Live: Ukraine Media
The United States and China reported on the results of talks between top diplomats:
🔸 Blinken noted that the United States will continue to promote its vision of a free and open world and support a rules-based international order. The Secretary of State invited his counterpart to Washington, and they agreed to schedule a visit on a date that would be convenient for both sides.
🔸 Chinese counterpart Qin Gang expressed his regret to Blinken that US-China relations are "at their worst level ever", as it is not beneficial to both sides and the world.
🔸 The Chinese top diplomat recalled Beijing's position on Taiwan and noted that this is "the most important issue in the relationship and the most obvious risk."
🔸 They also confirmed the agreement to schedule a visit to Washington.
🔸 Both communiqués do not directly mention Ukraine
Zelensky: Not a single Patriot has been destroyed in Ukraine
The former owner of Chelsea, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, refuses to sign an agreement on the transfer of funds from the sale of the football club to Ukraine. It is about £2.3 billion.
Abramovich wants part of the money to go to the victims from Russia, but the British government and the European Commission are against it.
Russian media report that a car carrying Volodymyr Epifanov, who was appointed by the occupiers as an assistant to the "deputy prime minister" of Zaporizhzhia region, exploded in Simferopol. He, his bodyguard and secretary were hospitalized with burns. According to preliminary data, a gas cylinder exploded.
The Ukrainian prisoners of war handed over by Russia to Hungary are still there, and the prospects for their return to Ukraine are uncertain, said Ivan Angelin, an adviser to the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances.
Peskov says Russian occupiers will not allow UN representatives to visit left bank of Kherson region flooded after Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion because it is "difficult to guarantee security"
The SBU detained an employee of Ukrzaliznytsia who turned out to be a Russian agent.
The resident of Pavlohrad was recruited in early 2023. He was an employee of a local station and passed on to the Russians the routes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment involved in the counteroffensive. The agent also planned to blow up a railway in Dnipropetrovs'k region. He faces life imprisonment for high treason.
Ukraine has not received (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/world/europe/ukraine-weapons-howitzers-contracts.html) some of the weapons it paid for, and some donated weapons are only good for spare parts - NYT, citing sources and official documents of the Ukrainian government.
The publication notes that problems are inevitable in a large-scale procurement like Ukraine's.
The NYT cites Italy's delivery of 33 howitzers as an example. According to the video, smoke was coming out of the engine of one of them, and coolant was leaking from the other.
It is noted that Ukrainian officials have mostly refrained from complaining about faulty equipment in order not to embarrass their suppliers.
Yesterday, the Danish defense minister said his country is ready to provide F-16s if the United States approves it. We are excited to add to this list.