Overview
- At the G7 summit in Evian on June 16–17, leaders reached a consensus to increase pressure on Russia with new measures reported to target oil and gas exports and the so‑called shadow fleet.
- Ukraine and Western partners described a detectable shift in fighting that Kyiv says creates a narrow diplomatic window, a view reflected in German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s comment about a ‘‘new position of strength.’'
- The Ukrainian General Staff reported extremely high combat intensity, listing about 237 engagements, nearly 10,000 kamikaze drones used over two days, dozens of aviation strikes and thousands of artillery attacks.
- The fighting is concentrated on the Pokrovsk (Donetsk) and Huliaipil (Zaporizhia) directions, where regional authorities reported heavy civilian damage and deaths and prosecutors have opened war‑crime investigations.
- Kyiv is rapidly expanding domestic UAV units and pressing partners for air‑defence licences and more interceptors, while the General Staff has publicly denied Russian claims that a Ukrainian drone struck a bus in Bryansk.