The main information at midday
- After advances, the situation “has worsened” for Ukrainian forces in Severodonetsk, a key city in the east of the country and the current epicenter of fierce fighting with Russian troops, the regional governor announced.
- The Ukrainian army claims to have killed a Russian soldier, Major-General Roman Kutuzov, a commander of the separatist People’s Republic of Donetsk.
- European countries around Serbia have closed their airspace for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plane, which was expected in Belgrade on Monday. The visit of the Russian minister has been cancelled.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited his troops on the front line in Donbass on Sunday.
3:47 p.m.: Ukrainian army says it partially repelled Russian fleet in Black Sea
The Ukrainian army assured on Monday that it had pushed the Russian fleet back a hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian coast in the Black Sea, where Moscow’s ships have been organizing a naval blockade for weeks. Unverifiable information from an independent source.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Russian troops have consequently been forced to deploy coastal defense systems in Crimea and the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, which they occupy. They also sent reinforcements to Serpents’ Island, a small territory in the Black Sea that they conquered on the first day of the invasion.
3 p.m.: Lavrov warns against sending long-range weapons to Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday warned Western countries against deliveries of long-range weapons to kyiv, warning that the more Ukrainian forces receive these weapons, the further Russia will repel them. “The better the long-range weapons you deliver, the further we will push the Ukrainian lines away from our territory,” Lavrov said during a press conference. On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would hit new targets if the West supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine.
1:10 p.m .: After the overflight of a power plant by a cruise missile, kyiv accuses Moscow of “nuclear terrorism”
The Ukrainian company Energoatom, which manages the country’s nuclear power plants, announced that a cruise missile had flown early Sunday morning at an “extremely low level above the Pivdenno-Ukrainska power plant”, in the Mykolaiv region, denouncing ” an act of nuclear terrorism”, according to our colleagues from the newspaper The world.
Russian forces “still do not understand that even the smallest fragment of a missile that can hit an operating energy-generating unit can cause a nuclear disaster and radiation leakage”, Energoatom said.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced that several cruise missiles had been fired in the direction of kyiv by Russian TU-95 heavy bombers based in the Caspian Sea.
12:20 p.m .: Sergei Lavrov denounces “a hostile act” after the closure of airspace to go to Serbia
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced this Monday “a hostile act” after the closure of airspace for the plane he was to take to meet the Serbian president. Indeed, the European countries located around Serbia have closed their airspace for Sergei Lavrov’s plane which was expected on Monday in Belgrade. “The inconceivable has happened,” he said at a press conference, denouncing this measure as “scandalous”.
11:50 am: Car sales in Russia plummet 83.5% in May year on year
Sales of new cars continued their slide in Russia in May, falling 83.5% year on year, weighed down by inflation and significant Western sanctions against Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine. In May, 24,268 new light vehicles were sold, according to figures published by the Association of European Businesses (AEB), which brings together manufacturers in the sector.
10:30 a.m .: The situation “has worsened” for the Ukrainian army in Severodonetsk
After advances, the situation “has worsened” for Ukrainian forces in Severodonetsk, a key city in the east of the country and current epicenter of fierce fighting with Russian troops, the regional governor announced on Monday morning. “The fighting is very fierce in Severodonetsk. Our defenders managed to counterattack and liberate half of the city, but the situation got worse for us,” Sergiy Gaidai, governor of the Lugansk region, told Ukrainian 1+1 television without further details. .
According to him, the bombardments have further intensified on Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk, a neighboring city located on “the heights” and strategic to “hold the line of defense”. The Russians are “destroying everything with their usual scorched earth tactic” so that “there is nothing left to defend”, he charged.
Countries around Serbia close their airspace for Lavrov’s plane
European countries around Serbia have closed their airspace for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plane, which was expected in Belgrade on Monday, Russian foreign minister Maria Zakharova said. “The Russian delegation was supposed to arrive in Belgrade for talks. But EU and NATO member countries have closed their airspace,” she added.
According to the Serbian daily Vecernje Novosti, these include the three neighboring countries of Serbia: Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro.
The visit of the Russian minister has thus been cancelled, according to a Russian diplomatic source quoted by the Interfax news agency.
8:25 am: Ukraine claims to have killed a Russian general
The Ukrainian army claims to have killed a high-ranking Russian soldier, who bears the rank of general. Major General Roman Kutuzov, a commander in the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, has been “officially denazified and demilitarized”, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Sunday evening, according to Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda. A Russian state television correspondent previously reported Kutuzov’s death. The major-general was reportedly killed in a Russian attack on a village near Popasna in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian side had previously indicated that the attack had been repelled and that the enemy had to withdraw “with considerable losses”.
7:45 a.m .: London to provide rocket launchers to kyiv
The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with rocket launchers with a range of 80 kilometers to deal with the Russian offensive, the Ministry of Defense announced on Monday, taking over from Washington. These multiple rocket launcher systems (M270 MLRS) will “significantly increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian forces”, the ministry said in a statement. This decision was taken in “close coordination” with the United States, which announced last week the supply of Himars systems with a range of 80 kilometers, that is to say multiple rocket launchers mounted on light armour.
7:30 a.m.: Zelensky on the front line in the Donbass visiting his troops
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Sunday with his troops on the front line in the Donbass, in the east of the country where the war is raging against Russian forces. “We were in Lysytchansk, we were in Soledar,” said the leader who went to command posts in these localities near Severodonetsk, a key city in Moscow’s offensive in the Donbass mining basin. He also visited Bakhmout, in the south-west of the Donetsk region, and spoke with soldiers.
I’m proud of everyone I’ve met, shaken hands with, communicated with, supported
Volodymyr Zelensky
6:50 am: kyiv claims to have taken over half of Severodonetsk, plagued by fighting
Ukraine has assured that its forces now control “half” of Severodonetsk, this key city in the east of its territory and current epicenter of fierce fighting in the vast coal region of Donbass. Eight Russians were taken prisoner there, the governor of the Lugansk region also affirmed, according to which the Russian soldiers had received the order to seize this city by June 10 as well as a way of key communication linking two neighboring localities, Lyssytchansk and Bakhmout.
“We expect that in the near future they will throw away all the reserves – in men and equipment – to which they now have access to accomplish these two tasks”, therefore continued the governor. The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, assured on Saturday that the Ukrainian troops “having suffered critical losses in the fighting for Severodonetsk (up to 90% in several units)” were withdrawing towards Lyssychansk.
The remains of the French journalist will be repatriated on Wednesday
The remains of journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, killed Monday in eastern Ukraine by shrapnel during a bombardment, will be repatriated to France on Wednesday, BFMTV announced on Sunday evening during a program paying tribute to him. A tribute will also be paid to him on Friday, Place de la République in Paris at 6:30 p.m.
The BFMTV program received on set his colleagues from the mission in Ukraine, Maxime Brandstaetter and Oksana Leuta, who were by his side when he was killed. Both arrived in France on Friday evening and returned, with emotion, to the circumstances in which the journalist died, while following a humanitarian mission.
What to remember from Sunday
- kyiv was awakened on Sunday morning by a series of powerful explosions, the first since the end of April in the Ukrainian capital, which was resuming a semblance of normal life.
- Russia claimed to have destroyed there armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine by Eastern European countries which were in the hangars of a railway car repair company.
- Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would strike new targets if the West supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine, judging that the current arms deliveries were aimed at “prolonging the conflict”.
- However, Ukraine continues to demand “constant” military support from Western countries and not “one-off” aid, until its victory against Moscow.
6:45 am: Hello everyone, welcome to this live where we will follow the situation around the conflict in Ukraine, on the 103rd day of the Russian invasion.