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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Samantha Lock (now); Vivian HoLéonie Chao-Fong and Martin Belam (earlier)

Russian forces capture settlements near Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk – as it happened

Ukraine Moscow Kaliningrad United Kingdom Vladimir Putin Lithuania Dmitry Muratov Dmitry Peskov Gabrielius Landsbergis Hanna Maliar
A Ukrainian soldier flashes the victory sign atop a tank in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Monday 20 June as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues.
A Ukrainian soldier flashes the victory sign atop a tank in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Monday 20 June as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Summary

Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

We will be pausing our live reporting overnight and returning in the morning.

In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the days’ events in our summary below.

  • The military situation for Ukraine’s defenders in the eastern Donbas is “extremely difficult”, officials say. Some 568 civilians are thought to be holed up in Sievierodonetsk’s Azot chemical plant, as Russian attacks intensified in an effort to capture Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said Lysychansk was getting shelled “en masse”.
  • Russian forces have captured several settlements near the embattled eastern cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. The head of the Sievierodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, said the frontline village of Toshkivka had not been under Ukrainian control since Monday. Russian forces also reportedly captured Pidlisne and Mala Dolyna, located southwest of Sievierodonetsk, and saw success near the Hirske settlement in Luhansk.
  • At least 15 civilians were killed in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region by Russian shelling on Tuesday, according to regional governor Oleh Synegubov.
  • Mass mobilisation is “about to happen” in Russia with the Kremlin recruiting people in poorer regions to fight in Ukraine, according to western officials. Officials also said there was “more chatter” about Vladimir Putin’s health and “more speculation” about who would replace him in Russia. However, there does not appear to be an “immediate threat” to the Russian president’s position from the elite or the general population, they said.
  • The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, visited Ukraine on Tuesday to discuss efforts to prosecute individuals involved in war crimes during Russia’s invasion, a justice department official said. Garland met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, and announced a War Crimes Accountability team that will work to identify and prosecute anyone who committed war crimes in Ukraine. “There is no hiding place for war criminals,” Garland said.
  • German self-propelled howitzers have arrived in Ukraine in the first delivery of heavy weapons promised by Berlin. “We have replenishment!” Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov announced. “The German Panzerhaubitze 2000 with trained Ukrainian crews joined the Ukrainian artillery family.”
  • Turkey should be cautious about delivering more weapons to Ukraine, the head of Turkey’s weapons production agency said. Remarks by Ismail Demir to the Wall Street Journal show how Ankara is increasingly playing both sides of Russia’s war in Ukraine in contrast to other Nato allies, just months after Turkish-made drones played a critical role in Kyiv’s defence against Russia’s invasion.
  • Turkey’s military delegation will travel to Russia this week to discuss a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export Ukrainian grain, according to Turkish presidency sources. A four-way meeting between Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations will be held in Istanbul in the coming weeks, possibly with the participation of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, the sources said.
  • European countries are united in their support for granting Ukraine the status of European Union member candidate, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister said. Jean Asselborn told reporters: “We are working towards the point where we tell Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends.”
  • The UK government is “determined” to impose further sanctions on Russia and will continue to do so until Moscow fully withdraws from Ukraine, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said. She told parliament that she would be travelling to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options to help get grain out of Odesa. Prime minister Boris Johnson also warned of “growing fatigue” around the war and said any concessions to Russian president Vladimir Putin would be a “disaster”.
  • Estonia summoned the Russian ambassador on Tuesday to protest an “extremely serious” violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter. The Estonian foreign ministry said the helicopter had flown over a point in the south-east without permission on June 18.
  • Russia has blocked the website of the Telegraph for its reporting on the invasion of Ukraine. The newspaper said it had been accused of “disseminating false information about a special military operation by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine”.

British prime minister Boris Johnson warned of “growing fatigue” around the war and said any concessions to Russian president Vladimir Putin would be a “disaster”.

Johnson promised the UK would be “steadfast” in supporting Ukrainians and vowed to ensure “fresh political, military and financial support from the international community” to the war-torn country, his official spokesman said on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister’s concern is that it may not be at the forefront of everyone’s minds, because of ... some of those wider global challenges we’re facing, not least on inflation around the world,” according to the official.

Johnson told Cabinet that “we must not allow anyone to believe that making concessions to Putin would lead to anything but disaster”, as this could be “perceived to be a reward for their unwarranted aggression” and “would embolden not just Russia but their allies and have an impact on UK security and on our economy,” the spokesperson said.

At the Cabinet meeting, Johnson also said Britain would work to “drain the grain from Ukraine” as “the bombardment of cities and infrastructure and the blockade of ports is crippling Ukraine’s ability to export its produce”.

The United States has called it “appalling” for the Kremlin to suggest that two US citizens captured while fighting for Ukraine against the Russian invasion could face execution.

John Kirby, a White House spokesman, spoke to reporters on Tuesday after the Kremlin spokesman said the two men are not protected by the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war.

It’s appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine.”

Kirby said the Kremlin was being at minimum reckless with the comments.

Whether they actually mean what they’re saying here, and that this could be an outcome, that they could levy a death penalty against two Americans that were fighting in Ukraine, or that they just feel that it’s a responsible thing for a major power to do, to talk about doing this... either one of them is equally alarming.”

Amid Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine’s eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, a few images capture a moment of quiet as Ukrainian service members help a small dog found in a destroyed building in the ruined city.

