Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that fighting in a long-awaited offensive against Russian forces was "tough" but claimed Kyiv was "moving forward." Kyiv on Monday said it had wrested seven villages in eastern and southern Ukraine from Russian forces since the weekend. The claims could not be independently verified. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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05:21am: Russia launches 'massive missile' attack on Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine
Russia launched a "massivemissile" attack overnight on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, killing and wounding people and damaging civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said early on Tuesday.
"There are dead and wounded," Serhiy Lisak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region where Kryvyi Rih is located, said on the Telegram messaging app.
"A massive missile attack on Kryvyi Rih."
Russian air strikes hit several civilian buildings in the city, including a five-storey building, the mayor of Kryvyi Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, said earlier.
"Likely, there are people under the rubble," Vilkul said on Telegram.
04:36am: State of emergency around fuel tanker crash site in Russia's Irkutsk region
A state of emergency was introduced around the area where two fuel tankers collided on the Lena River in southeastern Russia's Irkutsk region, damaging a container and spilling gasoline into the water, the region's governor said early on Tuesday.
The damaged container was carrying 138 metric tons of gasoline, the governor, Igor Kobzev, said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that authorities were trying to clarify how much ended up in the Lena.
The situation was complicated as other vessels were still traveling on the river, Kobzev said. "In addition, there are settlements downstream."
The collision took place late on Monday.
He said that emergency services were working to prevent the diversion of water from the river.
The Lena River, the world's 11th longest, originates near Lake Baikal in the Irkutsk region in southeastern Siberia and flows into the Arctic Ocean.
11:53pm: IAEA chief to arrive in Kyiv on Tuesday
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, will arrive in Kyiv on Tuesday to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky before heading to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Since the conflict's start IAEA chief Grossi has warned of the potential for a nuclear accident at the plant, which he has previously visited twice and where a permanent IAEA team is based.
Sitting on the Dnipro river, the Russian-held Kakhovka dam, which was breached last week in an incident blamed by Kyiv on Moscow, forms a reservoir that provides the cooling water for the Russian-occupied plant.
The IAEA has warned that the Kakhovka dam disaster which claimed at least 10 lives and has left dozens missing further "(complicated) an already precarious nuclear safety and security situation at the" plant.
10:48pm: Ukraine says seven villages retaken in 'tough' offensive
Ukraine on Monday said it had retaken seven villages and made small gains in a "tough" counter-offensive against Russian forces that France said could last months.
"The fighting is tough, but we are moving forward, this is very important," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a daily evening address.
"I thank our guys for every Ukrainian flag that is now returning to its rightful place in villages on the newly de-occupied territory," he said.
Ukraine's defence minister Ganna Malyar said on Telegram on Monday that "seven settlements were liberated" -- referring to the villages of Lobkovo, Levadne and Novodarivka in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, which houses Europe's largest nuclear plant, now under Russian occupation.
Malyar said Ukrainian forces had also regained control of the village of Storozheve in the south of the Donetsk region, near three villages recaptured on Sunday.
"The area of the territory taken under control amounted to 90 square kilometres," Malyar said.
10:00pm: France, Germany and Poland back Ukraine's counteroffensive in a show of unity
The leaders of France, Germany and Poland met in Paris Monday for talks focusing on military support for Ukraine’s counteroffensive and future security guarantees to be given to the country, ahead of a NATO summit in July.
French President Emmanuel Macron said “the Ukrainian counteroffensive began several days ago," in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda at the Elysee presidential palace.
In a show of unity, the three leaders insisted they would continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary.
9:55pm: Zelensky sees 'movement' despite fierce battles and rain
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that despite rain and fierce fighting, his forces were making progress on the battlefield and inflicting necessary losses.
"The battles are fierce, but we have movement and that is crucial," he said in his nightly video address. "The enemy's losses are exactly what we need," he added.
9:32pm: Zelensky says fighting in offensive 'tough', claims Kyiv 'moving forward'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that fighting in a long-awaited offensive against Russian forces was "tough" but claimed Kyiv was "moving forward."
"The fighting is tough, but we are moving forward, this is very important," Zelensky said in a daily evening address. "I thank our guys for every Ukrainian flag that is now returning to its rightful place in villages on the newly de-occupied territory," he said after Kyiv claimed to have recaptured seven villages from Russian forces.
9:29pm: France to intensify arms delivery to help Ukraine counter-offensive, says Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Monday that a long-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive had started a few days earlier and said it had been meticulously planned by military leaders with a great tactical sense.
"We have done everything to help it," Macron told a joint news conference with German and Polish leaders. "We have intensified the delivery of ammunitions, weapons and armed vehicules... We'll continue in coming days and weeks."
