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
- Starmer says UK has learnt lessons from Ukraine as he announces defence plan
- Two killed in Russian glide bombs attack on Ukraine, officials say
- Expert analysis | Putin now admits Russia is facing problems in Ukraine war - is he cracking?
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
Russia in contact with other countries over fuel imports: Kremlin
Tuesday 30 June 2026 15:00 , Alex Croft
Russia is in contact with other countries, discussing imports of fuel at acceptable prices, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say which countries could potentially supply fuel.
Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in the fifth year of the war, triggering widespread fuel shortages and price spikes.
Stray Ukrainian drones crashing onto Nato soil are price worth paying to defeat Putin, says Estonian foreign minister
Tuesday 30 June 2026 14:29 , Alex Croft
Estonia’s foreign minister has said stray Ukrainian drones crashing in Nato territory are a small price to pay to defeat Russia.
Nato countries have reported increasing numbers of Ukrainian drones flying into their air space, leading to travel disruptions, closed airports and the scrambling of fighter jets.
Last week an unexploded drone carrying a 5kg warhead was found in a field in Estonia and Ukraine was forced to apologise last month after Romanian fighter jets shot down a drone encroaching on Estonian airspace.
But foreign minister Margus Tsahkna has said that Estonia is looking at the bigger picture and believes the disruption is worth it.
Read more here:
Ukrainian drones crashing onto Nato soil are worth defeating Putin, says Estonia
Monaco prince condemns 'odious act' as French police scour surveillance images
Tuesday 30 June 2026 14:01 , Alex Croft
Prince Albert of Monaco has described the makeshift bomb attack in Monaco, as "an odious act," which he said was a shock for all in the city-state.
Monaco was working in close coordination with French authorities to track down the suspect, he said.
French media said video surveillance images showed a man dropping a backpack at the entrance of a residential building shortly before the explosion. Monaco Matin showed a CCTV picture of the man it said was the suspect, wearing a dark hat and top and carrying a white bag on his shoulder.
BFM TV described the explosive device as a "parcel bomb", citing the principality's prosecutor general.
In February, a person suspected of killing a former pro-Russian Ukrainian politician outside a school in a wealthy Madrid suburb in 2025 was arrested in Germany.
Kyiv reaches out to Monaco after blast in city-state injures three Ukrainians
Tuesday 30 June 2026 13:43 , Alex Croft
Ukraine is in touch with authorities in Monaco after a bomb attack there injured three people of Ukrainian descent on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said.
All three are members of one family, the ministry said, citing information it received from local emergency services. It did not name them, but said Kyiv is checking their citizenship.
Russian forces have seized control of three villages in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, claims Moscow
Tuesday 30 June 2026 13:34 , Alex Croft
Russian forces have taken control of the settlements of Rivne and Lisne in the Zaporizhzia region of Ukraine and Malynivka in the Donetsk region, state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, citing the Defence Ministry.
The Independent could not independently verify the battlefield report, but we’ll bring you more once we have it.
EU transfers €3.9 billion to Ukraine for drone procurement as part of €90 billion loan
Tuesday 30 June 2026 13:17 , Alex Croft
The European Union has transferred €3.9 billion (£3.36bn) to Ukraine to finance drone procurement, the Commission said on Tuesday.
The disbursement is part of a €90 billion (£78bn) loan approved by the EU earlier this year.
This disbursement follows the Commission's first €3.2 billion instalment to Ukraine made on June 25 to help with the country's government financing.
"We are releasing a first tranche of €3.9 billion for advanced drone technology to strengthen Ukraine's defence. And more will follow. These investments will help Ukraine protect its citizens, defend its sovereignty, and reinforce Europe's security," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
Watch: Emotional Putin pays respects at funeral of former defence minister Sergei Ivanov
Tuesday 30 June 2026 13:10 , Alex Croft
Monaco attack not a terrorist attack, says prosecutor
Tuesday 30 June 2026 12:46 , Alex Croft
The attack in Monaco on Monday in which a man detonated a makeshift bomb that wounded three people is not a terrorist attack, the Monaco Prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Stephane Thibault also told a news conference that inquiries were focusing on a sole suspect believed to have carried the attack.
