list of key events, day 853

Here is the situation on Thursday 27 June 2024.

Battler

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited soldiers defending the Donetsk Eastern Front region and introduced Brigadier General Andriy Hnatov, the new commander of the joint forces. Hnatov’s main tasks include “preserving the lives of as many fighters as possible” while repelling Russian invading forces, Zelenskyy said in a video. The footage was recorded in front of the Pokrovsk sign, where five people were killed and dozens injured in Russian attacks earlier this week.
• Five Lithuanians were injured when their vehicle came under fire while transporting aid to troops in Pokrovsk, officials and team members said. “All five of us are in hospital,” Sigitas Maliauskas, one of the Lithuanians, told the AFP news agency via Facebook. One of the volunteers had his leg amputated, a colleague said.
• Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, said the situation in the border town of Vovchansk was “unstable” amid intense fighting with Russian invading forces. He said that several dozen Russian soldiers were trapped inside an industrial plant in the city, and that Moscow was also using planes to attack Vovchansk, which is about 5 km (three miles) from the border.
• A Russian missile attack hit the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa, damaging an administrative building, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. No casualties were reported.

Politics and diplomacy

• Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich has been tried behind closed doors in Russia on espionage charges. Gershkovich, an American citizen, appeared on a glass-walled pier with his head shaved. He and the Journal have strenuously denied the allegations. The United States designated the journalist as “wrongfully detained.” The next hearing will be held on August 13.
• Russia said it had ordered Carola Schneider, Austrian broadcaster ORF’s chief Moscow correspondent, to leave the country in what it called a “forced retaliatory move” after Vienna’s decision to revoke the correspondent’s accreditation head of the state news agency TASS in Austria.
• The European Union announced sanctions against Belarus “to fill the largest gap in our sanctions regime” against Russia, the EU presidency said in a statement. This week the bloc adopted its 14th package of sanctions against Russia over its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• The US Justice Department said it charged 22-year-old Russian Amin Timovich Stigal with conspiring to hack and destroy computer systems and data in Ukraine and allied countries, including the United States, and announced a $10 million reward. dollars for information on his whereabouts.
• NATO has chosen Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the organization’s next secretary general, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg. Rutte, who is a staunch supporter of Ukraine, will begin his new role on October 1.
• Russian pranksters using the aliases “Vovan and Lexus” have released footage of a video call with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron after tricking him into believing he was talking to former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The Foreign Office did not comment on the authenticity of the video but acknowledged earlier this month that the call had taken place. “Vovan and Lexus” are well known in Russia for deceiving a number of Western politicians over the years, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Weapons

• The EU is expected to sign a security agreement with President Zelenskyy on Thursday. The agreement will outline the EU’s commitment to help Ukraine in nine areas of security and defense policy, including arms deliveries, military training, defense industry cooperation and mine clearance, according to a draft seen by the agency Reuters press.