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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russian border region ‘targeted with attack drones and helicopters’; baby injured in strike on Ukrainian city
Russia claims it intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones targeting the southern Kursk region. In Ukraine, a Russian missile strike on the city of Dnipro left six people injured – including a one-month-old baby, officials say.

Tuesday 4 June 2024 07:09, UK

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Valentina Chernaya, 90, reacts near her damaged house and destroyed outbuildings following recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict the village of Rozivka (Rozovka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine
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Valentina Chernaya, 90, near her damaged house after shelling in the village of Rozivka in the Donetsk region. Pic: Reuters
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Key points
The big picture: Everything you need to know about the war right now View post
Baby among seven civilians injured in overnight missile strike View post
Russia says it intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones in border region View post
Moscow warns US against ‘mistakes that may have fatal consequences’ View post
Russia bars British ‘establishment figures’ in latest sanctions View post
Enemy ‘suffers 1,270 casualties in 24 hours’, Ukraine claims View post
China hits back at Zelenskyy over summit disruption allegations View post
21m ago
02:04
Kyiv Pride event not allowed to be held ‘for security reasons’
Authorities in Kyiv have denied permission for this year’s Kyiv Pride march to be held in the Ukrainian capital’s metro system.

It was hoped up to 500 people would attend the event on 16 June.

“In order not to endanger the participants and passengers, and to avoid possible provocations, the city authorities cannot allow the Equality March to take place in the metro,” Kyiv’s City Hall said.

The metro system doubles as an air raid shelter during Russian attacks.

Authorities said the metro is a “dual-use facility and part of the city’s critical infrastructure” and is “always a high-risk area due to limited space, train schedule and high passenger traffic”.

Kyiv has not hosted a Pride event since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Last year’s event was held in Liverpool instead.

Kyiv’s Pride march in 2021
Kyiv’s Pride march in 2021
Reuters

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41m ago
01:43
Russia says it intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones in Kursk region
Russian officials have claimed they intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones in the southern Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

Regional governor Alexei Smirnov said Ukrainian forces reportedly targeted four villages in the region using attack drones and helicopters.

No injuries were reported.

The governor of the neighbouring Belgorod region said air defence units had downed “several airborne targets”, resulting in some damage to the roofs of several buildings.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented.

Russia’s border regions have repeatedly come under attack since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Belgorod borders Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where Russia has launched a spring offensive.

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54m ago
01:30
Baby among seven civilians injured in overnight missile strike on Dnipro
Seven people have been injured in a Russian missile attack on the city of Dnipro.

A one-month-old baby and a 17-year-old boy were among the wounded, governor Serhii Lysak said.

He added that air defence systems had successfully intercepted and downed two drones over the city.

However the debris from the missiles caused damage to civilian infrastructure, with more than a dozen vehicles affected and windows shattered in several houses.

Emergency crews are at the scene.

The city of Nikopol was also attacked with kamikaze drones, Mr Lysak said.

No casualties were reported there.

Air raid alerts were activated in a number of regions overnight, including Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk.

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1h ago
01:23
Good morning
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Before we begin, here is a recap of the key events over the last 24 hours.

Italy said it will send a second SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine – the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles;
French police arrested three people after five empty coffins wrapped in French flags with the words “French soldiers from Ukraine” were found near the Eiffel Tower;
А group of Russian women staged a small but rare protest outside the Russian defence ministry, asking for the return of their relatives from the frontline;
Russia added several British “establishment figures”, journalists and experts to the list of people barred from entering the country;
Ukraine’s grid operator imposed daily energy restrictions across the country after infrastructure was damaged in a series of Russian drone and missile attacks.
Here is how the situation looks on the ground…

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9h ago
16:58
Good evening
That’s it for our live coverage this evening, but we’ll be back soon with more updates.

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10h ago
16:17
In pictures: Houses in ruins amid shelling
Images taken by Reuters photographers on the ground in Russian-occupied Donetsk show houses destroyed by shelling.

Chickens can be seen walking among the ruins of a wooden structure in the village of Rozivka.

Resident Valentina Chernaya, 90, was pictured with her head in her hands near her damaged house and destroyed outbuildings.

Valentina Chernaya
Valentina Chernaya

Pics: Reuters
Pics: Reuters

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11h ago
15:14
Italy donates unit of only European-made ballistic missile defence systems
Italy will send a second SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine – the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.

Also known as MAMBA, it is a Franco-Italian battery that can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once.