As we earlier reported, an explosion at a residential building in Monaco eft three people injured, including Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev, in an incident that the authorities say was almost certainly an attack targeting the tycoon.
Mr Yermolaiev and his wife have been left fighting for their lives in critical condition after the explosion, according to reports, while a 13-year-old child was also badly injured.
Sam Kiley analysis | Putin knows he’s in trouble. It’s time to kick him while he’s down
Tuesday 30 June 2026 12:19 , Alex Croft
Russia is losing its war against Ukraine. Proof of this has come from Vladimir Putin himself, who has admitted all is not going to plan and issued a desperate call for a return to peace talks while his oil refineries burn and his bridges to occupied territory are pounded by Kyiv’s missiles.
Russia’s president has been badly rattled; his airports are closed, his military logistics chain has dangerously snapped, and public support is waning for a war he started, and for which Russia’s national media can no longer generate artificial enthusiasm.
In an interview on Sunday, he made a rare admission that the country was suffering from fuel shortages as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes.
His minions have been whining that an agreement they believe was struck with Donald Trump at the Anchorage summit with Putin last year – giving Moscow colonial ownership of 20 per cent of Ukraine – has been abandoned by the US president.
Trump likes to back a winner. So far he has backed Russia, which invaded a democratic European nation at full scale in February 2022.
Now may be the time for Mark Rutte to explain to the 47th president of the US that his Nato allies are indeed pulling their weight without US help (aside from intelligence) in Ukraine.
All he needs to do is repeat what Putin said, when he asserted that Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure and other logistics operations are an attempt to “destabilise society”.
And clearly, Putin believes this is working.
Read more from our world affairs editor Sam Kiley.
Putin has finally admitted Russia is facing problems in Ukraine war - are there signs he may be cracking?
Tuesday 30 June 2026 11:55 , 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 refines, 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.
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 that Putin can no longer hide the failures in Russia’s air defence from the public
Putin has admitted Russia is facing issues in Ukraine war - is he cracking?
US will stand alongside European allies in defence of Baltics - American general
Tuesday 30 June 2026 11:32 , Alex Croft
We’ve just heard 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.
Watch: Putin admits ‘problems’ in invasion and warns of fuel shortage from Kyiv’s strikes
Tuesday 30 June 2026 11:12 , Alex Croft
Romania detonates drone fragments in southeast
Tuesday 30 June 2026 10:27 , Alex Croft
Romania has safely detonated drone fragments found in the southeastern village of Rachelu near the border with Ukraine, its defence ministry said.
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.
Ukraine strikes Moscow satellite centre used to gather intelligence
Tuesday 30 June 2026 10:11 , Alex Croft
Ukraine's military struck Russia's Dubna satellite communications center in the Moscow region for the second time on Tuesday, president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
The Ukrainian president said the site, located more than 500 km (311 miles) from the Ukrainian border, was used for reconnaissance and for coordinating the activity of Russia's contingent in Ukraine.
“The distance from our state border to this facility is more than 500 kilometers,” mr Zelensky said on X.
“Recently, our Defense Forces of Ukraine already reached four such Russian centers, not only in the Moscow region but also in the Vladimir region.
“Step by step, we are implementing our plan of long-range sanctions and making it as difficult as possible for the aggressor state to carry out its invasion operations against Ukraine and the occupation of our territories.”
Today, our long-range sanctions against Russia for this war once again reached the Dubna space communications center in the Moscow region. This is a special satellite communications facility used, in particular, for reconnaissance and for coordinating the activity of Russia’s… pic.twitter.com/HMtNwSgOvv
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 30, 2026
In pictures: Putin pays respects to late former defence minister Sergei Ivanov
Tuesday 30 June 2026 10:07 , Alex Croft
Nato responding to shifting security landscape but US won't leave - Turkish defence minister
Tuesday 30 June 2026 09:39 , 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.
