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Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
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Ukrainian shelling on Saturday forced Russian troops to suspend the evacuation of people from a chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk, just hours after Moscow’s forces took the city, Tass news agency quoted local police as saying, Reuters reports. Separately, a senior advisor to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said special forces were still in Sievierodonetsk, directing artillery fire against the Russians. The adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, spoke in a video address.
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British prime minister Boris Johnson urged G7 leaders to not “give up” on Ukraine as he pledged additional financial support for Ukraine as it attempts to fight the Russian invasion. “Ukraine can win and it will win. But they need our backing to do so. Now is not the time to give up on Ukraine,” Johnson said on Saturday.
Britain stands ready to provide another $525 million in loan guarantees, a statement from Downing Street. - Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine will win back all the cities it has lost to Russia, including Sievierodonetsk. “All our cities – Sievierodonetsk, Donetsk, Luhansk – we’ll get them all back,” he said in a late-night video address. Zelenskiy also admitted that the war was becoming difficult to emotionally handle.
- Ukraine will defend its eastern front from higher ground in the city of Lysychansk after withdrawing from a Russian onslaught in its sister city and Kyiv will try to stabilise the situation, Ukraine’s military spy chief said on Saturday. “Russia used the tactic “it used in Mariupol: wiping the city from the face of the earth. Given the conditions, holding the defence in the ruins and open fields is no longer possible. So the Ukrainian forces are leaving for higher ground to continue the defence operations,” Kyrylo Budanov said.
- Russian attacks have killed three civilians on Saturday in Bakhmut, New York and Pervomaiske in the Donetsk region, according to the region’s governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. Additionally, Russian missile strikes have killed at least three and injured four others in Sarny, a city in Rivne, a western region in Ukraine.
- The US has announced that it will provide 18 patrol boats to Ukraine as part of the 13th security package promised on Thursday. “Included in the package announced Thursday are two 35-foot, small-unit riverine craft; six 40-foot maritime combat craft; and ten 34-foot, Dauntless Sea Ark patrol boats,” the Department of Defense said on Thursday.
- Russia will send missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the next few months, Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Saturday while hosting Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. “In the coming months, we will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin said.
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Russian forces have established full control over the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk and the nearby town of Borivske, a senior defense ministry official said in a statement on Saturday. Ukrainian officials said earlier in the day that their troops had withdrawn from Sievierodonetsk after a prolonged battle with regular Russian troops and fighters from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).
- Russia has pushed back against claims that it is stopping grain export from Ukrainian ports. “In a statement on Saturday, Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “Safe navigation in Ukrainian territorial waters and the use of ports are currently impossible because of the high threat of mines and shelling. This threat was created by Kyiv.”
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia who will bring you the latest updates. I’ll see you tomorrow, thank you.
Ukrainian shelling on Saturday forced Russian troops to suspend the evacuation of people from a chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk, just hours after Moscow’s forces took the city, Tass news agency quoted local police as saying, Reuters reports.
Separately, a senior advisor to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said special forces were still in Sievierodonetsk, directing artillery fire against the Russians. The adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, spoke in a video address.
Updated
British prime minister Boris Johnson urged G7 leaders to not “give up” on Ukraine as he pledged additional financial support for the country as it attempts to fight the Russian invasion.
Ukraine can win and it will win. But they need our backing to do so. Now is not the time to give up on Ukraine,” Johnson said on Saturday.
Britain stands ready to provide another $525m in loan guarantees, the statement from Downing Street said, warning that the Ukrainian government fears it could run out of cash by autumn without fresh injections of money.
The pledge raises the total amount of British financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine this year to about $1.8bn.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is due to address G7 leaders on Monday virtually and, according to Downing Street, he is expected to urge allies to provide long-term support for his wartorn country.
Any sign of fatigue or wavering in western support for Ukraine will play directly into (Russian) president (Vladimir) Putin’s hands,” the statement added.
Johnson’s spokesperson said as the fighting rages on, western support for Ukraine needed to enter “a new phase”, and the question was how to best “empower” Ukraine.
That’s what the PM will be asking at the G7 and Nato summits as he encourages his fellow leaders to increase their economic, military and political support to Ukraine,” the spokesperson said.
“In parallel, we must up sanctions against Putin and his cronies, ensuring they feel the cost of their barbarism.”
Updated
Ukraine will take back all the cities it has lost – Zelenskiy
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine will win back all the cities it has lost to Russia, including Sievierodonetsk.