Rome and Paris jointly delivered the first system in 2023, but Ukraine has repeatedly called on partners to provide more help with air defence as it faces an increasing barrage of Russian attacks on cities and energy infrastructure.

Italy has approved eight support packages to Ukraine since the invasion began.

Its foreign minister said the SAMP/T will be part of a ninth package under preparation, but did not give a time frame for delivery.

All shipments have so far been covered by official secrecy and the government has never made public the exact list of weapons it has sent to Ukraine.

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12h ago
13:45
France arrests three after coffins found at Eiffel Tower
French police have arrested three people after five empty coffins wrapped in French flags with the words “French soldiers from Ukraine” were found near the Eiffel Tower.

The public prosecutors have requested that the three individuals, who are from Bulgaria, Germany and Ukraine, be charged with premeditated violence.

Prosecutors said leaving coffins at the foot of the Eiffel Tower was an act of psychological violence.

France could soon send military trainers to Ukraine despite the concerns of some allies and criticism by Russia, diplomatic sources told Reuters last week.

French daily Le Monde, quoting security documents, reported that the three men had been in contact with a man suspected of having sprayed red hands on the Paris Shoah Memorial, a Holocaust museum, in mid-May.

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13h ago
12:45
Russian soldiers’ wives demand men return from the front in protest
А group of Russian women have staged a small but rare protest outside the Russian defence ministry.

They demand the return of some mobilised soldiers from the front in Ukraine.

For months, different groups of Russian women have organised sporadic demonstrations to exert pressure on authorities to return their husbands, sons and brothers.

One of the woman at the protest, Paulina, said the women wanted strict limits on how long soldiers can serve before they must rotate out of active duty.

Pictures and videos Paulina published on the Telegram app showed women holding signs with slogans including “please bring Papa home”.

Several had brought along their school-aged children and toddlers in pushchairs.

No ministry officials came out of the building to speak with the women, Paulina said.

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14h ago
11:45
18 arrested in Poland over collaborating with Russia and Belarus
Poland has arrested 18 people accused of pursuing hostile activities or sabotage on behalf of Russia and Belarus.

One of the schemes allegedly included plans to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the interior minister said.

Ten of those arrested since December were directly involved in planning various forms of sabotage across Poland, Tomasz Siemoniak told a news conference.

Authorities in Poland have linked some recent arsons or attempted arsons to Russian-sponsored agents.

Mr Siemoniak said that acts of sabotage were apparently part of a wider plan that also includes cyberattacks, pushing migrants in Belarus to cross into Poland and threatening the security of the country.

“We have no doubt that on the bidding of a foreign country, Russia, there are some people active who are ready to threaten the life, health and property of the Polish citizens,” Mr Siemoniak said.

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15h ago
10:53
Zelenskyy will participate in G7 summit
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will participate in the G7 summit in Italy late this month, either online or in person, his spokesman said.

The summit, set to take place in southern Italy from 13 to 15 June, will have as a key agenda item ways to use profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, I cannot confirm or deny that the President will physically participate in the G7 summit, but in any case, whether online or physically, there is no doubt that he will be there,” the president’s spokesman, Sergey Nikiforov told Ukrainian television.

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16h ago
10:19
One dead in shelling in Belgorod, governor claims
A Russian has been killed by Ukrainian shelling in Belgorod, according to the local governor.

Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel: “A munition detonated in the Korocha district, as a result of which one person was killed and three were injured.

“Nine people received various injuries in two shelling attacks; five of them were hospitalised. One of the injured persons, a woman wounded in the village of Voznesenovka, is in grave condition. She is currently in intensive care, on artificial lung ventilation.”

One person was also injured in the Graivoron district, the governor said.

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16h ago
09:25
Russia bars British ‘establishment figures’ in latest sanctions
Russia added several British “establishment figures”, journalists and experts to the list of people barred from entering the country.

Moscow’s foreign ministry says the decision was made due to their “hostile” actions.

In a statement, the ministry also urged Britain to drop its support for Ukraine which it claimed was causing more civilian casualties.

The names of those sanctioned have not been published.

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17h ago
08:56
‘Unsafe’ to restart Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as long as war rages, says UN
It will be unsafe to restart the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine as long as war rages around it, the UN nuclear watchdog chief has said.

Rafael Grossi held a meeting with Russia on the issue last week after officials including Vladimir Putin told him Moscow wanted to restart Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant.

The six reactors are shut down on safety grounds at the recommendation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The power plant in 2022
The power plant in 2022

“The idea, of course, they have is to restart at some point,” Mr Grossi told a news conference on the first day of a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors.