A Ukrainian service member pets a dog in the industrial area of the city of Sievierodonetsk.
A Ukrainian service member pets a dog in the industrial area of the city of Sievierodonetsk. Photograph: Reuters
Ukrainian service members help a small dog found in a destroyed building in the ruined city.
Ukrainian service members help a small dog found in a destroyed building in the ruined city. Photograph: Reuters
Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine’s eastern city of Sievierodonetsk continues.
Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine’s eastern city of Sievierodonetsk continues. Photograph: Reuters

Today so far

  • Russia has advanced in the Donbas, capturing the frontline village of Toshkivka earlier and continuing on to capture Pidlisne and Mala Dolyna later today. The twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk are sustaining heavy damages as the Russians intensify their attacks, with at least 568 civilians believed to be holed up in Sievierodonetsk’s Azot chemical plant.
  • The Kremlin has not provided the US any additional details on the whereabouts of the two American military veterans captured in Ukraine, Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, who were volunteering to defend Ukraine against Russian invaders when they were captured by Russian forces. Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, will be speaking with their families virtually tomorrow, as well as the family of US basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February for allegedly possessing hashish oil. In May, the US state department determined that Griner had been wrongfully detained and spokesman Ned Price reiterated today the department’s commitment in securing her release. Her wife has accused Russia of holding her as a political pawn.
  • Despite the state department’s commitment to securing Griner’s release, over the weekend, the US embassy in Moscow botched a phone call between Griner and her wife - the first phone call between the couple in Griner’s four month-long detention. Price and the White House apologised for the mishap today and Price said the call has since been rescheduled.
  • At least 15 civilians were killed in the Kharkiv region today by Russian shelling.
  • Estonia has summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter on 18 June.

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, will have a virtual conversation tomorrow with the families of both the American hostages and wrongfully detained abroad - that would mean the families of military veterans Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, who were volunteering to defend Ukraine against Russian invaders, as well as the family of US basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February for allegedly possessing hashish oil. Her wife has accused Russia of holding Griner as a political pawn.

Russia advances in eastern Ukraine

Earlier today, Russia captured the frontline village of Toshkivka near the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Donbas region. Continuing on, Russian forces captured Pidlisne and Mala Dolyna, located southwest of Sievierodonetsk, and saw success near the Hirske settlement in the Luhansk oblast.

Updated

A Russian mine detonated on a beach in the Odesa oblast, damaging one house. Local authorities reissued warnings to not visit beaches or swim during this time.

At least 15 civilians were killed in the Kharkiv region today by Russian shelling, Reuters is reporting.

Six people have died in and around Kharkiv, and another six in Chuhuiv, located to the southeast, regional governor Oleh Synegubov said. Three have died in Zolochiv, located to the northwest of the city.

Hundreds gathered today in Lviv for the funeral of 27-year-old Artem Dymyd, who was killed defending Ukraine in the Donetsk region on 18 June. He was living in the US when Russian forces first invaded his homeland, and his first instinct was to immediately return and fight.

Ukrainian servicemen carry a coffin with the body of their comrade Artem Dymyd, who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, during a funeral ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine June 21, 2022.
Ukrainian servicemen carry a coffin with the body of their comrade Artem Dymyd, who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, during a funeral ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine June 21, 2022. Photograph: Reuters
Ukrainian servicemen carry a coffin with the body of their comrade Artem Dymyd, who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, during a funeral ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine June 21, 2022.
Ukrainian servicemen carry a coffin with the body of their comrade Artem Dymyd, who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, during a funeral ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine June 21, 2022. Photograph: Reuters
Workers bury the coffin with the body of Artem Dymyd, a Ukrainian service member who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, during a funeral ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine June 21, 2022.
Workers bury the coffin with the body of Artem Dymyd, a Ukrainian service member who was recently killed in a battle against Russian troops, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, during a funeral ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine June 21, 2022. Photograph: Reuters

Updated

Estonia has summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter on 18 June.

The Kremlin has not provided the US any additional details on the whereabouts of two Americans captured in Ukraine, according to Ned Price, a spokesman for the US state department.

“We have no additional details beyond what’s been reported in the media,” Price said. “We’ve been in direct contact with Russian authorities. We have not been provided, either by Russian authorities or by Russian proxy forces or any other entity, with additional details on the whereabouts of these Americans. We are pursuing every channel, every opportunity we have, to learn more and support their families in this difficult hour.”

Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh were two US military veterans volunteering to defend Ukraine against Russian invaders when they were captured by Russian forces. The Kremlin acknowledged in an interview with MSNBC yesterday that Drueke and Huynh were being held and were under investigation for “crimes”, but would not say more about where they were being held.

The Interfax news agency today reported that they were in the Russian-backed separatist region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, where Britons Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin and Morroccan citizen Brahim Saadoun - also volunteer fighters - were sentenced to death earlier this month. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said Drueke and Huynh could also face the death penalty.

“We have both publicly as well as privately called on the Russian government and its proxies to live up to their international obligations in their treatment of all individuals including those captured fighting in Ukraine,” Price said. “We expect and, in fact, international law and the law of war expects and requires, all those captured on the battle field be treated humanely and with respect consistent with the laws of war.”

Lysychansk in the eastern Donbas is getting hit hard, with Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, describing it as the city getting shelled “en masse”.

Here are some images of what life is like in the Lysychansk at the moment:

Residents take cover, fearing potential artillery shelling, in the town of Lysychansk on June 21, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Residents take cover, fearing potential artillery shelling, in the town of Lysychansk on 21 June amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the wreckage of cars on a street in Lysychansk
A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the wreckage of cars on a street in Lysychansk on 21 June. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
A man rides a bicycle among debris in Lysychansk on June 21, 2022, as Ukraine says Russian shelling has caused “catastrophic destruction” in the eastern industrial city, which lies just across a river from Severodonetsk where Russian and Ukrainian troops have been locked in battle for weeks.
A man rides a bicycle among debris in Lysychansk on 21 June as Ukraine says Russian shelling has caused “catastrophic destruction” in the eastern industrial city. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian servicemen dig a trench in the outskirts of Lysychansk on June 21, 2022, as Ukraine says Russian shelling has caused “catastrophic destruction” in the eastern industrial city, which lies just across a river from Severodonetsk where Russian and Ukrainian troops have been locked in battle for weeks.
Ukrainian servicemen dig a trench in the outskirts of Lysychansk on 21 June. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
A man walks in front of damaged residential building on a street of the town of Lysychansk on June 21, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A man walks in front of damaged residential building on a street in Lysychansk on 21 June. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

The US state department spokesperson Ned Price has responded to the botched phone call between the US basketball star Brittney Griner and her wife by confirming that the call has been rescheduled.

He reiterated that the state department has classified Griner as “wrongfully detained by Russia and has been wrongfully detained for far too long and whose case we are working on assiduously to see her released as quickly as can be achieved”.

