Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to find ways in which Russia can launch new offensive operations on Ukraine to capture Kyiv, said Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
These include Russian offensives launched from Belarusian territory to capture the Ukrainian capital and its surrounding areas, Syrskyi said.
Another scenario includes a strike from Russia's bordering Bryansk region towards Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, which is the most probable scenario, he said.
This comes as Ukraine struck a satellite centre in the Moscow region being used to gather intelligence for Russian forces for the second time on Tuesday, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In a post on Telegram, Zelensky said his forces had attacked the Dubna space communications centre some 500km from the Ukrainian border.
He said the site was used for reconnaissance and for coordinating the activities of Russia's forces in Ukraine. It also came under Ukrainian attack last week, the Ukrainian military's General Staff said.
Key Points
- Putin orders military to work on a plan to capture Kyiv, says Ukraine military chief
- Two killed in Russian glide bombs attack on Ukraine, officials say
- Ukraine has 'window of opportunity' to seize momentum in war, says defence minister
- Sweden’s Saab signs $2.54bn Gripen fighter jet deal with Ukraine
- Russian soldiers ‘surviving average of 20 minutes when they reach frontline due to drone attacks’
- Starmer says UK has learnt lessons from Ukraine as he announces defence plan
Ukraine's forces strike oil refinery in Russian city of Ufa
08:24 , Alex Croft
Ukraine's forces have struck an oil refinery in the Russian city of Ufa, more than 1,300 km (800 miles) from the frontline, for the second time, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.
Mr Zelensky also reported a strike on what he said was a "strategic facility" in the Penza region, involved in making components for missile weaponry used by Moscow in attacks on Ukraine.
"The distance to the target is about 600 kilometers from the frontline," he said on X.
Watch: Emotional Putin pays respects at funeral of former defence minister Sergei Ivanov
08:00 , Alex Croft
Ukraine asking EU to direct £5.68bn of peace fund to military aid
07:31 , Alex Croft
Ukraine is asking its EU partners to direct €6.6 billion (£5.68bn) available under the European Peace Facility to military aid.
Kyiv wants to use this money to take advantage of what is sees as a six-to-nine month "window of opportunity" on the battlefield.
Ukraine's total defence need is estimated at around €136 billion this year, with the Ukrainian budget covering around €53 billion of that amount, defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a letter reviewed by Reuters news agency.
Russia approved secret China military training at top level, sources say
07:13 , Arpan Rai
China's covert military training of Russian forces last year was personally approved by president Vladimir Putin's defence minister and directly involved at least four Russian and Chinese generals, according to two European officials and documents seen by Reuters.
The officials said the involvement of such high-ranking individuals in training linked to the Ukraine war signalled the importance for Russia and China of such cooperation, which has caused alarm in Europe even as Beijing has denied it took place.
A classified Russian document seen by Reuters directly referred to an internal decree issued by defence minister Andrei Belousov in August, 2025.
It said that, in accordance with a decision by Belousov, a delegation from Russia's armed forces travelled to China to participate in training exercises at People's Liberation Army (PLA) facilities.
The report and a second one described and displayed images of Russian soldiers being lectured by a Chinese instructor, looking at a model nuclear reactor, and being taught about "chemical reconnaissance", "radiation reconnaissance" and protecting ventilation systems from contamination.
The inclusion of radiological, biological and chemical warfare training underlined the strategic nature of the exchanges, one of the European officials said, noting that the topic was particularly sensitive for militaries in general.
Ukraine has 'window of opportunity' to seize momentum in war, says defence minister
06:58 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s forces have a six-to-nine-months “window of opportunity” to make the most of its advantage over Russia on the battlefield, Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has said.
The latest update was shared in a letter to EU allies, seen by Reuters, which asked them to unlock €6.6bn in military aid for Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has informed his allies that the country is now on the offensive and has the strategic advantage against Russian forces.
One killed as Russia attacks retail fuel stations in Ukraine
06:29 , Arpan Rai
Russia attacked five retail fuel stations in Ukraine's southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, killing a woman, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said this morning.
In the city of Kherson in the south, a drone attack on a passenger bus killed two and left another five wounded, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said separately on Wednesday.
He said three other people were injured.
Russia has been striking fuel stations, but the attacks have intensified recently, with Ukrainian authorities in frontline Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions reporting nearly daily attacks.
Putin's troops exhausted and Russian battlefield offensive declining, says Ukrainian military chief
06:16 , Arpan Rai
Ukrainian forces are witnessing signs of exhaustion among Russian soldiers and it is reflecting on the battlefield, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
In comments to TSN Ukrainian television, Syrskyi said there were indications that Russian troops were exhausted and the intensity of front-line battles was declining.
He said Russian frontline activity had declined by 30 per cent while Ukrainian forces pressed on with a campaign of long-range strikes against Russian targets, mainly linked to the oil industry.
Starmer says UK has learnt lessons from Ukraine as he announces defence plan
05:26 , Arpan Rai
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said his government has learnt “the lessons of Ukraine” and will ramp up spending on drone technology.
Sir Keir said: “(We are) learning the lessons of Ukraine in order to modernise our military, equipped to fight the wars both of today and tomorrow.
“We’re backing this by putting in more than £5 billion pounds into drones and autonomous weapons – that is the largest ever UK investment in this technology.”
He said the military will also invest in “low-cost, one-way attack drones” which have proved so effective in the Ukraine war.
Sir Keir added that the plan would mean “driving real reforms within the Ministry of Defence to get greater value from our investment”, including by “reducing non-military spending on civil service staff”.
Two killed in Russian glide bombs attack on Ukraine, officials say
04:30 , Arpan Rai
Russian glide bombs killed two people and injured at least 15 in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said yesterday.
A drone strike on a minibus on Monday in Zaporizhzhia killed two men and a woman
Fedorov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said Russian forces had deployed seven bombs over a 90-minute period in the city, a frequent target of Russian attacks.
Reuters Television footage showed emergency crews carrying the injured to safety and training hoses on blazing buildings.
Russian soldiers ‘surviving average of 20 minutes when they reach frontline due to drone attacks’
04:24 , Arpan Rai
Russian troops in some areas of the Ukrainian frontline can expect to live for between 20 to 35 minutes due to rising drone attacks, according to an estimate from Russian military bloggers.
The estimate, cited by Oxford historian Peter Frankopan in a report for Foreign Policy, lays bare the increasingly dangerous conditions for the Russian army as Ukraine evolves its drone capabilities.
Moscow has been accused of employing a ‘meat-grinder’ strategy, in which it sends vast numbers of troops to the Ukrainian frontline in an attempt to slowly grind down Kyiv’s heavily-fortified defences.
But with drones now dominating the war, Russia is losing men at a fast rate, with an average of 30,000 monthly casualties in 2026. Some estimates even suggest Russia is suffering eight men killed or wounded for every one lost by Kyiv.
Russian soldiers ‘surviving just 20 minutes on frontline due to drone attacks’
Sweden’s Saab signs $2.54bn Gripen fighter jet deal with Ukraine
04:10 , Arpan Rai
Swedish defence equipment maker Saab signed a contract to deliver 16 Gripen E fighter aircraft to Ukraine in a deal worth about 24.6bn Swedish crowns.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the agreement reached with Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson involved the purchase of 16 Gripen E aircraft and included technical support.
Saab said deliveries of the aircraft were scheduled for 2029-2030.
In remarks on the Ukrainian presidential website, Zelensky said deliveries of Gripen C/D aircraft would begin early in 2027.
Zelensky said he had discussed implementation of the agreement and broader defence cooperation with Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson during a meeting in Kyiv on Tuesday, including drone and missile-defence projects.
Putin orders military to work on a plan to capture Kyiv, says Ukraine military chief
04:00 , Arpan Rai
Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to find ways in which Russia can launch new offensive operations on Ukraine to capture Kyiv, said Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
These include Russian offensives launched from Belarusian territory to capture the Ukrainian capital and its surrounding areas, Syrskyi said.
