Ukraine's defence ministry on Friday said it struck Russian military positions in the southern Kherson region, where the army is fighting to reclaim occupied territory. France offered to help ensure access to the port of Odesa and ease a global grain crisis. Read our live blog to catch up on the day's events as they unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
10:43pm: Russia dubs anti-torture NGO a 'foreign agent'
Russia on Friday labelled a non-governmental organisation fighting for investigations into allegations of torture as a "foreign agent" in its latest move to silence critics in the country.
The Committee Against Torture's name appeared on the justice ministry's updated website list of such black-listed entities.
The infamous label, reminiscent of the "enemies of the people" of the Soviet period, is used extensively against opponents, journalists and human rights activists accused of conducting foreign-funded political activities.
Such "foreign agents" are subject to numerous constraints and laborious procedures, under pain of severe sanctions. In particular, they must indicate this status in all their publications.
Founded in 2000, the Committee Against Torture has battled for the Russian authorities to investigate allegations of mistreatment at the hands of the security forces and to take measures to prevent any such abuses.
Since the start of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine on February 24, dozens of members of the Russian intellectual elite and journalists have left the country, as the authorities step up pressure against the last critical voices and media.
9:36pm: Estonia calls on Russian ambassador to condemn Putin's remarks
Estonia on Friday summoned the Russian ambassador to condemn President Vladimir Putin's "completely unacceptable" praise for an 18th century Russian ruler who captured a city that is now Estonian.
Putin paid tribute on Thursday to Tsar Peter the Great, who he said had taken back territory that was Russia's during a long war with Sweden from 1700 to 1721. Putin specifically mentioned Narva, which belongs to Estonia, one of the three Baltic States and a NATO member.
Estonia's foreign minister said Ambassador Vladimir Lipayev had been summoned "to condemn recent statements by President Putin ... including his comments on the Estonian city of Narva," it said in a statement.
"At a time when Russia is ... trying to destroy the statehood and people of Ukraine, it is also completely unacceptable," it added.
Putin compared Peter's campaign with the task facing Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February.
6:18pm: Ukraine tries to push back Russian troops in the east and south
Kyiv said Friday it had launched new air strikes on Russian positions in the captured southern region of Kherson, one of the first areas to be taken by Russia after the February 24 invasion.
Fierce fighting continued in the eastern Donbas region, where President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces were "holding on" despite Moscow concentrating its firepower there.
The fiercest fighting remains around the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk, a battle that Zelensky has said is pivotal for the fate of the Donbas region.
4:49pm: France ready to help in operation allowing access to Odesa port
France is ready to assist in an operation to allow safe access to Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday.
"We are at the disposal of the parties to put in place an operation which would allow access in complete safety to the port of Odesa, in other words for boats to pass through despite the fact that the sea is mined," said the adviser, who asked not to be named.
The port has been subject to a de facto blockade by Russia, and grain is waiting to be exported amid mounting fears of global food shortages, especially in developing countries.
4:29pm: Macron to visit Moldova and Romania
French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Romania and Moldova next week to express France's solidarity with its European allies which are most exposed to the war in Ukraine, said Macron's Élysée office.
Macron will visit French troops in Romania on Tuesday, and then go to Moldova on Wednesday.
Asked whether Macron would visit Ukraine, Macron's office said any such visit would take place when considered most useful for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Ukraine had rebuked Macron earlier this month for saying it was important not to "humiliate" Russia, a position Ukrainian foreign minister Dmitro Kuleba said "can only humiliate France."
Macron has sought to maintain a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February. His stance has been repeatedly criticised by some eastern and Baltic partners in Europe, as they see it as undermining efforts to push Putin to the negotiating table.
4:05pm: Daily life a misery for civilians on Donbas front line
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were "holding on" in the flashpoint eastern city of Severodonetsk where intense street battles with Russian troops could determine the fate of the Donbas region. People in the nearby town of Lysychansk tell about the stark choices the war has forced on them: Stay and brave the shelling, or flee and abandon their homes.
3:35pm: Germany pledges medical aid to Ukraine
Germany will help Ukraine provide medical help for war victims by helping build trauma centres for the wounded, donating prosthetic limbs and deploying German doctors to the country, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has said.
"Ukraine needs humanitarian aid just as urgently as it needs our military support," the minister said during a visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
The aid will include help to supply prostheses, deploying 200 doctors in Ukraine, setting up training on treating burns and connecting some hospitals in Ukraine to a telemedicine service, the ministry said in a statement.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says some 290 attacks on healthcare facilities have been recorded since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
1:45pm: Ukraine war risks 11 to 19 million more hungry people over next year, says FAO
Reduced exports of wheat and other food commodities from Ukraine and Russia risk leaving between 11 million and 19 million more people with chronic hunger over the next year, said the UN's food agency .
The conflict in Ukraine has fuelled a global food crisis, with surging prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertiliser. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key fertiliser exporter and Ukraine a major supplier of corn and sunflower oil. Boubaker BenBelhassen, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Markets and Trade Division, said the impact of the conflict "could lead to anywhere between 11 to 19 million more hungry people, that's chronic hunger for 2022/23".
