Ukraine updates: No lost ground in counterattack, Kyiv says

Kyiv has lost no terrain amid a counteroffensive launched recently to reclaim territories occupied by Russia since its invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

Zelenskyy added during his nightly address that Ukrainian "warriors" were defending positions in certain areas while resisting Russian assaults in others.

"We have no lost positions. Only liberated ones. They have only losses," he said.

The president promised that Ukrainian flags would soon be flying "all over our south and all over our east." He thanked the fighters involved in the ongoing counteroffensive "for each liberated and each defended position."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar acknowledged the difficulty faced by Kyiv in its counteroffensive, but maintained that the "biggest blow" was yet to come.

Maliar said in a Telegram post that the Ukrainian military was moving forward as planned.

"The enemy will not easily give up their positions, and we must prepare ourselves for a tough duel," she added. "In fact, that is what is happening right now."

Ukraine is believed to have launched its long-awaited counteroffensive two weeks ago, following months of preparations. It hopes to reclaim nearly a fifth of its land, now under Moscow's occupation.

Here are some of the other developments concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Tuesday, June 20:

Nobel Prize winner tells DW the "war doesn't sell"

Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel prize laureate and editor-in-chief of Russia's independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta talked to DW on the sidelines of Global Media Forum in Bonn.

Muratov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has support within Russia, but it is mostly among the older generations.

"I can tell you the figures: about 80 percent of people under the age of 35 are against the special military operation, they want peace as soon as possible," he told DW. "But about the same number of elderly people demand victory."

He also believes support is falling.

"I have developed my own sociological method: once a week I check the price for T-Shirts with the symbols of the special military operation - letters V and Z. Over the last 482 days they have dropped in price by approximately 85 percent," he said.

"The war doesn't sell."

EU proposes €50 billion package to support Ukraine 

Ukraine is to receive €50 billion ($54.65 billion) in loans and grants from the European Union for the years 2024-27 under plans presented by the European Commission in Brussels.

The financial aid aims to provide perspective and predictability to Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told journalists.

The long-term package is to allow the EU to adapt "financial support according to the evolution of the situation on the ground" as Russia's war in Ukraine "requires utmost flexibility" from Brussels, von der Leyen said.

The new financial support is subject to the approval of EU's 27 member states and the European Parliament.

Scholz calls on China to use its influence over Russia in Ukraine

After German-Chinese government consultations in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he appealed to the Chinese government to exert its influence on Russia over Moscow's war with Ukraine.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has "a very special task," Scholz said. He stressed that it is important that Beijing continues not to supply weapons "to the aggressor Russia."

Scholz stressed Ukraine's right to territorial integrity and sovereignty. "Peaceful coexistence worldwide is based on this rule-based international order, not on the power of the strongest." 

No country should regard other countries as their backyard and try to shift borders by force, he said. "Imperialism is never the solution."

Russian soldier gets €11,000 for destroying German tank

A Russian soldier who destroyed a German-made Leopard tank in a battle in Ukraine has been given a 1 million rouble (€10,820) reward by a private foundation, Russia's Defense Ministry said.

It published a video showing the soldier sitting on a hospital bed and receiving a reward certificate from Alexander Karelin, a three-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.

The ministry did not say when and where the soldier had destroyed the tank or what he was being treated for in hospital. In the video, he appeared to be missing his right hand.

Russia says its forces have destroyed a number of German-made Leopards and US-supplied Bradley fighting vehicles since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive earlier this month.

UN to support small and medium sized companies to rebuild Ukraine

Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises is one of the next goals in the reconstruction of Ukraine, according to the United Nations.

Much economic recovery can be achieved with financial start-up aid, Achim Steiner, head of the UN Development Agency (UNDP), said in Geneva.

"The order of magnitude is breathtaking and will continue to grow," he said the day before the second reconstruction conference is to start in London. 

The Ukraine Recovery Conference is due to bring together 1,000 foreign dignitaries from 61 states along with business chiefs and global investors. The first reconstruction conference took place a year ago in Lugano, Switzerland. 

