Russia

Hundreds of Ukrainian troops have been killed after a major battlefield offensive against Russian forces was thwarted in the Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry said today.

At least 250 Ukrainian troops were killed, 16 tanks and infantry vehicles were destroyed, and 21 armoured combat vehicles were damaged in the skirmish, the ministry said.

"On the morning of 4 June, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the South Donetsk direction," the ministry said today.

"The enemy's goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front" but Ukraine "did not achieve its tasks, it had no success", the Russian ministry said.

It also shared a video claiming to show several Ukrainian armoured vehicles in a field blowing up after being hit. Officials in Kyiv have not commented on the Russian defence ministry's claims so far.

It is not clear whether the attack was the start of a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive which Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was ready for.

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04:02 , Arpan Rai

The Russian defence ministry has said hundreds of Ukrainian troops have been killed after a major battlefield offensive against Russian forces was thwarted in Donetsk region.

"On the morning of 4 June, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the South Donetsk direction," the ministry said today.

It added that "the enemy's goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front" but Ukraine "did not achieve its tasks, it had no success."

The ministry shared a video claiming to show several Ukrainian armoured vehicles in a field blowing up after being hit.

At least 250 Ukrainian troops were killed, 16 tanks and infantry vehicles were destroyed, and 21 armoured combat vehicles were damaged in the skirmish, the ministry said.

Officials in Kyiv have not commented on the Russian defence ministry's claims so far.

It in not clear whether the attack represented the start of a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive to recapture some of the territory taken by Russian forces after the invasion of February 2022.

08:16 , Eleanor Noyce

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday discussed upgrading partnership with India, a major arms buyer, as both countries grapple with China's economic rise and increased belligerence, officials said.

Austin met with India's Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, with both sides emphasizing technology partnerships including defense, clean energy and space. India is working to promote its domestic defense industry by acquiring technology and reducing reliance on imports, particularly from Russia, its largest supplier of military hardware despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

"I’m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership. Together, we’re advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific," Austin tweeted after his arrival in New Delhi on Sunday.

Ashok Sharma reports:

US defense secretary discusses upgrading ties with India to counter China

07:52 , Arpan Rai

Heavy fighting has been reported this morning by some prominent Russian military bloggers, including Semyon Pegov, who blogs under the name War Gonzo.

Ukrainian forces are attacking near Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk region, the military blogger said, adding that "there is a tough fight going on".

Other Russian military bloggers reported also heavy fighting today morning near Bakhmut, nearby Soledar and Vuhledar in the Donetsk region.

07:21 , Arpan Rai

Russia is likely buying back military supplies previously exported to Myanmar and India, customs clearance data assessed by Nikkei analysis shows.

The report cites records of Russian repurchases of parts for tanks and missiles exported previously to Myanmar and India, likely in a bid to reimport the components to improve older weapons expected to be used in Ukraine.

From India, Russia's Machine-Building Design Bureau (NPK KBM) looking after the country's missile production purchased six components for night-vision sight for ground-to-air missiles for $150,000 (£120,757) in August and November last year, the report shows.

The order was placed with the Indian Ministry of Defence.

While Russia likely reimported the parts for repairs, no records have been found of the items being sent back to India this year till March, the report added.

Russia possesses around 5,000 tanks, as per the annual report by the British think tank The International Institute for Strategic Studies in its 2023 edition of "The Military Balance".

07:02 , Arpan Rai

Russia is likely launching hundreds of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) like Iranian Shahed drones in an attempt to force Ukraine to fire stocks of valuable, advanced air defence missiles, the British defence ministry said today.

In just the month of May, Russia launched over 300 Iranian Shahed series one way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVs) against Ukraine, marking "its most intense use of this weapon system to date", the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that Russia is unlikely to have been notably successful. "Ukraine has neutralised at least 90 per cent of the incoming OWA-UAVs mostly using its older and cheaper air defence weapons and with electronic jamming," the ministry said.

"Russia has also likely been attempting to locate and strike Ukrainian forces well behind the front line. However, Russia remains very ineffective at hitting such dynamic targets at range because of its poor targeting processes," it added.

