Victory Chronicles-DAY 842

President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have signed a 10-year bilateral security pact focusing on enhancing Ukraine’s defense capabilities and deterring future aggression. 

Biden emphasized the importance of Ukraine’s ability to defend itself to achieve lasting peace. The agreement involves the United States and Ukraine collaborating over the next decade to develop and maintain Ukraine’s defense and deterrence capabilities, support its long-term fight, promote its Euro-Atlantic integration, and provide consultations in the event of a Russian armed attack. 

The agreement also underscores the shared vision of achieving a just peace based on the principles of the UN Charter and nations’ sovereignty and territorial integrity. This pact aims to bolster Ukraine’s defense and deterrence capabilities, ensuring its ability to protect itself and respond to future threats.

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A total of 254 fallen defenders have been returned to Ukraine on June 14, according to the Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The bodies of 221 fighters who fought on the Donetsk front, 25 fighters from the Zaporizhzhia front, and four fighters from the Luhansk front were able to be repatriated. In addition, four bodies were transferred from morgues in the Russian Federation. The repatriation process includes the transportation of the bodies to designated state institutions, where representatives of law enforcement agencies and forensic experts will identify the deceased. Once the identification process is complete, the bodies will be returned to their families for a proper burial.

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For the third day in a row, firefighting continues at an industrial plant in Kyiv Oblast as a result of Russia’s armed aggression. A total of 221 personnel, 76 pieces of equipment and five fire trains are working at the scene.

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The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has officially released a video of the DIU International Legion legionnaires working near Chasіv Yar. The video shows, in particular, how the occupants are being destroyed with a large-caliber Browning M2 machine gun. 

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Sustained Ukrainian strikes against Russian military targets in occupied Crimea appear to be forcing the Russian military to commit additional air defense assets to Crimea in order to defend existing bases and logistics infrastructure, and further Ukrainian strikes against such air defense assets may render the peninsula untenable as a staging ground for the Russian military. Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Head Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov reported on June 12 that Russian forces placed an S-500 air defense system (essentially a modernized version of the S-300) in Crimea as part of their efforts to strengthen Russia’s air defense umbrella over Crimea.

Budanov stated that Russian forces have not previously used an S-500 air defense system in combat and characterized the system as “experimental.” Forbes reported on June 12 that the Belbek Airfield in occupied Crimea is becoming an “attrition trap” for Russian air defenses following several successful Ukrainian strikes on air defenses near the airfield.

Forbes stated that it is possible that Ukrainian forces have destroyed elements of four or five S-400 batteries during recent strikes but noted that the Russian military has over 50 S-400 batteries. An X (formerly known as Twitter) user, citing satellite imagery, noted on June 11 that Russian forces have placed 17 barges near the Kerch Strait Bridge that connects occupied Crimea to Krasnodar Krai. Russian forces likely intend for the barges to serve as defenses against Ukrainian naval drone strikes against the bridge, and Russian forces previously installed eight barges on the southern side of the bridge for similar reasons.

Ukraine’s current efforts to attrit the Russian air defense umbrella in Crimea notably may have the exploitable effect of drawing more Russian air defense assets to Crimea, making them vulnerable to further Ukrainian strikes. ISW previously assessed that Ukrainian forces may be conducting an organized effort to degrade Russian air defenses, which could enable Ukraine to more effectively leverage manned fixed-wing airpower (namely using F-16 fighter jets) in the long term. 

The West has long supported Ukraine’s right to strike Russian military targets in occupied Crimea, and Ukrainian forces could in principle be able to replicate their successful strikes against military targets in Russia if the West approved such strikes in Russia’s rear.

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Defender Rostyslav Shuliayev, with the call sign Sokil, died on June 13, 2023 in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk Oblast. After a night shift, the fighter was resting with his comrades-in-arms. Heavy shelling began at that time, and the fire was extinguished within a day. The bodies of the defenders could not be found. Only ten days later it was confirmed that Rostyslav was killed.

He was 25 years old. He was born in Pyriatyn, Poltava Oblast, to a military family. He majored in programming at the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”. He started working while still studying, as an instructor and pyrotechnician at the Extreme Club. Since childhood, he has been diving and had an international certificate. His last job in civilian life was at the Center for Medical and Environmental Research in Kharkiv, where Rostyslav worked as a system administrator. 

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he and his father were engaged in volunteer activities in Northern Saltovka. He was awarded the Kharkiv Mayor’s Certificate of Appreciation “Volunteer with an Active Public Position” and a certificate of appreciation from the Free Volunteers organizing committee for “Year of Unbreakability. Faces of Kharkiv”. 

In November 2022, Rostyslav Ruslanovych voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At first, he served as a sniper, and after a severe concussion and back injury, he became an aerial reconnaissance operator of the 81st Airmobile Brigade. 

“I am proud of my son – he was a friend, a part of me, one heart for two. He was a supportive, positive and bright person for all his family and friends. His last words were: “Don’t feel sorry for me, just remember. 

He is alive as long as they remember!”, – wrote his mother Elvira Shulyayeva. The defender was buried on June 29, 2023, in the village of Velyka Krucha, Poltava Oblast. Rostyslav is survived by his mother, father, sister and fiancée.

*Rostyslav’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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