Summary
- Russian forces are currently occupying about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Luxembourg parliament. The front lines of battle stretch across more than 1,000km (620 miles), the Ukrainian president said, adding that 100 Ukrainians are dying on a daily basis in eastern Ukraine, and another 450-500 people are wounded.
- Ukraine has had “some success” in the battles in Sievierodonetsk but it is too early to tell, according to Zelenskiy. “The situation there is the hardest now. Just as in the cities and communities nearby - Lysychansk, Bakhmut and others. Many cities are facing a powerful Russian attack,” he said in his latest national address.
- Some 60% of the infrastructure and residential buildings in Lysychansk, one of only two cities in the east still under at least partial Ukrainian control, have been destroyed from attacks, according to a local official. Oleksandr Zaika, head of Lysychansk City Military-Civil Administration, said 20,000 people are left in the city, down from a pre-war population of 97,000.
- About 800 people, including children, are hiding underneath the Azot chemical factory in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk region. The UK’s ministry of defence said Russia has taken control of most of Sieverodonetsk, which has come under intense Russian shelling.
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Civilians are being urged to evacuate the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk as Russia bombing intensifies. With no water or electricity, 100 people heeded the mayor’s call on Thursday to evacuate.
- Pro-Russian officials in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine said a decree has been issued to “nationalise” state assets in the south-eastern region. The deputy head of the Moscow-imposed administration, Andrei Trofimov, said the nationalisation would affect land, natural resources, facilities in strategic sectors of the economy, as well as property owned by Ukraine as of 24 February.
- Ukraine more than doubled interest rates to 25% on Thursday in a move to try to stem double-digit inflation and protect its currency, which has collapsed since Russia’s invasion. In the first interest rates intervention since Vladimir Putin’s troops attacked on 24 February, the Ukrainian central bank’s governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, increased the benchmark interest rate from 10% to 25%.
- Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance was in touch with Turkey to find a “united way” forward to address Ankara’s concerns over Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the pact. Stoltenberg’s latest remarks come after he told reporters yesterday that he would convene senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels in the coming days to discuss the issue.
- The White House announced a fresh round of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, targeting Russian government officials and elites as well as several yachts linked to Vladimir Putin. The sanctions were announced as Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he was “grateful” to the US and its secretary of state, Antony Blinken, for a new $700m weapons package for Ukraine.
- EU ambassadors dropped the leader of Russia’s Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, from a proposed blacklist, according to diplomats. The removal of Patriarch Kirill from the list of sanctioned individuals allows the EU to agree on a new round of sanctions after opposition from Hungary.
- Russia has accused the son of a Conservative MP of involvement in the killing of a Chechen brigade commander in Ukraine. Russia’s National Guard said one of its commanders, the Chechen fighter Adam Bisultanov, was killed on 26 May in a clash with a “group of mercenaries from the UK and the USA” that included the “son of a British parliamentarian,” Ben Grant.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said it’s in the European Union’s strategic interest but also “our moral duty” to make it possible for Ukraine to join the 30-nation bloc. “In a few weeks - we are waiting for the answer of the European Union on the issue of candidate status for Ukraine. We are very much looking forward to it,” Zelenskiy said in his latest national address.
- UN aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss clearing the way for exports of grain and other food from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Since the invasion, Ukrainian grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled and more than 20m tonnes of grain are stuck in silos, while Moscow says the chilling effect of western sanctions imposed on Russia has hurt its fertiliser and grain exports.
- Ten Russian servicemen who looted the property of Bucha residents have been identified and reported on suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war. “Pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings is carried out by investigators of ... the National Police of Ukraine,” said Ukraine’s prosecutor general in a statement on Thursday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said it’s in the European Union’s strategic interest but also “our moral duty” to make it possible for Ukraine to join the 30-nation bloc.
Von der Leyen made her remarks on Thursday at an international security conference in Slovakia’s capital.
Zelenskiy has asked for more weapons for Ukraine’s armed forces to be able to prevail over the invading Russian military, called for more EU sanctions against Russia, and repeated his country’s request to become “a full-fledge member of the united Europe.”
It is very important that now - in a few weeks - we are waiting for the answer of the European Union on the issue of candidate status for Ukraine. We are very much looking forward to it,” he said in his latest national address.
Von der Leyen says Ukraine must meet all necessary standards and conditions to be able to join but she has called on the EU to help Ukraine achieve its goal.
She said: “Supporting Ukraine on its path to the European Union, it is not a burden, it is our historic responsibility.”
The United States and its allies will support international investigations into atrocities in Ukraine to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed by its forces since they invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
A UN Security Council meeting held on Thursday discussed strengthening accountability and justice for serious violations of international law.
US Undersecretary of State Uzra Zeya said the United States is working with its allies to support a broad range of international investigations into atrocities in Ukraine.
We have witnessed Russian forces bombing maternity hospitals, train stations, apartment buildings and homes, and civilians killed even as they bicycled down a street.
We have received credible reports of Russian forces torturing and committing execution-style killings of people with their hands bound behind their back.
We have received reports of women and girls being raped, some publicly, and children taken away to Russia and put up for adoption. And we know that Russian forces continue to deny safe passage to civilians fleeing violence and to humanitarian organisations trying to reach those in need ...
Those who perpetrated these crimes must be held to account. Our message to Russia’s military and political leadership is this: the world is watching you, and you will be held accountable.”
Our work to strengthen democracy & counter authoritarianism is as critical today as it was 40 years ago when President Reagan delivered his Westminster Speech. Thank you @ReaganInstitute & @RogerZakheim for a great discussion yesterday. #StandWithUkraine https://t.co/JWDLxTEDJL pic.twitter.com/88pgrtiqtx
— Under Secretary Uzra Zeya (@UnderSecStateJ) June 2, 2022
Ukraine has had “some success” in the battles in Sievierodonetsk but it is too early to tell, according to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“The situation there is the hardest now. Just as in the cities and communities nearby - Lysychansk, Bakhmut and others. Many cities are facing a powerful Russian attack,” he said in his latest national address.
Zelenskiy added that the “absolutely senseless” shelling of Ukraine’s border northern regions, in particular Chernihiv, continues.
“Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, the Kharkiv region were shelled. The entire temporarily occupied territory of our state is now a zone of total catastrophe, for which Russia is fully responsible.”
Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- Some 60% of the infrastructure and residential buildings in Lysychansk, one of only two cities in the east still under at least partial Ukrainian control, have been destroyed from attacks, a local official said Thursday. Oleksandr Zaika, head of Lysychansk City Military-Civil Administration, said 20,000 people are left in the city, down from a pre-war population of 97,000.
- Ukrainian forces have had some success fighting Russians in the city of Sievierodonetsk but the overall military situation in the Donbas region has not changed in the last 24 hours, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday. He also thanked US president Joe Biden for promising to send missiles and said he expected good news about weapons supplies from other partners.
