Kyiv on Monday said Ukrainian forces were conducting "offensive actions" on the front line as the country faces pressure from the West to announce the launch of a long-awaited counteroffensive. Russia meanwhile said that its forces had thwarted a major offensive at five points along the front in the southern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops. Read our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
01:33am: Russia, Ukraine face off at World Court over MH17 airliner downing
Ukraine and Russia face off at the top United Nations court on Tuesday over Moscow's alleged backing of pro-Russian separatists blamed for the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014.
Judges at the International Court of Justice will hear Ukraine's claim that Moscow violated a UN anti-terrorism treaty by equipping and funding pro-Russian forces who international investigators concluded shot down the jetliner over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam and was bound for Kuala Lumpur when it was struck by a Russian-made missile on July 17, 2014 as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces, the precursor of today's war
11:45pm: Russia says it thwarts another major Ukrainian offensive in Donetsk
Russia's defence ministry said early on Tuesday that it thwarted another major offensive by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk, inflicting huge personnel losses and destroying eight main battle Leopard tanks as Kyiv forces pressed on.
"A complex fire defeat was inflicted by army forces, assaultmand operational-tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery, as well as heavy flamethrower systems," the ministry said on its Telegram channel.
The ministry said Russian forces destroyed 28 tanks, including eight main battle Leopard tanks.
9:58pm: Zelensky welcomes 'the news we have been waiting for' from troops in Bakhmut
President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed on Monday what he called "the news we have been waiting for" from troops fighting in and around the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut, but gave no further details.
"I am grateful to each soldier, to all our defenders, men and women, who have given us today the news we have been waiting for. Fine job, soldiers in the Bakhmut sector!" Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
He said Russia was reacting "hysterically" to any action undertaken by Ukrainian forces and singled out two units who "skillfully, decisively and effectively defend our positions, destroy the occupiers and, most importantly, move forward".
Russia's military said it had thwarted a major offensive against its forces in eastern Ukraine, but Ukrainian officials dismissed any notion that an anticipated major counter-offensive had begun. They reported some gains along front lines.
9:52pm: EU to extend restrictions on Ukraine grain imports to September 15
The European Union will extend to September 15 restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products imposed by five member states seeking to protect their farmers, the commission said on Monday.
Major grain producer Ukraine was forced to export more of its produce by land through EU neighbours after Russia blockaded its Black Sea ports following the invasion that began in February last year.
The EU suspended import duties on Ukrainian agricultural products in May 2022 in a sign of solidarity with its war-torn neighbour.
But the flood of Ukrainian grain imports in eastern European countries put pressure on prices and sparked concern about a saturation of local markets, with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia unilaterally banning them in April.
Later that month, Brussels reached a deal with five member states, due to expire on Monday, allowing them to block the commercialisation of four products as long as their transit to other countries was not prevented.
8:28pm: 'We're definitely in the preparatory stage' of the counteroffensive, says expert
Is Ukraine armed and ready for its long-touted spring counteroffensive? Are Western allies ready to face the eventual consequences of a protracted war?
On The Debate, our host François Picard discusses Ukraine’s counteroffensive strategy with FRANCE 24’s senior correspondant Catherine Norris-Trent as well as Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun, Democratic Initiatives Foundation political analyst Maria Zolkina and former British military intelligence officer Philip Ingram to better understand the ongoing war in Ukraine and the direction that it's taking.
Click on the video player below to watch the show.
7:35pm: Biden to talk with Danish and British counterparts on supplying Ukraine with fighter jets
President Joe Biden is welcoming Denmark and Britain's prime ministers this week to Washington for talks that will focus heavily on what lies ahead in the war in Ukraine – including the recently launched effort to train, and eventually equip, Ukraine with American-made F-16 fighter jets.
Britain and Denmark are playing a pivotal role in the nascent joint international plan that Biden recently endorsed after months of resisting calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for US aircraft.
Biden's separate meetings with the leaders of two key NATO allies – he'll huddle with Denmark's Mette Frederiksen on Monday and the UK's Rishi Sunak on Thursday – come at a crucial period in the 15-month war as Ukraine readies to launch a counteroffensive. It's also a moment when the US and Europe are looking to demonstrate to Moscow that the Western-alliance remains strong and focused on cementing a longer-term commitment to Ukraine with no end to the conflict in sight.
