Summary
It is approaching 9pm in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and here is a roundup of today’s developments.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has ordered shelters to be operational in the capital on a 24-hour basis, after allegations that yesterday three people who were killed by falling debris from a Russian missile attack were stuck outside a “locked” air raid shelter. Three people including a child were killed and at least 11 people were injured in Thursday’s early morning missile attack. Residents of Kyiv have been leaving flowers, toys and sweets at a makeshift memorial at the location where Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine, were killed.
The US’s top military officer says training for Ukrainian forces on advanced US Abrams tanks has started, but those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv’s imminent counteroffensive.
The Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka skipped her post-match press conference at the French Open tennis tournament on Friday, citing mental health reasons, two days after she was asked to comment on the war in Ukraine after her second-round win.
Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned Russian opposition leader, released excerpts of his correspondence with prison administrators on Friday, detailing his sarcastic demands for things like a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika and even a kangaroo. His requests were denied.
Ukraine would be ready to continue exporting grain across the Black Sea as part of a “plan B” without Russian backing if Moscow pulls the plug on the current grain export deal and it collapses, Ukraine’s farm minister said on Friday.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had received ‘powerful support’ from allies attending a summit in Moldova on 1 June as it emerged F-16 fighter jets could be made available to Ukraine within six months. Several countries, including the UK, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium, have said they want to help procure F-16s for Ukraine.
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled port city of Berdiansk, on the Sea of Azov. Footage shows a large cloud of grey smoke rising from near the port area.
The former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has reacted to the imposition of sanctions on him by Ukraine, and has defended his investments in occupied Crimea, Luke Harding reported.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, and other city leaders of negligence after witness reports emerged that civilians had died earlier this week because a bomb shelter had not been opened in time, the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh reported from Kyiv.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region, has claimed three people have been killed and four injured, including a three-year-old girl, by fire from Ukrainian armed forces.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, chair of Ukraine’s parliament, has posted to social media about meeting Lithuania’s president, saying “We are grateful for the support of Lithuania, the EU, and the Euro-Atlantic future of Ukraine.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he understood Ukraine would not join Nato while the war with Russia was ongoing
Britain supports Ukraine joining Nato, the defence minister, Ben Wallace, said on the sidelines of the Shangri-La dialogue security meetings in Singapore, saying the path is open to them, although political realities may slow the process as it is not possible to add members in the middle of a war.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has said the US “calls the tunes” for Nato, which Ukraine wants to join. Asked at a news briefing about Ukraine’s push to join the western military alliance, Peskov said Kyiv’s Nato ambitions underscored its unwillingness to resolve problems at the negotiating table.
Russia again attacked Kyiv overnight, with Ukrainian forces claiming air defence shot down all 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones. Overnight the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said the city of Nikopol had been struck by shelling.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Friday that two people had been killed and two others injured when Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the town of Maslova Pristan near the Ukrainian border. “Fragments of the shells hit passing cars. Two women were travelling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said on Friday that four houses were damaged after Ukrainian forces shelled a town near the border. There have also been reports of explosions in occupied Berdiansk, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, one of the areas of the country the Russian Federation has claimed to annex.
Two long-range drones attacked fuel and energy infrastructure in Russia’s western Smolensk region overnight on Friday, but no injuries or fires were reported, the region’s acting governor said.
Mariupol’s mayoral aide Petro Andryushchenko has claimed that three people have been killed by the detonation of a landmine on the Mariupol-Donetsk H20 highway. He said the incident happened near Olenivka, the location of a prison massacre earlier in the war.
China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said on Friday that the Russian side appreciated China’s desire and efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis. “The risk of escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war is still high,” Li said at a news briefing about his visit to Europe. “All sides must ensure the safety of nuclear facilities and take concrete measures to cool down the temperature,” he said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday the US was working with Ukraine and other allies to build consensus around the core elements of a “just and lasting peace” to end the war with Russia. Washington would also encourage initiatives by other countries to bring about an end to the conflict, as long as they uphold the UN charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
Two close allies of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, on Thursday publicly criticised Russia’s most prominent mercenary, casting Yevgeny Prigozhin as a blogger who “screams” all the time about his problems.
That’s all for today. Thanks for following along.
The US’s top military officer says training for Ukrainian forces on advanced US Abrams tanks has started, but those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv’s imminent counteroffensive.
The tank training got under way as the US and its allies began to work out agreements to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets, another long-sought advanced system that would be part of a security plan to deter future attacks, US army general Mark Milley said on Thursday as he arrived in France, AP reports.
Milley said:
Everyone recognises Ukraine needs a modernised air force. It’s going to take a considerable amount of time.
Milley said detailed planning on the size of F-16 training classes, the types of flying tactics and locations for training was being worked out among the US and allies such as the Netherlands and Britain that have pledged to provide the US-made F-16s. The United States has not said whether it will directly provide jets, but President Joe Biden has said the US will support F-16 training as part of the coalition.
About 200 Ukrainian soldiers began an approximately 12-week training course in Germany over the past weekend where they are learning how to manoeuvre, fire and conduct combined arms operations with the advanced armoured system. An additional 200 troops are receiving training on tank fuelling and fuel truck maintenance.
