June 19, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Ukraine’s health ministry said water in the regions affected by the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse remains highly contaminated.

About 40 surface water monitoring points have been set up along the river channel in the flood zone and along the seacoast in Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions, according to the statement,. The most dangerous pollutants in the water were salmonella, rotavirus, worm eggs, and E. coli. 

The Ministry of Health urged the residents against swimming and fishing in the waters of Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions. 

Russia and Ukraine continue to blame each other for the dam collapse. Russia cited security concerns for declining the United Nation’s help in the Russian-occupied flooded areas. 

Vladimir Saldo, Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, said Monday that 8,100 people have been evacuated from the region since the start of the rescue operation — including 583 children and 290 people with low mobility. Saldo also said medical assistance and monetary compensation were being given out in affected areas. 

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region military administration in the Ukrainian-controlled areas, said the situation on the left bank of the Kherson region — currently occupied by Russians — was “critical” and said the Russians failed in the evacuation efforts.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for international support to help rescue victims of the dam collapse in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and accused Russia of not providing “any real help to the people in the flooded areas.” 

Ukraine has not lost any of its positions, instead it has only gained new ones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

“In some areas our warriors are moving forward, in some areas they are defending their positions and resisting the occupiers’ assaults and intensified attacks,” he said. “We have no lost positions. Only liberated ones.” 

Here are the latest developments:

Zelenksy gives his nightly address on Monday, June 19.

Ukraine has not lost any of its positions, only gained new ones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

Zelensky noted “a significant political decision by the UK regarding sanctions” was made Monday. 

He said the UK will “maintain sanctions against Russia until the aggressor compensates for all the damage” done to the Ukrainian people. “And it is very important that the assets of the aggressor state and all those associated with it […] are used to compensate for the damage caused by the Russian war and terror.” 

The Hungarian government has refuted claims that it has denied Ukraine’s diplomats access to 11 soldiers who were held as prisoners of war (POWs) by Russia before being moved to Hungary earlier this month. 

Zoltán Kovács, Hungary’s state secretary for international communication, told CNN that the soldiers had been “freed in Russia” after the cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and “were able to declare, out of their own free will, that they wished to come to Hungary.”

Kovács said that most of the soldiers also had Hungarian citizenship, and the rest had, “received refugee status in Hungary.” 

They are now “free individuals” who “can stay in Hungary or can leave Hungary at any time out of their own free will,” he added.  

The soldiers’ transfer to Hungary was first reported on June 8, when the office of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, announced that, “a group of Ukrainian war prisoners of Transcarpathian origin who had participated in hostilities [had been] transferred to Hungary” that day under an agreement the Church had mediated. 

On June 9, Oleh Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, welcomed the soldiers’ release but said Kyiv had not been informed about the negotiations leading to it and requested its consul be granted immediate access. 

Today, June 19, Nikolenko claimed that the soldiers were being, “kept in isolation, do not have access to open sources of information, their communication with relatives takes place in the presence of third parties, [and] they are denied the right to establish contact with the Embassy of Ukraine.” 

Kovács denied this and said, “The Hungarian government is not following or monitoring their movements any further.” 

Russia’s focus is still on the war’s eastern front, Ukrainian military officials said, Monday. 

Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian military, told state TV that Russian troops were, “using infantry units, airborne units, as well as ‘Storm Z’ (convict) assault units” in the east and had shelled Ukrainian positions there more than 500 times over the past day. 

Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi during a session of the Ukrainian Parliament, in Kyiv, Ukraine, in December 2022.

Russian troops heavily mined areas along Ukraine’s southern frontline and sent considerable numbers of reservists into the fight there, the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces claimed. 

Zaluzhnyi posted a video of himself alongside the commander of Ukraine’s southern forces, Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavsky, whose units Ukraine said earlier Monday had liberated eight settlements in the south over the past two weeks. 

Russia’s actions in the south were further outlined by one Ukrainian deputy unit commander on the ground. 

Kostiantyn Denysov, a fighter with Ukraine’s Legion of Liberty, told state television Monday that Russian troops had “dug in really well” and unleashed “massive firepower” to prevent any Ukrainian advance.

“We’re liberating some of the settlements, but it is here on the ground that we see at what cost. Guys with heavy wounds, with contusions. This is the price of fighting for freedom,” Denysov said. 

Denysov said that Russian units had built, “concrete trenches and minefields… setting traps for our guys on the temporary fortifications” and making it difficult for Ukraine to recapture its territory. 

“Unfortunately, there is nothing left of some settlements except for the name,” he said.

A Russian serviceman stands guard at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on June 15.

