Ukraine reported little progress on Wednesday in its counteroffensive against Russian troops in what it described as “extremely brutal” fighting. Ukraine’s military is suffering heavy casualties and is slowly advancing toward Russia’s main defense line, Western officials acknowledged in one of the first Western assessments launched on June 4. Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ukrainian war. Day 477. LIVETEXT:

07:25 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday that the Australian government will oppose the construction of a new Russian embassy near parliament in Canberra, citing risks to national security, AFP reports.

01:18President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told his compatriots on Wednesday evening that he spoke for almost an hour by phone with the President of Poland Andrzej Duda, with whom he is working on a formula that will give Ukraine a concrete prospect of joining NATO at the summit in Vilnius next month, News.ro reports.

00:22The Russian occupying forces stopped the automatic transmission of data from the radiation control sensors at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZAEP). Now this information is manually transmitted by representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ukrainian Pravda reports.

A brief summary of recent events:

• Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, said alliance members must ensure Ukraine continues to receive enough weapons to continue its counteroffensive against Russia.
• On Wednesday, Ukraine reported little progress in its counteroffensive against Russian forces in what the deputy defense minister described as “extremely fierce” fighting. Over the past day, Ukrainian troops have advanced 200-500 meters in various areas near the largely destroyed eastern city of Bakhmut and 300-350 meters in the direction of Zaporizhzhia, southeast of the city, Anna Malyar reported.
• Russian propagandist and ideologue Oleksandr Dugin is accused by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ukrainian Pravda and Kyiv Independent of violating the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and publicly calling for genocide.
• UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi on Wednesday postponed a trip to the Russian-owned Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for security reasons as fierce fighting raged in southern Ukraine. The Kremlin said it was concerned by unconfirmed media reports that a high-ranking Chechen commander had been wounded in Ukraine. Earlier on Wednesday, the television of the Ministry of Defense reported that the head of the National Guard of Chechnya, Adam Delimkhanov, was wounded in Ukraine. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov later said that Delimkhanov was alive and well. Caliber rockets hit Odesa at 2:40 a.m. on Wednesday, setting fire to a warehouse, business center, educational institution, restaurants and shops. It was one of several attacks across the country on Wednesday that left 13 civilians dead and 24 injured.
• The road to the recently liberated Ukrainian village of Storozhe is littered with corpses of Russian soldiers and burned armored vehicles.
• Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMC, said that his group will return to the Ukrainian front in August, and until then the fighters are “resting and preparing”, according to CNN, according to News.ro. Commander Wagner on Wednesday reiterated his fighter jets’ refusal to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, a day after President Vladimir Putin said they were needed.
• The lower house of the Russian parliament said on Wednesday that it had voted in favor of a law that would allow the Ministry of Defense to sign contracts with suspected or convicted criminals to fight in Ukraine

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Wednesday’s events related to Russian aggression were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro