Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelensky calls for more long-range weapons after seven killed in Zaporizhzhia

The Russian attack near Zaporizhzhia killed seven people, including two children, and injured 31 others

Zelensky says China trying to undermine Ukraine peace summit

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has renewed his call for more long-range weapons after seven people were killed in a Russian strike.

The Russian attack on the town of Vilniansk, near the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, also injured 31 others, Ukrainian officials said.

“Our cities and communities suffer daily from such Russian strikes,” Mr Zelensky said after the attack which left two children dead.

But he added that there were “ways to overcome this”, including “destroying Russian missile launchers, striking with real long-range capability and increasing the number of modern air defence systems”.

Western allies have already supplied Ukraine with long-range weapons - including Scalp missiles from France, Storm Shadow from the UK and ATACMS from the US - as well as US-made Patriot air defence systems.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has refused to comment on Donald Trump’s claim he would “settle the war” in Ukraine if he was re-elected in November.

Trump made the claim during Thursday’s US presidential debate, where he and president Joe Biden competed to appear tougher on foreign policy.

Key points

• Zelensky calls for more aid after Russian strike kills seven
• Trump, Biden fight it out on Ukraine war at presidential debate
• Russia mulling downgrading ties with ‘hostile’ West, Kremlin says
• Putin’s troops pushed out of part of key eastern town, says Ukraine
• Ukrainian drone strikes fuel depot in Russia’s Tambov

[29 June 2024 18:00 · Alexander Butler]

Belarus bolsters air defence forces along Ukrainian border

Belarus has deployed additional air defence forces to its border with Ukraine to protect “critical infrastructure facilities” due to increased Ukrainian drone activity in the area, a Belarusian military commander said on Saturday.

Belarus, an ally of Russia in the war with Ukraine, said earlier this week it had shot down a quadcopter that had illegally crossed the border from Ukraine “to collect information about the Belarusian border infrastructure”.

The situation in the airspace over the border remains tense, Andrei Severinchik, commander of the Belarusian Air Defence Forces, said on Saturday.

“We are ready to decisively use all available forces and means to protect our territory and the population of the Republic of Belarus from possible provocations in the airspace,” he said in a statement published on the Defence Ministry’s Telegram channel.

[29 June 2024 17:00 · Alexander Butler]

Ukraine strikes inside Russia disrupting the ability of Putin’s forces to use drones, MoD says

[29 June 2024 15:47 · Alexander Butler]

Ukrainians held prisoner for years in Russia return to Kyiv

[29 June 2024 13:30 · Alexander Butler]

Ukrainian drone ‘kills five in Russia’s Kursk region'

A Ukrainian drone has killed five people, including two children, in Russia’s borderline Kursk Region, the TASS news agency reported on Saturday citing Kursk governor Alexey Smirnov.

[29 June 2024 12:23 · Alexander Butler]

Russia takes control of settlement of Shumy in Ukraine

The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces had taken control of the settlement of Shumy in eastern Ukraine, state news agency RIA reported.

[29 June 2024 10:53 · Alexander Butler]

Kremlin refuses to comment on Trump’s claim he would ‘settle war’ in Ukraine

The Kremlin has refused to comment on Donald Trump’s claim he would “settle the war” in Ukraine if he was re-elected in November.

Trump made the claim during Thursday’s US presidential debate, where he and president Joe Biden competed to appear tougher on foreign policy.

“As far as Russia and Ukraine, if we had a real president, a president that knew – that was respected by Putin, he would have never – he would have never invaded Ukraine,” he said.

[29 June 2024 10:26 · Alexander Butler]

Ukraine strikes inside Russia disrupting the ability of Putin’s forces to use drones, MoD says

[29 June 2024 08:47 · Alexander Butler]

Ukrainians held prisoner for years in Russia return to Kyiv

[29 June 2024 06:55 · Jane Dalton]

Civilians released from captivity in Russia and Belarus, says Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that 10 people, all civilians, were handed back to Ukraine as part of an exchange of detainees after several years of captivity in Russia and its ally Belarus.

“We managed to bring back 10 more of our people from Russian captivity, despite all the difficulties,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

He thanked a team dedicated to securing the release of the captives, including the Vatican.

Ukrainian officials said the return of the civilians was part of an exchange of prisoners of war conducted earlier this week under which each side handed back 90 detainees.

Russia did not comment and Ukraine made no mention of any release of Russians in captivity.

Among those brought back was Nariman Dzhelyal, deputy head of the assembly of the ethnic Crimean Tatar community, seized by Russian occupation forces in 2021, seven years after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula.

Also freed were two eastern rite Catholic priests captured by Russian forces in the occupied port of Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov.

Five of those liberated had been held in ex-Soviet Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, which allowed the Kremlin to use its territory to help launch the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

[29 June 2024 05:25 · Jane Dalton]

Ukraine strikes hamper Russian drones, MoD says

Ukrainian strikes against a Russian airbase outside of the occupied territories have likely “disrupted” the Kremlin’s ability to launch its own drone attacks, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said: