Victory Chronicles
-DAY 482

Ukraine's Armed Forces are advancing and consolidating on two fronts

The Ukrainian Defence Forces continue to advance on the Melitopol and Berdyansk fronts, strengthening their positions in new locations; no positions have been lost where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are defending. “Offensive actions continue on the Melitopol and Berdyansk fronts, namely in the areas of Novodarivka – Pryyutne, Makarivka – Rivnopil, and Novodanilivka – Robotyne; the Ukrainian military had partial success during the past day; they are entrenching themselves in the achieved positions. The enemy concentrated its main efforts on defending and preventing the advance of our troops, using reserves and trying to restore the lost ground”, said Andrii Kovaliov, spokesman for the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The General Staff noted that the Russians continue to focus their primary efforts on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Marinka fronts; heavy fighting continues there, and there were 45 combat clashes over the past day.

Latest news

• Helicopter destruction: The Defense Forces shot down another Russian Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopter
• Sanctions against Russia: G7 ambassadors pledge to redouble efforts against Russia’s missile program
• Air strikes: Russian forces attack 11 regions over the past day, killing 2 people
• Situation at the front: Zelenskyy: “We have no lost positions. Only liberated ones. They have only losses”.

Symbolic number of the Day - 30

The aftermath of the Kakhovka HPP explosion: 30% of water samples in three Oblasts do not meet the standards. The most dangerous situation is in Odesa Oblast, where the most significant and constant exceedances of sanitary-chemical, microbiological, and toxicological indicators have been recorded.

War in Pictures

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who has repeatedly debunked Russian propaganda myths, released a video of the General Staff’s work. Ukrainians noticed an unusual patch on Zaluzhnyi’s body armor – Baby Yoda from “Star Wars”.

Video of the Day

Ukrainian defenders of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named “Chorni Zaporozci” used a civilian drone to detonate Russian mines on the temporarily occupied territory.

ISW report

Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in at least three frontline sectors and made gains on June 19. A Russian milblogger reported that Ukrainian troops continued attacks northwest, northeast, and southwest of Bakhmut on June 19 and claimed that Ukrainian forces advanced near Krasnopolivka (about 12km northeast of Bakhmut). Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar additionally announced that over the past week, Ukrainian troops in the Tavrisk (Zaporizhzhia) direction have advanced up to seven kilometers and liberated 113 square kilometers of territory, including eight settlements in western Donetsk and western Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.

Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian troops attacked south of Velyka Novosilka in western Donetsk Oblast. Geolocated footage posted on June 19 confirms that Ukrainian troops liberated Pyatykhatky, about 25km southwest of Orikhiv in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Milbloggers also reported fighting south and southwest of Orikhiv over the day on June 19. The UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) assessed on June 19 that Russia has likely deployed large portions of the Dnipro Grouping of Forces from the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast to the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut directions to respond to Ukrainian counteroffensive actions over the past 10 days.

War Heroes

Being Ukrainian is a brave political choice! His call sign was “Johnny.”  He was born in Afghanistan. By nationality, he was an Afghan of Persian origin. By religion, he was Muslim. He said that he once served in the Afghan special forces. He had a security firm. He spoke fluent English, Farsi, Pashto, Russian, Ukrainian and a few other languages. He moved to Ukraine and became a citizen of Ukraine. Since 2014, as a volunteer, he has actively helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And on February 24, 2022, without hesitation, he volunteered for the 112th Brigade of the Territorial Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

“We met him there,” says Andriy Kovalyov, a General Staff spokesman. He adds that when journalists found out that an Afghan was serving in the brigade, they wanted to talk to him, especially the foreign media. “He won them over with his fluent English. It seemed to me that Johnny was very modest, he tried to avoid active attention from journalists. He was very authoritative among the Afghan diaspora – more than once I saw how his comrades came to him with a huge amount of gifts and treats. Later, Johnny transferred to another unit with which he went to the front. Johnny was killed in a battle with Russian occupiers for Ukraine’s independence. Johnny died for Ukraine! Eternal glory to the warrior Johnny!”, wrote Andriy Kovalov.