Closing summary
The live blog is now closed. Below is a round-up of today’s stories:
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister has confirmed that in some areas Kyiv’s forces are moving to “offensive actions”, heightening speculation that a counteroffensive is close to launch. In a post on Telegram, Hanna Maliar said: “We are continuing the defence that began on 24 February 2022. The defensive operation includes everything, including counteroffensive actions. Therefore, in some areas we are moving to offensive actions.”
Russia claimed to have repelled a “major offensive” in the Donetsk region and to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops, but the claims could not be independently verified. The defence ministry in Moscow said Ukraine had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions from two brigades.
The ministry claimed 250 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured personnel carriers destroyed. It also claimed that Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of general staff, had been near the frontlines when the attack was repelled. The Russian defence ministry has consistently made exaggerated claims about the casualties its forces have inflicted.
A Moscow-backed militia leader and Russian military bloggers admitted that Ukrainian forces had achieved a breakthrough in at least one point in south-western Donetsk. Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a “disgrace”. Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that a 55-year-old security guard has been killed by a Russian attack on a business in Kherson, citing the head of the region, Oleksandr Prokudin.
The US imposed sanctions on Monday on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow’s efforts to destabilise democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury department said. The sanctions target seven individuals, several of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said. They include the group’s leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organised the plot to destabilise the government of Moldova, which borders Ukraine, earlier this year.
The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv. They discussed preparations for the Nato summit in Lithuania next month and Ukraine’s plan for ending Russia’s invasion. During the meeting, Cleverly said: “Ukraine will win this war and can count on our support.”
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed leader in the occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast has rebuked those sharing information. He wrote on Telegram: “Friends, I ask you not to rush to publish news about the mass use of Leopard [tanks] on the Zaporizhzhia front. Wait for the official or at least video confirmation of their use by the enemy in our direction. Observe information hygiene!” Alexander Khodakovsky, the head of the pro-Moscow Vostok Battalion in the Donbas, had posted to Telegram to say that “the situation on Novodonetsk and to the left towards Velykonovosilkivskyi is difficult” and that “for the first time we saw Leopards [tanks] in our tactical area”.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, said three people were killed in the region yesterday as a result of Russian attacks.
Two drones have fallen on the M3 Ukraine highway, in the Russian region of Kaluga, just south of Moscow, the region’s governor has said. There was no detonation and the sites have been cordoned off by investigators, said governor Vladislav Shapsha.
Poland’s agriculture minister has received a draft regulation from the European Commission extending a ban on Ukrainian grain imports until 15 September, he said on Monday.
Belgium will ask Ukraine for clarification on reports that rifles made in Belgium had been used by pro-Ukrainian forces to fight Russian troops inside Russia’s western border, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said on Monday.
Sky News has reported it has seen documents it believes are authentic that show Iran supplying arms to Russia.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has been tasked by Pope Francis to carry out a peace mission to try to help end the war in Ukraine, will visit Kyiv on 5-6 June.
Russia’s Baltic fleet started naval exercises in the Baltic Sea on Monday. About 3,500 soldiers and up to 40 ships and boats will take part in the drills, which are scheduled to last until 15 June, the military said.
Here is an image of the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv on Monday.
This is his second visit to Ukraine. During the meeting, Cleverly said: “Ukraine will win this war and can count on our support.”
Updated
Luke Harding, one of our foreign correspondents, says the Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun, with qualifications.
On Sunday night, the Ukrainian army appeared to have moved forward in several directions and there were reports of a significant escalation of fighting along the frontlines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. However, there was no confirmation from Ukrainian officials that the counteroffensive – months in the planning – had actually begun.
The Ukrainian government stresses the need for operative secrecy. Over the weekend, the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, released a video featuring soldiers putting their fingers to their mouths. Reznikov cited Depeche Mode: “Words are very unnecessary. They can only do harm.”
Ukrainian commanders say the term counteroffensive is overused. They talk instead of a “spring-summer military campaign”, stretching into September, and probably well beyond. This campaign appears to have entered a new active phase. It is too early to say if it will succeed.
Ukraine’s armed forces have seemingly launched probing attacks, in an attempt to find weaknesses and to break through Russian lines. The main push is yet to come. Kyiv’s strategic objective is to sever Russia’s land corridor in the south of Ukraine. That means decoupling the occupied parts of the eastern Donbas from Crimea and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, along the left bank of the Dnipro River.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told Reuters on Monday that the country has enough weapons for its counteroffensive against Russia, and the operation will give the country the victory it needs to join Nato but did not say whether the counteroffensive had started.
Kuleba said membership of the military alliance would “probably” only be possible for Ukraine after the end of active conflict. When asked, he did not say whether the counteroffensive had started.
Updated
US imposes sanctions on Russian-linked group for role in destabilising democracy in Moldova
The US imposed sanctions on Monday on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow’s efforts to destabilise democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury department said.
Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement:
The sanctions imposed today shine a light on Russia’s ongoing covert efforts to destabilise democratic nations.
Russia’s attempted influence operations exploit the concerns of the citizens of these countries, to destabilise legitimately elected governments for Moscow’s own interests.
The US remains committed, along with the EU, to target individuals who engage in such activities against the government of Moldova.
The sanctions target seven individuals, several of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said.
They include the group’s leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organised the plot to destabilise the government of Moldova, which borders Ukraine, earlier this year.
Anti-Kremlin candidate Maia Sandu won a presidential run-off against the pro-Russian incumbent, Igor Dodon, in 2020. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moldova had to contend with large numbers of refugees, soaring inflation, power cuts, and instability in the breakaway region of Transnistria, which is controlled by Russian separatists.
