Summary
Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We will be pausing our live reporting overnight and returning in the morning.
In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the day’s events in our summary below.
- Russian forces are edging closer to seizing the last pocket of resistance in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. Sievierodonetsk and its neighbouring city, Lysychansk, continue to be battered by intense Russian shelling. Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, said on Wednesday that Russian forces were moving towards Lysychansk, targeting the buildings of police, state security and prosecutors.
- Dramatic footage has emerged from Russia of what appears to be a drone flying into an oil refinery and causing an explosion in what could be an attack inside Russia’s borders. Video shared on social media showed the unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Rostov region, in what would be an embarrassing breach of Russia’s air defence systems.
- A television tower in the Ukrainian separatist-held city of Donetsk has been badly damaged by shelling and broadcasting has been interrupted, the local Donetsk news agency reported. The Petrovskiy television centre is still standing, but part of its equipment has been damaged, while some equipment has been moved out, the agency said.
- A Russian missile strike has left at least one person dead in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, according to its mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych. The attack caused several fires and damaged a number of buildings including a school, Senkevych said. The regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, said seven missiles had hit Mykolaiv.
- Residents and workers at a nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, a city in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, are being abducted by Russian occupiers, according to the region’s mayor. “Whereabouts of some unknown. The rest are in very difficult conditions: they are being tortured with electric shock, bullied physically and morally,” said mayor Dmytro Orlov.
- British intelligence predicts that Russia’s momentum will slow over the next few months.“Our defence intelligence service believes, however, that in the next few months, Russia could come to a point at which there is no longer any forward momentum because it has exhausted its resources,” British prime minister, Boris Johnson, told reporters.
- The Kremlin said the EU sanctions that led Lithuania to block the transit of some goods to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad were “absolutely unacceptable”. Moscow was working on retaliatory measures in response to the “illegal sanctions” by the EU, it said. Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s response to Lithuania’s ban would not be exclusively diplomatic but practical in nature.
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Ukraine has played down the chances of reaching an agreement with Russia that could allow blocked grain shipments to start sailing across the Black Sea. Consultations are ongoing, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko, said. Russia’s defence ministry said Moscow and Ankara had agreed to continue discussions on safe vessel departures and grain exports from Ukrainian ports.
- Leaders at the upcoming G7 summit in Germany will announce new measures aimed at pressuring Russia as well as new commitments to shore up European security, a senior US official has said. “We will roll out a concrete set of proposals to increase pressure on Russia,” the official said. The G7 is also likely to discuss the fate of a Russian turbine blocked in Canada and blamed for reducing gas supplies to Germany, Canada’s natural resources minister added.
- Finland’s armed forces chief said his country was prepared for a Russian attack and would put up stiff resistance in the event that one should occur. Finns are motivated to fight and the country has built up a substantial arsenal, Gen Timo Kivinen said, adding: “The most important line of defence is between one’s ears.”
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Vladimir Putin has called for a strengthening of ties with countries from the Brics group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China South Africa– following western sanctions over Ukraine. The Russian leader said discussions were continuing on the “opening of Indian chain stores in Russia, increasing the share of Chinese automobiles” on the Russian market.
- Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov visited in Iran on Wednesday to expand cooperation between the two nations in light of western sanctions. The Iranian foreign ministry said Lavrov’s visit was aimed at “expanding cooperation with the Eurasian region and the Caucasus”.
- Europe needs to prepare immediately for Russia to turn off all gas exports to the region this winter, according to the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol. He called on governments to work on reducing demand and keeping nuclear power plants open.
- A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier who was accompanying him were “coldly executed” when they were killed in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion, according to Reporters Without Borders. Maks Levin and Oleksiy Chernyshov were reportedly searching Russian-occupied woodlands for the photographer’s missing image-taking drone, the agency said, citing its findings from an investigation into their deaths.
Updated
![Ukrainian servicemen seen on training exercises in the Odesa area on 22 June. [This is a corrected caption. An earlier version wrongly stated that live combat was shown]](https://media.guim.co.uk/3fae6531593e7c55f7c7bc30277ca2bac361da7c/0_0_6351_4234/1000.jpg)
Updated
Countries should ask the United States for help if they have any problems importing Russian food and fertiliser, a senior US official has said.
“Nothing is stopping Russia from exporting its grain or fertiliser except to own policies and actions,” US State Department Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs Assistant Secretary, Ramin Toloui, said according to a transcript published on Wednesday.
However he added that concerns had been raised about “so-called over compliance with sanctions.”
Facilitating Russian food and grain exports is a key part of attempts by UN and Turkish officials to broker a package deal with Moscow that would also allow for shipments of Ukraine grain from the Black Sea port of Odesa.
A meeting between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and UN officials would likely be held in Istanbul in coming weeks, sources in the Turkish presidency said.
“We are fully supportive of this and want to see that play out,” Toloui said of the UN efforts. “We’ll continue close coordination with the UN delegation and the government of Ukraine on ways to mitigate the impacts to global food security of Putin’s war in Ukraine.”
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Iran on Wednesday to expand cooperation between the two nations in light of western sanctions.
Russia’s foreign ministry posted a clip of Lavrov’s opening remarks during a meeting with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in which he said Moscow was adapting to what he called the west’s aggressive policies.
In all the countries experiencing the negative influence of the selfish line taken by the United States and its satellites, there arises the objective need to reconfigure their economic relations so they can avoid relying on the whims and vagaries of our western partners,” Lavrov said.
📸 FM Sergey #Lavrov & President Ebrahim Raisi 🇷🇺🇮🇷 meet in Tehran pic.twitter.com/ApAiXmx5kw
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) June 22, 2022
Last month Moscow said Russia and Iran, which are both under western sanctions and sit on some of the world’s largest oil and gas reserves, had discussed swapping supplies for oil and gas as well as establishing a logistics hub.
While Moscow is challenging western sanctions over Ukraine, Tehran’s clerical rulers have been struggling to keep Iran’s economy afloat because of US sanctions that were reimposed after Washington exited Tehran’s nuclear deal in 2018.
“During Lavrov’s visit, Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, boosting bilateral and energy cooperation, as well as international and regional issues will be discussed,” Iranian state media reported.
The Iranian foreign ministry said on Monday that Lavrov’s visit was aimed at “expanding cooperation with the Eurasian region and the Caucasus”.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Lavrov would meet his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, on Thursday.