“One of the things we’ll be looking for their perspectives on and the President will be interested in sharing his perspectives on is the long-term security needs of Ukraine,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “And that’s really where the F-16s kind of come into this discussion.”
7:16pm: US sanctions 'Russian-backed actors' over Moldova protests
The US sanctioned a group of individuals designated as being linked to Russian intelligence on Monday for their role in allegedly helping the Kremlin destabilise Moldova's democratically elected government through protests in Moldova's capitol earlier this year.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated seven members of a group linked to sanctioned Moldovan oligarch leader of Moldova's pro-Russia Shor Party Ilan Shor, currently in exile in Israel.
The Shor Party supports a group calling itself Movement for the People, which organised the anti-government protest in Moldova’s capital earlier this year. The protestors demanded that the country’s pro-Western government fully subsidise citizens’ winter energy bills and “not involve the country in war.”
Moldovan police in March said they foiled a plot by groups of what they described as Russia-backed actors who were trained to cause mass unrest during the protest.
6:05pm: Ukraine has enough weapons for counteroffensive, says foreign minister
Ukraine has enough weapons for its counteroffensive against Russia, and the operation will give the country the victory it needs to join NATO, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Reuters on Monday.
Membership of the military alliance would "probably" only be possible for Ukraine after the end of active hostilities, Kuleba said in an interview in Kyiv.
When asked, he did not say whether the counteroffensive had started.
5:01pm: Zelensky meets UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Kyiv on Monday to discuss preparations for a NATO summit and Ukraine's formula for ending Russia's invasion.
"We are very grateful for the support that the UK has provided and continues to provide to Ukraine," Zelensky said on Telegram under a video showing the two men meeting.
4:17pm: Ukraine launches 'offensive actions' at the front
Ukraine said Monday it was conducting "offensive actions" on the front line and noted some progress in Bakhmut, though it downplayed the scale of the moves.
"In some sectors we are conducting offensive actions," Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said, adding that "the Bakhmut sector remains the epicentre of the hostilities. We are advancing there on a rather wide front. We are having some success."
2:44pm: Wagner takes Russian soldier as captive
Russian private military group Wagner has said it has taken a soldier from Moscow's regular army captive while accusing his unit of trying to attack its mercenaries in occupied Ukraine.
Wagner's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has for months decried the state of the Russian army and accused Moscow's top generals of causing excess deaths during the Kremlin's offensive in Ukraine.
But this was the first time the mercenary group said it had grabbed a soldier from the official armed forces.
Late Sunday, Prigozhin posted a Wagner "report" dated May 17 that alleged Russian army soldiers had been "mining roads in the rear zone of Wagner units" in Moscow-occupied eastern Ukraine.
The report said Wagner fighters were carrying out demining operations when they came under "open artillery fire coming from positions of the defence ministry".
Prigozhin then posted a video on Telegram showing a man that he alleged was a captured Russian soldier.
"I shot at a Wagner car," the man said, adding he did so "because of a personal dislike".
The man said he was a Russian lieutenant colonel from the 72nd brigade of the armed forces.
2:09pm: Ukrainian forces retake part of village north of Bakhmut, says Wagner
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken part of the village of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a "disgrace".
Prigozhin's private Wagner militia captured Bakhmut last month after the longest battle of the war and handed its positions there to regular Russian troops.
Ukrainian forces have continued to attack areas north and south of the city including Berkhivka, whose seizure Wagner had claimed on February 24. The village lies about 3 km (1.9 miles) northwest of Bakhmut.
"Now part of the settlement of Berkhivka has already been lost, the troops are quietly running away. Disgrace!" Prigozhin said in an audio message published by his press service.
12:10pm: Zelensky faces pressure from West for counteroffensive
Russia on Monday said it thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive in the Donetsk region as Ukrainian officials refrain from announcing the launch of their much-anticipated counteroffensive.
FRANCE 24’s International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert explains that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faces pressure from Western powers to launch a counteroffensive.
“The West feels it’s been giving a lot of arms to Ukraine, helping it financially, militarily. It now wants to see results,” explains Herbert.
However Ukraine has not received the amount of military equipment necessary to take on the more powerful Russian army. The US will not directly deliver F-16 fighter jets, which Ukraine desperately needs, although it has approved F-16 fighter jet training, notes Herbert.