In February, Moldova’s president accused Russia of plotting to overthrow the country’s pro-EU government through violent actions disguised as opposition protest.
Earlier that month, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the European parliament that his intelligence services had intercepted a Russian plan to “establish control over Moldova”. He said the plan “shows who, when and how was going to break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova”. Zelenskiy’s claims have not been independently verified.
Following the economic crises after the invasion of Ukraine and street protests allegedly financed by a pro-Russian fugitive oligarch, the country’s pro-western prime minister, Natalia Gavrilita, resigned in February, blaming “crises caused by Russian aggression”.
Updated
The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv on Monday.
They discussed preparations for the Nato summit in Lithuania next month and Ukraine’s plan for ending Russia’s invasion.
In a Telegram post, Zelenskiy said: “We are very grateful for the support that the UK has provided and continues to provide to Ukraine.”
He also said “important agreements” have been reached in recent weeks.
When Moscow was attacked for the first time in the 15-month war last week with Ukrainian-manufactured drones, Cleverly told reporters that Ukraine has the “legitimate right” to defend itself and can “project force” beyond its borders.
Last month, Britain became the first western country to provide Ukraine with the long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Ben Wallace, the UK’s defence secretary who has expressed interest in becoming the next Nato head, said the “path is open” for Ukraine to join Nato at a meeting in Singapore last week.
Zelenskiy also thanked the UK for its recently revealed plan to start training Ukrainian pilots to use fighter jets.
Updated
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has called the defence minister, Ben Wallace, “widely-respected” when asked about his potential candidacy to lead Nato at a press conference in Kent on Monday.
“I would say Ben is widely-respected amongst his colleagues around the world, particularly for the role he’s played in Ukraine,” Sunak said.
“Britain has always been a leading contributor to Nato … And we will always continue to be a strong contributor, a participant in Nato.”
The Telegraph reported on Sunday that Sunak was going to use his two-day trip to the US to encourage the US president, Joe Biden, to back Wallace to become the next head of Nato.
While Wallace has never said outright that he would like the job, he told the German news agency dpa last week: “I’ve always said it would be a good job. That’s a job I’d like. But I’m also loving the job I do now.”
Under Wallace, Britain became the first western country to provide Ukraine with the long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles last month. Wallace also said the “path is open” for Ukraine to join Nato at a meeting in Singapore last week.
Should Wallace become the next Nato head, a byelection in his Wyre and Preston North seat could be triggered.
Updated
Ukraine deputy defence minister says Kyiv's forces moving to 'offensive actions' in some areas
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister has confirmed that in some areas Kyiv’s forces are moving to “offensive actions”, heightening speculation that a counteroffensive is close to launch.
The minister also claimed Russian reports that Ukraine has started a counteroffensive are intended to distract from losses Russia has sustained in the Bakhmut region.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Hanna Maliar wrote:
What is happening now? We are continuing the defence that began on 24 February, 2022.
The defensive operation includes everything, including counteroffensive actions. Therefore, in some areas we are moving to offensive actions.
In particular, the Bakhmut direction remains the epicenter of hostilities. There we are moving along a fairly wide front. We are successful. We occupy the dominant heights. The enemy is on the defensive and wants to hold his position.
In the south - the enemy is on the defensive. Fighting of local importance continues.
Why are the Russians actively releasing information about a counteroffensive?
Because they need to divert attention from the defeat in the Bakhmut direction.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from the conflict in Ukraine over the news wires.
Updated
The information war over releasing details of what is taking place in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia is liable to be fraught, and Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed leader in the occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast has rebuked those sharing information.
He wrote on Telegram: “Friends, I ask you not to rush to publish news about the mass use of Leopard [tanks] on the Zaporizhzhia front. Wait for the official or at least video confirmation of their use by the enemy in our direction. Observe information hygiene!”
Earlier, Alexander Khodakovsky, the head of the pro-Moscow Vostok Battalion in the Donbas, had posted to Telegram to say that “the situation on Novodonetsk and to the left towards Velykonovosilkivskyi is difficult” and that “for the first time we saw Leopards [tanks] in our tactical area”.
Updated
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has reported on Telegram that two vehicles, including an ambulance, were damaged by shrapnel after air defences intercepted a target approaching the city of Belgorod. He stated that there were no casualties.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
My colleague Dan Sabbagh, our defence and security editor, offers this analysis of developments in the ground on Ukraine:
Ukraine may not have formally declared its counteroffensive has begun, but the attacks being reported on Russian lines overnight and into Monday morning look like the first steps of what is likely to be a tough military campaign.
Individual reports should be viewed sceptically but taken together they can build up a picture. What is clear is that there is not an all-out assault, but also that the level of forces being committed are non-trivial. These are not exploratory raids, but most likely probing attacks, searching for local Russian weaknesses.
If the Russian Ministry of Defence is correct, and Ukraine has attacked with two brigades, that amounts to a force of several thousand troops.
There is also evidence of Ukraine undertaking attacks elsewhere on the 1,000km front. The leader of the Wagner mercenary forces, Yevgeny Prigozhin, complained that Russian troops had fled from part of Berkhivka, a village north of the recently taken Bakhmut, on the eastern front, suggesting that exploratory attacks may not only be taking place in the south.
It is possible, too, that Ukraine does not even know where it wants to place its key counter-attack forces, until a point of weakness is found. The aim of the initial attacks would be to secure a breakthrough that a subsequent force, held in reserve, can exploit to then surround the defenders.