“They are not planning to decommission this nuclear power plant. So this is what prompts the need to have a discussion about that.”

Russia said after last week’s meeting that it was not currently planning to reactivate the plant.

A Russian soldier guards the plant in 2023
A Russian soldier guards the plant in 2023
Pics: Reuters

Mr Grossi said some important steps needed to be taken before it can restart safely.

“In terms of what needs to happen… there shouldn’t be any bombing or any activity of this type,” he said.

“Then there should be a more stable assurance of external power supply.

“This requires repairs, important repairs of existing lines, which at the moment, and because of the military activity, are very difficult to envisage.”

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18h ago
08:19
Watch: Kharkiv town in ruins after rocket attack
At least 12 people, including a pregnant woman and eight children, were injured in the attack on Balakliaa over the weekend, according to Kharkiv police.

The head of the Balakliaa military administration, Vitaliy Karabanov, said: “Preliminary reports suggest that an Iskander missile hit the area.

“Experts say it exploded a few meters from the house, causing damage and igniting a fire due to the wooden structures.

“A family of six lived there: father, mother, and four children.

“Another family with four children was visiting, so a total of eight children and four adults were injured.

“They were all in the house at the time of the explosion.”

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18h ago
07:43
Attack on Kherson injures one
A Russian strike on a village in Kherson has injured a man in his 70s, according to the regional military administration.

He was left with concussion and injuries to his back and head, and was treated at the scene.

The village, Tomyna Balka, is a few miles north of the Dnipro River delta across the Russian-occupied territories of Kherson and around 12 miles west of the regional capital of the same name.

Ukraine retook Kherson and other settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River during a counteroffensive in the autumn of 2022.

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19h ago
07:13
Striking Russia with Western weapons ‘crucial’ to Ukraine’s success
Allowing Ukraine to use Western air defence systems against targets in Russia is crucial if Kyiv is going to repel Russian glide bomb and missile strikes against Kharkiv, a leading thinktank has said.

After Joe Biden’s partial lifting of restrictions on how Ukraine can use military supplies sent by the US, Kyiv can now use American weapons to strike inside Russia.

Eleven other Western countries have also recently partially or completely lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-provided weapons to strike military targets inside Russia.

“These policy changes will allow Ukrainian forces to use Western-provided systems to strike Russian firing and staging areas in Russia’s border areas and airspace,” according to the Institute for the Study of War, which is based in the US.

“Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian forces downed a number of Russian military aircraft in February 2024, many of which were conducting glide bomb strikes in the Avdiivka direction.

“Ukrainian forces’ ability to down Russian military aircraft in a frontline area indicates that Ukrainian forces will likely be able to replicate the same effects with both Ukrainian and Western-provided systems to protect northern Kharkiv Oblast and Kharkiv City from Russian glide bomb strikes launched from Russian airspace.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said that Russian forces would not be able to seize Kharkiv City if Ukrainian forces received two Patriot air defence systems to deploy to the region.

According to the ISW, deployment of these defence systems would have limited effectiveness, were they not able to strike targets in Russian airspace.

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19h ago
06:33
1.5 million men register for conscription, says Ukrainian defence ministry
Around 1.5 million men have registered for conscription in Ukraine, the defence ministry has said.

After the new law on mobilisation came into force on 18 May, military-aged men were given 60 days to update their personal data so that the state could locate them.

According to a video posted on the ministry’s YouTube channel, the majority of the updates were done on the new Reserve+ online app.

Reuters
Reuters

In addition to using the app, Ukrainians can update their data in person at public service centres or enlistment offices.

The ministry added that 14,000 men living abroad across 124 countries had updated their credentials.

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19h ago
06:30
UK defence chief ‘hugely confident’ Ukraine will prevail over Russia
Ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Britain’s defence chief Admiral Sir Tony Radakin spoke about the comparisons made between the Second World War and the conflict in Ukraine.

He told Sky News he is confident we are not heading towards another world war and has every faith Ukraine would prevail in its fight.

Admiral Radakin added that by the end of June, 500,000 Russians would have died or been injured in the conflict.

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20h ago
05:55
Russian airport imposes flight restrictions
Kazan’s airport has imposed temporary flight restrictions for safety reasons today, Russia’s aviation watchdog has said.

This is usually done in expectation of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Kazan is the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan and is located about 500 miles east of Moscow.

The region has been repeatedly attacked by drones in recent months, an indication that Ukraine has dramatically improved its ability to strike deep within Russian territory.

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