Russia ‘pushing into new Ukrainian region'
Moscow's defence ministry said forces from a tank unit had 'reached the western border of the Donetsk People's Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region'.
DeepStateMap, a Ukrainian open-source intelligence map monitoring the front line, suggested Russian forces were around 100 metres from the border near the town of Horikhove.
Russian advances in Ukraine accelerated in May after a slower winter campaign, according to analysis of the frontline.
Vladimir Putin's troops seized 507 sq km of Ukrainian territory last month, up from 379 sq km in April and 240 sq km in March. The gains were concentrated in the eastern Donetsk region, which borders Dnipropetrovsk.
The renewed momentum on the battlefield comes amid a push by the US to broker a peace deal. Russia and Ukraine have met twice for talks in Istanbul, though appear no closer to a ceasefire.
Thanks for following our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. It has now ended.
Here's a summary of what happened today:
Russia claimed that its forces had reached the border of Dnipropetrovsk in a significant territorial escalation
It followed renewed overnight strikes, which killed one person and injured another in the eastern region of Kharkiv
Ukraine said a planned prisoner of war swap with Russia was set to take place 'next week'
It follows accusations by Russia that Ukraine unexpectedly postponed exchanging prisoners of war and accepting the bodies of killed soldiers, which Kyiv said was untrue
Ukraine confirmed that Russian soldiers were attempting to push into Dnipropetrovsk but that its forces had not broken through the border
Ukraine's southern defence forces appear to have confirmed that Russian forces are pushing to enter Dnipropetrovsk - though say they have not broken through the border.
'The enemy does not abandon its intentions to enter the Dnipropetrovsk region,' Ukraine's Southern Defence Forces said.
'Our soldiers are courageously and professionally holding their section of the front, disrupting the occupier's plans. This work does not stop for a minute.'
Major Andrii Kovalov, spokesperson for Ukraine's general staff, denied Russian claims that troops had entered the region.
'This information does not reflect reality. Fighting continues in Donetsk Oblast. The enemy has not entered Dnipropetrovsk Oblast,' he said.
Russia's push to enter the region of Dnipropetrovsk reflects the 'new reality on the ground', a senior Russian security official has said.
Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the national security council, said the push was a response to peace talks in Istanbul.
'Those who do not want to recognise the realities of the war at negotiations, will receive new realities on the ground. Our armed forces have started an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region,' he said on social media.
Ukraine has said a planned prisoner of war swap with Russia is set to take place 'next week'.
'The start of repatriation activities based on the results of the negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week,' the head of Ukraine's defence intelligence Kyrylo Budanov said on social media.
It follows accusations by Russia that Ukraine unexpectedly postponed exchanging prisoners of war and accepting the bodies of killed soldiers, which Kyiv said was untrue.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said Russia's 'baseless' accusations were part of an effort by the Kremlin to undermine confidence building measures with Ukraine.
'The Kremlin's unwillingness to engage in good faith in lower-level confidence building measures designed to facilitate larger peace negotiations further demonstrates Russia's disinterest in peace negotiations,' the think tank said.
Councils are flying flags for Ukraine from their town halls while blocking investment in the British defence industry.
At least a dozen English councils have passed motions to 'divest' from defence companies because of the war in Gaza, or have taken steps to reduce their holdings in arms companies.
A report by two Labour MPs has found that defence companies have missed out on at least £30 million in investment because of action taken by local councils to focus their pension funds on 'ethical' firms.
Despite this, several of the councils have displayed the Ukrainian flag from their town halls in solidarity against Russia.
The MPs, Luke Charters and Alex Baker, said there was 'untapped potential' in local government pensions that could be used to boost investment in the defence sector, which often struggles to access finance.
Valeria was about to take a bite of pizza when the Iskander landed nearby.
The blast from the Russian missile shattered all the windows in the Mykolaiv CHP (combined heat and power) plant in southern Ukraine, igniting a gas fire and propelling shrapnel through the canteen.
'I had imagined what I might do when a missile or a Shahed [drone] comes, like if it really happens to me, and I had told myself I should be really calm at that moment,' says the 27-year-old.
She and her twin sister Alyona led a hyperventilating colleague out of the plant's office to her car. The trio were still driving away when the second Iskander hit, devastating the plant's boiler-room.
