Summary
That’s all from me, Samantha Lock, for now. Please join me a little a later when we launch our new live blog covering all the latest developments from Ukraine.
Here is a comprehensive run-down of where things currently stand as of 3am.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, admitted that Russian forces have the numerical advantage in the battle for the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but insisted that Ukraine’s forces had “every chance” of fighting back and are “standing strong”. “Our heroes do not give up positions in Sievierodonetsk. In the city, fierce street fighting continues,” he said in his latest national address, adding: “The Ukrainian Donbas stands, stands strong”. Zelenskiy said Sievierodonetsk and its sister city of Lysychansk “are dead cities today”.
- Zelenskiy also said he believed Russian troops intend to capture the city of Zaporizhzhia, a large industrial hub in the south east of the country, which would allow its military to advance closer to central areas. “There are more of them, they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on this direction,” he said.
- Russia has begun handing over bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion. Dozens of bodies have been transferred to Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokesperson for the Azov battalion.
- Russian officials in occupied Mariupol have shut down the southern port city for quarantine over a possible cholera outbreak, according to Ukrainian authorities. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said the Russian-occupied city is bracing itself for an epidemic as dead bodies and litter are piling up in the city.
- Sexual violence in Ukraine remains prevalent and underreported as Russia’s invasion is “turning into a human trafficking crisis” according to the UN. “Women and children fleeing the conflict are being targeted for trafficking and exploitation” Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence, told a UN security council on Monday. “Sexual violence is the most consistently and massively under-reported violation.”
- The Ukrainian navy said it has pushed back a fleet of Russian warships more than 100km from its Black Sea coast. The group of Russian vessels were “forced to change tactics” after carrying out a naval blockade on Ukraine’s coast for weeks, the navy command of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook. It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
- Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would respond to western deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine by pushing back Kyiv’s forces further from Russia’s borders. Lavrov’s remarks come after Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said the UK will send long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine, in the hope they can disrupt the concentrated Russian artillery that has been pounding cities in eastern Ukraine.
- Ukraine needs 60 multiple rocket launchers – many more than the handful promised so far by the UK and US – to have a chance of defeating Russia, according to an aide to the country’s presidency. Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to the president’s chief of staff, told the Guardian that while he believed the rocket launchers were “a gamechanger weapon”, not enough had been committed to turn the tide in the war.
- Zelenskiy thanked the UK for providing precisely the weapons Kyiv says it needs to fight Russia. Boris Johnson, the Ukraine president said, had shown “complete understanding” of his country’s needs, a reaction to the British government’s decision Monday to supply Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems that can strike targets up to 80km (50 miles) away.
- The Kremlin has described a move by three eastern European countries to block Sergei Lavrov from flying to Serbia as a “hostile action”. Lavrov was due to hold talks in Belgrade on Monday with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, but was forced to cancel his visit after the countries around Serbia – Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro – closed their airspace to his aircraft.
- Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said there were credible reports that Russia was “pilfering” Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for its own profit. Blinken said the alleged theft was part of broader Russian actions to export Ukraine’s wheat crop and worsen a global food security crisis. “Now, Russia is hoarding its food exports as well,” he said. Zelenskiy said there could be as many as 75m tonnes of grain stuck in Ukraine by autumn.
- European Council President Charles Michel accused Russia of using food supplies as “a stealth missile against developing countries” and blamed the Kremlin for the looming global food crisis. “This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions. Russia is solely responsible for this food crisis,” Michel told a council meeting on Monday, prompting Moscow’s UN ambassador to walk out.
- US authorities have charged the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich with exporting two planes of US origin to Russia without a licence. Prosecutors say both planes – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream G650ER – were flown in March to Russia, in violation of US sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
- The families of Russian national guard members who have died in Ukraine and Syria will receive a one-time payment of 5m rubles (£65,000 or $80,000), according to a Kremlin decree.
Updated
Ukraine needs many more rocket launchers from west, says adviser
Ukraine needs 60 multiple rocket launchers – many more than the handful promised so far by the UK and US – to have a chance of defeating Russia, according to an aide to the country’s presidency.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to the president’s chief of staff, told the Guardian that while he believed the rocket launchers were “a gamechanger weapon”, not enough had been committed to turn the tide in the war.
“The fewer we get, the worse our situation will be. Our troops will continue to die and we will continue to lose ground,” Arestovych said, particularly if countries with dozens of systems only “decide to donate four or five”.
Arestovych said Ukraine needed many times more multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), which have a range far greater than anything in the country’s existing arsenal.
“If we get 60 of these systems then the Russians will lose all ability to advance anywhere, they will be stopped dead in their tracks. If we get 40 they will advance, albeit very slowly with heavy casualties; with 20 they will continue to advance with higher casualties than now,” he said.
European Council President Charles Michel has also responded to reports of Russian forces using sexual violence as a weapon of war.
We hear reports of Russian forces wielding sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Sexual violence is a war crime. A crime against humanity. A tactic of torture, terror, and repression. Shameful acts in a shameful war.
These crimes must be exposed to the light of day and prosecuted without impunity.”
Michel said he will be hosting a UN ‘Women in Conflicts’ conference on 9 June in Brussels.
We hear reports of Russian forces wielding sexual violence as a weapon of war.
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) June 6, 2022
Sexual violence is a war crime. A crime against humanity.
A tactic of torture, terror, and repression.
Shameful acts in a shameful war.@UN #UNSC pic.twitter.com/ncKPq564Yx
Updated
EU blames Russia for looming global food crisis
European Council President Charles Michel has accused Russia of using food supplies as “a stealth missile against developing countries” and blamed the Kremlin for the looming global food crisis, prompting Moscow’s UN ambassador to walk out of a Security Council meeting.
Michel addressed Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia directly at the council meeting on Monday, saying he saw millions of tons of grain and wheat stuck in containers and ships at the Ukrainian port of Odessa a few weeks ago.
That was “because of Russian warships in the Black Sea,” and Moscow’s attacks on transport infrastructure and grain storage facilities, and its tanks, bombs and mines that are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting, he said.
The Kremlin is using food supplies as a stealth missile against developing countries.
This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions. Russia is solely responsible for this food crisis.
Michel also accused Russian forces of stealing grain from areas it has occupied “while shifting the blame of others,” calling this “cowardly” and “propaganda, pure and simple.”
It is Russia’s tanks, bombs and mines that are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting.
The Kremlin is also targeting grain storages and stealing grain from areas it has occupied while shifting the blame on others. This is cowardly. This is propaganda.”
The Kremlin is using food supplies as a stealth missile against developing countries.
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) June 6, 2022
This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions.
Russia is solely responsible for this food crisis.
Despite its campaign of lies.@UN #UNSC pic.twitter.com/luL28xXUWB
Nebenzia walked out during Michel’s briefing, giving Russia’s seat to another diplomat.
