Ukraine on Saturday said Russia had launched a “massive” overnight attack on energy infrastructure in the west and south, adding that at least seven persons died in strikes elsewhere.

Russia launched 16 cruise missiles from land, sea and air as well as 13 attack drones, aiming at energy infrastructure in several regions, Ukraine’s military said.

Air defences downed all but four of them, it added.

The Energy Ministry said this was “the eighth massive, combined attack on energy infrastructure facilities” in the past three months, targeting the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Lviv in the west.

“Equipment at (operator) Ukrenergo facilities in the Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions was damaged,” the Ministry said.

Ukrenergo said that two employees were wounded and hospitalised in Zaporizhzhia, where Europe’s biggest nuclear plant is located.

More than two years into the Russian invasion, targeted missile and drone attacks have crippled Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity and forced Kyiv to impose blackouts and import supplies from the European Union.

Ukrenergo said outages across the country would start earlier than usual on Saturday, running from 1100 GMT to 2100 GMT due to damage from the attacks.

In Zaporizhzhia, shelling over the last day also killed one civilian and destroyed residential buildings and infrastructure, according to the regional military administration.

Russia controls a part of the region and the nuclear plant. The Russian-appointed administration said Ukrainian attacks had damaged a substation linked to the city’s nuclear power plant but did not affect nuclear safety.

Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of the western Lviv region, said Russia “launched a missile attack on a critical energy infrastructure facility”, sparking a fire that was later extinguished.

Ukrainian troops based in the west shot down seven out of 10 cruise missiles fired by Moscow, the Lviv regional governor said.

Five civilians were killed by Russian shelling in frontline areas of the eastern Donetsk region over the last day, the head of the region, Vadym Filashkin said.

Moscow is trying to advance in the area near the town of Pokrovsk, where intense clashes took place on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said, adding the situation was “under control”.

‘Crisis’ warning

In the southern Kherson region, a policeman manning a checkpoint was killed by a drone, the national police force said.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had hit 340 Ukrainian targets over the past day.

Russian attacks have destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy capacity, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky said this week that all hospitals and schools in Ukraine must be equipped with solar panels “as soon as possible”.

“We are doing everything to ensure that Russian attempts to blackmail us on heat and electricity fail,” he said Thursday.

DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine, said Thursday that strikes caused “serious damage” at one of its plants.

DTEK chief executive Maxim Timchenko warned that Ukraine “faces a serious crisis this winter” if the country’s Western allies do not provide military aid to defend the energy network.

Zelensky has repeatedly urged Ukraine’s allies to send more air-defence systems to protect the country’s vital infrastructure.

Image for representational purposes only.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Russia resumed its aerial pounding of Ukraine’s power grid and Kyiv’s forces again targeted Russian oil facilities with cross-border drone strikes, seeking to curb each other’s ability to fight in a war that is now in its third year, officials said on June 20.

With no major changes reported along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, where a recent push by the Kremlin’s forces in eastern and northeastern Ukraine has made only incremental gains, both sides in the war have taken aim at distant infrastructure targets.

In its seventh major attack on Ukrainian power plants since Moscow intensified energy infrastructure attacks three months ago, Russia fired nine missiles and 27 Shahed drones at energy facilities and critical infrastructure in central and eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Air defenses intercepted all the drones and five cruise missiles, it said.

The attack hit power structures in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions of Ukraine, causing “extensive damage,” according to national power company Ukrenergo. Seven workers were injured, it said.

Ukrenergo announced extended blackouts across the country despite electricity imports and help with emergency supplies from European countries.

Private energy company DTEK said one of its power plants was hit in the overnight attack but did not specify its location. Three company employees were injured and the plant’s equipment was severely damaged, DTEK said on social media.

Among the most damaging recent strikes on Ukraine’s energy supply were an April barrage that damaged Kyiv’s largest thermal power plant and a massive attack on May 8 that targeted power generation and transmission facilities in several regions.

Rolling blackouts have affected Ukrainian households and industry.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the strikes aimed at Ukrainian energy facilities that are needed to produce weapons and military equipment. Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on Western military aid, is developing a small but fast-growing defense industry.