North Korea suffered 7,000 troop casualties fighting with Russia, Ukraine says
Tuesday 30 June 2026 09:37 , 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.
AfD leader vows to restore German-Russian relations ahead of state elections
Tuesday 30 June 2026 08:51 , 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 08:29 , 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.
Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev and family critically injured in blast in Monaco
Tuesday 30 June 2026 08:09 , Alex Croft
As we earlier reported, an explosion at a residential building in Monaco has left three people injured, including Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Yermolaiev, in an incident that the authorities say was almost certainly an attack targeting the tycoon.
Mr Yermolaiev and his wife have been left fighting for their lives in critical condition after the explosion, according to reports, while a 13-year-old child was also badly injured.
Authorities said four other people were suffering from shock and cuts as a result of broken windows.
Two adults and a child were taken to hospitals in France with injuries, minister of state Christophe Mirmand said.
The blast happened shortly before 9pm local time after a bag was left outside the entryway of a residence on Rue Révérend Père Louis Frolla, near the border with France.
He said it was "very likely an attack", adding that French and Monaco authorities are searching for the attacker, whose motive is under investigation.
Following the apparent attack, a suspect was seen crossing the border into France on foot, and identified via video surveillance in both Monaco and the neighbouring French town of Beausoleil, Mirmand said.
Monaco's leader Prince Albert II called it "an odious act" and said all the country's services were mobilised to ensure security.
Watch: Kyiv continues to intensify strikes on Russian oil refineries
Tuesday 30 June 2026 07:53 , Alex Croft
Russia may lower fuel standards as fuel crisis deepens
Tuesday 30 June 2026 07:20 , Arpan Rai
Russia may allow companies to temporarily produce gasoline and diesel with lower quality and allow lower quality imports, Kommersant daily newspaper said on Monday, as the country tries to ease the fuel crisis amid Ukraine's attacks on its refineries.
The newspaper, citing a draft governmental document, said Russia may allow production of gasoline and diesel of the Euro-2 standard with higher sulphur content and which has been banned since 2013, for a year until July 2027, as well as allowing it to be imported.
Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in the fifth year of the war, triggering widespread fuel shortages and price spikes as Kyiv tries to push Moscow to the negotiation table.
President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Sunday at a meeting with government ministers and other officials that Ukrainian drone strikes had triggered fuel shortages in some regions, but said Russia was dealing with them.
Zelensky mocks Putin's military drive, says same goal set '15 times already'
Tuesday 30 June 2026 07:15 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has ridiculed Russia’s stated goal of capturing Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, saying that the attempt has been made 15 times and failed.
“Since the start of the full-scale war, the Russian army has been given as many as 15 deadlines for capturing our Donetsk region. Russia’s political leadership remains obsessed with Donbas. They have entertained this delusion – that they would fully capture Donbas – 15 times already,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.
He recounted multiple deadlines Putin set for his troops to capture the region but has instead faced a war of attrition.
“In 2022, the deadlines were 31 March, then 9 May, 1 June, 15 September, and 31 December. In 2023, Putin set two more deadlines for capturing Donbas: 1 March, and then, when that failed again, they moved it to 31 December. In 2024, there were again two such deadlines,” Zelensky said.
He added that last year when the Russians wanted to convince Trump that Ukraine would “supposedly fall”, they had set three final dates to completely capture the Donetsk region.
He has warned that the deadline will be moved again if the war does not end.
“If Russia does not end its war, they will have to move this deadline again as well. If Putin wants to sacrifice another million of his soldiers to keep smashing against this wall, then the million Russians who have not yet been mobilised into the Russian army and are arguing in gas lines should think about what awaits them next,” Zelensky said.
In the weeks following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces initially tried to advance on the capital Kyiv, but when they failed to complete that advance they withdrew and focused efforts on capturing Donbas.
Russia has captured all of the Luhansk region and large chunks of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Although Moscow's forces are slowly moving westward through Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials say the advance has slowed considerably while Ukraine steps up its campaign of medium and long-range drone strikes.
Ukraine says it carried out major attacks on Russia’s bridges, warehouse and command posts
Tuesday 30 June 2026 07:01 , Arpan Rai
The Ukrainian military has said it carried out a series of strikes on Russia and damaged three bridges, a Russian military logistics warehouse, multiple drone command posts and military communications facilities, its General Staff said yesterday.
The strikes were carried out "to reduce the military and economic potential of the Russian aggressor," it said.
It added that Ukrainian forces struck a road bridge near occupied Novoazovsk in Donetsk and two railway bridges in occupied Luhansk oblast.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian forces were using the bridges to transport personnel, weapons, ammunition, and other military supplies to the front.
A Russian logistics warehouse near occupied Novosvitlivka in Luhansk oblast was also hit in the strikes.
Russia glide bomb attack kills woman in Kharkiv
Tuesday 30 June 2026 06:49 , Arpan Rai
A Russian glide bomb has killed a 23-year-old woman and wounded 10 people in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
The strike damaged a tram and more than 15 cars, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Reuters television footage showed police and forensic experts combing through debris at the scene.
Another glide bomb flew in less than an hour later but failed to detonate.
Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, three large industrial cities, have come under repeated Russian attacks during the war, now in its fifth year.
The strikes represent the first use of glide bombs by Russia in several months, with overnight aerial attacks typically relying on Moscow's larger stockpiles of drones and missiles.
A glide bomb includes 675kg of explosives, can be fired from between 40km and 70km away from its target, and has a destruction radius of 200 metres.
It has been nicknamed the “building destroyer” by Russian war bloggers.
Kremlin says Russia's stance on conditions for a Ukraine peace deal has not changed since 2024
Tuesday 30 June 2026 06:11 , Arpan Rai
Russia has not changed its stance on the conditions needed for a peace deal in Ukraine stated by president Vladimir Putin in 2024, the Kremlin said yesterday.
Putin’s conditions from 2024 demand Kyiv's forces to withdraw from four regions Moscow says are its own and publicly drop its plans to join Nato.
"Our position is well known. In fact, our position has not changed. It was set out two years ago by our Head of State in a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is well known to the Kyiv regime, it is well known to the American negotiators, and it is entirely consistent," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
In a television interview over the weekend, Putin reiterated that Russia would press ahead with its battlefield aim of fully controlling the four regions, rejecting what he said was a new proposal by Ukraine to rein in hostilities in the more than four-year-old war.
Zelensky responded to Putin’s remarks and said the ultimatum from Russia has been made 15 times and the deadline has always been crossed.
UK supply chain suffers blow from months-long delay in defence spending amid Russia threat
Tuesday 30 June 2026 06:01 , Arpan Rai
Britain's nine-month delay in setting out its defence spending plans to meet a rising threat from Russia has forced some small suppliers to collapse, others to hold off investments and many more to expand abroad instead.
Prime minister Keir Starmer is finally expected to publish the Defence Investment Plan today, one of his final acts before he steps down in July, after his defence and finance departments spent months arguing over how to fill an estimated £28bn shortfall.
Many companies in the sector say that delay has damaged the UK's military supply base and potentially the government's efforts to make its cash-strapped forces war-ready.
Dozens of smaller companies have gone out of business, or shut down their defence units to focus on other industries as a result, the defence lobby group ADS told Reuters.
The chief executive of UK defence company Cohort said that over the last 18 months demand from militaries in other countries where it works, such as Germany, Poland, the Nordics and Baltics, has been clearly ramping up, in contrast to Britain.
Russia downs over 400 drones overnight
Tuesday 30 June 2026 05:48 , Arpan Rai
Russia’s air defence units have downed or destroyed at least 419 drones overnight, its defence ministry said this morning.
