Latest Ukraine updates: Russia hits infiltrators at border
News from June 4: The Russian army said it had hit a Ukrainian ‘terrorist’ group that tried to cross into Belgorod.
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for June 4:
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for June 4:
- The Russian army says it has hit a Ukrainian “terrorist” group that tried to cross into Russia’s western Belgorod region.
- Ukrainian authorities say two cruise missiles fired by Russian forces hit an airfield in central Ukraine, while four others were downed by Ukrainian air defences, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Sunday.
- An air raid hit a residential district in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing a two-year-old girl and injuring 22 others.
- The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region says Ukraine shelled the market area in the border town of Shebekino.
UK MoD: Russia becoming increasingly paranoid as Ukraine war drags on
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has said that Russia is becoming increasingly paranoid as the war on Ukraine drags on.
In its daily defence intelligence assessment, the ministry cited a case of a Russian care home worker, who was reportedly arrested after wearing a blue and yellow jacket to work.
“In recent days, Russian National Guard troops arrested a 22-year-old man in Volkhov near St Petersburg for displaying what was eventually determined to be the blue and yellow flag of Russia’s own Aerospace Forces,” it said.
“The clampdown highlights uncertainty within a paranoid Russian officialdom of what is and is deemed permissible within an increasingly totalitarian system,” it added.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 04 June 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/YVnIr3Aa9L
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/mFQnDGX5A3
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 4, 2023
Russia says it has repelled pro-Ukraine ‘saboteurs’
Russian forces have used artillery to repel a cross-border incursion by a group of pro-Ukrainian “saboteurs”, Interfax news agency reported, citing Russia’s defence ministry.
Moscow said its forces had broken up the group, driving its fighters back into Ukraine.
“On June 4, units covering the state border of the western military district and border service of the Federal Security Service found an attempt by a sabotage group of Ukrainian terrorists trying to cross the river near the settlement of Novaya Tavolzhanka,” the Russian army said in a statement.
“The enemy was hit by artillery. The enemy scattered and retreated.”
Earlier, the governor of Belgorod, a Russian region bordering Ukraine, had reported fighting in the border town of Novaya Tavolzhanka.
On his 47th birthday, Navalny reassures supporters he is in good spirits
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has said he was in good spirits on his third birthday behind bars, despite tougher prison conditions and yet another spell in solitary confinement.
In a message published on social media on Sunday, he said: “On the morning of your birthday you have to be honest with yourself, so I ask myself the question: am I really in a good mood, or do force myself to feel that way?
“My answer is: I really am. Let’s face it, of course I wish I didn’t have to wake up in this hellhole and instead have breakfast with my family, receive kisses on the cheek from my children, unwrap presents…
“But life works in such a way that social progress and a better future can only be achieved if a certain number of people are willing to pay the price for their right to have beliefs.”
First Lady dedicates monument to Ukrainian children
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska has dedicated a monument to children in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
“Parents hold their children’s hand when they take their first steps, when they first take them to kindergarten, to school,” Zelenska said. “The worst thing you can imagine is to hold the hand of a dead child. It just shouldn’t be like that. Children must live!”
Russian governor says willing to meet group holding soldiers
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region has said he was willing to meet a pro-Ukraine group of Russian partisans holding two Russian soldiers captive.
The Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps have said they would hand over two soldiers they were holding captive in exchange for a meeting with the governor.
A video showed the two captives, one of whom appeared to be injured and was laid out on an operating table.
The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, appeared in a video message three hours later, in which he agreed to meet the group if the soldiers were still alive.
“Most likely they [the saboteurs] killed them, as hard as it is for me to say. But if they are alive, from 5-6 pm – Shebekino checkpoint. I guarantee safety,” Gladkov said.
Sweden-Turkey to discuss NATO accession on June 12: Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says representatives from Turkey and Sweden will meet in just over a week to try to bridge their differences about the Nordic country joining the military alliance.
Fearing they might be targeted by Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military non-alignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella.
NATO wants to bring Sweden into the fold by the time allied leaders meet in Lithuania on July 11-12. Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the move.
All 31 member countries must ratify a candidate’s accession protocol.
Russian governor: Troops fighting ‘Ukrainian saboteur group’ near border town
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region has said that fighting with a “Ukrainian saboteur group” was taking place in the town of Novaya Tavolzhanka, near the Ukrainian border.
Five hundred Ukrainian children killed since Russia’s invasion began: Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia’s war has killed at least 500 Ukrainian children since it started more than 15 months ago.
Zelenskyy provided the number on Sunday hours after rescue workers found the body of a two-year-old girl who died in one of the latest Russian strikes.
He said many of the young people who have lost their lives since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, “could have become famous scholars, artists, sports champions, contributing to Ukraine’s history”.