- UN aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss clearing the way for exports of grain and other food from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Since the invasion, Ukrainian grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled and more than 20m tonnes of grain are stuck in silos, while Moscow says the chilling effect of western sanctions imposed on Russia has hurt its fertilizer and grain exports.
- The bombing in eastern Ukraine is becoming more intense and, with no water or electricity, 100 people or so heeded the mayor’s call on Thursday to evacuate the city of Sloviansk which sits in Russia’s crosshairs. Mayor Vadim Liakh, spoke of a fresh bombardment on Thursday that damaged electricity lines on the edge of the city which boasted a population of 100,000 before the late February invasion.
- 10 Russian servicemen who looted the property of Bucha residents have been identified and reported on suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war. “Pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings is carried out by investigators of ... the National Police of Ukraine,” said Ukraine’s prosecutor general in a statement on Thursday.
- The European Parliament announced on Thursday that it has banned all Russian lobbyists from its premises to prevent them spreading Moscow “propaganda” about Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Effective immediately, Russian company representatives are no longer allowed to enter European Parliament premises,” the European Parliament president Roberta Metsola said.
- Ukraine’s state-run nuclear power operator, Energoatom, on Thursday denied it might shut down a major atomic power plant that lies in Russian-occupied territory if Kyiv loses control of operations at the site. In a statement, Energoatom said the plant “cannot be turned off from a technical, security, economic or political point of view”.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, today as I hand the blog over to my colleague in Australia, Samantha Lock. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
Updated
Some 60% of the infrastructure and residential buildings in Lysychansk, one of only two cities in the east still under at least partial Ukrainian control, have been destroyed from attacks, a local official said Thursday, the Associated Press reports.
Oleksandr Zaika, head of Lysychansk City Military-Civil Administration, said on an “information telemarathon” cited by the Unian news agency that non-stop shelling had knocked out electricity, natural gas, telephone and internet service.
One of the most critical pathways for supplies and evacuations, the Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway, is still open but under constant bombardment.
Humanitarian supplies are still reaching the city, where shrapnel and mines dot the landscape, he said.
Zaika said 20,000 people are left in the city, down from a pre-war population of 97,000.
Lysychansk is separated by a river from the other city in the region that’s still under at least partial Ukrainian control, Sievierodonetsk. It, too, is under Russian siege.
Updated
Pedestrians pass by empty yellow school busses where stuffed toys symbolizing each of the 243 killed Ukrainian children are displayed on seats during an action marking the International Children’s Day, in Lviv, Agence France-Presse reports.
Pedestrians pass by empty yellow school busses where stuffed toys symbolizing each of 243 killed Ukrainian children are displayed on seats during an action marking the International Children's Day, in Lviv.
— AFP Photo (@AFPphoto) June 2, 2022
📸 Yuriy Dyachyshyn #AFP pic.twitter.com/0jmSeTcx4v
Updated
Key event
Ukrainian forces have had some success fighting Russians in the city of Sievierodonetsk but the overall military situation in the Donbas region has not changed in the last 24 hours, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
In a late night video address, Ukraine’s president thanked the US president, Joe Biden, for promising to send missiles and said he expected good news about weapons supplies from other partners.
Updated
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths arrives in Moscow to discuss grain exports
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss clearing the way for exports of grain and other food from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, Reuters reports.
Griffiths will meet Russian officials days after another senior UN official, Rebecca Grynspan, had “constructive” talks in Moscow with Russia’s first deputy prime minister, Andrei Belousov, on expediting Russian grain and fertilizer exports.
The UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, is trying to broker what he calls a “package deal” to resume both Ukrainian food exports and Russian food and fertilizer exports, which were disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
“The situation remains fluid. The Secretary-General, and the two main people he has tasked to work on this, Rebecca Grynspan and Martin Griffiths - we will do and go anywhere we need to go to push this project forward,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday that vessels carrying grain can leave Ukraine’s ports in the Black Sea via “humanitarian corridors” and Russia is ready to guarantee their safety, Interfax news agency said.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has fuelled a global food crisis with prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies. Russia is also a fertilizer exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.
Since the invasion, Ukrainian grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled and more than 20m tonnes of grain are stuck in silos, while Moscow says the chilling effect of Western sanctions imposed on Russia has hurt its fertilizer and grain exports.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on Tuesday that the United States is prepared to give “comfort letters” to shipping and insurance companies to help facilitate exports of Russian grain and fertilizer.
But she also said: “Russia is able to get its oil out, and that’s sanctioned. They should be able to get their grain out that’s not sanctioned.”
Updated
Civilians urged to evacuate Sloviansk as Russia bombing intensifies
The bombing in eastern Ukraine is becoming more intense and, with no water or electricity, 100 people or so heeded the mayor’s call on Thursday to evacuate the city of Sloviansk which sits in Russia’s crosshairs, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The situation is getting worse, the explosions are stronger and stronger and the bombs are falling more often,” 18-year-old student Goulnara Evgaripova told AFP.
Outside an administrative office, she boarded one of five minibuses earmarked to take people out of the city in the Donetsk region that Moscow wants to control.
One Russian strike killed three people, wounded six and left a trail of damage on Tuesday in Sloviansk, witnesses told AFP.
Mayor Vadim Liakh, spoke of a fresh bombardment on Thursday that damaged electricity lines on the edge of the city which boasted a population of 100,000 before the late February invasion.
“There is no electricity, the water supply is down,” Liakh posted on the Telgram messenger service.
“The best solution in this situation, is to evacuate.
“Take care of yourselves. Pack your bags,” he urged.
In 2014, when Russia grabbed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, Moscow-backed separatists also seized Sloviansk, before Ukrainian forces regained control.
10 Russian servicemen who looted the property of Bucha residents have been identified and reported on suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war, Euromaidan reports.
10 Russian servicemen who looted the property of Bucha residents have been identified and reported on suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 2, 2022
The suspects will be declared on the international wanted list, Prosecutor General reported📷 https://t.co/5faollXwoP pic.twitter.com/hX72wMNO08
“According to the investigation, from February 24 to March 31, 2022, servicemen of the military unit of the National Guard of the Russian Federation during the occupation of Bucha looted the valuables of the local population. For the sole purpose of personal gain, the Russian military confiscated private property of citizens that could not be used for military purposes: from underwear and clothing to large household appliances,” the office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General said in a statement on Thursday.
“Pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings is carried out by investigators of...the National Police of Ukraine,” the statement added.
Updated
European Parliament bans Russian lobbyists from premises
The European Parliament announced on Thursday that it has banned all Russian lobbyists from its premises to prevent them spreading Moscow “propaganda” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reports.
“Effective immediately, Russian company representatives are no longer allowed to enter European Parliament premises,” the European Parliament president Roberta Metsola said on Twitter.
