Three people including a child were killed in a Russian missile strike on Kyiv early on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said. Ten people were injured in the strike. Follow our live blog for the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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10:05pm: Complaints in Kyiv about air raid shelters 'not being open'
After three people including a child were killed in a Russian air strike on Kyiv early on Thursday, "there's quite a lot of anger in Kyiv about the fact that it seems these people died [...] because the shelter that they were trying to get into was closed," FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reported from Kyiv. "So now the mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko has ordered all of the shelters to be open at all times and for an examination of all the shelters to be carried out. I think a lot of people are thinking that that is coming rather too late. There have been many complaints actually about shelters not being open or not being properly set up."
9:42pm: US to stop giving Russia some New START nuclear arms data
The US said it would stop giving Russia some notifications required under the New START arms control treaty from Thursday, including on its missile and launcher locations, to retaliate for Moscow's "ongoing violations" of the accord.
In a fact sheet on its website, the State Department said the United States would also stop giving Russia flight telemetry
information - remotely gathered data - on launches of US intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
8:00pm: Russia says it repels new Belgorod border attacks
Russia's defence ministry said it had repelled three cross-border attacks on Thursday near the town of Shebekino, and it accused Ukraine of using what it said were "terrorist formations" to carry out attempted attacks on Russian civilians.
"The selfless actions of Russian servicemen repelled three attacks by Ukrainian terrorist formations," the Russian ministry said. "No violations of the state border were allowed."
Ukraine denies its military is involved in the incursions into Belgorod and says they are conducted by Russian volunteer fighters.
>> Read more: Pro-Kyiv Russian group says it 'didn't lose a single soldier' in cross-border raids on Belgorod
Moscow blames Ukrainian "terrorists" for targeting Russia's western border. Russian officials say the group of fighters is a proxy run by Ukraine.
Russian army units, border guards and units of the Federal Security Service, repelled the first attack at around 0100 GMT as two units with vehicles and tanks tried to penetrate the border near Novaya Tavolzhanka and Shebekino, the defence ministry said, adding there were three attacks from the Ukrainian side.
More than 50 Ukrainian fighters were killed and four armoured vehicles were destroyed, the ministry said. It added that up to 70 fighters, five tanks and four armoured vehicles were involved in the attack.
7:54pm: Macron says Ukraine needs clear, strong security guarantees at NATO summit
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Ukraine needed to be given clear and strong security guarantees at a NATO summit in Lithuania in July.
"Vilnius must send a clear message to Ukraine and Ukrainians. I favour stronger, concrete very clear security guarantees," Macron told reporters after a European leaders summit in Moldova, adding he would hold talks on the issue with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Potsdam on June 7.
5:42pm: Zelensky says allies offer strong support on warplanes at Moldova summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday he had received a strong show of support from allies attending a summit in Moldova on the question of supplying fighter jets to Kyiv to help repel Russian forces.
He made the comments at a news conference after a summit of over 40 European leaders in Moldova but gave few details. He has long been asking allies to provide Ukraine with fighter jets.
4:35pm: Governor says two hurt after drone crash in Russian city near Ukraine
Two people were hurt on Thursday when a drone crashed in Russia's southwestern city of Belgorod near Ukraine, regional officials said.
"An unknown device exploded in Belgorod," regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. "According to preliminary data, a UAV fell onto a road," he said, referring to an unmanned aerial vehicle.
3:40pm: Russia says seeking third suspect over war blogger killing
Russian investigators said on Thursday they were seeking a third suspect over the April 2 killing of popular pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in an explosion at a cafe in St Petersburg.
In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, the Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said that Roman Popkov, a Ukraine-based Russian journalist who was previously a leader of Russia's banned ultranationalist National Bolshevik Party, was wanted on terrorism and explosives charges.
>> Read more: St Petersburg café killing exposes Russia’s security woes
Tatarsky, a native of eastern Ukraine's Donbas whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had been addressing an event in the cafe when the blast occurred. Russian officials later said a bomb had been hidden inside a statuette given to him as a gift during the event.
2:41pm: Ukraine says Russia again blocking Black Sea grain export deal
Ukraine's ministry of renovation and infrastructure said on Thursday the UN-brokered Black Sea grain export deal had been halted again because Russia had blocked registration of ships to all Ukrainian ports.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Moscow and Kyiv last July to help tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a leading global grain exporter.
Russia agreed in May to a two-month extension of the deal but has said the initiative will cease unless an agreement aimed at overcoming obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports is fulfilled.
2:24pm: Zelensky warns doubts on Ukraine NATO membership endanger Europe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned European leaders on Thursday that any doubts they show before admitting Kyiv into the NATO alliance will embolden Russia to attack more countries.
"We must remember that every doubt we show here in Europe is a trench that Russia will definitely try to occupy," he told the European Political Community summit in Moldova.
Ukraine is a candidate to join both NATO and the European Union, and Moldova the EU, but some European capitals are wary of setting a formal timeline for membership as Russia's invasion continues.
1:44pm: Evacuation under way for residents of Russian border town after shelling
Residents evacuated from the Russian town of Shebekino near the Ukraine border after heavy shelling on Thursday were filling up temporary shelters in the regional capital, the governor of the Belgorod region said.
"The largest temporary accommodation centre in the city is gradually filling up, so all arriving residents of Shebekino are being sent in an organised manner to the remaining centres for displaced people," Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
He said eight people were wounded in Shebekino as a result of "uninterrupted shelling" earlier Thursday.