06:49 , Arpan Rai

The Ukrainian forces are advancing near Bakhmut, the commander of Ukraine‘s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said today.

He added that Ukrainian forces were successful in destroying a Russian position near the city.

"We continue moving forward," Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app.

06:23 , Arpan Rai

The Russian defence ministry shared grainy aerial footage today of an military offensive in Ukraine's Donetsk where it claims to have killed 250 soldiers and blown up enemy tanks.

In the 34-second video, a blurry view shows tanks moving in columns across swathes of green fields before being targeted by blasts.

A huge explosion is also seen after an isolated tank is destroyed in the video.

"Footage of the destruction of military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which took part in an attempted offensive in the South-Donetsk direction," the ministry posted on its official Telegram channel.

The Independent has not verified the authenticity of the video shared by the Russian defence ministry.

Officials in Kyiv have not commented on Russia's claims of thwarting a major offensive.

06:00 , Joe Middleton

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia‘s war, now in its 16th month, has killed at least 500 Ukrainian children.

Zelenskyy provided the number hours after rescue workers found the body of a 2-year-old girl who died in one of the latest Russian strikes.

The president said in a statement that "Russian weapons and hatred, which continue to take and destroy the lives of Ukrainian children every day," killed the hundreds who had perished since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started on Feb. 24, 2022.

Ukrainian president says at least 500 children killed by war

05:58 , Arpan Rai

Two drones fell on a highway in Russia's Kaluga region today, governor Vladislav Shapsha, said on the Telegram messaging app.

"There was no detonation, the area has been cordoned off," the governor said. The region borders the Moscow region to its north.

05:33 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of using a network of suppliers to evade international sanctions designed to prevent it from making missiles and other weapons.

The Ukrainian president said unnamed countries and companies were aiding Russia in acquiring military technology, with an emphasis on producing missiles.

"Unfortunately, the terrorist state manages to use the technologies of the world through a network of suppliers, manages to bypass international sanctions," Mr Zelensky said.

He added that Ukraine was well aware of all of Russia's efforts to evade sanctions and will seek to ensure that "there are no products of the free world in Russian missiles".

05:06 , Arpan Rai

An energy facility was ablaze in Russia's Belgorod region in the early hours today after a drone attack, the region's governor said.

"In the Belgorod region, one of the energy facilities is on fire. The preliminary cause of the fire was an explosive device dropped from a drone," Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram app. "There were no casualties."

05:00 , Joe Middleton

The award-winning film "20 Days in Mariupol" made its premiere in Ukraine on Saturday, seen for the first time by some of the Ukrainian medics and first responders who were chronicled in the documentary about how Russian forces bombed and blasted their way into the southeastern port city last year.

Repeated standing ovations in a packed Kyiv cinema, mixed with tears and hugs, greeted those Ukrainian civil servants who toiled nearly non-stop in and around a Mariupol hospital that was a centerpiece of the film about the city early on in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

For some, the screening served as an unsettling flashback to their own brush with death in the city — a fate inescapable for untold numbers of other victims of Russia's invasion, including toddlers, infants and expectant mothers whose final moments were caught on video shown in the film.

Homecoming on film: Award-winning Mariupol documentary screened for 1st time in Ukraine

04:25 , Arpan Rai

Heavy battles continue to grind in parts of eastern and southern Ukraine where Russia has been stationed for more than 15 months after it launched a full-scale invasion of the country.

- Russia now controls at least 18 per cent of what is internationally recognised to be Ukrainian territory, and has claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory.

- Russia's defence ministry said it killed 250 of Ukraine's forces after attacking them in southern Donetsk with six mechanised and two tank battalions on Sunday. Moscow has long suspected Ukraine would seek to drive a wedge through Russian-controlled territory.

- Ukraine has sought "silence" – an information control on its counteroffensive – ahead of the long-expected counterattack to reclaim territory that Russia has taken control over in the 15-month long war its been waging on its neighbour.

- An energy facility was ablze in Russia's Belgorod region after a drone attack struck the building in the early hours today, regional governor said.