Russia typically reports only how many drones its air defences say they downed, not how many Ukraine launched, and rarely discloses the full extent of damage unless civilians are killed or civilian sites are hit.
Ukrainian oligarch sanctioned for ties to Russia injured in Monaco blasts
Tuesday 30 June 2026 05:17 , Arpan Rai
Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Iermolaiev has been reportedly injured in a deliberate blast in Monaco.
Ukrainska Pravda said he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia.
A blast from an explosive device has seriously injured three people at a residential building in Monaco, and the attacker fled to France, local authorities said.
French and Ukrainian media reported that a Ukrainian magnate and his family were those injured.
French and Monaco authorities are searching for the attacker, whose motive is under investigation, Monaco’s most senior government official, Minister of State Christophe Mirmand, told reporters.
10 killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine's Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia
Tuesday 30 June 2026 05:11 , Arpan Rai
Russian attacks across Ukraine killed 10 people and wounded dozens on Monday, authorities said, with strikes continuing into the afternoon as the death toll climbed.
A missile attack in the southeastern city of Dnipro killed six people and wounded 29, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram.
He said a business, a school, private homes and cars had come under attack, "Russia launched a missile strike on Dnipro, targeting infrastructure," Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on X, adding that rescue operations were underway at the site.
“It is essential that Europe is as active as possible in developing its own anti-ballistic defence its own systems and missiles," he said.
A Russian drone attack on a passenger minibus in Zaporizhzhia killed two men and a woman, and injured eight others, including a 7-year-old boy, regional officials said.
The regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, posted footage on Telegram of a white minibus, its floor bloodied and back doors damaged, with a body of a man inside.
Another attack on the city in the afternoon hit a civilian van, Fedorov said, setting it on fire but causing no casualties.
A glide bomb also hit the northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing a 23-year-old woman and wounding 10 others, according to officials there. That strike damaged a tram and more than 15 cars, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Another glide bomb flew in less than an hour later but failed to detonate.
Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, three large industrial cities, have come under repeated Russian attacks during the war, now in its fifth year.
North Korea suffered 7,000 troop casualties fighting with Russia, Ukraine says
Tuesday 30 June 2026 04:41 , Arpan Rai
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.
Russia may allow lower quality fuel production and imports as fuel crisis deepens
Tuesday 30 June 2026 04:18 , Arpan Rai
Russia may allow companies to temporarily produce gasoline and diesel with lower quality and allow lower quality imports, Kommersant daily newspaper said on Monday, as the country tries to ease the fuel crisis amid Ukraine's attacks on its refineries.
The newspaper, citing a draft governmental document, said Russia may allow production of gasoline and diesel of the Euro-2 standard with higher sulphur content and which has been banned since 2013, for a year until July 2027, as well as allowing the imports.
Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in the fifth year of the war, triggering widespread fuel shortages and price spikes as Kyiv tries to push Moscow to the negotiation table.
President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Sunday at a meeting with government ministers and other officials that Ukrainian drone strikes had triggered fuel shortages in some regions, but said Russia was dealing with them.
Zelensky mocks Putin's military drive, says deadline to capture postponed 15 times
Tuesday 30 June 2026 04:00 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has ridiculed Russia’s goal to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, saying that the attempt has been made 15 times and failed.
“Since the start of the full-scale war, the Russian army has been given as many as 15 deadlines for capturing our Donetsk region. Russia’s political leadership remains obsessed with Donbas. They have entertained this delusion – that they would fully capture Donbas – 15 times already,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.
He recounted mutliple deadlines Putin set for his troops to capture the region but has instead faced a war of attrition.
“In 2022, the deadlines were 31 March, then 9 May, 1 June, 15 September, and 31 December. In 2023, Putin set two more deadlines for capturing Donbas: 1 March, and then, when that failed again, they moved it to 31 December. In 2024, there were again two such deadlines,” Zelensky said.
He added that last year when Russians wanted to convince Trump that Ukraine would “supposedly fall”, they had set three final dates to completely capture the Donetsk region.
He has warned that the deadline will be moved again if the war does not end.
“If Russia does not end its war, they will have to move this deadline again as well. If Putin wants to sacrifice another million of his soldiers to keep smashing against this wall, then the million Russians who have not yet been mobilised into the Russian army and are arguing in gas lines should think about what awaits them next,” Zelensky said.
In the weeks following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces initially tried to advance on the capital Kyiv, but when they failed to complete that advance they withdrew and focused efforts on capturing Donbas.
Russia has captured all of the Luhansk region and large chunks of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Although Moscow's forces are slowly moving westward through Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials say the advance has slowed considerably while Ukraine steps up its campaign of medium and long-range drone strikes.
Since the start of the full-scale war, the Russian army has been given as many as 15 deadlines for capturing our Donetsk region. Russia’s political leadership remains obsessed with Donbas. They have entertained this delusion – that they would fully capture Donbas – 15 times… pic.twitter.com/JXMO5jcycI
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 29, 2026
I’ve fought Putin for 17 years – he’d rather watch Russia burn than admit he can’t win this war
Tuesday 30 June 2026 03:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
The huge losses now coming home to Russians every day will not bring a leader who runs his country like a prison yard to the negotiating table – if he shows weakness, he knows he will end up in a coffin, says Bill Browder.
Putin would rather watch Russia burn than admit he can’t win this war
Watch: Putin says Russia is ready for peace talks with Ukraine
Tuesday 30 June 2026 02:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
French prosecutor blocks suspected 'shadow fleet' tanker and releases captain
Tuesday 30 June 2026 01:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
A French prosecutor has ordered the immobilisation of an oil tanker suspected of being part of the "shadow fleet" Russia uses to ship oil and gas and to skirt Western sanctions on Monday.
It comes the day after the Marseille prosecutor ordered Sunday the release of the ship's captain, who was held in police custody for two days.
French authorities suspected the ship was sailing under a false flag. It was intercepted off Sicily on June 23, the prosecutor's office said.
"This new action against the shadow fleet, conducted days after a similar operation by Britain, shows Europeans' determination," French president Emmanuel Macron said in a post on Instagram last week.
The oil tanker was sailing from Primorsk in Russia and sailed under a Cameroonian flag.
France has intercepted at least five tankers it says are part of Russia's shadow fleet, old vessels that Russia has relied on to ship oil and gas and to skirt Western sanctions.
Moscow has called such actions illegal.
Putin is asking for peace talks. It’s time to kick him while he’s down
Tuesday 30 June 2026 00:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Putin is rattled and Trump needs a win – this is the chance for Ukraine and her allies to force the collapse of Russia’s army and push back against its land grab, writes world affairs editor Sam Kiley.
Why is Putin asking for Ukraine-Russia peace talks now?
Recap: Ukraine launches one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia and Crimea
Monday 29 June 2026 23:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Ukrainian forces launched one of their largest drone attacks on Russian territory and illegally annexed Crimea, with Russian air defences claiming to intercept 660 unmanned aerial vehicles across 12 regions, the Black Sea, and the Azov Sea during a major overnight assault on Friday.
This significant barrage marks one of the most extensive drone operations targeting Russian regions and the occupied peninsula since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine over four years ago.
On Monday, Vladimir Putin admitted his forces have faced problems in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and said he was aware of fuel shortages due to Ukraine’s growing attacks.
You can read more below:
Ukraine launches one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia and Crimea
In pictures: Ukrainians head to Dnipro river during heatwave amid Russia's invasion
Monday 29 June 2026 22:00 , Harriette Boucher
Why Russia is so desperate to take Ukraine’s eastern ‘fortress belt’
Monday 29 June 2026 21:00 , Harriette Boucher
Russia is pushing towards Kostiantynivka, a vital stronghold in Ukraine's eastern "fortress belt" long sought after by the Kremlin, even as its gains across the rest of the 1,200-km front line have largely stalled.