Michel gave strong backing to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ efforts to get a package agreement that would allow grain exports from Ukraine and ensure that Russian food and fertiliser have unrestricted access to global markets.
Ukraine and Russia together produce almost a third of the world’s wheat and barley and half of its sunflower oil, while Russia and its ally Belarus are the world’s number two and three producers of potash, a key ingredient of fertiliser.
Guterres warned last month that global hunger levels “are at a new high,” with the number of people facing severe food insecurity doubling in just two years from 135 million before the Covid-19 pandemic to 276 million today. He said more than 500,000 people are living in famine conditions -- an increase of more than 500% since 2016.
Updated
I’m handing over control of the Ukraine blog now to my colleagues in Australia. Thanks for joining me.
As fierce fighting rages in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and around the city of Sievierodonetsk, I’ll leave you with this altogether more tranquil image from Kyiv tonight, showing the moon rising behind St Sophia’s cathedral.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy also had kind words for the beleaguered Boris Johnson in his Monday night address, thanking the UK for providing precisely the weapons Kyiv says it needs to fight Russia, Reuters reports.
Johnson, the Ukraine president said, had shown “complete understanding” of his country’s needs, a reaction to the British government’s decision Monday - made in coordination with the US - to supply Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems that can strike targets up to 80km (50 miles) away.
Zelenskiy said:
I am grateful to prime minister Boris Johnson for the complete understanding of our demands and preparedness to provide Ukraine with exactly the weapons that it so needs to protect the lives of our people.
Updated
Ukrainian forces facing a fierce Russian military onslaught in Donbas region are “standing strong”, the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in his Monday night video address.
Zelenskiy said his troops are not giving up positions in Sievierodonetsk, a city where some of the war’s biggest ground battles have been taking place, and which he earlier called “a dead city”.
“Our heroes do not give up positions in Sievierodonetsk. In the city, fierce street fighting continues,” Zelenskiy said, according to Reuters.
Referring to the broader industrial Donbas region where Sievierodonetsk is located, Zelenskiy said: “And the Ukrainian Donbas stands, stands strong”.
US: Russia 'pilfering Ukraine's grain to sell for profit'
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said on Monday there were credible reports that Russia was “pilfering” Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for its own profit.
According to Reuters, Blinken said the alleged theft was part of broader Russian actions during its war in Ukraine that have hit the invaded country’s ability to export its wheat crop and worsened a global food security crisis.
He was speaking during a virtual roundtable hosted by the state department with philanthropies, non-governmental organizations and private sector entities, the agency said:
There are credible reports... that Russia is pilfering Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for its own profit. Now, Russia is hoarding its food exports as well.
[The war] is having a devastating impact on global food security because Ukraine is one of the breadbaskets of the world.
Earlier today Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there could be as many as 75m tonnes of grain stuck in Ukraine by autumn, and that his government has been discussing with the UK and Turkey the idea of a third country’s navy guaranteeing the passage of grain exports through the Russia-dominated Black Sea.
Meanwhile, European Council president Charles Michel accused Russia of using food supplies as “a stealth missile against developing countries”, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Michel blamed the Kremlin for a looming global food crisis, prompting Moscow’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia to walk out.
He said he saw millions of tons of grain and wheat stuck in containers and ships at the Ukrainian port of Odessa a few weeks ago. He said it was “because of Russian warships in the Black Sea,” Moscow’s attacks on transport infrastructure and grain storage facilities, and the invasion preventing planting and harvesting:
This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilizing entire regions.
Russia is solely responsible for this looming food crisis. Russia alone.
Read more:
Updated
Zelenskiy: Russia wants Zaporizhzhia; peace talks 'at level zero'
The Associated Press has more details from Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s news conference earlier today, during which he said peace talks with Russia were at “level zero”.
Ukraine’s president also said he believed Russian troops intended to capture Zaporizhzhia, a large city in the south east of the country, which would allow its military to advance closer to central areas, the agency reported.
The city, which has a population of about 720,000, is capital of the region that shares its name, one of the biggest industrial hubs in that part of the country. Russia already occupies vast swathes of the region, and has previously captured Kherson and Mariupol, other large cities in Ukraine’s south.
Zelenskiy said Russia’s advances created “the most threatening situation”, but that his country’s forces were digging in for the fight:
The enemy wants to... occupy the city of Zaporizhzhia. There are more of them, they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on this direction.
Earlier in the briefing, Zelenskiy admitted that Russian forces also had the numerical advantage in the battle for the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but insisted that Ukraine’s military was “holding on” in a “difficult” situation.
Sievierodonetsk and its sister city of Lysychansk “are dead cities today”, he said, adding that the Ukrainian command would “make decisions according to the situation”.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 civilians are still in Sievierodonetsk, which has been shelled for weeks by Russian artillery, Zelenskiy said.
Isobel Koshiw, a Guardian correspondent in Ukraine, reported in April on preparations in Zaporizhzhia for the impending battle. Read her story here:
UN official: Ukraine war 'creating human trafficking crisis'
The “unprecedented” displacement of millions of Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion is “turning into a human trafficking crisis”, according to Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence.
Patten told the UN security council in New York on Monday that western allies already supporting Ukraine’s resistance militarily also needed a “coherent and coordinated response” to address the emergency:
Women and children fleeing the conflict are being targeted for trafficking and exploitation – in some cases facing further exposure to rape and other risks while seeking refuge.
The lack of consistent vetting of accommodation offers and transportation arrangements is a serious concern, as well as the limited capacity of protection services to address the velocity and volume of displacement.
There are also concerns regarding the multiplicity of volunteers, with limited vetting, and little or no training or experience.
Among incidents recorded, she said, according to CNN, were a male volunteer waking a 19-year-old woman refugee in a sleeping hall in Poland at 2am and offering her a lift to France; and another male wearing a volunteer vest who was reported for approaching only single women among refugees arriving at a train station in Poland.
Patten, who has recently visited Ukraine, said:
The prevalence of sexual violence in conflicts throughout history teaches us that reinforcing prevention, protection, and service-delivery is critical from the onset of any armed conflict.
US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces against Ukrainians:
It is on Russia to stop rape, violence, and atrocities from within its ranks. It is on Russia to end this unconscionable, unprovoked war on the people of Ukraine, and we call on the Russian federation to do just that.
Several dozen more US politicians and media and corporate executives were added to Russia’s list of sanctioned individuals on Monday, according to Reuters.
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, the energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, and the trade representative, Katherine Tai, are among those now banned from Russia for what the country’s foreign ministry concedes is retaliation for “constantly expanding US sanctions against Russian political and public figures, as well as representatives of domestic business”.
Also included in the new list of 61 are Edward Bastian, the chief executive of Delta Air Lines, the White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, and Jeffrey Sprecher, the chair of the New York stock exchange.
Joe Biden was on a list of 963 individuals sanctioned by Russia last month in a largely symbolic gesture.
That list blocked the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and the CIA head, William Burns, from entering Russia.
It also imposed “lifetime” bans on former US senators John McCain, Harry Reid and Orrin Hatch, who are all dead.
Updated
Hello, it’s Richard Luscombe in the US, and I’ll be guiding you through the next few hours.
The Associated Press is reporting that Russia has begun handing over bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion.
The Guardian reported last week that, outside of the steelworks, the number of bodies in the city was overwhelming, with estimates ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 dead.
The AP says dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out plant’s now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the Kyiv region, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokesperson for the Azov battalion.
The volunteer battalion was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for nearly three months before surrendering last month under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, sea and air.
It is unclear how many bodies remain at the plant.
Read more:
Updated
Summary
It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Russian officials in occupied Mariupol have shut down the southern port city for quarantine over a possible cholera outbreak, according to Ukrainian authorities. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said the Russian-occupied city is bracing itself for an epidemic as dead bodies and litter are piling up in the city.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, admitted that Russian forces have the numerical advantage in the battle for the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but insisted that Ukraine’s forces had “every chance” of fighting back. Zelenskiy said Sievierodonetsk and its sister city of Lysychansk “are dead cities today”. The mayor of Sievierodonetsk, Oleksandr Stryuk, said Ukraine had “focused enough forces and resources there to beat back attacks” by Russia but neither side is preparing to withdraw.
- President Zelenskiy visited the frontline close to the fiercest fighting between his country’s troops and Russian forces in the east, where a regional official said the situation had worsened for Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the beleaguered city of Lysychansk on Sunday, just a few kilometres south of Sievierodonetsk, the main battlefield in the east, where Russia has concentrated its forces.
- The Ukrainian navy said it has pushed back a fleet of Russian warships more than 100km from its Black Sea coast. The group of Russian vessels were “forced to change tactics” after carrying out a naval blockade on Ukraine’s coast for weeks, the navy command of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook. It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
- Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would respond to western deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine by pushing back Kyiv’s forces further from Russia’s borders. Lavrov’s remarks come after Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said the UK will send long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine, in the hope they can disrupt the concentrated Russian artillery that has been pounding cities in eastern Ukraine.
- Ukraine needs 60 multiple rocket launchers – many more than the handful promised so far by the UK and US – to have a chance of defeating Russia, according to an aide to the country’s presidency. Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to the president’s chief of staff, told the Guardian that while he believed the rocket launchers were “a gamechanger weapon”, not enough had been committed to turn the tide in the war.
-
The Kremlin has described a move by three eastern European countries to block Sergei Lavrov from flying to Serbia as a “hostile action”. Lavrov was due to hold talks in Belgrade today with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, but was forced to cancel his visit after the countries around Serbia – Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro – closed their airspace to his aircraft.
-
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has urged countries not to trust Vladimir Putin’s promises not to use trade routes to attack the southern port city of Odesa. Putin has said Ukraine could use the ports of Mykolayiv and Odesa for food exports, and that Russia would not use the mine clearance situation to launch “some attacks from the sea”. Kuleba said Putin’s words were “empty”.
-
US authorities have charged the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich with exporting two planes of US origin to Russia without a licence. Prosecutors say both planes – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream G650ER – were flown in March to Russia, in violation of US sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today. My colleague Richard Luscombe will be here shortly to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. I’ll be back tomorrow.
Updated
Ukraine needs 60 multiple rocket launchers – many more than the handful promised so far by the UK and US – to have a chance of defeating Russia, according to an aide to the country’s presidency.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to the president’s chief of staff, told the Guardian that while he believed the rocket launchers were “a gamechanger weapon”, not enough had been committed to turn the tide in the war.
“The fewer we get, the worse our situation will be. Our troops will continue to die and we will continue to lose ground,” particularly if countries with dozens of systems only “decide to donate four or five”, Arestovych said.
On Monday Britain said it would donate a handful of M270 tracked rocket launchers, carrying missiles with a range of about 50 miles, a few days after the US said it would donate four similar truck-based high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars).
Arestovych said Ukraine needed many more multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), which have a range far greater than anything in the country’s existing arsenal. He said:
If we get 60 of these systems then the Russians will lose all ability to advance anywhere, they will be stopped dead in their tracks. If we get 40 they will advance, albeit very slowly with heavy casualties; with 20 they will continue to advance with higher casualties than now.
The US army has 363 Himars and 225 M270 rocket launchers, and the US Marines have a further 47, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, while the UK has 35 of its version of the M270s – indicating there could be capacity to supply more to Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly said it will intensify its offensive in Ukraine if the longer-range rockets are delivered. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said on Monday:
The longer the range of weapons you supply, the farther away the line from where neo-Nazis [the Ukrainians] could threaten the Russian Federation will be pushed.
Read Dan Sabbagh’s full article: Ukraine needs many more rocket launchers from west, says adviser
Updated
Russian warships pushed back 100km, says Ukraine’s navy
The Ukrainian navy said it has pushed back a fleet of Russian warships more than 100km from its Black Sea coast.
The group of Russian vessels were “forced to change tactics” after carrying out a naval blockade on Ukraine’s coast for weeks, the navy command of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook.
The navy’s update said:
As a result of our active actions on the impact of the enemy’s naval forces, the Russian Black Sea Fleet ship grouping was thrown off Ukrainian shores for more than a hundred kilometres. In an attempt to regain control of the north-western part of the Black Sea, the opponent had to change tactics: deployed Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems in Crimea and in Kherson region; redeploy additional forces to Snake Island.
A group of about 30 Russian ships and submarines continue to block civilian navigation, it said, while the situation in the north-western Black Sea remained “difficult”.
The statement continued:
We have deprived the Russian Black Sea Fleet of complete control over the north-west part of the Black Sea, which has turned into the “grey zone”. Meanwhile, the enemy has adopted our tactics, and is trying to reclaim control of the north-west part of the Black Sea through coastal missile complexes and winged air missiles.
It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
Updated
US authorities have charged the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich with exporting two planes of US origin to Russia without a licence.
A federal court in New York signed a warrant today authorising the seizure of two planes owned by Abramovich, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream G650ER, according to court papers.
Prosecutors say both planes were flown in March to Russia, in violation of US sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich has been sanctioned by the EU and Britain, but he has not been personally sanctioned by the US.
Updated
'Epidemic' of cholera has already begun in Mariupol, says official
Russian officials in occupied Mariupol have shut down the southern port city for quarantine over a possible cholera outbreak, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, told Ukrainian television that the city is bracing itself for an epidemic as dead bodies and litter are piling up in the city.