“We deeply regret that Brittney Griner was unable to speak to her wife over the weekend because of a logistical error,” Price said. “It was a mistake. It was a mistake that we have worked to rectify. As we said before, the call has been rescheduled and will take place in relatively short order.”

Griner had dialled into the US embassy in Moscow 11 times – the embassy was then to connect her with her wife in Phoenix – but apparently nobody was working the desk where the phone rang on Saturday. Price attributed this “logistical error” to restrictions put in place on the embassy by the Kremlin.

“It was a logistical error that was compounded in part by the fact that our embassy in Moscow is under significant restrictions in terms of its staffing,” Price said. “When we have issues with the telephone system there, for example, the technicians are not located on site, in fact they’re not even located in Russia. They have to be located in a third country because of the onerous restrictions that the Russian federation has placed on our embassy and its operations.”

Updated

The White House has responded to yesterday’s report by the Associated Press that the US state department bungled a scheduled phone call between the US basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been held in custody in Russia since February over the possession of hashish oil, and her wife – the first phone call the couple would have had in the entirety of the four months of Griner’s detention.

“This was such a big moment because this would have been the first time where I truly could tell if she’s OK,” Cherelle Griner told the Associated Press. “This would have been the first time for me to actually just hear her in real time and to truly know if she’s OK or to know if she’s seconds away from not being in existence anymore.”

Brittney Griner had tried to call 11 times over a period of several hours, dialling a number she’d been given at the US embassy in Moscow, which the couple had been told would then patch the call through to Cherelle Griner in Phoenix. But each time, the call went unanswered because apparently nobody worked at that specific desk at the embassy on Saturdays.

Updated

Summary

It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here is where we stand:

  • Russian troops have captured the frontline village of Toshkivka near the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Donbas region. The head of the Severodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, said the village had not been under Ukrainian control since Monday, adding that the battle for Donbas was “now in full swing”.
  • Mass mobilisation is “about to happen” in Russia with the Kremlin recruiting people in poorer regions to fight in Ukraine, according to western officials. Officials also said there was “more chatter” about Vladimir Putin’s health and “more speculation” about who would replace him in Russia. However, there does not appear to be an “immediate threat” to the Russian president’s position from the elite or the general population, they said.
  • The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, is in Ukraine to discuss efforts to prosecute individuals involved in war crimes during Russia’s invasion, a justice department official said. Garland met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, and announced a War Crimes Accountability team that will work to identify and prosecute anyone who committed war crimes in Ukraine.
  • The sister of Brahim Saadoun, the Moroccan man who was captured while serving in the Ukrainian military, has said she feared he has been abandoned by his own government and has called on the international community to “claim my brother”. “I just want any authority, anybody who is willing to help, to come and help,” Iman Saadoun said in an interview with the Guardian, describing being left in limbo while seeking government support for him.
  • Turkey should be cautious about delivering more weapons to Ukraine, the head of Turkey’s weapons production agency said. Remarks by Ismail Demir to the Wall Street Journal show how Ankara is increasingly playing both sides of Russia’s war in Ukraine in contrast to other Nato allies, just months after Turkish-made drones played a critical role in Kyiv’s defence against Russia’s invasion.
  • Turkey’s military delegation will travel to Russia this week to discuss a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export Ukrainian grain, according to Turkish presidency sources. A four-way meeting between Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations will be held in Istanbul in the coming weeks, possibly with the participation of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, the sources said.
  • European countries are united in their support for granting Ukraine the status of European Union member candidate, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister has said. Jean Asselborn told reporters: “We are working towards the point where we tell Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends.”
  • The UK government is “determined” to impose further sanctions on Russia and will continue to do so until Moscow fully withdraws from Ukraine, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said. She told parliament that she would be travelling to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options to help get grain out of Odesa.

That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today. My colleague Vivian Ho will be here shortly will the latest from Ukraine. I’ll be back tomorrow.

Updated

Drone footage released on 19 June obtained by Reuters shows artillery strikes on the Ukrainian village of Toshkivka in the Luhansk region.

The aerial images show columns of smoke rising over several burned out buildings as shells blast approaching armoured vehicles.

Updated

Turkey’s military delegation will travel to Russia this week to discuss a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export Ukrainian grain, according to Turkish presidency sources.

A four-way meeting between Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations will be held in Istanbul in the coming weeks, possibly with the participation of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, Reuters cited the sources as saying.

The sources said the plan included creating three corridors from Ukraine’s port city of Odesa under Kyiv’s supervision, and that both Ukrainian and Russian food products would be shipped from there.

Between 30 and 35 million tonnes of grain could be shipped from there in the next six to eight months, the sources said.

Asked about the plan’s outline, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said “the discussions on these issues are continuing”, without further elaborating.

Russian state-owned news agency Tass confirmed plans for the talks, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said German self-propelled howitzers have “finally” arrived in Ukraine, in the first delivery of heavy weapons promised by Berlin.

Reznikov tweeted that the Panzerhaubitze 2000 “are finally part of 155 mm howitzer arsenal of the Ukrainian artillery” and thanked his German counterpart, Christine Lambrecht.

The Panzerhaubitze 2000 is one of the most powerful artillery weapons in Bundeswehr inventories and can hit targets at a distance of 40km (25 miles).

Germany pledged last month to send seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, adding to five such artillery systems the Netherlands has promised.

Updated

Kalush Orchestra, the Ukrainian group who triumphed at the 2022 Eurovision song contest, are to perform at Glastonbury festival for their first ever UK concert.

Their winning song, Stefania, blended hip-hop with the intricate flutes and heartfelt vocals of their national folk music, and saw a huge response from the public, who swept them to victory in the Eurovision phone voting – a clear demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine during the war with Russia.

Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine winning the 2022 Eurovision song contest.
Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine winning the 2022 Eurovision song contest. Photograph: Yara Nardi/Reuters

The sextet will appear at the Truth stage on Friday night (technically early Saturday morning, at 1.10am), in the festival’s fantastical, highly politicised Shangri-La area.

Frontman Oleh Psiuk said: “This is the perfect place for our first ever British performance and we hope it will be the start of many in the UK. We are very grateful for all the support we receive from the people of Britain, both for us and our country, and we are preparing a very special Ukrainian surprise for the fans at Glastonbury. What is it? You’ll soon see.”

