June 12, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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

Russian-backed officials and military bloggers are reporting intense fighting along the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, in an area where Ukrainian forces have made gains in recent days. 

The fighting is taking place south of the town of Velyka Novosilka along both sides of the Mokri Yaly river, an area where the Ukrainians appear to have had greater success than elsewhere in the initial stages of their counter-offensive. 

Late Monday, a senior Russian-appointed official, Vladimir Rogov, spoke of heavy fighting in an area known as the Vremivka ridge, claiming that higher ground remained under Russian control. 

Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia administration, said on Telegram that Russian attack helicopters were in action, and that “reciprocal shelling and heavy fighting of ultra-high intensity continues” in the vicinity of the village of Urozhaine.

Rogov conceded that Ukrainian forces were “holding their positions on the northern and eastern outskirts of the village.” 

Rogov said heavy fighting about 10 kilometers to the west had turned the area into a “gray zone,” but that Ukrainian units had dispersed from the area —around the village of Levadne. 

Russian military bloggers have also been reporting intense combat in the area, with one Telegram channel (Our Donetsk) saying “the enemy managed to deepen and advance through the wooded areas, threatening with further advance to encircle” nearby Russian units. 

There is no way to verify these unofficial reports, but they are consistent with a pattern in the fighting that has evolved in the last week. 

“Our Donetsk” acknowledged that Russian troops had been forced to abandon Neskuchne — just south of Velyka Novosilka — for a second time, “retreating to positions where they would not be encircled.” 

It said the Ukrainians were “accumulating forces” in the area, and heavy fighting continued. 

Also late on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the fighting in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia border region, saying “the enemy’s losses are exactly what we need.” 

 By contrast, Russian military bloggers are claiming that Ukrainian efforts to advance south of Orikhiv, in another part of the southern front, have been resisted, with several saying that the Ukrainians had lost a significant number of de-mining tanks in an area known to have been heavily fortified by the Russians with minefields and tank traps. 

Geolocated video appears to show Ukrainian armor losses in this area. 

Ukrainian servicemen ride atop an armoured personnel carrier vehicle in the Zaporizhzhya region on Sunday, June 11, 2023.

Russian and Ukrainian forces reported intense clashes Monday along the borders of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, in Ukraine’s east and southeast.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured seven villages within the last week, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.

Ukraine has lost 16 US-supplied armored vehicles in the past few days, according to an open-source intelligence website.

Here are more of the latest developments:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during his nightly address on Monday, June 12, 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Monday that fighting is tough but Ukrainian forces are “moving forward” and recapturing territory.  

Zelensky also said that “the most important and hottest” operational areas are in the Tavria and the Khortytsia directions, and he received reports from the commanders in those areas during his staff meeting on Monday. 

The General of the Ukrainian Land Forces and the General of the Tavria operational-strategic group reported “on the success we have achieved, on the front areas where we need to reinforce and on the actions we can take to break more Russian positions,” according to Zelensky. 

“We are maintaining and strengthening our operational dominance,” Zelensky said. “I am particularly grateful for Bakhmut as we are increasing our control in this area.”

Some more context: Earlier on Monday, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said that within the past week, Ukrainian forces in the Bakhmut area recaptured 16 square kilometers. On the left flank in Bakhmut, Ukrainian troops advance 1.5 kilometers, and on the right flank, they advanced 3.5 kilometers, according to Maliar.

“This week, as always, will be very meaningful,” Zelensky added in his address. “First, we are preparing new weapons support from our partners for our warriors. Second, we are preparing to involve more global actors in the implementation of the Peace Formula. Third, we are working to make the [NATO] Vilnius Summit truly meaningful.”

Ukrainian President Zelensky’s chief diplomatic adviser Igor Zhovkva said Monday that the “ultimate goal of the counteroffensive campaign is to win back all the territories, including Crimea.” 

During an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Zhovkva said some counteroffensive actions were already underway, but would not give details. 

He also sought to tamp down any expectations that the campaign would achieve rapid results, saying it could take many months for Ukraine to achieve its aims. 

