These are the key events on day 1,203 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here’s where things stand on Wednesday, June 11:
Fighting
- Russia launched a large-scale drone-and-missile assault on Ukraine, killing one person in Kyiv and two in the southern port city of Odesa. At least 13 people were injured.
- A Ukrainian drone attack on a petrol station in the Russian city of Belgorod killed one person and injured four others, the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s attack on Kyiv was “one of the biggest” in the three-year-old war. It caused several fires and damaged buildings, including St Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage landmark.
- In northeastern Ukraine, the governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov, said the region’s defence council decided to order the mandatory evacuation of seven villages.
- The Ukrainian military said that Russia launched 315 drones and seven missiles at Ukrainian cities in total. Ukrainian air defenders shot down 213 drones, two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles, the military said.
- Ukrainian forces also engaged in 167 firefights with Russian troops across multiple fronts on Tuesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
- The Russian Ministry of Defence said that air defence units shot down 109 Ukrainian drones from Monday night into Tuesday.
Prisoner exchange
- The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed a “second group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime” after a prisoner exchange took place on Monday. They will now undergo “treatment and rehabilitation”, the ministry said.
- Zelenskyy said Ukraine also received prisoners in the “first stage of the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity”.
- “The exchanges are to continue,” Zelenskyy added. Both sides are expected to release more than 1,000 prisoners each, under an agreement struck at talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, last week.
- Ukrainian families of missing soldiers said they are anxiously awaiting information as the exchanges continue.
Politics and diplomacy
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz denounced Russian “terror against the civilian population” of Ukraine after Moscow’s heavy drone and missile strikes.
- United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that the US will reduce military aid to Ukraine in the upcoming defence budget.
- “This administration takes a very different view of that conflict. We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation’s interests, especially with all the competing interests around the globe,” Hegseth said.
- The European Commission proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia, targeting its oil revenues, banks and weapons industry.
- Russian authorities have arrested opposition politician Lev Shlosberg, and charged him with discrediting the Russian army after he called the war on Ukraine a game of “bloody chess”.
- Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Hakkanen alleged that a Russian military aircraft violated Finland’s airspace, prompting an investigation by the Finnish Border Guard.