The G7 is also likely to discuss the fate of a Russian turbine blocked in Canada and blamed for reducing gas supplies to Germany, Canada’s natural resources minister said on Wednesday.
“If you talk to the Germans, they are very, very concerned about” a decline in gas supplies allegedly caused by the missing turbine, Jonathan Wilkinson told Reuters.
“I’m sure it’ll come up at least in the corridors of the G7 … I wouldn’t hold my breath that we’re going to find a resolution before the end.”
Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom has cut the capacity along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to just 40% of usual levels in recent days, citing the delayed return of equipment being serviced by Germany’s Siemens Energy in Canada.
Moscow said on Thursday more delays in repairs could lead to suspending all flows, putting a brake on Europe’s race to refill its gas inventories.
Canada, alongside its western allies, has issued sweeping sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. Russia calls the war a “special military operation”.
“We are trying to be sensitive to the concerns that Germany and others are expressing and trying to find a resolution that will allow us to ensure that we’re respecting the intent of the sanctions, but also ensuring we’re not penalising our allies,” Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson said he did not know for sure if the turbines were the reason for the current reduction in gas supplies, but said the issue should be resolved anyway.
Updated
G7 summit to announce new measures against Russia - reports
Leaders at the upcoming G7 summit in Germany will announce new measures aimed at pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine as well as new commitments to shore up European security, a senior US official has said.
“We will roll out a concrete set of proposals to increase pressure on Russia,” the official said.
US President Joe Biden will join the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan at the summit in Bavaria.
After attending the G7 summit from Sunday to Tuesday, Biden will fly to Madrid for a summit of the Nato military alliance next week.
Ukraine and Russia will feature heavily in both diplomatic gatherings as allies ponder how to weather the secondary impact from sanctions against Russia on their own economies - particularly in stoking high fuel prices.
Speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, the US official said:
How do we maximise pain on Putin’s regime? How do we minimise spill-backs back to the rest of the world? And I think that’s exactly how the discussion around energy markets and energy market challenges will get framed.”
The official also confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would address both summits by video link.
Summary
It’s 1am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- British intelligence predicts that Russia’s momentum in its war in Ukraine will slow over the next few months, according to British prime minister Boris Johnson. “Our defence intelligence service believes, however, that in the next few months, Russia could come to a point at which there is no longer any forward momentum because it has exhausted its resources,” Johnson told a group of European newspapers.
- Columbia Law School will advise Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on war reparations. Ukraine has added to its growing arsenal of U.S. lawyers, tapping Washington, D.C.-based Allen & Overy partner Patrick Pearsall through Columbia Law School as a legal advisor to Zelenskiy on reparations issues.
- In a recent interview with Ukrainian outlet Hromadske, wounded Ukrainian soldiers said that Russian forces and weaponry significantly outnumber theirs. “There is one artillery shell of ours against about 20 of theirs … and I’m talking about only the bombardment artillery, I’m not even mentioning the cluster projectiles, which they deluge us with,” one soldier told the outlet.
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Five women have been killed in the village of Pryshib in the Kharkiv oblast as a result of Russian shelling on Wednesday, Euromaidan Press reports. According to the outlet, at least 860 civilians have been killed by Russian forces in Kharkiv since the Russian invasion in February.
- Ukraine’s parliament has approved and ratified the Istanbul Convention, a human rights treaty aimed to prevent and combat violence against women. The convention “will establish legally blinding standards for governments to prevent violence against all women and girls...and applies during armed conflict.”
- Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has launched a series of criminal cases under the article of “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” The cases include a list of “objectionable media.” the Belarusian outlet NEXTA, which is also on the list, reports.
- The mayor of Enerhodar, a city in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, has said that locals, including workers at the nuclear power plant operator Energoatom, are being abducted by Russian occupiers. “Whereabouts of some unknown. The rest are in very difficult conditions: they are being tortured with electric shock, bullied physically and morally,” said mayor Dmytro Orlov.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand over the blog to my colleague in Australia, Samantha Lock, who will bring you the latest updates on Ukraine. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
British intelligence predicts that Russia’s momentum in its war in Ukraine will slow over the next few months, according to British prime minister Boris Johnson.
“Our defence intelligence service believes, however, that in the next few months, Russia could come to a point at which there is no longer any forward momentum because it has exhausted its resources,” Johnson told a group of European newspapers.
“Then we must help the Ukrainians to reverse the dynamic. I will argue for this at the Group of Seven summit (in Germany at the weekend),” he added.
When asked what a victory for Ukraine or failure for Putin would look like, Johnson replied, “That we at least regain the status quo that was there before Feb. 24 and that its (Russia’s) troops are repulsed from the areas they invaded.”
Columbia Law School will advise Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on war reparations.
Reuters reports:
Ukraine has added to its growing arsenal of U.S. lawyers, tapping Washington, D.C.-based Allen & Overy partner Patrick Pearsall through Columbia Law School as a legal advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on reparations issues.
According to a filing with the U.S. Department of Justice dated June 13, Pearsall is studying international law remedies Ukraine may pursue in response to Russia’s four-month-old invasion.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires law firms, lobbying shops and public relations consultants to disclose certain engagements with foreign clients.
Pearsall did not report any income from the Ukraine engagement in the filing.
He is representing Zelenskiy as the director of Columbia Law’s new International Claims and Reparations Project.
The group is examining how Ukraine can utilize international law to bring claims against Russia and seek reparations for its hostilities, according to a May statement from Columbia Law.
Ukraine has added to its growing arsenal of U.S. lawyers, tapping Washington, D.C.-based Allen & Overy partner Patrick Pearsall through Columbia Law School as a legal advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on reparations issues, @Karen_Sloan1 reportshttps://t.co/mlyXaNx3TX 1/4 pic.twitter.com/39Cl2EoIN4
— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) June 22, 2022
In a recent interview with Ukrainian outlet Hromadske, wounded Ukrainian soldiers said that Russian forces and weaponry significantly outnumber theirs.
“There is one artillery shell of ours against about 20 of theirs … and I’m talking about only the bombardment artillery, I’m not even mentioning the cluster projectiles, which they deluge us with,” one soldier told the outlet.
Another soldier said, “We were going to the positions to replace a brigade. Our brigade, our company was coming. And our company was fired [on] by tanks, planes, helicopters and missiles.”
Ukrainian forces have been pleading for increased western military assistance as the war enters its fourth month.
