Russo-Ukraine War - June 2024

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

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Russia sends soldiers into meat assaults, but does not take back corpses.

The total number of Russian casualties (killed and wounded) since the start of the war in February 2022 has now likely reached 500,000. Russian losses have continued at a high level in 2024, and in May average Russian personnel casualties were over 1,200 per day - the highest reported since the start of the war. The elevated casualty rate was highly likely a reflection of Russia's ongoing attritional offensive which is being conducted across a wide front. It was highly likely that most Russian forces receive only limited training, and they are unable to carry out complex offensive operations. As a result, Russia employs small-scale but costly wave attacks in an effort to weaken Ukrainian defences. Russia continues to recruit additional forces to sustain this approach. However, the need to continuously replenish front line personnel will almost certainly continue to limit Russia's ability to generate higher capability units.

The months-long delay in U.S. military assistance allowed Russia to take the initiative and launch offensives across the theater...it is going to take a while for Ukraine to stabilize the lines and hold off the current and upcoming Russian offensives. Very large overnight #attack by Russia on #Ukraine: 53 missiles of various types, 47 Shahed drones. 35 missiles shot down, 46 Shaheds (81% shootdown rate.) Energy company DETEK reports serious damage to 2 heat-power plants. Sixth attack on energy infrastructure in 2.5 months. Russian forces carried out a significant strike on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, causing widespread damage that is still being evaluated, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko reported on June 1.

On May 31, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to hit targets in what Washington considers Russian territory. Notably, on May 31, Germany confirmed the possibility that its weapons could be used near Kharkov region.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby disclosed 03 June 2024 that Washington has so far only given Kiev permission to use American weapons to hit targets in the part of Russia bordering Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, but won’t rule out the further loosening of restrictions and expanding the geography of such cross-border strikes. Kirby was up front that while the policy, with respect to prohibiting the use of ATACMS, or long-range strikes, inside of Russia has not changed, he wouldn’t rule out “any additional policy changes,” which will depend on the battlefield situation and “where things go and what the Ukrainians need.” Kirby said “We’re not going to turn our back on what Ukraine needs. And we’re going to continue to try to, again, evolve our support to them as the battlefield evolves as well”.

Moscow is prepared to arm the enemies of the US in response to Washington and its allies sending weapons to Ukraine, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on 06 May 2024. President Vladimir Putin floated the possibility of such an “asymmetric” response at Wednesday’s meeting with foreign news agencies, but pointed out the suggestion was only under consideration. “This is a rather significant change of our foreign policy,” Medvedev said in a post on his English-language X (formerly Twitter) account. Until now, he said, “the Yankees and their drooling dogs” felt entitled to send all sorts of weapons to Ukraine, to destroy Russia “by any means possible,” while threatening anyone who would provide Moscow with weapons or other materials for its defense. “Now, may the United States and its allies experience firsthand the direct use of Russian weapons by third parties,” Medvedev added. “These persons, or regions have been intentionally left unnamed, but it can be all those who consider the Yankeeland & Co their enemy, regardless of their political outlook and international recognition.”

On 12 June 2024 the US and the UK launched another wave of sanctions against Russia this week, expanding their definition of Moscow’s war effort to target individuals and companies around the world allegedly helping it. The US Treasury Department openly stated that its objective was to raise “the risk of secondary sanctions for foreign financial institutions” that deal with Russia, threatening to deprive them of access to Western finance. Announcing the package, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed Russia has fully transitioned into a “war economy” and is now “deeply isolated” from the international financial system. “Today’s actions strike at their remaining avenues for international materials and equipment, including their reliance on critical supplies from third countries,” Yellen asserted.The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) suspended trading in dollars and euros, the move having been prompted by a new sanctions package unveiled by the US Treasury earlier in the day.

Speaking at a meeting with senior Russian Foreign Ministry officials on 14 June 2024, Putin said that Kiev would have to cede all the territory of four regions that chose to join Russia and guarantee it would never join NATO before peace talks could begin. Ukraine must remove its troops from Russia’s new regions before any meaningful peace talks can begin, President Vladimir Putin said. Moscow rejects Kiev’s claims of sovereignty over five formerly Ukrainian regions. "I stress: the entire territory of those regions as defined by their administrative borders at the time they joined Ukraine [in August 1991],” Putin stated. The demand would increase the area occupied by Russia to more than 22% of Ukraine.

“Our side will order a ceasefire and start negotiations the minute Kiev declares that it is prepared to take this decision and starts actual withdrawal of troops from those regions, and also formally informs us that it no longer plans to join NATO,” the Russian leader pledged. “We are counting on Kiev to take such a decision on withdrawal, neutral status, and dialogue with Russia, on which the future existence of Ukraine depends, independently based on the current realities and guided by the true interests of the Ukrainian people and not at Western orders,” Putin stated. “In the future, all those basic principled positions have to be enshrined in fundamental international agreements. Naturally, that includes the lifting of all Western sanctions against Russia,” Putin stated.

The terms Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined for ending the conflict are an “ultimatum” to Ukraine and as such unacceptable, Vladimir Zelensky said 14 June 2024. “What can I say? These messages are ultimatum messages, they are nothing different than other ultimatums that he has made before,” Zelensky told the TV network Sky TG24 while attending the G7 meeting in the south of Italy. “He wants us to give up part of our occupied territories, but he also wants the unoccupied ones. He talks about regions of our country, and he won’t stop,” Zelensky claimed.

NATO Secreaty General Jens Stoltenberg said: "Putin's new proposal is even more aggression and occupation... This is not a bona fide proposal. It is not Ukraine that should withdraw troops from Ukrainian territory, it is Russia that should withdraw its troops from occupied Ukrainian land."

US President Joe Biden and Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky have signed a 10-year security agreement, under which Washington has pledged to continue to back Kiev in its conflict with Moscow. The deal was signed on the sidelines of the G7 summit in southern Italy on Thursday. Under the agreement, the US has promised to “help deter and confront any future aggression against the territorial integrity” of Ukraine and to “support Ukraine’s efforts to win today’s war and deter future Russian military aggression.” Biden told reporters after the signing ceremony “A lasting peace for Ukraine must be underwritten by Ukraine’s own ability to defend itself now and to deter future aggression”. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the deal a “scrap of paper” and claimed “some press releases are more important” than the document. She cited the lack of specifics and judicially binding power when explaining her dismissive attitude.

“We will show Putin that we are completely behind Ukraine: we will chase the money and the oil, we will stop the gas, we will stop the ships, we will do everything we can to stop the Russian war machine and show Putin the folly of his actions,” Britain’s foreign secretary David Cameron told Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Cameron told the Italian outlet The UK is “hunting” companies that do business with Russia “all over the world,” he said. “We will sanction companies in China, in Türkiye, in Kyrgyzstan, even in Israel, that we believe are supplying dual-use material” to Russia.

The United States sees Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent proposals for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine as a call for Kiev's capitulation , said United States Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at a conference on the Ukrainian conflict in Switzerland. “Yesterday Putin put forward a proposal. However, we must voice the truth: he is not calling for negotiations, he is calling for [Kyiv’s] capitulation,” Harris said.

ln Volchansk the situation is consistently difficult. The assault detachments of the 153rd Tank Regiment and the soldiers of the Akhmat battalion refused to participate in the flghting on the front line. The orders of the command in the style of "forward, forthe Motherland" and problems with food supply were superimposed by a high intensity of shelling. The Akhmatova members were in the reinforcement group. And when the SHO refused to go on the assault, they supported them like brothers.