Closing summary
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the new chief of Ukraine’s state guard service to clear its ranks of people discrediting it after two of its officers were accused of plotting to assassinate senior officials. Introducing Col Oleksiy Morozov to the staff on Monday, Zelenskiy said his main objective was to ensure that only those who see their future tied with Ukraine join the agency.
Discussions between Russia and North Korea about what Pyongyang gets in return for weapons supplies to Moscow could relate to North Korea’s nuclear long-range missile development, the US deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, said.
The decreasing popularity of Germany’s Social Democratic party (SDP), led by chancellor Olaf Scholz, is linked to some voters’ opposition to the party’s support for Ukraine, Scholz was quoted as saying in an interview.
A Hungarian legal team in Brussels is looking for ways of challenging an EU decision to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets by circumventing Budapest’s opposition, the country’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said. Earlier, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the 27-strong bloc had found a way to use the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine despite hold-ups from Hungary. Borrell said that Kyiv would get the first tranche of money from revenues from Russia’s frozen assets next week, following “a legal procedure to avoid any kind of blockage”.
The EU approved new sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, targeting Moscow’s shadow fleet of tankers moving liquefied natural gas through Europe, as well as several companies.
Thank you for following today’s latest news. This blog is closing now but you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
Russia could be discussing help for North Korea missile development, US deputy secretary of state says
Discussions between Russia and North Korea about what Pyongyang gets in return for weapons supplies to Moscow could relate to North Korea’s nuclear long-range missile development, the US deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, has said.
Reuters has quoted Campbell making the comments at an event hosted by
the council on foreign relations thinktank.
He was also quoted as saying that China is probably worried that Pyongyang will be encouraged by Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea last week to take “provocative” steps that could lead to a crisis in Northeast Asia.
Putin and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, signed a defence pact last week that requires their countries to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked, something the US has expressed concern over. It was the Russian president’s first visit to North Korea since 2000.
The pact magnified western concerns about potential Russian aid for North Korea’s missile or nuclear programmes. Neither Russia nor North Korea published the text of the security agreement. It was not immediately clear what form that support might take, and few details of the agreement were made public.
Updated
We reported earlier on the EU approving its 14th round of sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine (see post at 10.48). The measures include the targeting of key sectors of the Russian economy, such as energy, finance and trade.
Russia’s foreign ministry reacted to the new sanctions – that hit Russia’s gas exports for the first time – by saying any unfriendly western actions would be met with “the necessary response”.
The ministry called the sanctions illegal and said it had “significantly” expanded its black list of people barred from entering Russia. It provided no further details.
Updated
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine has hit more than 30 Russian oil refineries, terminals and oil depots, according to Reuters. He did not provide any additional details or give a time period.
Ukraine has launched a series of attacks against Russian oil refineries in an attempt to strike at the Russian economy and limit supplies to its military. The scale of the attacks has forced Russia to cut petrol exports.
Ukrainian officials say attacks have been carried out in retaliation for Russian strikes on the Ukrainian energy system.
Updated
Hungary seeking to challenge EU decision on frozen Russian assets
A Hungarian legal team in Brussels is looking for ways of challenging an EU decision to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets by circumventing Budapest’s opposition, the country’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, has said on his Facebook page.
Earlier, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the 27-strong bloc had found a way to use the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine despite hold-ups from Hungary.
EU governments agreed in May to use profits from the assets frozen inside the bloc to help Ukraine, with 90% of funds earmarked for military aid. But Hungary has been holding up approval of the necessary legal measures, diplomats say.
Moscow has said it view efforts by the west to use money generated from frozen Russian assets as a criminal action.
Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up frontline attacks using prohibited hazardous chemicals, AFP reported.
The Ukrainian military said that it had registered 715 cases of the use of ammunitions containing “hazardous chemical compounds” by Russian forces in May.
The death toll from a series of attacks on churches and synagogues in Russia’s Dagestan has risen to 20, Reuters reported.
Here are the latest images from Ukraine.
Zelenskiy orders purge of state guard after alleged assassination plots
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the new chief of Ukraine’s state guard service to clear its ranks of people discrediting it after two of its officers were accused of plotting to assassinate senior officials.
The state Security Service (SBU) said last month that it had caught two guard service colonels accused of cooperating with Russia to plot the assassination of Zelenskiy and other officials, including military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. The guard service provides security for various governement officials.
Zelenskiy’s murder was intended as a “gift” for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, who was inaugurated at the Kremlin last month for a fifth time, the SBU said.
Introducing Col Oleksiy Morozov to the staff on Monday, Zelenskiy said his main objective was to ensure that only those who see their future tied with Ukraine join the agency.