All our cities – Sievierodonetsk, Donetsk, Luhansk – we’ll get them all back,” he said in a late-night video address.
It was the only time in the address that he mentioned Sievierodonetsk, which finally fell to Moscow’s forces earlier in the day after weeks of brutal fighting.
Zelenskiy also admitted that the war was becoming difficult to emotionally handle. He said that Ukraine has been struck by 45 Russian missiles and rockets in the last 24 hours, which he described as a cynical but doomed attempt to break his people’s spirits.
At this stage of the war it’s spiritually difficult, emotionally difficult ... we don’t have a sense of long it will last, how many more blows, losses and efforts will be needed before we see victory is on the horizon,” he said.
Zelenskiy continued to plead for more weapons, saying that the relentless missile attacks confirmed that sanctions against Russia were not enough to help Ukraine.
The air defense systems – the modern systems that our partners have – should not be on training grounds or in storage, but in Ukraine, where they are needed now, needed more than anywhere else in the world,” he said.
Updated
Ukraine will defend its eastern front from higher ground in the city of Lysychansk after withdrawing from a Russian onslaught in its sister city and Kyiv will try to stabilise the situation, Ukraine’s military spy chief said on Saturday.
Reuters reports:
Russia has been replenishing forces with reservists as part of a covert mobilisation and it is pointless to hope Moscow will simply run out of troops in this war, Kyrylo Budanov told Reuters.
The 36-year-old head of the defence ministry’s shadowy Main Directorate of Intelligence spoke in a rare interview in Kyiv hours before Russia claimed full control of the city of Sievierodonetsk where Ukrainian forces had been bombarded for weeks.
Russia used the tactic “it used in Mariupol: wiping the city from the face of the earth. Given the conditions, holding the defence in the ruins and open fields is no longer possible. So the Ukrainian forces are leaving for higher ground to continue the defence operations,” he said.
The only way path to victory for Ukraine, he said, was through sheer military force in order to retake all its territory.
The strategy is very simple. Stabilise the situation. Receive the required amount of equipment and prepare the required amount of forces and means to start the counter-offensive to return all our territory,” he said.
He said he was calm about the possibility of Russia eventually openly announcing a mobilisation as it would mean Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin facing awkward questions at home.
They really fear this – this is the main reason why the mobilisation is happening in a hidden way, particular by using,” reservists, he said.
“The military units that took part on 24 February and those same military units now are in most cases on their second and in some cases even their third group of personnel,” he said.
Moscow has so far stopped short of calling a general military mobilisation in what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine.
Budanov said any counteroffensive would hinge on various factors including having a well-equipped concentration of forces, which would depend on Ukraine getting help from foreign partners.
Updated
Russian attacks have killed three civilians on Saturday in Bakhmut, New York and Pervomaiske in the Donetsk region, according to the region’s governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Additionally, Russian missile strikes have killed at least three and injured four others in Sarny, a city in Rivne, a western region in Ukraine.
⚡️UPDATE: Russian missile strike kills at least 3, injures 4 in Sarny, Rivne Oblast.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 25, 2022
According to Rivne Governor Vitaly Koval, missiles hit two car repair facilities. Authorities continue going through the rubble, and the number of casualties can grow, the governor added.
Updated
The US has announced that it will provide 18 patrol boats to Ukraine as part of the 13th security package promised on Thursday.
“Included in the package announced Thursday are two 35-foot, small-unit riverine craft; six 40-foot maritime combat craft; and ten 34-foot, Dauntless Sea Ark patrol boats,” the Department of Defense said on Thursday.
A senior defense official at the Pentagon said, “These are largely to protect the riverways and to enable Ukraine to maintain its control of the riverways. They can also be used in ... close-in coastal areas.”
Russia will send missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the next few months, Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Saturday while hosting Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
In the coming months, we will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin said.
He also offered to upgrade Belarus’ warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons, amid soaring tensions with the West over Ukraine. Lukashenko has previously asked Putin to “adapt” the planes.
Many Su-25 (aircrafts) are in service with the Belarusian military. They could be upgraded in an appropriate way,” Putin said, adding, “This modernisation should be carried out in aircraft factories in Russia and the training of personnel should start in accordance with this,” he added.
“We will agree on how to accomplish this,” Putin said.
Lukashenko said last month that his country had bought Iskander nuclear-capable missiles and S-400 anti-aircraft anti-missile systems from Russia.
Updated
Russia says it has full control over Sievierodonetsk
Russian forces have established full control over the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk and the nearby town of Borivske, a senior defense ministry official said in a statement on Saturday.
Reuters reports:
Ukrainian officials said earlier in the day that their troops had withdrawn from Sievierodonetsk after a prolonged battle with regular Russian troops and fighters from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).
“As a result of successful offensive operations, units of the people’s militia of the LPR, with the support of Russian troops ... completely liberated the cities of Severodonetsk and Borivske,” said defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
He said the attack had thwarted what he called an Ukrainian attempt to turn the city’s Azot chemical plant into a stubborn centre of resistance.
Konashenkov said LPR fighters now controlled the plant, where several hundred citizens had been sheltering. He made no mention of their fate.
Updated
Russia has pushed back against claims that it is stopping grain export from Ukrainian ports.
In a statement on Saturday, Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “Russia has never prevented grain export from Ukraine’s ports.”
She went on to add, “Safe navigation in Ukrainian territorial waters and the use of ports are currently impossible because of the high threat of mines and shelling. This threat was created by Kyiv.”
Updated
A summary of today's developments
- Russian forces have fully occupied Sievierodonetsk, the mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city said, confirming Ukraine’s biggest battlefield setback for more than a month, after weeks of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Pro-Russian separatists said Moscow’s forces were now attacking the last major Ukrainian-held bastion in eastern Luhansk province, Sievierodonetsk’s twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river. The Ukrainian military said its troops had withdrawn from the strategic frontline city of Sievierodonetsk.
- Ukraine is regrouping its forces from the rubble of the city of Sievierodonetsk to higher ground in neighbouring Lysychansk to gain a tactical advantage over Russia, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said. Kyrylo Budanov told Reuters that Ukrainian forces would continue their defence of that front from Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine and that it was no longer possible to hold the line in Sievierodonetsk.
- Ukraine stands with Moldova amid threats from Moscow, the country’s foreign minister has said. “We stand with the people and the government of friendly Moldova amid renewed threats coming from Moscow. All Russia has left is spitting out threats at other states after decades of failed policies based on aggression, coercion, and disrespect. This only shows Russia’s weakness,” Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
- Russian missiles have hit military infrastructure in northern Ukraine, local officials have said. Reuters reports that Vitaliy Bunechko, governor of the Zhytomyr region in the north of the country, said strikes on a military target killed at least one soldier.
Russian shelling damaged a nuclear research facility in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said.
The strike damaged some of the site’s buildings and infrastructure but did not affect the area housing nuclear fuel and radiation levels there are within a normal range, it said in an online post. “The probability of new damage ... which can directly affect the state of nuclear and radiation safety, remains high due to shelling by Russian troops,” it said. Reuters could not independently verify the inspectorate’s account on the incident.
Ukraine troops withdraw from Sievierodonetsk
The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the strategic frontline city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.
“After the withdrawal of our military units, the enemy is consolidating its positions in ... Sievierodonetsk,” it said in an update.
It comes after Russian forces are now in control of the city of in eastern Ukraine, its mayor Oleksandr Stryuk told Ukrainian TV.
Updated
Budanov added Russia is using its reserve forces in a covert mobilisation to replenish its ranks in eastern Ukraine and there is no point in waiting for its offensive potential to diminish.
He told Reuters he believed Ukraine could only achieve a victory against Russia through military force.
“We shouldn’t wait for a miracle that they will tire and stop wanting to fight and so on. We will win back our territory as a result of our counteroffensive,” said Budanov, head of the defence intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
Budanov said Ukraine should see “visible results” of its counteroffensive in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson in Ukraine’s south from August.
Updated
Ukraine is regrouping its forces from the rubble of the city of Sievierodonetsk to higher ground in neighbouring Lysychansk to gain a tactical advantage over Russia, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said.
In an interview in Kyiv, Kyrylo Budanov told Reuters that Ukrainian forces would continue their defence of that front from Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine and that it was no longer possible to hold the line in Sievierodonetsk.
“The activities happening in the area of Sievierodonetsk are a tactical regrouping of our troops. This is a withdrawal to advantageous positions to obtain a tactical advantage,” said, Budanov, head of the defence intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
Russia is using the tactic ... it used in Mariupol: wiping the city from the face of the earth. Given the conditions, holding the defence in the ruins and open fields is no longer possible. So the Ukrainian forces are leaving for higher ground to continue the defence operations,” he said.