In Russia, meanwhile, authorities in two regions reported fires at oil storage depots after drone attacks, two days after a Ukrainian strike started a huge blaze at another refinery.

Ukraine has in recent months stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals in an effort to disrupt the Kremlin’s war machine.

The overnight drone attacks were carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service, known by its acronym SBU, a Kyiv security official told The Associated Press.

The attacks triggered fires at the facilities, which processed and stored crude oil and its derivatives used to supply the Russian army, the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

The head of Russia’s Adygea region, Murat Kumpilov, said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in the town of Enem that was later extinguished.

The governor of the Tambov region, Maxim Yegorov, said an oil reservoir went ablaze at an oil depot there.

Krasnodar region Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said a drone hit a private house in the town of Slavyansk, killing a woman.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 15 Ukrainian drones over three regions but didn’t mention any damage. The ministry said it has shot down more than 26,000 Ukrainian drones since the start of the war.

United States security advisor Jake Sullivan,second from left, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, third from left, security advisor to the vice president Phil Gordon, fourth from left, and the U.S. delegation talk during a bilateral meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second from right, of Ukraine, and his delegation during the Summit on Peace Summit on Peace in Ukraine in Obbürgen, Switzerland, on June 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

A draft communique for a summit of world leaders convened to pursue a pathway for peace in Ukraine makes reference to Russia’s “war” against Kyiv and urges that Ukraine’s territorial integrity be respected, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.

The final communique is due to be issued on Sunday at the conclusion of the two-day conference at the Buergenstock resort in central Switzerland. The draft was dated June 13.

The Swiss government has said it hopes the final summit declaration will be supported unanimously by participants. The document tracked certain changes made to the draft.

The document also calls for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to be restored to Ukrainian control and for Kyiv’s access to its Azov sea ports to be safeguarded.

A member of a drone unit of Ukraine’s 58th Motorized Brigade unpacks equipment near the front line in the Donetsk region.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed on June 2 to have captured a tiny village in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where it has been on the offensive making territorial gains.

Russian troops “have managed to liberate the village of Umanskoye in the popular republic of Donetsk”, the Ministry said in reference to the Ukrainian village of Umanske.

Also Read |Is the Ukraine war changing world order? | Explained

Umanske is a tiny village that had fewer than 180 inhabitants before Russia launched its military offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.

It lies about 25 km to the northwest of Donetsk, which is the main city of the region and is under Russian control.

Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said on Friday Russia had made advances “in all tactical directions”.

Moscow’s forces had seized 880 sq. km of territory this year alone, he said.

Ukraine’s outnumbered and outgunned forces have been under pressure for several months, particularly since Russia launched a new push in early May around the eastern city of Kharkiv, the second largest in Ukraine.

Russian soldiers have also been pushing hard in the east towards Pokrovsk, a city around 30 kilometres northwest of Umanske.

Kyiv hopes the imminent delivery of Western munitions it has long been waiting for will allow its troops to regain the upper hand on the battlefield.

Likewise, U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Kyiv to use American-supplied weapons to strike certain targets inside Russia has provided Ukraine with a significant boost.

Former U.S. President Trump speaks to members of the media after a jury found him guilty of all 34 felony counts in his criminal trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

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Moscow:

Russia on Thursday jailed a barman for 25 years for joining a unit of Russians fighting for Ukraine and carrying out sabotage of railway equipment.

Russia has reported numerous incidents of sabotage since the start of its “special military operation” in Ukraine in 2022, many of them targeting railways, and courts have handed harsh sentences to those linked to pro-Ukrainian armed groups.

A Moscow military court found 36-year-old Vladimir Malina, who worked at a restaurant in the Moscow region, guilty of treason and various terror and sabotage charges including taking part in a terror organisation.

Malina set fire to a railway relay box last year after joining the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of fighters who claim to have participated in daring cross-border raids into Ukraine, prosecutors said in a statement.

They said a handler from the Legion gave orders to Malina and in April last year he set fire to equipment that controlled a railway level crossing in the Moscow region.

He later tried to set fire to several other relay cabinets and a police station before being detained later that year, prosecutors said.

At an earlier court hearing, Malina partially admitted guilt but denied treason, TASS news agency reported.