"Considering recent events, I do not think that the leadership of Belarus will dare to provide the aggressor with its territory to use as a staging ground for conducting an offensive operation. At the same time, we are taking such an option into account," Syrskyi said.
Another includes strike from the Russia’s bordering Bryansk region towards Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, which is the most probable scenario, he said.
US will stand alongside European allies in defence of Baltics - American general
03:00 , Alex Croft
We heard earlier from the American commander of Nato's land forces in Europe, who spoke on Tuesday during the opening ceremony for an additional headquarters in the region.
"You're ready to do more and following words with action, and the United States will be there alongside you," US General Chris Donahue said at a ceremony in the Estonian town of Valga.
"That is how deterrence is built: Not with words from a podium, but with boots in the mud."
Donahue, who will relinquish his post on Thursday, doubles as chief of the US Army in Europe and Africa.
NATO troops in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and in northern Poland, have until now come under the command of a single multinational headquarters based in the northwestern Polish city of Szczecin.
Romania detonates drone fragments in southeast
02:02 , Alex Croft
Romania has safely detonated drone fragments found in the southeastern village of Rachelu near the border with Ukraine, its defence ministry said on Tuesday.
The fragments landed on its territory during a Russian attack on Kyiv's port infrastructure from April.
Romania, a European Union and NATO state which shares a long land border with Ukraine, has seen Russian drones breach its national airspace 15 times this year, the defence ministry said.
In May, one drone crashed into an apartment building and injured two people.
Nato responding to shifting security landscape but US won't leave - Turkish defence minister
01:01 , Alex Croft
Turkish defence minister Yasar Guler has said the US is not seeking to leave the Nato alliance, which is adjusting to a shifting security landscape.
His comments came before Turkey will hosts 32 Nato leaders, as well as officials from the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8.
The summit will come amid tensions within the alliance over burden-sharing, defence spending, and US complaints about allies' lack of involvement in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.
In written responses to questions, Guler said the summit would focus on bloc unity, evaluating allies' increased defence spending, bolstering defence industry cooperation and increasing support for Ukraine. Ankara should be involved in European defence initiatives, he added.
"NATO continues to be an unparalleled and fundamental platform for Euro-Atlantic security and defence. We evaluate the period we are going through not as a crisis, but as a process of adjusting to the changing security environment," Guler said.
He said the US had no intention of withdrawing from Nato, but that it wanted European allies and Canada to assume more responsibility for the security of Europe, which he said must include Ankara in its defence plans and initiatives.
Watch: Emotional Putin pays respects at funeral of former defence minister Sergei Ivanov
Wednesday 1 July 2026 00:01 , Alex Croft
North Korea suffered 7,000 troop casualties fighting with Russia, Ukraine says
Tuesday 30 June 2026 23:02 , Alex Croft
North Korean troops have suffered more than 7,000 casualties while fighting alongside Russia, Ukrainian military intelligence.
The figures is significantly higher than previously reported by British and South Korean intelligence agencies, which estimated around 6,000 casualties between August 2024 and March 2025.
The updated figure, reported by Kyiv Independent, comes as Russia and North Korea deepen their military cooperation.
Starmer: Ukraine conflict is not a remote threat
Tuesday 30 June 2026 22:01 , Alex Croft
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East are not “remote” threats.
“We see the horrendous human toll of these conflicts, which cuts across our values of justice and sovereignty, and that simple British impulse that bullies and dictators cannot be allowed to push people around,” Sir Keir said as the defence investment plan was revealed.
“We also know that these threats are not remote. We see foreign states targeting our nation as well.
“Thugs hired by foreign powers conducting violence, vandalism, and arson on our streets.
“Disinformation aimed at sowing division and stoking disorder, spreading lies and undermining our democracy.
“Russian ships targeting the underwater cables that carry the data on which modern life depends.”
Putin has finally admitted Russia is facing problems in Ukraine war – are there signs he may be cracking?