Read more of Dan Sabbagh’s analysis here: Ukraine counter-attack looks imminent as troops search for Russian weaknesses
A supposed radio address by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, heard on Monday on Russian stations in regions bordering Ukraine was fake and the result of a hack, the Kremlin said.
RIA, the state-owned news agency, said a number of radio stations had carried the hoax address.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said: “All of these messages are an utter fake,” the RIA reported.
Independent Russian media reported that the announcement had told residents of the Rostov, Belgorod and Voronezh regions, all of which adjoin Ukraine, that Kyiv’s forces had crossed the border with Russia.
They cited the address as saying, wrongly, that martial law had been declared in border regions and a nationwide military mobilisation had begun for Russia’s war with Ukraine, and that residents should evacuate deeper into Russia.
On Sunday, TV broadcasts in Crimea were reportedly hacked with a clip from a short film released by the Ukrainian government showing members of the military putting their fingers to their lips and saying “Shh” followed by the words: “Plans love silence. There will be no announcement about the start.”
Ukraine’s border force said in a Telegram post: “Several cable operators in Crimea are turning off the signal due to the fact that good people hacked TV broadcasts.”
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, shared the clip on Twitter on Sunday with a quote from the Depeche Mode song Enjoy the Silence.
“Words are very unnecessary / They can only do harm,” he tweeted.
"Words are very unnecessary
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) June 4, 2023
They can only do harm"
(c) Depeche Mode pic.twitter.com/0Ul78wSv9q
Updated
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned against trusting reports from Russia.
On Twitter, he said: “Russian news reports have long since become a separate virtual meta-universe.”
Russian news reports have long since become a separate virtual meta-universe. #Moscow is already actively involved in repelling... a global offensive that "does not yet exist." The million-strong Russian army is actively repelling attacks, destroying thousands of tanks, hundreds…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) June 5, 2023
Reuters reports that two Russian strategic bomber planes have carried out routine flights over the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea off the north coast of Nato member Norway, the defence ministry said on Monday.
Russia regularly flies its Tu-95 long-range bombers, which are capable of carrying nuclear missiles, over international waters.
The flight lasted five hours and was carried out “in strict compliance with international airspace regulations”, the ministry said.
Updated
German media has likened the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to an “erupting volcano”, after he broke through his usual reserve and delivered a fiercely passionate defence of sending military aid to Ukraine following heckling at an event in the town of Falkensee outside Berlin on Friday evening.
A few dozen protesters had booed and jeered the chancellor during the “Europe festival” event, chanting “warmongers” and “Create peace without weapons”. Some of the protesters wore T-shirts with anti-vaxxer messages, others waved a blue flag with a white dove, a mainstay of the West Germany anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s.
Scholz eventually talked back at the hecklers. “First of all: warmonger,” he shouted, gripping his microphone with both hands. “Putin is the warmonger. He marched into Ukraine with 200,000 soldiers, he mobilised many more and risked the lives of his own citizens for an imperialist dream. Putin wants to destroy Ukraine.”
Russia’s president had killed many Ukrainians including children and old people, he said. “That is murder,” Scholz said in the impromptu speech, which lasted about four minutes. “Peace and freedom are under attack in this war.”
Scholz, a trained lawyer, is usually known for his clipped and restrained manner of public speaking, though he has dialled up the volume at strategic moments at campaign events or Bundestag debates in the past. “Scholz is like a volcano,” Süddeutsche wrote on Monday. “He rarely erupts, but when he does sparks start flying.”
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that “more than 10” Ukrainian fighters had been killed by air and artillery strikes in Russia’s Belgorod region, repelling a Ukrainian attempt to cross into the region on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported.
These reports have not been independently verified.
The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported fighting in the town of Novaya Tavolzhanka with what he called “Ukrainian saboteurs”. He said on Telegram that Ukrainian forces had launched 185 shells at the town.
On Sunday, two pro-Ukraine groups of Russian fighters said they had captured several soldiers during a cross-border raid into the region. They said they were willing to hand over the soldiers in exchange for a meeting with Gladkov but claim he did not show up. They shared a video clip showing what appeared to be about a dozen Russian soldiers being held captive, with two lying on hospital beds, and said they would be sent to Ukraine.
Updated
A two-day event has started in the European parliament that has brought together more than 200 Russian opposition and civil society activists to discuss how the EU can support Russian democratic forces.
Convened by four MEPs, the conference is entitled The Day After, and is meant to discuss strategy for a hypothetical post-Putin Russia.
“I would call this the first gathering of people who believe in the future of a democratic Russia,” said Andrius Kubilius, the Lithuanian MEP behind the forum.
Speaking in the opening session, the exiled opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was the richest person in Russia until he was jailed for a decade in 2003, said the only hope for a future Russia that does not cause problems for the rest of the world was fundamental political change.
“This regime should be destroyed, there is no other road to a peaceful normal future for Russia and for Europe and the whole world. The simple change of Putin to another person with a different name but no move to a federalised parliamentary system with free elections will not change anything,” he said.
How to get to that stage is a more difficult question, of course. “The conditions in Russia are certainly not ideal for the rise of democracy,” said Katarina Barley, vice-president of the European parliament, in what is perhaps the understatement of the day.
Updated
Ukraine says it has 'no information' about major offensive Russia claims Kyiv has launched
Ukraine’s military said on Monday it had no information about a major offensive which Russia said Kyiv had launched in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Reuters reports.
“We do not have such information and we do not comment on any kind of fake,” a spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff said in response to a question from Reuters.
Updated
Tass reports that Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, claims Ukraine’s armed forces have fired 650 shells at the region over the past 24 hours.