Hromadske visited frontline hospitals of Donbas, now most difficult part of the front
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 22, 2022
Wounded soldiers confirm that Russia significantly outnumbers Ukraine in artillery. They are waiting for Western help to come &hope Russians will waste their ammunition https://t.co/NF2G8mtCj0 pic.twitter.com/12tkBLhgI5
Updated
Five women have been killed in the village of Pryshib in the Kharkiv oblast as a result of Russian shelling on Wednesday, Euromaidan Press reports.
According to the outlet, at least 860 civilians have been killed by Russian forces in Kharkiv since the Russian invasion in February.
Today 5 women have been killed in the village of Pryshib, Kharkiv Oblast as a result of Russian shelling, Izium district head https://t.co/2RErkJmYSX
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 22, 2022
As of June 19, it is known that 860 civilians were killed by the Russian military in Kharkiv Oblast since 24 Feb 2022
Updated
Ukraine’s parliament has approved and ratified the Istanbul Convention, a human rights treaty aimed to prevent and combat violence against women.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a law that ratified the Istanbul Convention, a move that has been described as “historic moment for Ukraine...which supports the policy of gender equality.”
The Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić praised the move, saying, “This is a huge step forward in protecting women and girls from all forms of violence, whether in Ukraine or abroad.”
According to the UN website Relief Web, the convention “will establish legally blinding standards for governments to prevent violence against all women and girls...and applies during armed conflict.”
The Ukrainian authorities' ratification of the #IstanbulConvention opens additional ways to prevent and combat violence against women. Such a step is further evidence of Ukraine's readiness to become a full member of the European community 🇪🇺🇺🇦https://t.co/FIaTCEeLBp pic.twitter.com/NcX8ZoG3ox
— Kateryna Pavlichenko (@Pavlichenko_K) June 22, 2022
Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has launched a series of criminal cases under the article of “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” and has included a list of “objectionable media.” the Belarusian outlet NEXTA reports.
Russian Prosecutor General's Office initiated a criminal cases under the article "discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" and compiled a list of objectionable media, which included NEXTA, as well as a number of other media that opposed the war in #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/JszpvF1erl
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 22, 2022
The mayor of Enerhodar, a city in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, has said that locals, including workers at the nuclear power plant operator Energoatom, are being abducted by Russian occupiers.
“Whereabouts of some unknown. The rest are in very difficult conditions: they are being tortured with electric shock, bullied physically and morally,” said mayor Dmytro Orlov.
Locals, incl Enerhoatom workers, are being abducted en masse by Russian occupiers in Enerhodar, mayor says
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 22, 2022
"Whereabouts of some unknown. The rest are in very difficult conditions: they are being tortured with electric shock, bullied physically &morally" https://t.co/ZfJy5Nuer6 pic.twitter.com/cxaA9yZeY8
Orlov added that the “exchange of civilian prisoners abducted by the occupiers was urgently needed at the highest level”.
Updated
Summary
It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Russian forces are edging closer to seizing the last pocket of resistance in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. Sievierodonetsk and its neighbouring city, Lysychansk, continue to be battered by intense Russian shelling. Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, said on Wednesday that Russian forces were moving towards Lysychansk, targeting the buildings of police, state security and prosecutors.
- Dramatic footage has emerged from Russia of what appears to be a drone flying into an oil refinery and causing an explosion in what could be an attack inside Russia’s borders. Video shared on social media showed the unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Rostov region, in what would be an embarrassing breach of Russia’s air defence systems.
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A television tower in the Ukrainian separatist-held city of Donetsk has been badly damaged by shelling and broadcasting has been interrupted, the local Donetsk news agency reported. The Petrovskiy television centre is still standing, but part of its equipment has been damaged, while some equipment has been moved out, the agency said.
- A Russian missile strike has left at least one person dead in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, according to its mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych. The attack caused several fires and damaged a number of buildings including a school, Senkevych said. The regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, said seven missiles had hit Mykolaiv.
- The Kremlin said the EU sanctions that led Lithuania to block the transit of some goods to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad were “absolutely unacceptable”. Moscow was working on retaliatory measures in response to the “illegal sanctions” by the EU, it said. Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s response to Lithuania’s ban would not be exclusively diplomatic but practical in nature.
-
Ukraine has played down the chances of reaching an agreement with Russia that could allow blocked grain shipments to start sailing across the Black Sea. Consultations are ongoing, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko, said. Russia’s defence ministry said Moscow and Ankara had agreed to continue discussions on safe vessel departures and grain exports from Ukrainian ports.
- Finland’s armed forces chief, Gen Timo Kivinen, said his country was prepared for a Russian attack and would put up stiff resistance in the event that one should occur. Finns are motivated to fight and the country has built up a substantial arsenal, Kivinen says, adding: “The most important line of defence is between one’s ears.”
-
Vladimir Putin has called for a strengthening of ties with countries from the Brics group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China South Africa– following western sanctions over Ukraine. The Russian leader said discussions were continuing on the “opening of Indian chain stores in Russia, increasing the share of Chinese automobiles” on the Russian market.
- Europe needs to prepare immediately for Russia to turn off all gas exports to the region this winter, according to the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol. He called on governments to work on reducing demand and keeping nuclear power plants open.
- A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier who was accompanying him were “coldly executed” when they were killed in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion, according to Reporters Without Borders. Maks Levin and Oleksiy Chernyshov were reportedly searching Russian-occupied woodlands for the photographer’s missing image-taking drone, the agency said, citing its findings from an investigation into their deaths.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today on the blog. My colleagues in the US will be here shortly with the latest from Ukraine. Thank you.
Updated
Updated
A television tower in the Ukrainian separatist-held city of Donetsk has been badly damaged by shelling and broadcasting has been interrupted, Russian state media cited the local Donetsk news agency as saying.
The Petrovskiy television centre is still standing, but part of its equipment has been damaged, while some equipment has been moved out, according to the Donetsk news agency.
Updated
Footage shows a plume of smoke rising above Mykolaiv after a vegetable oil terminal caught fire in the Ukrainian port city.
Mykolaiv was struck seven times early on Wednesday, according to local officials. Strikes in other parts of the city killed at least one person and damaged homes, businesses and a school, the city’s mayor said.
Ukraine has played down the chances of reaching an agreement with Russia that could allow blocked grain shipments to start sailing across the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko, said Kyiv welcomed efforts by the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, to unblock grain exports from Ukrainian seaports.
Consultations are ongoing, Nikolenko tweeted. He added:
Yet no concrete agreements on holding talks with Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and UN have been reached so far. Security remains a key element of Ukraine’s position.
