Evening summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s headlines:
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Monday it was too soon to say exactly where Ukraine’s counteroffensive was going, but said Washington was confident that Kyiv would continue to have success in trying to take back its land seized by Russia. Speaking at a press conference in Washington, Blinken said the US was determined to maximise its support for Ukraine so that it could succeed on the battlefield.
One man was killed and another was wounded in a Russian attack on the small town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region of south-east Ukraine, the regional governor, Yuri Malashko, said on Monday. Malashko said three bombs damaged private houses and communications in the small town, about 5 miles (8km) from frontlines. He said the man who was killed was 48 and the one who was wounded was 32, Reuters reported.
Footage released by Ukraine shows marines in a village it claims to have recaptured in its counteroffensive against Russian forces. Soldiers held up the Ukrainian flag in Storozheve, in a video posted online. The defence minister thanked the 35th Separate Brigade of Marines for regaining control of the village.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Monday he was concerned that Russia would on 17 July quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilisers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Moscow has been threatening to walk away from the deal, known as the Black Sea grain initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July last year, if obstacles to its own grain and fertiliser shipments are not removed.
The Group of Seven (G7) rich nations are working on a scheme to combat the suspected theft of Ukraine’s grain by using chemical identification of grain origin, Britain’s food and farming minister, Mark Spencer, said on Monday. Spencer told an International Grains Council (IGC) conference in London that Britain was leading on the scheme and that G7 countries were also working closely with Ukraine, the world’s fourth largest grains exporter.
Ukraine has accused Russian forces of destroying another dam with the aim of slowing a counteroffensive launched by Kyiv. As rescue and relief efforts entered their seventh day for victims of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station in Kherson region, the Russian military was accused of blowing up a much smaller dam along the Mokri Yaly River, which has become the most successful axis so far for Ukraine’s advances in western Donetsk.
The largest Nato military jet exercise since the foundation of the alliance was taking place today in the skies over Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. About 10,000 soldiers from 25 countries were involved, making use of 250 military jets – 70 from Germany – to prepare for an attack on one of Nato’s members. Although the exercise was planned long before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it is nevertheless being viewed as a signal towards the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin marked Russia’s national day on Monday by appealing to Russians’ patriotic pride at what he said was a “difficult time” for the country. However, speaking at a lavish award-giving ceremony in the Kremlin, Putin made no direct comment on the latest developments in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces have launched a long-awaited counteroffensive and have retaken several villages in the eastern Donetsk region over the past few days.
Ukraine’s top military command said on Monday that its forces were engaged in heavy battles in frontline hotspots. Twenty-five battles had taken place over the past day near the eastern town of Bakhmut and farther south near Avdiivka and Maryinka, all in the Donetsk region, and also near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff said.
US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces had made “visually verified advances” in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions and that Russian sources “confirmed but sought to downplay” those advances.
The water level at the ponds used to cool the reactors at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remain stable and sufficient despite the falling water level of the Kakhovka reservoir nearby, Ukraine’s environment minister said on Monday.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, reported that Avdiivka was struck twice by rockets on Monday morning.
A 50-year-old woman was injured as a result of shelling by the Russian military in the village of Novoselivka, in Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday it had signed a contract with the Akhmat group of Chechen special forces, a day after the mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin refused to do so. The signing followed an order that all “volunteer units” should sign contracts by 1 July bringing them under the control of the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, as Moscow tries to assert its control over private armies fighting on its behalf in Ukraine. Prigozhin, who has waged a running feud with the defence ministry and accused it of failing to provide adequate ammunition supplies to his Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine, said on Sunday he would refuse to sign any such contract.
The former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev celebrated Russia Day by posting a an edited image to Telegram that showed Kyiv’s central Maidan square with the Russian flag flying on it and the message “Independence Square. Coming soon – Russia Square”.
Work has started in an investigation by the international criminal court over the breach of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine and the vast flood it triggered, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reported that the flood water level in Kherson had dropped by 64cm.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed from the Ukraine live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Updated
Lawyers for Ukraine at the top UN court have rejected Russia’s account of the downing of a Malaysian airliner as a “rambling conspiracy theory”, in a case alleging Moscow backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Kyiv says Moscow violated a UN anti-terrorism treaty by equipping and funding pro-Russia forces, including militias who shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, killing all 298 passengers and crew, in July 2014, Reuters reports.
