Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

By
Reuters
|
Ukrainian service members watch while a tank (not pictured) fires toward Russian troops in the industrial area of the city of Sievierodonetsk, as Russias attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine June 20, 2022. — Reuters
Ukrainian service members watch while a tank (not pictured) fires toward Russian troops in the industrial area of the city of Sievierodonetsk, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine June 20, 2022. — Reuters

Air raid sirens sounded across Kyiv as Russia stepped up long-range bombardment of Ukrainian cities that has killed at least 34 people in the last three days and wounded scores. 

Fighting

  • Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, far from the frontline, mourned at least 23 people, including a 4-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome, after a missile strike that Ukraine called a war crime. Russia said it had hit a military target. 
  • At least three people were killed and 15 injured after a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
  • Ukrainian rocket strikes have destroyed more than 30 Russian military logistics centres in recent weeks and significantly reduced Russia's attacking potential, Ukraine's defence ministry said. 
  • Ukraine has received its first M270 multiple rocket launch systems, the defence minister said, without specifying the country that provided them. 
  • Ukraine is using Western-supplied long-range weapons and 155mm "smart" shells to hit Russian ammo dumps and supply lines, forcing Moscow to rethink how it supplies fuel and ammunition to the frontline, a Ukrainian general said. 

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.

Economy/diplomacy

  • The war continues to divide the G20. Finance ministers from the group were unlikely to issue a final communique at a meeting in Indonesia, sources said, even as the G20 seeks to focus on issues like food security and the global recovery that are heavily affected by the war. 
  • Agreements on the export of Ukrainian grain would not lead to resumed Russia-Ukraine negotiations, said Leonid Slutsky, a Russian lawmaker who has taken part in peace talks with Kyiv. 
  • Russia will block the sale of foreign banks' Russian subsidiaries while Russian banks abroad cannot function normally, said Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev.
  • The EU's executive proposed new sanctions on Russia, including an import ban on Russian gold. EU governments must still sign off on the measures, expected as early as next week.