Key developments on June 14:
- Zelensky says Putin's ultimatum on peace talks is a 'revival of Nazism'
- Putin claims Russia has almost 700,000 soldiers fighting in Ukraine
- Ukraine's 68th Jaeger Brigade says it 'destroyed entire Russian tank company'
- Germany announces new military aid package for Ukraine, including HIMARS, Leopards
- Ukrainian women shared their accounts of rape by Russian forces. We found their assailants
President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 14 rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's conditions for peace talks, comparing them to Adolf Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938-1939.
Putin said earlier on June 14 that, as a condition for peace negotiations, Ukrainian troops must leave Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. He added that Ukraine must recognize Russia's illegal annexation of the regions and abandon any ambition to join NATO.
According to Putin, Ukraine also must recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are partially controlled by Russian troops. Russia claims to have annexed the whole territory of those regions despite not controlling two regional capitals - Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Speaking to Italy's Sky news channel during the G7 summit, Zelensky said that "these messages are ultimatums, and they are no different from any other ultimatums (Putin) made in the past."
"What he's doing is a revival of Nazism," Zelensky said. "He wants us to renounce our occupied territories but he also wants our unoccupied territories. He doesn't intend to stop, and there will be no frozen conflict."
Zelensky also compared Putin's ultimatum to Hitler's demand for annexing Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in 1938, when he claimed that he would not go further.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelensky's chief of staff, said in a post on X that the proposal was "highly offensive to international law and speaks eloquently about the incapacity of the current Russian leadership to adequately assess reality."
He added the demands effectively amounted to "give us your territories.. give up your sovereignty… leave yourselves unprotected."
"It's all a complete sham," he added.
Chris York
Putin claims Russia has almost 700,000 soldiers fighting in Ukraine
Almost 700,000 Russian troops are fighting in Ukraine, Putin said on June 14 while speaking at a public event with Russian military personnel.
Putin claimed in December 2023 that there were 617,000 military personnel fighting in Ukraine.
Andrii Yusov, the spokesperson of Ukraine's military intelligence agency, responded on Dec. 15 that the true number was around 450,000 and that Russia is exaggerating the figures to "increase information pressure on our country."
Reuters reported in December, citing a declassified U.S. intelligence report, that Russia had lost 315,000 troops in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, representing nearly 90% of the military personnel it had in February 2022.
According to Ukrainian figures, over 500,000 Russian troops have now been killed, injured, or captured fighting in Ukraine.
Ukraine's 68th Jaeger Brigade says it 'destroyed entire Russian tank company'
Ukraine's 68th Jaeger Brigade released a video on June 14 purporting to show its forces taking out an entire Russian tank company during fighting in the Pokrovsk area, in Donetsk Oblast.
According to a post on Facebook, eight Kremlin tanks and eight infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) were destroyed.
Later on June 14 in comments to Ukrinform, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesman for the Khortytsia grouping of forces, confirmed the brigade's claims.
"In the Pokrovsk axis, our Defense Forces destroyed eight Russian tanks and put two more out of order. That’s 10 in total. This makes up a tank company," he said.
"In addition, in this section of the front, during the said period, our defenders destroyed eight more armored fighting vehicles, two artillery systems, and four other vehicles (one more damaged)."
Watch the video here.
Nate Ostiller
Germany announces new military aid package for Ukraine, including HIMARS, Leopards
Germany has announced a new military aid package for Ukraine that includes three HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, and 10 Leopard main battle tanks, the country's defense ministry announced on June 14.
The package also includes two IRIS-T air defense systems, 21,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition, and two Beaver bridge-laying vehicles.
Berlin announced last month that it planned to up its military aid to Ukraine by another 3.8 billion euros ($4.13 billion) in 2024, Reuters reported on May 21, citing an undisclosed source.
The news agency confirmed an earlier article by the tabloid Bild, which also said that the sum of over 7 billion euros, previously approved by Germany's parliament for this year, has been almost entirely allocated to various projects.
As only around 300 million euros (roughly $325 million) were left for additional weapons or ammunition purchases, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had requested the additional funds with the backing of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Bild reported.
Initially a hesitant partner, Berlin has become Ukraine's second-largest military donor after the U.S..
Francis Farrell
Ukrainian women shared their accounts of rape by Russian forces
The day after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Maryna discovered she was expecting a boy. Fearing it might be the last time she would be able to get to a hospital, she queued for hours at checkpoints to attend the ultrasound appointment and learn the gender of her baby. She was 16 years old and five months pregnant.
There was no time to celebrate the news from the hospital scan – she had to decide where to shelter as the Russian troops rolled in. Fleeing to the tiny village of Krasnivka in the southern Kherson Oblast, where her mother lived, she hoped she would be safe. But the soldiers came.
In a powerful interview for a documentary from the Kyiv Independent, Maryna gives a chilling account of what happened next.
(Updated: )
