This is how things stand on Monday, June 16:
Fighting
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence confirmed on Sunday that it launched a strike targeting the Kremenchuk oil refinery, a key fuel source for Ukrainian troops in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the attack as a “vile strike” on energy infrastructure, accusing Moscow of ignoring international appeals to de-escalate. Zelenskyy said the United States has asked Kyiv to refrain from targeting Russian energy sites.
- Russia claimed to have seized control of the village of Malynivka in Donetsk, referring to it by its Soviet-era name, Ulyanovka.
- Moscow reported making significant gains in Ukraine’s Sumy region, stating that its forces had pushed through enemy defences and caused major losses.
- In a rare long-range operation, Ukraine said it struck a drone production site in Yelabuga, Tatarstan, about 1,000km (621 miles) inside Russia. The military said the facility had been used to launch attacks on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure.
- Tatarstan’s regional leader, Rustam Minnikhanov, said that a drone strike had hit a car factory near Yelabuga, killing one person and wounding 13. Ukraine claims the site is used to manufacture drones for Russian military use.
- UK intelligence believes that more than 6,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured while fighting alongside Moscow’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region. The United Kingdom said the figure represents more than half of the 11,000 North Korean troops originally deployed, highlighting Pyongyang’s growing role in supporting Moscow’s war effort.
Diplomacy
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for increased pressure on Russia to achieve a ceasefire, urging the Group of Seven (G7) nations to strengthen sanctions against Moscow when they meet in Canada on Monday. Zelenskyy will attend the meeting.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said he plans to ask United States President Donald Trump if Washington is prepared to back stronger sanctions if Russia continues to refuse to agree to a ceasefire.
- The White House confirmed that Trump would meet Zelenskyy for bilateral talks.
- Russia has returned the bodies of 1,200 Ukrainians killed in the war, bringing the total number of bodies repatriated to Ukraine in a series of exchanges this week to more than 4,800.
- Russia said it had not received a single Russian corpse in return, accusing Ukraine of not upholding the agreement reached in Istanbul, which would see both sides hand over as many as 6,000 bodies and to exchange sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war as well as those aged under 25.