Asked if he meant Lysychansk, he said: “Yes, this is the only higher ground.”
Updated
The mayors of several European capitals have been duped into holding video calls with a deepfake of their counterpart in Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko.
The mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, took part in a scheduled call on the Webex video conferencing platform on Friday with a person she said looked and sounded like Klitschko.
“There were no signs that the video conference call wasn’t being held with a real person,” her office said in a statement.
Ukraine said it came under “massive bombardment” from neighbouring Belarus as clashes were reported in the streets of the eastern city of Lysychansk, AFP reports.
Twenty rockets “fired from the territory of Belarus and from the air” targeted the village of Desna in the northern Chernigiv region, Ukraine’s northern military command said.
It said infrastructure was hit, but no casualties had yet been reported.
Belarus has provided logistic support to Moscow since the 24 February invasion, particularly in the first few weeks, and like Russia has been targeted by western sanctions but is officially not involved in the conflict.
“Today’s strike is directly linked to Kremlin efforts to pull Belarus as a co-belligerent into the war in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian intelligence service said.
Updated
Russian helicopters have launched missiles at a border village in the northeastern Ukrainian province of Sumy province.
Two Russian helicopters “carried out six launches of unguided missiles” on the Krasnopillia village in Sumy, near the Ukrainian border with Russia, Kyiv Independent reports, citing Ukraine’s border guard service.
No casualties have been reported yet.
Updated
The mayors of several European capitals were tricked into holding video calls with a deepfake of the Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, last week.
There were “no signs that the video conference call wasn’t being held with a real person”, said the office of the mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, who was among those who were duped.
Updated
Ukrainian troops pulling out of Sievierodonetsk
Russian forces are attempting to blockade the eastern city of Lysychansk, the region’s governor said on Saturday, after Ukrainian troops were forced to begin pulling out of neighbouring city Sievierodonetsk.
Here is an update on the situation in the cities, which are in the eastern Luhansk province (one of two provinces making up the Donbas region).
- Russian and separatist fights are trying to block the city of Lysychansk from the south, Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk province, said on Facebook.
- A spokesman for the separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, said the fighters had entered Lysychansk and that there was fighting in the city centre, Russia’s Interfax news agency reports.
- The two cities and surrounding areas are the last major pockets of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk, 95% of which is under Russian and local separatist control.
- Some Ukrainian troops remain in the Azot chemical factory on the city’s edge, along with about 500 civilians. A separatist representative, Ivan Filiponenko, said 800 civilians were evacuated from the plant overnight, Interfax reported.
- Ukraine’s troops have ‘almost left’ Sievierodonetsk, the local mayor has said
Updated
Updated
Almost all of Ukraine’s troops have now withdrawn from the strategic frontline city Sievierodonetsk, the local mayor has said.
Fierce fighting over the city has been ongoing for weeks against advancing Russian forces.
Reuters reports that mayor Oleksandr Stryuk did not confirm whether a full withdrawal was under way, but told national television:
Unfortunately, they have almost left the city.
Summary
It is 15:30 in Ukraine – here are the day’s developments so far.
- Ukraine is likely re-configuring its defence of the Sievierodonetsk-Lysychansk sector, as Russian armoured units continue to make incrimental gains on the area’s southern edge, according to UK military intelligence.
- The UK Ministry of Defence claims that there has been a major shake-up in the Russian army’s high command since the start of June leading to the removal of the commander of airborne forces (VDV), Gen-Col Andrei Serdyukov, and commander the southern army group (SGF), Gen Alexandr Dvornikov.
- Russian missiles have hit military infrastructure in northern and western Ukraine, local officials have said. Strikes hit military facilities in the Zhytomyr region, in the country’s north, killing one, as well as the northern town of Desna. Four were wounded in an attack on the Yavoriv military facility, in western Ukraine.
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Russian authorities have removed a Polish flag from a memorial for the thousands of Poles killed by the Soviet Union during the 1940 Katyn massacre amid deteriorating relations between Moscow and Warsaw over the war in Ukraine.
- Ukraine stands with Moldova amid threats from Moscow, the country’s foreign minister has said. “All Russia has left is spitting out threats at other states after decades of failed policies based on aggression, coercion, and disrespect,” Dmytro Kuleba tweeted, adding that it “only shows Russia’s weakness”. It comes after both Ukraine and Moldova were accepted as candidates for EU membership.
