Russia launches the biggest aerial attack since the start of the war, Ukraine says
Russia launched its biggest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said Sunday, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the 3-year-old war.
Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine's air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.
The onslaught was 'the most massive airstrike' on the country since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, taking into account both drones and various types of missiles, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force, told The Associated Press. The attack targeted several regions, including western Ukraine, far from the front line.
Poland and allied countries scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the country's air force said.
Three people were killed in each of the drone strikes in the Kherson, Kharkiv and the Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to the three governors.
Another person was killed by an airstrike in Kostyantynivka, local officials said. In addition to aerial attacks, a man died when Russian troops shelled the city of Kherson, and the body of a 70-year-old woman was found under the rubble of a nine-story building hit by Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region.
In the far-western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych following a drone attack that also cut electricity to parts of the city.
Ukraine's air force said one of its F-16 warplanes supplied by its Western partners crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets. The pilot died.
Russian troops reportedly advance in Donetsk
Russia's Defense Ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight.
Two people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Bryansk in western Russia, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said Sunday morning, adding that seven more Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the region.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armor.
In other developments, Russia's foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said he had spoken on the phone with his U.S. counterpart, CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
'I had a phone call with my American counterpart and we reserved for each other the possibility to call at any time and discuss issues of interest to us,' Naryshkin said in remarks to state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, who posted them on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
Sunday's attacks follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments two days ago that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement.
Zelenskyy withdraws Ukraine from an anti-land mine pact
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree to withdraw Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel land mines, a Ukrainian lawmaker said Sunday. The move follows similar recent steps by the Baltic states and Poland.
The 1997 treaty prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel land mines in an effort to protect civilians from explosives that can maim or kill long after fighting ends.
'This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded,' said Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence. He noted that Russia is not a party to the convention "and is massively using mines against our military and civilians.'
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy to pull Kyiv out of convention banning anti-personnel landmines
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday he had signed a decree to pull Ukraine out of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines as a necessary step in view of Russian tactics in their 40-month-old war. Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005. Other countries bordering Russia, notably Finland, Poland and the three ex-Soviet Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – have either withdrawn from the convention or indicated that they would do so. Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that Russia had never been a party to the convention 'and is using anti-personnel mines with utmost cynicism' along with other weapons, including ballistic missiles. 'This is a hallmark of Russian killers. To destroy life by all means at their disposal … We see how our neighbours in Europe react to this threat,' he said. 'We also know the complexities of the withdrawal procedure when it is conducted during war. We take this political step and give a signal to our political partners on what to focus on. This concerns all countries that border Russia,' he said. Anti-personnel mines, Zelenskyy said, are 'often the instrument for which nothing can be substituted for defence purposes.' Russia fired more than 500 aerial weapons at Ukraine overnight to Sunday, in a barrage that Kyiv described as the biggest air attack so far of the three-year war. Ukraine's air force said that Russia had fired 477 drones and decoys as well as 60 missiles overnight. While 475 of these were shot down or lost, the onslaught marked the 'most massive airstrike' on the country since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force. Officials confirmed three deaths and said another two died in Russian shelling. A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot died in a crash while repelling the Russian air attack. Zelenskyy praised the pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, and bestowed upon him posthumously the title of Hero of Ukraine, the country's highest decoration. The pilot flew the damaged jet away from a settlement but had no time to eject before it crashed, the Ukrainian air force said. 