The Ukrainian military claims it has successfully destroyed 50 Russian military vehicles in a devastating strike on the Armiansk bridge connecting occupied Crimea to mainland Ukraine.
Ukraine’s 1st Separate Assault Regiment Da Vinci said the attack “completely paralysed” a key logistical route for Russian forces, rendering the bridge unusable.
Kyiv says the Russian military vehicles hit in the attack were loaded with ammunition and fuel to be used near Zaporizhzhia oblast.
Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, has said that Ukraine is capable of fully cutting off Russia’s access to Crimea in the “near future”.
Earlier, ambassadors from the UK, France and Germany met at the Russian foreign ministry yesterday amid a Europe-led push for fresh peace talks.
The ministry shared a video of the three diplomats arriving at the building in central Moscow to attend a meeting with Sergei Lavrov’s deputy. The foreign minister said on Wednesday Russia was open to hear what Europe had to say.
Key Points
- Ukraine says 50 Russian military vehicles destroyed in attack on Crimean bridge
- Ukraine claims Russian losses reach more than 1.3m since start of war
- Fuel shortages hit Russian-occupied Crimea as Kyiv steps up drone attacks
- Russia says it has taken control of another settlement in Donetsk region
- Russia attacks Ukrainian rail infrastructure
Recap: Europe to ramp up defence against Putin’s hypersonic missiles after Ukraine strike
15:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany warned of the “urgent need” to ramp up production of defensive weapons against Russia’s hypersonic Oreshnik missiles, after a summit in Downing Street on Sunday.
Alongside Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders also called on Vladimir Putin to agree “an immediate and complete ceasefire” and said the “current line of contact” between the two sides should be the starting point for any negotiations.
Ahead of the talks, President Zelensky had warned his country could maintain its recent attacks deep into Russia if the war continues, as he pledged Ukraine will not “silently die”.
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Europe to ramp up defence against Putin’s hypersonic missiles after Ukraine strike
Ukraine's defence AI chief predicts 'new paradigm' of warfare
14:30 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Warfare in Ukraine and beyond faces a paradigm shift in coming years as artificial intelligence is integrated into weapons networks and accelerates decision-making on the battlefield, a senior Ukrainian military official said.
Ukraine, in the fifth year of fighting a full-scale Russian invasion, is already using AI for a plethora of battlefield functions, from flying drones at targets to helping plan combat operations and crunching data on Russian missile attacks.
"AI will form a new paradigm of warfare. It's already actively doing so," Danylo Tsvok, the head of the defence ministry's AI research centre, told Reuters.
He predicted AI systems would soon be unified into a single network overseeing the battlefield, leading to a "war of operating systems" with Russia in the next three to five years, if the conflict continues.
"The system that possesses more data and better understands that data, proposes solutions — that system will gain the advantage over the other," he said.
The centre was founded in March as Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov seeks to put AI and data-driven decision-making at the heart of Ukraine's defences.
Drones, still mostly flown by pilots, have already upended the way the war is being fought.
Ukrainian and Russian troops launch thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) a day at each other. Kyiv is also trying to solve its frontline troop shortage with ground robots.
The ability of drones to constantly surveil the battlefield and hit targets with precision has accelerated the "kill chain" – the process of planning and executing a strike on the enemy. AI decision-making would speed this up even more, Tsvok said.
IMF and Ukraine reach agreement for around $700m in aid, report suggests
14:07 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
The International Monetary Fund and the Ukrainian government have reached a staff-level agreement that paves the way for Ukraine to receive almost $700 million in assistance, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the event.
The Independent could not immediately verify the report.
Why a bleak poll on Russia’s economy spells bad news for Putin as war in Ukraine bites
14:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Russian citizens are growing increasingly critical of Putin’s economic policies, new polling has found, as Ukrainian attacks and European sanctions continue to squeeze Moscow’s finances.
Poorer Russians tend to be more critical of economic policies, while wealthier citizens tend to be more loyal to the regime, the study found.
One third of Russians have a negative view of how Vladimir Putin’s economic policies are impacting the economy, compared to 15 per cent that believe his policies are having a positive effect, according to new polling by NEST Centre. More than one third of respondents believe the economy has deteriorated in the past three months, while one in five have a negative overall assessment of the state of the economy.
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Why a bleak poll on Russia’s economy spells bad news for Putin
Ukraine says it has recaptured vast swathes of territory so far this year
13:30 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Ukrainian forces have recaptured over 600 square kilometres of territory so far this year, according to the country's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Syrskyi reported that in May alone, Ukraine regained 100 square kilometres more land than it lost to Russian forces.