Russia appears to be moving its personnel and heavy military equipment from other parts of Ukraine to support its front line in the Zaporizhzhia area, Ukrainian and UK officials say.

The Ukrainian Mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, reported this transfer from the Nova Kakhovka and Kakhovka area in Kherson to the Zaporizhzhia front line via Melitopol.

The UK Defense Ministry, in its intelligence assessment Monday, also reported it is “highly likely” Russia has started relocating “elements of its Dnipro Group of Forces (DGF) from the eastern bank of the Dnipro River to reinforce the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut sectors” over the last 10 days.

Ukraine deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said the situation in the eastern areas of Donetsk and Kharkiv remains difficult, with Russia pulling in its forces to attack Lyman and Kupyansk, but the forces are not allowing Russians to advance.

“The enemy has not given up their plans to reach the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They have concentrated a significant number of their units in the east, including airborne assault units,” Maliar said.

Ukrainian officials have claimed limited advances in parts of Donetsk, including around Avdiivka, which has been under attack by Russian and Russian-backed groups since the start of the invasion.

Some analysts perceive a slow-down in Ukrainian offensive operations in the south, as various parts of the long frontline see heavy combat.

“Ukrainian forces may be temporarily pausing counteroffensive operations to reevaluate their tactics for future operations,” according to the Institute for the Study of War.

The institute said Sunday it “has previously noted that Ukraine has not yet committed the majority of its available forces to counteroffensive operations and has not yet launched its main effort.”

President of The Constitutional Court of Moldova, Judge Nicolae Rosca, reads the decision of the Court to outlaw the opposition "Shor" party of fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, in Chisinau, on June 19.

A pro-Russian Party in Moldova has been banned by the country’s constitutional court.

The party is named after its current leader Ilan Shor and is subject to sanctions by western powers such as the United States and Canada.

It was the leading force in organizing anti-government and pro-Russia protests in Moldova since 2022.

This decision of the court is definitive and can’t be appealed, according to the ruling, which said the Ministry of Justice will set up a dissolution committee.

Party representatives could serve out the rest of their terms as individual members and have no right to join another party, according to the court.

The SHOR Party currently has five members in the 101-member Moldovan Parliament.

More context: Tensions are mounting in Moldova, a small country on Ukraine’s southwestern border, where Russia has been accused of laying the groundwork for a coup that could drag the nation into the Kremlin’s war.

Moldova’s President, Maia Sandu, has accused Russia of using “saboteurs” disguised as civilians to stoke unrest amid a period of political instability, echoing similar warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has meanwhile baselessly accused Kyiv of planning its own assault on a pro-Russian territory in Moldova where Moscow has a military foothold, heightening fears that he is creating a pretext for a Crimea-style annexation.

Earlier this year, Zelensky warned that Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a Russian plan to destabilize an already volatile political situation in Moldova.

Law enforcement officers look at a screen during a video link to an external hearing of the Moscow City Court in a new criminal case against Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, at IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, Russia, on June 19.

Alexey Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, announced on Monday the start of a campaign aimed at turning Russians against the war in Ukraine, according to a statement published on his official website.

“Today begins another trial, which will greatly add to my term. But I want to use this day not to arouse sympathy for myself and other political prisoners. I want to call everyone to action and use this day to announce our new, very important project. Big agitation machine. Truth machine. We do not just want to do it, but we will definitely do it in order to join forces in the fight against Putin’s lies and Kremlin hypocrisy,” said Navalny, according to the statement.

According to the statement, the agitators will conduct telephone surveys, communicate with Russians on instant messenger apps and “Kremlin-controlled social networks” in order to convince Russians to vote against the war.

Some more context: The statement was published as another court hearing was heard on extremism charges faced by Navalny. If convicted, Navalny could face an even longer jail term.

Navalny, already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility, was charged in 2021 with the alleged “creation of an extremist community,” according to a report that year from Russian state media TASS.

He and his supporters claim that his arrest and imprisonment were politically motivated, intended to silence his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to recent opinion surveys, most Russians remain supportive of the so-called special military operation in Ukraine.

“Three in four Russians (76%) continue to say they support the military operation,” said a joint Chicago Council-Levada Center survey report published last week.

Navalny, second from left, is seen on a stream of Monday's court hearing.

Related article Russian opposition leader Navalny faces decades behind bars as new trial starts | CNN

Soldiers of the 68th Jaeger Brigade walk in the newly liberated village of Blahodatne, Ukraine on June 10. The village is located on the border between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.

