Russia has said that a US decision to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions to Ukraine was extremely negative and would increase the risk of a direct confrontation. Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said that Moscow viewed US military aid to Ukraine “extremely negatively”. “Attempts to present the decision as containing an element of ‘self-restraint’ are useless,” Ryabkov said. “The fact that the United States, at the head of a group of states, is engaged in a purposeful pumping of weapons into the Kyiv regime is an obvious thing.”
US President Joe Biden has confirmed he will send the more advanced, longer-range rocket systems to Kyiv, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been asking for as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region. The medium-range high mobility artillery rocket systems are part of a new $700m tranche of security assistance from the US.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has said that Russia now controls 70% of the city of Sievierodonetsk, which is the main crucible of Russia’s attack at the present time, and a key objective if Russian forces are to control the whole of the Donbas region. Haidai posted to Telegram claiming that “the Russians control 70% of Sievierodonetsk. Ukrainian troops retreated to more advantageous, pre-prepared positions. Another part continues fighting inside the city.”
President Zelenskiy has blasted the “madness” of bombing a chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk. “Given the presence of large-scale chemical production in Sievierodonetsk, the Russian army’s strikes there, including blind air bombing, are just crazy.” Local officials said a nitric acid tank was hit and posted images of pink smoke billowing.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s military forces have had some successes near Kherson and in parts of the Kharkiv region.
The UK’s ministry of defence latest assessment of the situation on the ground in Ukraine says: “Russian ground operations remain tightly focused, with the weight of fire power concentrated within a small sector of Luhansk oblast. Over 30-31 May, fighting intensified in the streets of Sievierodonetsk, with Russian forces pushing closer to the town centre. Over half of the town is likely now occupied by Russian forces, including Chechen fighters. Beyond the Donbas, Russia continues to conduct long-range missile strikes against infrastructure across Ukraine.”
Overnight a video depicting children alleged to have been killed by Ukrainian forces in the Russian-occupied Donbas region of Ukraine was projected on to the US embassy in Moscow as part of a protest to coincide with International Children’s Day.
Germany will supply Ukraine with the IRIS-T air defence system, chancellor Olaf Scholz said, following pleas from Kyiv and German opposition parties to step up heavy weapons deliveries.
Switzerland’s government has vetoed Denmark’s request to send Swiss-made armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine. Denmark votes today in a referendum asking the nation whether it wants to end its decades-long opt-out from common European Union defence policies. Denmark’s foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, has said he will ask parliament tomorrow for Denmark’s support of the accession of Sweden and Finland to Nato.
Ukraine is working on an international UN-led operation with naval partners to ensure a safe trade route for food exports, according to Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who said Russia was playing “hunger games with the world by blocking Ukrainian food exports”.
Pope Francis appealed to authorities to lift the block on wheat exports from Ukraine, saying the grain cannot be used as a “weapon of war”.
The African Union warned EU leaders that Moscow’s blockade of Ukraine’s ports risked “a catastrophic scenario” of food shortages and price rises. Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, who chairs the union, said “the worst is perhaps ahead of us” if current global food supply trends continued.
Ukraine would prosecute 80 suspected war criminals, said the prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova. Representatives of a group of countries investigating Russian war crimes have met with the international criminal court prosecutor, Karim Khan, at The Hague.
A senior Russian lawmaker has suggested kidnapping a Nato defence minister. Oleg Morozov from the United Russia party said on Rossiya-1 state TV he had a “fantastical plot” that a Nato war minister would travel to Kyiv and wake up in Moscow.
Sanctions against Russia are directed at ordinary citizens and motivated by hatred, the former president, Dmitry Medvedev, has said. Medvedev, who advises Vladimir Putin on national security, said on Telegram that the “endless tango of economic sanctions” won’t touch the political elite but have brought losses for big business.
Russia has further cut off gas supplies to Europe. Gazprom turned off the taps to a top Dutch trader and halted flows to some companies in Denmark and Germany. The intensification follows the EU’s decision to place an embargo on most Russian oil imports.
Ukraine’s giant seed bank is in danger of being destroyed. The genetic code for nearly 2,000 crops rests in underground vaults based in Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine, which has come under intense bombing. Read more of the Guardian’s coverage how vital seed banks are in the climate crisis here and here.
Russia says it has has completed testing of its hypersonic Zircon cruise missile and will deploy it before the end of the year on a new frigate of its Northern Fleet.
Ukraine will face Scotland tonight in what is set to be a highly-emotionally charged football match in Glasgow. The winners will play Wales on Sunday for the final berth at the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
