A Russian missile strike destroyed a university in Kharkiv
The Pedagogical University in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was destroyed by a Russian missile strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced, as quoted by DPA and BTA.
The main building, the lecture halls, the university museum and the scientific library were affected, Zelensky said in his evening video address.
“This characterizes the Russian invasion with 100% accuracy. When it comes to the definition of barbarism, this strike most qualifies,” Zelensky said.
According to him, the weapons sent by Kyiv’s Western partners work “very powerfully” and he praised their accuracy.
The Ukrainian army uses the artillery to destroy warehouses and other targets that are logistically important to Russia, Zelensky added.
“And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army. The losses of the occupiers will only increase every week, as well as the difficulties in supplying them”, added the Ukrainian president.
Zelensky called on citizens to disseminate information about the successes of the Ukrainian armed forces in the occupied territories, UNIAN reported.
He recalled that the occupiers blocked access to social networks, messenger apps and YouTube.
“The Russian forces blocked any opportunity for people to learn the truth about what is happening and about our potential, which we are gradually increasing. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to talk to the people in the southern part of our country – in Kherson, Genichesk, Berdyansk, Melitopol and other cities and villages, please tell the truth there. Use every opportunity to tell the people in the occupied regions that we remember them and fight for them,” urged the head of state.
Russian general arrested for abuse of office
Lieutenant-General Sergey Umnov, advisor to Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, has been detained on charges of abuse of office, BTA reported. Three generals from St. Petersburg are suspected in this criminal case. Kolokoltsev did not comment on the situation, British media noted.
Umnov was detained in Moscow and taken to the temporary detention center at 38 Petrovka Street, according to the Moscow Center for the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC), whose monitors visited him in the detention center, writes TASS. “The general told observers that he was accused of abuse of power. He pleaded not guilty,” the statement said.
The 57-year-old general worked in St. Petersburg, where from March 2012 to February 2019 he was the head of the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city and the region. From this post, he moved to the post of assistant to the Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev. Since 2013, he has been a lieutenant-general of the police, and since 1986 he has been working in the services.
Several heads of the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region have been detained in the framework of a criminal case for abuse of office, the Russian Ministry of the Interior confirmed.
Umnov “expressed complete disagreement with what he was accused of, calling it all stupidity and absurdity,” Eva Merkachova, a member of the Moscow PMC, told Interfax.
The media also reported on searches of Alexei Semyonov, head of the State Department of Traffic Police in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Local outlet 47news suggests the raids are related to a criminal case of abuse of office that began in 2020.
Abramovich’s detained planes were on unofficial talks in Ukraine
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s planes, which were seized in February, were flying for informal talks between Russia and Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A close associate of the oligarch claimed to the publication that the February flights were carried out at the request of Ukrainian officials in order to organize humanitarian corridors. He added that US intelligence knew about it.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Abramovich has taken on the role of an unofficial mediator between Kyiv and Moscow. At first he simply relayed the messages of the parties, then joined negotiations on the evacuation of the civilian population and the exchange of prisoners. It is because of this mediating role that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the US not to impose sanctions on Abramovich.
At the same time, Britain and the EU imposed restrictions on the Russian oligarch because of his close ties to Putin.
Abramovich and at least six other Russian oligarchs are now challenging the European sanctions in the Court of Justice of the EU.
In early June, a federal judge in New York issued an arrest warrant for Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and Gulfstream G650ER planes linked to the Russian billionaire.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which sought an arrest warrant for the planes, said Abramovich owned them through a series of offshore companies registered in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands.
The Polish Prime Minister accused Minsk and Moscow of hacking attacks
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has accused Russian and Belarusian secret services of hacking the systems of government institutions by releasing modified emails that allegedly show links between the government and the judiciary.
Morawiecki called the release of the emails a “provocation” aimed at creating discord in Poland over Warsaw’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
In leaked 2019 emails, his chief counsel Michal Dworczyk informed Morawiecki that he had discussed some lawsuits with “President” Julia P. and that they were on hold.
Rumor has it that the “president” is actually Julia Przylebska, president of Poland’s Constitutional Court. She stated that she “never discussed the decisions of the Constitutional Court with anyone except other judges“.
The Polish press has been writing about the alleged correspondence between Morawiecki and Dworczyk for several months. The Polish government denies the authenticity of the correspondence, although some of those mentioned in it say it is authentic.