Tuesday 30 June 2026 21:00 , Alex Croft
When Vladimir Putin spoke to a state TV reporter on Sunday, few expected him to make such a frank admission about his flagging invasion in Ukraine.
Speaking just hours after Ukraine hit another oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region, Putin said that Russia was facing "problems" due to repeated attacks on infrastructure that have sparked fuel shortages across the country.
Ukraine has intensified strikes on refineries, depots and supply routes in recent months as part of an audacious strategy using cutting-edge long-range drones. Queues have been seen at petrol stations across Russia, while fuel rationing has been implemented in regions including occupied Crimea and Siberia.
“As for strikes against critical infrastructure in general, and energy infrastructure in particular, of course these attacks on our infrastructure facilities create problems, that’s obvious,” said Putin in an interview published by the Kremlin.
In an interview on Sunday, the Russian leader made a rare admission that the country was suffering from fuel shortages as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes. Experts tell Alex Croft and Maira Butt that Putin can no longer hide the failures in Russia’s air defence from the public
Ukrainian drones crashing onto Nato soil are worth defeating Putin, says Estonia
AfD leader vows to restore German-Russian relations ahead of state elections
Tuesday 30 June 2026 20:03 , Alex Croft
Germany should end a boycott of Russian oil and gas to bolster its flagging economy, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, has said as she outlined the party's ambitions to lead a national government.
Weidel said the AfD can win two key federal state elections in the coming months, describing them as milestones to securing the post of German chancellor as soon as the next national elections due by 2029.
"Cheap energy from Russia was the secret of the success of 'Made in Germany'. We need it back," Weidel said.
"The loss of this energy has set us back years. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost. It has made us dependent on the United States, which sells us energy at far higher prices."
Two including baby killed by drone in Russia, say authorities
Tuesday 30 June 2026 19:00 , Alex Croft
A six-month-old baby died after debris from a drone fell on a private building in the Moscow region on Tuesday, governor Andrei Vorobyov said on his Telegram channel.
The baby was taken out of the building with another child and two other survivors, but died on the way to hospital, the governor said.
Another man was killed overnight by a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia's Belgorod region, local authorities said.
Watch: Kyiv continues intensifying strikes on Russian oil refineries
Tuesday 30 June 2026 18:02 , Alex Croft
Starmer: UK ready to fight Russia by 2030 if necessary
Tuesday 30 June 2026 17:01 , Alex Croft
Sir Keir Starmer was earlier asked whether the UK would be prepared to fight Russia, following the announcement of his new defence investment plan.
He insisted Britain would be ready to fight Russia by 2030 if necessary.
Asked whether he could say the defence investment plan was enough to allow the UK to deter or fight Russia by that date, Sir Keir Starmer said: “Yes I can, and that’s because of the increase in defence spending that we put in place last year, announced last year, already in place, which was the single-biggest increase, sustained increase, since the 1980s, and the fact that this defence investment plan builds on that.
“And it’s not just the amount of money, it’s also the capabilities.
“We’ve learned a lot from Ukraine, actually also from Iran as well, about the capability that is needed in order to confront countries like Russia.
“That is exactly what is going on in Ukraine, so I am confident in that.”
Starmer says UK has learnt lessons from Ukraine as he announces defence plan
Tuesday 30 June 2026 16:00 , Alex Croft
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said his government has learnt “the lessons of Ukraine” and will ramp up spending on drone technology.
Sir Keir said: “(We are) learning the lessons of Ukraine in order to modernise our military, equipped to fight the wars both of today and tomorrow.
“We’re backing this by putting in more than £5 billion pounds into drones and autonomous weapons – that is the largest ever UK investment in this technology.”
He said the military will also invest in “low-cost, one-way attack drones” which have proved so effective in the Ukraine war.
Sir Keir added that the plan would mean “driving real reforms within the Ministry of Defence to get greater value from our investment”, including by “reducing non-military spending on civil service staff”.
Tuesday 30 June 2026 15:31 , Alex Croft
