Ukraine: Soviet-era dam destroyed near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
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Ukraine has “penetrated” the first line of Russian defences in some areas and is making “good progress” in its counteroffensive, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.
Kyiv has conducted “significant operations” over the past 48 hours in southern and eastern parts of the country, it added.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin announced Russia would start deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus next month – Moscow’s first move of such bombs outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Russian president said the weapons would be deployed after special storage facilities are ready in just under a month’s time.
It comes after he, last month, announced he wanted to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, in an apparent warning to Nato over its support for Ukraine.
“Everything is going according to plan,” Mr Putin told his ally and Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
“Preparation of the relevant facilities ends on July 7-8, and we will immediately begin activities related to the deployment of appropriate types of weapons on your territory,” he said, according to a Kremlin transcript of his remarks.
Ukraine ‘penetrates’ first line of Russian defences in some areas
Ukraine has “penetrated” the first line of Russian defences in some areas and is making “good progress” in its counteroffensive, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.
Kyiv has conducted “significant operations” over the past 48 hours in southern and eastern parts of the country, it added.
“In some areas, Ukrainian forces have likely made good progress and penetrated the first line of Russian defences,” the MoD said in a statement
“In others, Ukrainian progress has been slower.” The MoD added that Russia’s progress in the war has been “mixed”.
Russian strike damages infrastructure at Ukrainian military airfield - governor
Russia fired missiles and attack drones at the central Ukrainian region of Poltava overnight, inflicting "some damage of infrastructure and equipment" at the Myrhorod military airfield, the regional governor said on Saturday.
The attack that used ballistic and cruise missiles also damaged eight private residential homes and several vehicles, governor Dmytro Lunin said on Telegram messenger. No casualties were reported.
Three killed in Russian drone attack on Odesa overnight - Ukraine
Three civilians were killed during a Russian drone attack on the Black Sea city of Odesa in the early hours of Saturday after drone debris fell on an apartment block starting a fire, the Ukrainian military said.
Air defences in Odesa region shot down eight "Shahed" drones and two missiles in the latest in a spate of overnight air strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, a spokesperson for the southern military command said.
"As a result of the air fight, debris from one of the drones fell onto a high-rise apartment, causing a fire," the military official, Natalia Humeniuk, said in a statement.
The emergency services said 27 people, including three children, were wounded, but that the fire had been rapidly put out and 12 people were rescued from the building.
Three people die during a Russian drone attack on Odesa oblast
Three people died and at least ten more were injured during a Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast today, local reports said.
According to Ukraine’s southern command, Russian forces attacked the region using Iranian-made drones. Officials, however, claimed that all the drones were destroyed by Ukrainian forces.
A high-rise residential building was damaged by the falling debris. The resulting fire has since been extinguished, officials said.
The blast wave also damaged the neighbouring residential buildings.
Five dead and 13 missing due to floods after Kakhovka dam destruction, Ukrainian authorities claim
At least five people in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts were killed, and 13 more were missing yesterday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine’s interior ministry reported that dozens of settlements on both banks of the Dnipro River are flooded.
The ministry said, four of the five victims died in southern Kherson Oblast, where 48 settlements have been flooded, including 34 on the Ukraine-controlled west bank of the Dnipro River and 14 on the Russian-occupied east bank, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Mykolaiv Oblast police chief reported on 8 June that another victim died in the neighbouring Mykolaiv Oblast, where 23 settlements have been flooded.
Over 130 explosions recorded across Sumy Oblast, Ukraine authorities claim
Russian forces attacked seven communities in Sumy Oblast yesterday, the military administration of the region stated on Telegram.
According to officials, Russian forces targeted the communities of Velyka Pysarivka, Bilopillia, Krasnopillia, Myropillia, Shalyhyne, Yunakivka, and Novoslobidske, according to Kyiv Independent.
A total of 133 explosions were recorded across the seven communities.
One local was reportedly injured in the Yunakivka community. The attacks also damaged a residential building, an outbuilding, and a garage in the same community.
Russian ambassador to the US says Washington not looking for ‘diplomatic settlement of the conflict’
Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov stated yesterday that the US does not intend to look for ways to a diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.
Speaking about the next US package of military assistance to the Kyiv authorities, he said: “The United States continues to pump up its wards with new batches of deadly weapons. The appropriations for these purposes of such impressive financial resources indicate one thing: Washington does not intend to look for ways to a diplomatic settlement of the conflict.”
He added that Washington “did nothing to bring the regime of [Volodymyr] Zelensky to the negotiating table”.
He continued: “On the contrary, they are methodically pushing their puppets to continue sacrificing human lives in the name of the extravagant goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia. It is impossible for Washington to retreat from this task. At stake is the reputation of the country’s leadership, which has chosen the path of war, and not diplomatic solutions.”
Ukraine faces ‘hugely worse’ humanitarian situation after dam rupture, UN aid chief says
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is “hugely worse” than before the Kakhovka dam collapsed, the UN’s top aid official warned yesterday.
Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths said an “extraordinary” 700,000 people are in need of drinking water and warned that the ravages of flooding in one of the world’s most important breadbaskets will almost inevitably lead to lower grain exports, higher food prices around the world, and less to eat for millions in need.
“This is a viral problem,” he said in an interview with Associated Press. “But the truth is this is only the beginning of seeing the consequences of this act.”
US ambassador to UN ‘gravely concerned’ by growing military cooperation between Russia and Iran
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations says she is “gravely concerned by the growing military cooperation between Russia and Iran” and called for an investigation into Iran’s transfer of attack drones to Russia.
“I am gravely concerned by the growing military cooperation between Russia and Iran which continues to enable Russia’s prosecution of its brutal war against Ukraine,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.
She says Russia and Iran are both violating UN Security Council Resolution.
She cited information released by the US earlier Friday which documented how Iran “has provided Russia with hundreds of one-way attack UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], as well as UAV production-related equipment.” The ambassador said Russia has been using these UAVs in recent weeks to unleash missile strikes on Kyiv and "terrorize Ukrainian civilians.”
The White House claimed yesterday that Russia has received hundreds of drones from Iran to attack Ukraine.
Citing newly declassified information, the White House said the drones or Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles [UAVs], were built in Iran, shipped across the Caspian Sea and then used by Russian forces against Ukraine.
Russia has received hundreds of Iranian drones to attack Ukraine, White House says
The White House claimed yesterday that Russia has received hundreds of drones from Iran to attack Ukraine.
Citing newly declassified information, the White House said the drones or Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles [UAVs], were built in Iran, shipped across the Caspian Sea and then used by Russian forces against Ukraine.
“Russia has been using Iranian UAVs in recent weeks to strike Kyiv and terrorise the Ukrainian population, and the Russia-Iran military partnership appears to be deepening,” White House spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
“We are also concerned that Russia is working with Iran to produce Iranian UAVs from inside Russia.”
Mr Kirby also said that the US had information that Russia was receiving materials from Iran required to build a drone manufacturing plant that could be fully operational early next year.
“We are releasing satellite imagery of the planned location of this UAV manufacturing plant in Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone.”