“And, of course, the agency must be cleared of anyone who chooses not Ukraine for themselves or discredits the state guard service,” he wrote on Telegram.
Zelenskiy dismissed Morozov’s predecessor Serhiy Rud in May, two days after the SBU detained agency employees who it said worked for Russia’s Federal Security Service and leaked classified information.
Updated
Key event
A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s eastern town of Pokrovsk killed at least four people and injured 34 more, the regional governor, Vadym Filashkin, said on Monday.
Two children were among the injured, he wrote on Telegram, adding that a private house was destroyed – and 16 others damaged – after Russian troops launched two missiles.
Updated
Olaf Scholz says his party's support for Ukraine is linked to its declining popularity
The decreasing popularity of Germany’s Social Democratic party (SDP), led by chancellor Olaf Scholz, is linked to some voters’ opposition to the party’s support for Ukraine, Scholz has been quoted as saying in an interview with Tagesschau, the German TV news programme.
Many voters do not agree with the government’s support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, which is “also reflected by the election results,” Scholz said, according to the Kyiv Independent. The German chancellor added that there is “no alternative to changing (the government’s policy toward Ukraine)”.
In the European parliamentary elections in June, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) jumped to 14.2% from 11% in 2019, despite a slew of scandals, while Scholz’s SDP slid to 14.6%, worse than its weakest ever result, in 2019. The AFD opposes German military support to Ukraine.
Scholz has provided substantial military aid to Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, including anti-air missiles.
The Russian foreign ministry has said that missiles used in Sunday’s attack on Crimea had been programmed by US specialists and guided based on intelligence data from American satellites and a nearby US reconnaissance drone. The ministry did not provide any evidence to support its claim.
The Kremlin directly blamed the US on Monday for a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with US-supplied Atacms missiles that reportedly killed at least four people, including two children, and injured 151 more (see earlier post at 08.39 for more details).
Ukraine claims it destroyed Russian drone base - report
Ukraine has said that satellite pictures show the destruction of a Russian warehouse used to launch drones and to train cadets, BBC News reports.
The photos – posted by Ukraine’s Navy – follow reports of a massive explosion near a Russian airfield in the southern region of Krasnodar.
Moscow has yet to comment on the reports, but did say it has shot down a number of drones in the region overnight on Friday.
Navy officials in Kyiv said a number of training instructors and cadets learning to operate the Iranian-made Shahed drones were killed by the attack, which they said happened on Friday night.
In a post to Telegram, Navy officials in Kyiv said the operation was planned and conducted in partnership with Ukrainian intelligence agencies.
The base sat on the Sea of Azov opposite the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, data from Planet Labs – the US-based company who took the photos – showed.
Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:
Russia summons US ambassador over Crimea missile strike
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on Monday to tell her that Moscow blamed Kyiv and Washington equally for a deadly missile attack on the city of Sevastopol in Crimea.
“Such actions by Washington … will not be left without response,” the ministry said in a statement. “There will definitely be response measures.”
The defence ministry in Moscow said US specialists had set the Atacms missiles’ flight coordinates on the basis of information from US spy satellites, meaning Washington was directly responsible (see post at 10.27 for more details).
Ukraine’s state security service (SBU) said it had detained a “mole” spying for Russia who passed on information about Ukrainian troop positions on the border with Belarus.
The SBU wrote on Telegram:
At the instruction of the occupiers (Russian military), the ‘mole’ established the locations of fortified areas and the approximate number of Ukrainian troops defending the border with Belarus.
He also tried to transmit the coordinates of warehouses with weapons and ammunition of the armed forces of Ukraine in the region.
The man had been promised to be “evacuated” to Russian-occupied territory in return for carrying out the assignment, the state security service added. These claims have not been independently verified by the Guardian.
Updated
EU targets Russia's 'shadow fleet' in new round of sanctions against Moscow
The EU has agreed a new package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Among the measures is the targeting of Moscow’s shadow fleet of tankers moving liquefied natural gas (LNG) through Europe. They often lack proper insurance and have opaque ownership, according to reports.
The EU estimates that about 4-to-6 billion cubic meters of Russian LNG was shipped to third countries via EU ports last year. Russia is suspected of running the fleet to evade sanctions and keep up the flow of energy earnings so that it can finance the war.
The EU council said in a press release:
For the first time, the EU has adopted a measure targeting specific vessels contributing to Russia’s warfare against Ukraine, which are subject to a port access ban and ban on provision of services.