President Volodymyr Zelensky previously confirmed a similar figure, noting the recaptured area is approximately double the size of Birmingham.
Independent battlefield analyses suggest that Russia's territorial advances have slowed or reversed in recent months, a shift since the 2023 Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Despite these gains, Syrskyi described the frontline situation as “difficult and dynamic”, with Russian forces continuing attempts to advance in the east and south, leading to a substantial increase in daily clashes.
Putin warned by his own officials that mounting cost of Ukraine war is ‘unsustainable’
13:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Vladimir Putin has been warned that he cannot afford to sustain his war in Ukraine at the current pace, as Kyiv continues to tally frontline wins and devastate energy infrastructure deep inside Russia.
Top finance officials and Russia’s central bank are said to have urged the Kremlin to rein in spiralling defence spending, as both sides ramp up costly aerial attacks on vital infrastructure.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said last week that Moscow is “losing on the battlefield” and “has no cards except terror”, despite a major blitz of cities across Ukraine overnight that killed at least 22 people.
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Putin warned by his own officials that cost of Ukraine war is ‘unsustainable’
Analysis: Moscow’s latest car bombing shows Putin’s generals who the real target is
12:20 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Ukraine has combined assassinations with bombings in a bid to break the logistical spine of Russia’s war effort, writes world affairs editor Sam Kiley.
Moscow’s latest car bombing shows Putin’s generals who the real target is
Watch: Russian ammunition chief killed in Moscow car bomb attack
12:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Ukraine claims Russian losses reach more than 1.3m since start of war
11:40 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Russia has lost around 1,380,120 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In a report, the Ukrainian military also claimed Russia has also lost 12,014 tanks, 24,728 armoured combat vehicles, and 105,850 vehicles and fuel tanks since February 2022.
Detailed reports of losses on both sides are difficult to verify. A Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report from January suggested Russian forces have suffered nearly 1.2 million casualties during the war, more losses than any major power in any war since World War II.
Recap: Kremlin opens investigation into fatal car bomb in Moscow
11:20 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
The Kremlin has launched an investigation after Damir Davydov, the head of the Russian defence ministry’s missile and artillery wing, was reportedly killed in a car bombing in Balashikha, Moscow.
The Investigative Committee of Russia said it was opening an investigation into reports that an explosive device was detonated while a BMW X3 was driving near a residential building, a post on Telegram said.
They added that the driver sustained multiple injuries from the explosion and died at the scene, but did not confirm the identity of the victim.
Fuel shortages hit Russian-occupied Crimea as Kyiv steps up drone attacks
11:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Petrol stations are running out of fuel in Russian-occupied Crimea as Ukraine steps up drone attacks on energy infrastructure.
Witnesses in the region reported on Thursday that most petrol stations had run dry or were fielding long queues as the region experiences its worst fuel crisis since Russia’s illegal annexation in 2014.
Authorities have imposed fuel rationing schemes since the end of May, but have struggled to temper the heavy demand.
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Fuel shortages hit Russian-occupied Crimea as Kyiv steps up drone attacks
Trump pushes for Europe to pay more as US plans major NATO force reduction: report
10:40 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
The Trump administration is reportedly planning a significant reduction in the aircraft and warships it allocates to NATO operations in Europe, according to a New York Times report citing two senior European officials.
This decision could severely curtail NATO's capacity for long-range strikes and surveillance.
The proposed cuts include reducing the number of F-16 and F-15E fighter jets from approximately 150 to 100, scaling back maritime reconnaissance aircraft from 26 to 15, and withdrawing all eight aerial refueling tanker jets previously available to Europe.
Further reductions involve redeploying a missile-launching submarine, an aircraft carrier, several warships, and scores of jets supporting carrier missions.
You can read the full report below:
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Trump Push for Europe to Pay More as US Plans Major NATO Force Reduction
Russia says it has taken control of another settlement in Donetsk region
10:20 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that its forces had taken control of the settlement of Priyut in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, TASS news agency reported.
The Independent could not independently verify the battlefield report.
Ukrainian strike reportedly disrupts water supply in Donetsk region
10:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Water supply has been cut to parts of Russian-controlled Ukraine's Donetsk region, including the regional centre of Donetsk, reports suggest.
Supplies were cut to Donetsk, Yasynuvata and parts of Makiivka after a Ukrainian strike on energy infrastructure knocked out power to a water treatment plant, according to the Interfax news agency, who cited a local provider.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed as its own in 2022 as part of its war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russian forces now control more than 85 per cent of it.
