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Ukrainian Figure Skating Official Fired After Taking Part In Event In Russia [1]
['Rfe Rl']
Date: 2022-07-11 12:56:13+00:00
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Ukraine's allies to come up with concrete projects for the postwar development of the country as the United States, the European Union, and Britain pledged billions in reconstruction and recovery funds for Kyiv as it grapples with Russia's 16-month invasion.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
At the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on June 21, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU would give Ukraine 50 billion euros ($54.6 billion) for 2024-27, while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered $1.3 billion in additional aid. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled measures including $3 billion of additional guarantees to unlock World Bank lending for Ukraine.
The London conference is being attended by more than 1,000 public and private sector decision-makers.
Addressing the event via video link, Zelenskiy welcomed the pledges but called for a transition to concrete proposals that could not only help Ukraine recover from the devastating conflict but also put it on the right track to becoming a strong member of the Western community.
"At this conference, we must move from vision to agreements, and from agreements to real projects. There is a Ukrainian delegation in London that will present concrete things that we propose to do together," he said.
Von der Leyen said the 27-member bloc has a "special responsibility" toward Ukraine in the long term.
"This [50 billion euros] is for Ukraine's immediate needs. But let's talk about the future.... Ukrainians tell us that when they imagine their future, they see Europe's flag flying over their cities. And I have no doubt that Ukraine will be part of our union," she said.
The London gathering came hot on the heels of a fresh wave of Russian missile and drone strikes on several Ukrainian regions and the capital overnight.
In the eastern Donetsk region -- the focal point of the war in the east over the past several months -- two civilians were killed over the past day by Russian shelling in Kostyantynivka, the regional head of the military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on Telegram early on June 21.
WATCH: Ukrainian soldiers are advancing around Bakhmut atop captured Russian tanks. The fighting vehicles were seized by Ukrainian troops during counteroffensive operations in the Kharkiv region last year. The tanks were taken for repairs before being sent to attack Russian positions in Ukraine's embattled Donetsk region.
Russia targeted the Kyiv, Khmelnitskiy, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Poltava, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, and Zaporizhzhya regions, and the Ukrainian air defense said it shot down 32 out of 35 Iranian-made drones -- 20 of them above the capital.
Russia also launched seven guided missiles and one cruise missile at civilian infrastructure targets in the Zaporizhzhya region.
According to early estimates, the strikes caused material damage, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have made some gains in their advance on the Zaporizhzhya towns of Melitopol and Berdyansk, Andriy Kovalev, a spokesman for the General Staff, said early on June 21 in a post on Ukraine's Military Media Center's Telegram channel.
"On the directions Novodanilivka-Robotyne, Mala Tokmachka-Verbove, Vilne Pole-Makarivka, they had partial success. They are gaining ground," Kovalev said.
Ukrainian defenders continue to hold back the advance of Russian forces in the east of the country.
"Especially heavy fighting" is under way near Lyman in Donetsk, he added.
Fighting also continued in the Bakhmut, Kupyansk, Avdiyiyvka, and Maryinka areas of Donetsk, where 40 close-quarter battles were fought over the last day, the military said in a separate report early on June 21.
Late on June 20, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram that there are places where Russian forces are advancing and Ukrainian troops are on the defensive -- in Kupyansk and Lyman, for example.
Malyar said forces in the south are gradually making advances as they continue their counteroffensive according to plan -- “with small steps, but very confidently."
"We are moving forward gradually…and you can even cite an allegory that we are gnawing away every meter of land from the enemy,” Malyar said.
She added that "people want it to be like in a movie…very fast,” but it won't be that way.
Zelenskiy has told the BBC that the progress of Ukraine's counteroffensive has been "slower than desired," though eight villages in the southern region of Zaporizhzhya and the eastern region of Donetsk have been reclaimed in recent weeks.
Zelenskiy said part of the reason for the slow progress was extensive mining by Russian forces.
The commander of Ukraine's ground forces, General Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on Telegram that his troops were making progress on the northern and southern flanks of the eastern city of Bakhmut, which remains under Russian control, while repelling increasingly intense Russian attacks near Kupyansk.
Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address that Ukrainian forces "in the south and east are actively destroying the enemy, physically cleansing Ukraine.”
RFE/RL cannot confirm reports of battlefield developments by either side in areas of the heaviest fighting.
Meanwhile, Russian media reports cited law enforcement officials in the Moscow region on June 21 as saying that three drones had been downed near the Russian capital.
According to Russian news agencies and Telegram channels, two drones were shot down near a military unit in the Naro-Fominsk district and one near the village of Lukino.
Regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov confirmed the downing of two of the drones near a military depot.
Amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, several Russian regions have been attacked by drones in recent months. Kyiv has not commented on the incidents.
With reporting by Reuters
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