Last November, a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist in absentia for their role in the downing of the airliner and sentenced them to life in prison. It found that Russia had “overall control” over the separatist forces.
Russia at the time rejected the decision by the Dutch court. Last week, in hearings before the international court of justice, Russia said Ukraine’s MH17 case was based on “nonsense” and offered a host of alternative explanations for what happened.
On Monday, Ukraine’s lawyers hit back. One of them, Marney Cheek, told the court it had been “subjected to a rambling conspiracy theory” about the shooting down of MH17 that would be “better relegated to the darkest corners of the internet”.
Kyiv has accused Russia of being a terrorist state and said it had also tried to erase the culture of ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv has asked the court to find Moscow guilty of breaching its treaty obligations and to order it to pay reparations.
Updated
Blinken says too soon to say where Ukraine counteroffensive is going
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Monday it was too soon to say exactly where Ukraine’s counteroffensive was going, but said Washington was confident that Kyiv would continue to have success in trying to take back its land seized by Russia.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, Blinken said the US was determined to maximise its support for Ukraine so it could succeed on the battlefield.
He said a “robust” package of political and practical support for Ukraine could be expected at the upcoming Nato summit in Vilnius.
Updated
Footage released by Ukraine shows marines in a village it claims to have recaptured in its counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Soldiers held up the Ukrainian flag in Storozheve, in a video posted online.
The defence minister thanked the 35th Separate Brigade of Marines for regaining control of the village.
The location of the footage can be verified from the buildings, trees and road layout but the date the video was filmed could not be verified.
Updated
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Monday he was concerned that Russia would on 17 July quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilisers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Moscow has been threatening to walk away from the deal, known as the Black Sea grain initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July last year, if obstacles to its own grain and fertiliser shipments are not removed.
“I am concerned and we are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports,” Guterres told reporters.
Updated
A fifth village has been liberated by Ukrainian forces as part of its counteroffensive, it has been reported.
The Institute for the Study of War reported that Ukraine said earlier on Monday that Kyiv had reclaimed five towns and villages.
Sky News has since reported:
The fifth has now been corroborated by the Zaporizhzhia separate territorial defence brigade, which said they had taken Novodarivka.
“Numerous attempts by the enemy to return the settlement under control, which lasted several days, were unsuccessful,” the Zaporizhzhia separate territorial defence brigade said.
Updated
Russian attack kills one in south-east Ukraine – governor
One man was killed and another was wounded in a Russian attack on the small town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region of south-east Ukraine, the regional governor, Yuri Malashko, said on Monday.
Malashko said three bombs damaged private houses and communications in the small town, about 8km (5 miles) from frontlines.
He said the man who was killed was 48 and the one who was wounded was 32, Reuters reported.
Officials have said several hundred residents remain in the town, although infrastructure there has been largely destroyed by Russian forces, which seized most of the Zaporizhzhia region in the early months of its full-scale invasion last year.
Ukraine says its troops have taken back four villages from Russian forces in the south-east after hitting back to try to recapture occupied territory.
Updated
The Group of Seven (G7) rich nations are working on a scheme to combat the suspected theft of Ukraine’s grain by using chemical identification of grain origin, Britain’s food and farming minister, Mark Spencer, said on Monday.
Spencer told an International Grains Council (IGC) conference in London that Britain was leading on the scheme and that G7 countries were also working closely with Ukraine, the world’s fourth largest grains exporter.
“We believe [chemical identification] will be an effective means for deterring further theft of Ukraine’s grain,” Spencer said.
Britain announced a new wave of sanctions last month on Russia over its war against Ukraine, targeting “shady individuals and entities” connected to the suspected theft of Ukrainian grain, Reuters reported.
Targeting entities involved in grain trading is unusual as such activity typically comes under humanitarian exemptions from sanctions. Russia and Ukraine are major grain exporters to developing countries in Africa and the Middle East.
Updated
Suspilne reports that a man has died and private housing and communications have been destroyed as a result of a Russian attack.
Citing a regional authority, it said: “As a result of a Russian strike with guided aerial bombs on Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, a man died, another was hospitalised. Destroyed private houses and communications.”
Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine has been striking at civilian and humanitarian targets, and that it makes no military sense.
In quotes carried by Tass, the Russian president is reported to have said:
Why, frankly, is the enemy hitting residential areas? No logic. For what, why, what’s the point? And obviously humanitarian targets – it’s amazing. And there is no military sense, it’s zero.
He is said to have made the comments during conversations while giving out awards earlier today.
As of May 2023, the UN had recorded 18,802 civilian casualties, including 6,754 killed, in areas of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv and attacked by Russian forces. Ukraine has launched some cross-border shelling into Russian regions bordering the country including Kursk and Belgorod, and is accused of launching drone attacks on targets within Russia’s borders.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted a video of the latest prisoner exchange on Twitter.
To accompany the footage, Ukraine’s president wrote: “Every time we bring our people back from Russian captivity, we remember our fundamental goal: we will not leave anyone of ours, nothing of Ukraine to the enemy.
“Yesterday we returned 95 more of our guys, our warriors, from captivity. In total, since 24 February last year, we have already returned 2,526 Ukrainians. […]
“We remember everyone, we are searching for each and every one of them, and we have to bring them all back. And we will!”
Щоразу, коли повертаємо наших людей з російського полону, пам’ятаємо про фундаментальну мету: нікого свого, нічого українського ворогу не залишимо.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 12, 2023
Вчора ми повернули з полону ще 95 наших хлопців, наших воїнів. Загалом за час після 24 лютого минулого року вже повернуто 2526… pic.twitter.com/7Votfg6FDp
Updated
The largest Nato military jet exercise since the foundation of the alliance is taking place today in the skies over Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
About 10,000 soldiers from 25 countries are involved, making use of 250 military jets – 70 from Germany – to prepare for an attack on one of Nato’s members. Although the exercise was planned long before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it is nevertheless being viewed as a signal towards Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin.
The manoeuvres, called Air Defender 2023, are taking place under German leadership.
They are being interpreted, in Germany at least, as a chance for Europe’s largest country to prove its military capabilities, even as it has been perceived as being reluctant or slow to provide full-blown support to Ukraine.
However, recognised now as the second biggest provider of military support to Ukraine after the United States, German defence chiefs say it is a useful exercise not least in proving Germany’s commitment to European and international security.
Civilian aircraft are expected to be mildly affected by the exercises, with some delays due at airports in Germany. However, Ingo Gerhartz, inspector of Germany’s air force, said delays would be kept to a minimum. The exercise had been deliberately timed to take place before the main holiday period to cause as little disruption as possible.
However, Matthias Maas, the head of the German air traffic controller union, GdF, said he expected the exercise would have a “massive impact” on the timetable of civil airlines.
Updated
President Vladimir Putin marked Russia’s national day on Monday by appealing to Russians’ patriotic pride at what he said was a “difficult time” for the country.
However, speaking at a lavish award-giving ceremony in the Kremlin, Putin made no direct comment on the latest developments in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces have launched a long-awaited counteroffensive and have retaken several villages in the eastern Donetsk region over the past few days.
“This public holiday marks the inseparability of our centuries-old history, the greatness and glory of the fatherland,” Putin told the assembled dignitaries.
“Today, at a difficult time for Russia, [feelings of patriotism and pride] unite our society even more strongly … [and] serve as a reliable support for our heroes taking part in the special military operation [in Ukraine],” Putin said.
Ukraine has accused Russian forces of destroying another dam with the aim of slowing a counteroffensive launched by Kyiv.
As rescue and relief efforts entered their seventh day for victims of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station in Kherson region, the Russian military was accused of blowing up a much smaller dam along the Mokri Yaly River, which has become the most successful axis so far for Ukraine’s advances in western Donetsk.
Ukrainian forces have moved along both sides of the river, southwards from the town of Velyka Novosilka, declaring the liberation of a string of villages: Blahodatne on the east bank and Neskuchne, Makarivka and Storozheve on the west side.
The armed forces have published pictures of their units holding up flags in what were claimed to be the recaptured villages. The claims could not be independently verified, but Russian military bloggers confirmed the Ukrainian advance and reported heavy fighting overnight and on Monday morning for the next village along, Urozhaine, on the east bank of the river, straddling the road south-east towards Mariupol.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry on Monday said Ukrainian forces had attempted to press their offensives in the south of the Donetsk region in the last 24 hours, Russian news agencies reported.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the battlefield reports.
