Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Here is the gist of this Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the 1,564th day of the conflict.
Fact of the day
Russia announced that it had intercepted 376 Ukrainian drones during the night from Friday to Saturday, massively targeting the Saint Petersburg region at the close of the International Economic Forum. Described as “sanctions” by Volodymyr Zelensky, these large-scale strikes caused fires on military and energy sites in Kronstadt and Krasnodar. At the same time, Moscow targeted Ukraine with 272 drones, leaving at least four dead and several injured in the regions of Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv.
On the diplomatic level, Vladimir Putin rejected the proposal for direct negotiations made by the Ukrainian president, affirming that the conflict would only end once the Kremlin’s objectives were achieved. The head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Andriï Sybiga, castigated this refusal, believing that the Russian leader had just missed his chance to extricate himself from a “failed war”.
Today’s statement
« The men buried here fought within a warlike alliance where each partner contributed the measure of their industry, their courage and their sacrifice. »
During the D-Day commemorations at Colleville-sur-Mer, the American Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, urged Europeans to invest more in their security. He invoked the sacrifice of the Allies in 1944 to assert that “peace is only guaranteed by force.”
Pete Hegseth also sparked controversy by drawing an analogy between D-Day and current immigration, described as an ideological “invasion” threatening “Western civilization” on the coasts of Southern Europe, before calling on the capitals to act. At the same time, official tributes to this historic operation continue in Normandy.
The number of the day
19. Like the age of the Russian Mirra Andreeva who realized her greatest dream by winning her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros on Saturday. During a competition where her country’s flag was banned – just like the national anthem, absent from the cup award ceremony – the young champion was often questioned about the war in Ukraine, a sensitive subject that she preferred to avoid, saying she would only concentrate on her game.
The trend
On Saturday, NATO land forces launched operations in Finland and Sweden in order to secure the Far North. This initiative aims to protect the northeastern flank of the Alliance in the face of Russian military activities and China’s growing ambitions in this strategic area with a difficult climate.
Historically non-aligned, the two countries joined the organization – Finland in 2023 and Sweden in 2024 – following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
This deployment centers around the Forward Land Forces, which establishes a Swedish battle group in Boden and a multinational headquarters in Rovaniemi, as well as the “Arctic Sentinel” mission.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
Validated at the Washington summit in 2024, this defensive project was completed in less than two years. According to General Alexus Grynkewich, Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, these measures are essential to guarantee the security of the territory in the face of regional threats.
/2026/06/15/6a302a5591620664586703.jpg "TESTIMONIALS. \"This is not good news\" : the peace agreement with the United States raises concerns among Iranians living in France")
