Weekly Ukraine war summary: AFU counterattacks in Vovchansk, HIMARS strikes on air defenses in Russia’s Belgorod Region

Ukrainian diplomats, in the meantime, promise to fight for the removal of the remaining restrictions on the use of Western weapons on Russian territory. In particular, the ban on attacks using long-range ATACMS missiles has not yet been lifted.

The independent Russian publication Verstka found hundreds of deserters and “refuseniks” among Russia's mobilized soldiers, who are held in military units across the country and then sent back to the front, where they are transferred to assault groups as punishment for leaving their previous units, or for refusing to participate in combat operations. By January 2024, at least 800 people were on the list of mobilized men who had fled the war.

Mutual strikes and sabotage

On the night of June 1, Russian forces launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force reported destroying 35 of 53 missiles and 46 of 47 Shahed-type drones. Energy infrastructure facilities in five regions, including two thermal power plants and two hydroelectric power plants, were hit. The Russian Defense Ministry justified the strike by saying that it was aimed at power facilities that “support the operation of enterprises of [Ukraine’s] military-industrial complex.”

Ukrainian air defenses also had to repel drone strikes and combined missile and drone attacks on the nights of June 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7. During the attacks of June 7, an industrial facility in Kyiv Oblast was damaged. According to Russian sources, the impacted facility was an oil depot.

Authorities in the Odesa, Poltava, Kharkiv (1, 2), Dnipropetrovsk (1, 2, 3) and Donetsk (1, 2) Oblasts all reported civilian casualties as a result of Russian attacks. There has been a slight decrease in the frequency of attacks on Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast, but it is difficult to say to what extent this is due to the lifting of the ban on the use of Western weapons in the Russian border region and whether this is a long-term trend.

Significant strikes on Ukrainian military facilities include the shelling of Starokostiantyniv airfield in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, as well as the Kanatove and Dovhyntseve airfields in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. According to satellite imagery, the first two airfields suffered infrastructure damage. At Dovhyntseve, an attack with a Lancet loitering munition damaged (but most likely did not destroy) a Ukrainian Su-25 ground attack jet. Russian forces also struck another crossing in Kharkiv Oblast and a warehouse of engineering equipment and construction materials in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.