Milley is in France to mark the 79th anniversary of D-day, where he said:
You can look back to the second world war and some of the biggest armoured battles that were ever fought in history were fought, basically, in parts of Ukraine.
So tanks are very important, both to the defence and the offence, and upgraded modern tanks, the training that goes with it, the ability to use them, will be fundamental to Ukrainian success.
Updated
The Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka skipped her post-match press conference at the French Open tennis tournament on Friday, citing mental health reasons, two days after she was asked to comment on the war in Ukraine after her second-round win.
Sabalenka was reportedly asked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and her country’s role as a staging ground for Moscow’s troops and weapons.
The tournament organisers instead released an interview with the world number two conducted by a hand-picked group of reporters in which she said she had not felt safe at her previous press conference, Reuters reports.
Sabalenka beat Russian tennis player Rakhimova 6-2, 6-2 today. Read more of our French Open coverage here.
Updated
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the president of Estonia Alar Karis to Kyiv today in a tweet.
I welcome President of Estonia @AlarKaris to Kyiv.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 2, 2023
Estonia is among those whose assistance to our defense is the fastest and the largest, if you look at the ratio of aid to the country's GDP. Thank you for all your support!
🇺🇦🇪🇪 pic.twitter.com/hOQwm6sbMz
Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned Russian opposition leader, released excerpts of his correspondence with prison administrators on Friday, detailing his sarcastic demands for things like a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika and even a kangaroo. His requests were denied.
Responses from prison officials, posted on his social media account apparently by his team, came after he has spent almost 180 days in solitary confinement since last summer at Penal Colony No 6 in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow.
Navalny, 46, is serving a nine-year sentence after being convicted of fraud and contempt of court – charges he says were trumped up for his efforts to expose official corruption and organising anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
“When you are sitting in a punishment isolation cell and have little entertainment, you can have fun with correspondence with the administration,” wrote Navalny.
Among his denied requests: a megaphone to be given to the prisoner in a nearby cell “so he can yell even louder,” and to award another inmate who “killed a man with his bare hands” with the highest rank in karate.
He also was turned down for his requests of moonshine, tobacco for rolling cigarettes and a balalaika. But Navalny expressed particular mock outrage at the administrators’ refusal to allow him to keep a kangaroo in his cell. The politician said inmates could have a pet if the prison administration allowed it.
“I will continue to fight for my inalienable right to own a kangaroo,” Navalny wrote in his social media post.
A Moscow court has set a 6 June date for a hearing for a new trial for Navalny on a charge of extremism, which could keep him in prison for 30 years.
Когда сидишь в ШИЗО и развлечений у тебя мало, то развлекаться можно перепиской с администрацией тюрьмы. Несколько ответов ИК-6 на мои заявления:
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) June 2, 2023
1. «На ваш запрос сообщаем: нет, две пачки махорки, бутылка браги и балалайка не могут быть выданы вам в ШИЗО». pic.twitter.com/BKjrMYEW1g
Updated
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said that two people had been killed and four others injured on Friday after Ukraine shelled a town near the border, while officials in nearby regions reported overnight drone attacks.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that shelling had struck a section of road in the town of Maslova Pristan, about 9 miles (15km) from Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region, and that shell fragments had struck passing cars.
“Two women were travelling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” he said.
In another message posted later on Friday, Gladkov said two more people had been injured and an industrial facility had caught fire after shelling in the town of Shebekino.
Gladkov said more than 2,500 people were being evacuated from the Shebekino area.
The governor of the Bryansk region, north of Belgorod, said four homes had been damaged by shelling, while the head of neighbouring Kursk region said some buildings had been damaged in an overnight drone attack.
These reports have not been independently verified.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy orders audit of Ukrainian air shelters
The Ukrainian president has ordered an audit of all Ukrainian air raid shelters on Friday as a rift widened with Kyiv’s mayor after the deaths of three people locked out on the street during a Russian attack.
A nine-year-old girl, her mother and another woman were killed by falling debris after rushing to a Kyiv shelter on Thursday morning and finding it was shut.
The deaths caused a public outcry and a promise of a harsh response from the Ukrainian president, which appears aimed at Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, a former world champion boxer who has previously clashed with the president.
Zelenskiy said he had ordered Ukraine’s strategic industries minister and his interior minister to conduct a full audit of bomb shelters after saying on Thursday that shelters must be kept accessible and that this was the responsibility of local authorities.
Klitschko acknowledged at a local committee meeting on Friday that he bore some responsibility but said others were to blame, particularly allies of the president.
He said spending on shelters in Kyiv districts, most of which were led by members of Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party, had been “extremely unsatisfactory” and underlined that the city’s military administration was led by a presidential appointee.
In a spat in November, Zelenskiy accused Klitschko of doing a poor job setting up emergency shelters to help people without power and heat.
Updated
Ukraine would be ready to continue exporting grain across the Black Sea as part of a “plan B” without Russian backing if Moscow pulls the plug on the current grain export deal and it collapses, Ukraine’s farm minister said on Friday.
The UN and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Moscow and Kyiv last July to help tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a leading global grain exporter.