Updated

Ukraine launches strikes on Snake Island

Ukraine’s army said it had launched airstrikes on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, causing “significant losses” to Russian forces.

In a post on Facebook, the military’s southern operational command said it had used “aimed strikes with the use of various forces” on the island.

The command added:

The military operation continues and requires information silence until it is over.

Updated

Russia’s defence ministry said its missiles had struck an airfield near the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, Russian news agencies reported.

The strikes were carried out in response to an alleged Ukrainian attack on gas production platforms in the Black Sea, it said.

It has not been possible to independently verify these claims.

Turkey should be cautious about delivering more weapons to Ukraine, the head of Turkey’s weapons-production agency said, months after Turkish-made drones played a critical role in Kyiv’s defence against Russia’s invasion.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ismail Demir, the president of Turkey’s defence industry agency, said:

Turkey is the only country I guess that can give a call to both parties and call them to the peace table. How can you do this if you send tens of thousands of weapons to one side?

Demir’s comments show how Ankara is increasingly playing both sides of Russia’s war in Ukraine in contrast to other Nato allies, the paper reports.

A Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle.
A Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle. Photograph: Aziz Karimov/Reuters

Asked if Turkey would continue to supply weapons including Bayraktar TB-2 drones, which were instrumental in Ukraine’s initial resistance to the Russian invasion, Demir replied:

There are things going on, but I’m not in a position to say, but we are much more careful.

He added:

We have to be able to talk to both sides, someone should be close enough to both parties, to build trust. Our priority is to make sure that peace prevails.

Updated

The US disagrees “vigorously” with the Russian position that captured Americans are not covered by the Geneva conventions, a state department official said.

The official’s remarks came after the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said two Americans detained in Ukraine while fighting were mercenaries who endangered the lives of Russian servicemen and should face responsibility for their actions.

The US has conveyed its stance on the issue to the Russian government, the US state official added.

Updated

Mass mobilisation is “about to happen” in Russia with the Kremlin recruiting people in poorer regions to fight in Ukraine, according to western officials.

Moscow is “concerned” that mobilisation would be an “admission of failure” in what was intended to be a quick, clean operation in Ukraine and has turned into a slow and grinding conflict, officials said.

Fears that countrywide mobilisation could stoke unrest in cities have led to the Kremlin “doing very significant recruitment” in poor areas in an effort to increase its pool of fighters, they said.

Officials also said there was “more chatter” about Vladimir Putin’s health and “more speculation” about who would replace him in Russia.

The 2024 presidential election “is certainly looking more interesting than it perhaps was six months ago”, they said.

However, there does not appear to be an “immediate threat” to the Russian president’s position from the elite or the general population, they said.

Updated

Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of goods on an EU sanctions list across its territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Hosting a meeting in Kaliningrad, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation, said Lithuania’s actions were “hostile” and Russia would respond.

The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, is in Ukraine to discuss efforts to identify, arrest and prosecute individuals involved in war crimes during Russia’s invasion, a justice department official said.

Garland met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, as part of his unannounced trip to Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters in Ukraine, Garland said:

The United States is sending an unmistakable message. There is no place to hide. We will, we and our partners will pursue every avenue available to make sure that those who are responsible for these atrocities are held accountable.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Ukrainian Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Ukrainian Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP

As reported earlier, Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov has auctioned off his Nobel peace prize medal to raise money for Unicef to help Ukrainian children displaced by war. Here’s our video package of the auction.

Today so far...

It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here is where we stand:

  • Russian troops have captured the frontline village of Toshkivka near the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Donbas region. The head of the Severodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, said the village had not been under Ukrainian control since Monday, adding that the battle for Donbas was “now in full swing”.
  • The sister of Brahim Saadoun, the Moroccan man who was captured while serving in the Ukrainian military, has said she feared he has been abandoned by his own government and has called on the international community to “claim my brother”. “I just want any authority, anybody who is willing to help, to come and help,” Iman Saadoun said in an interview with the Guardian, describing being left in limbo while seeking government support for him.
  • A senior Ukrainian government official and a business leader have been detained on suspicion of being part of an alleged Russian spy network, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said. It claimed the pair had “passed on various intelligence information to the enemy: from the state of our defence capability to arrangements at the state border and personal data of Ukrainian law enforcement officers”.
  • European countries are united in their support for granting Ukraine the status of European Union member candidate, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister has said. Jean Asselborn told reporters: “We are working towards the point where we tell Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends.”
  • The UK government is “determined” to impose further sanctions on Russia and will continue to do so until Moscow fully withdraws from Ukraine, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said. She told parliament that she would be travelling to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options to help get grain out of Odesa.

Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you to bring you all the latest news from Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag. You can reach me on Twitter or via email.

Updated

New rules that will allow Ukrainian children to come to Britain alone are expected to be announced this week.

It follows revelations in the Guardian that more than 500 children who fled the war without their parents have been stuck in limbo across Europe after applying to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Most are teenagers who thought they would be eligible and have British families waiting to host them, but have heard nothing from the Home Office.

The announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph, which said under-18s will be allowed to come to Britain unaccompanied if they have written permission from a parent or legal guardian.

A Home Office spokesperson would not confirm any details but did not deny that an announcement was expected on Wednesday. It is understood that the policy will be part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Teenagers travelling without their parents were initially accepted for visas under Homes for Ukraine. A policy banning under-18s from travelling without their parents or a legal guardian was then introduced, but the Home Office did not offer a decision or solution to all those who applied before this was set out.

Read the full article here.

Updated

The US state department has confirmed the death of an American citizen, Stephen Zabielski, the second American known to have been killed in combat in Ukraine.

According to his obituary in the New York newspaper The Recorder, Zabielski died on 15 May while fighting in the war in Ukraine.

A US government spokesperson said:

We have been in touch with the family and have provided all possible consular assistance. Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have nothing further.

The other American known to have died in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion is a Marine Corps veteran, Willy Cancel, who was killed in April fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.

Updated

A senior Ukrainian government official and a business leader have been detained on suspicion of being part of an alleged Russian spy network, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said.

It did not name the two suspects but identified them as a senior official in the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers and a department head at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Reuters reports.

The suspects were detained as part of a “multi-stage special operation” to neutralise the alleged spy ring, the SBU said in a statement on Telegram.

