Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

June 21, 2023

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Russia claims it intercepted Ukrainian drones en route to Moscow

A sign prohibiting unmanned aerial vehicles flying over the area on display near the State Historical Museum and the Kremlin wall in central Moscow, Russia, on May 3, 2023.

Evgenia Novozhenina | Reuters

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed Wednesday that it had intercepted three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on their approach toward “objects” in the Moscow region.

The drones were shot down with the help of electronic warfare, the ministry said, according to state news agency Tass.

“Today, an attempt by the Kiev [Russia’s spelling of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital] regime to carry out a terrorist attack on objects in the Moscow region with three aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles was thwarted. All UAVs were suppressed by electronic warfare, as a result of which they lost control and crashed,” the ministry said.

It added that there was no damage or casualties as a result of what it described as a “failed terrorist attack.”

Ukraine has not commented on the incident and says it does not attack objects in Russia itself, previously stating that such incidents were likely carried out by Kremlin opponents within the country.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia fortifying area in Kherson to block route to Crimea

“Russia has continued to expend significant effort building defensive lines deep in rear areas, especially on the approaches to occupied Crimea,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Wednesday.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Intense fighting continues in parts of southern Ukraine, but Britain’s Ministry of Defense noted that, over recent weeks, Russia is continuing to fortify occupied territory in the Kherson region near Russian-controlled Crimea.

“Russia has continued to expend significant effort building defensive lines deep in rear areas, especially on the approaches to occupied Crimea,” the ministry said in an intelligence update Wednesday.

“This includes an extensive zone of defences of 9 km in length, 3.5 km north of the town Armyansk, on the narrow bridge of land connecting Crimea to the Kherson region.”

These “elaborate defences” highlight the Russian command’s assessment that Ukrainian forces are capable of directly assaulting Crimea, the U.K. noted, adding that “Russia continues to see maintaining control of the peninsula as a top political priority.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine and friends in London to focus on recovery funding

International leaders, officials and investors are in London on Wednesday for a two-day “Ukraine Recovery Conference” focused on drumming up funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction once the war ends.

Ahead of the conference, which will be attended virtually by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the U.K. pledged a new package of financial support for Ukraine, including $3 billion of World Bank loan guarantees.

A destroyed playground at a local kindergarten in the town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, on May 26, 2023.

Sergey Bobok | Afp | Getty Images

In his opening address at the conference, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to say that Russia was hellbent on destroying Ukraine’s economy as its invasion continues.

“As we’ve seen in Bakhmut and Mariupol, what Russia cannot take it will seek to destroy. They want to do the same to Ukraine’s economy,” he said in pre-released remarks. “The scale of the challenge is real, the war brought a 29% fall in Ukraine’s GDP last year, but just look at the streets of Kyiv, despite the threat of attack, people are getting on with their lives – and getting on with business.”

On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined a 50 billion euro ($54.6 billion) aid package for Ukraine for the next four years. It would be in the form of a budget reserve from the EU’s 2021-27 budget.

Andrius Tursa, Central and Eastern Europe advisor at Teneo, commented that while the Ukraine Recovery Conference provides “an opportunity to advance still relatively early-stage discussions on the massive and challenging post-war reconstruction phase,” the war is set to continue for the foreseeable future “as the first weeks of Ukraine’s long-awaited offensive reaffirm expectations of slow and costly gains.”

— Holly Ellyatt

‘We are going through the munitions at a rate none of us expected,’ says Raytheon’s CEO

Defense firm Raytheon Technologies (RTX) is expecting another $3 billion in arms sales as countries look to restock their arsenals amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“We are going through the warcraft, we are going through the munitions at a rate none of us expected,” RTX CEO Greg Hayes told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show.

“We have seen $2 billion of orders related to Ukraine restocking. We expect another $3 billion this year but there are probably a multiple of that we will see over the three or four years,” Hayes added.

The United States has provided the lion’s share of security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s war. Last week, the Biden administration approved its 40th weapons package for Ukraine worth $325 million bringing the U.S. security assistance to more than $40 billion since Russia’s full-scale invasion last February.

— Amanda Macias

Waters slowly recede in parts of Kherson following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post contains graphic content depicting death in Kherson region.

Waters slowly recede in the Hola Prystan area of Kherson in eastern Ukraine following the collapse of Nova Kakhovka dam. Volunteers and municipal workers begin the gruesome task of clearing bodies in the Russian-controlled territory of the Kherson region after flood waters receded. Kyiv and Moscow both blame each other for the dam’s explosion.

Volunteers and municipal workers grab the body from a flooded house in the town of Hola Prystan in the Kherson region, Russian-controlled territory, after flood waters receded following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam, Ukraine on June 16, 2023.