Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy says gains made in all sectors

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Russian missiles struck a crowded area of restaurants on Tuesday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, killing at least two people and injuring another 22 people, Ukraine's interior minister said. Emergency services were at the scene helping the injured.

"Two missiles struck the city of Kramatorsk," regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television. "This is the city center. These were public eating places crowded with civilians."

The strikes occurred in mid-evening. Pictures posted on social media showed parts of some buildings reduced to rubble and smashed building materials scattered on the ground.

Kramatorsk is a major city located to the west of the front lines in Donetsk region and a likely key objective in any Russian advance to move westward to capture all of the region. It lies about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the frontline. 

The city has been a frequent target of Russian attacks, including a strike on the town's railway station in April 2022 that killed 63 people.

The United States will provide Ukraine with a new military package worth up to $500 million (€456 million) to bolster Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces.

The package "includes key capabilities to support Ukraine's counteroffensive operations, strengthen its air defenses ... and other equipment to help Ukraine push back on Russia's war of aggression," the Pentagon said in a statement.

According to the statement, the package will include Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker armored personnel carriers, mine-clearing equipment, and munition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.

The package is being funded using the Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA, which authorizes the president to transfer articles and services from US stocks without congressional approval during an emergency. The material will come from US excess inventory.

The security assistance package is the 41st approved by the United States for Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The total aid from the US so far amounts to over $37 billion.

The package comes just days after Russia's own military capacity appeared to fray following a mutiny by its privately run Wagner mercenary force.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna spoke to DW about the Wagner mutiny in Russia over the weekend and its impact on the war in Ukraine.

"Nothing changes," she said. "Whatever happens to Russia, our goal is the victory on the battlefield."

"De-occupation of our areas, pushing back Russians to their Russian borders… and seeking justice for the victims of this war," Stefanishyna said, referring to Ukraine's war goals.

As for the Wagner mutiny itself, the deputy prime minister said that "the whole world should watch" but it should not get involved.

Ukraine's government reprimanded Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko and other city officials over the state of bomb shelters following the deaths of three people locked out on the street during a Russian air raid.

The government said it had dismissed the heads of two districts under the Kyiv military administration, as well as two acting heads of districts.

Uncertainty about Klitschko's political future grew after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized city officials over the June 1 incident, in which two women and a girl were killed by falling debris after rushing to a Kyiv shelter and finding it shut.

Zelenskyy ordered an audit of all bomb shelters after the deaths and said personnel changes would be made. The audit found only 15% of Kyiv's 4,655 bomb shelters were suitable and only 44% were freely accessible.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on NATO to issue Kyiv a "political invitation" to join the military alliance. 

"There is every reason for a political invitation for Ukraine to join the Alliance," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine's president also reiterated demands for security guarantees if Kyiv is not given NATO membership in the near future. He said there was "a full understanding of the security guarantees for Ukraine until the moment of accession" but did not give further details.

Top Ukrainian officials have in recent weeks stepped up their calls for getting a formal invitation to join NATO as the alliance gears up for a summit in Vilnius in July.  

Last week, head of the Ukrainian presidential staff Andriy Yermak said the summit's failure to reach a "strong" decision on Ukraine's membership would demoralize Ukrainians, adding that Kyiv had proved its readiness with its fighting on the battlefield. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has, however, ruled out the possibility of the Vilnius summit resulting in a formal invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance. 

The German defense contractor Rheinmetall said it would send 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine next year.

The contract for the tanks came from the Netherlands and Denmark. The two countries agreed to pay for the upgrading of German industrial stock tanks rather than sending tanks from their own stock.

The first Leopard 2 tank from Rheinmetall is expected to arrive in Ukraine in January 2024.

Several European countries have already provided Ukraine with the German-made tanks, considered among the most advanced available.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information about the whereabouts of the founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin, who led the recent short-lived uprising, was expected to be exiled to Belarus under a deal struck with Moscow that effectively halted his plans of marching on the Russian capital.

"I don't have any data and can't say anything," Peskov told reporters when asked about reports that suggested Prigozhin arrived in Belarus earlier on Tuesday.

