Boris Johnson has insisted the UK must continue to show its support for Ukraine.
He said today: “The Russians are grinding forward inch by inch and it is vital for us to show what we know to be true which is that Ukraine can win and will win.
“When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it is very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them the strategic resilience that they need.”
A “large column of smoke” can be seen over a Topaz plant in Russian-occupied Donetsk, according to Belarusian media outlet Nexta.
Britons on the streets of Nottingham earlier this month told Express.co.uk the West should be encouraging more peace talks between Ukraine and Russia to bring the conflict to an end.
Some argued that the UK should be wary about getting too involved in the war and should, for example, cease sending arms.
Pensioner Barbara Finch said the delivery of weapons supported the notion that the “human race does not learn its lessons”.
Septuagenarian Stewart Crisp added that he fears Ukraine will become a land of “ongoing warfare”, like Syria, where the UK has also been criticised for the shape of its involvement.
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As well as appearing to be snubbed by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in yesterday gathering of the annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (see below), Vladimir Putin is said to have received a “tepid” response when discussing the war in Ukraine.
Max Seddon commented in a post on Twitter that most officials at the event had done their “utmost” to avoid the subject.
When the Kremlin leader declared that “all of [the war’s] tasks will be undoubtedly be met”, Mr Seddon added that there was only “tepid applause”.
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Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was down to 41.1million cubic metres today.
Yesterday, it stood at 41.9mcm.
The Russian gas producer, cited in Reuters, said it had made an application to supply gas via another entry point, but this was rejected by Ukraine.
In its latest intelligence update on the war in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said Russia had “likely renewed its efforts to advance south of Izium, with the goal of advancing deeper into the Donetsk Oblast, and to envelop the Sieverodonetsk Pocket from the north”.
Boris Johnson received a warm welcome in Kyiv yesterday, where he met with Volodymyr Zelensky for the second time since the beginning of the war.
But in England, Tories were left frustrated by a late event cancellation.
The Prime Minister was scheduled to make a Wakefield by-election campaign visit and to engage in a Q&A session with Northern Tories.
Christopher Hope of the Telegraph quoted one Northern Research Group source in a post on Twitter as fuming: “Sadly, today’s events show the PM has no commitment to levelling up, his voters, or the North of England. He is burning through goodwill, and looks scared to come and engage with the very group who delivered for him during the vote.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has since sprung to Mr Johnson’s… defence.
He wrote in a post on Twitter that the Kyiv visit was “organised in total secrecy”, as are all such events, and that “as a Northern MP myself, I am not affronted by the fact he had to cancel speaking at the conference”.
Mr Wallace added: “As a northern MP I am proud that Britain has been at the forefront of the international effort to support Ukriane.”
He dismissed backlash to the change of scheduling as “a lot of rubbish”.
So there is a lot of rubbish being spouted about the PMu2019s trip to Ukriane. 1. Firstly these trips are organised in total secrecy. Very few, and i mean very few, people know the dates and arrangements. Russia is still launching missile strikes right across Ukriane . 1/5
u2014 Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) June 17, 2022
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged the West not to suggest “peace initiatives with unacceptable terms”.
Writing in the Odessa Journal, he said such proposals “are premised on the idea that, no matter how well Ukrainians fight, they cannot defeat Moscow’s forces”.
This, Mr Kuleba argued, “is wrong”.
He drew particular attention to Emmanuel Macron’s claim that the West “must not humiliate Russia” so it can “build an exit ramp” for the country after the war.
Few were keen to broach the subject of the war in Ukraine yesterday at the annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, according to reports.
When Vladimir Putin did so, one of his claims was rejected by a key ally onstage.
The Kremlin leader argued the invasion was justified because he was protecting Russian-speakers in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk peoples’ republics of eastern Ukraine, which Russia recognised as independent ahead of the “special military operation”.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, sat beside him, signalled that he disagreed.
He, quoted in Bloomberg, said Kazakhstan does not recognise “quasi-state territories which, in our view, is what Luhansk and Donetsk are”, and added there would be “chaos” in the world hundreds of new countries emerged.
