Ukrainian aerial and maritime drones struck Russian military targets on the illegally occupied Crimean peninsula on Thursday, a defence source in Kyiv said. An operation by the navy and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) damaged or disabled a command centre and an ammunition depot among other facilities at Lake Donuzlav in western Crimea, the source told Agence France-Presse. The Russian military said it brought down 33 Ukrainian aerial drones over Crimea and 10 naval drones heading for the peninsula. The figures were not independently verified and Russian officials routinely claim after attacks that most or all threats were eliminated, regardless of the outcome.
Ukraine’s army confirmed it had pulled out from the village of Urozhaine in the eastern Donetsk region. The village was reduced to rubble, which “made it impossible to hold the positions there”, Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesperson for ground forces, told the Associated Press. Russia’s defence ministry announced several days ago that its army had retaken Urozhaine.
Russian forces killed five civilians on Thursday in the Donetsk region, regional prosecutors said. “An 85-year-old local resident died as a result of a hit to a residential building. They tried to save his wife but she died during emergency treatment.” Russia forces also attacked Grodivka, killing three women, aged 26, 32 and 77, prosecutors said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, attending the European Political Community summit in Oxfordshire, accused the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, of betraying fellow European leaders to Vladimir Putin after Orbán’s recent “peace mission” to Moscow, write Lisa O’Carroll and Kiran Stacey. Zelenskiy told the session: “[Putin] may try to approach you, or go to some of your partners individually, trying to tempt or pressure you to blackmail you so that one of you betrays the rest. We keep our unity.”
Zelenskiy used his speech to urge Europe’s leaders to provide more air defences and weaponry for Ukraine and not place limits on their use – for example, the UK has provided Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, but reportedly is not allowing their use against targets in Russian territory. “We should not fear these capabilities,” Zelenskiy said. “The more effective our air defences, the more helpless Putin will be. The fewer restrictions we have on the use of effective weapons, the more Russia will seek peace.”
Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, introduced Zelenskiy on Thursday. “Every day Ukraine fights to protect not just the Ukrainian people, but the European people – a continent where our belief in freedom, democracy and the rule of law was hard won, that wants to live in peace,” he said, adding allies “will stand with you for as long as it takes”. Zelenskiy will address the UK’s new cabinet on Friday about the battlefield situation in the war with Russia.
Sweden’s power grid authority will send 13 large diesel-powered backup generators to Ukraine. “The generators will, for instance, be able to supply a hospital with electricity or be used within the power grid to better handle outages,” said Sweden’s energy minister, Ebba Busch. Russian attacks have halved Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity compared with one year ago.
Donald Trump’s assertion he could quickly end the Ukraine war should be viewed realistically, given that when he was president he promised a Middle East peace breakthrough but failed to achieve it, said Maria Zakharova, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson.