Turkey’s defence ministry earlier said its “constructive” meeting with a Russian military delegation resulted in “an understanding for future negotiations between Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN”.
The Turkish defence ministry said:
In this context, it was decided that a four-way meeting should be held in Turkey in the coming weeks, after a meeting with the Ukrainian side and the UN.
A Russian defence ministry statement about the Turkish meeting also noted no discernible progress.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he believed all 27 EU member countries will support granting Ukraine EU candidate status at a summit later this week.
Speaking to Canadian students via video link, Zelenskiy said:
This is like going into the light from the darkness.
Updated
Updated
Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the UK “fully supports” Lithuania’s decision to ban the transit of Russian goods sanctioned by the EU through its territory.
Truss tweeted that Britain “must stay strong in the face of Russian aggression and challenge these unjustified threats”.
The UK fully supports Lithuania stopping sanctioned goods from Russia travelling through their country. We must stay strong in the face of Russian aggression and challenge these unjustified threats. 🇬🇧🇱🇹
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) June 22, 2022
Nearly two-thirds of Europeans believe EU membership is a “good thing”, according to a study, marking the highest result in 15 years.
Most countries – notably Lithuania and Estonia – showed significantly more positive attitudes towards EU membership compared with a survey conducted at the end of last year, the European parliament said in a statement.
The president of the European parliament, Roberta Metsola, said:
With war returning to our continent, Europeans feel reassured to be part of the European Union.
Only one in 10 respondents saw Russia positively compared to one in three in 2018, the study showed. Attitudes to China have also deteriorated.
Nearly 60% considered a defence of “common European values” a priority, even if it were to affect prices and costs of living.
Another EU-backed survey published last week showed 80% of respondents supported economic sanctions against Russia and a common security and defence policy.
Updated
Vladimir Putin has called for a strengthening of ties with countries from the Brics group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China South Africa– following western sanctions over Ukraine.
On the eve of a Brics summit, the Russian president said Moscow was in the process of rerouting its trade towards “reliable international partners, above all the Brics countries”.
Business people from Brics countries were being “forced to develop their business under difficult conditions” where western countries “neglect the basic principles of market economy, free trade, as well as the inviolability of private property”, Putin said.
He said discussions were continuing on the “opening of Indian chain stores in Russia, increasing the share of Chinese automobiles” on the Russian market.
Russian oil deliveries to China and India are increasing, he said. Russia is also developing “alternative international transfer mechanisms” with Brics partners and an “international reserve currency” to reduce dependence on the dollar and euro, Putin added.
Updated
Today so far...
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Russian forces are edging closer to seizing the last pocket of resistance in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. Sievierodonetsk and its neighbouring city Lysychansk continue to be battered by intense Russian shelling. Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, said on Wednesday that Russian forces were moving towards Lysychansk, targeting the buildings of police, state security and prosecutors.
- Dramatic footage has emerged from Russia of what appears to be a drone crashing into an oil refinery and setting off a fiery explosion in what could be an attack inside Russia’s borders. Video shared on social media showed the unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Rostov in what would be an embarrassing breach of Russia’s air defence systems in its war in Ukraine.
- A Russian missile strike has left at least one person dead in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, according to its mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych. The attack caused several fires and damaged a number of buildings including a school, Senkevych said. Regional governor Vitaliy Kim said seven missiles had hit Mykolaiv.
- Ukraine’s army said it launched airstrikes on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, causing “significant losses” to Russian forces. The military’s southern operational command said it had undertaken “aimed strikes with the use of various forces” and the military operation was continuing.
- The Kremlin said the EU sanctions that led Lithuania to block the transit of some goods to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad were “absolutely unacceptable”. Moscow was working on retaliatory measures in response to the “illegal sanctions” by the EU, it said. Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s response to Lithuania’s ban would not be exclusively diplomatic but practical in nature.
-
Russia and Turkey have agreed to continue discussions on safe vessel departures and grain exports from Ukrainian ports, the Russian defence ministry said. Turkish presidency sources said yesterday its military delegation would travel to Russia this week to discuss details of a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export grain.
- Finland’s armed forces chief, Gen Timo Kivinen, said his country was prepared for a Russian attack and would put up stiff resistance in the event that one should occur. Finns are motivated to fight and the country has built up a substantial arsenal, Kivinen said, adding: “The most important line of defence is between one’s ears.”
- Europe needs to prepare immediately for Russia to turn off all gas exports to the region this winter, according to the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol. He called on governments to work on reducing demand and keeping nuclear power plants open.
- Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its staff had seen evidence of a “shocking level” of “indiscriminate violence” being inflicted on civilians in Ukraine. The medical charity, which set up a hospital train in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, said more than 40% of its wounded train patients were elderly people and children. More than 10% of the war-trauma patients had lost at least one limb.
- A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier who was accompanying him were “coldly executed” when they were killed in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion, according to Reporters Without Borders. Maks Levin and Oleksiy Chernyshov were reportedly searching Russian-occupied woodlands for the photographer’s missing image-taking drone, the agency said, citing its findings from an investigation into their deaths.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong with you today with all the latest news from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Russia and the US were exchanging official signals on the issue of American fighters in Ukraine, according to the Moscow state-owned news agency Ria.
Ryabkov was also quoted by Interfax news agency as saying Moscow did not see Washington’s readiness to deal with the issue seriously.
Updated
Drone crashes into Russian oil refinery in possible attack
Dramatic footage has emerged from Russia of what appears to be a drone crashing into an oil refinery and setting off a fiery explosion in what could be an attack inside Russia’s borders.
Video shared on social media showed the unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, in Rostov, in what would be an embarrassing penetration of Russia’s air defence systems in its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Ukraine has used drones during the war but did not claim responsibility for the alleged attack.
Vasily Golubev, the governor of Russia’s Rostov region, appeared to confirm the incident, writing that fragments of two drones had been found on the territory of the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, where a large fire broke out on Wednesday morning.
Video published on Russian social network channels showed a drone approaching the oil refinery as workers looked on.
“Do you think it’s Ukrainian?” asked one.
“Of course not,” another answered.
“Where’d it go?” he added, as the drone vanished from sight.
Moments later, a large explosion rocked the refinery.
“Fuck!” yelled the onlookers. As a fire began raging at the refinery, the unidentified cameraman said with a resigned tone: “That’s what’s happening, guys.”
Footage broadcast by Russian state television showed firefighters battling flames at the oil refinery, which halted production on Wednesday. Authorities claimed that the fire had been contained.
