Russia-Ukraine battle: Checklist of key occasions, day 1,204

These are the important thing occasions on day 1,204 of Russia’s battle on Ukraine.

Right here’s the place issues stand on Thursday, June 12:

Combating

• A concentrated, nine-minute-long Russian drone assault on Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis of Kharkiv in the course of the night time killed six folks and injured 64, together with 9 youngsters, Ukrainian officers have mentioned.
• The Ukrainian army mentioned it had struck a significant Russian gunpowder plant within the western Tambov area in a single day, inflicting a fireplace on the website.
• Russian mechanised infantry items have reached the western border of Ukraine’s Donetsk area and, together with a tank division, are persevering with their offensive in opposition to the adjoining Dnipropetrovsk area, Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned.
• Russia’s air defence methods destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones in a single day, the Defence Ministry mentioned on Wednesday. Half of the drones have been downed over the southern Voronezh area, whereas the remainder have been intercepted over the Kursk, Tambov, Rostov area and the Crimean Peninsula.
• Ukraine has introduced dwelling the our bodies of 1,212 troopers killed in its battle in opposition to Russia, Kyiv officers mentioned. The Kremlin mentioned Ukraine returned the our bodies of 27 Russian troopers.

Regional safety

• Russia despatched long-range Tu-22M3 bomber planes on a flight over the Baltic Sea, Russia’s Defence Ministry mentioned, in what gave the impression to be a mission geared toward sending a message of business-as-usual following the beautiful June 1 Ukrainian assault on Russian airbases in Siberia.
• Russia’s nuclear functionality didn’t endure vital injury because of the Ukrainian assaults on its airfields, and the size of the injury has been exaggerated, the nation’s Deputy International Minister Sergei Ryabkov claimed.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin, talking on state tv, mentioned 95 p.c of weapons in Russia’s strategic nuclear forces have been totally updated.

Worldwide relations

• The US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, mentioned the Ukrainian drone assault on Russian strategic bombers at their airbases earlier this month was “badass” but additionally “a bit of bit reckless, and a bit of bit harmful”.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing a convention of southeast European leaders within the Black Sea port of Odesa, mentioned Russia was decided to destroy the south of his nation in addition to close by Moldova and Romania, as he referred to as for elevated stress on Moscow to stop additional army threats.
• Serbia’s Kremlin-friendly populist President Aleksandar Vucic travelled to Odesa for the regional summit. It’s the first time the chief has visited Ukraine throughout his 12 years in energy.
• Finland’s Ministry for International Affairs mentioned it had summoned a Russian diplomat over a suspected June 10 violation of Finnish airspace by Russian plane, the second such occasion in beneath three weeks.
• Slovakia is not going to again the European Union’s 18th bundle of sanctions in opposition to Russia except the European Fee supplies an answer to the scenario the nation faces if the bloc phases out Russian power as deliberate, the nation’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has mentioned.
• Germany’s imports of products from Russia fell by 95 p.c within the 2021-2024 interval, whereas its exports of products to Russia have been lower by 72 p.c, the nation’s statistics workplace Destatis has reported.
• The EU as an entire lower its imports from Russia by 78 p.c and exports by 65 p.c over the identical timeframe, resulting in a commerce deficit of 4.5 billion euros ($5.1bn) in 2024 in contrast with 147.5 billion euros ($170bn) in 2022, Destatis added.

Russian affairs

• A court docket in western Russia has dominated that opposition politician Lev Shlosberg be positioned beneath home arrest for 2 months and face unspecified restrictions on his actions for “discrediting” the Russian military after describing the battle in Ukraine as a sport of “bloody chess”. He faces as much as 5 years in jail if convicted.
• Russian dissident Leonid Volkov, a outstanding ally of late opposition chief Alexey Navalny, was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in jail for spreading faux information concerning the battle in Ukraine and “justifying terrorism”.