Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces launch 100 deadly glide bombs and dozens of drones across frontline

Warrants come as Russia has again stepped up its long-range assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

Zelensky says China trying to undermine Ukraine peace summit

Vladimir Putin’s troops have launched around 100 deadly glide bombs and dozens of drones across the border with Ukraine over the past day.

Russia had launched 96 glide bombs, two missile strikes, 4000 shells and 44 kamikaze drones over the last 24 hours, according to the Ukrainian army.

A glide bomb is a standard air-dropped bomb modified to be launched from a distance rather than directly over the target - with some weighing up to 1.5 tonnes.

It comes as Russia’s former defence minister and a leading general have been slapped with arrest warrants over attacks on civilian targets amounting to war crimes in Ukraine by a top international court.

Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defence minister, and General Valery Gerasimov are suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine, The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) said.

Judges had found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023”, the ICC said.

Key points

• Russia launches around 100 deadly glide bombs
• ICC issues arrest warrants for two senior Russian officials
• Russian official warns of ‘tragic and fatal’ consequences
• Russian pressure heats up on frontline as Western aid trickles in
• Zelensky replaces top military commander after public rebuke
• Ukraine starts EU accession talks

[26 June 2024 07:08 · Arpan Rai]

US journalist Gershkovich appears with shaved head before start of trial in Russia

A shaven-headed Evan Gershkovich appeared briefly before journalists in a Russian court this morning at the start of a trial on charges of espionage that the US reporter denies.

The 32-year-old was seen standing in a glass box, wearing an open-necked shirt and with his arms folded.

The Wall Street Journal reporter is accused by prosecutors of gathering secret information on the orders of the US Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 20 years.

He, his newspaper and the US government all reject the allegations and say that he was just doing his job as a reporter accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work there.

The proceedings will take place behind closed doors, meaning that the media is excluded and no friends, family members or US embassy staff are allowed in to support Gershkovich. Such arrangements are common at spying or treason trials in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is open to the idea of a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and that contacts with the United States have taken place, but they must remain secret.

[26 June 2024 07:00 · Tom Watling]

Top international court issues arrest warrants for senior Russian officials over alleged war crimes

[26 June 2024 06:37 · Arpan Rai]

Trump presented with plan to pressure Ukraine into peace talks with Putin

Donald Trump has been presented with a plan to bring an end to the war in Ukraine by two key advisers that would require Kyiv to sit down for peace talks with Russia or receive no further US weapons.

The strategy, which would only be actionable in the event that the Republican presidential contender beats Joe Biden to the White House in November, would conversely see Moscow threatened with increased American support for Ukraine if it refused to participate in the negotiations.

The proposition was devised by retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg and national security expert Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s National Security Council during his 2017-2021 presidency, and divulged in an interview with Reuters.

“We tell the Ukrainians, ‘You’ve got to come to the table, and if you don’t come to the table, support from the United States will dry up,’” Kellogg told the news agency.

[26 June 2024 06:00 · Tom Watling]

Russia keeps up the front-line pressure before Ukraine receives a boost from Western military aid

[26 June 2024 05:40 · Arpan Rai]

Russia and Ukraine each return 90 prisoners of war

Russia and Ukraine each handed back 90 prisoners of war yesterday in the latest of several periodic swaps in their 28-month-old conflict, with the United Arab Emirates overseeing the exchange as an intermediary.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said most of the freed servicemen were privates and sergeants, and the swap was another step in the process of bringing all detainees home.

“We will return all others in the same way,” he said in his nightly video address. “We are seeking the truth about everyone – where a person is, in what condition, what is needed for their return.”

He thanked the UAE for facilitating the exchange and pledged to press on with efforts to bring home those still being held.

The last exchange took place on 31 May, when each side handed over 75 prisoners of war, also with the UAE acting as a go-between. That was the first exchange in nearly four months.

The Russian defence ministry, in a posting on the Telegram messaging app, said: “As a result of negotiations, 90 Russian prisoners of war who risked death in captivity are being returned from areas under Kyiv’s control.”

It said the Russian prisoners were able to return home “with the United Arab Emirates participating as an intermediary in a humanitarian capacity”.

The freed Russian prisoners were being flown to Moscow, where they would undergo medical checks, the ministry said.

