Ukraine-Russia war latest: Two killed after Putin's forces launch massive drone strike on Kharkiv
At least two people were killed and 57 injured in a massive Russian drone attack on Kharkiv overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
According to Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov, 'seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs were carried out in two districts of the city this night'.
A five-storey building caught fire, with over 15 apartments burning, and several houses were struck as well.
Mr Terekhov warned that people could still be trapped under the rubble.
Separately, Russian forces launched a devastating five-hour drone assault on Kyiv on Tuesday in one of the largest attacks of the war on the capital so far.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow 's forces fired over 315 drones at Ukraine overnight, killing seven people.
'Every night, instead of a ceasefire, there have been massive strikes with Shaheds, cruise missiles and ballistics. Today was one of the largest strikes on Kyiv. Odesa, the Dnipro region and Chernihiv region were also targeted,' he said.
Seven children among 57 injured in Kharkiv attack
A nine-minute Russian drone strike on Kharkiv killed at least two people and injured 57, among them seven children, overnight, regional officials reported on Wednesday.
The barrage of 17 drones ignited fires in 15 units of a five-storey apartment building and caused widespread damage across the city, which lies near the Russian border.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the strikes directly hit apartment blocks, private homes, playgrounds, businesses, and public transport.
'Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burnt, windows are broken,' he wrote on Telegram.
Emergency crews were seen rescuing residents, providing medical aid, and battling fires in the dark, according to a Reuters witness.
Nine of the injured, including a two-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, were hospitalised, regional governor Oleh Sinehubov said.
The attack also damaged a city trolley bus depot and multiple residential buildings.
Russia has not commented on the strikes.
Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, repelled a Russian ground advance early in the war but continues to face regular drone, missile, and aerial bomb attacks.
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 07:00
US to cut military aid to Ukraine, Hegseth says
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that the upcoming defence budget will reduce military aid to Ukraine, reflecting a major shift in US policy under president Donald Trump.
Mr Hegseth said the administration now favours a negotiated settlement to the conflict over continued military support for Ukraine.
The aid cuts come as Russia intensifies attacks on Ukrainian cities and advances towards new regions.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the US has provided over $66bn in aid to Ukraine.
'It is a reduction in this budget,' Mr Hegseth told lawmakers. 'This administration takes a very different view of that conflict. We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation's interests, especially with all the competing interests around the globe.'
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 06:30
Cathedral described as 'the soul of all Ukraine' damaged in Russian attack
A Russian attack has damaged Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of Ukraine 's most significant monuments, according to Ukraine's culture minister.
Mykola Tochytskyi announced on Facebook that the overnight attack struck"at the very heart of our identity again". He called the 11th-century cathedral "the soul of all Ukraine" and a shrine that "survived for centuries".
"Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a shrine which survived for centuries and symbolises the birth of our statehood, was damaged," he said.
He added that the blast wave damaged the cornice on the main apse of the landmark. Video from the scene showed pieces of white plaster crumbled to the ground.
This is the first time since the start of the war that the cathedral has been damaged, first deputy director general of the site Vadym Kyrylenko told reporters.
Cathedral described as 'soul of all Ukraine' damaged in Russian attack
This is the first time since the start of the war that the cathedral has been damaged
11 June 2025 06:00
2 killed in overnight drone attacks on Kharkiv
A Russian drone attack on Kharkiv overnight killed at least two people and injured 54.
Mayor Igor Terekhov reported 17 strikes across two districts, causing fires in a five-storey building with over 15 apartments affected.
Several houses were also hit, and there are fears people may be trapped under the rubble.
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 05:18
Russia has been ready to return dead Ukrainian soldiers 'for several days' - Kremlin
Russia has been ready to return the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war 'for several days', the Kremlin has claimed.
Moscow and Kyiv are still in talks on the subject, the Kremlin said
On Saturday Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said the Russian side had shown up at the agreed exchange point with the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian dead soldiers only to find nobody from Ukraine to take them.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of "trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game" around the issue of the exchanges.
The exchange was agreed during a second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2. The Kremlin said it did not yet know exactly how many bodies of Russian soldiers Ukraine was ready to hand over.
Alex Croft11 June 2025 05:00
Zelensky calls on Western allies to cut price cap on Russian oil
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is urging Western allies to cut the price cap on Russian oil from $60 to $30 per barrel to increase pressure on Moscow to seek peace.
This comes amid a sharp escalation in Russian attacks on Ukraine, including a major aerial assault on Kyiv.
While the EU has proposed lowering the cap to $45 as part of its latest sanctions, Mr Zelensky called that a 'compromise price' and insisted that stronger economic measures are needed to curb Russia's war efforts.