Peskov also refrained from providing information about the mercenaries' fate. He referred to a previous comment by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when asked whether Wagner would continue operating in Africa. 

Lavrov said Wagner forces would continue their work in Mali and the Central Africa Republic. 

A report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said Russian forces summarily executed 77 civilians being held in arbitrary detention. 

According to the report, 864 individual cases of arbitrary detention by Russia were documented in Ukraine. 

"We documented the summary execution of 77 civilians while they were arbitrarily detained by the Russian Federation," Matilda Bogner, head of the mission, told a press briefing in Geneva.

The figure included 72 men and five women, the report said, adding that two male detainees died due to torture, inhumane detention conditions and denial of medical care. 

"Russian armed forces, law enforcement and penitentiary authorities engaged in widespread torture and ill-treatment of civilian detainees," said Bogner. 

The UN office said the report findings were based on 1,136 interviews with victims and witnesses, 274 site visits and 70 visits to official places of detention run by Ukrainian authorities.

"Most of those we interviewed said they had been tortured and ill-treated, and in some cases subjected to sexual violence," which included rape, Bogner told reporters. 

"The vast majority of these cases were perpetrated by the Russian Federation."

Russia's Defense Ministry said it was carrying out exercises over the Baltic Sea with tactical fighter jets. The ministry said the main goal of the drills was to test readiness to perform combat and special tasks operations.

"The crews of the Su-27 (fighter jets) of the Baltic Fleet fired from airborne weapons at cruise missiles and mock enemy aircraft," the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

"The main goal of the exercise is to test the readiness of the flight crew to perform combat and special tasks as intended," it added. 

The ministry also said the fighter jet crews are on "round-the-clock combat duty" guarding the air space of Russia's Kaliningrad exclave.

The remarks come a day after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg observed joint military exercises in Lithuania, where German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced Berlin's readiness to deploy 4,000 troops to strengthen the alliance's eastern flank. 

Lithuania borders the Russian Kaliningrad exclave.

The British Defence Ministry said in its regular intelligence update that Ukrainian forces "made small advances" east from the Krasnohorivka village near Donetsk city in eastern Ukraine. 

According to the report, the recent gains mark "one of the first instances since Russia's February 2022 invasion that Ukrainian forces have highly likely recaptured an area of territory" that had been occupied by Moscow's forces since 2014.

Ukrainian attacks in the eastern Donbas region have "likely overstretched" the Russia-allied forces of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic as well as Chechen troops in the area, the report added. 

Senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky is arguing for Moscow to build up a professional army of 7 million soldiers. 

Slutsky is the head of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LPDR).

"The country does not need any PMCs (private military companies) and their likes," Slutsky said.

"There are problems in the regular army, but PMCs cannot solve them."

Slutsky made the comments after the Wagner private military company conducted a mutiny against Russia's military leadership.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is set to meet with South African counterpart Naledi Pandor in Pretoria, where Ukraine is expected to be high on the agenda. 

"When the country of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu raises his voice against injustice, the world listens," Baerbock said before leaving for South Africa.

Baerbock said that she wanted to "talk about how South Africa can bring its weight to the table to end Russian aggression and uphold the UN Charter."

The minister praised the African peace initiative headed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

South Africa has adopted a policy of neutrality on Ukraine.

Bulgaria has approved a new military aid package for Ukraine.

The government press office said that the Cabinet of Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov approved a new "military and military technology" aid package for Ukraine last Friday.

The statement said that the package would be similar in size to Sofia's first aid package to Kyiv from the end of 2022.

The war in Ukraine has generated a rift between the government and President Rumen Radev, who argues Sofia should not join an EU initiative to supply Kyiv with ammunition.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that Kyiv's forces had "advanced in all directions."

"Today, our warriors have advanced in all directions, and this is a happy day," he said. "I wished the guys more days like this."

Zelenskyy traveled to the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut and the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.

He said that he handed out several awards, including two Hero of Ukraine decorations.

On Monday, Kyiv announced the recapture of another village in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that 17 square kilometers (6.5 square miles) in the region had been recaptured over the past week.

Ukraine is currently launching a major counteroffensive to retake land that was seized by Russian forces. 

sdi/wd (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)