Russia said prisoners brought home yesterday had faced mortal danger in captivity.

Ukraine said returnees had included soldiers who had defended the Azovstal steel mill in a three-month siege in 2022 and others taken prisoner when Russian forces briefly seized the defunct Chornobyl nuclear power station.

The UAE said its action as a go-between had been made possible by maintaining good contacts with both sides.

[26 June 2024 05:12 · Arpan Rai]

Top court issues arrest warrants for senior Russian officials

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two senior Russian officials, accusing them of overseeing war crimes against civilians during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Former Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, and military chief General Valery Gerasimov have been accused of “directing attacks at civilian objects”, “causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects”, and perpetrating the crime against humanity of “inhumane acts”.

The statement from the ICC added that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023”.

Tom Watling reports:

[26 June 2024 05:00 · Tom Watling]

Trump military aides say they’ve given him detailed plan to pressure Ukraine into peace talks with Putin

[26 June 2024 04:43 · Arpan Rai]

Russian official warns of ‘tragic and fatal’ consequences

If the West underestimated the resolve of Russia – a major nuclear power – it could lead to “tragic and fatal” consequences, warned deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow’s arms control point person.

Mr Ryabkov said the West underestimated “Russia’s readiness to stand up for itself and ensure its own interests in any situation”. “I don’t even want to assume that this underestimation could become tragic and fatal,” he said.

He said Russia had the resources to convey signals to the West in the field of nuclear deterrence but there was a danger the West could make a mistake.

“There is a danger, it cannot be underestimated, that their side may make a mistake. We will try not to,” he said. “Our common task is to prevent the world and the multipolar world, above all, from sliding into nuclear chaos,” Mr Ryabkov said.

In a 2023 call with Russia’s Sergei Shoigu, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin had pointed to risky behaviour by Russian fighter pilots that caused a US drone to crash in the Black Sea near Ukraine.

[26 June 2024 04:33 · Arpan Rai]

Russian pressure heats up on frontline as Western aid trickles in

Relentless Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions defending the strategically important eastern town of Chasiv Yar are disrupting troop rotations and the delivery of some supplies, soldiers in the area say.

For Ukrainian soldiers defending the eastern Donetsk region, the Russian ground assaults and aerial barrages allow little respite after more than two years of war.

“We work, you could say, without rest,” said a platoon commander who, in line with his brigade’s rules, identified himself only by his first name, Oleksandr. “So no two days are alike. You always need to be ready to work day and night,” he said on Monday.

Russian troops are seeking to press their advantage in troop numbers and weaponry before Ukrainian forces are bulked up by promised new Western military aid that is already trickling to the front line, analysts say.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said it will take time for the effects of the new Western weaponry to be felt on the front line. Meanwhile, it said, “Russian forces are attempting to make tactically and operationally significant gains” before it arrives.

Elsewhere, the Kremlin’s forces kept up their barrages of civilian infrastructure with three aerial strikes in the northeastern Kharkiv region Tuesday, local officials said, though nobody was injured.

Russia has pounded Kharkiv in recent months, apparently to draw some Ukrainian forces away from the defense of Donetsk while trying to create a buffer zone to prevent cross-border Ukrainian attacks. Russian launched 42 glide bombs against the Kharkiv region in the previous 24 hours, authorities said yesterday.

[26 June 2024 04:07 · Arpan Rai]

US, Russia defence chiefs speak amid Crimea attack tensions

The US and Russian defence chiefs spoke by telephone in rare communication between the two powers, during which the Russian defence chief warned of escalating dangers.

The two sides gave widely different accounts of the conversation wherein Russian defence chief Andrei Belousov cautioned Washington against arming Ukraine.

The Pentagon said Mr Austin and Mr Belousov discussed the importance of open lines of communication.

Mr Austin initiated the conversation and it was the first such call since March 2023, Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters.

Russia’s defence ministry, however, said that Mr Belousov warned Mr Austin of the dangers. “AR Belousov pointed to the danger of further escalating the situation through continued supplies of American weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces,” the ministry statement said on Telegram.

This was the first call between US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russia’s new defence minister Andrei Belousov, who replaced Sergei Shoigu in May.