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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Samantha Lock, Léonie Chao-Fong and Martin Belam

Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 106 of the invasion

A Ukrainian serviceman holds his position.
A Ukrainian serviceman holds his position. Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images
  • The Ukrainian defence ministry has claimed that its forces have won back some territory from Russian forces in a counter-offensive in the Kherson area of southern Ukraine. It said Russian forces had “suffered losses in manpower and equipment”, mined territory as they were pushed back, and erected barricades for the Ukrainian troops. The claims have not been independently verified.

  • The Kremlin said no agreement had been reached with Turkey on exporting Ukrainian grain shipments across the Black Sea. Turkey has been pushing for an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to ease the global food crisis by negotiating safe passage for grain stuck in Black Sea ports, but its efforts have been met with resistance. Ukraine says Russia is imposing unreasonable conditions and the Kremlin says shipment is dependent on ending sanctions.

  • Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said the rising cost of living in the UK should not be a reason to abandon support for Ukraine. Some people will argue that the price of supporting Ukraine is too high, he said during a speech in Blackpool, but abandoning Ukraine would be “morally repugnant” and would encourage Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

  • The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake”. A new report by the UN said an estimated 94 countries, home to about 1.6 billion people, were “severely exposed to at least one dimension of the crisis and unable to cope with it”.

  • Russian-installed officials in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region reportedly plan to stage a referendum later this year on joining Russia. A Kremlin-backed official, Vladimir Rogov, was quoted by the Russian state-owned news agency Tass as saying: “The people will determine the future of the Zaporizhzhia region.” Ukraine says any referendums held under Russian occupation would be illegal and their results fraudulent.

  • More than 1,000 Ukrainian service personnel and foreign mercenaries who surrendered in Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for an investigation there, Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported. More Ukrainian prisoners of war would be taken to Russia “later on”, a Russian law enforcement source told the agency.

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