Earlier on Monday, Gladkov said an energy facility in the region was on fire, blaming a bomb dropped by a drone. He said there were no casualties and that services had not been affected.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
A significant escalation in fighting along the frontlines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions has been reported overnight, but there was no confirmation from Ukrainian officials that it marked the start of their long-planned counteroffensive.
Russia claimed to have repelled a “major offensive” in the Donetsk region and to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops, but the claims could not be independently verified. The defence ministry in Moscow said Ukraine had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions from two brigades.
The ministry claimed 250 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured personnel carriers destroyed. It also claimed that Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of general staff, had been near the frontlines when the attack was repelled. The Russian defence ministry has consistently made exaggerated claims about the casualties its forces have inflicted.
A Moscow-backed militia leader and Russian military bloggers admitted that Ukrainian forces had achieved a breakthrough in at least one point in south-western Donetsk. Ukrainian officials made no comment, and emphasised the need for secrecy about operations in recent days as anticipation grows for a major counteroffensive.
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a “disgrace”.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that a 55-year-old security guard has been killed by a Russian attack on a business in Kherson, citing the head of the region, Oleksandr Prokudin.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, said three people were killed in the region yesterday as a result of Russian attacks.
The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod has said an energy facility is on fire in the region, blaming a bomb dropped by a drone. Vyacheslav Gladkov said there were no casualties and that services had not been affected.
Two drones have fallen on the M3 Ukraine highway, in the Russian region of Kaluga, just south of Moscow, the region’s governor has said. There was no detonation and the sites have been cordoned off by investigators, said governor Vladislav Shapsha.
Poland’s agriculture minister has received a draft regulation from the European Commission extending a ban on Ukrainian grain imports until 15 September, he said on Monday.
Belgium will ask Ukraine for clarification on reports that rifles made in Belgium had been used by pro-Ukrainian forces to fight Russian troops inside Russia’s western border, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said on Monday.
Sky News has reported it has seen documents it believes are authentic that show Iran supplying arms to Russia.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has been tasked by Pope Francis to carry out a peace mission to try to help end the war in Ukraine, will visit Kyiv on 5-6 June.
Russia’s Baltic fleet started naval exercises in the Baltic Sea on Monday. About 3,500 soldiers and up to 40 ships and boats will take part in the drills, which are scheduled to last until 15 June, the military said.
Updated
Reuters has a quick snap that the Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a “disgrace”.
Updated
Tass reports that at his daily press call, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on any questions about a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
It quotes him saying:
This is connected with the course of the “special military operation”. Therefore, the ministry of defence has the absolute prerogative here. You saw today’s statement that was made by the department.
“Special military operation” is the preferred term by Russian authorities for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to his official Telegram channel a message of encouragement for his nation, without specifically referencing the increase in fighting on the ground that is being observed in some quarters today. Ukraine’s president wrote:
Russian terror must be defeated every day and every night, in every region of Ukraine, in the skies of every Ukrainian city and village. When any attack by Russian terrorists ends in failure for the terrorists, their defeats will become a source of our long-term security.
Julian Borger and Dan Sabbagh in Kyiv have this updated news story on what we know so far about developments today:
A significant escalation in fighting along the frontlines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions has been reported overnight, but there was no confirmation from Ukrainian officials that it marked the start of their long-planned counteroffensive.
Russia claimed to have repelled a “major offensive” in the Donetsk region and to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops, but the claims could not be independently verified. A Moscow-backed militia leader and Russian military bloggers admitted that Ukrainian forces had achieved a breakthrough in at least one point in south-western Donetsk.
Ukrainian officials made no comment, and emphasised the need for secrecy about operations in recent days as anticipation grows for a major counteroffensive. Ukrainian military officers have predicted that any such counteroffensive would be preceded and accompanied by feints and diversionary attacks to “shape the battlefield” and cause as much confusion as possible in Russian ranks.
Russian military bloggers also said Ukraine had breached Russian lines in Velykonovosilkivskyi. The blogger Wargonzo said: “This time the news is much more disturbing.”
The head of Russia’s puppet administration in Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, said there had also been a significant attack there.
“The enemy threw even greater forces into the attack than yesterday, attempting a larger-scale breakthrough in an organised manner,” Rogov reported on his Telegram channel. “The fight is on.”
“It is clear, however, that the enemy has not yet made full use of his main forces,” Igor Girkin, a Russian nationalist critic of the Kremlin and former “defence minister” in the Russian-installed authority in Donetsk. “If the enemy’s offensive has really begun, and is not a ‘test of strength’, the intensity of the battles will only increase in the coming days. The outcome of the battle is not yet completely predetermined – it is just beginning.”
You can read more of Julian Borger and Dan Sabbagh’s report here: Ukraine – significant escalation in fighting reported in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia
Updated
Poland’s agriculture minister has received a draft regulation from the European Commission extending a ban on Ukrainian grain imports until 15 September, he said on Monday.
“We have received from the EC a draft of a new regulation banning the import of four products to the five countries,” Robert Telus wrote on Twitter. “The effective date provided for in the draft is 15 September this year.”
The agricultural sector in several countries bordering Ukraine has been vocal in protesting that Ukrainian products are undercutting local producers by being imported into the EU, when they would normally be exported out of Europe via the Black Sea.
Updated
With Ukraine frequently imposing an information blackout when it is carrying out military operations, and Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, quoting Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence, information on the situation on the ground in Donetsk is sparse.
My colleague Dan Sabbagh points out that one of Russia’s military bloggers, Igor Girkin, has suggested that Ukraine has successfully “cut into our position” on southern front.
Igor Girkin, best known Russian milblogger, reports Ukraine has "cut into our position" on southern front, although losses partially restored by counter attacks. Front "not broken through" he writes (though would be v early for it to be)
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) June 5, 2023
Link: https://t.co/P06Cp1umJ9
Key para is below in original and machine translation (h/t to @PjotrSauer) pic.twitter.com/1EMwuoYriK
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) June 5, 2023
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that a 55-year-old security guard has been killed by a Russian attack on a business in Kherson, citing the head of the region, Oleksandr Prokudin.
Belgium investigating whether its weapons were used inside Russia
Belgium will ask Ukraine for clarification on reports that rifles made in Belgium had been used by pro-Ukrainian forces to fight Russian troops inside Russia’s western border, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said on Monday.
“Our defence ministry and its intelligence agencies have started an investigation and are asking for information to determine what has happened exactly,” De Croo said on Belgium’s Radio 1, Reuters reports.
“European weapons are delivered to Ukraine under the condition that they are used on Ukrainian territory with the purpose of defending that territory. And we have strict controls in place to see that this is the case,” he said.
De Croo declined to comment on possible consequences if the reports were confirmed.
“We must not get ahead of ourselves here,” the prime minister said. “But we are analysing the situation and we would take this very seriously.”
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that anti-Kremlin fighters who launched a cross-border attack from Ukraine into the Russian Belgorod region last month used tactical vehicles originally given to Ukraine by the US and Poland and carried rifles made in Belgium and the Czech Republic.
Updated
Tobias Ellwood, chair of UK parliament’s defence select committee, has said “it is worth pausing to reflect gravity of this movement – Ukraine launching its own counterattack to liberate its own territory after halting the advance of the third largest army in the world. That is quite an incredible movement moving from defence to attack.”
“We should really manage expectations. While Ukraine has been preparing for this moment, Russia has been busy building its own significant defences, pouring concrete anti tank obstacles hoping to stall this offensive.
“They want this offensive to be frozen so that support dries up, and talks can then begin. Ukraine needs to demonstrate progress to ensure western support continues with those tanks, long range missiles, and F-16s.
“This may take a series of waves for this to conclude. This won’t happen overnight.”
My colleague Dan Sabbagh reports that at least one Russian military blogger on Telegram is concerned about developments in Donetsk, writing that the situation grows “more alarming by the hour”.
Russian mil blogger War Gonzo wrote on Telegram a couple of hours ago that situation on southern Donetsk front (Velyka Novosilka - Vuhledar) grows 'more alarming by the hour' pic.twitter.com/tDh9Epn56X
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) June 5, 2023
Russia’s Baltic fleet started naval exercises in the Baltic Sea on Monday, the Russian military’s press service said.
About 3,500 soldiers and up to 40 ships and boats will take part in the drills, which are scheduled to last until 15 June, Reuters reports the military said.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, has this update on overnight casualties, writing on its official Telegram channel:
There were no casualties due to a rocket attack on Chuhuiv in Kharkiv oblast last night, the head of the region Synyehubov reported. Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Region was also hit twice at night – no one was hurt. During the past day, two people were injured in Kherson oblast as a result of Russian strikes, and three people were injured in Donetsk oblast.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has been tasked by Pope Francis to carry out a peace mission to try to help end the war in Ukraine, will visit Kyiv on 5-6 June, Reuters reports the Vatican said in a statement on Monday.
Updated
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has given a standard operational update on Telegram this morning. As is his custom, he has listed places under Ukrainian control in the region which have been shelled by Russian forces, with casualty figures and a list of damages to property.
Among his claims are that “a high-rise building and three private houses were damaged in the Chasiv Yar” and that “a person was injured in Toretsk – the city was bombarded by air”. He stated that three residents have been injured overall in the previous 24 hours.
Kyrylenko makes no mention of any offensive manoeuvres by Ukrainian forces.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that the Russian Federation claimed to annex in 2022.
Updated
Julian Borger reports for the Guardian from Kyiv:
Alexander Khodakovsky, the head of the pro-Moscow Vostok Battalion in the Donbas, said there had been Ukrainian military gains in the Velykonovosilkivskyi area of western Donetsk.
“The enemy is trying to break through. Having grouped their forces into a fist, they were able to achieve tactical success,” Khodakovsky said on Telegram. “They took one position from us, but suffered tangible losses. Now the enemy are reinforcing their presence at the point of breakthrough, obviously trying to make further gains.”
Khodakovsky estimated the attacks did not represent the promised counteroffensive, but if Ukraine did achieve a breakthrough, many more troops could pour into the breach.
Updated
Sky News is carrying an exclusive this morning which claims the network has seen documents it believes are authentic that show Iran suppling arms to Russia. In its report, the security and defence editor, Deborah Haynes, writes:
A purported arms contract seen by Sky News offers the first hard evidence that Iran has sold ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine, an informed security source has claimed.
If authentic, the 16-page document, dated 14 September 2022, appears to be for samples of varying sizes of artillery and tank shells and rockets worth just over $1m (£800,000).
Sky News has not been able to verify the authenticity of the documents independently.
However, the security source alleged: “This is a contract between the Iranians and the Russians regarding munitions … We believe it is 100% authentic.”
Russia’s embassy and Iran’s embassy to the UK respectively did not respond to a request for comment.
Kyiv and London said they planned to investigate the authenticity of the material and would take action if it was found to be credible.