Effective immediately, Russian company representatives are no longer allowed to enter @Europarl_EN premises.
— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) June 2, 2022
We must not allow them any space to spread their propaganda & false, toxic narratives about the invasion of #Ukraine.
We will remain united & strong against autocrats.
Metsola urged all other EU institutions, including the European Commission and the European Council, to follow suit.
A parliament spokesman said the ban was a response to “Russia creating and spreading false narratives about the war in Ukraine through multiple channels, including through state-owned companies”.
The prohibition applies to Russian companies listed as employing lobbyists to the EU as well as those on the bloc’s sanction blacklist.
The parliament in 2015 had already banned Russian diplomats from its premises, which include chambers and annexes in Brussels and the French city of Strasbourg, in response to Moscow banning several EU politicians vociferous over its annexation of Crimea.
German MEP Erik Marquardt, of the Greens, welcomed the ban saying that “especially oil and gas lobbyists” working on behalf of Russian companies had been trying to “spread propaganda and disinformation” in recent months.
Ukraine’s state-run nuclear power operator, Energoatom, on Thursday denied it might shut down a major atomic power plant that lies in Russian-occupied territory if Kyiv loses control of operations at the site, Reuters reports.
The Zaporizhzhia facility in southeast Ukraine is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Russian troops have taken over the plant, but Ukrainian specialists are still running it.
Russian news agency Interfax cited a Ukrainian presidential aide as saying the plant could be shut down if Kyiv lost all control.
But in a statement, Energoatom said the plant “cannot be turned off from a technical, security, economic or political point of view.”
Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator last week dismissed as “physically impossible” the suggestion by a Russian official that the plant would supply Russia with electricity.
Updated
Summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
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Pro-Russian officials in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine said a decree has been issued to “nationalise” state assets in the south-eastern region. The deputy head of the Moscow-imposed administration, Andrei Trofimov, said the nationalisation would affect land, natural resources, facilities in strategic sectors of the economy, as well as property owned by Ukraine as of 24 February.
- Ukraine more than doubled interest rates to 25% on Thursday in a move to try to stem double-digit inflation and protect its currency, which has collapsed since Russia’s invasion. In the first interest rates intervention since Vladimir Putin’s troops attacked on 24 February, the Ukrainian central bank’s governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, increased the benchmark interest rate from 10% to 25%.
- Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance was in touch with Turkey to find a “united way” forward to address Ankara’s concerns over Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the pact. Stoltenberg’s latest remarks come after he told reporters yesterday that he would convene senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels in the coming days to discuss the issue.
- Russian forces are currently occupying about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Luxembourg parliament. The front lines of battle stretch across more than 1,000km (620 miles), the Ukrainian president said, adding that 100 Ukrainians are dying on a daily basis in eastern Ukraine, and another 450-500 people are wounded.
- Zelenskiy said 243 children have been killed, 446 have been wounded and 139 are missing so far in the war in Ukraine. Some 200,000 children have been forcefully taken to Russia, he claimed, including children from orphanages, children taken with their parents and those separated from their families.
-
The White House announced a fresh round of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, targeting Russian government officials and elites as well as several yachts linked to Vladimir Putin. The sanctions were announced as Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he was “grateful” to the US and its secretary of state, Antony Blinken, for a new $700m weapons package for Ukraine.
- EU ambassadors dropped the leader of Russia’s Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, from a proposed blacklist, according to diplomats. The removal of Patriarch Kirill from the list of sanctioned individuals allows the EU to agree on a new round of sanctions after opposition from Hungary.
- About 800 people, including children, are hiding underneath the Azot chemical factory in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk region. The UK’s ministry of defence said Russia has taken control of most of Sieverodonetsk, which has come under intense Russian shelling.
- Russia has accused the son of a Conservative MP of involvement in the killing of a Chechen brigade commander in Ukraine. Russia’s National Guard said one of its commanders, the Chechen fighter Adam Bisultanov, was killed on 26 May in a clash with a “group of mercenaries from the UK and the USA” that included the “son of a British parliamentarian,” Ben Grant.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today. I’ll be back tomorrow. My colleague, Maya Yang, will be here shortly to bring you the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.
Updated
Pro-Russian officials in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine said a decree has been issued to “nationalise” state assets in the southeastern region.
The decree has been signed by officials installed by Moscow and applies to strategic firms, land and natural resources, the RIA news agency quoted the administration as saying.
The “liberated” region of Zaporizhzhia will “nationalise” the state property of Ukraine, a member of the region’s pro-Moscow military-civilian administration, Vladimir Rogov, wrote on Telegram.
The deputy head of the Moscow-imposed administration, Andrei Trofimov, said the nationalisation would affect land, natural resources, facilities in strategic sectors of the economy, as well as property owned by Ukraine as of 24 February – the day when Russia invaded.
Trofimov said:
The decree was signed in order to meet state needs related to improving the overall efficiency and social orientation of the economy, as well as to preserve the national heritage for residents of the Zaporizhzhia Region.
Russia claimed full control of the Kherson region in March and holds parts of the Zaporizhzhia region to the northeast.
In May, Putin signed a decree simplifying the procedure for residents of the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson to apply for Russian citizenship.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance was in touch with Turkey to find a “united way” forward to address Ankara’s concerns over Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the pact.
The two Nordic countries said yesterday that they would continue a dialogue with Turkey over their Nato bids but did not say whether there had been progress on overcoming Ankara’s objections.
Referring to talks that took place in Ankara last week between delegations from all three countries, Finland’s foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, said:
Together with Sweden, we will do our homework and prepare for the questions Turkey has.
Stoltenberg said he would convene senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels in the coming days to discuss the issue.
Turkey will donate a Bayraktar combat drone to Lithuania to be handed over to Ukraine after hundreds of Lithuanians crowdfunded nearly six million euros to buy it, Lithuania’s defence ministry said.
The manufacturer Baykar will deliver the TB2 advanced combat drone, painted in the colours of the Lithuanian and Ukrainian flags, in a few weeks, according to the ministry.
The people of Lithuania have honorably raised funds to buy a Bayraktar TB2 for Ukraine.
— BAYKAR (@BaykarTech) June 2, 2022
Upon learning this, Baykar will gift a Bayraktar TB2 to Lithuania free of charge and asks those funds go to Ukraine for humanitarian aid.
🇹🇷🇺🇦🇱🇹@a_anusauskas@VSemeska@Lithuanian_MoD pic.twitter.com/3PjIyZiME5
In a statement, the Lithuanian defence ministry said:
We came to Turkey to agree on conditions for the drone purchase, but they prepared the most pleasant surprise possible for us.
A total of €5.9m was raised in just days, largely in small amounts between €5 and €100, to fund the purchase of the military drone, according to Laisves TV, the Lithuanian internet broadcaster that launched the drive.