Read Andrew Roth’s full story here: Drone crashes into Russian oil refinery in possible attack
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted on his official Telegram channel a note to mark 22 June, the date noted as the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia, as it marks the moment that Nazi Germany turned and invaded former ally the Soviet Union in 1941. Zelenskiy posted:
Every year on 22 June, we honour the memory of everyone who died in World War II. Millions of lost lives and crippled destinies. This should not have happened again, but evil has returned. On 24 February, the occupiers came to our land. And we are fighting for a new victory. No enemy will break our will. We remember the victims of World War II! We believe in good, peace and justice!
The military authority in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has posted to Telegram to warn people in the occupied territory to not go to evacuation points. It writes:
Ukrainian channels and people on social networks continue to spread disinformation about urgent evacuation. The population is called for mass gatherings at several points in the city. The administration of the Kievsky district of Donetsk refutes [sic] this information. The so-called “gathering places” are the quarters of the city that are under constant fire from enemy artillery! Avoid mass gatherings, do not put your life in danger!
The DPR posted an image of a poster which appeared to list locations for meetings, overlaid with the text “disinformation”. There was no indication when the image was taken or where the poster had been displayed.
Footage circulating on social media purports to show a Ukrainian drone flying into a large oil depot in Russia, causing a huge explosion.
The unmanned aerial vehicle can be seen flying low towards the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in the Rostov region, which borders Ukraine.
Finland ‘ready to fight Russia if attacked’
Finland’s armed forces chief, Gen Timo Kivinen, said his country was prepared for a Russian attack and would put up stiff resistance in the event that one should occur.
Finns are motivated to fight and the country has built up a substantial arsenal, Kivinen said in an interview. He said:
The most important line of defence is between one’s ears, as the war in Ukraine proves at the moment.
Finland has maintained a high level of military preparedness since the second world war, having fought two wars in the 1940s against its eastern neighbour, with which it shares a 810-mile border.
Kivinen said:
We have systematically developed our military defence precisely for this type of warfare that is being waged there [in Ukraine], with a massive use of firepower, armoured forces and also airforces.
He added:
Ukraine has been a tough bite to chew [for Russia] and so would be Finland.
Updated
A Russian missile strike has left at least one person dead in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, according to its mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych.
The attack caused several fires and damaged a number of buildings including a school, Senkevych said on national television.
Senkevych said:
I keep saying it’s still dangerous in the city. Before, people were going out in droves but they go out less now.
Earlier today, the regional governor Vitaliy Kim said seven missiles had hit Mykolaiv. It has not been possible to independently verify the situation in the city.
Updated
Europe told to get ready now for Russia to turn off all gas exports to region
Europe needs to prepare immediately for Russia to turn off all gas exports to the region this winter, according to the head of the International Energy Agency, who has called on governments to work on reducing demand and keeping nuclear power plants open.
Fatih Birol said reductions in supplies in recent weeks which the Kremlin has attributed to maintenance work could, in fact, be the beginning of wider cuts designed to prevent the filling of storage facilities in preparation for winter, as Russia seeks to gain leverage over the region.
“Europe should be ready in case Russian gas is completely cut off,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. “The nearer we are coming to winter, the more we understand Russia’s intentions.
“I believe the cuts are geared towards avoiding Europe filling storage, and increasing Russia’s leverage in the winter months.”
EU countries are racing to refill storage sites, with Germany hoping to reach 90% of capacity by November. Its stores are only half full.
Member states have also been working to reduce their reliance on Russian fossil fuels, by sourcing gas from other countries, including the US, and speeding up the switch to renewable energy, although officials have conceded that the race to phase out Russian oil and gas would mean burning more coal and keeping nuclear plants going.
Birol said emergency measures taken by European governments to reduce energy demand had probably not gone far enough, and urged countries to work on preserving energy supplies.
“I believe there will be more and deeper demand measures as winter approaches,” Birol said. He added that gas supplies may need to be rationed, if Russia were to further reduce gas exports.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has warned the west to stop talking about triggering Nato’s “article 5” mutual defence clause in a standoff between Lithuania and Russia.
Ryabkov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying:
I would like to warn Europeans against dangerous rhetorical games on the topic of conflict.
His comments come after the US government said yesterday that its commitment to article 5 of Nato’s founding treaty, which states that an attack on one member of the alliance is an attack on all, was “ironclad”.
Updated
Earlier today we reported comments by Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, who said Moscow’s response to Lithuania’s ban on the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad would not be exclusively diplomatic but practical in nature.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has now also spoken about Lithuania’s goods transit ban. During his briefing with reporters today, Peskov said the EU sanctions that led Lithuania to block the transit were “absolutely unacceptable”.
Moscow was working on retaliatory measures in response to the “illegal sanctions” by the EU, he said. But Peskov and Russian officials have remained tight-lipped about the exact nature of Moscow’s response.
Updated
‘Shocking level’ of indiscriminate violence on civilians in Ukraine, says MSF
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its staff has seen evidence of a “shocking level” of “indiscriminate violence” being inflicted on civilians in Ukraine.
The medical charity, which set up a hospital train in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, said it had seen an “outrageous” lack of effort to spare and protect civilians caught up in hostilities.
Between 31 March and 6 June, more than 650 patients were medically evacuated by train from war-affected areas in eastern Ukraine to hospitals in safer parts of the country, it said in a statement. More than 40% of the wounded on the train were elderly people and children.
The wounded came onto the train with blast wounds, traumatic amputations, shrapnel and gunshot wounds, it said, adding:
Most patients we talked to when designating who is responsible for their injuries pointed at Russian and Russian-backed military forces.
The patients talked about civilians being shot while evacuating, indiscriminate bombing and shelling of residential areas and elderly people being brutalised.
MSF’s emergency coordinator Christopher Stokes said:
Our patients’ wounds and the stories they tell show unquestionably the shocking level of suffering the indiscriminate violence of this war is inflicting on civilians.
Many of the patients were wounded during military strikes that hit civilian residential areas, he said. Blast injuries accounted for 73% of the war-related trauma cases the charity handled, with 20% caused by shrapnel or gunshots.
More than 10% of the war-trauma patients had lost at least one limb, with the youngest such patient just six years old.
Updated
Hours after Russia’s invasion started, Serhiy Kit was receiving phone calls from members of the Ukrainian Association for the Blind at his factory’s office in Dnipro.