9:27pm: Ukraine claims recapture of seven villages in early stages of counteroffensive
Ukrainian troops have retaken seven villages spanning 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) from Russian forces in the past week, the deputy defense minister said Monday as the early stages of Kyiv's counteroffensive notched small successes.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on the Telegram app that the Ukrainian flag was again flying over the village of Storozhov, in the eastern Donetsk province, and that her troops had also retaken three other nearby small villages and three in neighboring Zaporizhzhia province.
“The battles are tough, but our movement is there, and that is very important,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address." He added that rainy weather is challenging his troops, and that he's discussed with his military commanders “which points of the front we need to strengthen and what actions we can take to break more Russian positions.”
8:21pm: Ukraine says liberated three more settlements
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday the country's forces had made further advances in a counter-offensive launched last week.
In a Telegram post, she said seven settlements had been liberated, including three not previously claimed -- Lobkove, Levadne and Novodarivka in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.
FRANCE 24's International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert describes below the "probing" operations and other strategies behind Ukraine's counter-offensive.
7:38pm: UN working to renew Ukraine grain export deal
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he is working to extend an agreement that allows grain from war-torn Ukraine to reach the global market and prevent shortages.
That crucial accord granting safe passage for Ukrainian grain to be exported via Black Sea ports despite Moscow's invasion was signed in July 2022 by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations. It was renewed again in May but for only two months, until July 17.
Moscow is demanding guarantees on another agreement concerning its own exports, in particular of fertilizer components.
"I am concerned, and we are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea Initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports," Guterres told a press conference.
7:04pm: Blinken hopes Ukraine offensive a 'success' to force Putin to talk
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced hope Monday that a successful offensive by Ukraine would force Russian President Vladimir Putin into talks about ending its invasion.
Speaking alongside his Italian counterpart, Blinken said the United States was "confident that they will continue to have success" after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that a long-discussed offensive was underway.
"Success in the counteroffensive would do two things — it would strengthen its position at any negotiating table that emerges, and it may have the effect as well of actually causing Putin to finally focus on negotiating an end to the war that he started," Blinken said.
"In that sense, it can actually bring peace closer, not put it further away," Blinken told a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
7:03pm: Dam flood death roll rises to 10, with 41 missing, says Kyiv
Ukraine on Monday said 41 people were still missing in the floods caused by a dam breach that it blamed on Russia, and which killed 10 people in the southern Kherson region.
The Russian-controlled Kakhovka dam along the front line in the Kherson region was destroyed on June 6, forcing thousands to flee and sparking fears of humanitarian as well as environmental catastrophe.
"Currently, we know about 10 dead in Kherson and the region," Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram. "We are also reporting 41 people as missing."
The governor of the Kherson region, the most affected by the flooding, said two bodies were found on Monday in the regional capital, also called Kherson.
6:37pm: Ukraine denounces Russian MH17 'rambling conspiracy theory' at World Court
Lawyers for Ukraine at the top UN court on Monday rejected Russia's account of the downing of MH17 as a conspiracy theory, in a case alleging Moscow backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and discriminates against ethnic Tatars in Crimea.
Kyiv says that Moscow violated a UN anti-terrorism treaty by equipping and funding pro-Russian forces, including militias who shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, killing all 298 passengers and crew in 2014.
Last November, a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist in absentia for their role in the downing of the airliner and sentenced them to life in prison. It found that Russia had "overall control" over the separatist forces.
Russia at the time rejected the decision by the Dutch court. Last week, in hearings before the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, Russia said Ukraine's MH17 case was based on "nonsense" and offered a host of alternative explanations for what happened.
6:20pm: Putin visits Russian troops wounded in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday visited Russian soldiers wounded in Ukraine in a rare face-to-face meeting with ordinary troops, as Kyiv pushed ahead with its counteroffensive against Moscow's forces and fighting intensified over the weekend.
The Russian leader visited the soldiers at the Central Vishnevsky Military Clinic outside Moscow on "Russia Day", a patriotic public holiday.
The Kremlin aired images of Putin wearing a dark suit and accompanied by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in military attire.
The officials stood in front of a row of men in blue hospital outfits, some of them in wheelchairs.
As he pinned a medal on one of the men, the 70-year-old Russian leader said: "I congratulate you."
5:07pm: UN chief concerned Russia will quit Black Sea grain deal in July
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he is concerned that Russia will on July 17 quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Moscow has been threatening to walk away from the deal known as the Black Sea grain initiative — brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July last year — if obstacles to its own grain and fertilizer shipments are not removed.
"I am concerned and we are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports," Guterres told reporters.
4:12pm: Russian attack kills one in southeastern Ukraine, says governor
One man was killed and another was wounded in a Russian attack on the small town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine, regional governor Yuri Malashko said on Monday.