Andryushchenko, who left the city early on in the war, cited his sources still in the city, saying:
The word ‘cholera’ is increasingly heard in the city among local officials and their supervisors. As far as we can see the epidemic has more or less begun already.
He said they were aware of isolated cases in Mariupol, where most of the city’s infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian airstrikes.
The Kyiv Independent reports that Ukraine’s health ministry warned that mass burials and poor access to clean water were creating a risk of cholera in Mariupol.
The ministry began reporting suspected cases of cholera in the region on 1 June, the paper reports.
⚡️ Health Ministry: Risk of cholera in Mariupol.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 6, 2022
Mass burials, poor access to clean water lead to a critical situation in Russian-occupied Mariupol, said Deputy Health Minister Ihor Kuzin. The ministry began monitoring suspected cases of cholera in the region on June 1.
Updated
Updated
A quick snap from Reuters, citing the Russian state-owned news agency Tass: president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree ordering the payment of 5m roubles to the families of each member of Russia’s national guard who died in Ukraine and Syria, Tass reports.
Updated
Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk are ‘dead cities’, says Zelenskiy
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, admitted that Russian forces have the numerical advantage in the battle for the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but insisted that Ukraine’s forces had “every chance” of fighting back.
Speaking at a briefing in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces defending Sievierodonetsk were “holding on” despite assaults by Russian troops, but that the situation on the eastern front was “difficult”.
The cities of Sievierodonetsk and its sister city of Lysychansk “are dead cities today”, he said.
Moscow’s forces were “more numerous and more powerful”, Zelenskiy said, but he argued that Ukraine’s forces had “every chance” of fighting back and the Ukrainian command would “make decisions according to the situation”.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 civilians are still in Sievierodonetsk, which has been shelled for weeks by Russian artillery, Zelenskiy said.
He said the situation would become very difficult for Ukraine if Russia breaks through in the eastern region of Donbas.
Updated
An investigative journalist known for his coverage of Russian security agencies said he had been placed on a wanted list and that Russian authorities had frozen his bank accounts.
Andrei Soldatov, who co-founded the Agentura.ru website, tweeted that his accounts in Russian banks were “under arrest, plus I’m placed on Russia’s wanted list”.
My Monday: my accounts in Russian banks are under arrest, plus I'm placed on Russia's wanted list.
— Andrei Soldatov (@AndreiSoldatov) June 6, 2022
In a separate post on Telegram, Soldatov said the case against him had been filed in a manner similar to that of two journalists accused of spreading “fake information” about Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Russia’s interior ministry website listed Soldatov as wanted under an unspecified article of the criminal code, Reuters reports.
Updated
Italy summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest over allegations by Moscow that the Italian media were waging an anti-Russian propaganda campaign through their coverage of the Ukraine war.
Italy’s foreign ministry said it called in ambassador Sergey Razov to reject “insinuations concerning the alleged involvement of our country’s media in an anti-Russian campaign”, it said in a statement.
It added that it “firmly rejected accusations of amorality” levelled at unnamed Italian officials and journalists by the Russian foreign ministry.
On Saturday, the Russian embassy in Rome posted on Facebook purported extracts from a report by the Russian foreign ministry on the “violation of Russian citizens’ rights” abroad.
The report criticised “an open anti-Russian campaign in the Italian media” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a “biased approach” which it said “has a key influence on the attitude of Italians towards Russians”.
The “great campaign launched in Italy against Russian culture and its representatives has led to a series of unpleasant incidents”, it said, including alleged discrimination in the healthcare and banking sectors.
In a separate post, the embassy said Razov had repudiated the criticism during his meeting with the secretary general of Italy’s foreign ministry.
Razov “pointed out that the propaganda line that is dominating in the Italian media can hardly be qualified otherwise than as hostile”, the embassy said.
It claimed the ambassador “called for moderation and balance, traditional for Italian foreign policy, in the interest of maintaining positive relations and cooperation between the Russian and Italian peoples in the long term”.
Updated
The UK Ministry of Justice has announced a second tranche of support for the international criminal court’s (ICC) investigations into war crimes in Ukraine, including the deployment of a specialist legal and police team.
Karim Khan QC, the court’s chief prosecutor, was due in London on Monday to provide an update on the progress of the investigation, although his trip was later cancelled due to illness. The deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, will present further support to the independent investigation on top of the £1m of funding provided earlier this year.
The package includes a police liaison officer based in The Hague to lead on information sharing between the UK and the ICC, and seven legal experts to support the ICC with expertise in international criminal law and the handling of evidence to be presented to court.
The UK will also provide two police officers with expertise in the collection of intelligence through publicly available data sources, ongoing defence analysis and monitoring of events in Ukraine, as well as war crimes investigation training to Ukrainian police on behalf of the ICC, in collaboration with Norwegian police.
Raab said:
The UK has responded swiftly to a request from the international criminal court for more police and lawyers to aid their investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Russian forces should know that they will be held to account for their actions and the global community will work together to ensure justice is served.
The attorney general, Suella Braverman, added:
Following my appointment of war crimes expert Sir Howard Morrison as an independent adviser to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office, I am determined that British expertise continues to be available to our friends in Ukraine in their search for justice. We will stand side by side as they uncover the truth and hold those responsible in Putin’s regime to account for their actions.
The ICC launched its war crimes investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March after an unprecedented number of countries backed the move and Boris Johnson called the military intervention “abhorrent”.
Zelenskiy: 75m tonnes of grain could be stuck in Ukraine by autumn
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said there could be as much as 75 million tonnes of grain stuck in Ukraine by this autumn, and that Kyiv wanted anti-ship weapons that could secure the safe passage of its exports.
Zelenskiy told a briefing in Kyiv that Ukraine has been discussing with Britain and Turkey the idea of a third country’s navy guaranteeing the passage of Ukrainian grain exports through the Russia-dominated Black Sea.
The strongest guarantee of their safe passage, though, would be Ukrainian weaponry, Reuters reports he told the media.
Updated
As well as the court fine for Radio Liberty/Radio Free Moscow, today was the day that US media outlets were due to be summoned to Russia’s foreign ministry.
Guy Faulconbridge is reporting for Reuters what they claim to be an exclusive from sources who have said what happened at the meeting.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, is said to have outlined the difficulties for Russian journalists there, including over visa renewals, blocked bank accounts and alleged harassment by US intelligence agencies, according to three Reuters sources with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Zakharova warned the outlets that if Russian journalists were not able to work freely in the US, their reporters in Russia risked facing similar difficulties with their visas, media accreditation and bank accounts.
According to the Reuters report, she told the US media representatives that unless things changed, the US journalists would have to leave. She added that Russia did not want to do this but was being forced to because of the plight of Russian journalists.