Like everyone else in the country, people with visual impairments in Ukraine were terrified when the invasion began. In their case, they had an 88-year-old association to fall back on.
Kit is the director of a Dnipro factory that welds parts for railway tracks and was established in 1945 by the association, one of the country’s oldest-running organisations. The factory is a non-profit, predominantly managed and staffed by visually impaired people.
Kit’s factory is one of 48 owned by the organisation in Ukrainian-controlled areas; a further 32 enterprises are in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
“We were the first shelter to open in Ukraine, on 25 February,” said Kit. “Twenty-six of our [association] members in Kharkiv rang me and asked me to help them leave. We said they could stay in the factory.”
Kharkiv, which is located 18 miles (30km) from the border with Russia, was bombarded by Russian forces from the first day of the invasion, whereas Dnipro, in south-central Ukraine, was relatively calm. The Kharkiv members drove with their families to Dnipro.
“We rang around and found mattresses for them and cleared out one of our offices,” said Kit. “But then the calls kept coming. We’d never done anything like this before, but we couldn’t just stop.”
Updated
Russia and Turkey have agreed to continue discussions on safe vessel departures and grain exports from Ukrainian ports, the Russian defence ministry said.
Turkish presidency sources said yesterday that its military delegation would travel to Russia this week to discuss details of a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export grain, Reuters reported.
Russian state-owned news agency Tass confirmed plans for the talks, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The UK government has responded to accusations from Moscow that members of the Russian delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) had been denied visas.
Russian lawmaker and delegation member Vladimir Dzhabarov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that Russia had “ahead of time” requested “to resolve the issue of providing guarantees from the British side that visas will be issued” because of UK sanctions.
Dzhabarov said:
We received an outrageous response that the British government - literally - cannot issue visas to members of the Russian delegation to the OSCE parliamentary assembly whatever their reason for visiting the country.
Asked about Dzhabarov’s comments, a spokesperson for the Home Office said:
There are currently no restrictions or limitations for Russian nationals to work in the UK on long-term work visas.
The spokesperson said the UK was prioritising applications from Ukrainians, and that applications for study, work and family visas were taking longer to process.
Dzhabarov said Russia sent a letter to all other delegations stating the “exclusion of the Russian delegation seriously damages the credibility of the event”.
All decisions adopted in its absence “will not be recognised by us as legitimate”, the letter said, according to Dzhabarov.
The 29th annual session of the OSCE parliamentary assembly is due to take place in Birmingham between 2-6 July.
Updated
Today so far …
- Ukraine’s army said it launched airstrikes on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, causing “significant losses” to Russian forces. The military’s southern operational command said it had undertaken “aimed strikes with the use of various forces” and the military operation was continuing.
- The military situation for Ukraine’s defenders in the eastern Donbas is “extremely difficult”, officials have said. There are 568 civilians thought to be holed up in Sievierodonetsk’s Azot chemical plant, as Russian attacks intensify in an effort to capture the city and neighbouring Lysychansk. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said Lysychansk was getting shelled “en masse”.
- Russian forces have captured several settlements near Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. The head of the Sievierodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, said the frontline village of Toshkivka had not been under Ukrainian control since Monday. Russian forces also reportedly captured Pidlisne and Mala Dolyna, located south-west of Sievierodonetsk, and also had success near the Hirske settlement in Luhansk.
- Moscow’s response to Lithuania’s ban on the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad will not be exclusively diplomatic but practical in nature, the foreign ministry press secretary Maria Zakharova has said.
- Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, has said the city was struck by seven missiles this morning.
- Casualties to the forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), one of Russias proxies in eastern Ukraine, may have amounted to about 55% of the original strength, British intelligence has claimed.
- One of the leaders of the authorities imposed in occupied Ukraine has described the border between Russia and Ukraine as “worse than the Berlin Wall for the Germans”. “Our reunification with Russia is inevitable, there should be no borders between us,” Vladimir Rogov is quoted as saying.
- Vladimir Putin is set to mark the day when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June, 1941. The date is significant in Russia and remembered as the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow. Putin will reportedly lay flowers to honour the dead.
- A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier who was accompanying him were “coldly executed” when they were killed in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion, according to a recently published investigation from Reporters Without Borders. The pair were reportedly searching Russian-occupied woodlands for the photographer’s missing image-taking drone, the agency said, citing its findings from an investigation into their deaths.
- Granting Ukraine candidate status to join the EU would be a historic decision signalling to Russia it can no longer claim a sphere of influence over its eastern neighbour, Kyiv’s ambassador to Brussels has said. Vsevolod Chentsov, the head of Ukraine’s mission to the EU, said Russia’s war had united Kyiv with the bloc, while ending what he called a “mistake” about whether his country could belong to the union.
- Members of the Russian delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have been denied British visas to attend the next session, according to Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy head of Russian upper house’s international affairs committee.
- The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, visited Ukraine on Tuesday to discuss Russia’s war crimes, a justice department official said. Garland met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, and announced a war crimes accountability team to identify and prosecute perpetrators. “There is no hiding place for war criminals,” Garland said.
Updated
The military authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has issued its daily operational briefing. It says it controls 239 settlements in occupied Donetsk, and it claimed that 13 settlements in the region have been shelled by Ukrainian forces. It says one person was killed and 14 people were injured in the last 24 hours. The claims have not been independently verified.
Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, has just posted to Telegram to say that the city has been struck with seven missiles.
Russian foreign ministry: response to Lithuania transit ban will 'not be diplomatic but practical'
Moscow’s response to Lithuania’s ban on the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad will not be exclusively diplomatic but practical in nature, Maria Zakharova has said.
“One of the main questions has been about whether the response would be exclusively diplomatic. The answer: no,” the foreign ministry press secretary said at her weekly briefing. “The response will not be diplomatic but practical.”
Reuters reports that Zakharova would not elaborate on the nature of the practical measures Russia planned to take against Lithuania.
Yesterday while hosting a meeting in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s security council, said: “Russia will certainly respond to such hostile actions. Their consequences will have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania.”
From 17 June an EU prohibition on Russian steel and iron ore came into force, and the Lithuanian state railway said it would consequently no longer allow these goods to be carried on its tracks and imported into Kaliningrad.
Updated
Granting Ukraine candidate status to join the EU would be a historic decision signalling to Russia it can no longer claim a sphere of influence over its eastern neighbour, Kyiv’s ambassador to Brussels has said.