Russia says Ukraine plans missile strikes on Crimea

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Ukraine was planning to attack Moscow-controlled Crimea with HIMARS long-range artillery systems and Storm Shadow missiles, and warned that Russia would retaliate.

Such strikes, which Russia considers to be outside the area of what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, would also mean full-scale involvement of the United States and Britain in the conflict, Shoigu said.

Russia seized and annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014. The illegal annexation was not recognized by Ukraine and most countries in the world.

Biden says threat of Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is 'real'

US President Joe Biden said the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is "real," days after denouncing Russia's deployment of such weapons in Belarus.

"When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy," Biden told a group of donors in California.

"They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It's real," Biden said.

On Saturday, Biden called Putin's announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus "absolutely irresponsible."

Russia launches 'massive' overnight drone attack: Ukraine

Russian forces launched a widespread drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other cities from east to west, Ukrainian officials said, although no immediate casualties were reported.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said this was the first attack in 18 days on the city to use Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones.

"According to the usual tactics for mass UAV attacks, drones entered the capital in waves, heading from different directions. The air alert lasted more than three hours," it said on Telegram.

"Almost two dozen enemy targets were detected and destroyed by the forces and means of our air defense in the airspace around Kyiv."

Most of the country spent the night with air raid sirens blaring for hours, according to preliminary information given by the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces. It later said that 30 drones were launched by Russian forces, of which 28 were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.

The military administration of Lviv, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the border with NATO member Poland, said Russia hit "critical infrastructure" in the city, sparking a fire.

So far, no casualties have been reported.

Yuriy Malashko, head of the military administration of the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine, said on Telegram that a number of Russian missiles had targeted telecommunication infrastructure and agriculture properties,

The reports of damage could not be independently verified. Russia has not commented on the latest attacks.

Ukraine says Hungary ignoring requests for contacting POWs

Ukraine has accused the Hungarian government of ignoring its requests to contact Ukrainian prisoners of war Kyiv claims had been secretly transferred from Russia.

"All attempts by Ukrainian diplomats over recent days to establish direct contact with Ukrainian citizens have failed," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on his Facebook page.

"This, as well as information received from the relatives of some of them, indicates that the Hungarian authorities' assurances of the alleged free status of Ukrainian defenders in Hungary are not true," he added.

Budapest said on June 9 that it had received 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia. Hungarian and international media quoted the Hungarian president's chief-of-staff as saying that the soldiers arrived in Hungary "on their own free will" and they could "freely" leave.

"We do not check or monitor them," chief-of-staff Gergely Gulyas was quoted as saying.

Hungary, a member of the European Union, had enjoyed strong ties with Moscow before the war, and it did not sever them after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Paris, Rome supply Ukraine with Samp/T air defense system

Ukraine is currently relying on the Samp/T air defense system, supplied by France and Italy, to defend itself against Moscow amid the ongoing battles, French President Emmanuel Macron said late on Monday.

The system, jointly developed by France and Italy since the start of the century, defends against aircraft and missiles.

Kyiv was relying on it to protect key facilities and human lives, Macron said.

Prague renamed street to impact some 5,000 residents

Some 5,000 residents of a 3.4 kilometer-long (roughly 2.11 miles) street in the Czech capital are bracing for a paperwork headache, after the government decided to rename a street due to the Russian war on Ukraine.

The Ivan Stepanovich Konev street, named after the Soviet general, will be renamed "Hartigova" as of October, a spokesman for the city council announced on Monday.

Residents will be obliged to change their identity cards and other documents within six months, to reflect their new address.

In April 2020, Prague disposed of a massive statue of Konev which was placed in the capital's Interbrigade Square, much to the ire of Moscow. Russia at the time branded it an "act of vandalism."

Ivan Stepanovich Konev is credited for liberating Prague from Nazi rule toward the end of World War II.

dh, rmt/nm, wd (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)