list of key events, day 839

Here is the situation on Thursday 13 June 2024.

Battler

• At least nine people were killed and 29 injured, including five children, after Russian missiles hit an apartment building in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down more than two dozen aerial targets, including cruise missiles, a Kinzhal ballistic missile and Shahed drones that Russia launched across Ukraine. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region said the attack injured three people and damaged nine private homes, while the governor of the Kiev region said more than 100 people were working to put out the fire started by the attack.
• The Ukrainian military said it hit three Russian surface-to-air missile systems in Russian-occupied Crimea, near Belbek and Sevastopol. The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol said that air defenses repelled the missile attack and that no damage was done.
• The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Army Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov and the commanders of Russia’s five military districts, who presented him with “the plans to continue hostilities.”

Politics and diplomacy

• The United States has dramatically expanded sanctions against Russia, targeting more than 300 individuals and entities in Russia and elsewhere, including Asia, Europe and Africa, along with China-based companies that allegedly sell semiconductors to Moscow. The U.S. Treasury said it was also increasing “the risk of secondary sanctions for foreign financial institutions that deal with Russia’s war economy,” effectively threatening them with losing access to the U.S. financial system.
• National security adviser Jake Sullivan said US President Joe Biden and Zelenskiy will sign a bilateral security agreement between the US and Ukraine when they meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy on Thursday.

• British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will announce up to 242 million pounds ($309.7 million) in bilateral assistance to Ukraine at the summit to support Ukraine’s immediate humanitarian, energy and stabilization needs, his chief said. office.
• Zelenskyy made an unscheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, where he said he had had “productive and energetic” talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman focused on preparations for the June 15-16 peace summit in Switzerland and bilateral ties. Zelensky said he was grateful for Saudi Arabia’s support, but did not say whether the crown prince would attend the summit. Around 90 delegations are expected.
• Ukrainian lawmakers have announced a bill that would allow companies to exempt their employees from military service by paying $500 a month for each exempt worker.

Weapons

• Russia carried out electronic missile launches as part of a second phase of exercises on how to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry said. Footage released by the Defense Ministry showed Russian sailors focusing on a dummy target and then counting down to launch, including pressing the “launch” button.
• Hungary agreed not to block NATO financial and military support for Ukraine, but said it would not participate either. Earlier this year, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the security alliance wanted to secure long-term arms deliveries to Kiev and set up a 100 billion euro ($108 billion) fund for weapons. The deal with Hungary paves the way for an agreement on the package at next month’s NATO summit in Washington.
• Russia said soldiers and sailors from the Leningrad Northern Military District, bordering NATO members Norway, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, had joined drills to deploy tactical nuclear weapons that began this week with Belarus . The move appears to broaden the geography of the exercises to include soldiers from military districts along nearly the entirety of Russia’s European border, which stretches from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea.