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 Monday, June 30, 2025, 1.223rd day of the conflict.
The fact of the day
The tone rises. German diplomacy chief Johann Wadephul accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday of wanting to impose the “capitulation” of Ukraine without any real desire to negotiate, after his arrival in kyiv for an unexpected visit.
If Ukraine is ready for real negotiations with Moscow, “Putin does not give in to any of his maximalist requirements: he does not want negotiations, but a capitulation,” says Johann Wadephul. But we will remain in a “unshakable” way alongside Ukraine for its defense, in particular via modern air defense and “other weapons” alongside humanitarian and economic aid, assured the minister.
“The freedom and the future of Ukraine are the most important task of our foreign and security policy in Europe, the minister also said in the press release.
His visit comes at a time when Russia intensifies its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine and while the peace talks initiated by the United States to end the three-year conflict are at a standstill.
The Declaration of the Day
« The conditions of detention are inhuman, it lacks basic needs: food, water and toilet »
The lyrics are signed Maria Belkina, head of “Volunteers Tbilissi”. This Georgian association specializing in helping refugees from Ukraine accused the border guards in Georgia on Monday of holding “in inhuman conditions”, “in a cellar”, dozens of Ukrainians expelled from Russia waiting to be authorized to enter this country of the Caucasus.
Most would be ex-children who have served their sorrows and then led by Russia on its border with Georgia. At least 56 of them, after having crossed it, were transferred near the Dariali crossing point, pending obtaining an authorization to enter Georgia, affirms this NGO.
According to Maria Belkina, at least 17 out of 56 people were able to leave Georgia for Moldova, by plane. But she claims that these country’s departures are forced. Among the Ukrainians detained, many have already spent months in detention centers in Russia after being released from prison and were under pressure from the authorities to engage in the Russian army.
The figure of the day
1,18 million. This is the exceptionally low number of births expected by Russia this year. So to boost the birth rate of Russians, at the lowest, in the middle of the army offensive in Ukraine, the Kremlin promotes “traditional values”. For Vladimir Putin, demographic winter is a state affair. At the end of December, the Russian president alerted to an “extinction” of the Russians if the curve was not reversed.
Because with 1.22 million births in 2024 and therefore less than 1.2 million this year, it is “an anti-story for Russia for 225 years”, alerts Alexei Rakcha, an independent demographer whom Moscow now classifies as “agent from abroad”.
However, with officially 1.41 children per woman of prosecution age in 2023, against 1.38 for the European average, excluding immigration, “Russia differs little from most developed countries where birth rate is at half mast,” explains Alexei Rakcha. Indices far from the rate of 2.1 necessary to ensure the renewal of generations.
The trend
The European Union announced on Monday having found a “agreement in principle” with Ukraine in terms of free trade, especially on the sensitive aspect of agricultural imports. It is a “balanced, fair and realistic” agreement, assures the European Commissioner in charge of trade Maros Sefcovic, who insisted on quotas for “sensitive products such as eggs, sugar and wheat”.
In order to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, the European Union had established since 2022 and until June 5, an exemption from customs duties on Ukrainian agricultural products. But European farmers regularly denounced “unfair competition” of Ukraine, agricultural giant, and asked to return to the quotas in force before the war, in a 2016 agreement.
Brussels believes that it has found a balance, thanks to the compromise sealed with kyiv. Overall, “the EU will open its market more to Ukrainian products than before war, while holding […] account of the sensitivities of certain agrifood sectors, ”explains the Commission.
To reassure the agricultural profession, the EU promises quotas on products such as wheat, corn, sugar, honey, poultry and eggs, while other products will be fully liberalized such as grape juice or fermented milk.