The statement went on to say that the pair had “passed on various intelligence information to the enemy: from the state of our defence capability to arrangements at the state border and personal data of Ukrainian law enforcement officers”.

The SBU said Russia paid the suspects from $2,000 to $15,000 for each task, depending on the level of secrecy and the importance of the information.

Updated

Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.

A border guard looks at cars queueing at the Krakovets-Korczowa checkpoint at the Ukraine-Poland border.
A border guard looks at cars queueing at the Krakovets-Korczowa checkpoint at the Ukraine-Poland border. Photograph: Future Publishing/Ukrinform/Getty Images
Soldiers survey damage and salvage items after a projectile and subsequent fire destroyed a warehouse building in Druzhkivka.
Soldiers survey damage and salvage items after a projectile and subsequent fire destroyed a warehouse building in Druzhkivka. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
A view of damage by recent shelling in the Donetsk region.
A view of damage by recent shelling in the Donetsk region. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A grain store in the Zaporizhzhia region.
A grain store in the Zaporizhzhia region. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Another view of damage caused by shelling in the Donetsk region.
Another view of damage caused by shelling in the Donetsk region. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Daniel Boffey in Brussels has this explainer for us on why Kaliningrad has suddenly become a flashpoint between Russia and the EU:

After Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU imposed heavy sanctions on the Russian economy. Just under half of all goods that usually transit through Lithuania, including coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology, are covered by a ban on Russian exports entering EU territory.

There is a different enforcement date for many of the goods. On 17 June the prohibition on Russian steel and iron ore came into force. The Lithuanian state railways said they would no longer allow these goods to be carried on its tracks.

In response, the region’s governor, Anton Alikhanov, said ferry services from St Petersburg would take the strain and that there was no need to panic. That led to panic.

Russia’s foreign ministry accused Lithuania of breaking international law and a series of agreements on the facilitation of transit from mainland Russia that had been agreed in 2004. The Kremlin has accused Lithuania of blockading its citizens.

Read more of Daniel Boffey’s explainer here: Why is Kaliningrad at the centre of a row between Russia and Lithuania?

The Hollywood actor Ben Stiller met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during a visit to Ukraine on World Refugee Day.

Stiller, who is a UNHCR ambassador, spoke to Zelenskiy during a visit that included a stop in Irpin, the scene of heavy fighting early in the Russian invasion.

Updated

Russian forces capture Donbas frontline village near Sievierodonetsk, says Ukraine

Russian troops have captured the frontline village of Toshkivka near the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Donbas region.

The head of the Severodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, told Ukrainian television:

As of today, according to our information, Toshkivka is controlled entirely by the Russians.

The battle for Donbas is “now in full swing”, Vlasenko said, adding that the entire region is “now the epicentre of fighting between Ukraine and the Russian army”.

Vlasenko told CNN that the village had not been under Ukrainian control since Monday.

Toshkivka is located approximately 15 miles (25km) south of Sievierodonetsk, where Ukrainian forces have mounted fierce resistance to Moscow’s armies for weeks.

Yesterday, Russian-backed separatist forces in Ukraine said the village had been taken.

Updated

US volunteer fighters captured in Ukraine could face death penalty, says Russia

The Kremlin has said that two captured US volunteers are not covered by the Geneva conventions and could face the death penalty.

The remarks were made by Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, following claims in the Russian media that two of three US volunteers missing in Ukraine had been captured and were being held by pro-Russian separatist forces.

The two men were taken into detention by Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk after being captured last week, according to Russian state media.

Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, both from Alabama, were filmed on Russia’s RT channel at a detention centre in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Friday.

Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27.
Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27. Composite: Reuters/Associated Press

The threat of the death penalty against the two men follows the sentencing to death of two Britons and a Moroccan who surrendered in Mauripol after fighting with Ukrainian forces, amid some suggestions that Russia may use the men to bargain for the release of captured Russians.

While Russia has a moratorium on the death penalty, that moratorium does not extend to the self-styled DPR despite being a proxy of Moscow.

The two Americans went missing earlier this month during a battle north of Kharkiv.

Read the full article here.

A fire that broke out after Ukrainian forces allegedly attacked oil rigs in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea is approaching an oil well, according to a pro-Russian official.

The Russian-backed leader of annexed Crimea, Sergei Askyonov, blamed Kyiv for yesterday’s attack, which allegedly hit a platform owned by a Crimean oil and gas company. Three people were wounded and a search was under way for seven workers, he said on Monday.

A Russian senator for Crimea, Olga Kovitidi, told the Interfax news agency:

As for the fire, it is not subsiding on the platform. At night, the fire approached the oil well.

She said the “search continues” for the seven missing persons, while the three injured are in hospital but their condition is not critical.

Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Berlin will send weapons to Ukraine “as long as needed” while reaffirming its commitment to stand with Lithuania and other eastern allies.

He said his trip to Kyiv last week to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, made clear to him that Ukraine belongs to Europe, in a speech to Germany’s industry association.

The west does not “accept the violent attack on Ukraine”, he said, therefore Ukraine was being supplied “extensively with weapons” and “unprecedentedly tough sanctions” were imposed on Russia.

Scholz said:

These sanctions do work. Yes, these sanctions are hurting ourselves as well. They hurt our companies, but they are right.

He added:

One thing is clear: we will continue to support Ukraine, also with weapons, for as long as Ukraine needs our support.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Photograph: Clemens Bilan/EPA

Updated

The UK government is “determined” to impose further sanctions on Russia and will continue to do so until Moscow fully withdraws from Ukraine, Britain’s foreign secretary Liz Truss said.

Britain will continue to impose sanctions and to stop importing goods from Russia “until we see Russia fully withdraw from Ukraine”, Truss said in a statement to parliament.

Truss said:

We are determined to provide more weapons, impose more sanctions and back Ukraine in pushing Russia out of their territory.

She said she would be travelling to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options to help get grain out of Odesa, and that there was only a matter of weeks to find a solution.

Russian authorities have blocked the website of the British newspaper the Telegraph for its coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The country’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor confirmed that access to the site was restricted after it was found to have disseminated “inaccurate information about the special military operation conducted by Russia’s armed forces on the territory of Ukraine”, the Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported.