This preliminary estimation was based on reduced exports of food commodities from Ukraine and Russia, he told reporters. The FAO also said in a report on Thursday that spiralling costs for farm inputs like fertiliser could deter growers from expanding production and worsen food security in poorer countries facing record import bills. "The countries that are being affected most are in the Near East/North African region given their heavy reliance on imports, especially of wheat, from these countries, but also of vegetable oil, sunflower oil," he said. Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia, were also being "highly impacted," he added.
1:41pm: Russia says UK 'often hysterical', after Donetsk death sentences
Russia said on Friday that Britain should appeal to the authorities of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) - internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, over two British citizens sentenced to death on Thursday by a Donetsk court.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram that Britain's reaction to such cases was "often hysterical". Russia describes the two Britons and one Moroccan, who had been captured serving with Ukrainian forces in east Ukraine, as "mercenaries". The British government says they are prisoners of war, entitled to protection under the Geneva Convention.
1:40pm: Judgement against jailed British men breaches Geneva convention, says UK's foreign minister
Britain's foreign minister Liz Truss said on Friday that the judgement against two British men sentenced to death by a court in one of Russia's proxies in eastern Ukraine was a breach of the Geneva convention. "The judgement against them is an egregious breach of the Geneva convention," Truss said in a tweet after she spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss efforts to secure the release of prisoners of war held by Russian proxies.
1:38pm: Russian onslaught makes daily life a misery for Lysychansk residents
Residents of Lysychansk, a town located near the strategic city of Severodonetsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, reveal the stark choices the war has forced on them: either stay and brave the shelling, or flee and abandon their homes.
1:11pm: Britain says talking to Ukraine, not Russia, about jailed soldiers
Britain is prioritising talking to Ukraine rather than Russia on the situation of two jailed British men who have been sentenced by a court in one of Russia's proxies in eastern Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said on Friday.
Foreign minister Liz Truss raised the issue with her Ukrainian counterpart in a call on Friday, the spokesman said, after Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin were sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Asked if Britain would talk to Russia to secure their release, the spokesman said "we don't have regular interaction with the Russians."
"Our priority is working with the Ukrainian government to try and ensure their release as quickly as possible," the spokesman said. "They're afforded protection under the Geneva Convention as members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is why we want to continue working with them closely to try and get them freed as quickly as we can."
1:04pm: Kyiv to probe rebel court for British, Moroccan death penalties
Ukraine is investigating the circumstances in which a Moscow-backed separatist court sentenced two British men and a Moroccan citizen to death, Kyiv said.
British citizens Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim from Morocco were captured fighting with Ukrainian forces and sentenced by separatist authorities in the eastern Donetsk region for attempting to overthrow the government.
Ukraine's chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova late Thursday described the sentences as "a violation and mockery" of international law and said the men should be treated fairly under Geneva conventions. "Ukraine has already initiated a pre-trial investigation into this matter and will take all appropriate steps to ensure that everyone that was involved in this illegal action is held responsible for their actions," she said in a statement.
Aslin and Pinner had surrendered in April in Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine that was captured by Russian troops in May after a weeks-long siege. Ukrainian courts have handed three Russian soldiers long prison sentences at war crimes trials since the start of Moscow's February 24 invasion. Venediktova said Thursday that Ukraine is investigating over 100 Russian soldiers for suspected war crimes.
12:49pm: Ukraine grain exports now nearing 2 million tonnes/month says EU commissioner
Ukrainian grain exports are rising and nearing 2 million tonnes per month now, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said on Friday. "According to information from Ukraine, the export of grains is gradually rising and nearing two million tonnes per month currently," Wojciechowski said during a news conference with the Polish agriculture minister.
Ukraine is a major grain exporter to Africa and the Middle East and disruption to these shipments as a result of Russia's invasion is pushing prices higher, fuelling an international food crisis.
12:48pm: Foreign fighters' death sentence shows Russia's disregard for rights, Berlin says
The death sentences for foreign fighters in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine are shocking and show Russia's "complete disregard for the basic principles of humanitarian international law", a German government spokesperson said on Friday.
12:39pm: UN 'concerned' by foreign fighter death sentences in Donetsk
The United Nations said Friday it was concerned about the death sentences handed by pro-Moscow separatists to two British and one Moroccan soldier captured by Russian troops while fighting for Ukraine.
"The UN Human Rights Office is concerned about the so-called Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic sentencing three servicemen to death," spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
"Since 2015, we have observed that the so-called judiciary in these self-proclaimed republics has not complied with essential fair trial guarantees, such as public hearings, independence, impartiality of the courts and the right not to be compelled to testify. Such trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime."
12:22pm: Lavrov says foreign fighters sentenced to death committed crimes in Donetsk
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that the two Britons and one Moroccan sentenced to death on Thursday in the Donetsk People's Republic had committed crimes on the territory of the self-proclaimed state trying to break away from Ukraine.
Lavrov said: "At the moment, the trials you mentioned are being held on the basis of the legislation of the Donetsk People's Republic, because the crimes in question were committed on the DPR's territory."
