Here are the key events of day 1 217 of the Russian war against Ukraine.
Here’s how things are going on Wednesday June 25:
Struggle
- Russian missile strikes on south-eastern Ukraine killed 17 people in the city of Dnipro and injured more than 200, damaging dozens of buildings and infrastructure.
- Two people were killed in a Russian attack on the city of Samara.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Hennadii Shapovalov as a new commander of the land forces in Ukraine. He will also supervise military recruitment efforts abroad as part of a wider mobilization effort.
- Russia says it has intercepted dozens of drones overnight through its territory, including the Voronezh region on the eastern border of Ukraine.
- Russian forces say they have captured the village of Dyliivka in the Donetsk Eastern region of Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy said on X that Russia and Ukraine did not get closer to a cease-fire. “The Russians openly again and absolutely said cynically that they are not mood for a cease-fire. Russia wants to wage war.
Diplomacy
- The White House said that US President Donald Trump will meet Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Hague this week. The meeting will be a second attempt after Zelenskyy did not meet Trump earlier this month in Canada when the American president suddenly left a G7 summit.
- On the way to the NATO summit on Tuesday, Trump refused to say if he supported the clause of article 5 of NATO calling for collective self -defense. “It depends on your definition. There are many definitions of article 5,” he told journalists on the Air Force One, adding: “I have determined to be their friend.”
- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that “the military edge of the security block is aggressively challenged by rapid Russia, supported by Chinese Iranian and North Korean weapons” before the summit.
- NATO members should support a thrust to increase defense expenses to 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) over the next 10 years. This decision is considered an attempt to appease Trump and dissuade Russia.
Finance
- The Netherlands, the host of the NATO summit, announced a new aid package of 175 million euros ($ 203 million) in Ukraine, which includes drone detection radars. The news is following another 500 million euro agreement ($ 580 million) to conclude 600,000 drones with Ukraine.