About €1.5m of the funds raised by Lithuanians will be used to pay for armaments for the drone, the defence ministry said, with the rest used to help Ukraine.
Updated
Ukraine more than doubled interest rates to 25% on Thursday in a move to try to stem double-digit inflation and protect its currency, which has collapsed since Russia’s invasion.
In the first interest rates intervention since Vladimir Putin’s troops attacked on 24 February, the Ukrainian central bank’s governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, increased the benchmark interest rate from 10% to 25%.
It takes borrowing costs to their highest level since September 2015 – when Ukraine’s economy was reeling from Russia’s annexation of Crimea – and the highest in Europe.
The Russian invasion has devastated Ukraine’s economy, which the World Bank has forecast could shrink by at least a third this year. The war has forced businesses to close, destroyed infrastructure, blocked shipping routes and reduced whole towns to rubble.
Shevchenko called for talks with the International Monetary Fund on a new aid programme. The increase was criticised by an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, who said the rate was too high and dangerous to the economy during wartime. It was not clear whether he was speaking in a personal capacity.
The National Bank of Ukraine had frozen its main rate 10% at the start of the invasion, but last week signalled it could resume regular monetary policy reviews as business activity partially recovered in safer parts of the country.
It is betting that a sharp rate rise will also nudge the government to lift the yield on domestic bonds, making assets held in its currency, the hryvnia, more attractive and preventing household incomes and savings from being eroded by inflation.
Inflation was already in double digits before the conflict began and climbed further to about 17% in May from 16.4% in April, according to central bank estimates.
It said inflation could double in 2022 from 10% in 2021, pushed up by rising global prices and the damage of the war on domestic production and supply chains.
The number of small businesses that had suspended operations in April fell to 26% from 73% in March, according to a survey by the European Business Association, the union of businesses operating in Ukraine.
Russian forces are occupying about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Luxembourg parliament.
Frontlines of battle stretch across more than 1,000km (620 miles), the Ukrainian president added.
Today so far...
It is just past 7pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Russian forces are currently occupying about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Luxembourg parliament. The front lines of battle stretch across more than 1,000km (620 miles), Zelenskiy said, adding that 100 Ukrainians are dying on a daily basis in eastern Ukraine, and another 450-500 people are wounded.
- Zelenskiy said 243 children have been killed, 446 have been wounded and 139 are missing so far in the war in Ukraine. Some 200,000 children have been forcefully taken to Russia, he claimed, including children from orphanages, children taken with their parents and those separated from their families.
-
The White House announced a fresh round of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, targeting Russian government officials and elites as well as several yachts linked to President Vladimir Putin. The sanctions were announced as Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he was “grateful” to the US and its secretary of state, Antony Blinken, for a new $700m weapons package for Ukraine.
- EU ambassadors dropped the leader of Russia’s Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, from a proposed blacklist, according to diplomats. The removal of Patriarch Kirill from the list of sanctioned individuals allows the EU to agree on a new round of sanctions after opposition from Hungary.
- About 800 people, including children, are hiding underneath the Azot chemical factory in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk region. The UK’s ministry of defence said Russia has taken control of most of Sieverodonetsk, which has come under intense Russian shelling.
- Russia has accused the son of a Conservative MP of involvement in the killing of a Chechen brigade commander in Ukraine. Russia’s National Guard said one of its commanders, the Chechen fighter Adam Bisultanov, was killed on 26 May in a clash with a “group of mercenaries from the UK and the USA” that included the “son of a British parliamentarian,” Ben Grant.
-
The Kremlin has confirmed that Valentin Yumashev, the son-in-law of former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, has quit his role as an adviser to Vladimir Putin. Yumashev was an unpaid adviser with a limited influence on Putin’s decision-making but he did represent one of the last links inside the Putin administration to Yeltsin’s rule, a period of liberal reforms and Russia’s opening up towards the west.
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Weapons sent to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February will end up in the global hidden economy and in the hands of criminals, the head of Interpol has said. Jürgen Stock says once the conflict ends, a wave of guns and heavy arms will flood the international market and he urged Interpol’s member states, especially those supplying weapons, to cooperate on arms tracing.
Good afternoon from London. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong here to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Russia has accused the son of a Conservative MP of involvement in the killing of a Chechen brigade commander in Ukraine, after footage emerged of the British national fighting in the country.
Russia’s National Guard, a force also known as Rosgvardia, said in a statement posted on its website that one of its commanders, the Chechen fighter Adam Bisultanov, was killed on 26 May in a clash with a “group of mercenaries from the UK and the USA” that included the “son of a British parliamentarian,” Ben Grant.
Grant first arrived in Ukraine in March, when he told the Guardian he was moved to volunteer after seeing footage of a Russian bombing of a house where a child could be heard screaming. He said he went without telling his mother, MP Helen Grant, he was going.
In dramatic footage posted online this week, Grant, who is a veteran of Afghanistan and a former Royal Marine, can be heard saying “go, go” as he and his unit exit a patch of woods and fire a Matador anti-tank missile at what is believed to be a Russian BTR-80 armoured personnel carrier.
Rosgvardia in its statement said that the Chechen commander Bisultanov was killed when his BTR-80 vehicle was hit three times by the foreign fighters, posting a picture of the vehicle’s carcass online.
In separate video, published by the Telegraph, Grant is seen dragging another British volunteer to safety after a Russian ambush in a woodland north of Kharkiv.
Grant told the newspaper that his unit of 15 British and American volunteers and two Ukrainian interpreters had been preparing an assault on a Russian-held target when they came under heavy Russian fire earlier this month.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. I was terrified but driven to complete my most important goal, which at the time was getting him and my team out of the danger,” Grant said.
Since Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the creation of the International Legion of Ukraine in March, thousands of people from around the world, some with a military background and many without, have arrived in Ukraine.
In a briefing on Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that it had “eliminated hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine,” adding that 3,500 foreign fighters were currently in the country. The ministry also warned that captured foreign soldiers will not be treated under the standards of international humanitarian law.
The US decision to supply Ukraine with high-precision multiple launch rocket systems was marked with some fanfare in Washington including a rare newspaper commentary by Joe Biden himself.
The Himars (High mobility artillery rocket system) and the ammunition that Washington is sending with them, will allow Ukrainian forces to hit targets nearly 80km away with high accuracy. That’s twice the range of the US howitzers they have now, and about the same as the most powerful Russian rocket systems. US officials suggested they would help turn the withering artillery duel underway in the Donbas into a fairer fight.
However, the small print of the deal was underwhelming. This first Himars delivery comprises just four systems, and although they have been pre-positioned in the region for fast delivery, it will take three weeks to train Ukrainian gunners to use them, and another two weeks to train maintenance crews.