After that Oct 10 strike, the plant was targeted again, in January, February and May, each time with Shahed drones.
On Thursday night, Russia renewed its campaign against Ukraine's national energy infrastructure, breaking a loosely followed ceasefire Vladimir Putin agreed with Donald Trump in a phone call on March 18.
Russian forces have captured a village in Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, a monitoring group has confirmed.
DeepState, which monitors the front line in Ukraine, said Russia had taken the town of Loknia, which lies 30km north of Sumy city.
Russia claimed its forces had taken the city on May 24.
Sumy has faced an increasing number of attacks in recent weeks as Vladimir Putin pushes to secure a buffer zone along Ukraine's northern border.
Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the US to allow Ukraine to purchase air defence systems that can help defend the country from Russian attacks.
'We are working to strengthen Ukraine's air defence. We urgently need positive signals from the United States regarding air defence systems — we are still waiting for a response to our request to purchase systems that can help,' he said in his evening address last night.
The Ukrainian president also said it was 'essential' for the whole of Europe to jointly produce air defence systems and missiles.
One person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.
The strikes came after Russian attacks targeting the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, killed at least four people and wounded more than two dozen others on Saturday.
Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine's air force said this morning. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed.
A senior Ukrainian official claimed on Friday that Russia intended to seize half of Ukraine by the end of 2026.
Pavlo Palisa, who works in the Ukrainian presidential office, told reporters that Russia hoped to seize the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions by the start of September.
Moscow also wants to create a buffer zone along the northern Ukrainian border by the end of the year.
As part of the push to seize half of Ukraine, Mr Palisa said Russian forces would look to leverage positions in Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk to support their bid to seize the remainder of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia could advance relatively quickly in Dnipropetrovsk - a largely flat region - given there are fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv, Ukrainian military personnel have said in the past.
Moscow said this morning that it was pushing into Ukraine's eastern Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its three-year offensive, a significant territorial escalation.
Russia claims to have annexed five regions of Ukraine, but has not made a formal claim over Dnipropetrovsk.
The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv's forces after months of setbacks on the battlefield.
In more than a decade of conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists and the Russian army, Ukraine has never had to fight on the territory of the central region until now.
Dnipropetrovsk is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv's struggling military and economy.
It was estimated to have a population of around three million people before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro.
Trains with the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers will start moving to the border in an hour, Russia's Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin said on Sunday, according to state-run media.
He also said there were signals that the transfer of the bodies will be postponed until next week.
On Saturday, Russia claimed that Ukraine had unexpectedly postponed exchanging prisoners of war and accepting the bodies of killed soldiers for an indefinite period.
Kyiv said Russia's claims were untrue.
Russian revenge for Ukraine's drone attack last weekend is not over yet, US officials have warned.
Speaking anonymously to Reuters, the US official said Russia's full response was expected within days. A second official said it would be a multi-pronged strike involving missiles and drones.
Russia launched an intense missile and drone strike against Kyiv on Friday, which Russia's defence ministry said was a response to 'terrorist attacks' by Ukraine.
A separate Western diplomatic source said symbolic Ukrainian targets, including government buildings, would be targeted in order to send a message.
Another diplomat added: 'It will be huge, vicious and unrelenting,' the diplomat said. 'But the Ukrainians are brave people.'