“Volodymyr Zelensky is between a rock and a hard place. He has to say he’s ready. He has to show the West that he’s going to make good on the arms and money supplied. He also knows that the Western political leaders are playing to their own political realities and public opinion, especially in the US, which has been the dominant supplier in financial and military aid,” explains Herbert.
10:56am: Russia begins Baltic Sea drills one day after NATO
Russia has said its naval drills in the Baltic Sea have begun. The drills come a day after NATO member states kicked off their annual Baltic drills.
On the NATO side, 6,000 personnel, 50 ships and more than 45 aircraft are taking part, with Finland participating for the first time as an alliance member, the US Navy said.
The Russian military said up to 40 ships and boats, 25 aircraft and around 3,500 personnel will take part in its exercises, which are scheduled to last until June 15.
Moscow also began drills in the Sea of Japan and far eastern Sea of Okhotsk on Monday, which will involve over 60 warships and support vessels from its Pacific Fleet.
10:03am: ‘Radio silence’ from Ukrainian authorities on Russia’s claims of thwarting Donetsk offensive
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on Russian military claims that it had repelled "a large-scale offensive" by Ukraine in Moscow-annexed Donetsk, says FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials have a policy of not commenting on Russian battlefield statements and of not giving any information on their plans for a long-awaited counteroffensive, explains Cragg.
Unofficial Russian Telegram channels, which are pro-war and pro-Putin, "but which are a little more attached to telling the truth about what’s really happening on the frontlines, are painting a more mixed picture, [displaying] pictures of some American equipment that was in the hands of Ukrainians apparently being destroyed”, says Cragg.
The channels also have some information about Ukrainians making some advances in certain areas in the southwestern part of Donetsk region on the border with the Zaporizhzhia region, Cragg adds.
8:23am: Ukrainian forces continue moving forward near Bakhmut: top commander
Ukrainian forces continued "moving forward" near the eastern city of Bakhmut, says the commander of Ukraine's ground forces in his latest post on the Telegram messaging app.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian forces were successful in destroying a Russian position near the city.
"We continue moving forward," he said.
Ukrainian forces have maintained pressure on Russian forces in Bakhmut, which Moscow claimed control of last month after the war's longest and bloodiest battle.
6:46am: Two drones fall on highway in Russia's Kaluga region: governor
Two drones fell Monday morning on a highway in Russia's Kaluga region, the governor of the region, Vladislav Shapsha, said on the Telegram messaging app.
"There was no detonation, the area has been cordoned off," Shapsha said.
The region borders the Moscow region to its north.
Last week, Russia said Ukrainian drones struck wealthy districts of Moscow, which Kyiv denied.
4:22am: Russia starts naval exercises in Sea of Japan, govt
Russia's Pacific Fleet forces have started operational exercises in the waters of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk that will last until June 20, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday.
"More than 60 warships and support vessels, about 35 naval aviation aircraft, coastal troops and more than 11,000 military personnel are involved in the exercise of the Pacific Fleet forces grouping," the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
3:26am: Russia claims it thwarted major attack by Ukraine
Russia said on Monday that its forces had thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive at five points along the front in the southern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops.
It was not immediately clear whether or not the reported attack represented the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive which Kyiv has been promising for months to recapture territory taken by Russian forces after the invasion of February 2022.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify the Russian statement and the Ukrainian defence ministry and military did not immediately respond to written requests for comment.
9:54pm: No breakthrough on NATO membership for Sweden after Stoltenberg-Erdogan talks in Istanbul
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made no breakthrough on Sunday in talks about Sweden’s membership in the military alliance with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with officials from the two countries to meet in just over a week to try to bridge their differences.
NATO wants to bring Sweden into the fold by the time US President Joe Biden and other allied leaders meet in Lithuania on July 11-12, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the move. All 31 member countries must ratify a candidate’s accession protocol for it to join the transatlantic alliance.
Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient on terror organizations and security threats, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt. Hungary has also delayed its approval, but the reasons why haven't been made publicly clear.
“President Erdogan and I agreed today that the permanent joint mechanism should meet again in the week starting on June 12. Membership will make Sweden safer, but also NATO and Turkey stronger,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Istanbul.
The permanent joint mechanism was set up to address Turkey’s concerns about Sweden and Finland, the latter of which became the 31st member of NATO in April.
Fearing they might be targeted by Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella.
Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
