Russia said on Saturday June 17 that it had repelled a drone attack targeting an oil refinery in the Briansk region, bordering Ukraine. “Russian air defense systems in the Novozybkov district overnight repelled an attack by Ukrainian forces on the Druzhba oil refinery”wrote the governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, on Telegram. “Thanks to the professionalism of our soldiers, (…) three drones were destroyed”, he assured. Follow our live.
The African delegation goes to Saint Petersburg. The day after Volodymyr Zelensky’s rejection of his offer of mediation, the African delegation set sail for Saint Petersburg, where it was expected by Vladimir Putin. The delegation led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday offered to mediate peace in the conflict, saying from kyiv that there should be “a de-escalation on both sides”. She was met with an end of inadmissibility from the Ukrainian head of state.
kyiv claims “tactical successes”. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims to have liberated a handful of localities and a hundred km2 of territory, mainly in the south of the country. “Ukrainian forces continue to conduct both offensive and defensive operations with relative success”said Deputy Minister Hanna Maliar. According to her, “our units achieve tactical success in virtually every area and direction in which they advance”.
According to Putin, the counter-offensive has “no chance” of succeeding. From Saint Petersburg, Vladimir Putin for his part assured that the Ukrainian counter-offensive had not “no chance” to succeed and that Western countries would be obliged to come back to him, on his terms. “And we will see when and what we can talk to them about”he launched.