- Tens of thousands of Russian troops continue digging trenches along a front line which stretches for around 600 miles (1,000km), bracing for a Ukrainian attack which is expected to try to cut Russia's so-called land bridge to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

04:00 , Joe Middleton

Gene Avakyan knows what it's like to grow up during times of tension, Robert Waugh writes.

He fled Ukraine under the barrel of a gun. Now his invention could derail Putin's war

03:00 , Joe Middleton

Rescue workers have been filmed searching rubble after a deadly airstrike hit a residential area in Ukraine.

A two-year-old girl was killed, and 22 other people injured, when the airstrike landed in Dnipro on June 3, Dnipropetrovsk governor Sergey Lysak said.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the airstrike landed "between two two-storey residential buildings".

While sharing footage of the rescue efforts, Volodymyr Zelensky said: "There are people under the rubble. All services are working."

Ukraine: Rescue workers search rubble of building after airstrike kills two-year-old

02:00 , Joe Middleton

Michael and Kristine Barnett, of Indiana, decided in 2010 to open their home to a disabled six-year-old from Ukraine — or so they thought. What followed was a rapid cascade of suspicion and allegations that led to the demise of their marriage, criminal charges against each of them and an unbelievable tale that questions the innocence of all involved, writes Sheila Flynn.

Six-year-old saved by adoption or murderous adult imposter: Who is Natalia Grace?

01:00 , Joe Middleton

Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny voiced hope for better future in Russia as his supporters held pickets and demonstrations to mark his 47th birthday on Sunday

Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court, charges he says were trumped up to punish his work to expose official corruption and organizing anti-Kremlin protests.

He is facing a new trial on extremism charges that could keep him in prison for decades. Kremlin critics view the case as another Russian government attempt to isolate President Vladimir Putin‘s most prominent foe.

Supporters of Russian opposition leader Navalny hold demonstrations to mark his 47th birthday

Sunday 4 June 2023 22:18 , Joe Middleton

Sunday 4 June 2023 21:00 , Martha Mchardy

When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he’ll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light.

He won't be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in "punishment isolation" cells, a 2-by-3-meter (6 1/2-by-10-foot) space. Guards usually blast patriotic songs and speeches by President Vladimir Putin at him.

"Guess who is the champion of listening to Putin's speeches? Who listens to them for hours and falls asleep to them?" Navalny said recently in a typically sardonic social media post via his attorneys from Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.

Inside the penal colonies: A glimpse at life for political prisoners swept up in Russia's crackdowns

Sunday 4 June 2023 20:30 , Martha Mchardy

When Dmitry Medvedev gave back the top spot in the Kremlin to Vladimir Putin in 2012, many observers hoped that the more liberal of the two men would continue to use his position to gently steer Russia in the direction of democratic reforms.

What they did not expect was how, a decade on, Medvedev has become Moscow's primary mouthpiece for nuclear sabre-rattling, as well as death threats to the leaders of Western nations, following his mentor's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A law graduate and then assistant professor at St Petersburg State University in the 1990s, Medvedev entered politics as a consultant to Putin during his time as an official in the St Petersburg city administration, before leading Putin's first presidential election campaign.

Arpan Rai reports:

How Dmitry Medvedev went from being Russia's president to Vladimir Putin's attack dog

Sunday 4 June 2023 20:00 , Martha Mchardy

Sunday 4 June 2023 19:30 , Martha Mchardy

Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny released excerpts of his correspondence with prison administrators Friday, detailing his sarcastic demands for things like a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika and even a kangaroo. His requests were denied.

Responses from prison officials, posted on his social media account apparently by his team, came after he has spent almost 180 days in solitary confinement since last summer at Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.

Navalny, 46, is serving a nine-year sentence after being convicted of fraud and contempt of court — charges he says were trumped up for his efforts to expose official corruption and organizing anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Read the full story:

Kremlin foe Navalny's demands in prison: moonshine, a balalaika and a pet kangaroo -- all denied

Sunday 4 June 2023 19:00 , Martha Mchardy

Rescue workers have been filmed searching rubble after a deadly airstrike hit a residential area in Ukraine.