The move was triggered by Russia’s prosecutor general banning an article the Telegraph published in February about mobile crematoriums poised to be deployed in the war.

The prosecutor ruled the article contained “false information” and entered it on the list of “banned information”.

Last week, Russia’s foreign ministry banned 29 members of the British media, including five Guardian journalists, from entering the country in response to western sanctions and the “spreading of false information about Russia”.

Updated

Vladimir Putin said Russia will “further strengthen” its armed forces to take into account potential military threats and risks, Reuters reports.

Russia’s newly tested Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads and decoys, will be deployed for duty by the end of the year, Putin added.

Updated

Footage recently released by the Donetsk region governor purports to show a fire at a school in Adviivka after it was hit by Russian shelling.

Pavlo Kyrylenko said the school is the third one in the city to be damaged by Russian troops, claiming almost 200 schools have been destroyed in total in the Donetsk region since the beginning of invasion.

The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said he “can’t rule out” Americans captured in Ukraine might face the death penalty.

At his regular briefing, Peskov said:

These are court decisions. We don’t comment on them and have no right to interfere.

The Kremlin did not know where the men were, he added, after their families said they had not returned from a mission around the Kharkiv region.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Peskov said the two US citizens detained in Ukraine were mercenaries not covered by the Geneva Conventions and should face consequences for their actions.

At the briefing today, he also said Ukraine has not tried to restart peace negotiations with Russia

Hello. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.

Today so far …

  • Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of goods on an EU sanctions list across its territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Hosting a meeting in Kaliningrad, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation, said “Russia will certainly respond to such hostile actions. Their consequences will have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania.”
  • The European Union ambassador to Russia, Markus Ederer, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow over the issue. He said he had asked Russia to resolve the issue through diplomatic means.
  • Russian officials have accused Ukraine of launching missile strikes against three gas rigs in the Black Sea south of Odesa, in an apparent escalation of Kyiv’s attempts to weaken Russia’s maritime dominance. Seven people were reported missing and three injured after the strikes on Monday, according to the head of occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov.
  • Three people were killed and seven people were injured by Russian shelling on the Kharkiv region in the last 24 hours, according to governor Oleh Synyehubov.
  • Two Americans captured in Ukraine are currently in the Russian-backed separatist region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the Interfax news agency has reported, citing an unidentified source. There are fears that the pair could face the death penalty. The Kremlin has said the two US men were mercenaries, not covered by the Geneva convention, and that they should face responsibility for their actions.
  • Russia’s foreign ministry press secretary, Maria Zakharova, has said that “the western regimes that instigate and cause destruction should be blamed” for any global grain shortage, since their “illegitimate sanctions that have disrupted the established commodity-money chains.”
  • European countries are united in their support for granting Ukraine the status of European Union member candidate, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister has said. Jean Asselborn told reporters “We are working towards the point where we tell Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends.”
  • The upcoming decision whether to grant Ukraine candidacy for membership to the EU is making Russia “very nervous”, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest nightly address on Monday night. “We are moving towards the main decision of the European Council, which will be adopted on Friday. As I predicted, Russia is very nervous about our activity.”
  • Georgia’s prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, has said his country is committed to joining Nato, but must solve its territorial problems with Russia first.

That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on today. I am handing you over to my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong.

Russia threatens 'serious negative impact' on population of Lithuania over goods blockade

Russia has threatened consequences that will have “a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania” as the row over restrictions of goods transiting the Baltic state to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad worsened.

Hosting a meeting in Kaliningrad, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation said:

Russia will certainly respond to such hostile actions. Appropriate measures are being worked out in an interdepartmental format and will be taken in the near future. Their consequences will have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania.

The RIA Nostovi Russian news agency quotes him saying that “the blockade by Lithuania, at the suggestion of Western countries, in violation of the norms and principles of international law, of the transit through its territory to the Kaliningrad region of a large group of goods … shows that one cannot trust not only the oral statements of the west, but also written ones.”

At the same time as Patrushev was in Kaliningrad, the European Union ambassador to Russia was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow.

After the meeting, Reuters reports Markus Ederer said he had asked Russia to resolve the issue through diplomatic means. He said it was not a blockade by Lithuania, as the transit of non-sanctioned goods continues. Lithuania argues that it is only preventing the shipment of goods across its territory in accordance with new EU sanctions that came into force at the weekend.

Reuters notes that their report of Ederer’s meeting was produced in Russia, where the law restricts their coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.

The Baltic states have asked for more financial support from the EU to handle Ukrainian refugees, the Lithuanian president’s office has said.

“We must share the financial burden, which at the moment is unproportionally assigned to national budgets. EU solidarity is very important to assure proper support to war refugees from Ukraine”, Reuters reports Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nauseda, said in a statement.

Updated

Two Americans captured in Ukraine being held in occupied Donetsk – reports

Two Americans captured in Ukraine are currently in the Russian-backed separatist region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the Interfax news agency has reported, citing an unidentified source.

The arrival of US citizens Andy Huynh and Alexander Drueke in the separatist region will raise fears that the pair, both from Alabama, could face charges there. Britons Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin and Morroccan citizen Brahim Saadoun were sentenced to death by a Donetsk separatist court earlier this month. Russia does not carry out the death penalty, but its proxies in the self-styled Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics do.

The Kremlin has said the two US men were mercenaries, not covered by the Geneva convention, and that they should face responsibility for their actions.

Reuters reports it could not immediately verify the Interfax report on the location of the Americans, and that a spokesperson in Donetsk declined immediate comment.

Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine and beyond over the newswires depicting the impact of Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February.