In the same vein, he reminded Amanpour that this was not Ukraine’s first counteroffensive – a reference to the Ukrainian army’s successful advances in September and October when Russian forces were pushed out of the Kharkiv region and the northern part of the Kherson region. 

The current push would “probably would not be the last counteroffensive operation,” he added. 

He also said that if Ukraine was going to be successful it needed Western partners to supply more artillery and ammunition. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks from the Senate floor on Monday, June 12.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday praised Ukraine’s military for driving Russian forces “back and out of occupied Ukrainian territory” and lauded the support of the US and NATO allies in assisting in that effort.

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, attends a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and Polish President Andrzej Duda in Paris, on Monday, June 12.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that a “meticulously” planned Ukrainian counteroffensive started “several days ago” but did not specify where in Ukraine.

Speaking at a press conference with German and Polish leaders in Paris, Macron also praised the “excellence” of the tactical sense and organization of Ukraine’s military leaders.

The counteroffensive had been planned over several weeks or months, he added.

Since the beginning of the war, France has “intensified the delivery of arms and munitions, armored vehicles and logistical support” to Ukraine, Macron said. He added that such support would continue.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with wounded soldiers on Monday, June 12.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a visit to the central Ministry of Defense Hospital in Moscow on Monday and told wounded soldiers that their country needed them.

Putin visited the hospital as one of several public appearances to mark Russia Day.

He bestowed state awards on fighters wounded in Ukraine and said that he understood the conflict is “not some movie, it’s all happening in reality.”

Putin’s visit to soldiers comes amid Ukraine’s defense officials claiming to have recaptured several settlements in the Donetsk region.

A frame from a video purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers after retaking the village of Storozheve in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on June 12.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured seven villages within the last week, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.

In Donetsk and Tavria, “the advance of the offensive troops amounted to 6.5 kilometers,” Maliar said Monday on Telegram. “The area taken under control amounted to 90 square kilometers.” 

Maliar said the villages of Lobkove, Levadne, Novodarivka, Neskuchne, Storozheve, Makarivka, and Blahodatne were liberated.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Tavria Defense Forces posted a video on Facebook of soldiers holding up the Ukrainian flag in Storozheve, claiming to have recaptured the village in the Donetsk region, but it is not clear when the video was taken. 

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports.

Ukrainian troops made incremental gains in the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to the spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

He also said Russian forces fired artillery and rockets at Ukrainian positions on Monday. 

“The enemy fired artillery and MLRS at our positions 249 times,” Cherevatyi said, referring to multiple launch rocket systems. There were three combat engagements and two air raids during the day.” 

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports.

An aerial view shows a flooded area on June 10 after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached in Kherson, Ukraine.

The death toll in Ukrainian-controlled areas following the flooding from the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse has risen to 10, according to the head of the Kherson region military administration on Monday. 

Two more civilians have died due to the flooding in Kherson city, said region military administration head Oleksandr Prokudin. 

“An unidentified woman and a 50-year-old man were found drowned in one of the city’s districts today,” Prokudin said on Telegram. 

A further 20 people have been injured in the aftermath of the dam collapse, including five police officers and two rescuers, according to Prokudin. Additionally, 35 people are considered missing, including seven children.

Some context: Ukraine controls the west bank of the Dnipro River and the city of Kherson after its counteroffensive last year, while Russian troops remain on the east bank in the greater Kherson region.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of shelling during the effort to evacuate civilians from areas they control.

Kyiv and Moscow have also blamed one another for causing the breach in the first place, although it is unclear whether the dam was deliberately attacked, or whether the collapse was the result of structural failure.

The water in the reservoir of the Nova Kakhovka dam is dropping following the dam’s collapse last week, albeit slower than authorities initially feared, the CEO of Ukrainian hydroelectric company Ukrhydroenergo told CNN on Monday. 

“The reservoir has decreased by 50%. As for the volume, we estimate that there is 60% to 70% less water in the Kakhovka reservoir than there was before the blow-up,” Ukrhydroenergo CEO Ihor Syrota told CNN. 