- Germany has signed an agreement to provide Ukraine’s state budget with €1 billion in grant funding, according to a statement issued by Ukraine’s finance ministry. The funds will reach Ukraine via the International Monetary Fund.
Greece has suspended visa applications for Russians, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia has said.
Russians will no longer be able to apply for a visa for the country from 27 June, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.
Greece joins several other European countries in suspending new visa applications from Russians since its invasion of Ukraine, including Bulgaria and Spain. Greece had already stopped issuing ‘golden visas’ – residence permits for investment purposes – to Russians.
Updated
Germany has signed an agreement to provide Ukraine’s state budget with €1 billion in grant funding, according to a statement by Ukraine’s finance ministry.
The funding will be “directed to the state budget of Ukraine to finance priority social and humanitarian expenditures during martial law”, it said. Ukraine will receive the funds via the International Monetary Fund.
Ukraine’s finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said: “Mr Lindner [referring to German finance minister Christian Lindner], thank you personally, your team and everyone involved in the process, thanks to whose efforts we structured this agreement very quickly.
“We hope to receive funds in the near future. This grant is an extremely important contribution to support our state in this difficult time. We highly appreciate the assistance from the government of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Updated
Russian forces have killed dozens of Polish fighters in the eastern Donetsk region, according to the country’s defence ministry.
It said “up to 80” Polish fighters were killed in “precision strikes” on the Megatex zinc factory in Kostyantynivka, AFP reports.
Rocket systems supplied by the US are already working and hitting targets in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, the country’s top general said on Saturday.
“Artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine skilfully hit certain targets - military targets of the enemy on our, Ukrainian, territory,” chief of Ukraine’s general staff Valeriy Zaluzhnyi wrote on Telegram.
Updated
Russia launched artillery bombardments and airstrikes on the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk on Saturday, hitting a chemical plant where hundreds of civilians were trapped, a Ukrainian official has said.
Ukraine says it stands with Moldova amid threats from Moscow
Ukraine stands with Moldova amid threats from Moscow, the country’s foreign minister has said.
“We stand with the people and the government of friendly Moldova amid renewed threats coming from Moscow. All Russia has left is spitting out threats at other states after decades of failed policies based on aggression, coercion, and disrespect. This only shows Russia’s weakness,” Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
We stand with the people and the government of friendly Moldova amid renewed threats coming from Moscow. All Russia has left is spitting out threats at other states after decades of failed policies based on aggression, coercion, and disrespect. This only shows Russia’s weakness.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) June 25, 2022
It comes after the Kremlin said on Friday that it hoped Ukraine and Moldova’s relations with Moscow would not further deteriorate after they were accepted as candidates for European Union membership.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the bloc’s decision was “of course an internal European matter”, the Moscow Times reported. “[But] it’s very important for us that all these processes don’t bring more problems to us and more problems in the mentioned countries’ relations with us,” he said.
Updated
Russian authorities have taken a Polish flag down from a memorial for the thousands of Poles killed by the Soviet Union amid deteriorating relations between Moscow and Warsaw over the war in Ukraine.
The mayor of Smolensk city confirmed the flag’s removal on Friday evening, sharing a photo showing the Russian flag flying alone at the Katyn memorial’s entrance.
“There cannot be Polish flags on Russian monuments. Even less so after the frankly anti-Russian comments by Polish political leaders,” Andrei Borisov said on social media platform VKontakte.
“The culture ministry of the Russian Federation made the right decision by removing the Polish flag. Katyn is a Russian memorial.”
The Katyn memorial was erected to commemorate the 25,000 Poles massacred on Joseph Stalin’s orders in a forest near Smolensk in 1940. For decades, the Soviet Union denied it had been behind the massacre, accusing the Nazis of the crime, before admitting the truth in 1990.
The Ukrainian prosecutor-general’s office has shared an update of alleged war crimes it claims Russia has committed as its invasion enters its fifth month.
It says it has registered 19,530 alleged crimes of aggression and war crimes and 9,678 alleged crimes against national security. Additionally, 339 children have been killed, it says.
#RussianWarCrimes pic.twitter.com/fRaycTKPLa
— Офіс Генерального прокурора (@GP_Ukraine) June 25, 2022
Updated
Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra have said they hope Ukraine is able to host next year’s contest despite organisers saying it would not be possible.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on Thursday said the “severe” risk of air raids in Ukraine alongside the “high” risk of mass casualties contributed to the decision that the “necessary requirements for hosting” the competition were not met.
