Russia attacks Kyiv, Lviv with drones, EU provides €50 bn for Ukraine, General Electric stops servicing gas turbines in Russia

The war has been on for 482 days. The cities of Kyiv, Lviv, and Zaporizhzhia were attacked overnight. A total of 28 drones out of the 30 launched were taken down.

The EU has prepared a financial aid package for Ukraine worth €50 billion. The British parliament has ruled that Boris Johnson deliberately lied over rule-breaking parties.

The US company General Electric has stopped servicing Russian gas turbines since 19 June after the extended US sanctions were introduced.

Read the biggest overnight news in Novaya-Europe’s 20 June round-up.

Attacks on Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Lviv

Russia used Shahed drones and S-300 missiles against Ukrainian cities overnight.

“Preliminarily, 28 ‘Shaheds’ out of 30 launched by the enemy have been destroyed. The occupants also used 7 S-300 missiles against the Zaporizhzhia area,” Ukraine’s General Staff Ukraine stated.

Almost 20 downed drones were reported in Kyiv. The local authorities say the drones “entered the capital’s airspace in waves and in different directions.” The air raid continued for more than three hours.

According to the latest data, a critical infrastructure facility was hit in Lviv. Maxym Kozytsky, the local governor, says no one was injured. A fire started at the facility,which is now being extinguished.

Yuriy Malashko, the Zaporizhzhia governor, says “communication lines, agricultural and farming equipment, as well as a popular recreation facility” were targeted in the region. No people were reported injured.

The Myrove community was also attacked by heavy artillery in the Dnipro region. The details are being clarified; no one was injured, says local mayor Oleksandr Vilkul.

Bloomberg: EU prepares financial aid package for Ukraine worth €50 billion

The European Union is ready to offer Ukraine a financial assistance package worth about €50 billion, Bloomberg reports citing sources.

The European Commission’s proposal will help finance the Ukrainian government’s operating expenses and the restoration of cities. Bloomberg’s sources believe the EU will offer assistance in the form of grants, preferential loans, and guarantees.

The aid is expected to be announced on 20 June ahead of the donors' conference in London. However, the assistance package may still be subject to change. Bloomberg says the European Commission wants to avoid a “burdensome recovery tool” for a country that is in a state of an armed conflict.

British parliament rules Boris Johnson deliberately lied over ‘partygate’

The UK parliament has endorsed a report that concluded that the country’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately lied over rule-breaking parties during the COVID lockdown, Reuters reports.

The report was backed by 354 MPs, while only seven rejected it. The report recommended Johnson should be denied a pass giving him access to parliament and would have recommended suspending him from the House of Commons for 90 days if he had not already resigned.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May warned Johnson’s supporters not to vote against the committee’s report, saying that doing so would erode the public’s faith in democracy.

Johnson had resigned as an MP before the report was published. He made the decision in early June after receiving the results of an investigation into parties in his Downing Street home during the pandemic and nationwide mourning over Prince Philip’s death.

The investigation itself concerns whether Johnson misled the public and the parliament when he denied holding parties. In March 2023, the former PM apologised for misleading the parliament while testifying before the Privileges Committee, but assured that he did so “unintentionally”.

General Electric stops servicing gas turbines in Russia

General Electric, an American company, has stopped servicing Russian gas turbines starting 19 June “without an explanation” after the extended US sanctions were introduced, Kommersant reports.

The outlet’s sources say the company restricted access to the monitoring system and may stop the supplies of spare parts for the turbines, including turbine blades.

The total capacity of GE gas turbines in the Russian energy system is 5 GW, and the total capacity of power units is 8 GW. The termination of service maintenance is most critical for the most powerful H- and F-class models, installed at the power units of the Surgut-2 Power Station, The Shatura Power Station and the Sredneuralskaya GRES power plant, Kommersant notes.

GE ceased operations following the introduction of US sanctions prohibiting US companies from providing engineering services to anyone in Russia.