At least 12 dead after new Russian attacks; kyiv reports progress in its counteroffensive

An avalanche of Russian missiles and drones rocked eastern and southern Ukraine on June 14 as Moscow intensifies its response to kyiv’s counteroffensive.

In OdessaIn the south of the invaded nation, at least three civilians were killed and 13 injured during attacks by invading troops.

The three fatalities were in a warehouse of a retail chain that caught fire during the attacks that hit a shopping center, an educational institution, a residential complex, food establishments and shops, according to the Ukrainian Army.

Videos and photos released by a local official showed several buildings destroyed as firefighters tried to extinguish the flames after the explosions.

Meanwhile, in DonetskIn the east and belonging to the greater Donbass region, at least three other residents lost their lives when several towns were hit by Moscow missiles.

“They hit private houses in the cities and caused significant damage. In Kramatorsk, at least five private houses were destroyed and some two dozen were damaged. In Kostiantynivka, two houses were destroyed and 55 damaged,” regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

The official specified that two of the victims died in Kramatorsk and one in the industrial city of Kostiantynivka.

Likewise, the kyiv Air Force indicated that it destroyed three Russian missiles and nine drones during the assaults.

In addition, in the northeastern Sumy region, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said four forestry workers and two other civilians were killed when their vehicle was attacked near the Russian border.

The death figures have not been independently verified, amid difficulties in accessing the land.

A military spokesman for Volodimir Zelensky’s Army highlighted that Vladimir Putin’s troops have intensified their air strikes after more than 15 months of war, in an attempt to stop the first stage of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has reported the recovery of some land in the last days.

kyiv notes some progress in “extremely fierce” fighting

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that her country’s Army has had “partial” success during clashes with occupation troops in the last two days.

Mailar said that amid “extremely fierce” fighting, the invaded nation’s military advanced 200 to 500 meters in various areas near the small eastern town of Bakhmut, and 300 to 350 meters in the direction of the southeastern city of Zaporizhia, on Tuesday June 13.

Likewise, the official stressed that despite the air and artillery superiority of the “enemy”, as Ukraine refers to Russia, the Ukrainian military continues to advance on various battlefronts.

Specifically, the Deputy Minister of Defense pointed out that armed clashes continue near the village of Makarivka, in the direction of the port city of Berdyansk, and in the areas of Novodanylivka and Novopokrovsk, in the direction of Mariupol, in the east and one of the first cities that fell into the hands of Russian troops, in April 2022.

Although these are the first actions that kyiv acknowledges regarding its announced counteroffensive to recover territories that were seized by Moscow in the conflict, the attacked country reports some progress.

He Ukrainian government claimed it took control of seven villages in the south and east of the country last weekend. These presumed victories are added to the recovery of control of the towns of Blahodatne, Makarivka and Neskuchne, which kyiv would have recovered in recent days. However, the Kremlin denies those claims.

Belarus receives Russian nuclear weapons and threatens to enter the conflict at “any moment”

Moscow threatens to attack Ukraine not only with ground combat and air and artillery strikes. Since the first phase of the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin has put on the table the possibility of using his nuclear arsenal, the largest in the world.

The bombs are three times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

As part of that move, Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement to deploy Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, on May 25. Today, these operations would begin to materialize, as announced by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

“We have missiles and bombs that we have received from Russia (…) The bombs are three times more powerful than those that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Putin’s ally said defiantly, during an interview with the Russian state channel ‘Rossiya -1’, broadcast on the night of Tuesday, June 13.

Lukashenko added that his country has numerous Soviet-era nuclear storage facilities and has restored five or six of them.

In addition, he downplayed the idea that Russia’s control of these weapons is an impediment to using them quickly if his government considers such a measure necessary, noting that he and Putin can communicate by phone “at any time.”

In this sense, the Belarusian president warned that his country would enter the conflict directly if an attack against him occurs.

With Reuters and AP