Russia's defence ministry said it had repelled three cross-border attacks on Thursday near the town of Shebekino, accusing Ukraine of using what it cast as "terrorist formations" to carry out attempted attacks on Russian civilians.
Settlements in the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, were briefly seized by pro-Ukrainian forces last week.
Moscow blames Ukrainian "terrorists" for targeting Russia's western border, but Kyiv says anti-Putin Russian volunteers are acting there. Kyiv has denied any involvement but Russian officials say the group of fighters is a proxy run by Ukraine.
Earlier, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a far-right paramilitary group of ethnic Russians that supports Ukraine, said it was fighting on Russian territory.
12:40pm: Investigation opens in Kyiv into unopened shelter door following deadly missile strike
Russia launched a missile strike on Kyiv early Thursday, killing at least three people including a child. A criminal investigation has opened following a shelter door, under a clinic, that was unopened during the strike. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports that people say it is not the first time the shelter door didn't open – "but it's the first time that it had fatal consequences".
12:04pm: Wagner chief Prigozhin says mercenaries will fight on if Russian army ‘clowns’ leave it be
Russia's most powerful mercenary chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his Wagner Group would fight on in Ukraine if his men got a separate section of the front without having to depend on "clowns" who ran swathes of the Russian armed forces.
Celebrating his 62nd birthday on Thursday at a training camp, Prigozhin also confirmed that his men would finally leave the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on June 5 after handing it to the Russian army. The Wagner mercenaries captured the devastated city in late May after months of grinding warfare.
"If the whole chain (of command) is 100 percent failed and will only be led by clowns who turn people into meat, then we will not participate in it," said Prigozhin, known for his blunt, often expletive-laced commentary on the conduct of the war.
10:29am: ‘Ukraine is ready to join NATO,’ Zelensky says at European summit
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday in Moldova that Ukraine was ready to join the NATO military alliance, and that Kyiv was waiting for the bloc to be ready to admit his country.
Zelensky also reiterated Ukraine's desire to join the European Union after arriving in Moldova, which borders Ukraine, for a summit of the European Political Community (EPC) that is bringing together more than 40 European leaders.
The summit is intended to show support for both Moldova and Ukraine as Kyiv prepares to launch a counter-offensive against Russia's invasion.
"We support Moldova and its people who are integrating into the EU. You supported our people, our refugees who fled in the first days of the war, and we will never forget it, " Zelensky said, standing beside Moldovan President Maia Sandu.
"Our future is in the EU. Ukraine is ready to join NATO," he said.
Moldova is hosting the EPC summit at a castle about 20 kilometres from Ukrainian territory.
9:03am: Young girl among three killed in Russian missile strike on Kyiv
A young girl, her mother and another woman were killed in a Russian missile strike on Kyiv early on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine's air force said that air defences shot down all 10 ballistic and Iskander cruise missiles launched from Russia's Bryansk region in the 18th attack on the capital since the start of May.
But falling missile debris often causes damage during such attacks. Police said a medical clinic, kindergarten, residential buildings and cars were damaged. and the Kyiv military administration said three people were killed and 10 hurt.
The city authorities did not say how they were killed but police said the victims included the girl and her mother.
"It is international children's day. At night, Russia again killed a child in Kyiv," said Andriy Yermak, chief of President Volodymyr Zelensky's office.
The Kyiv military administration had earlier said that two children had been killed in the missile strike.
8:50am: Zelensky arrives in Moldova for European summit to discuss Ukraine defence
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had travelled to Moldova to attend Thursday's summit of the European Political Community, which is set to be attended by dozens of leaders, and that he would have many bilateral meetings.
Zelensky said he was working on building support for a coalition of powers to supply fighter jets to help Ukraine repel Russian forces, and that he would also discuss his peace plan as well as Kyiv's aspirations to join NATO and the European Union.
8:41am: Eight wounded in shelling on Russian town in Belgorod region, governor says
Eight people were wounded by overnight shelling that continued into the morning in the Russian town of Shebekino that damaged multiple buildings, the governor of the local Belgorod region said on Thursday.
"In Shebekino district, there is ongoing shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Eight people have been wounded. There are no dead," Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video posted on Telegram.
He said that local authorities would evacuate civilians as soon as the shelling was over.
"Of course, the lives of civilians, of the population is under threat. Primarily in Shebekino and in the surrounding villages", he added.
The Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region, has come under repeated attack from Kyiv's territory in recent months.
3:09am: Three dead in night-time attack on Kyiv, city officials say
Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv early Thursday, killing at least three people including two children and bringing fresh terror to the city after a week of strikes.
Moscow's forces have launched a series of aerial assaults on the Ukrainian capital, including an unusual daytime attack on Monday that sent residents running for shelter.
Thursday's attack, which began around 3am local time (0000 GMT), killed two children and injured 10 people, officials said.
"Among the three dead in the Desnyansky district, there were two children (aged 5-6 and 12-13)," the Kyiv military administration wrote on Telegram.
Key developments from Wednesday, May 31:
The White House announced the latest in a series of aid packages for Ukraine that includes up to $300 million worth of air defence systems, ammunition and other defence equipment.
The German government said it has told Russia to close four out of five consulates in Germany in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow set a limit on the number of staff at the German embassy and related bodies in Russia.
Five people were killed and 19 wounded in the shelling of a village in the Russian-controlled east Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Russian security authorities in the region said, blaming the attack on “Ukrainian armed groups” in a message on Telegram.
Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