Earlier Thursday, Russian media reported that a student who agreed to post leaflets about the Legion had been sentenced to 13 years in jail.

Last month, Russia jailed a man for 10 years for planning to fight on the side of Ukraine.

Russia has reported almost 200 acts of sabotage on its rail network since it sent troops into Ukraine two years ago, blaming most of them on Kyiv and its supporters.

Ukraine denies responsibility for carrying out sabotage or supporting partisan groups inside Russia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

Russia said on Sunday that Ukraine launched a major 62-drone attack on Russian regions forcing one oil refinery in southern Russia to halt operations, and that Kyiv’s forces had fired U.S., French and Ukrainian missiles at Russian-held territory.

Russia shot down at least 103 drones, including 62 over Russian regions, as well as Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) over Crimea, French guided “Hammer” bombs and U.S. High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

Local officials said six drones crashed onto the territory of an oil refinery in Slavyansk in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. Interfax news agency said the refinery halted work after the attack.

TASS quoted an official at the refinery as saying the charges carried by the Ukrainian-launched drones were bigger than previous attacks and that they included steel balls.

Slavyansk refinery is a private plant with a capacity of 4 million metric tons of oil per year, about 1 million bpd.

A Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters in Kyiv that Ukraine’s security service SBU and military drones struck the Slavyansk refinery and a military airfield in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region in overnight attacks.

The Ukrainian navy also said it had destroyed the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Project 266-M Kovrovets minesweeper.

Russia said its forces had defeated Ukraine’s 24th and 42nd mechanized brigades and the 125th Air Defense Brigade at Lukiantsi, Vesele and Radhospne in the Kharkiv region and repelled attacks by Kyiv’s forces at other points in the region.

Russia has reported a rise in Ukrainian attacks on its territory since its forces opened a new front in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region earlier this month.

President Vladimir Putin says Russia is carving out a buffer zone there to protect Russia from such attacks, which Russia says risk triggering a broader war between Russia and the West if Ukraine uses Western weapons.

Putin said on Friday that Russia had no plans currently to take Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city,

The White House said on Friday that U.S. policy on not encouraging Ukraine’s use of U.S. weapons against Russian sovereign territory had not changed.

“We do not encourage nor do we enable attacks using U.S.-supplied weapons systems inside Russian territory. That’s the policy,” John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters. “That has not changed.”

That remark came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday in Kyiv that the United States does not encourage Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied weapons but believes it is a decision Kyiv should make for itself.

CRIMEA

Russia said on Saturday its forces had captured the village of Starytsia in Kharkiv region and that they had defeated Ukrainian units along the front, including in the Sumy region.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and along with parts of four other regions its forces control, considers the territories – which amount to about 18% of Ukraine – to be part of Russia now. That stance has been rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he will not rest until all Russian troops are ejected from Ukraine.

Zelenskiy told Agence France-Presse in an interview that he expected Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned Kyiv had only a quarter of the air defences it needs to defend Ukraine.

AFP also quoted him as saying that while the West did not want Ukraine to lose the war, it was afraid of what a defeat for Russia might mean.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kharkiv:

Russian strikes killed at least 10 people, including a pregnant woman, and injured 25 others in two separate attacks in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region on Sunday, local officials said.

It was the latest in what have been constant attacks in recent weeks on Kharkiv city and the region of the same name by Russian missiles and guided bombs as Russian troops have launched an offensive in the northeast of the region.

The first strike on Sunday killed five and wounded 16 in a recreation area just outside Kharkiv, while another five people were killed and 9 injured later in the day in two villages in Kupiansk district.

Local governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces shelled two villages of the district with a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher.

In the city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov gave the death count of dead and wounded.

“The explosions heard in Kharkiv around noon occurred in a nearby suburb. Two Russian missiles hit a recreation centre where people were relaxing, killing five people and injuring sixteen others,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters correspondents saw a recreation area destroyed after what rescuers at the scene said was a powerful blast, followed by a second, “double tap” strike about 15-20 minutes later.

A man’s corpse lay under the rubble of what just over an hour previously was a busy lakeside restaurant area on a sunny day. A woman stumbled around in shock looking for her handbag in the wreckage.