Syrota warned of “severe environmental consequences” if the water falls below critical levels — around 3 meters.  

“We hope that the lower hydraulic structure remained intact. If so, the level of the Kakhovka reservoir may remain within 6 to 7 meters. If it is damaged, it falls into the critical zone,” Syrota said. 

Syrota added that the water supply to the Crimean peninsula may be restored by “summer of next year.”  

“It is clear that the Crimean Canal will be drained, there can be no water there,” Syrota said. “When Crimea is de-occupied, we will address the issue comprehensively — water supply for our four regions and Crimea. I think it will be no earlier than next year, after the floods.”

“If for some reason this (de-occupation) does not happen, it will just be a blocked channel, because we will primarily supply Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv regions,” he added. “These are the regions that will now suffer from a shortage of water, both drinking and industrial.” 

A satellite image shows the damaged Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson region, Ukraine, on June 6.

Ukraine’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets told CNN on Monday that the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine last week was the “largest catastrophe by Russian invaders” since the invasion began. 

“The blowing up of the Nova Kakhovka dam is the largest catastrophe by Russian invaders since the full-scale invasion began in February last year,” Strilets told CNN’s Becky Anderson in an interview on Connect the World. 

Nearly one week after the collapse of the dam, evacuation efforts in the southern city of Kherson continue, despite receding water levels. 

The minister said the Dnipro River, where the dam is located, is one of the largest rivers in Europe. Due to the dam breach, he says the river’s reservoir has already lost 72% of its water. 

“Russia has wasted 18 cubic kilometers of freshwater – this amount of water is enough for the entire planet to consume for two days,” he continued. 

Ukrainian authorities have warned that the debris washed along the Dnipro River is turning Odesa’s Black Sea coastline into “a garbage dump and animal cemetery”. 

Ukraine’s Environment Minister echoed those concerns saying that about 20,000 wild animals who lived in the flooded areas are now dead. 

“We also understand the impact on climate change is that over 50,000 hectares of Ukrainian forest have been flooded, and at least half of them will die.”

Two Airbus A400M of the German Air Force fly over Wunstorf Air Base in the Hanover region at the beginning of the Air Defender exercise on June 12.

The biggest ever air exercise of NATO forces kicked off on Monday in Germany, the alliance said in a news release.

Twenty-five nations are taking part in the two-week long Air Defender exercise, with around 10,000 personnel and 250 aircraft, including around 100 from the United States, it said.

Air Defender, hosted and led by Germany, sends “a clear message that NATO is ready to defend every inch of Allied territory,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization spokesperson Oana Lungescu said.

Lungescu also noted that the exercise demonstrates “the strong bond between Europe and North America, working together in NATO.” 

German Air Defense Chief Ingo Gerhartz told CNN’s Nic Robertson on Friday that this exercise demonstrates the defense capability of the alliance.

It is “to prove in the Alliance and to prove to our people, to [the public].. we are fast.. we are quick.. we are first responder, and we are able to defend this alliance and NATO territory is the red line and we are willing to defend every inch of it.” 

Air Defender will help “ensure NATO air forces are trained and ready to respond together. Most of the aircraft will be stationed on several German air bases. Training missions will primarily take place over the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and Southern Germany,” NATO said Monday in the news release.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Dutch defense minister Kajsa Ollongren and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte walk during a visit to a military base in Soesterberg, Netherlands, on Thursday, May 4.

The Dutch are hoping to start training Ukrainian pilots on how to fly F-16 fighter jets this summer, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren told Reuters in a video interview Thursday. 

“This summer is our ambition,” Ollongren said. “It is a very important and significant step that we will start training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s.” 

The Netherlands is now looking at the logistics of training Ukrainian pilots, Ollongren said. Trainers will have to consider the current skill levels of the pilots, their fluency in English, and the planes that they’re used to flying. 

Dutch F-35 pilot Laurens-Jan Vijge said that trainers “don’t know yet” exactly what the training of Ukrainian pilots will involve, but that it will include academic, language, and simulator training. 