Zakharova did not respond to a written request to comment on the meeting from Reuters. It is not known whether the timing of the meeting – on 6 June, when Ukraine is celebrating a day recognising journalists – was deliberate or coincidental.
The RIA state news agency said that representatives of the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Associated Press and NPR attended the meeting.
President Vladimir Putin signed a law in March imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military, prompting some western media to pull their journalists out of Russia.
Updated
Radio Free Europe fined 20m roubles for broadcasting what Russian court deems 'fake' information about war on Ukraine
A Moscow court has fined US-backed broadcaster Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe 20m roubles (£260,000/$325,214) over what it deems to be “fake” content about Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, according to reports from Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Reuters notes that Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked the websites of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and some other foreign media in early March.
Updated
Here are some more of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.
Updated
European unity over the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is proving difficult to maintain in the face of the war’s impact on inflation and living standards across the continent, Estonia’s prime minister has said.
Kaja Kallas also criticised the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for trying to provide Vladimir Putin with a diplomatic way out of the conflict, saying the only effect was to give the Russian leader the belief that he will not be isolated or face justice for his army’s war crimes.
“We are at a point when sanctions start to [damage] our side,” said Kallas, who has gained a growing reputation for standing up to Putin.
At first the sanctions were only difficult for Russia but now we are coming to a point when the sanctions are painful for our own countries, and now the question is how much pain are we willing to endure. It is different for different countries. The unity is very hard to keep. It is getting more and more difficult because of high inflation, and energy prices.
She added:
Gas might be expensive, but freedom is priceless. People living in the free world do not really understand that.
She said that as a teenager she had been liberated from a Russian totalitarian prison – Estonia was annexed by the USSR until 1991. “I know what it feels like and this is the experience of central and eastern countries,” she said.
But this is an experience that some western European countries do not have, so the values might go out of the window as soon as you feel the pain on your side.
Ukraine has concentrated enough forces to repel Russian attacks in Sievierodonetsk but neither side is preparing to withdraw, according to the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Stryuk.
Street fighting rages in the frontline eastern city, Stryuk said, adding that Ukraine had “focused enough forces and resources there to beat back attacks” by Russia.
In separate comments, defence ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said Russia was not sparing troops or equipment in its push to capture Sievierodonetsk, the largest remaining Ukrainian-controlled city in the Luhansk region.
Updated
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would respond to western deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine by pushing back Kyiv’s forces further from Russia’s borders.
It comes after the UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said Britain will send a handful of tracked M270 multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine.
Reuters has quoted Lavrov as saying at a news conference:
The longer the range of the systems that will be delivered, the further we will move back the Nazis from that line from which threats to Russian-speakers and the Russian Federation may come.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has urged countries not to trust Vladimir Putin’s promises not to use trade routes to attack the southern port city of Odesa.
Putin has said Ukraine could use the ports of Mykolayiv and Odesa for food exports, and that Russia would not use the mine clearance situation to launch “some attacks from the sea”.
Kuleba tweeted:
Putin says he will not use trade routes to attack Odesa. This is the same Putin who told German Chancellor Scholz and French President Macron he would not attack Ukraine – days before launching a full-scale invasion of our country.
We can not trust Putin, his words are empty.
Putin says he will not use trade routes to attack Odesa. This is the same Putin who told German Chancellor Scholz and French President Macron he would not attack Ukraine — days before launching a full-scale invasion of our country. We can not trust Putin, his words are empty.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) June 6, 2022
Updated
Here’s more on the call between Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson. The pair discussed efforts to end Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
A No 10 statement said:
The leaders also discussed diplomatic negotiations and efforts to end the damaging Russian blockade of Ukraine’s grain exports.
Russia calls decision to block Lavrov’s plane ‘hostile action’
The Kremlin has described a move by three eastern European countries to block the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, from flying to Serbia as a “hostile action”.
Lavrov was due to hold talks in Belgrade today with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, but was forced to cancel his visit after the countries around Serbia – Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro – closed their airspace to his aircraft.
Lavrov described the move to block his plane as “unprecedented” and said he would invite his Serbian counterpart to visit him in Moscow instead. He told reporters:
If a visit by the Russian foreign minister to Serbia is seen in the west as something approaching a threat on a universal scale, then things in the west are clearly pretty bad.
Serbia is one of Moscow’s few remaining allies in Europe since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February. While Serbia has condemned Russia’s military action in Ukraine, it has not joined the EU in imposing sanctions on Moscow, despite its bid to join the bloc.
Serbia’s interior minister, Aleksandar Vulin, said he deeply regretted “the obstruction” of the visit of Lavrov, whom he described as “a great and proven friend of Serbia”. He said those countries who blocked his plane “do not want peace, they dream of defeating Russia”.
Vulin said:
Serbia is proud that it is not part of the anti-Russian hysteria, and the countries that are will have time to be ashamed.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, called the move “another closed channel of communication” in comments reported by Russian news agencies.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he spoke with Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, who confirmed a new package of UK military aid to Kyiv.
The pair are “looking for ways to avoid the food crisis and unblock ports”, Zelenskiy tweeted.
Talked with @BorisJohnson. Told about the situation on the front. Received confirmation of a new enhanced defense support package for 🇺🇦. Raised the issue of intensifying work on security guarantees. Jointly with 🇬🇧 we’re looking for ways to avoid the food crisis & unblock ports.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 6, 2022
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong taking over from Martin Belam today. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Ukrainian partisans in occupied areas of the country are increasing attacks and sabotage efforts on Russian forces and their local collaborators, with organised underground efforts appearing to spread, Peter Beaumont and Isobel Koshiw report.
Six Russian border guards were reportedly killed last week when their position came under fire near the Zernovo border checkpoint in Ukraine’s north. Two days later an explosion struck close to the office of Yevgeny Balitsky, a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian official in Melitopol.
The increase in partisan warfare, particularly in the country’s south around Kherson, follows warnings at the outset of Russia’s war against Ukraine that any area under occupation was likely to see the emergence of guerrilla warfare.
The subject is one of the murkiest of the war in Ukraine. Both sides have an interest in exaggerating its prevalence: the Russians to justify crackdowns in areas they occupy and the Ukrainians to demoralise Russian troops.
Also complicating the issue is assessing the extent to which attacks are being carried out by Ukrainian military sabotage groups or homegrown resistance groups.
Partisans are usually defined as members of an armed group formed to fight secretly against an occupying force, for instance in Nazi-occupied Europe. The term holds more positive connotations than insurgent.
The Melitopol incident, involving a car packed full of explosives, was significant enough to focus renewed attention on a phenomenon that has been occurring since almost the beginning of the war.
Updated
The UN nuclear watchdog is “developing the modalities” for an international mission of experts it hopes to send to the Russian-held nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia in south-east Ukraine, its chief, Rafael Grossi, said.