Swiss authorities said several government websites were targeted in a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Monday that was claimed by pro-Russian hackers.
The attack comes as the Swiss parliament prepares for a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, scheduled for Thursday, and coincides with a national holiday in Russia, Reuters reported.
Switzerland’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said that “various websites of the federal administration and enterprises affiliated with the confederation were unavailable” in the wake of the attack, claimed by the NoName hacking group.
“The NCSC is analysing the attack together with the administrative units concerned and defining appropriate measures,” it said in a statement.
The NCSC, which did not link Zelenskiy’s upcoming address to the attack, said the NoName group had also been behind a separate attack against the Swiss parliament’s website last week.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have liberated several frontline villages in western Donetsk, almost a week after the launch of counteroffensive operations. Soldiers were shown in video footage raising the Ukrainian flag over the village of Blahodatne, south of the town of Velyka Novosilka, one of the main axes of the counteroffensive so far. Troops from another brigade filmed themselves with their unit’s banner in Neskuchne. Later on Sunday, Kyiv said a third village, Makarivka, had been taken. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, announced the liberation of Storozheve by Ukrainian marines on Monday morning.
Ukraine’s top military command said on Monday that its forces were engaged in heavy battles in frontline hotspots. Twenty-five battles had taken place over the past day near the eastern town of Bakhmut and farther south near Avdiivka and Maryinka, all in the Donetsk region, and also near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff said.
US thinktank The Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces had made “visually verified advances” in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions and that Russian sources “confirmed but sought to downplay” those advances.
The water level at the ponds used to cool the reactors at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remain stable and sufficient despite the falling water level of the Kakhovka reservoir nearby, Ukraine’s environment minister said on Monday.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, reported that Avdiivka was struck twice by rockets on Monday morning.
A 50-year-old woman was injured as a result of shelling by the Russian military in the village of Novoselivka, in Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday it had signed a contract with the Akhmat group of Chechen special forces, a day after mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin refused to do so. The signing followed an order that all “volunteer units” should sign contracts by 1 July bringing them under the control of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, as Moscow tries to assert its control over private armies fighting on its behalf in Ukraine. Prigozhin, who has waged a running feud with the defence ministry and accused it of failing to provide adequate ammunition supplies to his Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine, said on Sunday he would refuse to sign any such contract.
Former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has celebrated Russia day by posting a an edited image to Telegram which shows Kyiv’s central Maidan square with the Russian flag flying on it and the message “Independence Square. Coming soon – Russia Square”.
Work has already started in an investigation by the international criminal court over the breach of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine and the vast flood it triggered, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reported that the flood water level in Kherson had dropped by 64cm.
Three civilians were killed Sunday and 10 others wounded after Russian forces opened fire on a boat carrying flood evacuees to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson. A 74-year-old man used his body to shield a woman from Russian fire and was hit in the back, Reuters reported. Two of the 10 people wounded were law enforcement officers.
Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had made an unsuccessful attempt at the weekend to attack a vessel of its Black Sea fleet which was protecting natural gas pipelines. The ship was monitoring the situation along the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines route in the Black Sea, it said.
Updated
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, one of the occupied regions of the Donbas which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed, has reported that Avdiivka was struck this morning. He posted to Telegram:
The terrorists hit the city again this morning, at 09.10am, with two rockets. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties; the wounded are provided with medical assistance in a local hospital.
Kyrylenko posted images which he said showed damage to the House of Culture on Tsentralnyi Prospect, and damaged residential high-rise buildings.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has celebrated Russia day by posting a photoshopped image to Telegram which shows Kyiv’s central Maidan square with the Russian flag flying on it and the message “Independence Square. Coming soon – Russia Square”.
Russia’s initial full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 included a failed attempt to take Ukraine’s capital with forces launched from Belarus.
Here are some more images that have been sent over the news wires of the flooding in Kherson
James Waterhouse, the BBC’s Ukraine correspondent, has this to temper enthusiasm for the news being released from Kyiv about the liberation of villages in Ukraine’s south. He writes:
The sight of soldiers once again liberating villages is an exciting one for Kyiv and its allies. What we will hear less about, is where progress has been slower or nonexistent. In the Zaporizhzhia region, a lot of men & equipment have been lost as Ukraine probes for weaknesses.