These vessels can be designated for various reasons such as the transport of military equipment for Russia, the transport of stolen Ukrainian grain, and support in the development of Russia’s energy sector, for instance through the transport of LNG components or transshipments of LNG.
This measure also targets tankers part of Putin’s dark fleet which circumvent the EU and Price Cap Coalition’s caps, while adopting deceptive shipping practices in complete disregard of international standards. 27 vessels were targeted today on these grounds.
Last month, the UK imposed its first sanctions targeting vessels in Vladimir Putin’s “shadow fleet” that it said was used to circumvent western sanctions on the trade in Russian oil.
Several companies were also added to the EU’s list on Monday, including a number in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Many are accused of circumventing sanctions or providing sensitive equipment to Russia.
📣 The EU has adopted new economic and individual sanctions against Putin’s regime and those who perpetuate his war of aggression against Ukraine.
— EU Council (@EUCouncil) June 24, 2024
These measures target the energy, finance, transport and trade sectors and make sanctions circumvention more difficult.
More ⬇️
Updated
Key event
The Kremlin has blamed the US for a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with Atacms missiles that reportedly killed at least four people, including two children, and injured 151 more, and said there would be consequences. Neither Ukraine or the US has commented on the attack.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the attack “absolutely barbaric” and said Moscow would react to the US’s involvement in it, Reuters reported.
His comments come after the defence ministry in Moscow said US specialists had set the Atacms missiles’ flight coordinates on the basis of information from US spy satellites, meaning Washington was directly responsible.
Last month, Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use some US-made weapons over one part of the Russian border, to allow Kyiv’s forces to defend against an offensive aimed at the city of Kharkiv, relaxing an important constraint on Ukraine’s able to defend itself.
Officials stressed, however, that limits on the use of US long-range weapons such as the army tactical missile system (Atacms) would remain in place.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has told Georgia that its push to join the bloc could be ended, as Brussels weighs options to punish the authorities over a “foreign influence” law.
At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, he said:
The door for Georgia to become a member of the European Union is open.
But if the government continues on the same track, continues doing what they are doing, this door will be closed, and the Georgian people will pay the consequences, will suffer.
The ruling party in the South Caucasus country – which formally became a candidate to join the EU last year – adopted a controversial “foreign influence” law this month that critics say is modelled on Russian legislation used to stifle dissent.
The bill obliges civil society organisations and media that receive more than 20% of their revenues from abroad to register as “organisations serving the interests of a foreign power”.
Despite the moves from the government, the population in the country remains overwhelmingly in favour of moving closer towards the EU.
Borrell said that initial moves being discussed by ministers could include halting funding for Georgia’s security forces, cutting government financing, or severing high-level contacts.
“We don’t want to affect civilians. We don’t want to put more pain on the civilian people,” Borrell was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.
Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said there would also be discussions on Schengen visa bans for high-ranking Georgian officials.
Tsahkna said:
The situation for Georgia is serious, and all the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Georgian government. The Georgian people are supporting the way to the European Union.
Updated
Ukrainians are having to cope with widespread emergency blackouts as Russia continues to pound critical infrastructure.
In recent months, Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid. On Friday night, energy facilities came under a “massive attack”, Ukraine’s energy ministry said. Several workers were injured as a result of shelling at one of the facilities.
“The situation in the energy sector remains difficult,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Volodomyr Zelenksiy said this month that Russia had damaged or destroyed more than half of Ukraine’s power generation, causing the worst rolling blackouts since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Olga Stefanishyna, the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, has said that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” course of western integration after the EU agreed to formally start entry negotiations this week.
“This is the utmost will of the Ukrainian people. And this is the irreversibility. And you’ve seen Ukrainians stand up for their choice,” Stefanishyna, who will head the opening of the accession talks in Luxembourg tomorrow, said in Kyiv on Sunday.
EU member countries agreed on Friday to start entry talks with Ukraine and Moldova – overcoming vocal opposition from Hungary which takes over the EU’s rotating presidency from Belgium on 1 July. The process of joining varies for each country but could take years. Turkey started its accession talks almost two decades ago and is still waiting for full membership.
Kyiv applied for EU membership in the weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and it was granted candidate status four months later.
The Ukrainian government has been implementing sweeping reforms recommended by the EU, including anti-corruption measures, regulations for public administration and improvements in food safety standards.
Updated
The death toll from Sunday’s attacks in the southern Russian region of Dagestan has risen to 19 people, Russia’s investigative committee said on Monday.
Gunmen opened fire in two cities in Russia’s north Caucasus region of Dagestan, targeting a synagogue, two Orthodox churches and a police post, according to Russian media.