12:18pm: NATO deputy chief Geoana "confident" Sweden and Finland will join NATO
NATO's deputy chief is confident that member candidates Sweden and Finland will join the defensive alliance despite objections from Turkey, he told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Friday.
"We are confident that Sweden and Finland will join our ranks," Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said.
12:08pm: Russia uses trial of foreigners to raise stakes over talks says Ukraine
Russia wants to use three foreigners who were captured while fighting for Ukraine and sentenced to death as "hostages" to put pressure on the West over peace negotiations, a senior Ukrainian official said.
11:58am: UK talking to Ukraine, not Russia, about jailed soldiers
Britain is prioritising talking to Ukraine rather than Russia on the situation of two jailed British men who have been sentenced by a court in one of Russia's proxies in eastern Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman has revealed.
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss raised the issue with her Ukrainian counterpart in a call on Friday, the spokesman said, after Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin were sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
Asked if Britain would talk to Russia to secure their release, the spokesman said "we don't have regular interaction with the Russians."
"Our priority is working with the Ukrainian government to try and ensure their release as quickly as possible," the spokesman said.
"They're afforded protection under the Geneva Convention as members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is why we want to continue working with them closely to try and get them freed as quickly as we can," he added.
10:22am: European Parliament "firmly behind" Ukraine's EU bid says parliament's president
The European Union's parliament supports Ukraine's bid to achieve candidate status to join the European Union, the parliament's president Roberta Metsola said on Friday at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit.
"The EU parliament stands firmly behind Ukraine's bid to receive EU candidate status," Metsola said.
9:36am: Russia seeks weak points in Ukrainian defences near key river: Ukraine's defence ministry
Russia is looking for weak points in Ukrainian defences near the Siverskyi Donets River in east of the country, said the Ukrainian defence ministry.
Speaking on national television, Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said Russian forces had not abandoned attempts to launch storming operations in the area.
If Russia captures the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk on the Siverskyi Donets, it will hold all of Luhansk, one of two provinces in the Donbas region that Moscow claims on behalf of separatists.
9:23am: Sweden seeks 'constructive' talks with Turkey over NATO bid
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde has said Sweden aims to make constructive progress in talks with Turkey over the Nordic country's application to join NATO.
"Our application has received broad support among NATO members," she said in a foreign policy declaration after Sweden, alongside Finland, applied last month to join the military alliance as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Our ambition is to, in a constructive spirit, make progress on the questions that Turkey has raised," she told parliament.
8:30am: Hungary price caps could stay in place if war is entrenched, Orban says
Hungary's price caps on fuel, some basic foods and energy could stay in place for a longer period if the war in Ukraine is entrenched, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban told public radio that he would like to see the measures extended, adding however that more talks were needed before a final decision is made.
7:41am: Russian gas embargo would destroy European economy, Orban says
An EU embargo on Russian gas imports would destroy the European economy, already grappling with surging inflation due to higher energy prices, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
Orban also told public radio that without price caps in place on fuels, some basic foods and retail energy, Hungarian inflation, which accelerated to 10.7 percent in May, would be running at 15 to 16 percent.
7:28am: UK says Mariupol at risk of Cholera outbreak
Ukraine's southern city of Mariupol is at risk of a major cholera outbreak as medical services are likely already near collapse, Britain's defence ministry has warned in its daily briefing.
There is likely also a critical shortage of medicines in Kherson, Britain's Ministry of Defence said in a Twitter update.
Russia is struggling to provide basic public services to the population in Russian-occupied territories, it added.
Russia is struggling to provide basic public services to the population in Russian-occupied territories, it added. Last month, WHO's Ukraine Incident Manager, Dorit Nitzan, said Mariupol, which is now controlled by Russian forces after weeks of siege and heavy bombardment, was among occupied areas where there was a risk of cholera.
6:21am: Ukrainian forces ‘holding on’ in key Donbas battles, Zelensky says
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were “holding on” in the flashpoint eastern city Severodonetsk where intense street battles with Russian troops could determine the fate of the Donbas region.
Moscow has concentrated its firepower on the industrial city, which it now mostly controls, with the area’s governor saying on Friday that Russian forces had destroyed a major sports arena.
Pro-Russian rebels sentenced one Moroccan and two British fighters to death on Thursday after they were captured while fighting for Ukraine and accused of acting as mercenaries for Kyiv.
Zelensky said in his evening address on Thursday night that several “cities in Donbas, which the occupiers now consider key targets, are holding on”.
He added that Ukrainian forces have made positive strides in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions, and are in the process of “liberating our land”.
With the fiercest fighting now concentrated in Severodonetsk, governor Sergiy Gaiday – who earlier called for Western artillery to quickly help secure a Ukrainian victory – said “one of the symbols of Severodonetsk was destroyed. The Ice Palace burned down”.
Western countries have provided weapons and aid for Ukraine since the February 24 invasion, while several people from abroad have joined the fight against Russian forces.
Up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed every day in frontline fighting and as many as 500 wounded, Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.
(FRANCE24 with REUTERS, AP and AFP)
