Russia-Ukraine war latest: Kremlin says militants hit border with heavy shelling

Russia’s most powerful mercenary, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his Wagner Group would continue to fight in Ukraine if his men got a separate section of the front without having to depend on “clowns” who led entire sections of the Russian armed forces.

Celebrating his 62nd birthday at a training camp on Thursday, Prigozhin also confirmed his men would eventually leave the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut on June 5 after handing it over to the Russian military. . Wagner mercenaries captured the devastated town in late May after months of bitter warfare.

“If the whole chain (of command) fails 100% and will only be run by clowns who turn people into meat, then we won’t participate,” said Prigozhin, known for his blunt and often expansive comments on the conduct of war.

“Gorgeous isn’t it?” he told Russian reporters with a smile, gazing up at a night sky lit with explosions and red flares against the bursts of automatic fire from his mercenaries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he received “strong support” from allies at a summit of more than 40 European leaders, but he stepped up pressure on Western allies to provide weapons:

Russia says it repelled an attempted incursion along its border with Ukraine by what it says are pro-Ukrainian activists, while heavy shelling and a suspected drone attack prompted a partial evacuation of the area by civilians.

Ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive in the 15-month war, Russia has come under repeated attack in recent days.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it repelled three cross-border attacks on Thursday near the town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region, and it accused Ukraine of using “terrorist formations” to try to attack Russian civilians.

“The selfless actions of the Russian military repelled three attacks by Ukrainian terrorist formations,” the Russian ministry said. “No violations of the state border were permitted.”

Ukraine denies that its army was involved in the incursions into Belgorod and claims they were carried out by Russian volunteer fighters.

It is not impossible that senior officials clamoring for more firepower, Wagnerian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and other paramilitary groups could muster enough support among a disgruntled Russian population to stage a rebellion against the Russian leader, writes Mary Dezhevsky:

A nine-year-old girl, her mother and another woman were killed in a Russian missile strike on Kiev on Thursday after the air-raid shelter they rushed to failed to open, witnesses said.

Police have opened a criminal investigation into the three deaths near a medical clinic in the Desnyanskyi district of kyiv after the 18th attack on the capital since early May.

“Three people, including a child, died near the clinic last night,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

“A rocket fragment fell near the entrance to the clinic four minutes after the air alert was announced. And people headed for the shelter.

Local residents said people were unable to enter the shelter because it was closed. It wasn’t clear why.

“The air alert sounded. My wife took our daughter and they ran to the entrance here,” local resident Yaroslav Ryabchuk told Reuters. “The entrance was closed, there were already maybe five to ten women with children.

“Nobody opened up for them. They hit pretty hard.

“They tried to enter the shelter, [but] no one opened up for them. My wife is dead,” he said.

The case caused a public outcry and prompted residents to check shelters and report any security breaches. Local media said prosecutors then searched city government offices as part of the investigation into the deaths.

At a makeshift memorial for the girl, another relative who was awakened by the nighttime attacks spoke of her terror.

“I grabbed my child and ran down the hall because I had no other choice. We sat there the whole time, there were a few more explosions,” said Oleksandra, 25, visiting the memorial with her five-year-old son, Hryhoriy.

Russia suffered at least 60,000 casualties in its attempt to capture the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, a Western official said.

They also said that the total number of Russian casualties was “well over 200,000” and that there were indications that the planned Ukrainian counteroffensive could begin within weeks.

Earlier this month, Russia claimed to have captured Bakhmut, a town in eastern Ukraine, after about a year of fighting.

A Western official said: “We estimate that the capture of Bakhmut probably cost Russia at least 60,000 casualties in this Bakhmut-Popasna sector during the year-long battle.”

They said this was a “conservative estimate” of the number of Russian casualties in that area of ​​the front, and on the estimated breakdown of the number of killed versus wounded they said: “I think we would say to the less than a third killed.”

They reiterated what a number of observers have said in describing Bakhmut as “not strategically significant” in terms of the wider conflict.

Ukraine’s “legitimate place” is in NATO, Rishi Sunak said.

Kiev has long called for Ukraine’s admission to NATO, but allies are divided on when and how possible membership might happen as the war with Russia continues.

Mr Sunak, speaking to broadcasters at the European Political Community summit, gave few further details on the UK’s position on Ukraine’s path to membership.

The rally, on the border with Ukraine, comes ahead of a key meeting of NATO leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.

The six-story building partially collapsed on Sunday afternoon, with city officials now saying they are assessing whether further searches for survivors can be conducted safely as the building is at risk of collapse.

Five people are missing following the collapse, with Mayor Mike Matson saying Tuesday that officials believe two of them may still be in the building, according to CNN.

On Wednesday, Newsmax featured heartbreaking footage of the collapse as host Greta Van Susteren delivered a report on a “disturbing” drone attack in Moscow, Russia, according to Media matters. By doing so, the network could trick viewers into believing the drone attack caused the destruction seen in the photo thousands of miles away.

The drone strike was the first to hit a civilian area in Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers were due to meet their counterparts from the BRICS economic bloc of developing countries in South Africa on Thursday for talks that will begin with “an exchange of views” on major geopolitical issues, including the war in Ukraine, in South Africa. said the African ambassador to the bloc.

Most BRICS countries differ sharply from the position of the United States and its Western allies on the war. Speaking ahead of the meeting, the South African ambassador referred to Western military aid to Ukraine as one of the things that “fuels the conflict”.

“Any attempt that fuels the conflict does not solve the problem,” Anil Sooklal said when asked about his reaction to Western “attempts” to transfer arms to Ukraine.

“We don’t know of any global conflict resolved by war,” Sooklal said. “All of this only causes more pain and suffering and as BRICS countries this is what we are saying: let’s focus on finding a peaceful resolution to the challenges, rather than fueling the conflict. .”