Last Sunday, Kyiv launched 117 drones deep within Russian territory in an operation code-named 'Spider's Web', striking up 20 warplanes, according to US estimates.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We'll bring you the latest news and analysis throughout the day.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
4 hours ago
- The Hill
US-EU trade deal wards off further escalation but will raise costs for companies, consumers
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have announced a sweeping trade deal that imposes 15% tariffs on most European goods, warding off Trump's threat of a 30% rate if no deal had been reached by Aug. 1. The tariffs, or import taxes, paid when Americans buy European products could raise prices for U.S. consumers and dent profits for European companies and their partners who bring goods into the country. Here are some things to know about the trade deal between the United States and the European Union: What's in the agreement? Trump and von der Leyen's announcement, made during Trump's visit to one of his golf courses in Scotland, leaves many details to be filled in. The headline figure is a 15% tariff rate on 'the vast majority' of European goods brought into the U.S., including cars, computer chips and pharmaceuticals. It's lower than the 20% Trump initially proposed, and lower than his threats of 50% and then 30%. Von der Leyen said the two sides agreed on zero tariffs on both sides for a range of 'strategic' goods: Aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, semiconductor equipment, certain agricultural products, and some natural resources and critical raw materials. Specifics were lacking. She said the two sides 'would keep working' to add more products to the list. Additionally, the EU side would purchase what Trump said was $750 billion (638 billion euros) worth of natural gas, oil and nuclear fuel to replace Russian energy supplies, and Europeans would invest an additional $600 billion (511 billion euros) in the U.S. What's not in the deal? Trump said the 50% U.S. tariff on imported steel would remain; von der Leyen said the two sides agreed to further negotiations to fight a global steel glut, reduce tariffs and establish import quotas — that is, set amounts that can be imported, often at a lower rate. Trump said pharmaceuticals were not included in the deal. Von der Leyen said the pharmaceuticals issue was 'on a separate sheet of paper' from Sunday's deal. Where the $600 billion for additional investment would come from was not specified. And von der Leyen said that when it came to farm products, the EU side made clear that 'there were tariffs that could not be lowered,' without specifying which products. What's the impact? The 15% rate removes Trump's threat of a 30% tariff. It's still much higher than the average tariff before Trump came into office of around 1%, and higher than Trump's minimum 10% baseline tariff. Higher tariffs, or import taxes, on European goods mean sellers in the U.S. would have to either increase prices for consumers — risking loss of market share — or swallow the added cost in terms of lower profits. The higher tariffs are expected to hurt export earnings for European firms and slow the economy. The 10% baseline applied while the deal was negotiated was already sufficiently high to make the European Union's executive commission cut its growth forecast for this year from 1.3% to 0.9%. Von der Leyen said the 15% rate was 'the best we could do' and credited the deal with maintaining access to the U.S. market and providing 'stability and predictability for companies on both sides.' What is some of the reaction to the deal? German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the deal which avoided 'an unnecessary escalation in transatlantic trade relations' and said that 'we were able to preserve our core interests,' while adding that 'I would have very much wished for further relief in transatlantic trade.' The Federation of German Industries was blunter. 'Even a 15% tariff rate will have immense negative effects on export-oriented German industry,' said Wolfgang Niedermark, a member of the federation's leadership. While the rate is lower than threatened, 'the big caveat to today's deal is that there is nothing on paper, yet,' said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro at ING bank. 'With this disclaimer in mind and at face value, today's agreement would clearly bring an end to the uncertainty of recent months. An escalation of the US-EU trade tensions would have been a severe risk for the global economy,' Brzeski said. 'This risk seems to have been avoided.' What about car companies? Asked if European carmakers could still sell cars at 15%, von der Leyen said the rate was much lower than the current 27.5%. That has been the rate under Trump's 25% tariff on cars from all countries, plus the preexisting U.S. car tariff of 2.5%. The impact is likely to be substantial on some companies, given that automaker Volkswagen said it suffered a 1.3 billion euro ($1.5 billion) hit to profit in the first half of the year from the higher tariffs. Mercedes-Benz dealers in the U.S. have said they are holding the line on 2025 model year prices 'until further notice.' The German automaker has a partial tariff shield because it makes 35% of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold in the U.S. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but the company said it expects prices to undergo 'significant increases' in coming years. What were the issues dividing the two sides? Before Trump returned to office, the U.S. and the EU maintained generally low tariff levels in what is the largest bilateral trading relationship in the world, with some 1.7 trillion euros ($2 trillion) in annual trade. Together the U.S. and the EU have 44% of the global economy. The U.S. rate averaged 1.47% for European goods, while the EU's averaged 1.35% for American products, according to the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. Trump has complained about the EU's 198 billion-euro trade surplus in goods, which shows Americans buy more from European businesses than the other way around, and has said the European market is not open enough for U.S.-made cars. However, American companies fill some of the trade gap by outselling the EU when it comes to services such as cloud computing, travel bookings, and legal and financial services. And some 30% of European imports are from American-owned companies, according to the European Central Bank.
