISIS-K.” ISIS-Khorasan is the name given to the Afghan wing of the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the March massacre at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall.
Nobody wants to go to war but sometimes it’s inevitable, says Lord Ashcroft.
Early next month, just five days after UK voters have been to the polls, world leaders will gather in Washington DC for a historic NATO summit. The main theme of the three-day gathering that starts on July 9 is to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the formation of NATO, what the US describes as “the most successful and enduring alliance in history.”
However, while no one doubts the US’s general commitment to NATO, which has 32 member states, there are growing concerns over the country’s support for Ukraine after 28 months of all-out war with Russia.
“The Ukrainian and EU negotiating teams finalized the text of the security agreement and agreed to sign it in the near future,” the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement.
Ukraine said Wednesday it would soon sign a security agreement with the European Union, the latest in a series of accords that it hopes will ensure military aid for years to come as it battles Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky last week hailed an “unprecedented” 10-year security deal agreed with the United States as a “bridge” to NATO membership for his war-battered country.
Kyiv said it has received information that Russian commanders had given orders not to take Ukrainian servicemen prisoner, but instead to kill them by beheading.
The Russian military beheaded a Ukrainian serviceman in the Donbas region, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said on Tuesday, June 18 in a social media post.
“This is a terrible barbarism that has no place in the 21st century,” Kostin said. “And this is yet another proof that the war crimes committed by the aggressor are not isolated incidents, but a planned strategy of the Russian regime.”
ISW suggests that these personnel shifts indicate Putin’s strategy to fortify his power base by positioning loyalists and relatives in key roles.
The Russian Defense Ministry has undergone significant personnel changes, with President Vladimir Putin on Monday, June 17, dismissing four long-time deputies of former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assesses that these personnel shifts indicate Putin’s strategy to fortify his power base by positioning loyalists and relatives in key roles.
Videos of President Putin being escorted by a fighter jet over Russian regions, which Kyiv intelligence says “ is a standard practice,” are circulating online.
Russian fighter aircraft have begun to escort President Vladimir Putin’s flights as he visits Russian regions, the Agentstvo media site reports. One such event was noticed during his visit to Yakutsk on Tuesday, June 18.
During this trip, residents from the Russian city filmed the arrival of Putin’s version of “Air Force One” accompanied by at least one Su-30SM multirole fighter aircraft.
This is the first major American corporation to announce plans to manufacture arms in Ukraine.
A senior executive from the security and aerospace behemoth Northrop Grumman on Monday said his firm plans to fabricate ammunition in Ukraine, in the first open-source announcement by a major American arms producer of intent to manufacture munitions in the country.
Dave Bartell, Director of International Business at Northrop Grumman Defense System (NG) made the comment at the Eurostatory arms show in Paris, and said Ukrainian defense funds would pay to set up the assembly line, which would produce “medium caliber” ammunition.
The two countries have been allies since North Korea's founding after World War II, and have drawn even closer after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 isolated Putin on the global stage.
The pledge of military cooperation was part of a strategic treaty signed during a summit in Pyongyang, where Putin was making his first visit in 24 years.
"It is really a breakthrough document," Putin said at a press conference in the North Korean capital, adding that it provided, "among other things, for mutual assistance in case of aggression against one of the parties to this treaty," Russian news agencies reported.
Oats is the first sensitive product to trigger the shield for EU farmers provided by the trade liberalization measures for Ukraine
The cereal oats is the first agricultural product that will no longer be exempted from duties as of Wednesday (19 June), because it exceeds the cap fixed in the latest regulation on temporary trade benefits for Ukraine.
Oats is one of the sensitive products covered by the autonomous trade measures for Ukraine, aimed to help Kyiv’s economy, entered into force on 6 June.
A Ukrainian military consultant has cautioned troops to stay vigilant when using electronic gadgets left behind by Russian troops as they could be booby-trapped with explosives.
Russian troops and collaborators have been booby-trapping electronic items left behind in front-line positions by filling them with plastic explosives and ball bearings, according to Serhii Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian military consultant who posts under the pseudonym “Flash.”
Beskrestnov published a video on Telegram that showed the aftermath of an explosion that occurred after “the guys plugged in the found laptop.”
Cordial and productive bilateral relations between Kyiv and Bucharest are laying the foundations for a strategic partnership.
The Black Sea Security Forum held in Odesa on June 14-16 drew attention to the Ukrainian port city and the broader region.
Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Leonov has been very active in promoting bilateral relations between Ukraine and Romania.
Russia takes away the identity of other ethnic groups and gives them a low standard of living, poor education, and propaganda on television instead.
Ukraine has been suffering from the war started by Russia 10 years ago. The million-plus-person city of Kharkiv is under Russian shelling every day. An attack on a hypermarket on May 25 claimed the lives of 19 civilians. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have liberated the large city of Kherson, but the Russians continue to harass its residents with missile strikes. Bakhmut, Maryinka, Avdiivka and Severodonetsk —industrial cities in eastern Ukraine— no longer exist because Russia literally destroyed them. However, as a Ukrainian parliamentarian, I have to acknowledge that we are not the only ones who suffer from Russian imperialism.
