Russia-Ukraine updates: Eight villages liberated, Kyiv says

France, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia and Hungary signed a letter of intent for the joint purchase of French Mistral air defence systems, according to two sources aware of the matter.

The deal was a sign France was making progress in convincing some of its European allies to look at home-grown, made-in-Europe systems, instead of procuring them from outside Europe, as Germany has advocated under its so-called European Sky Shield initiative.

The sources said the letter was signed at the start of a defence ministers’ meeting in Paris aimed at coordinating European efforts to enhance air defence capabilities across the continent after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Denmark’s military support to Ukraine will be increased to 21.9 billion Danish kroner ($3.21bn) during 2023-2028, the Danish defence ministry has said.

The aid will be delivered through a Ukraine fund that Denmark set up in March as part of the small Nordic nation’s ambition “to be among the most significant supporters of Ukraine”.

The fund was set at just over $1bn, to be spent on humanitarian, business recovery and military needs. It is not immediately clear how much of that has been paid out.

“I am proud that Denmark will continue to be a significant contributor. Ukraine remains deeply dependent on military aid,” acting Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement.

A European Union report will this week say that Ukraine has met two out of seven conditions to start membership negotiations, two EU sources said, with the bloc’s executive set to highlight progress made despite the ongoing conflict.

In a highly symbolic move, the EU granted Ukraine formal membership candidate status a year ago – four months after Russia waged war.

But the EU set seven conditions – including on judicial reform and curbing endemic corruption – to launch accession negotiations.

One of the officials said the conditions met are related to judicial reform and media law, and added that the focus in the report was on the positives.

“There is progress. The report will be moderately positive,” said the person, who spoke under condition of anonymity. “It’s not about embellishing reality, but recognising progress. There have been prominent anti-corruption cases to name, for example.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said United Nations aid workers who want to visit areas ravaged by the recent Nova Kakhovka dam collapse in southern Ukraine cannot go there because fighting makes it unsafe.

This came in response to Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, who had rebuked Moscow a day earlier for allegedly denying aid workers access to Russia-occupied areas where residents are stranded amid “devastating destruction”.

Brown urged Russian authorities “to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law” and let them in.

But Peskov told a conference call with reporters that Ukrainian attacks made a visit too risky.

“There has been constant shelling, constant provocations, civilian facilities and the civilian population have come under fire, people have died, so it’s really difficult to ensure their security,” he said.

Kyiv has accused Hungary of barring access to 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war who Russia handed over to the EU country, which has maintained ties with the Kremlin during the conflict with Ukraine.

The Russian Orthodox Church said earlier this month that a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Transcarpathia – a region home to an ethnic Hungarian minority – had been transferred to Budapest.

Kyiv said Ukrainian officials have not been able to get access to the returned detainees.

“All attempts by Ukrainian diplomats over the past few days to establish direct contact with Ukrainian citizens have not been successful,” foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement on Facebook.

“Essentially they are being kept in isolation,” he said, accusing Hungary of “ignoring” Kyiv’s attempts to establish dialogue.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed an African mission to broker peace in Ukraine as “historic”.

Ramaphosa made the remark on his return from talks in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the Russian city of St Petersburg that however did not yield any immediate results.

The high-profile delegation of presidents and envoys met Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on Saturday before flying to Russia to speak with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa said that “this initiative has been historic in that it is the first time African leaders have embarked on a peace mission beyond the shores of the continent”.

He said “one of the key achievements” of the mission “was the positive reception” received from both sides, “which provides cause for optimism that the proposals will be given consideration”.

The African leaders’ mission brought the voice of a continent that has badly suffered from the repercussions of the Ukraine conflict, particularly with rising grain prices.

Ukraine is seeking up to $40bn to fund the first part of a “Green Marshall Plan” to rebuild its economy, a senior Ukrainian official says.

Starting on Wednesday, politicians and financiers will discuss short-term funding issues and look at long-term reconstruction efforts at a two-day international summit in London co-hosted by Ukraine.

The summit is expected to launch a “war risk” insurance scheme to cover companies that begin investing in Ukraine again.

Rostyslav Shurma told the Reuters news agency that the initial $40bn would be used for the iron and steel industry.

The World Bank has estimated that Ukraine’s reconstruction will cost more than $400bn, three times the country’s gross domestic product.

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, external backers have pledged $59bn to Ukraine to support it during the war.

The war in Ukraine has propelled the once shadowy figure Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, into the limelight.

After claiming success in capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Prigozhin has become a recognisable figure who has the potential to change Russian politics.

Read more here.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister says that if the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) ends, Russia’s agreement with the United Nations to ease its export will stay in place, the Russian RIA news agency reported.

Last July, to help persuade Russia to allow grain ships safe passage under the BSGI, a separate three-year agreement was also struck with the UN agreeing to help Russia with its food and fertiliser exports.

But Moscow has repeatedly said it sees little chance of agreeing to extend the BSGI beyond July 18 due to remaining obstacles.

Asked by RIA if the deal’s collapse would invalidate Russia’s agreement with the UN, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said: “No, it will not.”