Malashko said three bombs had damaged private houses and communications in the small town, about 8 km (5 miles) from front lines. He said the man who was killed had been 48 and the one who was wounded was 32.
Officials have said several hundred residents remain in the town although infrastructure there has been largely destroyed by Russian forces, which seized most of the Zaporizhzhia region in the early months of its full-scale invasion last year.
Ukraine says its troops have taken back four villages from Russian forces in the southeast after hitting back to try to recapture occupied territory.
3:12pm: Climbing opts to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete
Climbing on Monday became the latest Olympic sport to say it would welcome back Russian and Belarusian athletes.
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) announced that climbers from the two countries, banned since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, would be allowed to compete under a neutral banner from 2024.
Climbing joined the dozen or so sports that have followed the call by International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach in March to find a "pathway" for athletes from Russia and Belarus to at the very least try and qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
While fencing, cycling and judo immediately authorised the return of the Russians and Belarusians, the IFSC Executive Committee has decided only to "start a process for the reinstatement of athletes holding Russian or Belarusian passports as neutral athletes starting from 2024".
2:09pm: Russia says it beat back Ukraine near villages claimed by Kyiv
The Russian defence ministry said Monday that Russia forces had fought back three Ukrainian assaults near Velyka Novosilka, a town in the eastern Donetsk region where Kyiv has claimed gains.
"Decisive actions of defending units – artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems of the Vostok grouping – repelled three enemy attacks," it said in a statement.
The defence ministry also said that Russian troops had fought off Ukrainian attacks just west of Velyka Novosilka, around the nearby village of Levadne in the neighbouring southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
The various claims by Moscow and Kyiv could not by verified independently but analysts have said that Ukraine has likely made recent advances near Velyka Novosilka.
"Ukrainian forces made visually verified advances in western Donetsk Oblast and western Zaporizhia Oblast, which Russian sources confirmed but sought to downplay," the US-based Institute for the Study of War said in an analytical note Monday.
1:03pm: Putin appeals to Russian patriotism on national day
President Vladimir Putin marked Russia's national day on Monday by appealing to Russians' patriotic pride at what he said was a "difficult time" for the country.
However, speaking at a lavish award-giving ceremony in the Kremlin, Putin made no direct comment on the latest developments in Ukraine, where Kyiv's forces have launched a long-awaited counteroffensive and have retaken several villages in the eastern Donetsk region over the past few days.
"This public holiday marks the inseparability of our centuries-old history, the greatness and glory of the fatherland," Putin told the assembled dignitaries.
"Today, at a difficult time for Russia, [feelings of patriotism and pride] unite our society even more strongly... [and] serve as a reliable support for our heroes taking part in the special military operation [in Ukraine]," Putin said.
12:42pm: Russia says Ukrainian offensives continued in south Donetsk region
Russia's defence ministry on Monday said Ukrainian forces had attempted to press their offensives in the south of the Donetsk region in the last 24 hours, Russian news agencies reported.
11:49am Ukraine says Poland's farmer subsidies not in line with WTO rules
The subsidies that Poland has given to its farmers in response to a surge in grains exports from Ukraine are not in line with World Trade Organisation rules, Deputy Economy Minister Taras Kachka said on Monday.
"These subsidies go far beyond what is allowed by WTO rules. [They] may be a minor development but can be a source of [trade] disturbances around the globe," Kachka told an International Grains Council conference in London.
The Polish government approved subsidies earlier this year to help its farmers compete with a glut of grains from Ukraine that had built up in Poland and other eastern European countries which offered alternative transit routes for Ukrainian grain normally exported via the country's Black Sea ports.
10:16am: Ukraine recaptures fourth village in modest counteroffensive gains
Ukraine said on Monday its troops had recaptured a fourth village in a cluster of settlements in the southeast, a day after reporting the first small gains of a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Soldiers held up the Ukrainian flag in Storozheve in the Donetsk region in unverified video footage posted online and the defence minister thanked the 35th Separate Brigade of Marines for regaining control of the village.
Ukraine has enforced strict operational silence to avoid compromising an operation it hopes will retake swathes of land in the east and south, and threaten the land bridge Russia uses to supply the occupied Crimea peninsula.
9:35am: Chechen force signs contract with Russia's defence ministry that Wagner's Prigozhin refused
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday it has signed a contract with the Akhmat group of Chechen special forces, a day after Russia's powerful mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin refused to do so.
The signing followed an order that all "volunteer units" should sign contracts by July 1 bringing them under the control of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, as Moscow tries to assert its control over private armies fighting on its behalf in Ukraine.
