President Vladimir Putin has warned the West that Russia would strike new targets if the United States started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles, a local news agency reported.
If such missiles are supplied, “we will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting,” Putin was quoted as saying in an interview on Rossiya-1 state television channel.
It comes as the US, UK and Germany pledged earlier this week to equip Ukraine with some of the advanced weapons it has long desired for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery.
The US will supply Ukraine medium-range MRLS that can reach targets 50 miles away after Kyiv promised not to use them against Russian territory.
Western arms have been critical to Ukraine’s success in halting Russia’s much larger and better-equipped military, thwarting its effort to storm the capital and forcing Moscow to shift its focus to the industrial Donbas region in the east.
Follow the latest updates below.
10:03 AM
Moscow: Strikes on Kyiv targeted tanks supplied by Ukraine’s allies
Russia’s defence ministry said it fired rockets at Kyiv from long distance and destroyed T-72 tanks and armoured vehicles that had been supplied to Ukraine by eastern European countries.
Ukraine’s air force said Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers launched missiles at nation’s capital from the Caspian Sea early this morning, shattering five weeks of eerie calm in Kyiv, which had not experienced similar strikes since April 28.
At least one person was hospitalised though no deaths were immediately reported, Vitaly Klitschko, the city’s mayor, said.
Dark smoke rose into the sky above the Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts where the explosions rang out.
The attack targeted railway infrastructure, according to Serhiy Leshchenko, an aide to President Volodomyr Zelensky’s chief of staff.
09:34 AM
Russian missile flies ‘critically low’ over nuclear power plant
Ukraine’s state-run nuclear power operator Energoatom said a Russian cruise missile flew “critically low” over a major nuclear power plant.
“It’s probable that was the missile that was fired in the direction of Kyiv,” the operator of the Pivdennoukrainska plant, also called the South Ukraine Nuclear Plant, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters could not immediately verify the claim.
09:20 AM
France in talks with UAE to wean off Russian oil
France is in talks with the United Arab Emirates to replace Russian oil purchases, which will stop after the imposition of a European Union ban on Russian crude, Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister said.
“There are discussions with the United Arab Emirates. We have to find an alternative to Russian oil,” Mr Le Maire told Europe 1 radio.
He added that despite the war in Ukraine and inflationary pressures, he expected positive growth for 2022, but would revise economic forecasts at the start of July.
09:03 AM
Watch: Putin threatens ‘destruction’ on fresh targets
08:35 AM
MoD: Ukrainian counter-attack is “blunting” Russian “momentum” in Severodonetsk
A Ukrainian counter-attack is “blunting” the “operational momentum” of Russian forces in the contested city of Severodonetsk, the UK Ministry of Defence said.
Russian troops had gained control of around 70 per cent of the factory city through concentrating combat units and firepower, including members of the Russian-led separatist forces of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic.
“These troops are poorly equipped and trained, and lack heavy equipment in comparison to regular Russian units,” the MoD said.
Ukrainian officials claim that half of the city is now under their control.
08:10 AM
Madrid: Spain to supply weapons to Ukraine
Spain is to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles and Leopard battle tanks in a step up of its military support to the country, according to government sources cited by the newspaper El Pais.
Spain will also provide essential training to the Ukrainian military in how to use the tanks. It will take place in Latvia, where the Spanish army has deployed 500 soldiers within the framework of Nato’s Enhanced Advanced Presence operation.
A second phase of training could take place in Spain, according to the sources cited by El Pais.
The paper said Spain’s defence ministry is finalising a delivery to Kyiv of low-level Shorad Aspide anti-aircraft missiles, which the Spanish army has replaced with a more advanced system.
07:29 AM
Fresh missile strikes shatter calm in Kyiv
A barrage of Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s capital early this morning, hitting unspecified “infrastructure” targets, Kyiv’s mayor said. No one was reported killed, with one person hospitalised with injuries.
But the attack shattered a sense of calm in Kyiv, which hadn’t seen similar strikes since the April 28 visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The missile strikes hit the Darnytski and Dniprovski districts in the city and that emergency services had arrived to the scene, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. Air raid sirens had gone off around the time of the blasts.
An acrid smell of smoke filled the air in the Darnystki district of eastern Kviv, with a billowing pillar of smoke rising in the sky.
Soldiers and police blocked off a main road to the site. Smoke billowed from the charred and blackened wreckage of a warehouse-type structure.
07:29 AM
Russians ‘afraid’ to move around Severodonetsk
Russian forces have lost ground in Severodonetsk, a regional governor said Sunday.
“The Russians were in control of about 70 per cent of the city, but have been forced back over the past two days,” Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday wrote on Telegram.
“The city is divided in two. They are afraid to move freely around the city.”
07:16 AM
Churches that survived Second World War have not survived invasion, says Zelensky
Churches that managed to survive the Second World War have been destroyed by Russia’s attacks in Ukraine, says President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russia has destroyed or damaged around 113 churches since it invaded, he said. Some of them had survived Second World War, “but did not withstand Russian occupation,” he added.
On Saturday, Mr Zelensky said Russian artillery hit an early 17th century Ukrainian Orthodox monastery, engulfing a church in flames.
Russia’s defence ministry denied involvement, accusing Ukrainian troops of setting fire to the All Saints church before pulling back.
07:02 AM
Ukraine blunts Russian momentum with counterattack
Ukraine is undoing the gains made by Russian forces in concentrating combat units and firepower in the east, following a counterattack by Kyiv in Severodonetsk, according to British intelligence.
The Ministry of Defence said a Ukrainian attack over the last 24 hours in the city has likely blunted Russia’s operational momentum there.
“Russian forces committed in this area include personnel mobilised from the reserve of Russian-led Separatist Forces of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic. These troops are poorly equipped and trained, and lack heavy equipment in comparison to regular Russian units.”
06:50 AM
Street fighting erupts in Severodonetsk
The battle for Ukraine’s eastern city of Severodonetsk was being waged street by street, said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Several explosions in Darnytsky and Dniprovsky districts of the city. Services are extinguishing,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram shortly after air raid warnings sounded in Kyiv and several other cities.
“There are currently no dead from missile strikes on infrastructure. One wounded was hospitalised. The services are still working in the affected areas.”
03:49 AM
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