Key developments on June 19:
- Russia by chance admits to its staggering troop losses in Ukraine
- Ukraine, Russia perform one other POW change underneath Istanbul deal
- North Korea considers sending 25,000 employees to Russia to assist produce Shahed drones, media studies
- Zelensky appoints Brigadier Basic Shapovalov as new Floor Forces chief
- 'Undesirable by their homeland' — Ukraine confirms Russia returned our bodies of its troopers disguised as Ukrainian
A senior Russian official on June 19 inadvertently confirmed the staggering troop losses incurred by Moscow's forces throughout its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview with CNN, Russian Ambassador to the U.Okay. Andrey Kelin was requested about Moscow's maximalist intentions in Ukraine and its capacity to recruit sufficient troopers to satisfy them.
Regardless of ongoing U.S.-led peace efforts, Russia continues to demand Ukraine withdraws from the 4 partially occupied areas — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia — as a precondition for negotiations.
In the meantime, based on figures from Kyiv, Russia has suffered greater than 1 million lifeless, wounded, and lacking troopers for the reason that begin of its full-scale invasion.
Kelin dismissed the 1 million casualties determine however did affirm that "about 600,000" Russian troopers had been preventing in Ukraine, a quantity which tallies with Ukrainian estimates from January.
The quantity is definitely decrease than the 700,000 (Russian President Vladimir) Putin claimed in June 2024, and the 617,000 he claimed in December 2023.
Kelin was then requested about Russian military recruitment.
"I'm not a specialist on this space, however as I perceive it we’ve 50-60,000 a month, these volunteers who’re coming, recruiting, posting, they usually wish to get engaged on this factor (in Ukraine)," he replied.
He didn’t clarify why the scale of the Russian military preventing in Ukraine has gone down regardless of what would quantity to round 250,000 additional troops being recruited and despatched to the entrance for the reason that starting of the 12 months.
In keeping with figures from Ukraine's Basic Employees, Russia has misplaced 217,440 troops since Jan. 1, 2025.
The discrepancy tallies with Western evaluation of Russia's staggering losses.
"They lose someplace within the ballpark of 35,000 to 45,000 folks per 30 days, and maybe they recruit slightly bit north of that quantity," George Barros, Russia crew lead on the Institute for the Examine of Conflict (ISW), advised the Kyiv Unbiased earlier this month.
The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov
Ukraine, Russia perform one other POW change underneath Istanbul deal
Ukraine has introduced residence a bunch of troopers launched from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelensky introduced on June 19, marking one more in a latest collection of exchanges with Moscow.
"These are warriors of the Armed Forces, the Nationwide Guard, and the State Border Guard Service. Most of them had been held captive since 2022," Zelensky mentioned, with out revealing their quantity.
The change follows 4 comparable swaps carried out final week in accordance with Ukraine-Russia agreements reached at peace talks in Istanbul on June 2.
As within the different latest instances, the newest swap targeted on severely in poor health and wounded prisoners of warfare (POWs), Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Remedy of POWs mentioned.
"We’re working to carry our folks again. I thank everybody who helps make these exchanges potential. Our aim is to free each single certainly one of them," Zelensky mentioned.
Russia's Protection Ministry additionally introduced a prisoner change with the Ukrainian facet, with out specifying the variety of troopers concerned.
"Each defender launched at present has severe medical diagnoses and sicknesses ensuing from their accidents and captivity," the Coordination Headquarters mentioned.
A major a part of the launched captives defended Mariupol through the Russian siege in 2022, whereas others fought elsewhere within the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kyiv oblasts. All of them are privates or non-commissioned officers.
The oldest of the launched captives was 63 years previous, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets mentioned, including that one other, a 45-year-old service member, was launched on his birthday.
The Istanbul deal was reached through the second spherical of direct talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul at first of the month.
Whereas no political breakthrough was achieved, either side agreed to a phased change of prisoners and the repatriation of fallen troopers' our bodies. As a part of that settlement, Russia pledged to return the our bodies of as much as 6,000 Ukrainian service members and residents.
Moscow has handed over 6,057 our bodies to Ukraine in a number of levels over the previous few days. Kyiv later mentioned these additionally included fallen Russian troopers.
The June 2 agreements got here after the largest-ever POW swap in late Could, when 1,000 prisoners had been exchanged on either side.
Ukraine repeatedly referred to as for a prisoner change in an all-for-all format, however Russia continues to reject the supply.
The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek
Zelensky appoints Brigadier Basic Shapovalov as new Floor Forces chief
President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 19 appointed Brigadier Basic Hennadii Shapovalov as the brand new commander of Ukraine's Floor Forces, following the resignation of Mykhailo Drapatyi earlier this month.
Drapatyi stepped down on June 1 after a Russian missile strike killed at the least 12 Ukrainian troopers at a coaching floor in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He described the casualties as younger recruits who "ought to have realized, lived, and fought — not died."
