Live blog: Attacks destroyed 60% of Lysychansk city – Ukraine official

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Much of key Ukraine city destroyed by attacks

Some 60 percent of the infrastructure and residential buildings in Lysychansk, one of only two cities in the east still under at least partial Ukrainian control, have been destroyed by attacks, a local official said.

Oleksandr Zaika, head of Lysychansk City Military-Civil Administration, said on an "information telemarathon" cited by the Unian news agency that non-stop shelling had knocked out electricity, natural gas, telephone and internet service.

One of the most critical pathways for supplies and evacuations, the Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway, is still open but under constant bombardment. Humanitarian supplies are still reaching the city, where shrapnel and mines dot the landscape, he said.

Lysychansk is separated by a river from the other city in the region that's still under at least partial Ukrainian control, Sievierodonetsk. It, too, is under Russian siege.

West must brace for 'long haul' in Ukraine: NATO chief

Western nations need to brace for a long "war of attrition" in Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned following White House talks with US President Joe Biden.

"We just have to be prepared for the long haul," the secretary general told reporters. "Because what we see is that this war has now become a war of attrition."

Stoltenberg said Ukrainians are "paying a high price for defending their own country on the battlefield, but also we see that Russia is taking high casualties."

UK pledges to send sophisticated missiles to Ukraine

Britain has pledged to send sophisticated medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, joining the United States and Germany in equipping the embattled nation with advanced weapons for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK would send an unspecified number of M270 launchers, which can fire precision-guided rockets up to 80 kilometres. Ukrainian troops will be trained in the UK to use the equipment, he said.

The British government says the decision to provide the launchers was coordinated closely with the US government, which said Wednesday that it would supply High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems to Ukraine.

US ambassador to Ukraine promises weaponry

The new US ambassador to Ukraine said her No. 1 mission “is to help Ukraine prevail against Russian aggression” and that the delivery of military aid is being accelerated.

“There is no place on the planet I would rather be,” she said. “President Biden has said that we’re going to be here, helping Ukraine, for as long as it takes. And that’s what we’ll do.”

She said deliveries of military assistance are getting to Ukraine faster than earlier in the war. More weaponry will be coming, she promised.

Macron faces calls to finally make Ukraine trip

For months, French President Emmanuel Macron has used a stock reply to questions about why he has not visited Ukraine since the outbreak of war there.

"I've always said the same thing," he told reporters in northern France on Tuesday. "At a time and in circumstances that are useful, I'll make the trip."

Having watched a succession of Western leaders visit Kyiv to greet President Volodymyr Zelensky in person since late February, Macron is now under growing pressure to follow suit to signal his support for the Ukrainian cause.

Number of mercenaries in Ukraine halved since February, Russia claims

Since the Russia-Ukraine war began in late February, the number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine has nearly been halved from 6,600 to 3,500, the Russian Defense Ministry has claimed.

Since the beginning of May, mercenaries have almost stopped arriving to Ukraine, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press briefing in Moscow.

The foreign fighters suffer heavy losses due to the low level of training and the lack of combat experience, he said.

Russia attacks village on strategic road in east Ukraine - general

Russian forces are trying to assault the east Ukrainian village of Berestove that lies on a main road linking the Luhansk region's city of Lysychansk to the rest of Ukraine, a Ukrainian general said.

Russia is close to capturing all of Luhansk, one of two Ukrainian regions that make up the swathe of land known as the Donbass. Russian forces are also trying to attack the town of Sviatohirsk in the Donetsk region, General Oleksiy Gromov told a press briefing. 

Russia occupies 20 percent of Ukraine's territory- Zelenskyy

Russia is currently occupying about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Luxembourg's parliament in a video address.

"We have to defend ourselves against almost the entire Russian army. All combat-ready Russian military formations are involved in this aggression," he said, adding that the front lines of battle stretched across more than 1,000 kilometres.

Kremlin: US plan to sell drones to Ukraine does not affect military operation

The Kremlin has said that US plans to sell Ukraine four MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones that can be armed with Hellfire missiles for battlefield use against Russia would not change the parameters of what Moscow calls its "special military operation".

"Pumping (Western) weapons into Ukraine does not change all the parameters of the special operation," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. "Its goals will be achieved, but this will bring more suffering to Ukraine..."

Russia does not plan to 'close window to Europe', Kremlin says

Russia does not plan to "close the window" to Europe, the Kremlin has said, as its relations with the West linger at new lows over the conflict in Ukraine.

Asked whether difficult relations with Europe were turning the clock back on Peter the Great's efforts to open Russia up to Europe, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "We are not planning to close anything."

Peter the Great, a tsar who ruled the Russian Empire from 1682 to 1725, oversaw Russia's transition to a major European power and founded the city of Saint Petersburg, dubbed Russia's "window to Europe".

Time is running out for Russia, German economy minister says

Germany must work harder to reduce its energy-dependence on Russia but Western sanctions in response to Moscow's assault on Ukraine are still taking a heavy toll on Russia, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has said.

"The Russian economy is collapsing," Habeck told lawmakers, adding that exports to Russia from Germany had dropped by 60 percent in March with an even sharper fall expected in April.

"Putin is still getting money but...time is not working for Russia, it is working against Russia," the minister said.

Kremlin confirms report that Yeltsin son-in-law quit as Putin advisor

The Kremlin has confirmed a Reuters report that Valentin Yumashev, the son-in-law of former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, had quit his role as an unpaid advisor to President Vladimir Putin.

"I can confirm that about a month ago he stopped being an advisor on a voluntary basis", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Yumashev did not play a major role in decision-making as a Putin advisor, but he represented one of the few remaining links in Putin's administration to Yeltsin's rule, a period of opening-up of Russia towards the West.