'Russia's ability to continue the war is equal to its ability to sell its oil and bypass financial barriers,' the president said.
'That is why it is necessary ... to do everything possible to keep the price of Russian oil lower than they can withstand. Each of the partners knows what price cap is needed — $30, no higher. Such a price level will mean real pressure on Russia – they should be forced to seek peace.'
He added: 'Enough compromises with Russia. Every such compromise is a postponement of peace. We are asking for a real reduction in the price of Russian oil, which would bring us closer to ending the war.'
'It is vital that there is no silence in response to the Russian escalation, and it is obvious that there is an escalation,' he said.
'Russia has been steadily increasing the number of lethal weapons in strikes for months now.'
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 04:30
Russian jet suspected of violating Finnish airspace, defence ministry says
A Russian military aircraft allegedly violated Finland's airspace on 10 June, the country's defence ministry said in a statement.
'The investigation into the suspect's airspace breach has been launched immediately,' Finnish defence minister Antti Hakkanen said.
The ministry added the 'Border Guard is investigating the case and will provide more information as the investigation progresses'.
The alleged airspace violation occurred near the city of Porvoo, about 50km east of Helsinki.
On 22 May, two Russian aircraft violated Finnish airspace, while the day prior, Polish fighter jets intercepted a Russian Su-24 bomber in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
Maroosha Muzaffar11 June 2025 04:05
Poland's new president says Russia is country's 'greatest threat'
Poland's newly elected president Karol Nawrocki has warned that Russia is the 'biggest threat' his country faces, as he expressed a desire to meet with Hungary's Viktor Orban, who is perhaps the European leader most closely aligned with Vladimir Putin.
It was not yet clear what Mr Nawrocki's policy on Ukraine would be, but he reiterated that he opposed Kyiv's plans to join the European Union.
However, Poland supports Ukraine strategically, because 'the greatest threat to me, as an anti-communist, and in my opinion to the entire region, is the Russian Federation', he said.
Mr Nawrocki claimed that 'Ukraine must also understand that other countries – including Poland, Hungary, and other European nations – have interests of their own.'
And in his first foreign interview, given to a Hungarian magazine Mandiner, Mr Nawrocki said that Budapest is a 'very important partner for Poland', adding: 'We are facing serious tasks, such as building the Visegrad Group, which will be an important format for me, as well as strengthening Nato's eastern flank and the Bucharest Nine.'
He added: 'I certainly wish to meet prime minister Viktor Orban, who is a very effective politician, as proven by his repeated election results in Hungary. And I count on good cooperation with him, just as with other countries, in the interest of the region.'
Mr Orban said on Friday that Mr Nawrocki's victory was 'fantastically good', hailing the success of an ally of US president Donald Trump.
Alex Croft11 June 2025 01:00
Ukraine maternity hospital hit in deadly Russian drone strikes
A Ukraine maternity hospital has been hit after Russia launched a deadly wave of drones and missiles in an attack on Odesa early Tuesday morning (10 June).
At least two people were killed and nine injured in the attack with the maternity hospital and residential buildings in the centre of the southern port city damaged, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said.
The fresh attacks came hours after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment in the three-year war.
Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating a Russian response to Ukraine's audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases.
Ukraine maternity hospital hit in deadly Russian drone strikes
A Ukraine maternity hospital has been hit after Russia launched a deadly wave of drones and missiles in an attack on Odesa early Tuesday morning (10 June). At least two people were killed and nine injured in the attack with the maternity hospital and residential buildings in the centre of the southern port city damaged, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said. The fresh attacks came hours after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment in the three-year war. Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating a Russian response to Ukraine's audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases.
