- One hospitalized in Kyiv, with no immediate reports of death
- Putin warns the United States not to supply long-range missiles to Ukraine
- Zelenskiy travels near the first line near Sievierodonetsk
- Ukrainian troops control half of Sievierodonetsk-Gaidai
Kyiv, June 6 (Reuters) – Russia strikes Kyiv with missiles for the first time in more than a month, while President Vladimir Putin has warned that it would reach new targets in Ukraine if Western nations supply the country with larger missiles. abast.
In Sievierodonetsk, the main battlefield in the east where Russia has concentrated its forces, Ukrainian forces remain after recovering half of the city, said Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, where find the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he had traveled to Lysychansk, south of Sievierodonetsk, and Soledar, rare outings for him outside of Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 and that he could be the closest to the front line so far. Read more
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“What you all deserve is victory, that’s the most important thing. But not at any cost,” Zelenskiy, wearing his khaki, trademark T-shirt, told Ukrainian troops in a video posted Sunday night . Read more
Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk are located in the Lugansk region and Soledar is located in the Donetsk region. Both regions make up the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial hub, which Russia says has a mission to “liberate.”
In the attack in Kyiv, one person was hospitalized although there were no immediate reports of deaths. Dark smoke could be seen from many miles away after Russia’s attack on two suburbs on Sunday.
Ukraine said the strike affected a railway car repair work, while Moscow said it had destroyed tanks sent by Eastern European countries to Ukraine.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of the Ukrainian railway, confirmed that four missiles had crashed the Darnytsia wagon repair facility in eastern Kyiv, but said there was no military hardware at the site.
The strike was a sudden reminder of the war in Kyiv, where normal life has largely returned since Russian forces were expelled from its outskirts in March.
“Missile attacks in Kyiv have only one goal: to kill as many as possible,” Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.
Ukraine said Russia had carried out the attack on Kyiv using long-range missiles fired from heavy bombers into the Caspian Sea.
Ukraine’s nuclear power operator said a Russian cruise missile had flown “critically low” over the country’s second largest nuclear power plant. Read more
‘CUT THEM OUT NUTS’
Sunday’s attack was the first major attack in Kyiv since late April, when a missile killed a journalist.
Russia has recently focused its destructive power on the front lines in the east and south, although it occasionally attacks elsewhere in what it calls a campaign to degrade Ukraine’s military infrastructure and block arms shipments. westerners.
Putin warned the West that Russia would attack new targets if the United States began supplying Ukraine with more powerful missiles, the TASS news agency reported on Sunday. Read more
The United States said last week that it would send new and advanced medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine.
In an interview on Russian state television, Putin said the rockets Washington had promised so far were comparable to the Soviet-era weapons Ukraine already had, Putin said.
If Washington were to deliver more powerful rockets, “we will attack those targets that we have not yet been hitting,” he said. He rejected the impact of Western drones, saying Russia had been “cracking them like new”.
The United Kingdom said it would supply Ukraine with multi-launch rocket systems that could hit targets up to 80 km (50 miles) away. Read more
‘CONTINUE WITH SIEVIERODONETSK STORM’
Heavy fighting continues in Sievierodonetsk and Russian forces are pushing towards Sloviansk, the British Defense Ministry said in a Twitter update. Read more
However, Governor Gaidai previously said that Ukrainian forces continued to push the Russians from Sievierodonetsk, about 85 km (53 miles) east of Sloviansk. Read more
The claims could not be independently verified. Both sides say they have caused heavy casualties in Sievierodonetsk.
In Lysychansk, Russian forces fired on a bakery and several administrative and residential buildings, Gaidai said on Monday, adding that one civilian had been injured.
Evacuations resumed on Sunday in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Luhansk province, and 98 people had fled, Gaidai said.
A Russian state media reporter said on Sunday that Russian Major General Roman Kutuzov had been assassinated in eastern Ukraine, in addition to the series of high-ranking military casualties that Moscow suffered. Read more
The governor of Russia’s western Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said the border town of Tyotkino had been attacked this morning in Ukraine, pointing to a bridge and some local businesses. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Ukrainian army said its forces had repelled seven attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Sunday, destroying four tanks and shooting down a combat helicopter.
Russian forces are “carrying out heavy artillery and mortar bombardment of our positions” in the Kharkiv region of Donetsk, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Monday.
He said Russia was targeting civilian infrastructure in several cities. Moscow denies targeting civilians.
In a Sunday speech in Rome, Pope Francis described the war as a “denial of God’s dream.”
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Report by Natalia Zinets, Pavel Polityuk, Lidia Kelly and Ronald Popeski, written by Himani Sarkar; Edited by Michael Perry
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