“If Western countries are interested in ensuring food security, they should really take the path of lifting any restrictions and illegal sanctions regarding Russian grain and fertilisers,” Grushko said.

The Russian-installed head of the Donetsk region accuses Ukrainian forces of injuring 20 people while shelling the town of Volnovakha and killing a six-year-old with a mine.

Denis Pushilin said on Telegram that Ukraine had struck “a lively and absolutely civilian” area of Volnovakha using Western-supplied rocket systems.

The six-year-old girl had been killed when a Ukrainian mine struck the courtyard of her home in Volnovakha, he added.

Volnovakha is close to the front line areas where Kyiv has focused its counteroffensive.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar says the situation in the east of the country is “difficult” as “hot battles continue”.

“The enemy has raised its forces and is conducting an active offensive in the Lyman and Kupiansk directions, trying to seize the initiative from us. High activity of enemy shelling is recorded. Hot battles continue,” Maliar said on Telegram.

“The enemy does not abandon his plans to reach the borders of [the] Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Currently, this is the enemy’s main offensive line,” she added.

Earlier on Monday, Maliar said Ukraine had recaptured eight settlements since Kyiv began its counteroffensive two weeks ago.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence says its forces have repelled numerous Ukrainian assaults as Kyiv pursues a counteroffensive to try to recapture Russian-held territory.

The ministry said four attacks have been repelled west of the city of Donetsk in the eastern province of Donetsk and areas around Pervomaiske and Stepove in Mykolaiv province in the south and Staromykhailivka in Donetsk province.

It added that Russian forces also repelled two attacks in neighbouring Zaporizhia province near Mala Tokmachka and three in southern Donetsk.

Earlier in the day, the ministry said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to take the settlement of Novodonetske in Donetsk.

The ministry, however, did not comment on the settlement of Piatykhatky in the Zaporizhia region, which a Russian-installed official had said was taken by Ukraine’s forces.

The chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin says the US weapons company is standing ready if NATO members decide to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the British Financial Times newspaper reported.

Lockheed Martin CEO Frank St John added that since Ukrainians have mastered the use of Lockheed weapons such as the Javelin missiles on the battlefield, he is “very confident that Ukrainian pilots are going to master the F-16 and be able to use it very effectively in short order”.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday for talks on the war in Ukraine, NATO and bilateral issues, Macron’s office said.

Tuesday’s meeting will be the first time Macron will receive Meloni since she became prime minister.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 481 of the war.

KEEP READING

• Russia blocks UN aid for Kakhovka dam collapse victims
• Ukraine takes Zaporizhia village amid fierce front-line battles
• War in Ukraine must stop, South Africa’s Ramaphosa tells Putin
• Putin confirms nukes in Belarus, US slates Russian sabre-rattling

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says China has renewed promises not to send arms to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine and Washington has asked the Chinese government to be vigilant about Chinese firms possibly providing Russia with technology.

“We – and other countries – have received assurances from China that it is not and will not provide lethal assistance to Russia for use in Ukraine,” Blinken told reporters after two days of talks in Beijing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed the talks with Blinken on Monday after a closely watched trip to ensure the superpowers’ disputes do not spiral into conflict.

Britain introduced new legislation to maintain Russian sanctions until Moscow pays compensation to Ukraine, the British foreign ministry says.

“As Ukraine continues to defend itself against Russia’s invasion, the terrible impacts of Putin’s war are clear. Ukraine’s reconstruction needs are – and will be – immense,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.

“Through our new measures today, we’re strengthening the UK’s sanctions approach, affirming that the UK is prepared to use sanctions to ensure Russia pays to repair the country it has so recklessly attacked,” he added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says members of the military alliance will not issue a formal invitation for Ukraine to join at a summit in Lithuania in mid-July.

“At the Vilnius summit and in the preparations for the summit, we are not discussing to issue a formal invitation,” he told reporters after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, adding that the leaders would talk about how to move Ukraine closer to NATO.

Stoltenberg also warned against accepting a frozen conflict in Ukraine.

“We all want this war to end, but a just peace cannot mean freezing the conflict and accepting a deal dictated by Russia,” he said.

Russia’s spy chief says he hopes the UN nuclear watchdog and the European Union will investigate Ukraine’s nuclear activity.

The head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergey Naryshkin, said in a statement that his service had information that a batch of “irradiated fuel” had secretly been sent from the Rivne nuclear plant for disposal at a spent fuel storage facility in Chernobyl.

He said the action was “suspicious” and could only be explained by Kyiv intending to create a “dirty bomb”, which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives.

Russia has previously accused Ukraine, without providing evidence, of planning to use such a weapon.

The Kremlin says it will continue to talk to a delegation of African countries seeking to mediate in the conflict with Ukraine at a Russia-Africa summit next month.

On Saturday, President Vladimir Putin gave the delegation who visited St Petersburg a list of reasons why he believed many of their peace proposals were misguided.

The group of African leaders on Friday met Zelenskyy in Ukraine, where he said peace talks would begin only when Moscow withdraws its forces.