Russia says killed hundreds of foreign 'mercenaries' working for Ukraine

Moscow has said that it has managed to stem the arrival of foreign "mercenaries" in Ukraine over the past month and that it has killed "hundreds" of them.

"Hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine have been destroyed by Russia's long-range precision weapons shortly after their arrival" to undergo training, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

Since the start of May, the arrival of foreign mercenaries "has virtually dried up," the defence ministry said, estimating that the total number "has nearly halved from 6,600 to 3,500 people."

There has been no immediate reaction from Ukraine.

EU move to partially phase out Russian oil likely to rock markets: Moscow

The Russian foreign ministry has said that the European Union's decision to partially phase out Russian oil was likely to destabilise global energy markets.

"Brussels and its political sponsors in Washington bear full responsibility for the risk of an exacerbation in global food and energy issues caused the illegitimate actions of the European Union," the ministry said in a statement.

UK to send US-made rocket systems to Ukraine

Britain says it will send sophisticated medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, in a move co-ordinated with the United States.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says the UK will send an unspecified number of M270 launchers, which can send precision-guided rockets up to 80 kilometers.

Britain says the decision has been co-ordinated closely with a US decision to send Ukraine High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. The two missile systems are similar, though the American one has wheels while the British one, also US-built, runs on tracks.

Russia says it shot down Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet

Russia's defence ministry has said its military has downed a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet in the Mykolaiv region.

It also said in a briefing that it had struck command points of Ukrainian forces near Kharkiv. The information has not been independently confirmed. 

Ukraine seeks UN-backed mission to export grain shipments

Ukraine is working with international partners to create a United Nations-backed mission to restore Black Sea shipping routes and export Ukrainian farm produce, foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko has said.

Russia has captured some of Ukraine's biggest seaports and its navy controls major transport routes in the Black Sea, blocking Ukrainian shipments and deepening a global food crisis.

"We call on countries whose food security may suffer more from Russian aggression against Ukraine to use their contacts with Moscow to force it to lift the blockade of Ukrainian seaports and end the war," Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.

Russians consolidate hold on Ukrainian city

UK military intelligence has said that Russia has taken control of most of Ukraine's industrial city Sievierodonetsk, edging closer to claiming a big prize in their offensive in the eastern Donbass region. Ukraine says about 70 percent of the city is under Russian control.

"The enemy has entered the centre of Sievierodonetsk and is trying to take up positions," Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said at a briefing.

If Russia captures the city and its smaller twin Lysychansk on the west bank of the Siverskyi Donets river, it would hold all of Luhansk, one of two provinces in the Donbass that Moscow claims on behalf of separatists.

OPEC+ working on making up for lower Russian oil output

OPEC+ is working on making up for a drop in Russian oil output, two OPEC+ sources have told Reuters news agency, as Russia's production has fallen by around 1 million barrels per day as a result of Western sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine.

One OPEC+ source familiar with the Russian position said Moscow could agree to other producers compensating for its lower output but it may not happen at a Thursday meeting and might not be in full. A Gulf OPEC+ source said a decision on the matter was "highly possible" at a meeting on Thursday.

The group is meeting online later on Thursday and has been widely expected to stick to its planned monthly modest output increases despite tighter global markets. 

Slovakia to deliver eight Zuzana 2 howitzers to Ukraine, says ministry

Slovakia will deliver eight self-propelled Zuzana 2 howitzers to Ukraine under a commercial contract which a state-controlled producer signed, the Slovak Defence Ministry has said.

The Zuzana 2 howitzer, a modernised version of an older model, is using 155-mm rounds and has an effective range of 40 kilometres (25 miles) to more than 50 kilometres (30 miles) depending on the ammunition type.

African Union head to speak to Putin Friday in Russia

The head of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, will speak with President Vladimir Putin in the southwestern Russian city of Sochi on Friday, Dakar has said.

The visit is aimed at "freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers, the blockage of which particularly affects African countries", along with easing the Ukraine conflict, Sall's office said on Thursday.

The visit was organised after an invitation by Putin, and Sall will travel with the president of the African Union Commission, his office added. The AU will also receive a video address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though no date has been set.

Zelenskyy: Russia forcefully took 200,000 Ukrainian children

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has alleged that 200,000 children are among the Ukrainians who have been forcefully taken to Russia and dispersed across the vast country. They include children from orphanages, children taken with their parents and those separated from their families.

"The purpose of this criminal policy is not just to steal people but to make those who are deported forget about Ukraine and unable to return," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation, which was International Children's Day.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would punish those responsible but first, it would show Russia on the battlefield that "Ukraine cannot be conquered, that our people will not surrender and our children will not become the property of the occupiers."

Zelenskyy said 243 children have been killed so far in the conflict, 446 have been wounded and 139 are missing, adding that it could be more as his government doesn’t have a full picture of the situation in areas occupied by Russian troops.

Russia wounds five in missile attack

A Russian missile hit rail lines in the western Lviv region, a key conduit for supplies of Western weapons and other supplies, officials said.

Lviv region Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said five people were wounded in the strike, adding that more information would be available on Thursday.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the country's interior minister, said the Russians hit the Beskidy railway tunnel in the Carpathian Mountains in an apparent effort to cut a key railway link and disrupt shipments of weapons and fuel.

However, the head of Ukrainian railways said the damage to the railroad was still being assessed but the tunnel was spared. The strike reportedly delayed three passenger trains, but all later resumed their journeys.

For live updates from Wednesday (June 1), click here