The Ukrainian and Russian militaries have given starkly different accounts of the ongoing fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukrainian forces are into the second week of offensive operations.

What Ukraine says: Ukraine conducted 1,298 missions over the last day, that killed or wounded more than two companies, which typically comprises 100 to 200 troops in a Russian army, according to Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, a Brigadier General who commands Ukrainian forces in the area.

Tarnavskyi also claimed “progress and notable advances” in the assault operations, which he said, destroyed six Russian ammunition storage sites and three Russian tanks as well as howitzers and an electronic warfare system.

What Russia says: Meanwhile, Russia claimed it repelled two Ukrainian attacks near the village of Novodonetske and destroyed a tank, armored fighting vehicles and more than half of the advancing manpower. Another attack near the key Russian-held village of Rivnopil had also been rebuffed, according to the spokesman for the Vostok [East] Group.

Ukraine also attacked the village of Novodanylivka, the Russian group said, adding attacks in the same area, near the village of Mala Tokmachka and further east at Makarivka, were also repelled.

Russia claims that Ukraine has lost more than 100 Ukrainian servicemen, three tanks, 10 infantry fighting vehicles, 14 armored combat vehicles, and howitzers in the past day.

Remember: There is no way to verify the dueling claims of each side. Geolocated videos suggest that Ukrainian forces have made limited gains over the past week along the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia border, but have not committed sizable forces to offensive operations.

A Russian-installed official was injured in a car explosion in Crimea on Monday, according to Russian-backed authorities in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Vladimir Yepifanov, the assistant to the so-called “deputy prime minister” of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, was in the car with two passengers when an explosion occurred in the vehicle on a highway in Crimea, according to local Russian-appointed official, Vladimir Rogov. All three were injured and sustained severe burns, Rogov said on Telegram. 

In his Telegram post, Rogov noted that the official cause of the explosion has not yet been established. However, he said that the gas cylinder had been checked at the service station in Simferopol on Sunday.

Some background: Several Russia-installed officials have been injured in targeted attacks with explosive devices in occupied parts of Ukraine, and a Russian commander was killed in a car explosion in March in Mariupol.

Britain's James Cleverly delivers a statement during an informal meeting of NATO Foreign Affairs Ministers in Oslo, Norway, on June 1.

The UK has introduced new legislation allowing Russian sanctions to remain in place until Moscow pays compensation to Kyiv, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a news release Monday.  

The new legislation will also allow sanctioned individuals to donate frozen funds to reconstructing Ukraine. 

The government department said they will also mandate that persons and entities who are designated under the Russia financial sanctions regime must disclose assets they hold in the UK. 

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “Through our new measures today, we’re strengthening the UK’s sanctions approach, affirming that the UK is prepared to use sanctions to ensure Russia pays to repair the country it has so recklessly attacked.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg brief the media after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on June 19.

NATO will not issue a formal invitation to Ukraine to join the military alliance during a high-profile summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, in July, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday. 

“At the Vilnius summit and in the preparations for the summit, we’re not discussing to issue a formal invitation. What we are discussing is how to move Ukraine closer to NATO,” Stoltenberg told journalists during a joint press conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

The secretary general added that although consultations are ongoing regarding Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, he is “not in a position to pre-empt the outcome of these consultations.” 

“What I can say is that the Allies actually already agree on a lot,” Stoltenberg remarked, referencing NATO’s membership invitations to Finland and Sweden as an example. 

“We also agree on what we stated in 2008 that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance. We also agree that is not for Russia, but for Ukraine and NATO allies, to decide when the time is right to invite Ukraine,” Stoltenberg added. 

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, has pressed Stoltenberg on previous occasions to commit to a timeframe for Ukraine’s membership bid. 

During a visit to Moldova in early June, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine “is ready to be in NATO and is merely “waiting [for] when NATO will be ready.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference at the Beijing American Center of the US Embassy in Beijing, China, on June 19.

China has assured that it has not and will not provide lethal aid to Russia, but the United States remains concerned that Chinese companies may do so, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.

Blinked said the assurance is appreciated and there is no evidence to contradict them.

Some context: China’s assurance was not newly made to him during his visit, Blinken said in response to a question from CNN’s Kylie Atwood. “This is something that China has said in recent weeks, and has repeatedly said not only to us, but to many other countries that have raised this concern.”

Fierce fighting has taken place in Ukraine’s south as Kyiv’s forces attempt to regain territory taken by Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised Kyiv’s forces for holding off Russian assaults in the east, saying Ukrainian troops are “advancing, position by position, step by step” and “are moving forward.” 