Alex Croft11 June 2025 00:00
Pictured: Kyiv suffers one of heaviest Russian attacks of the war
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Kyiv mayor tells Trump: Come and see my bombed-out city
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, has invited Donald Trump to visit the Ukrainian capital to witness for himself the destructive toll of non-stop Russian bombardment. In an interview with The Telegraph, the former world heavyweight champion boxer said he used to be a tour guide and would be 'very happy' to return to the role for the US president. Besides the city's historical treasures, he 'will be presenting the buildings where civilians have been killed, children killed' in an effort to secure further defensive weapons for Ukraine. The day before meeting The Telegraph in his office in city hall, Russia launched one of its largest bombardments on the capital, firing around 300 drones and seven ballistic and cruise missiles on June 11. On Tuesday, 30 people were killed in a nine-hour-long attack on the city that included a Russian drone flying straight into a residential block, obliterating the building and trapping dozens under the rubble. What was a fairly intermittent threat to one of Europe's largest capitals has become a constant, harrowing bombardment, with residents spending hours each night in shelters as air defences rattle off gunfire to bring down swarms of whining Shaheds. Vladimir Putin can now fire over 4,000 drones at Ukraine per month, a tenfold increase compared to this time last year, following massive investment in manufacturing. 'We need more support,' says Mr Klitschko, leaning his 6ft 7in frame forward across the boardroom table. 'Because more and more drones are coming from the Russian Federation.' Kyiv is one of Ukraine's best-protected cities, using both Patriot air-defence batteries and a network of mobile gun-teams that chase after drones in pick-up trucks. But the sheer volume of attacks means more slip through. Russia's engineers have 'modernised' the Shahed kamikaze drone with their domestically produced variant known as the Geran, says Mr Klitschko. 'They are already much faster. They fly much higher. And sometimes it's very difficult to identify the drones,' he says. The latest Gerans can piggy-back on Ukrainian internet and mobile network systems, making it much harder to detect and spoof them with electronic warfare countermeasures. 'You question why [we need] the United States,' the mayor says. 'Right now we need the defensive weapons, because we are defending our territorial integrity and our independence. 'My first job, many, many, many years ago, before I started my sports club era, was working as a tour guide in my home town. And I will be very happy to make an excursion for Trump.' Getting the attention of the White House is a challenge, one made all the more difficult by the launch of Israel's war against Iran and its nuclear programme. Some 20,000 anti-drone missiles destined for Ukraine were recently transferred to the Middle East. Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, announced that from next year the US will no longer purchase new arms for Ukraine. Mr Trump often appears ringside at the Ultimate Fighting Championship, hugging and posing for pictures with the blood-slicked winners. Could Mr Klitschko, who was known as Dr Ironfist in the ring, appeal to him this way? 'We actually fought in Taj Mahal Palace,' says the mayor, referring to a 2002 bout against Ray Mercer at the president's now-closed casino resort in Atlantic City. The fight, like 45 of his 47, ended in victory for Mr Klitschko, during a period of almost total dominance of the heavyweight division, alongside his brother, Vladimir. 'Trump was in the first row, I guess,' he says. 'And we have good discussion, good communication. I hope it's very soon I have a chance to talk personally to Trump and give him lots of arguments.' In the June 8 barrage, a headquarters of the US defence giant Boeing was struck, along with a building used to process British visas until late last year. 'It is not possible to keep representatives from any country safe,' Mr Klitschko says. Flags, drone parts and a traditional Ukrainian mace adorn the mayor's office. Asked for his favourite memento, Mr Klitschko walks behind his desk and pulls out a photograph of his son, Maxim, as a seven-year-old boy. Then he shows a picture on his phone of himself standing by the side of a much taller man. This is Maxim at 7ft 5in , fully grown and, at the age of 20, a professional basketball player with AS Monaco. 'He makes us look small,' says Mr Klitschko with a smile. 'We hope he will join the NBA.' In Ukraine, debate rages over whether to lower the age of conscription, from 25 to 18, amid growing shortages of manpower. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, has resisted US pressure in favour of a reduction. Cautiously, Mr Klitschko opens a gap between himself and the commander-in-chief. 'If you go to the street and see, from 10 workers, you see seven women and three men,' he says. 'And in other cities the number of men is much smaller.' 'The age of mobilisation is not our responsibility, it's a decision of government, but we have right now a huge deficit of human resources, and, if possible, pretty soon, the central government can make this decision.' Does he think it would be right? Mr Klitschko says 'if we don't have another source' of men it may 'have to be', emphasising each word percussively. For years, Mr Klitschko and Mr Zelensky have been at each other's throats. When he was a comedian, the president played a 'translator' to the mayor in one long-running skit, turning Mr Klitschko's incomprehensible blithering and raspberries – played by an actor – into full sentences. The president appeared to recall the sketch when, in February, he responded to Mr Klitschko's suggestion that Ukraine might temporarily exchange the four regions occupied by Russia for peace. 'I know he's a great athlete,' Mr Zelensky said. 