Zelensky accepted Drapatyi's resignation and appointed him Commander of the Joint Forces on June 3. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, with the Floor Forces promising accountability if misconduct or negligence is confirmed.
Shapovalov, born in 1978 in Kirovohrad Oblast, is a profession officer who graduated from the Navy Institute of Tank Troops in Kharkiv and later studied on the Nationwide Protection College of Ukraine. He additionally acquired coaching on the U.S. Military Conflict Faculty.
Shapovalov beforehand led Ukraine's South Operational Command in 2024 and was appointed in February 2025 as Ukraine's consultant to the NATO Safety Help and Coaching for Ukraine (NSATU) mission in Germany.
Drapatyi, in his remaining remarks as Floor Forces chief on June 11, mentioned he had overhauled greater than half of the command's senior management, launched a revamp of recruitment facilities, and pushed by way of reforms targeted on decentralization, accountability, and modernization.
Zelensky mentioned Drapatyi's new position would permit him to focus "completely on fight points" as Ukraine faces intensifying Russian assaults throughout a number of fronts.
The Kyiv IndependentDmytro Basmat
North Korea considers sending 25,000 employees to Russia to assist produce Shahed drones, media studies
North Korea is contemplating sending as much as 25,000 employees to Russia to help within the mass manufacturing of Shahed-type assault drones, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported on June 19, citing unnamed diplomatic sources within the West and Russia.
The employees could be despatched to the Alabuga Particular Financial Zone in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, the place Moscow operates a facility for assembling Iranian-designed Shahed drones. In return, Pyongyang is reportedly searching for drone operation coaching.
Shahed drones, identified for his or her low price and heavy explosive payloads, have been used extensively by Russia since late 2022 to assault Ukrainian cities. The Alabuga web site has been repeatedly struck by Ukrainian forces in an try and disrupt manufacturing.
The media report follows a collection of speedy developments in army cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. Russian Safety Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea on June 17, reportedly on a "particular project" from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After assembly Kim, Shoigu mentioned that Pyongyang had agreed to ship 1,000 fight engineers and 5,000 army builders to Russia's Kursk Oblast to help in reconstruction.
Ukraine managed part of Kursk Oblast following a cross-border offensive in August 2024. Russia regained a lot of the misplaced territory throughout a March 2025 counteroffensive that included backing from North Korean forces. In keeping with estimates, North Korea has suffered over 6,000 casualties through the offensive operations.
Ukraine's army intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, mentioned on June 9 that Pyongyang and Moscow have agreed to begin establishing home manufacturing of Shahed-136 drones on North Korean soil.
Kim stays a vocal ally of Putin, supplying not solely troopers but in addition artillery, drones, and ballistic missiles. Throughout Russia's Could 9 Victory Day Parade in Moscow, Putin personally greeted North Korean troops, although Kim didn’t attend.
The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk
'Undesirable by their homeland' — Ukraine confirms Russia returned our bodies of its troopers disguised as Ukrainian
Russia handed over some our bodies of its personal troopers to Ukraine underneath the guise of Ukrainian casualties throughout a latest change of the deceased, Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko introduced on June 19.
"Sure, we’ve information. We’ve established the names of those troopers and officers who’re undesirable by their homeland," Klymenko wrote on Telegram.
The invention was made after the handover of stays underneath an settlement reached through the June 2 talks in Istanbul. In complete, Ukraine acquired 6,057 our bodies of its fallen troopers as a part of the phased change. Russia, based on Kremlin aide and negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, took again 78.
One of many our bodies returned to Ukraine, labeled No. 192/25, was wearing a Russian army uniform and carried a Russian passport issued to Alexander Viktorovich Bugaev, born in 1974.
Alongside the passport, officers discovered a army ID indicating Bugaev had served within the 1st Battalion of the thirty ninth Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade.
In keeping with Klymenko, Bugaev went lacking throughout heavy preventing close to Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast in March 2025. His household had been trying to find him for months. Klymenko mentioned Russia had situated Bugaev's physique however selected to "dump" it among the many Ukrainian lifeless.
"That is one more proof of how Russia treats its folks with contempt, throwing their our bodies onto the our bodies of Ukrainian troopers," Klymenko mentioned.
"This exhibits how little human life means to Russia. Or possibly it's only a strategy to keep away from paying compensation to the households. However they should pay anyway: we’re returning these our bodies."
The official has not talked about the full variety of Russian troopers' our bodies given to Ukraine.
The June 2 negotiations in Istanbul resulted in essentially the most expansive prisoner and physique change settlement of the full-scale warfare, though no ceasefire was reached.
Russia accused Kyiv on June 7 of rejecting a proposed physique return, publishing footage allegedly exhibiting Ukrainian corpses saved in refrigeration models. Ukraine dismissed the claims, saying the footage was filmed on Russian territory, not at a chosen handover web site.
Kyiv has persistently referred to as for an "all-for-all" change of prisoners of warfare, however Moscow has to date refused to conform to a complete swap.
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