Fighting has begun to seep into the city itself. Small groups of Russian soldiers are attempting to infiltrate its outskirts, senior Ukrainian commanders said last week, suggesting close-quarters assaults could follow.
Kostiantynivka is the southernmost of four key settlements forming a defensive line central to Ukraine's effort to hold the heavily industrialised Donetsk region.
The push towards it underscores Moscow's enduring manpower advantage, even as Ukrainian mid-range drone strikes on logistics have weakened its fighting capabilities, analysts said.
"The effect (of mid-range strikes) hasn't been so great that it would have forced the Russians to suspend their offensive," said Emil Kastehelmi of the Black Bird conflict analysis team in Finland.
"So even though Russia has been taking increasingly heavy losses in the rear, they are still able to continue their offensives, at least in certain sectors."
Kostiantynivka: Why Russia is so desperate to take Ukraine’s eastern ‘fortress belt’
How Ukraine’s audacious drone campaign sparked a fuel crisis 3,500km behind enemy lines
Monday 29 June 2026 20:00 , Daniel Keane
Drones, once auxiliary to the war on the ground, have grown into a giant-slaying weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal over four years of ingenuity, writes James C. Reynolds.
How Ukraine’s drone campaign sparked a fuel crisis 3,500km behind enemy lines
Watch: Kyiv intensifies strikes on Russian oil refineries
Monday 29 June 2026 19:00 , Harriette Boucher
North Korean suffered 7,000 troop casualties fighting with Russia, Ukraine says
Monday 29 June 2026 18:00 , Harriette Boucher
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.
In pictures: Russia strikes Dnipro with missiles
Monday 29 June 2026 17:00 , Harriette Boucher
Eleven dead and 40 injured in Russian attacks
Monday 29 June 2026 16:00 , Harriette Boucher
Russian missiles and drones killed at least 11 civilians and injured 40 others in Ukraine in what Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as “horrific attacks.”
A missile strike targeting infrastructure in Dnipro killed five people and injured 29, while an attack on Zaporizhzhia, targeting an ordinary minibus, killed three people and injured six, including a child.
Russia drones also killed a 69-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man in the northeastern Sumy region, National Police said.
The Ukrainian president offered his condolences to their families and loved ones and said there must be “more protection for people from such horrific strikes.”
Meanwhile in Nikopol, Russia targeted a fire truck and struck rescuers, as well as energy infrastructure in Sumy, Odesa, and Chernihiv oblasts.
“It is extremely important to counter this Russian terror,” President Zelensky said,
“First and foremost, we need anti-ballistic defenses. It is crucial that work in Europe on its own anti-ballistic protection be as active as possible. Its own systems, missiles. The sooner such capabilities increase, the more lives we will be able to save.”
Stray Ukrainian drones crashing onto Nato soil are price worth paying to defeat Putin, says Estonian foreign minister
Monday 29 June 2026 15:00 , Daniel Keane
Estonia’s foreign minister has said stray Ukrainian drones crashing in Nato territory are a small price to pay to defeat Russia.
Nato countries have reported increasing numbers of Ukrainian drones flying into their air space, leading to travel disruptions, closed airports and the scrambling of fighter jets.
Last week an unexploded drone carrying a 5kg warhead was found in a field in Estonia and Ukraine was forced to apologise last month after Romanian fighter jets shot down a drone encroaching on Estonian airspace.
But foreign minister Margus Tsahkna has said that Estonia is looking at the bigger picture and believes the disruption is worth it.
“Of course we are not happy about [these incidents],” Tsahkna told the Financial Times. “But we are not saying to Ukraine to stop it. This is hitting the lifeline of Putin.”
Read our full story below.
Ukrainian drones crashing onto Nato soil are worth defeating Putin, says Estonia