The Ukrainian agriculture minister, Mykola Solskyi, told Reuters that Russia had already blocked the use of Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Pivdennyi despite the deal and was allowing only one ship a day to deliver Ukrainian food to certain countries.
Russia has said it will allow more ships through if all parties to the grain deal agree to unblock the transit of Russian ammonia via a pipeline through Ukrainian territory to Pivdennyi for export.
Solskyi said:
The latest actions that are taking place there during yesterday, the day before yesterday, today, it says more about the fact that in fact only legally it looks like this corridor works, but in reality nothing much is happening there.
He said in an interview in Kyiv:
That’s not how it works and then we will be ready for a plan B, which depends on us, depends on the U.N. I don’t think we will stand by if it continues like this in the near future.
Plan B … excludes the fourth party [Russia] in this relationship.
He proposed his government could offer insurance guarantees for companies to continue shipping without Russia’s involvement in a new deal.
Solsky said the government had already created a special insurance fund of about $547m (£440m) for companies whose ships would come to Ukrainian Black Sea ports under a new arrangement.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had received ‘powerful support’ from allies attending a summit in Moldova on 1 June as it emerged F-16 fighter jets could be made available to Ukraine within six months.
Several countries, including the UK, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium, have said they want to help procure F-16s for Ukraine. The US has also endorsed training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s
Updated
In a tweet, the US embassy in Kyiv said “only Russia can end this war”.
Росія і лише Росія сьогодні може завершити цю війну. Доки цього не станеться, НАТО продовжує підтримувати Україну. Путін не зламає нашу рішучість. https://t.co/K4QlI3hDLe
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) June 2, 2023
The US does not believe it needs to increase the size of its own nuclear arsenal in order to deter the combined forces of Russia, China and other rivals, the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Friday.
He also said the US would abide by the nuclear weapons limits set in the New Start treaty until its 2026 expiration if Russia does the same, in a speech in which he sought to coax Moscow and Beijing into arms control talks, Reuters reports.
Updated
French authorities have put up for sale a luxurious multimillion-euro chateau seized from the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who died in 2013 and was a sworn opponent of President Vladimir Putin, the agency handling confiscated assets said on Friday.
Berezovsky acquired Château de la Garoupe on the Côte d’Azur in the 1990s while post-Soviet Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin, was in power and the tycoon was considered one of the most powerful people in the country.
But it was confiscated by French authorities in 2015, two years after Berezovsky was found dead in exile at his home in England in circumstances that have never been fully explained. He had by then become a bitter opponent of Putin.
The property was built on the prestigious Cap d’Antibes by the British industrialist and MP Charles McLaren, and its rich history has seen it associated with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter and Ernest Hemingway.
The Côte d’Azur has been popular with rich Russians going back to visits from the imperial family at the turn of the century. After the collapse of the USSR, it became a favourite playground for the country’s oligarchs.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sanctions from the west have made owning property and even entering France increasingly problematic for many Russians.
Updated
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday that Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled port city of Berdiansk, on the Sea of Azov.
Footage shows a large cloud of grey smoke rising from near the port area. Zaporizhzhia is one of five Ukrainian regions, including the Crimea peninsula, that Russia claims to have annexed.
Alexander Lebedev reacts to Ukraine sanctions and defends investments in Crimea
The former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has reacted to the imposition of sanctions on him by Ukraine, and has defended his investments in occupied Crimea.
In a text to the Guardian, Lebedev said his activities in Crimea pre-dated 2014, when Vladimir Putin illegally annexed the peninsula. Lebedev said he paid for the restoration of the Anton Chekhov house museum and theatre in Yalta, where Chekhov wrote the Three Sisters and the Cherry Orchard. “It was opened in the presence of Tom Stoppard, Kevin Spacey and John Malkovich. You can check,” he wrote.
Lebedev said his other investments included hotels in Alushta, a resort city on the southern coast of Crimea, and an art park.
Referring to Russia’s annexation, he said: “Some maintenance and repairs were carried out afterwards from operating profit, which was pretty low. It remained the same ever since. It is not the Maldives. The season is short etc.”
Lebedev added: “I saw no reason to make 1,000 people redundant and did not close the hotels – probably the only reason for [Ukraine’s] sanctions. One can make his own judgment about the common sense of the Ukrainian decision.”
Updated
Belgorod governor says cross-border shelling continues
Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reports that cross-border shelling continues into his region from Ukraine. He posted to Telegram to say there were no new casualties to report.
Updated
My colleague Dan Sabbagh is in Kyiv for the Guardian, and has this report on the unfolding controversy over access to air raid shelters in Ukraine’s capital:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, and other city leaders of negligence after witness reports emerged that civilians had died earlier this week because a bomb shelter had not been opened in time.
Three were killed, including a nine-year-old and her mother, by falling missile debris in the small hours on Thursday as they waited outside the shelter. The city’s mayor responded by saying the responsibility for the tragedy should be shared between them.
Zelenskiy said: “It is the duty of local authorities, a very specific duty, to ensure that shelters are available and accessible around the clock. It is painful to see the negligence of this duty. It is painful to see casualties.”