'The pilot used all of his onboard weapons and shot down seven air targets. While shooting down the last one, his aircraft was damaged and began to lose altitude,' the air force said on Telegram. The Kremlin said in remarks published on Sunday that the tougher the sanctions imposed on Russia by Europe, the more painful the recoil would be for Europe's own economies as Russia had grown resistant to such 'illegal' sanctions. The European Commission on 10 June proposed a new round of sanctions against Russia, targeting Moscow's energy revenues, its banks and its military industry, though the United States has so far refused to toughen its own sanctions. Russia's spy chief said on Sunday he spoke to his US counterpart, marking a new official exchange after their first call in mid-March amid rapprochement between Moscow and Washington. 'I had a telephone conversation with my American counterpart, and we agreed to call each other at any time to discuss issues of mutual interest,' Sergey Naryshkin said on Russian state television, without providing further details about his call with CIA chief John Ratcliffe.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
YouTuber seduction coach linked to Putin's oligarch pal probed after ‘urging fans to grope women and ask for sex'
A RUSSIAN YouTube seduction coach with links to one of Putin's close oligarchs is facing investigation - after he urged viewers to "grope women and ask for sex". Alexander Kirillov is being investigated on suspicion of inducement to rape after he instructed men to grab women in the street by the buttocks and demand sex. 8 8 Self-proclaimed "seduction guru" Kirillov, known online as Alex Lesley, gave the sickening advice to fans on his YouTube channel - which has nearly 100,000 subscribers. Following the depraved remarks, numerous complaints from women reached Russian authorities - claiming they had been harassed by his followers. Kirillov, who previously made headlines for being embroiled in a political scandal involving a female escort and a close Putin oligarch, currently lives outside Russia. The political controversy in question was linked to Belarusian escort Anastasia Vashukevich, 35, and Russian energy tycoon Oleg Deripaska. It came to light after Vashukevich claimed to have evidence that Deripaska and Russia's deputy prime minister were part of a Kremlin conspiracy to skew the 2016 US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump. Vashukevich revealed on Instagram that she had been on Deripaska's yacht in 2016 alongside the deputy prime minister Sergei Prikhodko when a secret meeting was held concerning the plot. But both Deripaska and Prikhodko denied wrongdoing. Following her claims Vashukevich, who known online as Nastya Rybka, was arrested. At the time of her detention she was in Thailand, where she had been running a bizarre four-day 'sex training' class alongside none other than Kirillov. As part of the "sex seminars" - which participants reportedly paid £1,000 to take part in - the pair claimed they could teach people how to make their partners climax. They spent nine months in custody - before a Thai court handed them a suspended 18-month sentence for soliciting and running an illegal "sex training course". Vashukevich and Kirillov were then deported to Moscow in January 2019 and arrested - but later released. Upon their arrival back in Russia, shocking footage showed Vashukevich, appearing to have been sedated, struggling as four men pushed her into a wheelchair and then carried her off. The current controversy came to light last week when at least 10 young women went public saying they had being groped by Kirillov's fans in Moscow. Some claimed that the encounters were filmed by accomplices as the men groped them and asked for sex. Two Russian MPs then complained to higher authorities before the Investigative Committee opened a case against Kirillov. 8 8 8 They said he had 'induced his followers to commit illegal acts of a sexual character towards female residents of the capital'. Two men have already been slapped with 15‑day jail terms for hooliganism following the reports, and a third suspect was remanded in custody in connection with the case against Kirillov. Twisted Kirillov, a Belarusian, told Moskva‑24 from an undisclosed location that he was not fazed by the allegations. He said: "If we lived in America or Germany, God forbid, then it could result in serious consequences. "Thankfully, we are in Russia." Billionaire Deripaska, was once estimated to be Russia's wealthiest man by Forbes, became notorious in the US for his alleged ties to political consultant Paul Manafort. Manafort was convicted of tax fraud, bank fraud and failure to report foreign bank accounts. These convictions stemmed from an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Deripaska was also previously reported to be tyrant Putin's "favourite" industrialist. And the low-profile oligarch also once hosted Lord Peter Mandelson, now the British Ambassador to the US, on his private yacht in Corfu. But Deripaska was hit by UK sanctions following a response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 8 8
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Ukraine war: Mariupol residents deny Russian stories about the city