In the meantime, Russian artillery is blanketing Ukrainian positions in the east. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview on Wednesday that up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are being killed a day and another 500 are wounded. Without stand-off weapons that can target the Russian guns from afar, Ukrainian lines are being pummelled and national morale, one of the decisive factors in the successful defence of Kyiv, is also taking a beating.
Zelenskiy’s government has been screaming for multiple launch rockets for weeks, as it became clear that the battle for the east and south had become one of attrition, so why did it take this long for Biden to make the decision to respond?
Read Julian’s full analysis: Biden’s pledge to send rocket systems to Ukraine is no silver bullet
Weapons sent to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February will end up in the global hidden economy and in the hands of criminals, the head of Interpol has said.
Jürgen Stock says once the conflict ends, a wave of guns and heavy arms will flood the international market and he urged Interpol’s member states, especially those supplying weapons, to cooperate on arms tracing.
“Once the guns fall silent [in Ukraine], the illegal weapons will come. We know this from many other theatres of conflict. The criminals are even now, as we speak, focusing on them,” Stock said.
“Criminal groups try to exploit these chaotic situations and the availability of weapons, even those used by the military and including heavy weapons. These will be available on the criminal market and will create a challenge. No country or region can deal with it in isolation because these groups operate at a global level.”
He added:
We can expect an influx of weapons in Europe and beyond. We should be alarmed and we have to expect these weapons to be trafficked not only to neighbouring countries but to other continents.
He said Interpol urged members to use its database to help “track and trace” the weapons. “We are in contact with member countries to encourage them to use these tools. Criminals are interested in all kinds of weapons … basically any weapons that can be carried might be used for criminal purposes.”
Ukraine’s western allies have sent shipments of high-end military weapons to Ukraine since the Russian invasion more than three months ago. On Tuesday, the American president, Joe Biden, announced the US would supply Kyiv with advanced missile systems and munitions. After the US pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, following 20 years of war, huge amounts of often highly sophisticated military equipment was left behind and fell into the hands of the Taliban.
US sanctions Russian elites and yachts in fresh sanctions
The White House has announced a fresh round of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, targeting Russian government officials and elites close to Vladimir Putin as well as several yachts linked to the president.
The sanctions target Russian individuals including Sergei Roldugin, a close associate of Russian president Vladimir Putin who is already under EU sanctions.
The treasury department also targeted 16 entities, seven vessels and three aircraft. Among them were two yachts, the “Russia-flagged Graceful and the Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia,” which the treasury identified as “blocked property in which President Vladimir Putin has an interest.” Putin has “taken numerous trips” on the yachts as recently as last year, the treasury said.
In his State of the Union address in March, Joe Biden said the US would work to seize the yachts, luxury apartments and private jets of wealthy Russians with ties to Putin.
The White House said in a statement that the latest sanctions are designed “to crack down on evasion and tighten our sanctions to enhance enforcement and increase pressure on Putin and his enablers”.
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The EU has dropped the head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, from its new sanctions list, AFP reports.
Diplomats are cited as saying that Patriarch Kirill has now been removed from the list of sanctioned individuals, at the request of Hungary.
EU leaders agreed in principle earlier this week on a sixth sanctions package against Russia, but several diplomats said Budapest was holding up the finalisation of the package.
A press spokesperson for Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, earlier today said Hungary’s opposition to potential EU sanctions against Patriarch Kirill “has been known for a long time”.
Updated
With Friday marking 100 days since the start of Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, on 24 February, photographers from Agence France-Press have selected a range of the most striking images to come out of Ukraine from the war. Here is a selection:
Russian forces are trying to assault the east Ukrainian village of Berestove that lies on a main road linking the Luhansk region’s city of Lysychansk to the rest of Ukraine, a Ukrainian general has said.
Russia is close to capturing all of Luhansk, one of two Ukrainian regions that make up the swathe of land known as the Donbas. Russian forces are also trying to attack the town of Sviatohirsk in the Donetsk region, Reuters reports Gen Oleksiy Gromov told a press briefing.
Reuters is reporting that Ukraine would consider switching off its Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that lies in Russian-occupied territory, if Kyiv loses control of operations at the site.
They cite Interfax quoting an aide to Ukraine’s prime minister as saying “As long as the control commands are executed and the site maintains the regime, we are not stopping. But the scenario in which the station could move completely out of control and we stop it is also being looked at.”
The facility in southeast Ukraine is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
About 800 people, including children, are hiding underneath the Azot chemical factory in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, which has come under intense Russian shelling, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk region.
Local residents have sought shelter in the Soviet-era bomb shelters underneath the plant, he told CNN.
Haidai said:
There are locals there who were asked to leave the city, but they refused. There are also children there, but not many of them.
Yesterday, Haidai said it is possible there are still stocks of dangerous chemicals at the facility.
In a separate update today, local officials said Russian forces had fired on the Azot factory and “hit one of the administrative buildings and a warehouse where methanol was stored”.
Updated
Sweden will provide Ukraine with more economic aid and military equipment, including anti-ship missiles, rifles and anti-tank weapons, the Swedish government said.
In a statement, Sweden’s finance ministry said:
The proposals that are submitted (to parliament) mean that allocated funds for the central government budget will increase by SEK 1.0 billion (£81m) in 2022.
The Swedish government “sees a continuing need” to support Ukraine, it added.
In February, Sweden announced it would send 5,000 anti-tank weapons, helmets and body armour to Ukraine. The following month, it announced it would send another 5,000 anti-tank weapons.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will meet the head of the African Union, who is also the Senegalese president, Macky Sall, on Friday to discuss “freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers” and the conflict in Ukraine, Sall’s office said.
The visit, which will take place in the south-western Russian city of Sochi, was organised after an invitation by Putin, Dakar said. Sall is expected to travel with the president of the African Union Commission.
The meeting is aimed at “freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers, the blockage of which particularly affects African countries”, along with easing the Ukraine conflict, Sall’s office said.
The AU will also receive a video address from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, though no date has been set.
Earlier this week, Sall made an appeal to EU leaders to help ease the commodities crisis, which is being acutely felt in African nations. Both Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat and other cereals to Africa, while Russia is a key producer of fertiliser.
Updated
Russia’s foreign ministry said the EU’s decision to partially phase out Russian oil was a “self-destructive” step that could backfire on the bloc.
On Monday, EU leaders agreed in principle to cut 90% of oil imports from Russia by the end of this year. The move would be likely to destabilise global energy markets, Moscow warned in a statement.
Russia’s foreign ministry said:
The European Union’s decisions to partially phase out Russian oil and oil products, as well as to ban insurance on Russian merchant ships, are highly likely to provoke further price increases, destabilise energy markets, and disrupt supply chains.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at his regular briefing that Russia will not sell its oil at a loss.
Peskov told reporters:
If somewhere demand is falling that means that in another place it is increasing – the flows are re-routed.
