A Ukrainian soldier in the counter-offensive near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, June 2023

Friday’s Coverage: Russia Attacks Kyiv as African Leaders Visit

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1123 GMT:

The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Azman, has slapped down Vladimir Putin’s insult of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “a shame on the Jewish people”.

Azman responded to Putin’s remark on Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum:

I am proud of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who did not leave his people at the beginning of the war, although it was dangerous for his life, showed extraordinary courage and continues to defend the Ukrainian people. I and the entire Jewish community of Ukraine, like the entire free world, support President Zelenskiy.

Putin was trying to justify the Kremlin’s portrayal of the Ukraine Government as run by Nazis, even though Zelenskiy is Jewish.

UPDATE 1041 GMT:

Sweden has announced a 12th support package to Ukraine, worth 250 million crowns ($23.7 million).

The assistance includes provision for Ukrainian pilots to test flying Gripen fighter jets.

UPDATE 1031 GMT:

Four people have been killed by a Russian anti-tank missile in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

As Russian forces shelled the village of Huryiv Kozachok, the victims were struck in their car.

UPDATE 1002 GMT:

Video of the destruction of the house and works of the artist Polina Rayko, following the June 6 demolition of the Nova Kakhovka Dam and the flooding of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine:

Rayko lived in the town of Oleskhy, now under Russian occupation on the left (east) bank of the Dnipro River. She started painting at the age of 69 after the deaths of her husband and her daughter. After her death in 2004, her house was declared a national cultural monument.

Art historian Oksana Semenik says, “Her main and the only artwork was this house. We have lost her heritage and her physical presence.”

UPDATE 0942 GMT:

The latest Russian shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine has killed two civilians and injured 25, including a 15-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl, and an 11-year-old girl.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, spoke on Friday of a gradual advance by the counter-offensive in the south of the country.

Ukraine Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the center of fighting has shifted from the east to the south, with Ukrainian forces slowly advancing towards the road to the port cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk.

Practically in all sectors where our units are attacking in the south, they have registered tactical successes. They are gradually moving forward. At the moment, the advance is up to 2km in each direction.

The Minister said that Russia had “turned on all the forces to stop our offensive” in the east. And they are massing forces there to stop us.”

However, “in the south they are not very successful,” she explained. Even in the east, the counter-offensive had taken teritory around Bakhmut, the city finally seized by Russia last month after a year-long assault.

If we talk about losses, in the Bakhmut sector, nine times more Russians were killed than Ukrainians. And in the southern direction, Russians died 5.3 times more than Ukrainians.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskiy said, “Every soldier, every new step we take, every metre of Ukrainian land freed from the enemy is of utmost importance.”

Vladimir Putin continued to insisted that the Ukrainians were being devastated by Russian defenders. Maliar knocked back the propaganda and noted that Kyiv has not deployed much of its advanced forces, including 14 UK-made Challenger heavy battle tanks.