Ukraine news live – Russia mounting assaults to capture Sievierodonetsk
Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Ukrainian troops had been ordered to move to new positions
Russian forces seek to surround the embattled city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine and are mounting assaults on the city of Sievierodonetsk to establish full control, the Ukrainian defence ministry’s spokesperson said on Friday.
The eastern city has been the scene of weeks of intense bombardments and street fighting and if lost to Russian forces in a would be a significant setback for Ukraine.
Earlier, governor Serhiy Gaidai said troops in the city had already received the order to move to new positions, but he did not indicate whether they had already done so or where exactly they were going.
“Remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense,” Gaidai said on Ukrainian television.
The battle is key for Russia to establish control over the last remaining Ukrainian-held sliver of Luhansk province, which along with Donetsk makes up the Donbas region, Ukraine‘s industrial heartland.
Meanwhile, at least four people were killed after a Russian military cargo plane crashed in Moscow’s western city Ryazan, reported Interfax news agency.
IAEA worried about staff at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
The United Nations nuclear watchdog has said it is getting increasingly concerned about the welfare of Ukrainian staff at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is increasingly concerned about the difficult conditions facing staff at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and it must go there as soon as possible to address this and other urgent issues,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Friday.
Mr Grossi said he was continuing his determined efforts to agree, organise and head an IAEA-led international mission to conduct essential nuclear safety, security and safeguards activities at the ZNPP, stressing again that “other considerations should not prevent” it from taking place.
The IAEA has for months said that Zaporizhzhia, where Ukrainian staff are operating the plant under the order of Russian troops, poses a safety risk and that it wants to send a mission there.
Russia warns of ‘consequences’ over EU’s moves toward expansion
Russia said that the decision by the European Union to accept Ukraine and Moldova as membership candidates would have negative consequences.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said the EU was seeking to enlarge the bloc to “exploit” the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in eastern Europe and western Asia.
File photo of Maria Zakharova
She said: “With the decision to grant Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidate countries, the European Union has confirmed that it continues to actively exploit the CIS on a geopolitical level, to use it to ‘contain’ Russia.
“They are not thinking of the negative consequences of such a step...”
The seven recognised candidates for membership of the EU are Turkey (applied in 1987), North Macedonia (2004), Montenegro (2008), Albania (2009), Serbia (2009), Ukraine (2022), and Moldova (2022).
The CIS member nations are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In addition, Ukraine and Turkmenistan are “founding states” but are not full members.
Ukraine accuses US-sanctioned lawmaker of working for Russia
Ukraine claimed it had uncovered a Russian spy network involving Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach who was previously accused by the US of being a Russian agent.
Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) said Derkach, whose whereabouts were not made clear, set up a network of private security firms to ease and support the entry of Russian units into cities during Moscow’s invasion on 24 February.
Derkach could not immediately be reached for comment. He has previously denied wrongdoing and said he has been targeted for exposing corruption.
In a statement, the SBU cited testimony from Derkach’s parliamentary aide Ihor Kolykhayev. It said he was arrested at the beginning of the war, and accused him of being a go-between between Derkach and Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Kolykhayev said Derkach’s security firms “had to ensure the passage of (Russian) vehicles, get into armoured vehicles with Russian flags, and thus ensure (the Russian army’s) peaceful entry into the city.”
The SBU said Derkach received sums of $3-4 million every several months in order to fulfil the plan.
Derkach was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in September 2020 for what it said were attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The Treasury’s sanction announcement at the time said Derkach had been “an active Russian agent for over a decade.”
In pictures: Russian rocket’s damage to homes in Donetsk city Bakhmut
A man inspects the crater left by the Russian rocket in Bakhmut, Donetsk region
Local resident Tetyana stands in front of her damaged house
Tetyana shows the destruction caused to her home
Zelensky says Ukrainians should ‘rejoice at least a little’ over EU candidacy
Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the “historic decision” of the European Union to grant Ukraine candidate status to join the bloc.
The Ukrainian president said that there has been much talk about the conditions Ukraine has to fulfil or how many years joining the EU would take.
But he urged Ukrainians to “rejoice at least a little” over the news.
Volodymyr Zelensky during his speech
Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address to Ukrainians: “Let’s rejoice at least a little. In a quiet, modest way, silently, but rejoice. For ourselves, for our beloved state. Let’s feel the moment and the taste of this moment.
“Imagine conquering Everest. You reached the penultimate point. You didn’t look around, didn’t even take a breath and talk about the further way to the top. How difficult it will be to overcome the last 1848 meters. Instantly we forgot and devalued our own success.
“Maybe we should first recall that we have already covered 7,000 meters?! Let's not be ashamed to talk about our achievements. Let’s not be a nation with a short memory and inferiority complex.
“We say: Ukraine has been granted EU candidate status. Let's say: Ukraine has gained EU candidate status. Did it fall from the sky? Haven't we endured and done a lot?”
Later in his speech, he said: “Much has been done. Exactly done! Let's not forget that. Let's be proud of ourselves. Respect ourselves.
“And we repelled the Russians. And we will win. Because when we respect ourselves we will be respected by others.”
Air raid sirens ‘sounded in almost all regions of Ukraine'
Air raid sirens were heard across Ukraine, except in the Kherson region and Crimea.
This is according to news website Ukrainska Pravda citing alerts.in.ua, a website that issues air raid siren alerts.
The report states that the first air raid siren was heard at 8.15pm in Poltava, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.
Then at about 9.20pm, a siren was sounded in Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Vinnytsia oblasts, as well as in Kyiv.
At 10.20pm, an air raid siren was heard in all western oblasts of Ukraine, the report says.
Russia kills five Ukrainians in Donetsk region, Ukraine says
Five civilians were killed and four others were injured by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, Ukraine said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk Oblast Military Administration, wrote on Telegram: “On 24 June, the Russians killed five civilians in the Donetsk region: two in Raihorodka, two in Staryi Karavan, one in Kostiantynivka. Four more people were injured today.”
Ukraine to withdraw troops from Severodonetsk
Ukraine was set to pull its troops from the ruined city of Severodonetsk after weeks of street fighting and bombardment, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said.
Russian troops also occupied a town about 10 km (6 miles) further south, both sides said today, as Moscow closed in on the last slivers of Ukrainian-held territory in the industrial region of Luhansk.
A Ukrainian tank is in position during heavy fighting on the front line in Severodonetsk on 8 June 2022
Moscow said it had encircled about 2,000 Ukrainian and, what it called, foreign troops in the area.
Reuters news agency said it could not independently verify any of the battlefield accounts.
The withdrawal of troops from Severodonetsk would mark the biggest reversal for Ukraine since the loss of the southern port of Mariupol in May.
Zelensky makes surprise video appearance at Glastonbury Festival
US denies export privileges for three Russian airlines after alleged breaches
The US Commerce Department today denied export privileges for three Russian airlines that it says violated export controls issued after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The export denials for Nordwind Airlines, Pobeda Airlines and S7 Airlines are issued for six months and may be renewed, the department said in a statement.
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