Axios
5 hours ago
- Axios
EU trade deal with Trump helps Europe ditch Russian fuels
The new trade deal that President Trump unveiled with the European Union includes a European pledge to buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy. Why it matters: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it will help the bloc further wean itself off Russian gas. The $750 billion is spread across three years, she told reporters in Scotland on Sunday. The big picture:"We still have too much Russian LNG that is coming through the back door ... to our European Union," von der Leyen said, and also cited some continued oil shipments. "We want to absolutely get rid of Russian fossil fuels, and therefore it is much welcome to purchase the more affordable and better LNG from the United States," she said. EU pipeline imports of gas from Russia, once its dominant supplier, have fallen greatly. But imports of Russian LNG remain substantial. What we're watching: EU members' purchases of U.S. LNG and oil have risen sharply since Russia invaded Ukraine. And European energy companies have already been signing deals for future LNG volumes from U.S. projects that are planned or already under construction. The bottom line: Details are lacking. The big question is how much this increases purchases that would have occurred anyway. ClearView Energy Partners, in a note, said that even if the $250B annually includes existing U.S. energy exports to the EU of roughly $78B per year, it would still be a big jump. The total "would far outstrip" U.S. energy purchases in Trump's "phase one" deal with China, ClearView said.
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
CIA director teases more files on alleged Russiagate links to Hillary: ‘Finally coming to light'
CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Sunday teased plans to publicly disclose additional files that allegedly help tie Hillary Clinton to the false claims of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Ratcliffe specifically hinted at 'underlying intelligence' referenced in the annex of the Durham report, which scrutinized probes into the Clinton vs. President Trump match-up and is currently undergoing a declassification process. 'What hasn't come out yet and what's going to come out is the underlying intelligence,' Ratcliffe told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on 'Sunday Morning Futures,' referring to Russiagate. 4 CIA Director John Ratcliffe claims that the 'good guys' are in charge now. AP 'And what that intelligence shows, Maria, is that part of this was a Hillary Clinton plan, but part of it was an FBI plan to be an accelerant to that fake Steele dossier, to those fake Russia collusion claims by pouring oil on the fire, by amplifying the lie and bearing the truth of what Hillary Clinton was up to.' During the 2016 election cycle, an opposition-research file against then-candidate Trump and compiled by ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele was circulated within the intelligence community. 4 Hillary Clinton's campaign helped pay for the development of the Steele dossier. The Washington Free Beacon, Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee ultimately ended up paying for the research Steele conducted into Trump during the 2016 cycle. The largely debunked Steele dossier was reviewed by investigators in the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. Former Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by the first Trump administration, investigated the FBI probe and criticized the bureau's handling of the inquiry in a report released in 2023. The unclassified portion of his report is public. 'In the summer of 2016, U.S. intelligence intercepted Russian intelligence talking about a Hillary Clinton plan, a Hillary Clinton plan to falsely accuse Donald Trump of Russia collusion, to vilify him and smear him with what would become known infamously as the — as the Steele dossier,' Ratcliffe recapped. The CIA boss said he combed through predecessor John Brennan's handwritten notes on the matter to discover the 'underlying intelligence behind it that revealed exactly what happened. 'All of this evidence that's been hidden and buried from the American people is finally coming to light,' Ratcliffe said. Some key figures from the Obama administration, which was in power at the time, have denied that the Steele dossier was the impetus for the FBI's Russia investigation into whether the Kremlin was communicating with Trump's 2016 campaign. 'There is no doubt in my mind that the people that we just talked about conspired. They conspired against President Trump. They conspired against the American people,' Ratcliffe said. 4 Former CIA Director John Brennan was a key figure in promulgating the Russiagate narrative. AP He noted that both he and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have made referrals to the Justice Department pertaining to their findings. 'I don't think statute of limitations are going to impact [it] because, on the conspiracy, the statute of limitation doesn't start to run until the last act in furtherance of that conspiracy,' he said. 'The people behind this are still furthering the conspiracy. 'They're refusing to admit or acknowledge what they did … was wrong.' Gabbard revisited Russiagate earlier this month with a series of public disclosures on previously classified information, such as a 2020 House Intelligence Committee report which determined there wasn't enough evidence to conclude Russia favored Trump in 2016. 4 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has been revisiting the Russiagate controversy and declassifying key intelligence documents. Anna Wilding/ She also released material indicating that top intelligence bosses had evidence that Russia did not hack 2016 voting systems in a way that allowed them to change the election outcome. US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a 'strike force' last week at the Justice Department to parse through the referrals made from Gabbard and Ratcliffe on Russiagate.
