Ukraine updates: African leaders kick off peace mission

A delegation of African leaders arrived in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday to begin a mission aimed at mediating the end of the war in Ukraine.

The delegation is headed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Senegal's President Macky Sall.

It also includes the presidents of Comoros, the Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, as well as Egypt's prime minister and a former prime minister of Uganda standing in for President Yoweri Museveni, who tested positive for COVID-19.

Polish President Andrej Duda's office tweeted that he and Ramaphosa discussed "the situation in Ukraine, Russian war crimes, support for Ukraine and the African peace mission."

Duda also met with other leaders including Zambia's Hakainde Hichilema.

"Zambia is deeply committed to global peace," Hichilema tweeted.

"Honored to be part of this initiative, to encourage dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two nations."

Ramaphosa is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Saturday.

Reuters reported that the leaders could propose a series of "confidence building measures" to achieve peace between the two sides, according to a classified draft framework document seen by the news agency.

The list of possible measures reportedly includes the the pull-back of Russian troops, the removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Putin, and sanctions relief.

The document also reportedly includes an "unconditional grain and fertilizer deal." African countries have been hard hit by the disruption of exports of both products from the region.

Here are some of the other developments concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Thursday, June 15:

Estonia's defense minister says West won't abandon Ukraine

Estonia's Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur has vowed to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes," he said on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.

"There is no chance for Putin, for the Kremlin, to think that the West will go away from Ukraine's back," Pevkur told DW's Alexandra von Nahmen.

"No, we will not go."

Asked whether Ukraine's counteroffensive could be a turning point of the war, Pevkur said he hopes so, but noted that it will be difficult because of Russian defense lines.

He told DW that his message to allies "has always been that please do not put a lot of pressure on Ukrainians because they know exactly what to do and they will do anything in their power and everything in their power to to get back their territories."

Czech president calls for Russians to be monitored

Czech President Petr Pavel wants all Russians living in Western countries to be monitored by authorities, he said in an interview on Thursday with the Prague-based, US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"All Russians living in Western countries should be monitored much more than in the past because they are citizens of a nation that leads an aggressive war," Pavel said.

"That's simply the cost of war," he added.

Pavel compared his proposal to the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II — a move which Washington has since apologized for and paid billions in reparations over.

Zelenskyy calls on Switzerland to allow re-export of weapons

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy addressed both houses of the Swiss parliament on Thursday, urging the neutral country to allow the re-export of weapons to Ukraine.

Switzerland has a long-standing policy of not allowing countries that buy its weapons to re-export those arms to any country that is involved in a war. Last year it imposed an embargo on Swiss munitions being sent to either Ukraine or Russia.

But now the country is inching towards a compromise that could allow the re-export Swiss-made weapons under specific conditions — namely that those weapons would be used by countries at war only for self-defense purposes.

"I know there is a discussion in Switzerland about the exportation of war materiel to protect and defend Ukraine. That would be vital," Zelenskyy said in his speech.

"We need weapons so we can restore peace in Ukraine."

Zelenskyy received a standing ovation after his video address, but many seats in parliament were unoccupied because the largest party, the populist right-wing Swiss People's Party, boycotted the speech after failing to block his appearance in the first place, arguing that it could harm Switzerland's neutrality.

Russia announces elections in occupied Ukrainian regions

Russia's Central Election Commission on Thursday announced dates for regional elections in the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow claims to have annexed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Votes will be held on September 10, it said.

Russian election chief Ella Pamfilova said the Defense Ministry Federal Security Service (FSB) considered it possible to hold polls by then, the state-owned TASS news agency reported.

However, Russia does not fully control any of the four annexed regions in question.

Situation 'serious' at Zaporizhzhia plant after dam breach

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine on Thursday, a week after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam upstream.

"On the one hand, we can see that the situation is serious, the consequences (of the dam's destruction) are there, and they are real," Rafael Grossi said during his visit to the plant. 

"At the same time, there are measures that are being taken to stabilize the situation."

The destruction of the dam raised concerns about the plant's ability to draw water from the dam reservoir to cool its reactors.

However, Grossi inspected the plant's cooling pond and said "there is sufficient water."

Kryvyi Rih targeted by more Russian strikes

The mayor of the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih said that two industrial facilities had been hit by Russian missiles in an overnight attack.

City Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said that three missiles had struck the industrial sites "that had nothing to do with the military," and said one person had been injured.

"The destruction is significant," Vilkul wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

On Tuesday, the mayor said that eleven people had been killed and dozens injured in a missile attack that struck a residential building in the city which is the hometown of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Meanwhile, authorities in the southern port city of Odesa said that air defenses had managed to intercept 18 Russian drones, while authorities in Russia-controlled Crimea also reported downing 9 Ukrainian drones.

On Wednesday, Odesa was struck by four cruise missiles which had been fired from a vessel in the Black Sea, according to Ukraine's military.

Russia has been accused of targeting civilian and critical infrastructure in missile and drone barrages, but has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since it launched its invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine's military leadership said that the likelihood of more missile and airstrikes across Ukraine "is very high."

Four NATO members announce more weapons for Ukraine

The governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States announced on Thursday they would jointly deliver hundreds of "Soviet-era" air defense missiles and related systems to Ukraine.

The weapons are intended to help Ukraine protect its critical infrastructure from Russian air strikes and "ensure the success of counteroffensive operations in coming months," the four NATO member states said in a joint statement. 

Delivery of the missiles has already begun and will be completed in several weeks.

Meanwhile, Danish media reported that Denmark and the Netherlands are also intending to deliver 14 German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Kyiv.

NATO support for Ukraine 'makes a difference' — Stoltenberg

As defense ministers and industrial partners meet in Brussels to discuss how to ramp up defense production, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the defense alliance's support of Ukraine is making a difference.

"The support NATO allies have been giving Ukraine now for many, many months actually makes a difference on the battlefield," Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

Stoltenberg also said that the general standard for NATO countries to spend 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense was "not a ceiling but a minimum to invest in our shared security."

The two-day gathering is the last high-level meeting ahead of NATO's annual summit held in Vilnius in July.

Norway, Denmark to send 9,000 shells to Ukraine

Both Norway and Denmark have agreed to send an additional 9,000 rounds of artillery to Ukraine, the Norwegian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Norway will provide the shells while Denmark will donate fuses and propellant charges, the ministry said.

"Ukraine has an urgent need for artillery ammunition. We have therefore decided to join forces with Denmark for a new donation, so that Ukraine receives the ammunition as quickly as possible," Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said.

With the latest announcement of donated artillery rounds, Norway has donated 27,000 rounds alone and 17,000 together with Denmark. 

zc, kb/fb (Reuters, dpa, AP, AFP)