In an interview with the PA news agency, Kalush, thanked Boris Johnson for saying the event should take place in Kyiv. He said: “Right now there [are still] a lot of discussions [going on] in Ukraine. Maybe Ukraine will be invited [to host Eurovision]. And we altogether hope Eurovision will be in Ukraine.”
Johnson on Friday said he believed it would be possible for Ukraine, which won the contest, to host the event next year, saying “they deserve to have it”. “I believe that they can have it and I believe that they should have it. I believe that Kyiv or any other safe Ukrainian city would be a fantastic place to have it.”
Updated
Russian missiles hit military facilities in northern and western Ukraine
Russian missiles have hit military infrastructure in northern Ukraine, local officials have said.
Reuters reports that Vitaliy Bunechko, governor of the Zhytomyr region in the north of the country, said strikes on a military target killed at least one soldier.
“Nearly 30 missiles were launched at one military infrastructure facility very near to the city of Zhytomyr,” said Bunechko, adding that nearly 10 missiles had been intercepted and destroyed.
In the northern Chernihiv region, governor Vyacheslav Chaus said the small town of Desna came under “massed” rocket strikes on Saturday morning. There were no casualties and he did not specify what had been hit, adding only that there had been “infrastructure damage.”
The missile strikes in northern Ukraine come as in the country’s west, Lviv governor Maxim Kozitsky said that four were wounded in an attack on the Yavoriv military facility.
Updated
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said that he fears the economic consequences of war could pressure Ukraine to agree a peace deal with Russia that was not in its interests.
“Too many countries are saying this is a European war that is unnecessary … and so the pressure will grow to encourage – coerce, maybe – the Ukrainians to a bad peace,” he told broadcasters in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, where he is attending a Commonwealth summit.
He said the consequences of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, winning the war would be dangerous to international security and “a long-term economic disaster”.
Updated
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said that he would resign if he had to abandon Ukraine because it became too difficult or expensive.
Asked by the BBC if he thinks leadership is about morality and if there are any circumstances in which he would resign, he pointed to supporting Ukraine as one issue over which he would step down.
Johnson said: “Of course I think it is [about morality]. If it was put to me we had to abandon the Ukrainian cause because it was getting too difficult and the cost of supporting that people was too great in terms of inflation, economic damage, I would accept I had lost a very important argument and I would go. But I don’t see that.”
Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security claims that Russia has lost 34,700 troops since it began its invasion in February.
The body estimates that 1,511 tanks have also been lost and 217 aircraft.
The total estimated losses of the Russian army for today. #StopRussianAgression pic.twitter.com/dJo66lGFEK
— Stratcom Centre UA (@StratcomCentre) June 25, 2022
I’m Clea Skopeliti, taking over the blog from my colleague Martin Farrer. I’ll be bringing you the latest news from Ukraine for the next few hours. It’s 10.25am in Kyiv.
Updated
Our correspondent Daniel Boffey has been to the eastern edge of the EU’s border with Russia to talk to local people who fear that Russian troops could cross into their lands.
The Suwalki gap is a 60-mile strip on the edge of Poland and Lithuania and is seen as vulnerable due to its position between Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus.
Read his full report here:
Updated
Poles and Ukrainians will walk for peace and demand an end to discrimination against the LGBT+ community on Saturday, Reuters reports, in a joint Pride march in Warsaw that organisers say aims to defend freedom and equality as war casts a shadow over eastern Europe.
The annual Pride march in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was cancelled due to Russia’s invasion, leading the LGBT+ community in Warsaw to team up with their counterparts in Ukraine to organise the event in the Polish capital.
“Russia denied us the right that we were fighting for for years, Russia denied us the Pride, our march of equality that we are holding every year since 2012 in Kyiv. ... That is why we are marching in Warsaw,” said Lenny Emson, executive director of KyivPride, who came to Poland for the march.
“We are marching for peace, we are marching for Ukraine, we are marching for victory.”
Key event
A Russian strike on the Yavoriv military facility in western Ukraine wounded four people, Lviv governor Maxim Kozitsky said in a video post on Saturday.
Kozitsky said six missiles were fired from the Black Sea, with four hitting the base and two being intercepted and destroyed before hitting the target, Reuters reports.
A strike on the military training facility near Yavoriv in March killed 35 people and wounded at least 130, according to Ukrainian officials.