In a statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board of governors, Grossi said:
We are developing the modalities to dispatch such a mission; other considerations should not prevent this essential international mission from taking place.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Europe’s largest and has been occupied by Russian troops since shortly after they invaded Ukraine. The facility is still operated by Ukrainian technicians.
Updated
- President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited his troops on Ukraine’s eastern frontlines on Sunday to understand the position of Ukrainian defenders as Russia’s assault on Donbas continues. According to a release from his office, Zelenskiy visited command posts and frontline positions of Ukrainian troops in the area of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region and Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, just a few kilometres south from Sievierodonetsk, where Ukraine claims to be fighting back in one of the war’s biggest ground battles.
- Russian forces continue to storm the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and fired missiles at the nearby cities of Sloviansk, Lysychansk and Orikhove, Ukraine’s military has said. Russian troops fired at Ukrainian units defending Sievierodonetsk with mortars and artillery fire, damaging infrastructure in the towns of Metolkino, Borivske, Ustynivka and Toshkivka.
- Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has reported today that the situation has worsened a little for Ukraine in Sievierodonetsk and that there is intense street fighting. He told national television: “Our defenders managed to undertake a counterattack for a certain time; they liberated almost half of the city. But now the situation has worsened a little for us again.”
- Haidai also said that “the number of shellings in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk increased tenfold. In the Luhansk region there are many cities with a situation comparable to Mariupol: now the Russians are levelling Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.”
- A total of 262 children have been killed and 467 injured since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to newly released figures from Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office.
- Oleksandr Senkevych, mayor of Mykolaiv, has reported on Telegram that there have been explosions in the city.
- The headquarters of the territorial defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has posted to Telegram to say that one person has been killed and five people have been injured in the last 24 hours by Ukrainian shelling into the occupied territory of Donetsk.
- The Russian missile attack on Kyiv early on Sunday was likely an attempt to disrupt the supply of western military equipment to frontline Ukrainian units, according to British intelligence.
- Britain is to supply long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine, despite a threat on Sunday from Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to bomb fresh targets if similar weapons from the US were delivered to Kyiv. The UK will send a handful of tracked M270 multiple launch rocket systems, which can hit targets up to 50 miles away, in the hope they can disrupt the concentrated Russian artillery that has been pounding cities in eastern Ukraine.
- Anthony Albanese, Australia’s new prime minister, has confirmed Australia will attend the G20 meeting in Bali in November despite Russia’s controversial attendance at the summit.
- Russia should not close the US embassy in Moscow despite the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine because the world’s two biggest nuclear powers must continue to talk, the US ambassador to Moscow, John J Sullivan, was quoted as saying.
- Nato kicked off a nearly two-week US-led naval exercise on the Baltic Sea on Sunday with more than 7,000 sailors, air personnel and marines from 16 nations, including Finland and Sweden – who aspire to join the military alliance. “It is important for us, the United States, and the other Nato countries to show solidarity with both Finland and Sweden in this exercise,” Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said.
- A Russian general, Maj Gen Roman Kutuzov, was killed in eastern Ukraine, a Russian state media journalist said on Sunday, adding to the string of high-ranking military casualties sustained by Moscow. There was no immediate comment from the Russian defence ministry.
- Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia has been cancelled after countries around Serbia closed their airspace to his aircraft, according to local media reports. A senior foreign ministry source told the Interfax news agency that Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro had closed their airspace to the plane that would have carried Moscow’s top diplomat to Belgrade on Monday. “Our diplomacy has yet to master teleportation,” the source said.
- Spain is to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles and Leopard battle tanks in a step up of its military support, according to government sources cited by newspaper El País. Spain will provide essential training to the Ukrainian military in how to use the tanks, according to the reports.
- A Ukrainian lawmaker, Yevhen Yakovenko, was detained at the Moldovan border at the request of Interpol, Moldova’s border police said on Sunday. Viorel Tentiu, the head of Interpol in Moldova, said in a statement that Yakovenko was put on the list following accusations from Belarus of bribery and corruption.
- Russia’s sanctions against Gazprom Germania and its subsidiaries could cost German taxpayers and gas users an extra €5bn (£4.27bn) a year to pay for replacement gas, the Welt am Sonntag weekly reported, citing industry representatives.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. Léonie Chao-Fong is taking over the live blog.
Updated
Russia’s Kursk region governor Roman Starovoit is in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in Ukraine today. He has posted to his Telegram account:
The main task of the working trip is to get acquainted with the Pervomaisk district, over which the Kursk region took patronage. I plan to visit social facilities during the day, where our help is needed in the first place. I know there are many problems in the cities and villages of the Kursk region. But now, as a human being, we cannot leave our people in a difficult situation.
Pervomaisk is in the area of Crimea previously annexed by Russia.
Earlier Starovoit reported on Telegram that Tetkino in the Kursk region, which is just over the border from Ukraine, was shelled by Ukrainian forces.
More than 100 days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s strategic assessment of the conflict is becoming clearer: it does not wish to be cast in the same light as Russia, but the war has deepened Beijing’s mistrust of the west.
In Beijing’s view, the pessimism has been exacerbated by the US and its allies’ recent efforts, for example, to help Taiwan increase its international recognition. On Monday last week, Beijing made the second-largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defence zone this year, with Taipei reporting 30 jets entering the area, including more than 20 fighters.
China’s tone has also evolved from sitting on the fence to outright defensive. When the conflict first began in late February, Beijing tried to be “impartial”, but in the last few weeks, it deployed the language that directly confronted the US-led Nato and western sanctions, calling them “financial terrorism” and “economic weaponisation”.
Read more from our China affairs correspondent Vincent Ni here: Ukraine war deepens China’s mistrust of the west
Updated
Anthony Albanese, Australia’s new prime minister, has confirmed Australia will attend the G20 meeting in Bali in November despite Russia’s controversial attendance at the summit, with the prime minister also pledging to assist Indonesia as host of the leaders meeting.
With some world leaders signalling they may not attend the event if Russia comes, Indonesia as the summit host has arranged for the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to make a virtual appearance.
On Monday, Albanese told his host, the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, that Australia would come to Bali in November because the G20 “is critical at this time of global economic uncertainty, and it will be by working with Indonesia that we most effectively tackle the many challenges we face in navigating the post-Covid global economic recovery”.
Read more of Katharine Murphy’s report here: Anthony Albanese tells Joko Widodo he will go to the G20 in Indonesia despite Russia’s attendance
Russia should not close the US embassy despite the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine because the world’s two biggest nuclear powers must continue to talk, the US ambassador to Moscow was quoted as saying today.
In what looks like a clear attempt to send a message to the Kremlin, John J Sullivan, the US ambassador appointed by the former president Donald Trump, told Russia’s state Tass news agency that Washington and Moscow should not simply break off diplomatic relations.