Chronic water shortages in the territory it holds have become a persistent challenge for Moscow.
Ukraine set to ask allies for $20 bn to keep momentum against Russia
09:40 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Ukraine will seek an additional $20 billion in military funding from its allies at a meeting next week to cement what it sees as its current battlefield advantage over Russia, a Ukrainian defence source said.
The request will be made next Thursday at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an alliance of more than 50 countries also known as the Ramstein group, where allies organise financial and military aid for Kyiv.
"We have a six- to nine-month window of opportunity on the battlefield that requires an urgent acceleration of funding," the source said.
Russia's advances on the battlefield have slowed this year - effectively grinding to a halt last month - as Ukrainian mid-range drone strikes have harmed its supplies and logistics for the front line. Ukraine's long-range drone strikes, meanwhile, are inflicting pain on Russia's energy sector.
Putin last week said that Russian forces were still advancing on the battlefield every day and there was no risk to Russia's economy, though he acknowledged Ukrainian strikes were causing harm.
Some allies will each be asked to contribute between $2 billion to $6 billion to reach the $20 billion target, either in the form of aid or a loan, the source said. The request was first reported by Politico.
Ukraine's military hits two refineries and a petrochemicals plant in Russia
09:22 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Ukraine's military struck two oil refineries in Russia's Tatarstan region overnight, Ukraine's military General Staff said on Friday.
Fire at both refineries had been confirmed, the General Staff said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
It added that it also hit a plant in the Samara region that specialises in production of synthetic rubbers, which are used for making solid fuel for missiles.
Russia attacks Ukrainian rail infrastructure
09:10 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Russian drones attacked railway stations, electrical signalling posts and substations in Ukraine's northern Sumy region, killing a railway worker, the chief executive of Ukraine's state railway Ukrzaliznytsia said on Friday.
CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi also said another railway worker was injured. The attack followed an overnight one on Thursday when a railway worker was killed and four injured in an attack on the town of Konotop, also in the Sumy region.
Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched 117 drones since 6pm local time on Thursday, with air defence units downing or neutralising 102 of them.
Three people were injured in a drone attack in the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, local authorities said on Telegram, reporting damage to 14 private buildings. Another drone attack early on Friday injured a man, they said.
The Independent could not independently confirm the reports.
In pictures: The brutal aftermath of Russia's drone strike in Mykolaiv
08:50 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Russia threats to UK at highest level since the Cold War, military chief warns
08:35 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
The UK is facing the highest level of threat from Russia since the Cold War, the chief of defence staff has said in a chilling warning for the country.
Stressing that Britain faces its “most dangerous period” in decades, Sir Richard Knighton said the country needs to prepare for “longer conflicts” like in Ukraine.
The threat comes as Russia is “definitely raising the stakes and risks crossing a line,” through cyber attacks, assassination attempts, “or trying to smuggle technology and reckless sabotage,” he said.
His speech came before two senior defence resignations in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.
John Healey and Al Carns both quit government over the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which Mr Healey said “could make the country less safe”.
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Russia threats to UK at highest level since the Cold War, military chief warns
Watch: Kyiv claims devastating strike on Crimea bridge destroyed 50 military vehicles
08:15 , Arpan Rai
Trump's long-simmering frustrations with US allies could be on display at G7
07:59 , Arpan Rai
Donald Trump and the leaders of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan are set to join Emmanuel Macron in the French lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains for the G7 summit next week.
There could be awkward moments between Trump and Macron, as well as among the US president and the other G7 leaders he's criticised for not joining him in Iran.
To make matters worse, experts say waning support for Ukraine in its war against Russia from the Trump administration “has really irritated the French”.
“They feel this is important and we're not paying attention to it,” said Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to Nato.
Macron has invited Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to join the leaders’ discussions on Tuesday.
“But I also think European leaders are quite professional when it comes to politics, and in some ways diplomacy at this point, and will maybe see it as an opportunity as well,” Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Associated Press.
Crimeans feel the heat of Ukrainian drone attacks on energy and logistics infrastructure
07:12 , Arpan Rai
Residents of Crimea and other occupied territories are keenly feeling the blow of Ukraine’s increasingly aggressive drone campaign.
The peninsula has had periodic fuel shortages from Ukrainian strikes before, but this crisis is the worst since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
At the end of May, authorities restricted the sale of gasoline to 20 litres (5 1/3 gallons) per vehicle owner per week using prepaid coupons. Those were snapped up immediately following their release on an official messaging app channel, and motorists lined up for hours, waiting to refuel.