Vsevolod Chentsov, the head of Ukraine’s mission to the EU, said Russia’s war had united Kyiv with the bloc, while ending what he called a “mistake” about whether his country could belong to the union.
Speaking to the Guardian ahead of an EU summit on Thursday, he said for many years Ukraine had been seen as a bridge or a buffer state rather than a potential member.
A decision on candidate status would “kill finally, this ambiguity, what is Ukraine for the EU: whether we are building a common house or not … I think now finally there is clarity.”
EU leaders will decide on Thursday whether to grant Ukraine candidate status after positive recommendation from the European Commission last Friday. Expectations for a yes have grown since four EU leaders, including France and Germany, which had been perceived as among the most lukewarm, visited Kyiv last week in a show of support.
Read more of Jennifer Rankin’s report from Brussels: Kyiv’s EU envoy says Ukraine candidate status would send clear signal to Russia
Updated
There is a quick snap from Reuters reporting that members of the Russian delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have been denied British visas to attend the next session, according to Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy head of Russian upper house’s international affairs committee.
Updated
Russian-Ukraine border 'worse than Berlin Wall' – pro-Russian proxy in Zaporizhzhia
One of the leaders of the authorities imposed in occupied Ukraine has described the border between Russia and Ukraine as “worse than the Berlin Wall for the Germans”, according to a report from RIA Novosti.
It quotes Vladimir Rogov saying:
For us, the border with Russia is worse than the Berlin Wall for the Germans. According to various estimates, 60-68 per cent of the inhabitants of East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic [East Germany] had relatives in West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany [West Germany]. In Ukraine, depending on the region, 73-85 percent residents have relatives in Russia. Accordingly, this border should not exist.
Rogov went on to say, the agency reports, that the Germans did not hold a referendum on the wall, they took it into their own hands to destroy it and live in a single state.
“Our reunification with Russia is inevitable, there should be no borders between us,” Rogov is quoted as saying.
Rogov is a member of the main council of the self-proclaimed military-civilian administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.
Updated
Pjotr Sauer reports for us from Zahaltsy:
Since the start of the war, the bodies of more than 1,000 civilians have been discovered in the Bucha district, many hastily buried in dozens of shallow mass graves. Ukrainian police believe that about 650 people were shot in what they have described as executions.
On Tuesday, local police exhumed the remains of one – believed to be those of a local man – as the aftermath of the Russian occupation continues to haunt the towns and villages around Ukraine’s capital, nearly three months after the invading troops withdrew.
The body was found next to a police checkpoint used by Russian soldiers during their occupation, leading officials to believe that he was killed by the soldiers manning the post.
All signs indicate that this man was murdered by Russian soldiers. We have found more bodies around checkpoints in this area,” said Vyacheslav Tsyliuryk, the head of the local police unit. “We believe this person was heading towards his home when he was shot.”
As two men started digging up the earth, the outlines of the corpse began to emerge, and then Tsyliuryk pointed to a gunshot wound in the man’s chest as the likely cause of death.
The dead man was wearing a thick winter jacket, which Tsyliuryk said suggested that the killing had taken place in late March or early April, shortly before the Russians left Kyiv. Zahaltsy, like other towns and villages nearby, was occupied for about a month before the Russian forces’ retreat.
Read more of Pjotr Sauer’s report from Zahaltsy: Ukrainians still finding bodies in former occupied villages outside Kyiv
The military authorities of the self-proclaimed breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic have posted to Telegram to claim that in the last two hours the Kievsky district of Donetsk has been shelled sixty times by Ukrainian forces. It specifically states that the munitions used are 155mm shells “supplied by Nato countries”. The claims have not been independently verified.
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has posted to Telegram to say that there were no air raid warnings over his region of western Ukraine overnight. He stated that 225 displaced people arrived in Lviv on evacuation trains yesterday.
Casualties to the forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR), one of Russias proxies in eastern Ukraine, may have amounted to about 55% of the original strength, British intelligence has claimed.
According to the latest UK ministry of defence report:
Heavy shelling continues as Russia pushes to envelop the Sievierodonetsk area via Izium in the north and Popasna in the south. Russia is highly likely preparing to attempt to deploy a large number of reserve units to the Donbas.
It goes on to discuss the casualty situation, stating:
The Russian authorities have not released the overall number of military casualties in Ukraine since 25 March. However, the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) publishes casualty figures for DPR forces. As of 16 June, the DPR acknowledged 2128 military personnel killed in action, and 8,897 wounded, since the start of 2022.
The DPR casualty rate is equivalent to around 55% of its original force, which highlights the extraordinary attrition Russian and pro-Russian forces are suffering in the Donbas.
It is highly likely that DPR forces are equipped with outdated weapons and equipment. On both sides, the ability to generate and deploy reserve units to the front is likely becoming increasingly critical to the outcome of the war.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 22 June 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 22, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/LUl6WpSQZM
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/BHKjjj6Csk
For further context, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces claims to have killed about 34,100 Russian soldiers in total between 24 February and 21 June. The claims have not been independently verified.
- This is Martin Belam in London, and I will be with you for the next few hours. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier who was accompanying him were “coldly executed” when they were killed in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion, according to a recently published investigation from Reporters Without Borders.
The pair were reportedly searching Russian-occupied woodlands for the photographer’s missing image-taking drone, the agency said citing its findings from an investigation into their deaths.
The press freedom group said it went back to the spot where the bodies of Maks Levin and serviceman Oleksiy Chernyshov were found 1 April in woods north of the capital, Kyiv. The group said it counted 14 bullet holes in the burned hulk of their car still at the scene.
The report, published on Wednesday, reads:
The evidence gathered by RSF indicates that the Ukrainian photo-journalist Maks Levin and the friend who was with him were executed in cold blood by Russian forces, probably after being interrogated and tortured, on the day they went missing, 13 March 2022.
The photos of the crime scene, the evidence RSF found there and RSF’s observations attest to the fact that the journalist Maks Levin and his friend Oleksiy Chernyshov were executed.
Levin was very probably shot by one of the bullets that RSF found at the crime scene.
Material evidence was found of a Russian presence very close to the crime scene including food package, plastic cutlery which could still contain DNA traces.”
Some of Levin and Chernyshov’s belongings, including the soldier’s ID papers and parts of his bulletproof vest and the photographer’s helmet, were also recovered, it said.
A Ukrainian team with metal detectors also uncovered a bullet buried in the soil where Levin’s body had lain, it said. The group said that finding suggests “he was probably killed with one, perhaps two bullets fired at close range when he was already on the ground.”