Valentyna, a 69-year-old woman who lived opposite the resort, was at home when the explosion hit. Blood ran down the side of her face as she cried, saying husband had been killed in the blast.

He had been by the water, she said, gesturing to the area where there was now a crater by the shore, rubble, and corpses.

“To lose my husband, to lose my house, to lose everything in the world, it hurts, it hurts me,” she shouted through tears.

“They (the Russians) are animals, why do they need to kill people,” she yelled.

ZELENSKIY APPEAL

After Sunday’s attack President Volodymyr Zelenskiy again called on Western allies to supply Kyiv with additional air defence systems to protect Kharkiv and other cities.

“The world can stop Russian terror – and to do so, the lack of political will among leaders must be overcome,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

“Two Patriots for Kharkiv will make a fundamental difference,” he said, referring to Patriot missile defence systems. Air defence systems for other cities and sufficient support for soldiers on the front line would ensure Russia’s defeat, the president added.

Yaroslav Trofimko, a police inspector with the Kharkiv police department, said of Sunday’s strike:

“There were never any soldiers here… it was a Sunday, people were supposed to be here to rest, children were supposed to he here, pregnant women, resting, enjoying a normal way of life.”

He arrived on the scene after the first blast, and was there when the second strike hit the same scene around 20 minutes later.

Ukraine has frequently accused Russia of using “double tap” strikes to kill or injure emergency workers at the scene of strike impacts.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Russia and China are helping each other expand their territorial reach, and democracies must push back against authoritarian states that threaten their rights and sovereignty, Taiwan’s outgoing foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

His comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin was on a visit to China amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping reaffirmed their “no-limits” partnership as both countries face rising tensions with the West.

Mr. Wu called on democracies to align in countering Russia and China’s military assertiveness in Europe, the South China Sea and beyond. China threatens to invade Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that it claims as its own territory.

“Putin’s visit to Beijing is an example of the two big authoritarian countries supporting each other, working together with each other, supporting each other’s expansionism,” he said.

In particular, Mr. Wu called on Western powers to continue to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia to send a message that democracies will defend one another.

“If Ukraine is defeated at the end, I think China is going to get inspired, and they might take even more ambitious steps in expanding their power in the Indo-Pacific, and it will be disastrous for the international community,” Mr. Wu said.

Mr. Wu warned about the risk of a potential conflict in the South China Sea, a resource-rich area and key transit route for global trade, where China has overlapping territorial claims with several of its neighbors. The Philippines in particular has had numerous territorial skirmishes with China in recent months, some of which have led to minor collisions, injuring Filipino navy personnel and damaging supply boats.

Mr. Wu said tensions in the South China Sea are “more dangerous” than those in the Taiwan Strait, and they indicate China’s ambition to project power in the region.

“(China) wants the international community to focus on the Taiwan Strait and forget about China’s actions in different parts of the world,” Mr. Wu said. “And I think … we shouldn’t lose the vision that the expansionism of authoritarianism is everywhere in the Indo-Pacific.”

Mr. Wu said joint military drills between China and Russia in the region raise tensions in Japan and other neighboring countries. He also criticized Beijing’s strategy of pursuing security agreements with nations such as the Solomon Islands, a former Taiwan diplomatic ally, and increased military presence across Asia and Africa.

Mr. Wu said Taipei is committed to continuing a policy of maintaining peace and the status quo in relations with Beijing, as the island prepares to inaugurate its new president, Lai Ching-te, on Monday.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be retaken by force if necessary, and maintains military and economic pressure on the island by sending warships and military vessels near it almost daily. China and Taiwan have had separate governments since the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, retreated to the island after losing a civil war to the Communist Party in 1949.

“We don’t provoke the other side of the Taiwan Strait, and we don’t bow to the pressure,” Mr. Wu said. “But at the same time, the policy approach from Taiwan is that we keep our door open for any kind of contact, dialogues or negotiations in between the two sides in a peaceful manner. And that door will remain open.”

He added Beijing is trying to change the status quo with Taiwan through a series of actions, including by ramping up military pressure, conducting information warfare and introducing new flight routes along the median line of the Taiwan Strait, an informal demarcation zone.