Though Ukrainian pilots will already know how to fly a plane, Vijge said, “to fly a fighter jet and to transition to an F-16… for them would mean different technology.”

Remember: Recently, the Netherlands and Britain said they were building a “international coalition” to help Ukraine procure F-16 fighter jets that Kyiv says are vital to its defense as Russia ramps up its aerial strikes.

CNN’s Lauren Kent, Julia Kesaieva and Brad Lendon contributed reporting to this post.

Nearly one-third of bomb shelters inspected by Ukrainian authorities are closed or unsuitable for use, according to an update from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. 

As of June 10, a total of 62,912 bomb shelters in Ukraine have been inspected and 9.3% appeared to be closed with another 23.6% are unsuitable for use, according to the State Emergency Service on Sunday. 

In total, fewer than 1% of shelters could not be inspected “due to hostilities,” according to the update. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered an audit of all bomb shelters in Ukraine earlier this month after three people were killed when they were unable to access a closed shelter in Kyiv.

The inspections involved nearly 2,000 expert groups, including local authorities, National Police, and the State Emergency Service.

A temporary accommodation center in the Belgorod sports complex, where residents who left the Shebekino district are being housed on June 3.

More than 6,000 residents of Russia’s Shebekino district are in temporary accommodation centers in the Belgorod region following attacks on the area, the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram on Monday. 

Last week, Gladkov said Ukrainian shelling targeted several areas in the border region of Belgorod, including Shebekino.

“460 units of various ammunition were fired in the Shebekino urban district, 26 drops of explosive devices from UAVs were recorded,” Gladkov wrote on Wednesday, adding that in the town of Shebekino, strikes were carried out mainly on residential areas

Galdkov added that the villages of Zhuravlyovka, Tsapovka, Stary, and Kozinka also came under fire, with no reported injuries.

Previous reporting from Anna Chernova was included in this post.

One person was killed and another was wounded in an attack on the city of Orikhiv, which is on the front line in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to the head of the region’s military administration.

“Three enemy guided aerial bombs hit the town, destroying private houses and communications,” said the administration’s top official, Yurii Malashko. “Sadly, a 48-year-old male has died of the wounds. A 32-year old wounded male was immediately taken to a medical facility.” 

There were consistent reports of heavy Ukrainian artillery fire Saturday towards Russian positions south of Orikhiv, where Ukrainian forces have also stepped up activities over the last week. 

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday said airstrikes and artillery fire by the Vostok brigade had succeeded in pushing back three Ukrainian advances south of Orikhiv.

Previous reporting from Maria Kostenko and Andrew Carey was included in this post.

Ukrainian prisoners of war pose for a picture after a swap at an unknown location in Ukraine, in this handout picture released on June 11.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that 2,526 Ukrainians have been returned in prisoner of war exchanges since the start of the Russian invasion. 

Russia and Ukraine exchanged more than 200 prisoners of war Sunday, according to statements from officials in Moscow and Kyiv.

Ukraine’s 95 returnees included prisoners of war captured on Snake Island and from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, among a number of different locations, according to presidential aide Andrii Yermak.

“Every time we bring our people back from Russian captivity, we remember our fundamental goal: we will not leave anyone of ours, nothing of Ukraine to the enemy,” Zelensky said in a tweet posted with a video of the swap.

The Russian military has launched a counterattack in the area of ​​the Vremivka ledge, where Ukrainian forces have made progress in recent days, according to a leading Russian-appointed official in the area, Vladimir Rogov.

Rogov told the Russian Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station: “At the moment, a counterattack has begun on the part of our guys - the 127th division is going into battle, moving forward. At the same time, massive support is being provided for the Russian Aerospace Forces. They are working in the direction of Neskuchne, knocking the enemy out of Makarivka.”

Both villages were captured by Ukrainian forces in recent days, according to geolocated social media and Ukrainian official accounts.

Keep in mind: CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports. But the Ukrainian official’s claim seems to align with unofficial snippets published by Russian journalists and propagandists over the weekend, which have suggested Kyiv’s forces are making some gains in southeastern Ukraine.

CNN’s Josh Pennington contributed reporting to this post.