'But I didn't know he was a great speaker.' In the president's eyes, Mr Klitschko has allowed corruption to flourish, doing little to stem the 'Kyiv system' of kickbacks, elite contractors and backroom deals. The national anti-corruption bureau has recently arrested a string of the mayor's subordinates in city hall, with many cases focused on the sale of land permits. To Mr Klitschko, the president is an authoritarian intent on edging him out of power as he fears a rival with international clout. He accuses the president of undermining mayors from opposition parties and replacing them with allies under the guise of separate military administrations, such as that established in Kyiv. In the last couple of years, he says, the prosecutor's office has 'opened 1,500 criminal cases' against his administration. 'Maybe you can take [from this], that the prosecutor's office, police is working pretty well.' But opening criminal cases is 'very, very easy. How many go to court? Just eight'. The focus on corruption is because the 'whole media is in one hand' he claims and 'because a lot of politicians make a huge mistake... preparing for an election' after the war is over. 'Kyiv is one of the largest cities not just in Ukraine but also in Eastern Europe,' he says, adding that Mr Zelensky wants to 'control Kyiv [and] I'm not a member of the president's party'. Critics in the president's office would reply that Mr Klitschko is himself not immune to political manoeuvring. Ending the interview, the former boxer pokes his head back through the door to apologise for his English. 'I don't get much opportunity to practice any more,' says the one-time Los Angeles resident, now never dressed in anything but khaki. Then he is gone, with battles to be fought on all fronts.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Putin's claim that Ukraine is ‘ours' is evidence of his disdain for peace efforts, says Kyiv
Vladimir Putin has said he believes the whole of Ukraine is 'ours' and warned that advancing Russian forces could take the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy as part of a bid to carve out a buffer zone along the border. Ukraine's foreign minister denounced the Russian president's statements on Friday as evidence of Russian 'disdain' for US peace efforts and said Moscow was bent on seizing more territory and killing more Ukrainians. Putin, when asked about fresh Russian advances, told the country's flagship economic forum in St Petersburg that he considered Russians and Ukrainians to be one people and 'in that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours'. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected the notion that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. The Ukrainian president said commanders had discussed Russian action in the Sumy region and 'we are holding them back and eliminating these killers'. Vladimir Putin claimed he was not questioning Ukraine's independence or its people's striving for sovereignty but that when Ukraine declared independence as the Soviet Union fell in 1991 it also declared its neutrality. He said Moscow wanted Ukraine to accept the reality on the ground – where Russia now controls about a fifth of Ukraine – if there was to be a chance of peace. Andrii Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said on X: 'Putin's cynical statements demonstrate complete disdain for US peace efforts. While the United States and the rest of the world have called for an immediate end to the killing, Russia's top war criminal discusses plans to seize more Ukrainian territory and kill more Ukrainians.' Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that Russia had shown 'openly and utterly cynically that they 'don't feel like' agreeing to a ceasefire. Russia wants to continue the war.' Russia and Ukraine exchanged more captured soldiers on Friday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month. 'A group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,' Russia's defence ministry said. 'In exchange, a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war was handed over.' An Agence France-Presse reporter saw freed Ukrainian prisoners of war being greeted by tearful relatives after stepping off a bus. Zelenskyy said most of the Ukrainians freed in the swap had been in Russian captivity 'for over two years'. Moscow posted a video of Russian soldiers in military fatigues chanting 'Russia, Russia' with Russian flags draped over them. Neither side said how many soldiers were freed in Friday's swap. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was working on the rapid development of interceptor drones to counter the swarms of Russian drones that have been descending on Ukrainian cities in increasing numbers in recent weeks. 'Several of our domestic enterprises – and, accordingly, different types of drones – are delivering results,' he said. 'Production volumes of interceptors are already increasing.' Russian forces have been deploying more than 400 drones on a single night. Vladimir Putin said Russia must not be allowed to fall into recession as some in his government warned of a hit to economic growth. 'Some specialists and experts are pointing to the risks of stagnation and even a recession,' he said at the St Petersburg forum on Friday. 'This must not be allowed to happen under any circumstances.' Russia posted its slowest quarterly expansion in two years for the first quarter of 2025 and analysts have warned that heavy public investment in the defence industry is no longer enough to keep the country's economy growing.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Banned from home for 40 years: deportations are Russia's latest move to ‘cleanse' Ukraine