The Ukrainian president did not directly name Klitschko or any other official but his emphasis on local authorities made clear he believed responsibility for the failure lay, on some levels, with the capital’s officials.
Klitschko fought back on Friday, releasing a statement in which he said: “This is about joint and fair responsibility.” The mayor complained the budget for Kyiv air raid shelters was due to run out at the end of June, and said city district officials were appointed directly by Zelenskiy, nine out of 10 of whom were members of the president’s political party.
Klitschko, who visited the site on Thursday, said investigations would take place and police would patrol the city to ensure shelters were open. The interior ministry said police were also investigating the circumstances around Thursday night’s deaths.
Read more of Dan Sabbagh’s report here: Zelenskiy accuses Kyiv mayor of negligence after civilian deaths
Updated
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region, has claimed three people have been killed and four injured, including a three-year-old girl, by fire from Ukrainian armed forces.
On Telegram he said Ukraine continued to “inflict deliberate strikes on the peaceful quarters of the settlements of the [Donetsk People’s] Republic”.
He said “destruction of residential and social facilities was recorded” after more than 270 munitions were fired into the occupied territory.
Donetsk is one of the Ukrainian regions the Russian Federation claims to have annexed.
Updated
Ruslan Stefanchuk, chair of Ukraine’s parliament, has posted to social media about meeting Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda. Stefanchuk said:
I met with a friend of Ukraine, the Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda. I thanked him for the help that Ukraine feels from Lithuania. We are grateful for the support of Lithuania, the EU, and the Euro-Atlantic future of Ukraine. We discussed Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan and bringing the Russian Federation to justice.
Зустрівся з другом 🇺🇦, Президентом 🇱🇹 @GitanasNauseda.
— Ruslan Stefanchuk (@r_stefanchuk) June 2, 2023
Подякував за допомогу, яку відчуває 🇺🇦 з боку 🇱🇹.
Вдячний за підтримку Литвою 🇪🇺 та євроатлантичного майбутнього 🇺🇦.
Обговорили #формуламиру @ZelenskyyUa , відновлення справедливості, притягнення рф до відповідальності. pic.twitter.com/sIXpgrbDUs
Updated
A lot of social media users, including the official channel of Ukraine’s ministry of defence, have been sharing a picture of a cat in a Kyiv air shelter last night looking thoroughly disgruntled about the whole situation, in a way that has clearly struck a chord.
Another russian air attack on Kyiv.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 2, 2023
Another sleepless night of taking cover at a metro station.
No fear. Only anger.
📷 Vadym Okhrimenko pic.twitter.com/JhMNJhoMG0
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he understood Ukraine would not join Nato while the war with Russia was ongoing.
During a joint briefing in Kyiv with the Estonian president, Alar Karis, he said:
We are adequate people and understand we will not pull any Nato country into a war.
And that’s why we understand that we won’t be a member of Nato while this war is ongoing. Not because we don’t want to, because it’s impossible.
Updated
Britain supports Ukraine joining Nato, says UK defence minister
Britain supports Ukraine joining Nato, the defence minister, Ben Wallace, said on the sidelines of the Shangri-La dialogue security meetings in Singapore, saying the path is open to them, although political realities may slow the process.
Wallace said it is not possible to add members in the middle of a war and the way forward was to continue aiding and arming Ukraine for short- and long-term security.
In an interview, Reuters reports Wallace saying:
The best thing we can do to help Ukraine now is to help them defeat Russia.
After that is to make sure they are ready and capable and resilient.
Updated
US 'calls the tunes' for Nato, says Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has said the US “calls the tunes” for Nato, which Ukraine wants to join.
Asked at a news briefing about Ukraine’s push to join the western military alliance, Peskov said Kyiv’s Nato ambitions underscored its unwillingness to resolve problems at the negotiating table.
Peskov added that Ukrainian membership of Nato would cause problems for many years to come and Russia would protect its own security and interests.
Updated
Russia is in contact with members of Opec+, a group of leading oil producers, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said, ahead of an Opec meeting on Sunday to make a decision on its production policy.
He declined to comment on the possible outcome of the meeting.
Opec and its allies are unlikely to decide on further oil supply cuts at themeeting despite a fall in oil prices to $70 (£56) a barrel this week, two sources from the alliance said, although another said the outcome was still unclear.
Updated
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has said he would propose amendments to a law he signed this week on undue Russian influence, reacting to criticism it could result in banning opposition politicians from public office.
Duda signed the bill into law on Monday to let a panel investigate whether opposition parties allowed Poland to be unduly influenced by Russia. He said he would send it to the constitutional tribunal for review only after it comes into force, Reuters reports.
The law drew criticism from lawyers and opposition politicians, as well as the US state department and the European Commission, which expressed concerns it could effectively ban individuals from holding public office without proper judicial review.
Duda said in a televised statement:
Appalled by these allegations … I have prepared an amendment to the law, a series of provisions which regulate or amend the issues in this law which aroused the greatest controversies.
He said the proposed changes would include provisions banning members of parliament from becoming members of the commission, allowing appeals to a general court, not an administrative court, and removing the provisions that would allow people to be banned from office.
“I propose removing those measures, leaving only a statement of the commission that a person who has been found to be acting under Russian influence does not guarantee the proper performance of public duties,” he said.