The sight of soldiers once again liberating villages is an exciting one for Kyiv & its allies.
— James Waterhouse (@JamWaterhouse) June 12, 2023
What we will hear less about, is where progress has been slower or non-existent.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, a lot of men & equipment have been lost as Ukraine probes for weaknesses.
Updated
Lt Dmitry Mishov, a member of Russian service personnel who, rather than be sent to serve in Ukraine, defected to Lithuania and applied for political asylum, has given an interview to the BBC in which he said:
I am a military officer, my duty is to protect my country from aggression. I don’t have to become an accomplice in a crime. No one explained to us why this war started, why we had to attack Ukrainians and destroy their cities?
In the military no one believes the authorities. They can see what is really happening. They are not some civilians in front of the telly. The military do not believe official reports, because they are simply not true.
I was not refusing to serve in the army as such. I would serve my country if it faced a real threat. I was only refusing to be an accomplice in a crime.
Had I boarded that helicopter [for an unspecified mission he suspected was deployment to Ukraine], I would have taken the lives of several dozen people, at the very least. I didn’t want to do that. Ukrainians are not our enemy.
Updated
The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine is in the UK at the moment, and has tweeted indicating the psychological toll residents of Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine are under. Melinda Simmons wrote:
I am in the UK for some meetings and how it feels to not be in Ukraine after living through nightly Russian airstrikes is beyond words. A motorbike backfires and hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Any kind of bang and my heart races.
I am in 🇬🇧 for some meetings & how it feels to not be in 🇺🇦 after living through nightly 🇷🇺 airstrikes is beyond words. A motorbike backfires and hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Any kind of bang and my heart races.
— Dame Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) June 12, 2023
Water level at ponds used to cool Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant 'stable and sufficient' – minister
The water level at the ponds used to cool the reactors at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remain stable and sufficient despite the falling water level of the Kakhovka reservoir nearby, Reuters reports Ukraine’s environment minister said on Monday.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday it had signed a contract with the Akhmat group of Chechen special forces, a day after mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin refused to do so.
The signing followed an order that all “volunteer units” should sign contracts by 1 July bringing them under the control of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, as Moscow tries to assert its control over private armies fighting on its behalf in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
In return, volunteer fighters would get the same benefits and protections as regular troops, including support for them and their families if they are wounded or killed.
Prigozhin, who has waged a running feud with the defence ministry and accused it of failing to provide adequate ammunition supplies to his Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine, said on Sunday he would refuse to sign any such contract.
Updated
Emma Graham-Harrison reports for us on the likely destruction of Polina Rayko’s house in Oleshky, Kherson, which famously housed her artwork painted all over the walls. It is thought to be under water after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam.
Read more here: ‘Masterpiece’ house is latest victim of Putin’s war on Ukrainian heritage
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, offers this update on developments in the last 24 hours:
In the morning and at night, the Russian army attacked Kharkiv oblast: a man was wounded in Shevchenkove, another was injured during the shelling of Vilkhuvatka. In khorosheve, one two-story building was destroyed, the other was damaged.
As of this morning, the average level of flooding in the Kherson region is 3.29m. Since yesterday evening the water has receded by 64cm. The Kakhovka reservoir has already lost more than 72% of its water.
Over the past day, three people were killed and 12 injured in Kherson oblast due to shelling by the Russian army; one person died in Donetsk region, two others were injured; in Zaporizhzhia, a woman was wounded.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
It is Russia day today, and in occupied Luhansk the Russian-imposed leader Leonid Pasechnik has issued a statement saying that the claimed annexation of the Ukrainian region by the Russian Federation had given it “a new life”.
Tass quotes Pasechnik saying in a statement:
Having reunited with Russia, we felt the attention from the state, the unity and mutual assistance of the peoples of a vast country. Social protection, large-scale construction, modernisation of education and healthcare, the revival of agriculture and industry – Luhansk region, without exaggeration, received a new life.
Luhansk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed to annex late last year, despite not controlling the entirety of the territory.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Kherson over the news wires.