In return, volunteer fighters would get the same benefits and protections as regular troops, including support for them and their families if they are wounded or killed.
The Akhmat paramilitary group that has often been called the private army of Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of Russia's Chechnya region.
Akhmat commander Apty Alaudinov, who took part in the signing of the contract, said the unit has "prepared and sent tens of thousands of volunteers" to Ukraine in the past 15 months.
8:21am: Ukraine's recaptured villages 'symbolically significant' at start of counteroffensive
Ukraine reported territorial advances on three villages in its southeast on Sunday, marking the first liberated settlements of its counteroffensive. "Symbolically, it's definitely very significant for Ukraine," says FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Zaporizhzhia, "But the Russians have been saying these villages were really in the grey zone... and they are ahead of the Russian lines of defence."
7:33am: NATO begins unprecedented air drill in 'show of strength'
NATO will begin the largest air force deployment exercise in Europe in the alliance's history on Monday in a display of unity toward partners and potential threats such as Russia.
The German-led "Air Defender 23" will run until June 23 and include some 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO and partner countries including Japan and Sweden, which is bidding to join the alliance.
Up to 10,000 people will participate in the drills intended to boost interoperability and preparedness to protect against drones and cruise missiles in the case of an attack on cities, airports or sea ports within NATO territory.
Presenting the plans last week, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz of the German Luftwaffe said "Air Defender" was conceived in 2018 in part as a response to the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine four years before, though he said it was "not targeted at anyone".
He said that while NATO would defend "every centimetre" of its territory, the exercise would not "send any flights, for example, in the direction of Kaliningrad," the Russian enclave bordering alliance member states Poland and Lithuania.
"We are a defensive alliance and that is how this exercise is planned," he said.
7:15am: Ukraine says heavy fighting under way after first counteroffensive gains
Ukraine's top military command said on Monday its forces were engaged in heavy battles in frontline hot spots, a day after Kyiv said it had made the first modest gains in reclaiming territory from Russia as part of its counteroffensive.
Some 25 battles had taken place over the past day near the eastern town of Bakhmut, and further south near Avdiivka and Maryinka, all in the Donetsk region, but also near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region, Ukraine's armed forces general staff said.
"Over the last week in the Bakhmut direction, the Russian invaders suffered significant losses," the general staff said on Monday.
Ukraine said on Sunday its troops had made advances on three villages in Donetsk: Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka.
4:52am: North Korea's Kim offers 'full support' to Putin on Russia Day
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered his country's "full support and solidarity" to Moscow in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, state media reported.
Kim sent the message of congratulations on the national day of Russia, one of a handful of nations that maintain friendly relations with Pyongyang.
His is message, published by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), did not directly mention the invasion of Ukraine or Moscow's involvement in an armed conflict, but praised Putin's "correct decision and guidance... to foil the hostile forces' escalating threats".
2:38am: UN nuclear watchdog concerned over water levels at Ukraine plant
The UN atomic watchdog said on Sunday that it needs wider access around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to check "a significant discrepancy" in water level data at the breached Kakhovka dam used for cooling the plant's reactors.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi, who is to visit the plant this week, said that measurements the agency received from the inlet of the plant showed that the dam's water levels were stable for about a day over the weekend.
"However, the height is reportedly continuing to fall elsewhere in the huge reservoir, causing a possible difference of about two metres," Grossi said in a statement.
"The height of the water level is a key parameter for the continued operability of the water pumps."
1:11am: Ukraine announces gains in "first results" of counterattack against Russia
Ukraine said on Sunday its troops had made territorial advances on three villages in its southeast, the first liberated settlements it has reported since launching a counter-offensive this past week.
Kyiv's forces posted unverified videos showing soldiers hoisting the Ukrainian flag at a bombed-out building in the village of Blahodatne in Donetsk region and posing with their unit's flag in the adjacent village of Neskuchne.
"We're seeing the first results of the counter-offensive actions, localized results," Valeryi Shershen, spokesperson for Ukraine's "Tavria" military sector, said on television.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar later said Ukrainian forces had "deoccupied" Makarivka, the next village to the south, and advanced between 300 and 1,500 metres in two directions on the southern front.
"No positions were lost on the directions where our forces are on the defensive," Maliar added on Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that a Ukrainian military push was underway, but that it had failed to breach Russian defensive lines and taken heavy casualties.
Key developments from Sunday, June 11:
Kyiv announced on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have retaken three villages in the war-torn country's south as it continues military operations in Russian-occupied territories.
Work has already started into an investigation by the International Criminal Court of the breach of the Kakhovka dam and the vast flood it triggered, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday. Thirty-five people, including seven children, were missing in southern Ukraine on Sunday as a result of the dam breach.
Read yesterday's liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