Duda said his proposal would be submitted to parliament on Friday. Opposition politicians criticised the president for changing his mind on a bill he signed just days earlier and said the proposed amendments did not address the issue of establishing such a commission.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that the Akhmat group of Chechen special forces had launched an offensive near the town of Marinka, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Russian news agencies report.
More details soon …
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that he had ordered a complete audit of bomb shelters in Kyiv and across the country.
The Ukrainian president made the remark during a high-level government security meeting, a day after three people were killed in the capital after being unable to access a shelter during a Russian airstrike, Reuters reports.
Updated
A group of pro-Ukrainian forces said on Friday they were fighting Russian troops on the outskirts of a village just inside Russia’s western border, a day after Moscow said it had repelled three cross-border attacks.
The attacks follow a major incursion into Russia’s western Belgorod region on 22 and 23 May and an increase in cross-border shelling in recent weeks as Ukraine prepares to launch a big push to recapture land occupied by Russia, Reuters reports.
The Freedom of Russia Legion said in a statement:
We have active fighting on the outskirts of the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka. Unfortunately, there are wounded legionnaires, but freedom is won through blood.
The group describes its members as Russians fighting against Vladimir Putin’s government to create a country that would be part of the “free world”.
Along with the Russian Volunteer Corps founded by a far-right Russian nationalist, they say they are attacking under their own steam and not on the orders of Ukraine, which denies involvement.
Russia describes the groups as terrorists acting as proxies for Kyiv. The governor of Belgorod region said two people had been killed and two wounded in Ukrainian shelling on Friday.
Updated
Vladimir Putin told a meeting of his security council on Friday that “ill-wishers” were increasingly trying to destabilise Russia and that this must be prevented.
“We must do everything we can to make sure that under no circumstances will they be allowed to do this,” Reuters reports the Russian president as saying.
Updated
China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, appealed to other governments on Friday to “stop sending weapons to the battlefield” in Ukraine and hold peace talks, but he gave no indication that his trip to the region had made any progress toward a settlement.
Lis appeal came as Washington and its European allies increase their supplies of missiles, tanks and other weapons to Ukrainian forces that are trying to take back territory occupied by Russia.
Beijing says it is neutral and wants to serve as a mediator in the conflict, but it has supported Moscow politically.
“China believes that if we really want to put an end to war, to save lives and realise peace, it is important for us to stop sending weapons to the battlefield, or else the tensions will only spiral up,” AP reports Li as saying.
He visited Ukraine, Russia, Poland, France, Germany and the EU headquarters during a trip from 15 to 28 May.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has ordered shelters to be operational in the capital on a 24-hour basis, after allegations that yesterday three people who were killed by falling debris from a Russian missile attack were stuck outside a “locked” air raid shelter. Three people including a child were killed and at least 11 people were injured in Thursday’s early morning missile attack. Residents of Kyiv have been leaving flowers, toys and sweets at a makeshift memorial at the location where Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine, were killed.
Russia again attacked Kyiv overnight, with Ukrainian forces claiming air defence shot down all 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones. Overnight the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said the city of Nikopol had been struck by shelling.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Friday that two people had been killed and two others injured when Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the town of Maslova Pristan near the Ukrainian border. “Fragments of the shells hit passing cars. Two women were travelling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said on Friday that four houses were damaged after Ukrainian forces shelled a town near the border. There have also been reports of explosions in occupied Berdiansk, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, one of the areas of the country the Russian Federation has claimed to annex.
Two long-range drones attacked fuel and energy infrastructure in Russia’s western Smolensk region overnight on Friday, but no injuries or fires were reported, the region’s acting governor said.
Mariupol’s mayoral aide Petro Andryushchenko has claimed that three people have been killed by the detonation of a landmine on the Mariupol-Donetsk H20 highway. He said the incident happened near Olenivka, the location of a prison massacre earlier in the war.
China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said on Friday that the Russian side appreciated China’s desire and efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis. “The risk of escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war is still high,” Li said at a news briefing about his visit to Europe. “All sides must ensure the safety of nuclear facilities and take concrete measures to cool down the temperature,” he said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday the US was working with Ukraine and other allies to build consensus around the core elements of a “just and lasting peace” to end the war with Russia. Washington would also encourage initiatives by other countries to bring about an end to the conflict, as long as they uphold the UN charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
Two close allies of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, on Thursday publicly criticised Russia’s most prominent mercenary, casting Yevgeny Prigozhin as a blogger who “screams” all the time about his problems.
Updated
The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said on Friday that four houses were damaged after Ukrainian forces shelled a town near the border.
No injuries were reported, Reuters reports governor Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.
There have also been reports of explosions in occupied Berdiansk, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, one of the areas of the country that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex.
On Telegram, Suspilne stated “explosions rang out in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk. Ukrainian defenders hit the positions of the Russians”, citing Viktoria Galitsyna, who is the Ukrainian-appointed head of the city administration, but not in Berdiansk.
The claims have not been independently verified.
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday the US was working with Ukraine and other allies to build consensus around the core elements of a “just and lasting peace” to end the war with Russia.