Updated
Russian defence ministry claims 250 Ukrainian troops killed in attack in Donetsk
Julian Borger provides this latest update from Kyiv for the Guardian:
Russia has claimed to have repelled a “major offensive” in the Donetsk region and to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops, but the claims could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian officials made no comment, and have emphasised the need for secrecy about operations in recent days as anticipation grows for a major counteroffensive. Ukrainian military officers have predicted that any such counteroffensive would be preceded and accompanied by feints and diversionary attacks to “shape the battlefield” and cause as much confusion as possible in Russian ranks.
The defence ministry in Moscow said Ukraine had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions.
“On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the South Donetsk direction,” the ministry said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app at 1.30 am Moscow time.
“The enemy’s goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front,” it said. “The enemy did not achieve its tasks, it had no success.”
The ministry claimed that 250 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured personnel carriers destroyed.
Videos of combat posted online showed what were purported to be Ukrainian armoured cars blowing up in fields near Velyka Novosilka, 60 miles west of Donetsk city, but it was impossible to tell from the videos when they were taken and what the outcome of the battle was.
The daily update from the Ukrainian general staff on Sunday made no mention of a major offensive in Donetsk but did report 29 clashes in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and 15 airstrikes on enemy troops across the country.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, posted a message on Twitter on Sunday, quoting from a song by Depeche Mode, Enjoy the Silence.
“Words are very unnecessary, they can only do harm,” the tweet said.
Read more of Julian Borger’s report here: Russia claims to have fought off ‘major Ukrainian offensive’ in Donetsk
Updated
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine appears to have spurred support for Ukraine’s LGBT community and a draft civil union law that would give same-sex partnerships legal status for the first time.
“Anything that our enemy hates … I will support,” said the Ukrainian MP Andrii Kozhemiakin, a wiry, conservative ex-spy who likes to emphasise his Christian faith and large family. “If it will never exist in Russia, it should exist and be supported here, to show them and signal to them that we are different. This law is like a smile towards Europe and a middle finger to Russia. So I support it.”
Inna Sovsun, the MP who drafted the law and is trying to shepherd it through parliament, said Kozhemiakin’s speech was “the most unexpected thing in my political career”.
You can read more here on the report by Emma Graham-Harrison and Artem Mazhulin in Kyiv.
Updated
Ukraine’s daily update by its general staff makes no mention of the claimed major offensive in Donetsk but does say there were 29 combat clashes in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Across the country, it said on Sunday it launched a total of 15 airstrikes on enemy troops and intercepted six enemy drones, and attacked several command posts, weapons depots and anti-aircraft systems.
Updated
Joe Biden welcomes the prime ministers of Britain and Denmark to Washington DC this week for meetings that will include the mission to provide Ukraine with 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 the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for US aircraft, Associated Press reported.
Biden will meet Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen on Monday and the UK’s Rishi Sunak on Thursday. The talks come at a crucial period in the 15-month war as Ukraine readies to launch a counteroffensive.
“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.”
Denmark has purchased dozens of American-made F-16s since the 1970s and has indicated it is open to the possibility of providing Ukraine with some. Britain strongly advocated for a coalition to supply Ukraine with fighter planes, and says it will support Ukraine getting the F-16s it wants. But the UK does not have any F-16s, and has ruled out sending Royal Air Force Typhoon jets.
Instead, Britain says it will give Ukrainian pilots basic training on western-standard jets starting in early summer to prepare them to fly F-16s. The Ukrainian pilots will then go on to other countries for the next stages of training.
Updated
Summary
If you are just joining us, here is a summary of the biggest and most recent developments:
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that Kyiv has launched a “major” attack in the southern Donetsk region using tank and mechanical units. It claimed the six mechanised battalions and two tank battalions tried to break through its lines but were unsuccessful. It is not yet possible to verify the Russian defence ministry’s claim. On Sunday, Kyiv urged “silence” about any plans to reclaim territory that Russia has seized in the 15-month long war.
The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod has said an energy facility is on fire in the region, blaming a bomb dropped by a drone. Vyacheslav Gladkov said there were no casualties and that services had not been affected.
Two drones have fallen on the M3 Ukraine highway, in the Russian region of Kaluga, just south of Moscow, the region’s governor has said. There was no detonation and the sites have been cordoned off by investigators, said governor Vladislav Shapsha.
A two-year-old girl has been found dead under the rubble of a house after a missile attack that hit several buildings near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor said at the weekend. Another 22 people were injured, including five children, said Serhiy Lysak. Three boys – aged 15, 11 and six – were in intensive care after the strike.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has said he is willing to meet a pro-Ukraine group of Russian fighters keeping Russian soldiers captive. The group said earlier it was willing to hand over the soldiers in exchange for a meeting with the governor but claims he did not show up. It shared a video clip showing what appeared to be about a dozen Russian soldiers being held captive, with two lying on hospital beds, and said they would be sent to Ukraine.
A Ukrainian minister has expressed “disbelief” after learning that nearly half of Kyiv bomb shelters inspected during an initial audit were closed or unfit for use. Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, said on Sunday that out of 1,078 shelters examined on the first day, 359 were unprepared and another 122 locked, while 597 were found to be usable.
Four people have been detained in a criminal investigation into the death of a Kyiv woman outside a locked air-raid shelter, the Kyiv regional prosecutor’s office has said. It said one person, a security guard who had failed to unlock the doors, remained under arrest, while three others, including a local official, had been put under house arrest.
The Kremlin has said any supply of long-range missiles to Kyiv by France and Germany would lead to a further round of “spiralling tension” in the Ukraine conflict. Britain last month became the first country to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles.