Internally displaced children attend a holiday on World Refugee Day, Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine.
Internally displaced children attend a holiday on World Refugee Day, Zaporizhzhia, south-eastern Ukraine. Photograph: Future Publishing/Ukrinform/Getty Images
Flames rise from a structure after it was hit by a projectile on 20 June in Druzhkivka,
Flames rise from a structure after it was hit by a projectile on 20 June in Druzhkivka. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) with the US actor Ben Stiller (R), a UNHCR goodwill ambassador, during a meeting in Kyiv on Monday.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) with the US actor Ben Stiller (R), a UNHCR goodwill ambassador, during a meeting in Kyiv on Monday. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service Handout/EPA
Servicemen fire a salvo in tribute to Ukrainian servicemen Vladislav Andreev killed in Donetsk region, during his funeral ceremony at Bucha’s cemetery.
Soldiers fire a salvo in tribute to Ukrainian servicemen Vladislav Andreev killed in Donetsk region, during his funeral ceremony at Bucha’s cemetery. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images
Mayor of Kramatorsk Oleksandr Goncharenko speaks during an interview in the city.
Mayor of Kramatorsk Oleksandr Goncharenko speaks during an interview in the city. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize that has been auctioned to raise funds for Ukraine.
The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize that has been auctioned to raise funds for Ukraine. Photograph: Jason Szenes/EPA

Updated

European countries are united in their support for granting Ukraine the status of European Union member candidate, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister has said.

Reuters reports Jean Asselborn told reporters before a meeting with other EU ministers: “We are working towards the point where we tell Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends.”

Updated

The sister of Brahim Saadoun, the Moroccan man who was captured while serving in the Ukrainian military, has said she feared he has been abandoned by his own government and has called on the international community to “claim my brother”.

“I just want any authority, anybody who is willing to help, to come and help,” Iman Saadoun said in an interview with the Guardian, describing being left in limbo while seeking government support for him.

Saadoun was one of three men sentenced to death by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine in a show trial designed to mimic the convictions of Russian soldiers for war crimes. The other two were the Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner. The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said she will do “whatever is necessary” to secure their release.

Morocco has sought not to criticise Russia, a member of the UN security council, over its invasion of Ukraine. While European countries have largely condemned the war, pro-Russian views are more mainstream in the Middle East and Africa.

Iman said the local press and many people on social media had celebrated her brother’s sentence.

Read more of Andrew Roth’s report here: ‘He’s been betrayed’: sister of Moroccan man captured in Ukraine pleads for help

The Russian security council secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, has arrived in the Kaliningrad region, where he will chair a meeting on national security.

A dispute has erupted with Lithuania refusing to allow embargoed goods to be shipped to the Kaliningrad enclave via its territory.

Reuters reports that the European Union ambassador to Russia, Markus Ederer, has arrived at the Russian foreign ministry, where he has been summoned over the issue.

Updated

Russian news agency RIA Novosti has reported that Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, has launched integration projects with the occupied areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Georgy Muradov, deputy chairman of the council of ministers of Crimea, is quoted as saying that close trade and economic ties have been established, and that they are seeking to improve transport links.

The agency quotes him saying: “The creation of transport routes will ensure the uninterrupted supply of food, medicine and humanitarian aid to the liberated territories. It will also strengthen interregional ties in various fields.”

Updated

Russia: 'western regimes' and 'illegitimate sanctions' to blame for any global grain shortage

The Russian foreign ministry has issued an opinion by the press secretary, Maria Zakharova, about the global grain situation. She cites statistics claiming that grain production and trade levels are higher than previous years, stating that “there will be more grain in the world”. Zakharova goes on to write:

Representatives of the west are using every platform, including the UN, to accuse Russia of reducing the amount of grain available on the market through its actions, allegedly throwing a wrench in grain operations which, according to the West, has sent prices for wheat and other grains up. In reality, though, there’s more grain on the market than in previous years, and trade is up as well.

She claims that the causes of rising prices and shortages are

  • “Systematic errors made by the west when making forecasts for its agricultural policy.”
  • “Global inflation caused by short-sighted financial and monetary mechanisms that the west used during the pandemic.”
  • “The ill-conceived transition of Europe and North America to green energy based on the forced introduction of bio fuel technologies.”
  • “Illegitimate sanctions that have disrupted the established commodity-money chains.”

She goes on to say: “With regard to whether famine is a realistic scenario, experts increasingly foresee a pessimistic outcome. They believe that many nations will be impacted and even more will become destitute. The western regimes that instigate and cause destruction should be blamed for that.”

Yesterday, the European Union’s senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, described the Russian blockade of grain exports from Ukraine as “a real war crime”.

Updated

Reuters reports the Georgian prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, has said at an economic conference in Qatar that his country is committed to joining Nato, but must solve its territorial problems with Russia first.

Georgia is sandwiched between Russia in the north, with Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to its south. The breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia’s territory, although a handful of states, including Russia, officially recognise them.

Updated

Three people were killed and seven people were injured by Russian shelling on the Kharkiv region in the last 24 hours, according to a post on Telegram by the governor of the area, Oleh Synyehubov.

He claimed that a fire at a gas processing plant in Izium is being fought after the strikes, and that an educational building in the Kyiv district of Kharkiv was 40% destroyed after the attacks.

He said that fighting continues in the Izium area, but that Ukrainian forces “repel enemy attacks and hold their positions securely.”

The claims have not been independently verified.

Serhai Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has confirmed that the regular free evacuation train from Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine will run to Lviv via Dnipro this afternoon.

Russian journalist auctions Nobel peace prize, sells for $103.5m

The Nobel Peace Prize that Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov was auctioning off to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees has sold for $103.5m (£84.5m), shattering the record for a Nobel.

Muratov, who was awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publication’s editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlin’s clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It was Muratov’s idea to auction off his prize, having already announced he was donating the accompanying $500,000 cash award to charity. The idea of the donation, he said, “is to give the children refugees a chance for a future”.

Muratov has said the proceeds will go directly to Unicef in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine. Melted down, the 175 grams of 23-karat gold contained in Muratov’s medal would be worth about $10,000.

Ukraine claims first success with western-donated Harpoon anti-ship missiles: UK MoD

Ukrainian forces claimed their first successful use of western-donated Harpoon anti-ship missiles to engage Russian maritime forces, British intelligence says.

The target of the attack on 17 June was almost certainly the Russian naval tug Spasatel Vasily Bekh, which was delivering weapons and personnel to Snake Island in the north-western Black Sea, according to the latest UK ministry of defence report.

The destruction of the Russian vessel on a resupply mission “demonstrates the difficulty Russia faces when attempting to support their forces occupying Snake Island” the report adds.