Ukraine has issued this video which shows footage from the liberation of Storozheve.
🇺🇦How #Storozheve was liberated by #UAarmy, marines from #Odesa. pic.twitter.com/ZJqGjFv0Z6
— ArmyInform (@armyinformcomua) June 12, 2023
Ukraine announces it has recaptured village of Storozheve
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, has announced the liberation of Storozheve by Ukrainian marines on her Telegram channel.
It is a really tiny place, a hamlet, across the Mokri Yaly river from Blahodatne, which was recaptured over the weekend. She wrote:
The national flag is flying over Storozheve again, and it will be the same with every settlement until we liberate all Ukrainian land. Thank you Rear Adm Mykhailo Ostrogradskyi, 35th Separate Brigade of Marines.
To be continued …
Glory to Ukraine!
According to Russian military bloggers, the battle is on now for Urozhaine to the south, as the Ukrainians fight their way village to village, on both sides of the river. Ukrainian officials say the Russians blew up a small dam on the Mokri Yaly upstream, in an effort to hinder the offensive.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that a 50-year-old woman was injured as a result of shelling by the Russian military in the village of Novoselivka, in Zaporizhzhia region. It cited the local authority as the source of the information.
My colleague, Dan Sabbagh, has described the latest developments as “incremental, but real progress” for Ukraine, while posting an image which purports to show the liberation of the village of Storozheve.
Another Ukrainian village liberation video, S of Velyka Novosilka. This time Storozheve, also S of Neskuchne and W of Blahodatne, both formally claimed yesterday. This time its the 35th marine brigade (joining 68th + 129th in the area).
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) June 12, 2023
Incremental, but real progress https://t.co/EsFQANANrq
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Ukrainian forces gained territory over the weekend while carrying out counteroffensive operations in at least three areas of the frontline, the Institute for the Study of War has said.
The US thinktank said Ukrainian forces had made “visually verified advances” in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions and that Russian sources “confirmed but sought to downplay” those advances.
The institute said in its update that Kyiv had reported that Ukrainian forces were conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut area and that Russian sources had reported continued Ukrainian ground attacks on the northern and southern flanks of the city, in the Donetsk region.
Geolocated footage and Russian sources indicated that Ukrainian forces liberated multiple settlements during continued ground attacks south, southwest and southeast of Velyka Novosilka in western Donetsk oblast.
The institute quoted the Ukrainian deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, as saying Russian forces were transferring their most combat-capable units from the Kherson direction towards the Bakhmut and Zaporizhia areas.
Heavy battles on frontline after counteroffensive gains, says Kyiv
Ukraine’s top military command said on Monday that its forces were engaged in heavy battles in frontline hotspots, a day after Kyiv said it had made the first modest gains in reclaiming territory from Russia in its counteroffensive.
Twenty-five battles had taken place over the past day near the eastern town of Bakhmut and further south near Avdiivka and Maryinka, all in the Donetsk region, but also near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff said.
Reuters also reported that Ukraine had said on Sunday that its troops had made advances on three villages in Donetsk: Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka.
The claims could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Russian officials.
Some prominent Russian military bloggers indicated that while Ukrainian forces took Blahodatne and Neskuchne, fighting for Makarivka was going on.
Updated
ICC investigation of Kakhovka dam disaster has begun, says Zelenskiy
Work has already started in an investigation by the international criminal court over the breach of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine and the vast flood it triggered, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
In his nightly video address on Sunday, the Ukrainian president said representatives of the court had visited the Kherson region in recent days.
He said:
On the very first day after the disaster, the general prosecutor’s office sent a corresponding request to the international criminal court concerning an investigation of this disaster and the work has already begun.
Zelenskiy said it was important that international legal experts saw the aftermath of the disaster, including incidents of shelling of flooded areas.
Officials said three people were killed on Sunday in Russian shelling of boats carrying evacuees.
Zelenskiy said Ukrainian rescue teams had evacuated about 4,000 residents from affected zones, including areas on the Russian-occupied east bank of the Dnipro River.
Ukraine getting first 'localised' results of counteroffensive, says Kyiv
Ukraine has said its troops have recaptured three villages from Russian forces in its south-east, the first liberated settlements it has reported since launching a counteroffensive last week.