Zelenskiy has said that Russia’s war, now in its 16th month, has killed at least 500 Ukrainian children. It was impossible to establish the exact number of children who have become casualties, however, because of the continuing fighting and because some areas are under Russian occupation, he said.
Five drones were shot down and four were jammed and did not hit their targets in Dzhankoi in Crimea, according to a Russian official. There were no casualties but windows were broken in several houses, said Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea’s administration.
Updated
This is the video that Ukrainian officials have been sharing, urging silence in the build-up to military campaigns.
Ukrainian Armed Forces ask for silence in the information space 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/xoFHubylpV
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 4, 2023
Ukrainian presidential adviser Anton Gerashchenko has tweeted about the apparent dispute between Wagner mercenaries and Russian forces around Bakhmut.
He includes footage shared by Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin of what appears to be a forced confession by a captured Russian officer accused of opening fire on a Wagner vehicle.
Gerashchenko says: “I wonder, if Prigozhin will get away this time with the disclosure of the classified information about the incident and an open discreditation of the Russian Ministry of Defence?”
It appears there was a lull in the recent rise in night-time strikes in Ukraine, according to the British ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons.
Woke up in my bedroom instead of the shelter. A quiet night. Fabulous. Celebrated by doing a crossword. Saw this clue and got really excited. But no. It’s “dacha”. pic.twitter.com/Wo7MNIf5Bf
— Dame Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) June 5, 2023
Drones fall on highway south of Moscow, says governor
The governor of the Kaluga region, which lies south of Moscow, has said two drones have fallen on the M3 Ukraine highway, near the towns of Zhizdra and Duminichi.
There was no detonation and the sites have been cordoned off by investigators, said governor Vladislav Shapsha.
Updated
PA has reported on a group of British army chaplains helping train their Ukrainian counterparts on how to give frontline troops a “spiritual umbrella”.
An initial group of 10 Ukrainians trained at a camp in south-west England and learned how to deliver pastoral care, spiritual support and moral guidance to soldiers on the battlefield.
Lieutenant Dmytro Povorotnyi, a priest from Dnipro in central Ukraine, decided to become a military chaplain after the occupation of Crimea in 2014.
“Once when Russia bombed Dnipro, my granddaughter who is four years old put her toys under the stairs and covered them with an umbrella,” said Lt Povorotnyi. “We have the understanding that the umbrella that covers Ukraine, it’s our armed forces. Our men and women are so strong because they protect Ukraine from the enemies that are so cruel, that came to Ukraine to kill and rape a lot of people.
“But even those men and women who are fighting, they also need some protection.
“The main aim of chaplaincy is to give a spiritual umbrella to the personnel who are fighting for us. It’s not just about the weapons and rockets, it’s about spiritual support.”
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Russia is using a network of suppliers to evade international sanctions designed to prevent it from making missiles and other weapons.
In a video address on Sunday evening, Zelenskiy said unnamed countries and companies were helping Russia acquire technology, with the emphasis on producing missiles. Russia has launched hundreds of missiles against Ukrainian targets since last October.
Unfortunately, the terrorist state manages to use the technologies of the world through a network of suppliers, manages to bypass international sanctions.”
Zelenski said that Ukraine was well aware of all of Russia’s efforts to evade sanctions and will seek to ensure that “there are no products of the free world in Russian missiles”.
In April, a senior Zelenskiy aide said Ukrainian forces were finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, as western supplies are squeezed by sanctions. China has denied sending military equipment to Russia.
Amid the speculation about whether Ukraine has launched an offensive, initial “shaping” operations by Ukraine are already known to have begun. These include moves such as long-range missile strikes on Russian military hubs.
Zelenskiy has publicly said that Ukraine is ready to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive but has said nothing since the Russian defence ministry’s claim emerged in the early hours of Monday.
The president said in an interview published at the weekend that he feared “a large number of soldiers will die” and wanted more air defence systems to protect his troops.
As Dan Sabbagh reports, Ukraine has readied 12 brigades, an estimated 60,000 troops, to spearhead an attack it hopes to show it can force the Russian invaders, who total about 300,000, from its territory, some of which has been occupied since 2014.
At least 90 supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny were reportedly arrested on Sunday after defying authorities to hold demonstrations to mark his 47th birthday, the Associated Press has said.
Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court, charges he says were trumped up to punish him for his work to expose official corruption and organise anti-Kremlin protests. He is facing a new trial on extremism charges that could keep him in prison for decades.
Police beefed up their presence in Moscow and moved quickly to round up those who tried to stage individual pickets on Pushkin Square and elsewhere in the capital. One man managed to throw around leaflets before being whisked away.
A woman holding a small black balloon with the words “Happy Birthday!” who was clad in a hoody with “You aren’t alone” written on it was among those detained. She asked officers why they were detaining her, but they didn’t answer.
Navalny’s supporters also showed up in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities, holding one-person pickets and leaving signs and graffiti in Navalny’s support.
Navalny said in a social media post his allies released that he would obviously prefer to spend his birthday with a family breakfast, kisses from his children and gifts, but “life is such that social progress and a better future can only be achieved if a certain number of people are willing to pay for the right to have beliefs.”
“The more there are such people, the smaller the price each has to pay,” he said. “And a day will certainly come when it will be routine and not dangerous at all to tell the truth and stand for justice in Russia.”
Happy Birthday to Alexei @navalny from Washington, D.C.! #FreeNavalny pic.twitter.com/uz6RCfhULJ
— Anna Veduta 🌻 (@Anna_Veduta) June 4, 2023
The Russian defence ministry has released drone footage it claims showed the destruction of Ukrainian armoured vehicles in the Donetsk region. The footage has not been verified.