A two-year-old girl was killed, and 22 other people injured, when the airstrike landed in Dnipro on June 3, Dnipropetrovsk governor Sergey Lysak said.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the airstrike landed "between two two-storey residential buildings".

While sharing footage of the rescue efforts, Volodymyr Zelensky said: "There are people under the rubble. All services are working."

Ukraine: Rescue workers search rubble of building after airstrike kills two-year-old

Sunday 4 June 2023 18:30 , Martha Mchardy

An aerospace engineer and entrepreneur who left the USSR as a child has created "robot" planes that he says could "change the world" and hopes they’ll be used in the war to help his birthplace.

Gene Avakyan knows what it's like to grow up during times of tension, having been born in Kyiv, Ukraine, before leaving the country when he was just nine years old – fleeing in the middle of the night and made to walk a gauntlet of "soldiers with AK-47s" just to get on a train.

Since then, his life has changed dramatically, with the 52-year-old falling in love with aviation and space travel as a teenager, and dedicating his time to developing new technologies in this area.

Robert Waugh reports:

He fled Ukraine under the barrel of a gun. Now his invention could derail Putin's war

Sunday 4 June 2023 18:00 , Martha Mchardy

Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny voiced hope for better future in Russia as his supporters held pickets and demonstrations to mark his 47th birthday on Sunday

Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court, charges he says were trumped up to punish his work to expose official corruption and organizing anti-Kremlin protests.

He is facing a new trial on extremism charges that could keep him in prison for decades. Kremlin critics view the case as another Russian government attempt to isolate President Vladimir Putin‘s most prominent foe.

Read the full story:

Supporters of Russian opposition leader Navalny hold demonstrations to mark his 47th birthday

Sunday 4 June 2023 17:30 , Martha Mchardy

Russian Orthodox believers celebrated Trinity Sunday with Russia's most famous icon transferred from a museum to Moscow‘s main cathedral despite the keepers’ vociferous protests.

The Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev, which was kept in Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery since the 1920s, was moved to Christ the Savior Cathedral before the holiday on President Vladimir Putin‘s personal order.

Putin's abrupt decision to hand over the 15th-century icon to the church came despite a strong opposition from the Tretyakov keepers, who warned that the icon was too fragile to move and requires constant care to avoid a drastic deterioraton in its condition.

Read the full story:

Russia's most famous icon handed over from museum to church despite protests

Sunday 4 June 2023 17:00 , Martha Mchardy

Russian forces used artillery to repel a cross-border incursion by a group of pro-Ukrainian "saboteurs" on Sunday, Interfax news agency reported, citing Russia's defence ministry.

Earlier, the governor of Belgorod, a Russian region bordering Ukraine, had reported fighting in the border town of Novaya Tavolzhanka.

Sunday 4 June 2023 16:54 , Martha Mchardy

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska visited Kharkiv today to commemorate Ukrainian children killed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a written statement she said: "The world must realize, if it hasn't realized yet: a threat to our children is a threat to all children. Childhood has no borders.

"It is difficult to open monuments to those killed. Especially if these killed are children.

"I remember a photo of a father holding the hand of his son who was killed at a bus stop here in Kharkiv," she went on.

"Parents hold their children's hand when they learn to walk. Parents hold their children's hand when they take them to kindergarten or school for the first time. And the most terrible thing is when parents hold the hands of the children who have been killed."

It comes as her husband, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said today at least 500 Ukrainian children have died since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while 1,005 have been injured.

Over 19,500 Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russian authorities, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Sunday 4 June 2023 16:45 , Martha Mchardy

Sunday 4 June 2023 16:14 , Martha Mchardy

Sunday 4 June 2023 15:40 , Martha Mchardy

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said on Sunday that he was willing to meet a pro-Ukraine group of Russian fighters keeping two Russian soldiers captive.

In a joint statement with the Russian Volunteer Corps, the Freedom of Russia Legion said earlier it was willing to hand over the soldiers in exchange for a meeting with the governor.

"Most likely they killed them, as hard as it is for me to say. But if they are alive, from 5-6 p.m - Shebekino checkpoint. I guarantee safety," governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Ukraine has previously denied any involvement with the Freedom of Russia Legion.