Updated
The Guardian’s economics editor writes for us that the perverse effects of sanctions means rising fuel and food costs for the rest of the world – and fears are growing of a humanitarian catastrophe:
It is now three months since the west launched its economic war against Russia, and it is not going according to plan. On the contrary, things are going very badly indeed.
Sanctions were imposed on Vladimir Putin not because they were considered the best option, but because they were better than the other two available courses of action: doing nothing or getting involved militarily.
The first set of economic measures were introduced immediately after the invasion, when it was assumed Ukraine would capitulate within days. That didn’t happen, with the result that sanctions – while still incomplete – have gradually been intensified.
There is, though, no immediate sign of Russia pulling out of Ukraine and that’s hardly surprising, because the sanctions have had the perverse effect of driving up the cost of Russia’s oil and gas exports, massively boosting its trade balance and financing its war effort. In the first four months of 2022, Putin could boast a current account surplus of $96bn (£76bn) – more than treble the figure for the same period of 2021.
When the EU announced its partial ban on Russian oil exports earlier this week, the cost of crude oil on the global markets rose, providing the Kremlin with another financial windfall. Russia is finding no difficulty finding alternative markets for its energy, with exports of oil and gas to China in April up more than 50% year on year.
That’s not to say the sanctions are pain-free for Russia. The International Monetary Fund estimates the economy will shrink by 8.5% this year as imports from the west collapse. Russia has stockpiles of goods essential to keep its economy going, but over time they will be used up.
But Europe is only gradually weaning itself off its dependency on Russian energy, and so an immediate financial crisis for Putin has been averted. The rouble – courtesy of capital controls and a healthy trade surplus – is strong. The Kremlin has time to find alternative sources of spare parts and components from countries willing to circumvent western sanctions.
When the global movers and shakers met in Davos last week, the public message was condemnation of Russian aggression and renewed commitment to stand solidly behind Ukraine. But privately, there was concern about the economic costs of a prolonged war.
Updated
Russian forces are this morning shelling the village of Mykolaivka, close to the strategic city of Sloviansk in the eastern Donbas region.
Serhiy Leshchenko, a Ukrainian government adviser and volunteer, said artillery rounds were hitting the settlement “24/7”. Video shows the whine of a Russian missile landing close by, amid deserted streets.
Leshchenko was delivering food, flak jackets and other supplies to soldiers who are holding the line north of Sloviansk against a Russian advance. He joined the humanitarian mission led by Ukrainian MP, Andriy Gerus.
Donetsk’s military governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said shelling was taking place today across “the whole line of contact” including in Sloviansk, Bakhmut and Avdiyivka, where 3,500 civilians remained.
Across the region 340,000 people had stayed in their houses from a pre-invasion total of 1.67m, he said.
Updated
Russia now occupying 20% of Ukraine’s territory, says Zelenskiy
Russian forces are currently occupying about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Luxembourg parliament.
The front lines of battle stretch across more than 1,000km (620 miles), Zelenskiy said, adding:
We have to defend ourselves against almost the entire Russian army. All combat-ready Russian military formations are involved in this aggression.
He said 100 Ukrainians are dying on a daily basis in eastern Ukraine, and another 450-500 people are wounded.
Updated
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he was “grateful” to the US and its secretary of state, Antony Blinken, for a new $700m weapons package for Ukraine.
The new package will include high mobility artillery rocket systems, which can accurately hit targets as far away as 80 km (50 miles).
Kuleba tweeted:
Advanced American systems will help our brave Armed Forces to defend Ukrainian land from Russian invaders.
Grateful to the U.S. and personally to my friend @SecBlinken for this important decision that we have all worked so intensively to make a reality. Advanced American systems will help our brave Armed Forces to defend Ukrainian land from Russian invaders. https://t.co/INlGeb52EP
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) June 2, 2022
Yesterday, the US president, Joe Biden, announced the plan to give Ukraine precision HIMARS rocket systems after receiving assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets inside Russian territory.
In a New York Times article published on Tuesday, Biden said the new weapons package will help Ukraine on the battlefield “and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table”.
Updated
Boris Yeltsin's son quits as Putin adviser, Kremlin confirms
The Kremlin has confirmed that Valentin Yumashev, the son-in-law of former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, has quit his role as an adviser to Vladimir Putin.
Yumashev was an unpaid adviser with a limited influence on Putin’s decision-making, Reuters reports. But he did represent one of the last links inside the Putin administration to Yeltsin’s rule, a period of liberal reforms and Russia’s opening up towards the west.
Under Yeltsin, who was Russian president from 1991 to 1999, Yumashev served as a Kremlin adviser and later as Kremlin chief of staff. He is married to Yeltsin’s daughter, Tatyana. Despite a divergence in values between the two Russian leaders, Putin has kept ties to the former first family.
In March, another senior Yeltsin-era figure, Anatoly Chubais, left his role as a special envoy to the Kremlin.
Referring to Yumashev, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters today:
I can confirm that about a month ago he stopped being an advisor on a voluntary basis.
Updated
Today so far …
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has claimed 243 children have been killed so far in the war and 200,000 children have been forcefully taken to Russia, including children from orphanages, children taken with their parents and those separated from their families. Speaking in relation to children take to Russia, he said: “The purpose of this criminal policy is not just to steal people but to make those who are deported forget about Ukraine and unable to return.”
- In her first public speech since leaving office about six months ago, Angela Merkel has described Russia’s war on Ukraine as a “barbaric war of aggression” which amounted to a “far-reaching turning point”. She said whilst she was reluctant to give her views from the sidelines as the former German chancellor, she could not avoid talking about the most “glaring breach of international law” in the history of Europe since the end of the second world war.
- Russia has taken control of most of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sieverodonetsk, the UK ministry of defence has said in its latest intelligence report. The report adds: “The main road into the Sieverodonetsk pocket likely remains under Ukrainian control but Russia continues to make steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery.”
- The chief spokesman for Russia’s ministry of defence, Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, has claimed that the number of foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine has halved since the the start of the war, due to Russian high-precision strikes and their own poor training. He also had a warning for those still fighting as mercenaries in Ukraine, saying “Let me remind you that in accordance with international humanitarian law, mercenaries are not combatants and the best that awaits them is criminal liability.️”
- The headquarters of the territorial defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic claims to have 222 settlements are under their control. They claim overnight ten areas of Donetsk were shelled by Ukrainian forces, and that one person was killed and 19 more were injured.
- Foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said Ukraine is working with international partners to create a United Nations-backed mission to restore Black Sea shipping routes and export Ukrainian farm produce.
- Slovakia will deliver eight self-propelled Zuzana 2 howitzers to Ukraine under a commercial contract which a state-controlled producer signed, the Slovak Defence Ministry has said.
- Ukraine’s football victory over Scotland in their Fifa World Cup playoff semi-final last night gave the country, in the words of Zelenskiy, “two hours of happiness to which we are not accustomed.”
- The US announced yesterday it will send Ukraine four sophisticated, medium-range rocket systems and ammunition to help try to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region. The rocket systems are part of a new $700m tranche of security assistance that also includes helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, radars, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more. It will take at least three weeks to get the precision weapons and trained troops onto the battlefield, the Pentagon said.
- Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the supply of US advanced rocket systems to Ukraine increases the risk of a “third country” being dragged into the conflict. Lavrov’s deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, said that Moscow viewed US military aid to Ukraine “extremely negatively” and that it would increase the risk of a direct confrontation. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov added: “We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire.”
- The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Ukraine has given “assurances” that it will not use long-range weapons systems provided by Washington against targets on Russian territory.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly.
Updated
Reuters reports Ukraine is working with international partners to create a United Nations-backed mission to restore Black Sea shipping routes and export Ukrainian farm produce.
“We call on countries whose food security may suffer more from Russian aggression against Ukraine to use their contacts with Moscow to force it to lift the blockade of Ukrainian seaports and end the war,” foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook.
Russia has captured some of Ukraine’s biggest seaports and its navy controls major transport routes in the Black Sea, blocking Ukrainian shipments and deepening a global food crisis.
Ukraine’s football victory last night gave the country, in the words of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “two hours of happiness to which we are not accustomed”.
After the match, Ukraine’s manager Oleksandr Petrakov gave an emotional press conference, dedicating the victory to the troops who are defending their country against attacks from Russia.
Updated
Merkel condemns Russia's 'barbaric war of aggression' in first speech since leaving office
In her first public speech since leaving office about six months ago, Angela Merkel has described Russia’s war on Ukraine as a “barbaric war of aggression” which amounted to a “far-reaching turning point”.
She said whilst she was reluctant to give her views from the sidelines as the former German chancellor, she could not avoid talking about the most “glaring breach of international law” in the history of Europe since the end of the second world war.
Speaking at a gathering of German trade unionists in Berlin on Wednesday night, Merkel said: “My solidarity goes out to Ukraine which has been attacked and raided by Russia”. She said there was no doubt as to Ukraine’s right to self defence.
Merkel did not respond to the widespread criticism both at home and abroad particularly since the start of the invasion over her own central role whilst in government towards establishing the now defunct Nord Stream II gas pipeline, of reinforcing Germany’s reliance on Russian energy or for failing to recognise the extent of the ambitions of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Russia claims mercenaries fighting for Ukraine suffering heavy losses due to 'low level of training' and 'lack of real combat experience'
The chief spokesman for Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that the number of foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine has halved since the the start of the war, due to Russian high-precision strikes and their own poor training. Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said:
Hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine were destroyed by Russian high-precision long-range weapons shortly after their arrival at the places where they underwent additional training and coordination of tactical units. But most of the mercenaries were destroyed in the combat zone due to the low level of training and lack of real combat experience.
The quotes are being carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, and were repeated in the ministry of defence’s daily briefing. Konashenkov has also claimed, without evidence, that the foreign mercenaries were being treated as canon fodder by Ukrainian forces, and that many have been killed without their families being informed, saying:
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the commanders of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard, which included mercenaries, in an effort to reduce the loss of their military personnel, do not spare foreigners. Captured mercenaries tell during interrogations that they are sacrificed in the first place. Due to silence on loss by the Kyiv regime, and the absence of remains, the relatives of mercenaries in their countries of residence simply do not know about their death.
Konashenkov also had a warning for those still fighting as mercenaries in Ukraine, saying:
Faced with a real combat situation and heavy losses … a significant number of mercenaries prefer to leave the territory of Ukraine as soon as possible, but the Kyiv regime in every possible way prevents them from leaving abroad.️
Let me remind you that in accordance with international humanitarian law, mercenaries are not combatants and the best that awaits them is criminal liability.️
Emergency attempts by the Kyiv regime to guarantee legal protection to mercenaries, including [to enlist them] in military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the National Guard, or issuing them fresh passports of citizens of Ukraine, will not save any of them.
Etienne de Poncins, the French ambassador to Ukraine, has been visiting Hostomel in the Kyiv region. It was the scene of heavy fighting in the earliest days of the war, where it appeared that Russia’s main military thrust was south from Belarus towards Ukraine’s capital. He tweeted “Together with national guard commander Lebid in Hostomel, the scene of fierce fighting, which stopped the aggressor capturing Kyiv. A tribute to the heroic courage of the defenders who are fighting for freedom and their homeland.”
Déplacement avec le Cdt de la garde nationale 🇺🇦 Y. Lebid à #hostomel lieu de féroces combats ayant permis de mettre en échec la prise de #Kyiv par l'agresseur 🇷🇺. Hommage au courage héroïque des 🇺🇦 qui luttent pour la liberté et leur patrie. #WeStandWithUkraine #diplo2metier pic.twitter.com/3RtmRzhnV9
— Etienne de Poncins (@EdePoncins) June 2, 2022
The official Telegram channel of Ukraine’s Mariupol authority has again posted accusations of war crimes being committed by pro-Russian occupation forces since they took full control of the city after the surrender of Ukrainian troops at the Azovstal steel plant. They say:
In the Mariupol district, the occupiers imprison and shoot Ukrainian volunteers and officials. All of them refused to cooperate with collaborators and the occupation authorities.
The fake Donetsk People’s Republic court sentenced the head of one of the Azov villages to ten years in prison. At least one civil servant was executed by firing squad.
Dozens of volunteers are also being held in the Olenivka prison. In March-April, they helped evacuate Mariupol residents and tried to deliver food and water to the blocked city.
A Ukrainian judge, who has heard several high-profile separatist cases, is also awaiting the verdict of the fake republic. There are reports of torture.
The claims have not been independently verified.
The headquarters of the territorial defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have issued their daily operational briefing for today. They claim “222 settlements are under our control”.
They say that 10 areas of Donetsk were shelled by Ukrainian forces, and that one person was killed and 19 more were injured. They claim “32 housing constructions were damaged, as well as 19 civil infrastructure facilities”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Our Luke Harding is in Kyiv, and has been gathering reaction to Ukraine’s victory last night over Scotland in their men’s football world cup playoff semi-final:
Bars and restaurants in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities were unable to show the match because of a wartime curfew. Instead fans watched at home, as well as from bomb shelters and trenches.
After the final whistle Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sent a message of congratulations to the team. “There are times when you don’t need a lot of words! Just pride! Just thank you guys! Two hours of happiness to which we are not accustomed.”
On Thursday the mood in Kyiv was upbeat, as the city digested the result amid summer sunshine.
“We want to show the world that Ukraine is strong everywhere, including in football,” Vasily Volodymyrovich said, standing guard with a Kalashnikov in the capital. “We have a very strong collective. And we have a great spirit. It was an impressive group victory.”