It also shared footage it said showed a Russian reconnaissance helicopter helping direct the Russian response to the apparent attack of Donetsk.
Updated
Russia’s Pacific Fleet forces have started military exercises in the waters off the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia’s Defence Ministry has said.
“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.
The exercises are due to last until 20 June.
The raids by anti-Putin Russian forces in the Belgorod region are becoming something of a focal point, the ISW has said in its latest assessment. Two partisan groups have issued a video showing a dozen Russian soldiers being held captive and Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has said he was willing to meet the pro-Ukrainian forces to arrange a prisoner transfer but apparently did not turn up. The confused response in Russia suggests Moscow has not yet worked out its response to the cross-border raids, the US thinktank said.
It cited one prominent Russian military blogger Igor Girkin who criticised Moscow for failing to invest in local defence forces in the region, and said trying to tackle the situation in Belgorod now “would likely end in an attritional operation reminiscent of Bakhmut”.
Moscow claims to have repelled major attack
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed it has fought off a large-scale attack on its forces in the south-eastern Donetsk region, a claim that has not been independently verified. It said it killed 250 Ukrainian troops and destroyed 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured combat vehicles in the process. You can read the latest report on the claimed attack here.
It was not immediately clear whether or not the reported attack represented the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that Kyiv has been promising for months. Ukrainian officials have urged silence ahead of any such campaign.
Updated
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted Ukraine’s continuing preparations for its counteroffensive in its assessment on Saturday, including the interview with Volodymyr Zelenskiy published by the Wall Street Journal in which he says the country is ready, though it may take time and come at a heavy cost.
However, it said little more detail is likely to come out when it does begin. Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said on Saturday that “military plans love silence”.
Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, Ihor Klymenko, said over the weekend all nine brigades of the “offensive guard” had been formed and were ready.
The Ukrainian defence ministry and military did not immediately respond to written requests for comment regarding the claimed attack.
Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov did however publish a cryptic message on Twitter on Sunday, quoting Depeche Mode’s track Enjoy the Silence.
Energy facility on fire in Belgorod
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, said there were no casualties and that services had not been affected by the drone attack at an energy facility in the region that caused a fire.
Belgorod has been the target of repeated attacks recently, carried out by pro-Ukraine Russian partisans.
You can read more about how Belgorod has become part of Vladimir Putin’s war here.
The Russian defence ministry has released video footage of what it claims is the Ukrainian attack. It is not possible to verify the footage, which shows tanks in a field being hit. It appears to show the attack happening in daylight hours. The footage was released just before 2am local time.
Summary
Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that Kyiv has launched a “major” attack in the southern Donetsk region using tank and mechanical units. It claimed the six mechanised battalions and two tank battalions tried to break through its lines but were unsuccessful.
It is not yet possible to verify the Russian defence ministry’s claim. We will bring you more updates as they come.
On Sunday, Kyiv urged “silence” about any plans to reclaim territory that Russia has seized in the 15-month long war.
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready to launch a counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory. In an interview published on Saturday, the Ukrainian president said: “We strongly believe that we will succeed. I don’t know how long it will take … but we are going to do it and we are ready.”
Separately, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod has said an energy facility is on fire in the region, blaming a bomb dropped by a drone. Vyacheslav Gladkov said there were no casualties and that services had not been affected.
Below is a summary of all the other latest developments:
A two-year-old girl has been found dead under the rubble of a house after a missile attack that hit several buildings near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor said. Another 22 people were injured, including five children, said Serhiy Lysak. Three boys – aged 15, 11 and six – were in intensive care after the strike.
Russia launched a wave of air attacks on Ukraine early on Sunday morning but military officials jn Kyiv said air defence systems repelled all missiles and drones on their approach to the capital. All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts for nearly three hours.
The Russian defence ministry said its forces have used artillery to repel a cross-border incursion by Ukrainian saboteurs, Interfax news agency reported. The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said earlier on Sunday that fighting with a “Ukrainian saboteur group” was taking place in the town of Novaya Tavolzhanka, near the Ukrainian border.
A Ukrainian minister has expressed “disbelief” after learning that nearly half of Kyiv bomb shelters inspected during an initial audit were closed or unfit for use. Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, said on Sunday that out of 1,078 shelters examined on the first day, 359 were unprepared and another 122 locked, while 597 were found to be usable.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has said he is willing to meet a pro-Ukraine group of Russian fighters keeping two Russian soldiers captive. The group said earlier it was willing to hand over the soldiers in exchange for a meeting with the governor.
Ukrainian forces have shelled a market area in the town of Shebekino, near the Ukrainian border, according to Gladkov. He said no one was injured but the attack had caused fires to break out near the market, a private area and a grain depot.
The Kremlin has said any supply of long-range missiles to Kyiv by France and Germany would lead to a further round of “spiralling tension” in the Ukraine conflict. Britain last month became the first country to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles.
Zelenskiy has said that Russia’s war, now in its 16th month, has killed at least 500 Ukrainian children. It was impossible to establish the exact number of children who have become casualties, however, because of the continuing fighting and because some areas are under Russian occupation, he said.
Four people have been detained in a criminal investigation into the death of a Kyiv woman outside a locked air-raid shelter, the Kyiv regional prosecutor’s office has said. It said one person, a security guard who had failed to unlock the doors, remained under arrest, while three others, including a local official, had been put under house arrest.
Five drones were shot down and four were jammed and did not hit their targets in Dzhankoi in Crimea, according to a Russian official. There were no casualties but windows were broken in several houses, said Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea’s administration.
Updated