In the city of Derbent, gunmen attacked a synagogue, home to a Jewish community in the predominantly Muslim region. Russia’s state media Tass said the attackers also shot at two nearby Orthodox churches, killing a police officer and a priest.
In a separate shooting which occurred simultaneously, a group opened fire on police in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, located about 75 miles north along the Caspian Sea coast. According to local authorities, at least one police officer was killed. You can read the full report by my colleague, Pjotr Sauer, here.
Ukraine will get the first tranche of military aid from frozen Russian assets next week, EU foreign policy chief says
Jennifer Rankin is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
Ukraine will get the first tranche of military aid from frozen Russian assets next week, after officials devised a workaround to avoid a Hungarian veto, according to the EU’s top diplomat.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign and security policy, said Ukraine would get the first tranche of money from revenues from Russia’s frozen assets next week, following “a legal procedure to avoid any kind of blockage”.
The EU agreed in May to seize an estimated €4.4bn interest on €191 bn Russian assets immobilised by western sanctions that have been frozen inside the union, at Belgium’s Euroclear. The money will fund weapons and aid for Ukraine, spread over several payments.
The legal procedure to avoid a Hungarian veto could help unlock a G7 plan to lend Ukraine $50bn based on the frozen assets.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers this morning, Borrell said the money would come next week.
He said:
I cannot have this money in my pocket. This money is for military support for Ukraine and the decision has to be taken immediately avoiding any kind of blockage.
We have these revenues coming from the frozen assets and we have to look for a way in order to use them, avoiding any kind of blockage.
We have a process in order to make this work quickly. The first tranche of money will come next week, in July. The second will come some months later. Ukraine needs more help and needs more help now before the summer.
Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly government is blocking six decisions to aid Ukraine and officials want to avoid the plans for the frozen assets being caught in the same veto.
Updated
As we mentioned in the opening summary, a Russian attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa is reported to have struck civilian infrastructure. Regional governor, Oleh Kiper, has now said the attack injured at least three people on Monday morning.
A 19-year-old boy and two middle-aged men were taken to hospital, he wrote on Telegram.
The air force had warned the city’s residents of the threat of incoming missiles before the explosions sounded, Reuters reported.
Odesa, one of Ukraine’s biggest ports, has long been a target of Russian attacks, especially after Moscow quit a UN-brokered deal last year that had allowed safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. The time has just gone past 10:35am in Kyiv.
Russia claimed on Sunday that the US was responsible for a Ukrainian attack on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula in which five US-supplied missiles that killed four people, including two children, and injured 151 more. These figures have not been independently verified by the Guardian.
The defence ministry in Moscow said US specialists had set the Atacms missiles’ flight coordinates on the basis of information from US spy satellites, meaning Washington was directly responsible.
The ministry said:
Responsibility for the deliberate missile attack on the civilians of Sevastopol is borne above all by Washington, which supplied these weapons to Ukraine, and by the Kyiv regime, from whose territory this strike was carried out.
The US began supplying Ukraine with longer range Atacms missiles, which have a 300-kilometre (186-mile) range, earlier this year.
Here are some of the other main developments:
A Russian attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa on Monday struck civilian infrastructure and caused casualties, the region’s governor said. Ukraine’s interior ministry published photographs of a massive cloud of smoke rising from the site where emergency services were working to put out a fire.
Vladimir Putin thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for his hospitality during the visit to Pyongyang last week which Putin said brought bilateral ties to an unprecedented level, the Kremlin said.
Senior officials of South Korea, the US and Japan condemned “in the strongest possible terms” deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, saying Putin’s recent visit to Pyongyang triggered grave concern, a joint statement released by Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
A top North Korean military official criticised the US over its expanding military assistance to Ukraine, according to state media, KCNA. Pak Jong Chon reportedly said Russia has the “right to opt for any kind of retaliatory strike”, adding if Washington kept pushing Ukraine to a “proxy war” against Russia, it could provoke a stronger response from Moscow, and a “new world war”. He referred to comments by the Pentagon last week that Ukrainian forces can use US supplied weapons to strike Russian forces anywhere across the border into Russia.
One person was killed and three injured in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, when three Ukrainian drones attacked the city of Grayvoron, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Air defences overnight shot down 33 Ukrainian drones over Russia’s western Bryansk, Smolensk, Lipetsk and Tula regions, the Russian defence ministry said Sunday.
A new attack on Kharkiv killed at least one person and injured 11 others on Sunday, according to local officials. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city was attacked by a guided bomb and that around half of Kharkiv was without electricity because of the strike.
Ukrainians are having to cope with widespread emergency blackouts as Russia continues to pound critical infrastructure.