Updated
Major shake-up in Russian high command, says MoD
The MoD also claims that there has been a major shake-up in the Russian army’s high command since the start of June leading to the removal of the commander of airborne forces (VDV), Gen-Col Andrei Serdyukov, and commander the southern army group (SGF), Gen Alexandr Dvornikov.
(2/5) Since the start of June, the Russian high command has highly likely removed several Generals from key operational command roles in the war in Ukraine.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 25, 2022
These includes the commander of Airborne Forces (VDV) General-Colonel Andrei Serdyukov; and commander Southern Group of Forces (SGF) General of the Army Alexandr Dvornikov.
(3/5) These includes the commander of Airborne Forces (VDV) General-Colonel Andrei Serdyukov; and commander Southern Group of Forces (SGF) General of the Army Alexandr Dvornikov.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 25, 2022
The MoD says the latter was probably at some point overall operational commander of the invading forces.
(4/5) Dvornikov was also for a time probably acting as over-all operational commander.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 25, 2022
And finally it says that command of the SGF is likely to transfer to Col-Gen Sergei Surovikin, as SGF continues to perform a central part in Russia’s offensive in the Donbas. For over thirty years, Surovikin’s career has been dogged with allegations of corruption and brutality, the MoD claims.
Updated
Ukraine reconfiguring its defence of Sievierodonetsk-Lysychansk
Ukraine is likely re-configuring its defence of the Sievierodonetsk-Lysychansk sector, as Russian armoured units continue to make creeping gains on the southern edge of the build up area, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, in its regular morning update on the conflict.
(1/5) Ukraine is likely re-configuring its defence of the Sieverodonetsk-Lysychansk sector, as Russian armoured units continue to make creeping gains on the southern edge of the build up area.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 25, 2022
Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the latest developments you need to know about:
- Ukraine is likely re-configuring its defence of the Sievierodonetsk-Lysychansk sector, as Russian armoured units continue to make creeping gains on the southern edge of the build up area, according to UK military intelligence. It follows an announcement that Ukrainian forces are preparing to retreat from Sievierodonetsk after weeks of fierce fighting.
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The nearby city of Lysychansk appears likely to become the next main focus of fighting. A pro-Russian leader says it would take another week and a half to secure full control of Sievierodonetsk’s twin. Ukrainian soldiers have also retreated from the towns of Hirske and Zolote in the face of overwhelming Russian forces, said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
- German consumers could face a tripling of gas prices in the coming months after Russia’s throttling of deliveries to Europe, a senior energy official has said. Moscow reduced the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 40% last week, citing technical reasons that Berlin dismisses as a pretext, prompting a four- to sixfold rise in market prices, said the head of Germany’s federal network agency, Klaus Müller.
- The European Council has approved €9bn of financial aid to Ukraine. In a statement made by the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, at the European Council summit in Brussels on Friday, he said: “There is a war in Ukraine and there is nothing to pay nurses, teachers, police, border guards or many other public services.”
- Russia has condemned the European Union’s decision to accept Ukraine and Moldova as membership candidates. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said the EU had confirmed that it continued to “actively exploit the CIS on a geopolitical level”, referring to Russia’s sphere of influence within former Soviet countries.
- Canada will be able to seize and dispose of assets sanctioned as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, following the Canadian Senate’s passage of the budget of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, on Thursday. The government will then be able to use the funds from seized assets to support Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s main domestic security agency said on Friday it had uncovered a Russian spy network involving Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach, who was previously accused by the US of being a Russian agent. The state security service said Derkach, whose whereabouts were not made clear, set up a network of private security firms to use them to ease and support the entry of Russian units into cities during Moscow’s 24 February invasion.
- More than 3,000 dolphins in the Black Sea have died as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian scientists working in the “Tuzlovsky Lymans” reserve, a national nature park. Nexta reports that the “work of sonar and explosions prevent them from finding food” and that dead dolphins have been increasingly found on the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania, in addition to Ukraine
- Mass kidnappings have been occurring in Melitopol, the mayor of the south-eastern Ukrainian city said. “More than 500 people have been abducted in the last four months,” Ivan Fedrov said, adding that mass kidnappings resumed in the Russian-occupied territory last week.
- Russia has launched 70 missiles at Odesa since February 24, the south-western city’s regional prosecution has said. According to the prosecution, the majority of the missiles have targeted residential areas and public utilities.