Kyiv’s forces posted unverified videos showing soldiers hoisting the Ukrainian flag at a bombed-out building in the village of Blahodatne, in the Donetsk region, and posing with their unit’s flag in the adjacent village of Neskuchne, Reuters reported.
Valeryi Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s “Tavria” military sector, said on television on Sunday:
We’re seeing the first results of the counteroffensive actions, localised results.
Ukraine’s army also retook Makarivka, the next village to the south, and advanced between 300 and 1,500 metres in two directions on the southern front, the deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said in a statement.
She added:
No positions were lost on the directions where our forces are on the defensive.
Photograph: 68th Separate hunting brigade ‘Oleksy Dovbusha’/Reuters
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said on Friday that a Ukrainian military push was well under way but that it had failed so far to breach Russian defensive lines and had taken heavy casualties.
Kyiv officials have imposed a strict period of operational silence and urged Ukrainians not to disclose any information that could compromise the operation.
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Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a roundup of the latest developments to bring you up to speed.
Ukraine says it is seeing the first results of its counteroffensive and that its forces have recaptured three villages from Russia in south-eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv’s forces posted videos showing them raising the Ukrainian flag in the village of Blahodatne in the Donetsk region and posing with their unit’s flag in the adjacent village of Neskuchne, while Kyiv said its troops had also retaken the village of Makarivka to the south.
“We’re seeing the first results of the counteroffensive actions, localised results,” Valeryi Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Tavria military sector, said on television. Counteroffensive operations were launched last week.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said work had already begun in an investigation by the international criminal court into the Kakhovka dam disaster and the vast flood damage it caused.
He said representatives of the court had visited the Kherson region in recent days after the dam breach, which Ukraine has accused Russian forces of causing.
More on both those stories shortly. In other news:
Three civilians were killed and 10 others wounded after Russian forces opened fire on a boat carrying flood evacuees to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson. A 74-year-old man used his body to shield a woman from Russian fire and was hit in the back, Reuters reported. Two of the 10 people wounded were law enforcement officers.
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his fighters would not sign contracts with the Russian defence ministry, hours after the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, sought to bring volunteer detachments under its control. “Wagner will not sign any contracts with Shoigu,” Prigozhin said on Sunday, adding that the minister “cannot properly manage military formations”. Wagner was completely subordinated to the interests of Russia, Prigozhin said, but its command structure would be damaged by reporting to Shoigu.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet in Kherson region, where the Kakhovka dam breach led to major flooding. Russia also repelled three Ukrainian attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region, the ministry said, while the Tass news agency reported Russian air defence systems shot down a Ukrainian missile near the Russian-controlled port city of Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov.
Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had made an unsuccessful attempt to attack a vessel of its Black Sea fleet which was protecting natural gas pipelines. The ship was monitoring the situation along the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines route in the Black Sea, it said.
Russian forces blew up the Khakhovka dam to prevent Ukrainian troops from launching an offensive and advancing in the southern Kherson region, according to Kyiv’s deputy defence minister. Hanna Maliar said the action was also intended to help Russia deploy reserves to the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut areas.
Russia and Ukraine have simultaneously swapped nearly 100 prisoners each. The Ukrainian prisoners included members of the national guard and border guards who had been in action in several places, including near the city of Mariupol and the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.
Russia’s defence minister has awarded medals to soldiers after Moscow said its forces had destroyed four German-made Leopard tanks and five US-made Bradley fighting vehicles while repelling a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Sergei Shoigu was shown on state television awarding the Hero of Russia gold star, Russia’s highest military honour, on Sunday to soldiers who said they had destroyed enemy tanks and armoured vehicles.
Two drones crashed early on Sunday in Russia’s Kaluga region – one near the village of Strelkovka, another in the woods in the Medynsky municipal district, according to the region’s governor, Vladislav Shapsha. There were no casualties and only minimal damage, he said on Telegram.
A US citizen arrested in Russia on drugs charges this week is a military veteran and musician who has lived in Moscow for nearly a decade. Travis Michael Leake and a friend, Valeria Grobanyuk, were arrested in a drug raid that has the potential to further ignite tensions between Washington and Moscow. “I don’t understand why I’m here,” said a man shown on camera and identified by Russian state media as Leake. “I do not admit my guilt.”
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