"What they're showing on Russian TV are fairy tales for fools. Most of Mariupol still lies in ruins," says John, a Ukrainian living in Russian-occupied Mariupol. We've changed his name as he fears reprisal from Russian authorities."They are repairing the facades of the buildings on the main streets, where they bring cameras to shoot. But around the corner, there is rubble and emptiness. Many people still live in half-destroyed apartments with their walls barely standing," he been just over three years since Mariupol was taken by Russian forces after a brutal siege and indiscriminate bombardment – a key moment in the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands were killed, and the UN estimated 90% of residential buildings were damaged or recent months, videos and reels from several pro-Russia influencers have been painting a picture of a glossy city where damaged structures have been repaired and where life has gone back to the BBC has spoken to more than half a dozen people - some still living in Mariupol, others who escaped after spending time under occupation - to piece together a real picture of what life is like in the city."There are a lot of lies floating around," says 66-year-old Olha Onyshko who escaped from Mariupol late last year and now lives in Ukraine's Ternopil. "I wouldn't say they [Russian authorities] have repaired a lot of things. There's a central square – only the buildings there have been reconstructed. And there are also empty spaces where buildings stood. They cleared the debris, but they didn't even separate out the dead bodies, they were just loaded on to trucks with the rubble and carried out of the city," she adds. Mariupol is also facing severe water shortages."Water flows for a day or two, then it doesn't come for three days. We keep buckets and cans of water at home. The colour of the water is so yellow that even after boiling it, it's scary to drink it," says James, another Mariupol resident whose name has been have even said the water looks like "coca cola".Serhii Orlov, who calls himself Mariupol's deputy mayor in exile, says the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal which supplied water to the city was damaged during the fighting."Only one reservoir was left supplying water to Mariupol. For the current population, that would've lasted for about a year and a half. Since occupation has lasted longer than that, it means there is no drinking water at all. The water people are using doesn't even meet the minimum drinking water standard," says are frequent power cuts, food is expensive, and medicines are scarce, residents tell us."Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics struggle to get insulin on time, and it is crazy expensive," says BBC has reached out to Mariupol's Russian administration for a response to the allegations about shortages and whether they had found an alternative source for water. We have not got a response so the hardships the most difficult part of living in the city, residents say, is watching what Ukrainian children are being taught at Kozhushyna studied at a university in Mariupol for a year after it was occupied. Now he's escaped to Dnipro."They are teaching children false information and propaganda. For example, school textbooks state that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Odesa, Crimea and even Dnipropetrovsk regions are all already part of Russia," says Andrii. He also described special lessons called "Conversations about Important Things" in which students are taught about how Russia liberated the Russian-speaking population of these regions from Nazis in 2022."Teachers who refuse to take these lessons are intimidated or fired. It's like they are reprogramming the minds of our children," says John, a Mariupol World War Two Victory Day celebrations in May, images from Mariupol's central square showed children and adults dressed up in military costumes participating in parades and performances – Soviet-era traditions that Ukraine had increasingly shunned are now being imposed in occupied territories. Mariupol was bathed in the colours of the Russian flag – red, blue and some Ukrainians are waging a secret resistance against Russia, and in the dead of the night, they spray paint Ukrainian blue and yellow colours on walls, and also paste leaflets with messages like "Liberate Mariupol" and "Mariupol is Ukraine".James and John are both members of resistance groups, as was Andrii when he lived in the city."The messages are meant as moral support for our people, to let them know that the resistance is alive," says main objective is collecting intelligence for the Ukrainian military."I document information about Russian military movements. I analyse where they are transporting weapons, how many soldiers are entering and leaving the city, and what equipment is being repaired in our industrial areas. I take photos secretly, and keep them hidden until I can transmit them to Ukrainian intelligence through secure channels," says James. Occasionally, the resistance groups also try to sabotage civil or military operations. On at least two occasions, the railway line into Mariupol was disrupted because the signalling box was set on fire by risky work. Andrii said he was forced to leave when he realised that he had been exposed."Perhaps a neighbour snitched on me. But once when I was at a store buying bread, I saw a soldier showing my photo to the cashier asking if they knew who the person was," he left immediately, slipping past Mariupol's checkposts and then travelling through numerous cities in Russia, and through Belarus, before entering Ukraine from the those still in the city, each day is a challenge."Every day you delete your messages because your phone can be checked at checkpoints. You're afraid to call your friends in Ukraine in case your phone is being tapped," says James. "A person from a neighbouring house was arrested right off the street because someone reported that he was allegedly passing information to the Ukrainian military. Your life is like a movie – a constant tension, fear, distrust," he talks continue between Ukraine and Russia, there have been suggestions from within and outside Ukraine that it would need to concede land in exchange for a peace deal."Giving away territory for a 'deal with Russia' will be a betrayal. Dozens risk their lives every day to pass information to Ukraine, not so that some diplomat in a suit will sign a paper that will 'hand us over'," says John."We don't want 'peace at any cost'. We want liberation."Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko and Sanjay Ganguly