Washington would also encourage initiatives by other countries to bring about an end to the conflict, as long as they uphold the UN charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
“We will support efforts – whether by Brazil, China, or any other nation – if they help find a way to a just and lasting peace,” Reuters reports Blinken said in a speech.
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Here are some images that have been released of Ukrainian service personnel training in Kharkiv region.
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Wagner boss is a 'blogger who screams' about his problems, say allies of Chechen leader
Two close allies of the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Thursday publicly criticised Russia’s most prominent mercenary, casting Yevgeny Prigozhin as a blogger who “screams” all the time about his problems.
Kadyrov’s right-hand man, Adam Delimkhano, in a video message using the diminutive of “Zhenya” and the familiar Russian form of you (“ty”) told Prigozhin:
“You have become a blogger who screams and shouts off to the whole world about all the problems,” Delimkhanov said. “Stop shouting, yelling and screaming.”
Magomed Daudov, the chairman of the Chechen parliament, similarly tore into Prigozhin in a video shared on telegram:
“I need to tell you, for such words, almost every day, you would have immediately been put up against the wall during World War II,” he said, accusing Prigozhin of creating a “panicked mood among the population”.
In response, Dmitry Utkin, a former Rusisan special forces officer who is believed to be Wagner’s most senior commander, said his group was ready to meet the Chechens “man to man”.
“Where did such familiarity come from: who gave you the right to use the address ‘ty’ and ‘Zhenya’?” Utkin said in a message which Prigozhin reposted on Telegram. “Certain citizens should be put against a wall for the SHAME that we have.”
Utkin, a veteran of Russia’s wars in Chechnya, added that he was acquainted with the Chechens from his time fightings against them in the Caucasus.
Both Prigozhin and Kadyrov are yet to comment on the public spat. The two men were previously believed to be allies and have bonded over their shared hatred of the Russian military leadership.
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Two killed by Ukrainian cross-border shelling of Belgorod region – Russian governor
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Friday that two people had been killed and two others injured when Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the town of Maslova Pristan near the Ukrainian border.
“Fragments of the shells hit passing cars. Two women were travelling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” Reuters reports governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The claims have not been independently verified.
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Residents of Kyiv have been leaving flowers, toys and sweets at a makeshift memorial at the location where Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine, were killed yesterday.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, has faced criticism after allegations this week that a “locked” shelter was responsible for people in the capital being stuck outside and struck by falling debris which killed them.
He has just posted two lengthy messages about the situation on Telegram. In the first he told residents:
1.2bn hryvnias (£26m GBP) from the city budget were allocated to the districts for the arrangement of shelters. These funds, I emphasise, were and are being managed by the city’s regional government. Heads of districts are responsible.
Today, the implementation and use of funds is extremely unsatisfactory. At the end of June, we will sum up the use of funds for arranging shelters. And appeals to the president for suspension or dismissal can also be made for other heads of districts.
Klitschko said that it was up to the president to dismiss heads of district and that the mayor cannot “even reprimand him”. Klitschko said “this is about joint and fair responsibility” and he warned district heads “you can’t walk around in white gloves and neglect your duties”.
In a second message he said that shelters would be guaranteed to be open.
Round-the-clock access to shelters is mandatory for all institutions and establishments.
The public will also be involved in access control. Anyone interested can join and become public control inspectors. You need to contact the Department of Municipal Security.
The patrol police, and we are grateful for this, will help check the availability of shelters during the curfew air alert.
He continued “I want to address the residents of the capital. The enemy is now shelling the capital with ballistic missiles when the alarm can sound in a matter of minutes. If you understand that you will not reach the shelter so quickly, follow the rule of two walls in the house. The city authorities are strengthening their control over the work of shelters. Yes, there are questions. And we will work on them.”
The “rule of two walls in the house” states that the safest part of the building is considered to be a space in which there are at least two walls without windows between a person and the street.
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China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said on Friday that the Russian side appreciated China’s desire and efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
“The risk of escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war is still high,” Reuters reports Li saying at a news briefing about his visit to Europe.
“All sides must ensure the safety of nuclear facilities and take concrete measures to cool down the temperature,” he said.
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Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.
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Mariupol’s mayoral aide Petro Andryushchenko has claimed that three people have been killed by the detonation of a landmine on the Mariupol-Donetsk H20 highway. He said the incident happened near Olenivka, the location of a prison massacre earlier in the war.
The claims have not been independently verified.
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Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, offers this round up of overnight news:
In the city of Kyiv, there is no information on any injured people or destruction, while in Kyiv region, an 11-year-old boy and a 68-year-old man were injured due to falling debris. Private houses and cars were damaged.
Over the past day, two people were killed and another 12 were injured due to shelling in Donetsk region. In the Zaporizhzhia region, one person was killed and two were injured during the day, and 16 were injured in the Kherson region.
The general staff reported that the Russian military has set a deadline for residents of the temporarily occupied Kherson region to receive a Russian passport – 1 September 2023. For refusal, they threaten to stop supplying electricity, confiscate property, forcefully evict them from their homes or deport them.
The claims have not been independently verified.
An air alert has been declared in eastern Ukraine.