Social networks have been abuzz with requests and advice on where to find fuel, and authorities launched a hotline for tourists who have found themselves trapped.
While fuel shipments over the Kerch Bridge long has been suspended for security reasons since the Ukrainian attacks, fuel also has been carried by ferries. Those shipments are expected to increase.
Some motorists bring their own gas over the bridge from the mainland, but they are restricted to carrying 100 liters (about 26 1/2 gallons) per vehicle. Some speculators are selling gas at double the market price.
Crimea attracted nearly 7 million tourists last year, and it had hoped to top that number this year, but instead business daily Kommersant reported that nearly 80 per cent of hotel bookings were canceled in late May and early June.
Public events cancelled in Russia amid Ukrainian drone attack threat
06:33 , Arpan Rai
The Russian city of Nizhnekamsk in the central region of Tatarstan will cancel all public events on Friday amid the threat of drone attacks from Ukraine, mayor Radmir Belyayev said on his Telegram channel.
Several major industrial facilities, including Sibur's Nizhnekamskneftekhim petrochemical plant and Tatneft's TANECO oil refinery, are located in the area. Belyayev did not mention any damage caused by drones.
Russia downed down 231 Ukrainian drones overnight, news agencies said, citing the defence ministry.
The major threat comes on the day country is marking Russia Day (12 June) with a national holiday.
The city of Togliatti, home to Russia's biggest carmaker Avtovaz and some industrial facilities, has come under drone attack, Samara region governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Telegram, without giving details.
Kremlin plays down impact of new EU sanctions on Russian banks
06:12 , Arpan Rai
The Kremlin has shrugged off the prospect of new European Union sanctions against its banks, saying they had already been operating under sanctions for a long time and this had not stopped them from making a profit.
The EU has proposed a new package of sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine, heavily targeting the country's banks and crypto networks in an effort to weaken its financial system.
“Our largest banks have long been under sanctions. This does not prevent the banks from earning large profits, developing, maintaining absolute stability,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists, when asked about the sector's ability to weather new restrictions.
Peskov highlighted Wednesday's comments by president Vladimir Putin about the overall economic situation being under control.
“The same can be said about the banking sector. Our central bank has repeatedly spoken about this; it is monitoring the situation quite closely and taking the necessary measures to maintain this stability," he said.
Sanctions, high interest rates, and war spending have taken a toll on Russia's $3 trillion economy, which contracted by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter, marking its first quarterly decline since early 2023.
World chess body suspends Russia after legal challenge by Ukraine
06:04 , Arpan Rai
The governing body of world chess has suspended Russia – for decades the dominant force in the game – after a successful legal challenge by Ukraine.
An international tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in March upheld a complaint by Ukraine that Russia's chess federation had usurped control of the game in areas of Ukraine captured by Russian forces since 2022. It gave Russia 90 days to relinquish control of chess bodies in five regions of Ukraine and stop holding tournaments there.
But on Wednesday the International Chess Federation (FIDE) - which is headed by Russia's former deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich - said Russia had not complied with the deadline and it had therefore decided to "impose the sanction of temporary suspension of (Russia's) membership... with immediate effect".
World chess body suspends Russia after legal challenge by Ukraine
Ukrainian attacks on Russia kill two and injure 10
05:48 , Arpan Rai
At least two people were killed and another 10 injured in a Ukraine attack on Russia's border region of Bryansk, acting regional governor Yegor Kovalchuk said.
Two were killed and another two injured in shelling of the Suzemka area close to the border, with another seven wounded in an attack on petrol stations in Starodub some 110km (68 miles), he said, adding that a five-year-old boy was also injured in a separate drone attack.
Bryansk, a Russian oblast on the border with Ukraine, has frequently been targeted by Ukrainian forces in response to Russian aggression on its border villages.
Ukraine says 50 Russian military vehicles destroyed in attack on Crimean bridge
05:07 , Arpan Rai
The Ukrainian military has claimed it has successfully destroyed 50 military vehicles in a strike on the Russia-occupied Armiansk bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Ukraine.
The attack was confirmed by Ukraine’s 1st Separate Assault Regiment Da Vinci which said that “the enemy’s important logistical route is completely paralysed”.
It added that the bridge is out of commission now and additional attacks are not needed.
Russian military vehicles hit in the attack were loaded with ammunition and fuel to be used near Zaporizhzhia oblast.