Dozens of nations within the Russian Federation want to save their identities, but the Kremlin constantly obstructs it, violating human rights. The modern empire wants the people to have only one identity — Russian. The Russian Federation has enslaved entire ethnic groups to achieve it.
During the Black Sea Security Forum in Odesa, Kyiv Post Chief Editor asked the Director of the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba about the shared values between Ukrainians and Cubans.
The Ukrainian military said in a briefing late Tuesday that Russia had "intensified" its assaults near Toretsk and "launched five assault operations at once", targeting surrounding towns and villages.
Russian forces have escalated attacks near Toretsk, a frontline town in eastern Ukraine that has remained relatively calm over recent months of fighting, officials and AFP journalists reported Wednesday.
Overwhelmed and outgunned Ukrainian forces have struggled to hold the line in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.
The suspect took photos of Ukrainian positions in the Kharkiv region under orders from a woman posing as a Russian journalist who worked as the liaison between the man and Russian intelligence.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested an unemployed man who lives in Derhachi, a city near Kharkiv, when he was taking pictures of military positions under orders from a Russian woman he met through a dating chat on social media.
According to the SBU press release, the man holds pro-Russian views and was approached by a “liaison officer of the Russian special service” who pretended to be an ordinary citizen “through the popular dating chat in the Telegram messenger.”
The two internationally isolated leaders signed a new "strategic partnership" deal during the trip, Putin's first to the nuclear-armed North since 2000.
North Korea fully supports Russia's war in Ukraine, leader Kim Jong Un told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday during a state visit to Pyongyang, which has raised fears of more sanctions-busting military cooperation.
The two internationally isolated leaders, who greeted each other with a hug on the red carpet at the airport, signed a new "strategic partnership" deal during the trip, Putin's first to the nuclear-armed North since 2000.
The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.
Vladimir Putin has arrived in North Korea, the Kremlin has confirmed. The Russian president touched down in the country's capital, Pyongyang, where he will begin his two-day visit. The Russian president was greeted by North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, with the men seen laughing and hugging as they had a conversation near Putin's plane. A formal meeting between the two leaders is expected to take place tomorrow. One of the first events to take place will be one-on-one discussions between the two leaders. There will also be a gala concert, state reception, honour guards, document signings, and a statement to the media, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Mr Putin's aide as saying. A number of Russian officials have travelled to Pyongyang as well as part of Mr Putin's delegation, including defence minister Andrei Belousov, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and deputy prime minister Alexander Novak. - Sky News
In a presidential order issued yesterday, Putin said Moscow was looking to sign a "comprehensive strategic partnership treaty" with North Korea. The international community has raised alarm bells regarding his trip, with NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg saying the military alliance was concerned about the support Russia could provide for North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes. - Sky News
Despite more than two years of Western punitive measures, Russia is still getting its hands on prohibited goods, with the help of cunning businesses that go to great lengths to dodge the embargo.
A Kansas businessman shipped banned avionics equipment to Russia through Armenia, the UAE and other third countries. A French firm falsified documents to help unscrupulous European exporters circumvent sanctions.
Despite more than two years of Western punitive measures, Russia is still getting its hands on prohibited goods, with the help of cunning businesses that go to great lengths to dodge the embargo.
The Big Meet, Kyiv’s top networking organization, will host its next event at the InterContinental on Friday, June 21, with proceeds helping Ukrainian children fighting cancer.
This Friday, The Big Meet is hosting an evening of networking and connection at the InterContinental Kyiv with proceeds going to benefit the Tabletochki Charity Foundation, Ukraine’s number one organization that helps families of children who are fighting cancer.
Ahead of the June 21 event, Kyiv Post met with The Big Meet’s Olga Kearly, the owner and organizer-in-chief, and discussed the outdoor gathering at the InterContinental Kyiv’s summer garden and the latest beneficiary of their support.
Magura maritime drones, after sinking several Russian warships, now have adapted air-to-air missiles to give a 3-D threat to Kremlin Black Sea operations.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) has added new capability to its Magura maritime drones by adapting Archer IR air-to-air missiles to give 3-dimensional danger to the robot boats, which now have Russian pilots worried.
The R-73 is a Soviet-made air-to-air missile with an infrared (IR) guidance system, mainly for use by aircraft like the MiG-29 or Su-27, also known under the NATO reporting name AA-11 Archer.
An aide Putin announced that this agreement would be “one of the most important documents” to be signed during his visit to Pyongyang on June 18-19.
Russian media Interfax reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order for a strategic partnership agreement with North Korea.
On Tuesday, June 18, Putin arrived for his first state visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital since 2000.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
Putin in North Korea for first time in 24 years; Fighting rages in Vovchansk, dozens feared dead; US debt upticks on student loans, foreign aid; Is Russia bribing local kids to burn army vehicles?
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.