Mr. Wu said security pacts like those between the U.S., Australia and Japan, and the new AUKUS partnership between Australia, Britain and the U.S. serve to deter China from becoming even more aggressive in the region.

On Taiwan’s relationship with the U.S., Mr. Wu said he was confident Taipei will continue to have “very close” ties with Washington no matter who wins the November presidential election.

Mr. Wu, who once described his work as “probably the most difficult foreign minister job in the world,” will leave his post after six years and return to a previous job as secretary-general of the National Security Council. He will be replaced by presidential aide Lin Chia-lung. The outgoing diplomat said the Taiwan foreign minister job still comes with plenty of challenges.

China bars its diplomatic partners from having formal exchanges with Taipei, and during Tsai’s years in office, Beijing poached several of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, bringing the remaining number down to 12.

Despite the losses, Mr. Wu has worked to improve unofficial ties with European and Asian nations and the U.S., which remains Taiwan’s strongest unofficial ally and is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. Delegations from several European countries have visited Taiwan in recent years, and Lithuania opened a trade representative office — a de facto embassy — in Taipei.

Mr. Wu said European nations have become more sympathetic to Taiwan’s cause and cautious of China due to a series of factors including China’s actions in the South China Sea, its human rights crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Nobody should be … thinking that they are immune from authoritarian influence,” Mr. Wu said.

Kharkiv Region:

Peeking out from under a hat and with his face covered, the Russian fighting for Kyiv described unrelenting battles in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv where Moscow’s forces opened a new front last week.

“The situation is difficult, the intensity is very high, there is fighting almost every ten minutes,” said the mortarman, who identified himself only by his callsign, Winnie.

The soldier is part of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of Russians opposed to President Vladimir Putin who are fighting for Ukraine.

Ukraine has sent reinforcements, including the legion and two other units made up of Russian nationals, to shore up its defence against a Russian ground incursion into the northern reaches of Kharkiv region that began nearly a week ago.

“It’s an unbelievable meat grinder that they’re still (sending) their people into,” Winnie said, describing Russian losses as Moscow’s infantry tries to storm deeper into Ukraine. Both sides say that the other is suffering heavy casualties in the war, claims that cannot be independently verified.

The Freedom of Russia Legion’s deputy commander Maksimilian Andronikov, who is also known by his callsign Caesar, said Russia’s fighters have become more innovative.

“They’ve learnt the lessons of the war, they’re using rather intelligent tactics,” he said.

One particularly grim innovation has been the expansion in the use of aerial bombs, which are dropped from planes and usually pack several hundred kilograms of explosives or more. Russia has vast Soviet-era stocks of the relatively cheap bombs.

Over the past several months, Russia has been able to grind out battlefield gains by hammering frontline towns and infantry positions with aerial bombs.

“Today, four guided aerial bombs came in, about 500 metres away. I was on the ground, and it started vibrating, I was thrown upwards – and I’m not small,” Winnie said.

SHORTAGE OF WEAPONS

The Russian assault, which is driving towards the towns of Lyptsi and Vovchansk north of Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, began last Friday.

The Russians appear to have been able to advance by at least several kilometers in some places, one of the fastest advances either side has seen since 2022, the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“The enemy has the advantage in manpower, although they do not have as many vehicles as before,” Andronikov said about the Kharkiv front.

The Russians, he said, were sending in noticeably fewer armoured vehicles, but even so were able to launch several times more artillery shells and FPV drones than Ukraine.

“We feel the deficit. We understand well that if it didn’t exist, the enemy wouldn’t have these successes here or in the Donbas,” he said of the artillery imbalance, a problem felt acutely by Ukraine over the past six months.

He blasted the limits placed by some Ukrainian allies on the use of their weapons to strike Russia, saying the restriction handicapped Kyiv’s ability to fight back on the northern front where the lines are a few kilometres from Russian territory.

Ukrainian soldiers have long complained the restriction gives Russia a shield, enabling its forces to launch attacks from across the border without putting their logistics at risk.

“It’s a problem. There is a whole list of weapons which we receive, but until recently we didn’t have the right to use them on the territory of Russia… with impunity, the enemy is using the fact that Russian territory can’t be hit.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)