Two long-range drones attacked fuel and energy infrastructure in Russia’s western Smolensk region overnight on Friday, but no injuries or fires were reported, the region’s acting governor said.
Reuters reports he said the attacks hit the towns of Divasy and Peresna near the region’s capital Smolensk, about 270 km (168 miles) from the Ukrainian border, but did not say who was responsible. Smolensk region is to the north of Bryansk in Russia, and borders Belarus.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ukraine, has posted some more details of Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv to his official Telegram channel. He writes:
The occupiers continue to terrorise Ukraine with attack drones and missiles.
Around 11pm the enemy attacked Kyiv with Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones. They entered from the southern direction, using the topography of the area and the course of the Dnieper River.
At about 3am, Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles launched by Tu-95ms strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea were already in the airspace of Ukraine. They entered from the northern direction, attacking Kyiv, manoeuvreing, trying to mislead our air defence.
All 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones were destroyed by the forces and means of air defence of the air force, in cooperation with the air defence systems of the defence forces of Ukraine.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Overnight the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said that the city of Nikopol had been struck. He posted to Telegram:
The aggressor does not stop. Nikopol region came under attack again. At midnight, the Rashists shelled Nikopol. Shells from heavy artillery flew into the city. People are unharmed. Rescuers are examining the area. The enemy is insidious and does not abandon its tactics of terrorising the civilian population.
The United States is seeking to secure supplies of TNT in Japan for 155mm artillery shells, Reuters reports, as Washington rushes weapons and ammunition to Ukraine for a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
The Guardian has not verified this. Reuters cites two people familiar with the matter.
For war-renouncing Japan, any procurement would test its willingness to court controversy to help Kyiv because export rules ban Japanese companies from selling lethal items overseas, such as the howitzer shells that Ukraine fires daily at Russian units occupying its regions in the south-east.
Nonetheless, the allies appear to have found a workaround to enable the TNT sale amid global shortages of munitions.
“There is a way for the United States to buy explosives from Japan,” one of the people with knowledge of discussions on the matter in Japan told Reuters on the condition of anonymity, citing the issue’s sensitivity.
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Chinese airlines are avoiding flying over Russian airspace in newly approved flights to and from the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware and industry officials who spoke to Reuters.
Russia has barred US airlines and other foreign carriers from flying over its airspace, in retaliation for Washington banning Russian flights over the US in March 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine.
Reuters reports that FlightAware records show Chinese flights recently approved by Washington are not flying over Russia, while previously approved Chinese airline US flights are still using Russian airspace.
On 3 May the US Transportation Department (USDOT) said it would allow Chinese airlines to increase US passenger services to 12 weekly round-trips, equal to the number of flights Beijing has permitted for American carriers. Previously, only eight weekly flights by Chinese carriers were allowed.
USDOT Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs Annie Petsonk declined to answer a question about whether the Biden administration had required that the Chinese carriers avoid Russian airspace as a condition of approving four new flights.
Russian villages shelled, says governor of Bryansk region
Two villages in Russia’s western Bryansk region have been shelled by Ukrainian forces, setting a house on fire, but no one was injured, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a post on the Telegram messaging app on Friday.
The villages were Lomakovka and Novaya Pogoshch, Bogomaz said.
Neither Reuters nor the Guardian could verify the reported attack on Lomakovka village located close to the border with Ukraine’s Chernihiv region.
Russian officials have reported intensified attacks from northern Ukraine and said that on Thursday Ukrainian troops attempted to cross the border into the Belgorod region, the first such incursion.
Ukraine denies its military is involved in the incursions and says they are conducted by Russian volunteer fighters.
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Speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, the official said the US steps to stop sharing with Russia some of the information required under the New Start treaty were reversible, Reuters reports, and that the United States was looking to draw Moscow back into arms control talks, an unlikely prospect given Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and US arms supplies to Kyiv.
US to stop sharing some New Start data with Russia
The United States said it will stop providing Russia some notifications required under the New Start arms control treaty from Thursday, Reuters reports, including updates on its missile and launcher locations, to retaliate for Moscow’s “ongoing violations” of the accord.
In a fact sheet on its website, the state department said it would also stop giving Russia telemetry information – remotely gathered data about a missile’s flight – on launches of US intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has not formally withdrawn from the treaty, which limits deployed strategic nuclear arsenals. On 21 February, he said Russia would suspend participation, imperilling the last pillar of US-Russian arms control.
Signed in 2010 and due to expire in 2026, the New Start treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the countries can deploy. Under its terms, Moscow and Washington may deploy no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and 700 land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.
“Beginning June 1, 2023, the United States is withholding from Russia notifications required under the treaty, including updates on the status or location of treaty-accountable items such as missiles and launchers,” the state department factsheet said. It said Russia stopped providing these in late February.
A Biden administration official said the US “will continue to adhere to the (treaty’s) central limits … and expect that Russia will continue to do so as well.”
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US debt ceiling deal won’t limit Ukraine spending, says Chuck Schumer
The Senate narrowly passed a bill to suspend the debt ceiling on Thursday night, sending the legislation to Joe Biden’s desk and averting a federal default that could have wreaked havoc on the US economy and global markets.
