These are the key events so far on Monday 20 June. Get the latest updates here.
Militant
Russia is advancing as its forces occupy a village near the Ukrainian industrial city of Sheverodonetsk, a key target in Moscow’s campaign to take control of eastern Ukraine, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported. Luhansk Governor Serhi Haidai told Ukrainian television that the Russian allegations were false and that “they control most of the city, not the whole city.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he expects Russia to intensify its attacks on Ukraine as Kyiv awaits the European Union’s decision to grant it candidate status. Russia’s air force is underperforming in Ukraine, forcing Moscow to rely more than planned on depleted ground troops and advanced depleting cruise missiles, the UK Department of Defense has said. Ukraine’s deputy attorney general says Kyiv has launched 19 criminal proceedings against Russian soldiers for sexually abusing at least 14 women in the temporarily occupied territories. (Al Jazeera)
Diplomacy
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed confidence that Ukraine will receive formal candidate status ahead of a key EU summit in Brussels later this month. Ukraine is not a good candidate for EU membership, said Russian Parliament Speaker Viacheslav Volodin, citing “total corruption, rampant crime, oligarchic power and a devastated economy.” The United Kingdom must have an army capable of fighting in Europe and defeating Russia, said the new British army chief. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the war in Ukraine “could take years” and that the West should continue to support it, according to the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
Economy
Blocking the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain from Russia is a war crime, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Luxembourg on Monday. EU foreign ministers will discuss ways to release grain stuck in Ukraine at a meeting in Luxembourg. Russia has promised to resume gas supplies to Hungary, the Budapest foreign minister has said. Germany’s economy minister has said the country will reduce its use of gas to generate electricity amid concerns about possible shortages caused by a cut in supplies from Russia.
