Luhansk's local governor said on Saturday some progress had been made in pushing back Russian forces in the Donbas region. Meanwhile, Russian authorities reported that some Ukrainian military units were withdrawing from the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
21:25pm: Ukrainian forces trying to regain control of Severodonetsk
Ukrainian forces are trying to "re-establish total control" of Sievierodonetsk, the mayor of the key eastern city said Saturday.
While Russian troops had had some success and taken a "good part" of the city, Ukrainian forces had redeployed and were doing everything to re-establish total control of the city, Oleksandr Striuk said in a televised interview broadcast on Telegram.
19:55pm: Ukrainian front-line soldiers lacking modern artillery
As Russian soldiers have retreated from Kherson, Ukrainian soldiers are holding the front lines using weaponry that is barely fit for purpose.
Despite Western arms deliveries, modern artillery is still lacking. "We lack weapons... to cover all our positions on the front line," one Ukrainian soldier told France 24.
18:58pm: Pope to meet with Ukrainian leaders to discuss possible visit
Pope Francis said on Saturday he would meet soon with Ukrainian officials to discuss the possibility of a visit to their country.
Francis disclosed the coming meeting in a question-and-answer session with children in one of the Vatican's main courtyards.
He said that he wanted to visit Ukraine but had to choose the right time.
"It is not easy to make a decision that could do more harm than good to the rest of the world. I have to find the right moment to do it," he said, according to a Vatican transcript of the event.
"Next week I will receive representatives of the Ukrainian government, who will come here to talk, to talk even about an eventual visit of mine there. We'll see what happens," Francis said.
18:24pm: Ukraine says Russian attack caused fire at famous monastery
A wooden Orthodox church on one of Ukraine's most sacred Orthodox sites was set ablaze Saturday, church authorities said, amid fierce fighting in the Donbas between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
"As a result of hostilities, a large-scale fire broke out on the territory of the All Saints Skete of the Holy Dormition Sviatogirsk Lavra," their statement said.
"The flames completely engulfed the main church of the monastery," it added.
Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko blamed Russian forces for the blaze in a post on social media. He said about 300 displaced Ukrainians had been seeking shelter there, including 60 children.
Plumes of black smoke and flames rose from onion domes of a church structure in an unattributed picture he posted accompanying the statement.
18:22pm: Ukrainian outrage over fresh call from Macron to spare Putin humiliation
Ukrainians have responded with anger to the latest calls from French President Emmanuel Macron to find a resolution to the war in Ukraine that spares Russian President Vladimir Putin from being humiliated.
“People call [Macron] an appeaser,” said France 24’s Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Ukraine. “Most Ukrainians say they want to see Vladimir Putin put on trial for war crimes, and they absolutely want to see Russia humiliated.”
16:43pm: Russia says Ukrainian forces withdrawing from Severodonetsk
Russia's army said Saturday that some Ukrainian military units were withdrawing from the key city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.
"Some units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses during fighting for Sievierodonetsk, are pulling out towards Lysychansk," Sievierodonetsk's twin city, which sits just across a river, the defence ministry said in a statement. It added however that some Ukrainian fighters were still in the city.
14:42pm: Ukraine confirms deaths of four foreign military volunteers
Ukraine announced Saturday the deaths of four foreign military volunteers fighting Russian forces, whose invasion has spurred a wave of solidarity abroad including from experienced combat veterans.
The International Legion of Defence of Ukraine, an official volunteer brigade, announced the men from Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and France had died but did not specify when or under what circumstances.
"We lost our brothers in combat but their bravery, their memory and legacy will forever inspire us," it said in a statement.
Paris on Friday confirmed that a French volunteer fighter had been killed in combat in Ukraine, following reports that the man died in artillery fire in the Kharkiv region.
12:43pm: Russia 'throwing all its power' at Severodonetsk: Ukraine governor
Ukraine said Saturday that Russia was using all its available forces to capture the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk in a bid to control the entire eastern Donbas region.
"The situation in the region as a whole is extremely difficult. Fighting is now concentrated in Sievierodonetsk because, as we understand it, the Russian army is throwing all its power, all its reserves in this direction," Luhansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in an interview posted on his official social media.
10:39am: Russia blowing up bridges in Severodonetsk to thwart Ukrainian reinforcements
Russian forces are blowing up bridges across the Seversky Donets river to prevent Ukraine bringing in military reinforcements and delivering aid to civilians in the town of Sievierodonetsk, the governor of the Luhansk region said on Saturday.