As some of their colleagues lamented the state of America’s debt, defence hawks in the Senate Republican conference warned that the legislation does not sufficiently fund the Pentagon, leaving the US military vulnerable in the face of foreign threats.
Schumer and McConnell attempted to allay those concerns by entering a statement into the record reaffirming that America stands ready to “respond to ongoing and growing national security threats”.
“This debt ceiling deal does nothing to limit the Senate’s ability to appropriate emergency supplemental funds to ensure our military capabilities are sufficient to deter China, Russia and our other adversaries,” the joint statement read. “The Senate is not about to ignore our national needs, nor abandon our friends and allies who face urgent threats from America’s most dangerous adversaries.”
Kyiv shoots down more than 30 missiles and drones in early morning strikes
Ukrainian authorities on Friday lifted air raid alerts across most of the nation, and officials in the capital Kyiv said defences appeared to have shot down more than 30 missiles and drones fired by Russia.
Moscow has launched around 20 separate missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian cities since the start of May.
Kyiv military authorities, writing on Telegram, said Russia had launched drones and cruise missiles at the same time.
“According to preliminary information, more than 30 air targets of various types were detected and destroyed in the airspace over and around Kyiv by air defence forces,” they said in a statement.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who earlier reported two separate waves of attacks, wrote on Telegram that there had been no calls for rescue services.
Ukraine regularly says its defences knock down the majority of Russia’s missiles and drones.
Opening Summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan bringing you the latest. Russia has again launched overnight strikes on Kyiv, a day after three people, including a nine-year-old-child were killed in Moscow’s attacks on the city.
Ukrainian authorities on Friday lifted air raid alerts across most of the nation, and officials in the capital Kyiv said defences appeared to have shot down more than 30 missiles and drones fired by Russia.
And a US debt ceiling bill that the Senate passed on Thursday does not prevent Congress from pursuing more aid to Ukraine or for future national emergencies, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer said.
Moscow has launched around 20 separate missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian cities since the start of May.
Three people including a child were killed and at least 11 people were injured in an early morning missile attack on Kyiv that hit apartment buildings, two schools and a children’s clinic, according to city authorities. The attack, on International Children’s Day, reportedly involved 10 Iskander short-range missiles, and there was only a few minutes’ warning before they hit. Nearly 500 children have been killed in military attacks in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. A nine-year-old girl and her mother who were killed were reportedly locked out of an air raid shelter.
At least nine civilians were injured in shelling in Belgorod, the region’s governor said, with hundreds of children, women and elderly evacuated. Unverified video showed a fire at a large building in Shebekino. Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Ukraine’s armed forces had repeatedly shelled Shebekino with Soviet-designed Grad 122mm rockets. Russian anti-Putin partisans said they were responsible for the raid on Shebekino, the second partisan attack inside Russia in less than two weeks.
Ukraine has imposed sanctions on Alexander Lebedev, the former KGB intelligence officer whose son Evgeny sits in the House of Lords, in connection with Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The national security and defence council in Kyiv imposed sanctions on Lebedev Sr last October. The decision – first reported by Tortoise media – emerged on Thursday and follows a decree signed by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had received a strong show of support from allies attending a European summit in Moldova on the question of supplying fighter jets to Kyiv to help repel Russian forces. He did not give details.
Starlink, the satellite communications service started by Elon Musk, has a Department of Defence contract to buy satellite services for Ukraine, the Pentagon has said.
The Agence France-Presse news agency held a memorial ceremony at its Paris headquarters for the journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed last month in Ukraine. AFP’s global news director, Phil Chetwynd, confirmed journalists would be gradually returning to frontline reporting in Ukraine next week.
Russian access to Faroe Islands’ north Atlantic ports will be restricted exclusively to fishing, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Faroese government is trying to reduce Russian activities at its ports due to the risk of espionage and after criticism over the renewal of the bilateral fisheries accord at the end of November.
Ukraine’s ministry of renovation and infrastructure said on Thursday the UN-brokered Black Sea grain export deal had been halted again because Russia had blocked registration of ships to all Ukrainian ports. A UN spokesperson said Russia had informed officials overseeing the initiative that Moscow would limit registrations to the port of Pivdennyi, in Ukraine’s Odesa province, until all parties agree to unblock the transit of Russian ammonia.
Taiwan has donated more than £4m to Lithuanian-led reconstructions projects in Ukraine, a Lithuanian government investment agency said on Wednesday. The funds will go towards rebuilding a school in Borodianka and a nursery in Irpin, the Central Project Management Agency said.
Zelenskiy said Kyiv wanted to receive a “clear” decision on its future in the Nato military alliance when the bloc’s leaders meet for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next month.
Nato foreign ministers are meeting in Oslo, where the French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, said the alliance needed to think about what kind of security guarantees it could give Ukraine, and Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said the time had come for Nato members to find a concrete answer to the question of how Ukraine could become a member.
Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billström, also in Oslo, said the time had come for Turkey and Hungary to ratify his nation’s Nato membership application. “We have fulfilled all our commitments,” Billström said. The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he would soon travel to Turkey to discuss Sweden’s Nato membership.