This is the latest in a series of Russian vessels, including the cruiser Moskva, to be damaged or destroyed by Ukraine during the conflict.

Ukrainian coastal defence capability has largely neutralised Russia’s ability to establish sea control and project maritime force in the north-western Black Sea.

This has undermined the viability of Russia’s original operational design for the invasion, which involved holding the Odesa region at risk from the sea.”

Denmark declares ‘early warning’ over Russia gas supply worries

Denmark’s energy agency declared a first level “early warning” alert over worries of its gas supply, due to uncertainty on energy imports from Russia due to the war in Ukraine.

The European Union has established a system to allow member states to flag up impending energy supply difficulties using three ascending levels of alerts - beginning with “early warning”, followed by “alert”, then “emergency”.

The system allows for mutual assistance from other EU countries, but could also mean a start to rationing supplies.

On Monday, the deputy director of the Danish Energy Agency, Martin Hansen, issued the first level warning.

“This is a serious situation we are facing and it has been exacerbated by the reduction in supplies,” Hansen said in a statement, as reported by Reuters.

Currently Denmark’s gas stocks are about 75% full, “and gas has been added in recent days”, the agency added.

The declaration comes after Danish energy company Orsted announced at the end of May that delivery of Russian gas to the Scandinavian country would be suspended from June 1, after Orsted refused to settle the payment in rubles.

Russia is one of the main sources of natural gas imports in Denmark, according to the Danish Energy Agency.

The Netherlands also announced Monday it will lift restrictions on coal-fired power generation, a day after Germany and Austria took similar steps to alleviate their reliance on Russian gas supplies.

Russia is holding more than 1,500 Ukrainian civilians in prisons, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has alleged.

More than 1,500 civilians are being held in Russian prisons - they are in Rostov, Kursk, they are in jail, they are being held as prisoners of war, although they should not be prisoners of war... They should be released,” Vereshchuk said during a televised briefing on Monday.

Moscow to summon EU ambassador later today

The Russian foreign ministry is set to summon European Union ambassador to Moscow, Markus Ederer, later today over Lithuania’s ban of the transit of goods under EU sanctions through Kaliningrad.

Vilnius banned the transit of goods under European Union sanctions through Lithuanian territory to and from the Russian exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, citing EU sanction rules.

Anton Alikhanov, Kaliningrad’s governor, told Russian television late on Sunday.

This is, of course, a situation, that can be resolved by diplomatic means,

As far as I know, tomorrow Marcus Ederer, the European Union ambassador to Russia, will be summoned to the foreign ministry .... and he will be told of the appropriate conditions involved here.”

Russia threatens retaliation over goods transit ban

Russia has threatened to retaliate over Lithuania’s ban on the transit of some goods across its territory to the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

The move by the government in Vilnius was described as “unprecedented” in Moscow, where the Russian foreign office said they reserved the right to respond to protect their national interest.

Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, further escalated tensions on Monday by threatening a response to what he said was an “illegal move”.

This decision is really unprecedented. It’s a violation of everything. We consider this illegal. The situation is more than serious … We need a serious in-depth analysis in order to work out our response.”

Wedged between Lithuania to its north and east, and Poland to its south, Kaliningrad is about 800 miles (1,300km) from Moscow and relies on much of its supplies coming in by rail.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Vilnius must reverse the “openly hostile” move.

If cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, then Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests,” it said.

Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said Moscow was spreading false information and that the state railway service was acting lawfully by merely implementing the EU’s sanctions regime prohibiting the supply of steel or goods made from iron ore to Russia.

Landsbergis said that under half of the goods usually supplied by transiting across Lithuania would be covered by the sanctions regime over time, with the ban on steel coming into force on 17 June.

“I think there was some false information, not for the first time, announced by the Russian authorities, but I’m glad that we have a chance to explain this,” he said. “At this point, about slightly less than half of goods that transit Lithuania are on the sanctions list, but that doesn’t mean that all of them are under sanctions right now.

“Because there are different wind-down periods, and some of it, for example oil, will be sanctioned just at the end of the year, starting from December, even though the authorities have announced it is sanctioned already, which is not true actually.”

Summary and welcome

Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you as we continue to report all the latest news from Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry is set to summon European Union ambassador to Moscow, Markus Ederer, later today over Lithuania’s ban of the transit of goods under EU sanctions through Kaliningrad.

Here are all the other major developments as of 8am in Kyiv.

  • Russian officials have accused Ukraine of launching missile strikes against three gas rigs in the Black Sea south of Odesa, in an apparent escalation of Kyiv’s attempts to weaken Russia’s maritime dominance. Seven people were reported missing and three injured after the strikes on Monday, according to the head of occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov.
  • Turkey said it does not consider next week’s Nato summit as a final deadline for resolving its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance. Turkish presidential spokesperson, Ibrahim Kalin, reported no breakthrough in talks in Brussels but said discussions between Ankara, Stockholm and Helsinki will continue.
  • Americans captured in Ukraine have been described by Moscow as “mercenaries” engaged in illegal activities and should take responsibility for their “crimes”. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the detained men were not covered by the Geneva conventions as they were not regular troops, according to Russia’s RIA news agency.
  • The United States is in talks with Canada and other allies to further restrict Moscow’s energy revenue by imposing a price cap on Russian oil, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters on Monday. “We are talking about price caps or a price exception … that would push down the price of Russian oil and depress Putin’s revenues, while allowing more oil supply to reach the global market,” she said.
  • The former director of the British special forces said the UK must “prepare for war” as a deterrent against Russia. The comment by Gen Sir Adrian Bradshaw came after the new head of the British army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, told troops they must prepare “to fight in Europe once again”.
  • Putin fears the “spark of democracy” spreading to Russia, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who said the Russian president was trying to divide Europe and return to a world dominated by spheres of influence. “The Russian President must accept that there is a community of law-based democracies in his neighbourhood that is growing ever closer together. He clearly fears the spark of democracy spreading to his country,” Scholz told the Muenchner Merkur newspaper.
  • The upcoming decision whether to grant Ukraine candidacy for membership to the EU is making Russia “very nervous”, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest nightly address on Monday night. “We are moving towards the main decision of the European Council, which will be adopted on Friday. As I predicted, Russia is very nervous about our activity.”

Updated

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