Ukraine war briefing: US Himars rockets ‘likely’ used in Ukrainian attack on Russian soil | Ukraine

Ukrainian forces have destroyed air defenses in Russia “likely” with the US-supplied Himars missile system, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said. The barrage hit a Russian S-300/400 air defense battery in the Belgorod region on June 1 or 2. said the US-based think tank. It added: “Russian sources have increasingly claimed that Ukrainian forces are using Himars to strike Belgorod Oblast since the US partially lifted its restrictions on Ukraine’s ability to use US-supplied weapons to strike military targets in Russian border areas areas with Kharkiv region. Russian sources will likely continue to characterize any successful strike in the Belgorod region as a Himars strike, regardless of the system used. The Russian system was located about 60 kilometers from the front line in the northern part of Kharkiv Oblast and more than 80 kilometers from the city of Kharkiv, ISW said. That was it within the range of Himmars while exceeding the range of other systems believed to be used by Ukrainian forces to strike Belgorod region. Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the strike.

Ukraine will ask its allies further lifting restrictions on the use of their weapons against targets in Russia, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. The Institute for the Study of War wrote in an assessment on Tuesday that Western air defense systems and authorization to strike targets in Russia with Western weapons “remain critical for Ukraine to repel Russian ballistic missile and ballistic missile strikes against the city of Kharkiv.” .

Italy will send a second Samp/T air defense system to Ukraine, its foreign minister said. The Italian-French system, also known as Mamba, can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at a time. It is the only European system capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.

Ukrainian field commanders are reportedly making up for the training difficulties that mobilization has exacerbated training new frontline staff, ISW said. “Decisions by Ukrainian field commanders to train newly deployed front-line personnel before committing them to combat indicate that the overall quality of Ukrainian forces is likely to remain superior to that of Russian forces in the near to medium term,” it said. .

Kamala Harris, the US Vice President, will travel to Switzerland for the Ukraine Peace Summit on June 15, White House officials said. Harris will be accompanied by Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The White House defended Biden’s decision to skip the summit in favor of attending a campaign fundraiser. “There is no leader in the world who has supported Ukraine more and more vehemently than Joe Biden,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

A group of about 20 women held a a rare protest outside Russia’s defense ministry on Monday demanding the return of their mobilized husbands and sons from Ukraine. Russian authorities have labeled at least one such group a “foreign agent,” a tactic used to silence dissent.

French police are investigating whether the placement of five in full coffins covered with the French tricolor of the Eiffel Tower over the weekend it was another an act of Russian interference.

Poland arrests 18 people on charges of prosecuting pro-Russian and pro-Belarusian hostilities, including an individual allegedly involved in a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Poland’s interior minister said. Ten people arrested since December were directly involved in planning sabotage in Poland, Interior Minister Tomasz Simoniak said.