A jerrycan for gasoline was also found close to where Chernyshov’s burned body had been recovered, it added.
Reporters Without Borders said its findings “show that the two men were doubtless coldly executed.”
Levin and Chernyshov were last heard from on 13 March. A GPS tracker in their vehicle gave their last position, in woods north of Kyiv, the group said.
Updated
Putin to mark WWII anniversary
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is set to mark the day when Hitler’s Nazi Germany forces invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June, 1941.
The date is significant in Russia and remembered as the ‘Day of Remembrance and Sorrow’.
Putin will reportedly lay flowers to honour the dead on Wednesday.
To mark the anniversary, the Russian defence ministry released documents dating back to the start of the second world war purporting to show Germany intended to claim the Soviet army was bombing churches and cemeteries to justify its invasion.
“Just as nowadays, in 1941, the Nazis prepared provocations in advance to discredit our state,” Russia’s defence ministry said.
June 22 is one of the most tragic dates in Russian history - Memorial and Mourning Day. On this day 81 years ago, the Great Patriotic War began.
A divine liturgy and a memorial service will be held in the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces.”
▪️June 22 is one of the most tragic dates in Russian history - Memorial and Mourning Day. On this day 81 years ago, the Great Patriotic War began.
— Russian Embassy, SWE (@RusEmbSwe) June 21, 2022
A divine liturgy and a memorial service will be held in the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces.
📽 🇷🇺Ministry of Defence pic.twitter.com/4YYuMYXKCD
Updated
Satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies, dated 21 June, appear to show damage inflicted on Snake Island after Ukraine claimed it launched an attack on the small southern territory on Tuesday.
A destroyed tower in the southern end of the island and burnt areas on the northern end can be observed.
Russia said it repelled a Ukrainian attempt to retake the island in the Black Sea captured by Russian forces on the first day of the invasion.
Ukraine launches strikes on Snake Island
Ukraine’s army has said it had launched airstrikes on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, causing “significant losses” to Russian forces.
In a video address posted to Facebook, the military’s southern operational command said it had used “aimed strikes with the use of various forces” on the island.
The command added:
The island of Zmiinyi was dealt a concentrated blow with the use of various forces and methods of destruction.”
Russian troops stationed on the island took “significant losses”
The military operation continues and requires information silence until it is over.
Moscow claimed it repelled the “mad” attack which saw Ukraine “plan to carry out massive air and artillery fire... before landing and capturing” the island.
In an update posted to its Telegram channel, Russia’s ministry of defence said:
On June 20 at 5am, the Kyiv regime undertook another mad attempt to take possession of Snake Island.
This is another fake ‘victory’ of the Ukrainian military.
The ministry said 15 Ukrainian attack and reconnaissance drones took part in the airstrike while missile launchers and howitzers fired at the island, with 13 drones reportedly shot down.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you as we continue to report all the latest news from Ukraine.
Here are all the other major developments as of 8am in Kyiv.
- Ukraine’s army said it launched airstrikes on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, causing “significant losses” to Russian forces. The military’s southern operational command said it had undertaken “aimed strikes with the use of various forces” and the military operation was continuing.
- The military situation for Ukraine’s defenders in the eastern Donbas is “extremely difficult”, officials have said. There are 568 civilians thought to be holed up in Sievierodonetsk’s Azot chemical plant, as Russian attacks intensify in an effort to capture Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said Lysychansk was getting shelled “en masse”.
- Russian forces have captured several settlements near Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. The head of the Sievierodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, said the frontline village of Toshkivka had not been under Ukrainian control since Monday. Russian forces also reportedly captured Pidlisne and Mala Dolyna, located south-west of Sievierodonetsk, and saw success near the Hirske settlement in Luhansk.
- At least 15 civilians were killed in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region by Russian shelling on Tuesday, according to the regional governor, Oleh Synegubov.
- Mass mobilisation is “about to happen” in Russia with the Kremlin recruiting people in poorer regions to fight in Ukraine, according to western officials. Officials also said there was “more chatter” about Vladimir Putin’s health and “more speculation” about who would replace him in Russia. However, there did not appear to be an “immediate threat” to the Russian president’s position from the elite or the general population, they said.
- A fire that broke out after Ukrainian forces allegedly attacked oil rigs in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea was approaching an oilwell, according to a pro-Russian official. Three people were wounded and seven people were still reportedly missing. The Russian-backed leader of annexed Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, blamed Kyiv for the attack.
- Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of goods on an EU sanctions list across its territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, said the consequences of the ban “will have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania”.
- The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, visited Ukraine on Tuesday to discuss Russia’s war crimes, a justice department official said. Garland met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, and announced a war crimes accountability team to identify and prosecute perpetrators. “There is no hiding place for war criminals,” Garland said.
- The Kremlin has said that two captured US volunteers are not covered by the Geneva conventions and could face the death penalty. Russian media claimed that two of three US volunteers missing in Ukraine had been captured and were being held by pro-Russian separatist forces. The Kremlin has denied it knows their locations.
- German self-propelled howitzers have arrived in Ukraine in the first delivery of heavy weapons promised by Berlin. “We have replenishment!” Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, announced. “The German Panzerhaubitze 2000 with trained Ukrainian crews joined the Ukrainian artillery family.”
- Turkey should be cautious about delivering more weapons to Ukraine, the head of Turkey’s weapons production agency said. The remarks by Ismail Demir to the Wall Street Journal show how Ankara is increasingly playing both sides of the war. Turkish-made drones have played a critical role in Kyiv’s defence.
- Turkey’s military delegation will travel to Russia this week to discuss a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export Ukrainian grain, according to Turkish presidency sources. A meeting between Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations would be held in Istanbul in the coming weeks, possibly with the participation of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, the sources said.
- European countries are united in their support for granting Ukraine the status of EU member candidate, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister has said. Jean Asselborn told reporters: “We are working towards the point where we tell Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends.”
- The UK government is “determined” to impose further sanctions on Russia and will continue to do so until Moscow fully withdraws from Ukraine, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said. She told parliament that she would be travelling to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options to help get grain out of Odesa. Boris Johnson also warned of the need to resist “growing fatigue” around the war and said any concessions to Vladimir Putin would be a “disaster”.
- Estonia summoned the Russian ambassador on Tuesday to protest about an “extremely serious” violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter. The Estonian foreign ministry said the helicopter flew over a point in the south-east without permission on 18 June.