Zelenskyy said it was impossible to establish the exact number of children who were casualties due to the ongoing hostilities and because some areas are under Russian occupation.
Navalny supporters mark his birthday with demonstrations
The imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has voiced hope for a better future in Russia as his supporters held demonstrations to mark his birthday.
Navalny turned 47 on Sunday while serving a nine-year sentence at a maximum-security prison east of Moscow. He was convicted of fraud and contempt of court.
He says the charges were trumped up to punish him for his work exposing official corruption and organising anti-Kremlin protests.
He now faces a new trial on extremism charges that could keep him in prison for decades.
Navalny supporters in Russia risked their own prison terms. Some marked his birthday by holding individual pickets and others painted graffiti. Police quickly detained many for questioning.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 466
As the war enters its 466th day, here is a look at the main developments.
Western long-range missiles to Ukraine will fuel ‘tension’, Kremlin warns
The Kremlin has said that any supply of long-range missiles to Kyiv by France and Germany would lead to a further round of “spiralling tension” in the Ukraine conflict.
Britain last month became the first country to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles.
Ukraine has asked Germany for Taurus cruise missiles, which have a range of 500km (310 miles), while President Emmanuel Macron has said France will give Ukraine missiles with a range allowing it to carry out its long-anticipated counteroffensive.
“We are already starting to see discussions about deliveries from France and Germany of missiles with a range of 500km or more,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a reporter from the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
“This is a completely different weapon which will lead to, let’s say, another round of spiralling tension,” he said.
Ukrainian MoD publishes video hinting that it will not announce the start of its counteroffensive
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence posted a cryptic video suggesting that Ukrainian authorities will not announce when their anticipated counteroffensive will begin.
The video features several army personnel in various locations making a hush sign to the camera. Distant artillery fire can be heard in the background.
Text then appears that reads, “plans love silence” and “there will be no announcement about the beginning”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that his country was ready to launch a much-awaited counteroffensive.
Two Russian soldiers held captive, say pro-Ukraine fighters
A group of pro-Ukraine Russian fighters involved in recent incursions into Russia’s border region of Belgorod said on Sunday they had taken two Russian soldiers captive and offered to exchange them for a meeting with the regional governor.
The Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps have reported fighting battles in the region in recent days as Kyiv prepares to mount a counteroffensive against Kremlin forces in Ukraine.
In a video on the Freedom of Russia Legion’s Telegram channel, a man identifying himself as the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps said he would hand the two captives to Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov if he came to meet the fighters in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.
The video showed the two captives, one of whom appeared to be injured and was laid out on an operating table.
Fighting continues around Bakhmut
Clashes continue around Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that has seen the longest and bloodiest battle since the war began.
Kyiv’s armed forces said on Sunday that Moscow is still suffering “significant losses” despite a relative easing of combat operations in recent days.
Russia claimed in May to have captured Bakhmut, but Ukraine says its forces still retain a small foothold and denies that Moscow has full control of the city.
Ukraine’s top military command said in its daily report on Sunday that Russian forces had carried out two unsuccessful operations around Bakhmut and launched a number of air strikes and artillery shelling on nearby villages.
It said some 23 combat clashes had taken place over the past 24 hours in the Donetsk region, where Bakhmut is located, and in neighbouring Luhansk.
Russia’s Belgorod region shelled overnight: Governor
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces shelled a market area in the town of Shebekino, about 7 km (4 miles) from the border with Ukraine, but that no one was injured.
He said the shelling had caused fires to break out near the town’s market, a private area and a grain depot.
“Emergency services are on the scene,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He advised locals to evacuate temporarily.
About half of Kyiv bomb shelters closed or unfit
Alexander Kamyshin, a senior Ukrainian government official, expressed “disbelief” after learning that nearly half of Kyiv bomb shelters inspected in an internal audit were closed or unfit for use.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered an inspection of all Ukrainian shelters on Friday, a day after three people were killed in Kyiv when they were unable to access a shelter during a Russian air strike.
Kamyshin said that out of 1,078 shelters examined on the first day, 359 were unprepared, and another 122 were locked, while 597 were found to be usable.
Child killed in Dnipro air strike
An air raid hit a residential district in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing a two-year-old girl and injuring 22 others.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the war had killed at least 500 Ukrainian children just hours after rescue workers found the girl’s body.
Central Ukrainian airfield struck
Ukrainian authorities say that Russia struck an airfield on Sunday morning in central Ukraine but failed to hit the capital Kyiv.
Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told local television that four of six cruise missiles had been shot down by air defences while two had struck an “operational airfield” near the central city of Kropyvnytskyi.
He added that two of the five Iranian-made drones launched by Russia had struck infrastructure in the northern Sumy region.