Ukraine-Russia war live: Killed security chief at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was ‘collaborator’, Kyiv says
Zelensky defends Vuhledar retreat and says it was done to save ‘citizens of Ukraine’
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An employee at a Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been killed in a car bomb attack.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the employee, Andrei Korotkiy, had died after a bomb planted under his car went off near his house in the city of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located.
Korotkiy worked in the plant’s security department, the Committee said. A criminal case has been opened into his death.
Ukrainian military intelligence published a video of his car exploding and in a statement branded Korotkiy a “war criminal” and collaborator, accusing him of repressing Ukrainians and of handing Russia a list of the plant’s employees and then pointing out people with pro-Ukrainian views.
“The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine‘s Ministry of Defence reminds people that every war criminal will be fairly punished,” the Ukrainian agency said.
Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, soon after they entered Ukraine in February 2022. The plant is not currently operating.
The plant’s authorities condemned Ukrainian authorities for orchestrating the murder.
“This is a horrific, inhumane act,” said plant director Yuri Chernichuk, vowing punishment for the attackers.
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Kosovo's leader says Russia prevailing in Ukraine would threaten 25 years of peace in the Balkans
Kosovo's leader says Russia prevailing in Ukraine would threaten 25 years of peace in the Balkans
Kosovo's prime minister says that the Balkan region has enjoyed the greatest degree of peace, freedom and democracy in its history in the past 25 years
Watch: Russian fighter jet narrowly misses American aircraft off coast of Alaska
Poland to start beefing up northeastern defences by year-end, minister says
Poland will start building the first elements of enhanced defence lines on its borders with Russia and Belarus by the end of 2024, a deputy defence minister has said.
Spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Warsaw laid out plans in May to spend 10 billion zlotys (£1.97 billion) to beef up its northern and eastern borders with fortifications, surveillance, reconnaissance and anti-drone systems by the end of 2028 to deter adversaries or help repel a potential attack.
“In the next three weeks, we will be able to carry out the first tests of the East Shield elements on Polish military training grounds, and this year we will start building the first elements ... on the northern and eastern borders,” Cezary Tomczyk told a press conference.
He said the project would be developed in cooperation with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as well as with British and American forces.
The war in Ukraine has spurred Poland to boost defence spending to 4.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 and a planned 4.7% in 2025.
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz was asked at the same event about defence spending beyond 2025, and said the upward trend should be maintained.
A roundup of yesterday’s events
If you are joining now, here is a roundup of the events that happened yesterday:
- Russia attacks Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with 19 drones overnight
- Ukraine’s military says it hit fuel storage facility in Russia’s Voronezh region
Huge Russian fuel depot blaze put out
- Firefighters put out a huge blaze at a fuel depot in Russia’s Ural mountains, and a series of drone strikes were reported in areas close to the Ukrainian border, one of which also started a small fire at a fuel depot.
More than 140 clashes on the frontline in past day, Ukraine says
- Putins forces conducted 67 airstrikes, including dropping of 135 guided aerial bombs, according to a situation update from the Ukrainian army
Russia knocked out most infrastructure in Ukraine’s Pokrovsk, local official says
- Russia has knocked out around 80 per cent of critical infrastructure in the town of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in Ukraine‘s east
More than 140 clashes on the frontline in past day, Ukraine says
There were 142 clashes on the frontlines in Ukraine, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The General Staff also said Russian forces launched three missile strikes on Ukrainian positions and settlements, using three missiles.
Putins forces conducted 67 airstrikes, including dropping of 135 guided aerial bombs, according to the situation update.
Watch: Putin wants to erase Ukraine by stealing our children, Ukrainian tennis pro Svitolina warns
Russian offensive to peak in 'months, if not weeks'
Vladimir Putin’s offensive in eastern Ukraine is likely to culminate in the coming months, a US-based think-tank has assessed.
“Russian forces do not have the available manpower and materiel to continue intensified offensive efforts indefinitely, however, and current Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine will likely culminate in the coming months, if not weeks, as Ukrainian officials and ISW have previously assessed,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment.
Ukrainian forces, it said, also face serious operational challenges and constraints, which are providing Russian forces with opportunities to pursue tactically significant gains.
But the current Russian offensive, which was started in autumn last year, has not yielded operationally significant gains for Russian forces and only offered gradual tactical gains in specific sectors of the front, the ISW said.
Ukraine’s “effective defence in depth along the frontline” has caused Russia significant losses and prevent Mr Putin’s troops from making more rapid gains on the battlefield, it said.
Russia attacks Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with 19 drones overnight
Russia attacked Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with 19 drones overnight, the country’s air force said.
Air defences shot down nine drones with seven more likely impacted by electronic jamming, the Ukrainian air force said on Telegram, without saying what happened to the remaining three.
Ukraine’s troops pull back from key eastern town as Putin’s forces advance
Ukraine’s troops pull back from key eastern town as Putin’s forces advance
The town was a bastion of resistance for over two years since Vladimir Putin’s invasion in February 2022
Full report: Russia launches major drone attack on Ukraine – as new Nato chief visits Kyiv
Russia launches major drone attack on Ukraine – as new Nato chief visits Kyiv
Ukraine’s military also says it struck Russian radar station with US-provided ballistic missiles
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