[ad_1]
If Kyiv gets longer-range rockets, Moscow will ‘strike at those objects that we have not yet struck’, says Russian leader.
- Ukraine says its forces control half of the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk.
- Kyiv asks countries for even more powerful arms to fend off the Russian attack.
- Vladimir Putin stresses long-range missile supplies being sent to Ukraine meant “we will … strike targets we haven’t hit before”.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits front-line troops in the Zaporizhzhia region, as well as the towns of Soledar in the Donetsk region and Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, as Russia continues its attack on the Donbas.
Here are the latest updates:
Zelenskyy visits towns near front in eastern Ukraine
Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy has said he visited two towns near the front line of battles against the Russian army after meeting troops in the Zaporizhia region.
“After that I went with the head of [my] office to the east. We were in Lysychansk and Soledar,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video.
“I am proud of everybody I met, everyone I shook hands with, everyone with whom I connected with and had expressed my support.”
Lysychansk is in the Luhansk region and Soledar is in the Donetsk region. Both regions make up the Donbas, which is the focus of Russia’s campaign in eastern Ukraine.
Russia hits Kyiv with missiles
Russia took aim at Western military supplies for Ukraine on Sunday, launching air raids on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad.
Ukraine said missiles aimed at the capital hit a train repair shop. Elsewhere, Russian air raids in the eastern city of Druzhkivka destroyed buildings and killed at least one person, an official said.
Residents described waking to the sound of missile attacks with rubble and glass falling around them.
Before the morning attack, Kyiv had not faced any such Russian air raids since the April 28 visit of UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Read more here.
We will ‘use our means of destruction’ over arms supplies: Putin
Putin has lashed out at Western deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, saying they aim to prolong the conflict.
“All this fuss around additional deliveries of weapons, in my opinion, has only one goal: to drag out the armed conflict as much as possible,” the Russian leader said.
He insisted such supplies were unlikely to change the military situation for Ukraine’s government.
If Kyiv gets longer-range rockets, he added, Moscow will “draw appropriate conclusions and use our means of destruction, which we have plenty of, in order to strike at those objects that we haven’t yet struck”.
Read more here.
Russia using proxy forces to limit its own casualties: UK
The United Kingdom’s defence ministry has said Ukrainian counterattacks in Severodonetsk were “likely blunting the operational momentum Russian forces previously gained through concentrating combat units and firepower”.
Russian forces previously made a string of advances in the city, but Ukrainian fighters have pushed back in recent days. The ministry’s intelligence brief also said Russia’s military was partly relying on reserve forces of Luhansk separatists.
“These troops are poorly equipped and trained, and lack heavy equipment in comparison to regular Russian units,” it said, adding the use of these troops likely “indicates a desire to limit casualties suffered by regular Russian forces”.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 5 June 2022
Find out more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/8afxKwSwSn
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/Sy8NG76Fa8
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 5, 2022
Ukraine loses 1-0 to Wales in World Cup qualifier match
It was an agonising end to Ukraine’s mission to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar while remaining under invasion by Russia.
The Ukrainian players appeared heartbroken following the defeat, wanting to give their country a positive after it has endured three months of bombardment.
Ukraine coach Oleksandr Petrakov said he could not utter a word of criticism of his players.
“I think we did everything we could but I want the people of Ukraine to remember our team, our efforts. I want to say sorry we didn’t score. But that is sport, that happens.”
Read more here.
Ukraine says it controls ‘half’ of Severodonetsk
Ukraine has said its forces control half of the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk as its military drives back Russian troops in the critical battle for the Luhansk region.
But Luhansk’s governor Serhiy Haidai said they expect a major counterattack from Russian forces in the coming days.
“Our armed forces have cleaned half” of the industrial hub of Russian forces, Haidai said on his official social media channels. “In the next five days, there will be a large increase in the number of shellings from heavy artillery.”
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Read all the updates from Sunday, June 5 here.
[ad_2]
Source link