“We must preserve the ability to speak to each other,” Sullivan told Tass in an interview. He cautioned against the reported removal of the works of Leo Tolstoy from Western bookshelves or refusing to play the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
His remarks were reported by Tass in Russian and translated into English by Reuters.
Updated
6 June is celebrated as day of the journalist in Ukraine, and several civic leaders in the country have been posting in praise of the domestic journalists who have been covering the war. Typical is this message from Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Senkevych, who said:
In peacetime, I would like to wish you interesting texts, bright characters and sensational investigations – all that is highly valued in your profession. But today you all had to become military correspondents. At the risk of your life, you keep your information front every day and tell the truth about the situation in the country, the consequences of insidious enemy shelling and the heroism of Ukrainians. You show the stories of our strong warriors, fearless doctors and tireless volunteers. Sincere thanks to each of you. I wish you good health and unwavering faith in our victory.
Among the claims in today’s operational briefing from Russia’s ministry of defence are that:
- air defence shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft near the village of Slavyansk in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
- 13 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed.
- missile troops and artillery hit 431 areas of accumulation of manpower and military equipment.
- they claim to have killed over 300 Ukrainian forces, and to have destroyed 10 tanks, two Grad multiple rocket launchers, 17 special vehicles, 17 field artillery pieces and mortars, and a US-made counter-battery radar AN/TPQ-50.
None of the claims have been independently verified.
Updated
'The Russians are levelling Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk' – Luhansk governor
There have been some more updates on Telegram from civic leaders in Ukraine.
Oleksandr Senkevych, mayor of Mykolaiv, has said “Explosions are heard in the city. Friends, I ask everyone to go to the shelters. At the very least, follow the rules of the two walls.”
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, said that where were no air raid warnings overnight – in contrast to Kyiv region which was struck by missiles.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has added some more detail to his reports of the situation around Sievierodonetsk. He posted that “the number of shellings in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk increased tenfold. In the Luhansk region there are many cities with a situation comparable to Mariupol: Now the Russians are levelling Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.”
Updated
There are some further lines on Reuters from the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai. It reports he has said:
- the situation has worsened a little for Ukraine in Sievierodonetsk.
- there is intense street fighting raging in the city.
- Ukrainian forces are holding positions in the city’s industrial zone.
Speaking on national television, Haidai said: “Our defenders managed to undertake a counterattack for a certain time; they liberated almost half of the city. But now the situation has worsened a little for us again.”
Updated
The headquarters of the territorial defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has posted to Telegram to say that one person has been killed and five people have been injured in the last 24 hours by Ukrainian shelling into the occupied territory of Donetsk.
- This is Martin Belam on the live blog now, you can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
In 2014, the photojournalist Sergey Korovayny watched Russian forces take his home town, Khartsyzsk in Donetsk region. Eight years later, with the next invasion by Russia, he and his family fled their new home in Kyiv. The situation prompted Korovayny to track down others from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine who have also had to flee for a second time.
“Is it harder to lose their home again? Or do they already have these survival skills?” he asked. “Did they have the full tank of gas and luggage ready? And where are those homes now?”
In this photo essay, Korovayny meets the 2014 Ukraine refugees forced to flee for a second time:
Updated
Russian forces continue to storm the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and fired missiles at the nearby cities of Sloviansk, Lysychansk and Orikhove, Ukraine’s military has said.
Russian troops fired at Ukrainian units defending Sievierodonetsk with mortars and artillery fire, damaging infrastructure in the towns of Metolkino, Borivske, Ustynivka and Toshkivka, according to the latest operational report released by Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces.
Russian forces are also shelling the civilian infrastructure of the settlements of Chernihiv and Sumy, the military claims.
Updated
The parliamentary committee on Ukraine’s integration into the EU will hold a meeting today in order to draft bills on the adaptation of EU legislation, an official press release reads.
According to the draft agenda, the committee will focus on discussing a draft law on ratification of the agreement between Ukraine and the Netherlands on paid activities of family members of diplomatic and other personnel of diplomatic missions.
Other topics of discussion will include a draft law on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine concerning the recognition in Ukraine of the results of conformity assessment conducted in the member states of the European Union.
Updated
A total of 262 children have been killed and 467 injured since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to newly released figures from Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office.
Ювенальні прокурори:
— Верховна Рада України (@verkhovna_rada) June 6, 2022
729 дітей постраждали в Україні внаслідок повномасштабної збройної агресії росії. За офіційними даними, 262 дитини загинуло, 467 - поранені. pic.twitter.com/96B1C1q3lg
Attack on Kyiv likely attempt to disrupt supply of western arms, UK MoD says
The Russian missile attack on Kyiv early on Sunday was likely an attempt to disrupt the supply of western military equipment to frontline Ukrainian units, according to British intelligence.
The report, released by the UK Ministry of Defence, reads:
In the early hours of 5 June, Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles struck rail infrastructure in Kyiv, likely in an attempt disrupt the supply of western military equipment to frontline Ukrainian units.
In the Donbas, heavy fighting continues in the contested town of Sievierodonetsk and Russian forces continue to push towards Sloviansk as part of their attempted encirclement of Ukrainian forces.”
Following the loss of the Russian cruiser Moskva in April, Russian forces have likely moved multiple air defence assets to Snake Island in the western Black Sea, the report adds.
At sea, following the loss of the cruiser Moskva in April, Russian forces have likely moved multiple air defence assets to Snake Island in the western Black Sea, including SA-15 and SA-22 systems.
It is likely these weapons are intended to provide air defence for Russian naval vessels operating around Snake Island.
Russia’s activity on Snake Island contributes to its blockade of the Ukrainian coast and hinders the resumption of maritime trade, including exports of Ukrainian grain.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 6 June 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 6, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/7sDt8fXMK3
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/BwzT24DRlM
Updated
Here are some of the latest images to be sent over our newswires from Ukraine.
Updated
UK to send long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine
Britain is to supply long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine, despite a threat on Sunday from Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to bomb fresh targets if similar weapons from the US were delivered to Kyiv.
The UK will send a handful of tracked M270 multiple launch rocket systems, which can hit targets up to 50 miles away, in the hope they can disrupt the concentrated Russian artillery that has been pounding cities in eastern Ukraine.
Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, argued the decision to ship the rocket launchers was justified because “as Russia’s tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine”. The move risks further provoking an already irritated Kremlin.
The UK, in conjunction with the US and other western nations, began the war by promising only to supply “defensive weaponry” to help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion. But as Russia has made gains in the east and the south of the country, western countries have gradually sent more lethal arms.
London said it had been cooperating closely with Washington. The British announcement comes a few days after the US said it would send four similar truck-mounted Himars systems. The US and UK systems are intended to be complementary. The ranges of both are far greater than any land weapons Ukraine currently has.