In a TV broadcast, Serhiy Gaidai said the Ukrainian military continued to hold its positions inside Sievierodonetsk and was pushing back Russian forces in several locations.
9:42am: Another ship meant to take metal to Russia arrives in Mariupol
A ship sent to load metal and ship it to Russia has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, the second vessel to arrive in the southeastern city since Russia completed its capture last month.
"The ship has arrived and is in the port," TASS cited a port authority representative as saying, adding that it was to be loaded with metal. Earlier this week, a ship left Mariupol for Russia with a cargo of metal. Ukraine said the shipment from the port, whose capture gave Moscow an overland bridge linking mainland Russia and pro-Russian separatist territory to annexed Crimea, amounted to looting.
9:22am: NATO chief speaks with Erdogan about Finland, Sweden joining
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has met with Finland’s prime minister and spoken to Turkey’s president as he seeks to overcome Turkish resistance to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.
Stoltenberg, who visited Washington this week, tweeted late Friday that he met with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin while there and discussed “the need to address Turkey’s concerns and move forward” with the Finnish and Swedish membership applications. Russia’s war in Ukraine pushed the Nordic countries to apply to join NATO, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Sweden and Finland of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be "terrorists".
9:20am: Russian air activity remains high over Donbas, says UK military intelligence
Britain's defence ministry said on Saturday that Russian air activity remains high over Ukraine's Donbas region with Russian aircraft carrying out strikes using both guided and unguided munitions. "The increased use of unguided munitions has led to the widespread destruction of built-up areas in the Donbas and has almost certainly caused substantial collateral damage and civilian casualties," the ministry said in a tweet. It said Russia increased its use of tactical air to support its creeping advance, combining air strikes and massed artillery attacks to bring its firepower to bear as its operational focus has switched to the Donbas.
9:00am: Gazprom's gas exports to Europe via Ukraine remain steady
Russian gas producer Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was seen at 41.9 million cubic metres (mcm) on Saturday versus 42.1 mcm on Friday. An application to supply gas via another major entry point, Sokhranovka, was rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said.
7:54am: Ukraine's intelligence in communication with captured Azovstal fighters
Ukraine's intelligence services are in communication with the captured Azovstal steelworks fighters and Kyiv is doing all it can to ensure their release, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said late on Friday. Uncertainty has surrounded the fate of hundreds of fighters taken into Russian custody in mid-May after being ordered to stand down. "It is through them (intelligence services) that we are learning about the conditions of the detention, nutrition and the possibility of their release," Monastyrskiy said on Ukrainian television.
"We all know that they will all be here, in Kyiv, and we are doing everything possible to do so." Russia said in May that almost 2,000 Ukrainians had surrendered after making a last stand in the ruins of Mariupol, where they had held out for weeks in bunkers and tunnels beneath the vast Azovstal steelworks. Kyiv wants the fighters returned in a prisoner swap. Some senior Russian lawmakers have demanded that some of the soldiers be put on trial. The Kremlin has said the fighters who surrendered will be treated according to international standards.
6:53am: Japan's Kishida may join NATO summit to discuss Ukraine crisis
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is leaning toward attending a summit of leaders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in late June to spur coordination with the West over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Kyodo News reported, citing unnamed government sources.
The move would mark an unusually aggressive stance for a Japanese leader although Kishida has repeatedly condemned Russia over what he has described as a "war crime" against Ukraine.
6:00am: Ukraine claims Russian forces pushed back in east in fierce fighting
Russian artillery slammed Ukraine's eastern Donbas region with fierce fighting over the city of Sievierodonetsk, but the local governor said there was some progress in pushing back invading forces. "They (Russians) didn't seize it fully," Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said Friday, saying the invading forces had been pushed back "20 percent". "As soon as we get a big amount of Western long-range weapons, we will push their artillery back... and then Russian infantry will run."
Ukrainian troops were still holding an industrial zone in Sievierodonetsk, Gaiday had said, a scenario reminiscent of Mariupol, where a steelworks was the port city's last holdout. The situation in Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk's twin city, which sits just across a river, looked increasingly dire. About 60 percent of infrastructure and housing had been destroyed, while internet, mobile networks and gas services had been knocked out, said its mayor Oleksandr Zaika.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
