War in Ukraine: kyiv in shock after the bombs on the cathedral, Macron puts pressure on Trump

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 Monday, June 15, 2026, on the 1,572nd day of the conflict.

Fact of the day

A tragedy coupled with a heritage disaster. At least 11 people were killed Monday in a series of Russian strikes on cities in Ukraine and a fire ravaged the roof of the Dormition Cathedral in kyiv. This Orthodox building, emblematic of the capital, is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.

According to Ukrainian President Zelensky, who visited the site, Russia “deliberately” targeted “the part of the city” where the monastery is located with two drones. Father Makary, one of the religious who officiates on the site, also considers that Russia was specifically targeting this “pearl of Ukrainian architecture”. “They don’t just want to destroy us physically, but above all to erase our memory,” assures the priest.

The Ukrainian security services (SBU) said they had recovered debris from a Russian Gueran-2 drone at the impact site. The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, denied having targeted the cathedral, which also has strong religious importance for Russia, and assured that it was hit by an American-made Patriot missile fired by the defense Ukrainian anti-aircraft.

Today’s statement

« What I want is to have Americans who say to themselves “we are with you, we will continue to help Ukraine, we will put more pressure on Russia” »

The words are signed Emmanuel Macron this Monday with TF1. The French president hopes to convince his American counterpart Donald Trump to put more “pressure” on Russia during the G7 summit which opens this Monday evening in Evian. “The good negotiation is Ukraine and Russia around the table, but with the Europeans and Americans who are there,” he added.

The discussions have so far taken place under American mediation, without the Europeans. The United States is, moreover, mainly focused on resolving the conflict that it started in Iran on February 28.

The Europeans also hope to convince Donald Trump to return to a more balanced position in favor of Ukraine, while his emissaries have considered territorial concessions in favor of Russia going beyond the front line. “It’s an ally who thought he could quickly end the war in Russia a year and a half ago, who saw the difficulty on our side, who no longer finances the war effort,” recalled the French president.

The trend

Volodymyr Zelensky said this Monday that he had offered to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during the G7 in France, but that Russia “is not ready” to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. “We sent the message that we are ready to meet (Vladimir) Putin at the G7, because (Donald) Trump is there, (Emmanuel) Macron is there, (Keir) Starmer, (Friedrich) Merz, so the Europeans plus the Americans. “It’s a very good opportunity to all meet,” the Ukrainian leader told reporters in English.

“Europe and the United States have given their agreement, and Russia has shown once again that they are not ready to talk,” said Volodymyr Zelensky, believing that it is necessary to increase the pressure on the Russian president, “until he puts an end to the war.” “.

The number of the day

27. This is the number of member countries in the European Union. Ukraine is not one of them but, after years of blockage, Ukraine took an important step this Monday on the road to joining the European Union. EU Foreign Ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, officially opened a first series of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova in the afternoon, after the lifting of a Hungarian veto which had blocked the entire process since then. 2024. Other negotiation chapters will be discussed between now and the end of July.

At the same time, kyiv must still accomplish an enormous amount of work to take over the “community acquis”. In other words, the very numerous rules and standards in force in the EU, from the environment to agriculture via the internal market.