Here’s what you need to know:

Russian-backed authorities in the Donetsk region say that a 6-year-old child has been killed and about 20 people injured by Ukrainian shelling of the town of Volnovakha.

Denis Pushilin, acting head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, said the incoming rockets “were recorded in an absolutely peaceful, busy neighborhood - near a bus stop, a school and a humanitarian warehouse.”

In addition to the rocket attacks, Pushilin said that a “6-year-old girl was killed in the Volnovakha district. The tragedy occurred due to the remote mining of the area, which AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) has been carrying out for several days, and one of the mines hit the yard of the house where the girl lived.”

Remote-mining involves firing batches of mines over distance.

Earlier, Moscow-backed authorities said about 20 people had been injured, according to the official Russian news agency TASS. 

Volnovakha is on a crucial land route between the frontlines and Russian-occupied Mariupol. The town’s administration said that three civilians had been seriously wounded.

Kyiv has not commented on the Russian claims, which CNN cannot independently verify.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, center left, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence in Aylesbury, England, on May 15.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has spoken with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about Ukraine’s need for longer-range weapons.

Zelensky said that during a phone call “we discussed the course of hostilities, Ukraine’s defense needs and further cooperation to expand Ukraine’s capabilities on the battlefield, in particular, through long-range weapons.”

The UK has supplied Kyiv with Storm Shadow missiles, which have a longer range than other Western-supplied rockets and missiles. 

He thanked Sunak for organizing the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London this week “and for the UK’s leadership in consolidating international support for Ukraine.”

Britain has taken a leading role in providing military aid for Ukraine, but Zelensky has repeatedly pressed for weapons systems with more capabilities as he prepared to launch a counteroffensive toward Russian positions.

On the upcoming NATO summit in Latvia, Zelensky said: “It is important to provide Ukraine with concrete membership prospects. We also discussed steps to implement the Peace Formula and prepare security guarantees for Ukraine.

Zelensky said that Russia was ramping up production of missiles made with Western components and he emphasized the need to increase sanctions pressure during the call with Sunak.

Drone footage shows what the Russia’s Ministry of Defense has claimed is a blast from a remotely-controlled tank packed with a huge amount of explosives.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense has claimed that a Ukrainian stronghold was destroyed by a remotely-controlled tank packed with a huge amount of explosives, in what appears to be a new battlefield tactic.

In a post on its Telegram channel at the weekend, the ministry said that “about 3.5 tons of TNT and 5 FAB-100 bombs” were packed into the tank. FAB-100 bombs normally carry a 100-kilogram (220-pound) payload.

In a video shared by the ministry on Saturday, a Russian tank commander, callsign “Bernaul,” said he was assigned with the task of setting up the tank and executing the attack.

“About 300 meters (984 feet) away from the enemy, the tank operator put the vehicle on manual gas, directing it [to the enemy’s] direction. He jumped out and went to the rear. I stayed behind to observe, and after the vehicle approached the enemy’s positions, I detonated it by radio control,” the commander said. 

Drone video shows the tank static after apparently hitting a mine close to Ukrainian lines. There is then a huge explosion, but it’s unclear why. A moment before the tank explodes, there appears to be a flash coming from Ukrainian positions, which may have been an attempt to destroy the tank.

It’s not possible to geolocate the incident but the Mariinka area of Donetsk has seen heavy fighting since the Russian invasion began.

CNN has reached out to Ukrainian authorities about the incident.

Hanna Maliar speaks during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 13.

Ukraine’s military has recaptured eight settlements from invading Russian forces in the south of the country over the past two weeks, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday.

In a Telegram post, Maliar said offensive operations in the Berdiansk and Melitopol directions in the Zaporizhzhia region had liberated the communities of Novodarivka, Levadne, Storozheve, Makarivka, Blahodatne, Lobkove, Neskuchne and Piatykhatky,

The status of Piatykhatky had been in dispute Sunday after the Russian government denied a report from its own installed leader in occupied southern Ukraine, refuting his claim that Kyiv’s forces had retaken the village.

On Monday, Maliar said Ukrainian forces had advanced 7 kilometers (4 miles) into Russian-occupied territory in the southern Tavria sector, reclaiming an area spanning 113 square kilometers (44 square miles).

She praised “the professionalism and courage” of Ukrainian soldiers for the advances in the frontline.

In eastern Ukraine, Maliar said Russian forces launched more than 5,800 attacks and used more than 277,000 munitions over the past week. Russian troops had been more active against a Ukrainian advance near Bakhmut and Lyman-Kupyansk, Avdiivka and Mariinka, she said.

This post has been updated with additional context.