“It was great entertainment – I always thought Ukraine would win,” Oksana, a 24-year-old receptionist, said. She described Artem Dovbyk’s cool stoppage time finish for Ukraine’s third goal as “amazing”, adding: “Of course we will beat Wales.”
Read more of Luke Harding’s report from Kyiv here: ‘Great spirit’: jubilant Ukrainians savour football win on streets of Kyiv
Slovakia will deliver eight self-propelled Zuzana 2 howitzers to Ukraine under a commercial contract which a state-controlled producer signed, the Slovak Defence Ministry has said.
Reuters reports the Zuzana 2 howitzer, a modernised version of an older model, is using 155mm rounds and has an effective range of 40 km (25 miles) to more than 50 km (30 miles) depending on the ammunition type.
Russia’s advance on Sievierodonetsk can be more easily understood in the graphics below.
Russia now controls most of Sieverodonetsk, UK MoD confirms
Russia has taken control of most of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sieverodonetsk, the UK ministry of defence has said in its latest intelligence report.
The report, released just before 7am GMT, adds:
The main road into the Sieverodonetsk pocket likely remains under Ukrainian control but Russia continues to make steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery.”
However, this has “not been without cost” and Russian forces have sustained losses in the process, the ministry said.
Crossing the Siverskyy Donets River - which is a natural barrier to its axes of advance – is “vital for Russian forces” as they secure the regions of Luhansk and prepare to switch focus to Donetsk.
Potential crossing sites include between Sieverodonetsk and the neighbouring town of Lysychansk; and near recently-captured Lyman. In both locations, the river line likely still remains controlled by Ukrainian forces, who have destroyed existing bridges.
It is likely Russia will need at least a short tactical pause to re-set for opposed river crossings and subsequent attacks further into Donetsk, where Ukrainian armed forces have prepared defensive positions, according to UK officials.
However, to do so “risks losing some of the momentum they have built over the last week”.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 2 June 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 2, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/Cgie1d3GJa
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/oC4NSGhSQT
Updated
Russia claims latest US weapons package is ‘direct provocation’
The US earlier confirmed it will send Ukraine four sophisticated, medium-range rocket systems and ammunition to help try to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region.
The medium-range high mobility artillery rocket systems are part of a new $700m tranche of security assistance that also includes helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, radars, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more. It will take at least three weeks to get the precision weapons and trained troops onto the battlefield, the Pentagon said.
Ukraine promised Washington it will not use the rocket systems to hit targets inside Russian territory.
However, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the supply of US advanced rocket systems to Ukraine increases the risk of a “third country” being dragged into the conflict. Lavrov’s deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, said that Moscow viewed US military aid to Ukraine “extremely negatively” and that it would increase the risk of a direct confrontation.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters:
We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire.”
Lavrov later told a news conference in Saudi Arabia:
It is a direct provocation (by Ukraine), aimed at involving the West in military action.”
Updated
Ukraine has commemorated the 243 children killed in Russia’s war with a creative display in the western city of Lviv.
The interactive event, titled ‘excursion that will never happen’, used empty school buses and stuffed toys strapped into seats as a symbol of 243 Ukrainian children killed during Russian attacks.
‘Caution! Children!’ signs littering the streets read.
243 children so far killed in war, Zelenskiy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed 243 children have been killed so far in the war and 200,000 children have been forcefully taken to Russia, including children from orphanages, children taken with their parents and those separated from their families.
Zelenskiy made note of International Children’s Day during his nightly video address to the nation on Wednesday, claiming 243 children have been killed, 446 have been wounded and 139 are missing.
Speaking in relation to the 200,000 children believed to have been forcefully taken to Russia, he said:
The purpose of this criminal policy is not just to steal people but to make those who are deported forget about Ukraine and unable to return.
“Ukraine cannot be conquered, that our people will not surrender and our children will not become the property of the occupiers.”
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be brining you all the latest developments until my colleague, Martin Belam, takes the reins a little later on.
Here is a comprehensive run-down of where things currently stand.
- The US will send Ukraine four sophisticated, medium-range rocket systems and ammunition to help try to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region. The rocket systems are part of a new $700m tranche of security assistance that also includes helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, radars, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more. It will take at least three weeks to get the precision weapons and trained troops onto the battlefield, the Pentagon said.
- Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the supply of US advanced rocket systems to Ukraine increases the risk of a “third country” being dragged into the conflict. Lavrov’s deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, said that Moscow viewed US military aid to Ukraine “extremely negatively” and that it would increase the risk of a direct confrontation. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov added: “We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire.”
- The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Ukraine has given “assurances” that it will not use long-range weapons systems provided by Washington against targets on Russian territory.
- Following Biden’s announcement, the UK has reportedly asked the US to sign off on a plan to send advanced, medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine within a few weeks. Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, spoke with Biden about the transfer of US-made M270 multiple launch rocket systems, which will be followed by a discussion between his foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Thursday, Politico cited a source as saying.
- Russian forces now control more than two-thirds of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, according to the regional governor of Luhansk. “Unfortunately, today, Russian troops control most of the city,” Serhiy Gaidai said, adding that a number of civilians are sheltering from Russian shelling under a chemical plant. The expected loss of Sievierodonetsk, the largest still held by Kyiv in the Luhansk region, “is unlikely to be the crux” of Russia’s Donbas campaign, a western official said.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, conceded that Kyiv’s forces are currently suffering up to 100 fatalities and 500 wounded every day. The most difficult situation is in the east of Ukraine and southern Donetsk and Luhansk, Zelenskiy said in an interview with the US Newsmax television channel. Western officials said Ukraine’s estimate that it is losing 60 to 100 troops a day killed is “pretty credible”.
- A Russian missile hit rail lines in the western Lviv region, a key conduit for supplies of western weapons and other supplies, officials said. Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy said five people were wounded in the strike. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the country’s interior minister, said the Russians hit the Beskidy railway tunnel in the Carpathian Mountains in an apparent effort to cut a key railway link and disrupt shipments of weapons and fuel.
- Russia said it has completed testing of its hypersonic Zircon cruise missile and will deploy it before the end of the year on a new frigate of its Northern Fleet. President Vladimir Putin has described the Zircon as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems, travelling at nine times the speed of sound.
- Russian troops have been accused of committing acts of torture against residents in the Russian-controlled Kherson region in southern Ukraine. The BBC has gathered multiple first-hand testimonies from Kherson residents who say they were tortured while in the hands of Russian forces.
- Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he will convene a meeting in Brussels in the coming days with senior officials from Sweden, Finland and Turkey to discuss Turkey’s opposition to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance. Blinken said there was a “strong consensus within Nato, broadly, to support the rapid accession of Sweden and Finland” to Nato and he was confident it would happen.
