Ukraine: realities | «The Weekly Five»: 17.06 – 23.06

Russia Attacks Kharkiv with Bombs Again

On June 23, Russian invaders attacked Kharkiv with aerial bombs during the day.

The Regional Military Administration also reported that the occupiers attacked Kharkiv, presumably with guided bombs.

On June 22, the Russian army launched four strikes in one of Kharkiv's districts, hitting a residential building.

As of the evening, it was reported that three people had died and 56 were injured or wounded, including three children.

 

Netherlands and Another Country to Provide Ukraine with Patriot System

On June 21, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced that the Netherlands, together with another country, would provide Ukraine with the Patriot air defense system.

Ollongren confirmed that the Netherlands found components to form a Patriot air defense system but refused to disclose which country would assist with the supply.

The Dutch Defense Minister also declined to specify the delivery time to Ukraine to avoid revealing this information to Russia. T

he Netherlands announced at the end of May that, with the support of other countries, they aimed to gather and deliver the Patriot to Ukraine in the short term.

 

Politico: US Allows Ukraine to Strike Russian Border Forces "Anywhere" If Threatened

The US told Ukraine it could use American weapons to strike "anywhere" against Russian border forces attacking from their side of the border, not just in the Kharkiv region.

The publication  notes this slight change in messaging from US officials occurred a few weeks after the US gave Kyiv the "green light" to strike inside Russia in response to a cross-border attack on Kharkiv. At that time, US officials emphasized that this policy was limited to the Kharkiv region.

Since then, Ukrainian forces have used American weapons at least once to strike Russian territory, destroying targets in Belgorod and managing to halt the Russian advance. Ukrainian and other European officials have pressured the US to further relax restrictions, allowing Ukraine to strike anywhere in Russia.

Sullivan stated in a PBS interview that the agreement with Ukraine on using American weapons to strike Russia extends to "any place where Russian forces cross the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to seize more Ukrainian territory."

Recently, Russia stated it might soon advance on the northeastern city of Sumy, also near the Russian border. If this happens, the policy of allowing strikes with provided weapons will apply there, Sullivan said.

 

White House Confirms: Patriot and NASAMS Missiles Will Be Supplied to Ukraine on a Priority Basis

The White House confirmed that the United States would prioritize the supply of anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine over other countries that have placed similar orders.

According to Kirby, the US government made the "difficult but necessary decision" to change the priorities of the nearest planned deliveries of foreign military products to other countries in favor of Ukraine.

Among these, the White House representative mentioned "missiles for Patriot and NASAMS."

Previously, several media outlets, including the Financial Times, announced that the US intended to halt all open orders for interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems until Ukraine had sufficient equipment to defend against Russian air attacks.

 

Stoltenberg: NATO Summit to Discuss Ukraine Becoming an Alliance Member

Ahead of the NATO summit in Washington, scheduled for July 9-11, allies are discussing and resolving many issues regarding Ukraine, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg spoke about the Alliance's agreed plan for training and assisting Ukraine in the security sector. He also added that he expects new announcements about providing more military support to Ukraine.

"I am confident that we will also have a statement that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance... The exact wording of what we will agree on is currently being discussed among NATO members, but I am confident that by the summit, we will have a good agreement on the decision."

He is convinced that the stronger the Alliance's support and the more reliable the long-term commitments to Ukraine, the sooner the war will end.

 

The project «Ukraine: realities» is implemented by the News agency «Konkurent» together with the Civic Movement «SVIDOMI» in English for readers from other countries to tell to tell about current news and events in Ukraine.

Проєкт «Ukraine: realities» реалізовується Інформаційним агентством «Конкурент» спільно з Громадянським Рухом «СВІДОМІ» на англійській мові для читачів з інших країн аби розповісти про актуальні новини та події в Україні.