The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) observes “abnormal series of Russian strikes on rear areas”. He quotes the command of the Ukrainian Air Force according to which some 50 strikes were recorded on Saturday near kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv (west), Chernihiv (north), Mykolaiv (south), Kharkiv (northeast) and in the Dnepropetrovsk region (center).

Russia thus recalls its ability to reach any point in Ukraine, even if the bulk of the operations take place in the east and south.

Here is an update on the situation on the ground on Sunday on the 123rd day of the war, based on information from AFP journalists on site, official Ukrainian and Russian statements, Western sources, analysts and organizations international.

– The war in kyiv –

A Russian strike hit a residential complex near the center of kyiv on Sunday morning, according to AFP journalists. At least two injured were hospitalized, said Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, adding that people remained “under the rubble”. Four explosions were heard around 6:30 a.m. (0330 GMT).

It is a question of “intimidating the Ukrainians (…) as the NATO summit approaches”, an organization hated by Russia, he declared a few days before the summit of the Atlantic Alliance, from June 28 to 30 in Madrid.

“A 7-year-old Ukrainian child was sleeping peacefully in kyiv until a Russian cruise missile blew up her building,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba.

“A missile was shot down by anti-aircraft defense in the kyiv region, the debris fell on a village,” said kyiv region governor Oleksiy Kuleba.

– The lock of the East –

Russian forces completely captured the strategic city of Severodonetsk and entered the neighboring city of Lysytchansk, an important step towards the control of Donbass.

“However, this is only one of the challenges that Russia will have to meet to occupy the whole of the region”, estimates the British Ministry of Defence, which underlines the Russian will “to advance on the major center of Kramatorsk and to secure the supply routes to the city of Donetsk”.

Moscow’s forces also advanced east of the city of Bakhmut and continued their offensives southeast of Izium, towards Sloviansk, according to the ISW.

– North and West –

The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck three military training centers in the north and west with “high-precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Kalibr (cruise) missiles”. Among the targets is a Ukrainian military training center in the Starytchi district of Lviv region, about 30 kilometers from the Polish border.

These regions are not the scene of any ground combat.

The great powers of the G7, which seek to intensify the pressure on Moscow after four months of invasion of Ukraine, announced on the first day of their summit their intention to ban imports of Russian gold, cut off from the crucial London market.

“Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban Russian gold, a major export source, which will deprive Russia of billions of dollars,” tweeted US President Joe Biden, who was meeting his French counterparts in Bavaria. , the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan, and while the risk of a form of support fatigue in kyiv appears.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned French President Emmanuel Macron against the temptation of a negotiated solution “now” at the risk of prolonging “global instability”, according to Downing Street. The two leaders “agreed (…) that it was possible to reverse the course of the war”.

– Civilian and military victims –

There is no overall assessment of the civilian victims of the conflict, which is certainly very heavy. According to the UN, 4,500 civilians have been killed and 5,500 injured as of June 15. But “the figure is probably much higher,” she adds.

On the military level, Western security sources speak of 15,000 to 20,000 Russian soldiers killed. Ukrainian forces are losing around 100 men every day, according to kyiv. No independent statistics are available.

– A third of displaced or refugee Ukrainians –

More than seven million Ukrainians are internally displaced, according to the UN. Added to this are 8 million who have fled abroad, including a very large proportion to Poland. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine had 37 million inhabitants in the territory controlled by kyiv, amputated in particular from the Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014.