However, the group has claimed it cooperates with the Ukrainian armed forces and operates under Ukrainian command.

Sunday 4 June 2023 15:27 , Martha Mchardy

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said on Sunday that fighting with a ‘Ukrainian saboteur group’ was taking place in the town of Novaya Tavolzhanka, near the Ukrainian border.

Sunday 4 June 2023 15:05 , Martha Mchardy

In a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin's biggest foe to Russia's most prominent political prisoner.

Already serving two convictions that have landed him in prison for at least nine years, he faces a new trial that could keep him behind for two more decades.

Navalny turns 47 today in prison, where he has been repeatedly locked up in solitary confinement.

A look at Navalny's life, political activism and the charges he has faced through the years:

Read the full story:

Protests, poisoning and prison: A look at the life of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Sunday 4 June 2023 14:22 , Martha Mchardy

The Ukrainian military on Sunday renewed its plea for operational silence around a long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces, the latest in a stream of messages by Kyiv as it prepares for the assault.

Anticipation has mounted around what is expected to be a broad attack by Ukrainian forces to retake Russian-occupied territory in the east and south.

But Ukrainian officials have repeatedly discouraged public speculation over the operation, saying it could help the enemy.

Authorities in recent days have also cracked down on citizens sharing images or footage of air defence systems shooting down Russian missiles.

"Plans love silence. There will be no announcement of the start," the ministry said in a video posted to official Telegram channels, apparently referring to the counteroffensive.

The sleekly-produced footage featured masked and well-armed front-line troops holding their fingers against their lips, gesturing for silence amid the distant rumble of artillery and gunfire.

It ended with images of soaring F-16 fighter jets - long coveted by Kyiv as it seeks to boost its air defence against Russian missiles and drones.

Kyiv's Western allies in recent months have provided weapons, armour and ammunition for the counteroffensive, which military experts have said could prove difficult against dug-in Russian forces.

In an interview published on Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was prepared for the operation but avoided making any predictions.

"To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different," he told the Wall Street Journal. "But we are going to do it, and we are ready."

Other senior officials, including defence minister Oleksii Reznikov, have similarly sought to tamp down expectations.

In some cases, however, the military has also fed the anticipation. Social media outreach by Kyiv has often been intended to intimidate the Kremlin.

Last week, it posted a flashy video depicting troops preparing for battle and reciting a rousing blessing, which was later aired as a recruiting clip.

Sunday 4 June 2023 14:19 , Martha Mchardy

The Kremlin said on Sunday that any supply of long-range missiles to Kyiv by France and Germany would lead to a further round of "spiralling tension" in the Ukraine conflict.

Britain last month became the first country to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles.

Ukraine has asked Germany for Taurus cruise missiles, which have a range of 500 km (311 miles), while President Emmanuel Macron has said France will give Ukraine missiles with a range allowing it to carry out its long-anticipated counteroffensive.

"We are already starting to see discussions about deliveries from France and Germany of missiles with a range of 500 km or more," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a reporter from the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"This is a completely different weapon which will lead to, let's say, another round of spiralling tension," he said.

Russia has repeatedly criticised Western countries for supplying Ukraine with weapons and has warned that NATO members have effectively become direct parties to the conflict.

Moscow has made clear it sees such weapons supplied by the West as legitimate targets in what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, now in its 16th month.

Ukraine says it needs more weapons, including long-range missiles, to defend itself against Russian attacks and re-capture its occupied territory.

Peskov also reiterated that Russia would continue its operations in Ukraine until the "job is done... There is no alternative".

Moscow says it had to act in Ukraine to protect its own security and push back against what it says is a hostile and aggressive West bent on the destruction of Russia.

Sunday 4 June 2023 14:05 , Martha Mchardy

Michael and Kristine Barnett, of Indiana, decided in 2010 to open their home to a disabled six-year-old from Ukraine — or so they thought. What followed was a rapid cascade of suspicion and allegations that led to the demise of their marriage, criminal charges against each of them and an unbelievable tale that questions the innocence of all involved, writes Sheila Flynn.

