Volodymyr Zelenskiy handed awards to two Polish volunteers during a stopover in Poland on Saturday but did not meet any officials amid strained relations between Kyiv and Warsaw over grain imports.
Russia’s suspension of petrol exports will probably limit already tight supplies in the global market and have the biggest impact on countries that depend on Russian fuel supplies, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said Russians had probably faced localised petrol and diesel shortages in recent weeks.
Pope Francis has said the weapons industry is a key driver of the “martyrdom” of Ukraine’s people in the war with Russia, saying that even the withholding of weapons now is going to continue their misery. The Associated Press reports that the pontiff appeared to refer to Poland’s recent announcement that it was no longer sending arms to Ukraine when reporters asked him about the war as he was returning to Rome from a visit to Marseille, France.
A Ukrainian drone has struck an administrative building in Russia’s Kursk oblast, damaging the roof – on Kursk City Day – and there have been more reports of explosions.
The Russian-installed head of the Donetsk oblast has imposed a curfew banning the presence of civilians on streets and public places from 11pm until 4am on Mondays through Fridays, Reuters is reporting. Denis Pushilin published a decree on Sunday that forbade assemblies, rallies and demonstrations, in addition to other mass events in the Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk oblast – unless they were permitted by the local operational headquarters for military threat response.
Amid reports that US president Joe Biden has decided to supply Ukraine with long-range army tactical missile systems – reports the White House has yet to confirm – the former US commanding general Ben Hodges called for the US to give Ukraine weapons that have the capability to strike at Russian targets in Crimea.
The European Commission has sent another €1.5bn in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine. The commission has pledged a total of €18bn to Ukraine – the country has already received €12bn. The funds go towards keeping essential public services running, such as hospitals, schools and housing for relocated citizens, as well as paying wages and pensions.
Three people were killed and several more injured in Russian attacks on the Kherson oblast, with Russian forces targeting “the residential quarters of the populated areas of the region” as well as the banking institution in the Berislav district, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on the messaging app Telegram. In Berislav, the aerial attacks also destroyed private homes and injured a police officer, as well as a 48-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman.
Ukraine has reported breaking through Russian defence lines in the Zaporizhzhia area in the country’s south, with a general leading the counteroffensive there saying the advance is still under way. “On the left flank [near the village of Verbove] we have a breakthrough and we continue to advance further,” Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy told CNN. He said progress was “not as fast as it was expected, not like in the movies about the second world war”, but it was important “not to lose this initiative”.
Nine people were killed and 16 injured, among them two generals, in a Ukrainian airstrike on Russia’s Black Sea naval headquarters in Crimea, according to the head of Ukrainian military intelligence. Kyrylo Budanov told the Voice of America that “among the wounded is the commander of the group, Col Gen [Alexander] Romanchuk, in a very serious condition. The chief of staff, Lt Gen [Oleg] Tsekov, is unconscious.” A Ukrainian missile hit the headquarters in Sevastopol on Friday. Russia’s defence ministry said one military serviceman was missing as a result.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said Ukraine’s formula for peace is “completely not feasible” and that the war will be resolved on the battlefield if Kyiv and the west stick to the plan as a basis for negotiations. Lavrov accused western powers of directly fighting Russia, in comments at the United Nations.
Lavrov said Russia left the Black Sea grain deal because promises to Moscow had not been met. On the latest proposals by the UN secretary general to revive the deal, Lavrov said: “We don’t reject them, they are simply not realistic.”
