Latest developments:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that representatives from the International Criminal Court visited the Kherson region following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.
- U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting White House talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
A Ukrainian official said Monday the country’s troops retook control of Storozhov, a village in the Donetsk region as they conduct a counteroffensive aimed at reclaiming territory seized by Russia.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar thanked a marine brigade in a Telegram post, saying the Ukrainian flag was flying over Storozhov. She said the scene would repeat in every area until Ukrainian forces liberate all of Ukraine’s land.
The development came a day after Ukrainian officials said their troops recaptured three other villages in the area: Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka.
Ukraine’s armed forces general staff said Monday that during the past day there had been heavy fighting elsewhere in Donetsk, including in Bakhmut, and in the Luhansk region.
NATO drills
In Germany, NATO was beginning the largest air deployment exercise in its history with 250 aircraft from 25 nations.
Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz said last week the exercise had been in planning since 2018 when it was conceived in response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
Highlighting that NATO is a defensive alliance, Gerhartz said the exercise, which will last until June 23, would not involve sending any aircraft toward Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave that borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
In addition to NATO members, other participants include Japan as well as Sweden, which has applied to join NATO and received the necessary approval from all but two existing members.
Kakhovka dam
In his nightly video address Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decried Russian attacks on evacuation routes for civilians escaping areas flooded after last week’s destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.
“It was an evacuation from Kardashynka, a village on the left bank of Kherson region. … The occupiers created this disaster by blowing up a dam, leaving people to their fate in flooded towns and villages, and then shelling the boats that are trying to take people away,” he said. [[ https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/duzhe-vazhlivo-sho-predstavniki-mizhnarodnogo-pravosuddya-na-83553 ]]
There have also been concerns about the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant after the dam breach dramatically lowered the levels of water available for cooling operations.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday it needs to access areas around the plant to verify current water levels.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement he expects IAEA experts will be able to go to the site soon. He plans to travel the plant this week.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
