Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes Get the point for you every night. Here is the essentials of this Friday, June 20, 2025, 1.213rd day of the conflict.
The fact of the day
“I consider the Russians and the Ukrainians as one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours. Vladimir Putin does not go there by four paths. And this Friday, the Russian president did not exclude the taken by Russia from the strategic city of Soumy, located approximately 30 kilometers from the border, when the Russian forces made a breakthrough in this region of northeast of Ukraine.
“We are not intended to take Soumy, but in principle I do not exclude him,” said the Russian president during a discussion at the Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg. “They represent a permanent threat to us, constantly bombing the border areas,” he added by speaking of Ukrainian forces. And to be threatening: “There is a proverb which says: where a Russian soldier sets off, it belongs to us. »»
For several weeks, Moscow has been claiming the taking of villages in the Soumy region. The Kremlin claims to want to constitute a “buffer zone” in order to prevent the Ukrainian army from leading new offensives in Russia, like that launched last year in the Russian region of Koursk, border with that of Soumy.
The Declaration of the Day
« Most soldiers who come from Russian captivity today have spent more than two years »
The lyrics are signed Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president confirmed that Ukraine had proceeded this Friday to a new exchange of prisoners with Russia, under the agreements concluded in Istanbul in early June between the two belligerents.
kyiv and Moscow had agreed to release all their prisoners of war young or injured, and to make the remains of the combatants killed, the only tangible result of these negotiations. Neither Russia nor Ukraine, however, said how many soldiers were released on Friday, as in previous exchanges in the past two weeks.
The figure of the day
One dead and 14 injured. This is the results of a new Russian air attack on the port city of Odessa, in the south of Ukraine led during the night from Thursday to Friday, the Ukrainian authorities say. Among the injured, three are rescuers.
Kharkiv, the second city in Ukraine, located in the Northeast, also underwent a series of strikes of Russian drones and planing bombs, which made six light injuries including two teenage girls.
“Russia continues its deliberate terror tactics against our people,” said Volodymyr Zelensky after the strikes.
The trend
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this Friday that his country should “in no way” enter into recession, against the backdrop of the slowdown in the economy. “Some specialists and experts point to the risks of stagnation and even a recession. We must in no case allow it, “said Vladimir Putin, during a speech to the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum.
If the Russian economy had shown in 2023 and 2024 unexpected resilience in the face of sanctions taken by Westerners since 2022 in retaliation for the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the situation has changed for a few months.
Growth has slowed down in the first quarter to 1.4 %, its lowest level since the first three months of 2023, according to official figures, and the prospects are less good than last year.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
Heavy public investment in the military-industrial complex to support the Russian army no longer stimulate the economy. But, according to the Russian Head of State, growth in the past two years, in particular by “agriculture, industry as a whole, construction, logistics, the field of services, finance and the internet technology industry”.
These clashes have also increased the courses of black gold, whose income that Russia derives from its exploitation constitute an essential financial windfall in its budget, especially military. “For Ukraine, the challenge lies in oil prices because if they remain high for a long time, the Russians will draw more,” said a Ukrainian leader who requested anonymity.