Six-year-old saved by adoption or murderous adult imposter: Who is Natalia Grace?

Sunday 4 June 2023 13:35 , Martha Mchardy

The award-winning film "20 Days in Mariupol" made its premiere in Ukraine on Saturday, seen for the first time by some of the Ukrainian medics and first responders who were chronicled in the documentary about how Russian forces bombed and blasted their way into the southeastern port city last year.

Repeated standing ovations in a packed Kyiv cinema, mixed with tears and hugs, greeted those Ukrainian civil servants who toiled nearly non-stop in and around a Mariupol hospital that was a centerpiece of the film about the city early on in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

For some, the screening served as an unsettling flashback to their own brush with death in the city — a fate inescapable for untold numbers of other victims of Russia's invasion, including toddlers, infants and expectant mothers whose final moments were caught on video shown in the film.

Read the full story:

Homecoming on film: Award-winning Mariupol documentary screened for 1st time in Ukraine

Sunday 4 June 2023 13:02 , Martha Mchardy

The circumstances of the death of a two-year-old girl killed by Russian missile strikes in Dnipro have been revealed.

The city's governor Serhiy Lysak said the two-year-old, who has been named as Lisa, was at home with her mother when Russian artillery struck the garden of their house.

The girl's father, who returned home from work to find his house destroyed, "screamed wildly" when he found his wife and daughter under the rubble, the governor said.

"It is difficult to imagine what the girl's father felt," he added.

The girl's mother was taken to intensive care, but the two-year-old died at the scene.

"Generation after generation will hate the aggressor for everything he has done. We will not forgive," the governor said.

At least 22 people were injured, including five children, after a Russian rocket attack hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Saturday night.

Sunday 4 June 2023 12:25 , Martha Mchardy

A group of pro-Ukraine Russian fighters said on Sunday they had taken two Russian soldiers captive amid fighting in Russia's Belgorod region and offered to exchange them during a personal meeting with the regional governor.

The joint statement by the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps was posted on the former's Telegram channel.

Ukraine has previously denied any involvement with the Freedom of Russia Legion.

However, the group has claimed it cooperates with the Ukrainian armed forces and operates under Ukrainian command.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Sunday 4 June 2023 12:19 , Martha Mchardy

"Paranoid" Russian officials have effectively outlawed the wearing of blue and yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in public, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.

In an intelligence update posted on Twitter, the UK defence ministry said some Russian officials have outlawed the colours because they "might evidence discreet support for Ukraine."

The ministry said the clampdown "highlights uncertainty within a paranoid Russian officialdom of what is and is deemed permissible within an increasingly totalitarian system."

"Some local Russian security officials are likely interpreting Russia's draconian wartime legislation to mean that public display of blue and yellow items is outlawed because it might evidence discreet support for Ukraine," the update said.

In May, a care home worker was reportedly arrested after wearing a blue and yellow jacket to work, the Ministiry of Defence said.

Meanwhile, in recent days, Russian National Guard troops arrested a 22 year old man in Volkhov near St Petersburg for displaying what was eventually determined to be the blue and yellow flag of Russia's own Aerospace Forces.

The Ministry of Defence said Russia's ultra-nationalist, pro-war Liberal Democratic party, whose own branding features yellow on a blue background, had criticised the arrests.

Sunday 4 June 2023 12:03 , Martha Mchardy

At least 500 Ukrainian children have died since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, president Zelensky has said.

The president said in a statement that "Russian weapons and hatred, which continue to take and destroy the lives of Ukrainian children every day", killed the hundreds who had perished since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, 2022.

"Many of them could have become famous scholars, artists, sports champions, contributing to Ukraine's history," he said.

Mr Zelensky said it was impossible to establish the exact number of children who were casualties due to the ongoing hostilities and because some areas are under Russian occupation.

"We must hold out and win this war!" the Ukrainian president said. "All of Ukraine, all our people, all our children, must be free from the Russian terror."

Rescuers found the two-year-old's body early on Sunday while combing through the rubble of an apartment building in the suburbs of the central city of Dnipro.

The regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said five children were among 22 people injured by Saturday's attack, which damaged two residential buildings.

Sunday 4 June 2023 11:59 , Martha Mchardy

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces shelled a market area in the town of Shebekino, about 7 km (4 miles) from the Ukrainian border, but that no one was injured.

He said the shelling had caused fires to break out near the town's market, a private area and a grain depot.

The reports have not been independently verified.

"Emergency services are on the scene," governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Sunday 4 June 2023 11:56 , Martha Mchardy

Vladimir Putin's troops "may not hold on to Bakhmut," a military analyst has said.

Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. research group, said Russian forces will "find it difficult to defend" Bakhmut now Wagner mercenary fighters are withdrawing from the city.

"And so they may not hold on to Bakhmut, and the whole thing may have ended up being for nothing for them down the line," he told the War on the Rocks podcast in an interview on Tuesday.

Russian forces declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month after a nine-month battle with Ukrainian forces.

However, Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar has warned that "the battle for the Bakhmut area hasn't stopped," she said. "It is ongoing, just taking different forms."

Maliar said artillery shelling still goes on in Bakhmut at levels similar to those at the height of the battle to take the city.

It comes as Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his men would withdraw from the city, after a dispute with the Kremlin over a lack of ammunition received from Putin's government, and a loss of over 20,000 of his men.

They will be replaced by Russian forces.

Russia had envisioned the capture of Bakhmut as partial fulfilment of its ambition to seize control of the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine's industrial heartland. Now, its forces have been compelled to regroup, rotate fighters and rearm just to hold the city.

Sunday 4 June 2023 11:30 , Martha Mchardy

Sunday 4 June 2023 11:15 , Martha Mchardy

A senior Ukrainian government official expressed "disbelief" on Sunday after learning that nearly half of Kyiv bomb shelters inspected during an initial audit were closed or unfit for use.

President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered an inspection of all Ukrainian shelters on Friday, a day after three people were killed in Kyiv when they were unable to access one during a Russian air strike.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine's minister of strategic industries, said that out of 1,078 shelters examined on the first day, 359 were unprepared and another 122 locked, while 597 were found to be usable.

"I greeted with disbelief that fact that half were open and considered ready," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"Yesterday, when we selectively checked the shelters in the Obolon district with our mayor, the absolute majority of the shelters were closed."

Kamyshin said the inspections, taking place with the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine now in its 17th month, would continue.

Russia has stepped up regular attacks on Kyiv since early May, especially at night, in what officials say is an attempt to damage morale ahead of a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory.

Thursday's deaths caused a public outcry and a promise of a harsh response by Zelensky, which appeared aimed at Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, who has clashed with the president before.

Klitschko acknowledged at a local committee meeting on Friday that he bore some responsibility but said others were also to blame, particularly allies of the president who had been appointed to lead the city's districts.

Sunday 4 June 2023 11:00 , Martha Mchardy

Sunday 4 June 2023 10:34 , Martha Mchardy

Three people have died and seven were injured after shelling in the Donetsk region on Saturday night.

One person died and seven were wounded after attacks in Hirnyk, a town south of Kharkiv, Sky News reported, citing the Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Meanwhile, a further two people died In Horlivskyi near the city of Donetsk, the governor is reported to have added.

Sunday 4 June 2023 10:30 , Martha Mchardy

Concerns around civilian safety spiked in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country's air-raid shelters locked or unusable, just days after a woman in Kyiv allegedly died waiting outside a shuttered shelter during a Russian missile barrage.

The Ukrainian interior ministry said through its press service Saturday that of the "over 4,800" shelters it had inspected, 252 were locked and a further 893 "unfit for use."

That same day, the Kyiv regional prosecutor's office reported that four people were detained in a criminal probe into the 33-year-old's death on Thursday outside the locked shelter. The prosecutor's office said that one person, a security guard who had failed to unlock the doors, remained under arrest, while three others, including a local official, had been put under house arrest.

Susie Blann reports:

Fears rise for civilian safety as Ukraine investigates locked air-raid shelters