Here are the key events on day 1,209 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
This is how things stand on Tuesday, June 17:
Battlefield
- A massive attack overnight on Kyiv killed at least 14 people and wounded 44, officials in the Ukrainian capital said on Tuesday. Russia struck 27 locations around the city with missiles and drones, damaging residential buildings, educational institutions and critical infrastructure facilities. Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said a further six people were injured in strikes in Odesa on the Black Sea, and another in Chernihiv, in the north.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at his country. Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said that a citizen of the United States was killed in the city’s Solomianskyi district.
- Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Zelenskyy, slammed the Russian strikes on residential buildings in Kyiv, accusing Moscow of “continuing its war against civilians”.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that air defence units intercepted and destroyed 147 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including the Moscow region, overnight.
- Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that two Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow had been repelled.
Diplomacy
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- In a clear continuation of Kyiv’s bid to persuade United States President Donald Trump to drop his support for Moscow, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha declared that the attack on Kyiv as the G7 summit was being held in Canada sent a signal of disrespect to the US and other partners who have called for an end to the war.
- Zelenskyy met with Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen and Chancellor Christian Stocker, and secured pledges of non-military aid. The two countries signed agreements on issues like de-mining, energy and cybersecurity. Austria has had a policy of neutrality in place since 1955.
- From Austria, Zelenskyy travelled to the G7 summit, where he pushed for sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine. Zelenskyy also discussed buying US weapons with Trump, but added that US military aid was not on the agenda.
- Ukraine said Russia has returned the bodies of 1,245 Ukrainians killed in the war, concluding the final stage of a deal to repatriate more than 6,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers, reached during two rounds of peace talks in Turkiye earlier this month. Russia’s Ministry of Defence disputed the figure, saying that the bodies of 1,248 Ukrainians had been returned.
- Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu arrived in North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, according to Russian state media. Shoigu’s second visit to Pyongyang in three months regards an unspecified “special” mission from President Putin. Kim has supplied Russia with thousands of troops and large shipments of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles, to support its war in Ukraine.