Like the US, the UK has sought assurances from Kyiv that the M270s would not be used to strike targets within Russia. A British defence source said the weapons will be used “to defend Ukraine, in Ukraine”. They added: “We have confidence that the weapons will be used appropriately.”
Britain did not say how many M270s it was sending, although the number is small and will be comparable to the US decision to send four Himars. Ukrainian troops will be trained on how to use the launchers in the UK, the MoD added, and Kyiv’s forces will be supplied with the appropriate rockets “at scale”.
Russia struck Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with missiles early on Sunday for the first time in more than a month.
Columns of smoke were seen rising over the city after missiles hit the eastern outskirts, injuring at least one person, according to the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Russia’s defence ministry said the strikes had targeted tanks and other armoured vehicles on the outskirts of the city.
Five cruise missiles fired from the Caspian Sea were launched from Tu-95 bombers, one of which was intercepted, Ukraine’s air force said.
The attack, the first to hit Kyiv in five weeks, represents a change of approach on the part of Russian forces.
Video of the aftermath can be seen in the footage below.
Updated
Putin warns west he will strike at new targets
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, earlier warned that Moscow will hit new targets if the west supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles.
In an interview with Rossiya-1 state television, and without specifying what those targets were, Putin said:
We will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting.”
The Russian president’s comments come after President Joe Biden last week said Washington would supply Ukraine with M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, after he received assurances from Kyiv that it would not be used to target Russia.
Putin said the arms shipments were “nothing new” and “doesn’t change anything in essence” but cautioned that there would be a response if the United States supplied longer-range munitions for the HIMARS systems which have a maximum range of up to 300km (185 miles) or more.
If longer-range missiles are supplied, “we will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting,” Putin said.
Putin did not identify the targets Russia would strike, but said the “fuss” around western arms supplies was designed to drag out the conflict.
Updated
Zelenskiy visits troops on Ukraine's eastern frontlines
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited his troops on Ukraine’s eastern frontlines on Sunday to understand the position of Ukrainian defenders as Russia’s assault on Donbas continues.
According to a release from his office, Zelenskiy visited command posts and frontline positions of Ukrainian troops in the area of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region and Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, just a few kilometres south from Sievierodonetsk, where Ukraine claims to be fighting back in one of the war’s biggest ground battles.
The president heard information on the operational situation in these parts of the front, as well as a report on the logistics of Ukrainian defenders,” the statement read.
In two separate videos, Zelenskiy was shown talking to troops in confined, bunker-like structures, presenting some with awards and addressing others.
“What you all deserve is victory – that is the most important thing. But not at any cost,” Zelenskiy said in one of the videos.
Earlier in the day, Zelenskiy visited frontline troops in the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia.
Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, told Zelenskiy that some 60% of the region’s territory is under Russian occupation, with more than 2,700 infrastructure objects either damaged or destroyed.
Humanitarian hubs have been set up in the Zaporizhzhia region to shelter residents of the temporarily occupied territories and settlements where hostilities continue.
“Over the last 15 days the largest number of people have come from the Kherson region. They also come from Mariupol,” Starukh said.
Zelenskiy’s office later said the president also visited a medical facility in the region and spoke with people forced to leave their homes, including from Mariupol, which is now in Russian hands after being under siege for weeks.
Updated
Summary and welcome
- Russian president Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow will hit new targets if the west supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles. “We will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting,” Putin told Rossiya state television, without specifying what those targets were. The comments were made after the US went through with the delivery of Himars rocket artillery that the White House promised last week.
- Britain is to supply long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine, including a handful of tracked M270 multiple launch rocket systems, which can hit targets up to 80km (50 miles) away. UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said the decision to ship the rocket launchers was justified because “as Russia’s tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine”.
- Russia struck Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with missiles early on Sunday for the first time in more than a month. A railway depot was hit in the eastern suburb of Dniprovsky. Five cruise missiles fired from the Caspian Sea were launched from Tu-95 bombers, one of which was intercepted, Ukraine’s air force said, in an attack that represented a change of approach on the part of Russian forces.
- A Russian cruise missile “flew critically low” over the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, in the south of the country, at about 5.30am on Sunday, apparently heading for Kyiv. Ukraine’s nuclear energy company Energoatom said Russian forces “still do not understand that even the smallest fragment of a missile that can hit a working power unit can cause a nuclear catastrophe and radiation leak”.
- Ukrainian forces have counterattacked and retaken half of the city of Sievierodonetsk in the east of the country, officials said. “It had been a difficult situation, the Russians controlled 70% of the city, but over the past two days they have been pushed back,” Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian television. “The city is now, more or less, divided in half.” The Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, also said Ukrainian forces were “successfully slowing down Russian operations” in Donbas and were making “effective local counterattacks in Sievierodonetsk”.
- Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited his troops on eastern frontlines in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well as the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia on Sunday. Zelenskiy said he travelled to Lysychansk – just a few kilometres south from Sievierodonetsk – and Soledar, two cities very close to some of the most intense fighting.
- Nato kicked off a nearly two-week US-led naval exercise on the Baltic Sea on Sunday with more than 7,000 sailors, air personnel and marines from 16 nations, including Finland and Sweden – who aspire to join the military alliance. “It is important for us, the United States, and the other Nato countries to show solidarity with both Finland and Sweden in this exercise,” Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said.
- A Russian general, Maj Gen Roman Kutuzov, was killed in eastern Ukraine, a Russian state media journalist said on Sunday, adding to the string of high-ranking military casualties sustained by Moscow. There was no immediate comment from the Russian defence ministry.
- Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia has been cancelled after countries around Serbia closed their airspace to his aircraft, according to local media reports. A senior foreign ministry source told the Interfax news agency that Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro had closed their airspace to the plane that would have carried Moscow’s top diplomat to Belgrade on Monday. “Our diplomacy has yet to master teleportation,” the source said.
- Spain is to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles and Leopard battle tanks in a step up of its military support, according to government sources cited by newspaper El País. Spain will provide essential training to the Ukrainian military in how to use the tanks, according to the reports.
- A Ukrainian lawmaker, Yevhen Yakovenko, was detained at the Moldovan border at the request of Interpol, Moldova’s border police said on Sunday. Viorel Tentiu, the head of Interpol in Moldova, said in a statement that Yakovenko was put on the list following accusations from Belarus of bribery and corruption.
- Russia’s sanctions against Gazprom Germania and its subsidiaries could cost German taxpayers and gas users an extra €5bn (£4.27bn) a year to pay for replacement gas, the Welt am Sonntag weekly reported, citing industry representatives.
Hello. I’m Samantha Lock, back with you on the blog as we continue to cover all the latest news from Ukraine.
Updated
