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What the week before 30 June 2024 showed
Summary
A run of strikes, legal rulings, a prisoner swap and a Baltic-Polish defence proposal marked the days leading up to the end of June 2024.
What did the final week of June 2024 look like for Ukraine and its neighbours? By 30 June 2024, the days just behind it had combined violence in Ukrainian cities, legal action against Russian officials, a small humanitarian exchange and a security proposal from the EU's north-eastern flank.
Strikes on cities
On 24 June, Russian Iskander-M ballistic missiles hit Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast. At least four people were killed and 40 others injured. Four days later, on 28 June, a Russian missile struck a nine-storey residential building in Dnipro. At least one person was killed and 12 others were injured.
Courts and warrants
On 25 June, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Valery Gerasimov, Russia's Chief of the General Staff, and Sergei Shoigu, the former defence minister. The same day, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously found Russia guilty of systematic violations of human rights in the Crimean peninsula.
An exchange of prisoners
Also on 25 June, Russia and Ukraine each returned 90 prisoners of war. The exchange was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
A proposed defence line
On 26 June, the leaders of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia called on the European Union to build a €2.5 billion (US$2.67 billion) defence line between their countries and Russia and Belarus. Their stated aim was to secure the EU from military, economic and migrant-related threats.
The picture at the end of the month
Taken together, the reports from 24 to 28 June show a war still reaching residential areas in Pokrovsk and Dnipro. They also show international courts acting on Russia's conduct and a prisoner exchange that still went ahead. The four leaders' call for a defence line showed how the conflict was shaping security planning in neighbouring EU states.