Earlier this year, Serhiy Serdiuk was deported from Russia, along with his wife and daughter. He was given a 40-year ban from re-entering the country. Serdiuk's home town of Komysh-Zoria, in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, was part of the territory occupied in the first weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion in spring 2022. According to Moscow, it is now part of Russia. And because Serdiuk, the headteacher of a local school, refused to work for the new authorities, they decided he had no place living there. 'I was born there, I've lived my whole life there, in the same place,' said Serdiuk, in a recent interview in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital still controlled by Kyiv, where he now lives. 'Now I am kicked out of my own home and told I didn't live in the country I thought I lived in? How is this possible?' The deportation of Serdiuk and his family is part of a continuing 'cleansing' operation of the occupied territories, which may accelerate if US-led attempts to push Russia and Ukraine into a peace deal result in the freezing of the current frontlines, solidifying Russian control over the territory Moscow has seized over the past three years. In the early months of the invasion, Russian forces used lists to identify potentially troublesome pro-Ukrainian members of society in the occupied territories. Many were kidnapped, tortured and held in Russian jails. Perhaps wary of the cost and resources required to jail thousands more people, authorities have now employed a new tactic. 'There were cases when they just came to people and said, 'It's in your interests to disappear from here, or we'll have to take you to the basement,' and then people left by themselves,' Serdiuk recalled. But in his case and some others the authorities did not leave it to chance. Ivan Fedorov, the governor of Zaporizhzhia region, estimated that 'hundreds' of people had been deported from the occupied part of the region in recent months. Vladimir Putin signed a decree in March that stipulates 'Ukrainian citizens who have no legal basis for living in the Russian Federation are obliged to leave' by 10 September, or take Russian citizenship. Serdiuk was born in Komysh-Zoria, a small town home to around 2,000 people, and had lived there his whole life, except for a few years studying in nearby Berdiansk. He started working at the local school, which had about 240 pupils, in 1999, beginning as a maths teacher and in 2018 being made headteacher. Komysh-Zoria was occupied, without major fighting, in the first days of the full-scale invasion, and by April 2022, the new Russian authorities called a meeting of the school's 30 teachers, demanding that they open the school and teach the Russian curriculum. Serdiuk refused, and most of the teachers followed suit. In the ensuing weeks, Russian soldiers came to Serdiuk's home and tried to persuade him to open the school. First, they were polite. Then, the threats started: 'If you don't want all your employees to have house searches, tell them to go to work.' One PE teacher agreed to work for the Russians immediately, but most of the others held out, he said. His school remains closed, and students now attend schools in one of two nearby towns. 'I told them I'd never work for them and I kept to that,' said Serdiuk. For three years, he sat at home, unemployed, as Russian control solidified over the region. At the end of 2023, Serdiuk was told that he and his family would be deported. They were given three days to prepare, and packed their possessions into a few suitcases, but then were left waiting for more than a month. Their passports had been seized so they could not leave of their own volition. Eventually, at the end of January, they were driven to the regional capital of Melitopol and then put in a minibus with another family. Each deportee was sat on a pair of seats, handcuffed to a guard sitting beside them. The minibus drove for 20 hours until it reached the mountainous border between Russia and Georgia. Two drivers took turns at the wheel. At the border, the Ukrainians were handed back their passports and told to cross to the Georgian side. Serdiuk and his wife were given a 40-year ban from Russian territory; his 21-year-old daughter was given 50 years. From Georgia, they flew to Moldova, then back into Ukraine and all the way to Zaporizhzhia, to arrive at a spot around 90 miles (140km) away from their homes. Serdiuk is now teaching private maths lessons in the city, and plans to find a job at a local school. 'At least here I can talk normally and not be scared of every passing car,' he said. But the forced deportation brings with it a lot of pain, most notably that he had to leave behind his mother, who has advanced dementia, in occupied territory. Before 2022, she had been taking medication to slow the progression of the condition, but after the invasion the family was unable to get the pills and the effect was swift and devastating. 'She can talk and walk but she can't look after herself. It required constant vigilance, otherwise she would slip out of the house and walk back to the house where she was born,' said Serdiuk. When notice of the deportation came, Serdiuk drove his mother to his sister's house and bade her farewell. He does not know if he will ever see her again. During a long interview, Serdiuk used humour and sarcasm to offset the depressing reality, but the one time he became visibly emotional was when asked for his thoughts on possible plans to freeze the frontlines as part of a peace settlement. The idea is something being pushed by the US, and many in Ukraine also support this, feeling that a temporary respite would be better than continuing the grinding, bloody fight. For Serdiuk, however, it would mean an unacceptable sacrifice. 'How could I support this? How could I say that it's fine that I was pushed out of my home and can't go back?' He also fears for his former pupils. While Russia has sent in new teachers to the occupied areas, Serdiuk said this mainly concerned bigger cities. In the small settlements of his district, most of the teachers remained local, he said, and might be trying to avoid some of the harsher aspects of the new Russian curriculum. However, he said that with the pressure to conform to the needs of the new authorities, the respite would only be temporary. 'They are demanding that there are portraits of Putin on the walls, that the children draw pictures and write wishes for their soldiers,' he said. 'This all breaks the psychological balance of a child. A year ago we lived in Ukraine, and now Ukraine is bad and we are drawing pictures of our liberators? If we freeze this conflict, then in two or three years these children will already be lost.'
