events

Here are the key events on day six of the Israel-Iran conflict.

Here’s where things stand on Monday, June 18:

Fighting

• The Israeli army continued to launch attacks across Iran, targeting the capital Tehran, where explosions were reported throughout the day, in the central province of Isfahan as well as near Kahraj.
• Israel said it struck 40 sites in Iran, including weapons facilities. Other strikes targeted two centrifuge production facilities – one in Tehran and one in Kahraj, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
• Israel’s military claimed it is “operating freely” in Iranian skies, while confirming one of its unmanned aircraft was downed in Iranian territory. Iranian state media said Iranian forces shot down an Israeli drone and fighter jet.
• An Iranian drone that entered airspace over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria was also intercepted, Israel said, adding later that a second drone was intercepted in the south of the territory.
• Iran also launched a wave of missile attacks towards Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said long-range Sejjil missiles were used in its 12th wave of firings at Israel.
• The IRGC warned that the skies above “occupied lands” are open to Iranian missiles and drones, adding that the attacks will be “focused and continuous”.
• Explosions were reported in the greater Tel Aviv area and east of the city. Israel said it intercepted eight missiles in that salvo in the evening.

Casualties and disruptions

• An Israeli strike on a vehicle in Isfahan’s Najafabad killed six people, including a pregnant woman and two children, according to local media reports.
• Israel did not report any deaths on Wednesday.
• Iran’s Ministry of Communications said it will temporarily limit internet access to prevent “the enemy from threatening citizens’ lives and property”.
• The London-based internet watchdog NetBlocks also said that there was a “near-total national internet blackout”.
• A spokesman for the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development in Iran announced the extension of domestic and international flight cancellations until early Thursday.
• Public safety guidelines in Israel that heavily restricted activity were eased. Limited gatherings and work operations are now allowed in areas where people can quickly reach a “standard protected place” until Friday evening.

Diplomacy

• Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered his first televised address since Israel began its attacks on Friday, warning that any United States military intervention in the conflict would be met with “irreparable consequences”.
• Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, warned in an interview with Al Jazeera that any US intervention would be “a recipe for an all-out war in the region”.
• US President Donald Trump spoke to reporters on the White House lawn, and when asked if the US was moving closer to striking Iran, he said: “I may do it. I may not do it.”
• Trump also claimed that Iranian officials reached out to him and suggested visiting the White House. Iran has denied this, saying “the only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader”.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his “support in defending Israel’s skies”, describing him as a “a great friend of the state of Israel”.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his country’s willingness to help mediate the crisis.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country wants to see the crisis resolved diplomatically and Ankara could play a constructive role, but accused Israel of waging “crazed” attacks against Iran that amount to “state terrorism”.
• France is planning along with European partners to suggest a negotiated solution to end the conflict between Iran and Israel, the country’s presidency said, after President Emmanuel Macron chaired a Defence and National Security Council meeting.
• Macron has indicated that military regime change in Iran is a strategic mistake, according to France’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
• Iran’s mission to the United Nations has requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting, saying the situation “has dangerously escalated due to mounting and undeniable evidence of direct US involvement”.
• UN chief Antonio Guterres said he remains “profoundly alarmed” and reiterated calls for “immediate de-escalation leading to a ceasefire”.
• Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended his comments, which drew outrage in some quarters, terming Israel’s attacks on Iran as “dirty work Israel is doing for all of us”.
• Iran has consistently denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Al Jazeera that the UN nuclear watchdog has found no evidence that Iran was building one.
• The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Friday. Iran requested the meeting, saying the situation “has dangerously escalated due to mounting and undeniable evidence of direct US involvement in this unlawful campaign”.

Here are the key events on day 1,210 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

This is how things stand on Wednesday, June 18:

Fighting

• The death toll from dozens of Russian drone and missile strikes on Kyiv early on Tuesday rose to 16, according to Ukrainian authorities. Two people were also killed in attacks on the Black Sea port of Odesa, according to officials.
• North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to support reconstruction efforts in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian news agencies reported citing the head of the Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, who made the comments as he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

Diplomacy

• Canada scrapped plans for the G7 to issue a strong statement on the war after opposition from the United States, a Canadian official told reporters on the sidelines of the summit, the Reuters news agency reported.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he told the G7 leaders that diplomacy was now “in crisis” and they needed to push US President Donald Trump to use his “real influence” to bring an end to the war. “Even if the American President is not putting enough pressure on Russia right now, the truth is that America still has the broadest global interests and the largest number of allies,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
• Ukraine called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council after Russia’s deadly attack on Kyiv and other cities, Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s UN ambassador, was quoted telling Ukraine’s national news agency, Ukrinform.
• The Trump administration’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, is set to meet Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in the coming days, the Reuters news agency reported, citing four people familiar with the plans. Kellogg has in private cast the trip as a step towards reviving talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Reuters.

Sanctions

• The United Kingdom announced sanctions on people and entities accused of being tied to Russia’s finance, energy and military operations. The sanctioned individuals include two UK residents accused of sending electronics to Moscow.
• Australia announced sanctions on 60 vessels linked to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, following the lead of several of its Western partners, including Canada and the European Union. “Russia uses these vessels to circumvent international sanctions and sustain its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine,” Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement on Wednesday.

Here’s where things stand on Monday, June 17:

Fighting

• Several explosions rocked areas across Iran, including its central and western provinces as well as the densely populated capital Tehran, as Israel stepped up bombardment.
• The Israeli military said it struck “12 missile launch and storage sites”.
• Areas attacked by Israel include Isfahan province and Tabriz city, while attacks on Tehran were “continuous and intense”, according to Iranian state media IRNA.
• Israel’s military claimed one of its strikes in Tehran assassinated Iran’s Armed Forces chief Ali Shadmani.
• Iran launched retaliatory strikes towards parts of northern Israel and Tel Aviv, and said its missile attacks hit a military intelligence centre and a Mossad operations planning centre.
• Iran’s army also said it tracked and intercepted 28 “hostile aircraft” in the past 24 hours, adding that one of them was a spy drone trying to gain intelligence on “sensitive” sites.
• Abdolrahim Mousavi, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, said attacks carried out so far have been a “warning for deterrence”, and warned “the punitive operation will be executed soon”.

Casualties and disruptions

• Iran reported several killed in Israel’s attack on a State tv building Monday and three others died in strikes on the central city of Kashan.
• Israel has not reported any deaths on Tuesday.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it conducted more satellite imagery analysis of Israel’s recent attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, adding it has further evidence indicating “direct impacts” on the “underground enrichment halls” in the Natanz facility.
• The IAEA added its analysis did not show any such change at two of Iran’s other major nuclear facilities targeted by Israel – Isfahan and Fordow.
• The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of a devastating toll on civilians and potential health risks associated with Israel’s nuclear-site attacks on Iran.
• More than 600 foreign nationals have crossed from Iran into neighbouring Azerbaijan in recent days, including citizens of Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, the United States, among others.
• Ukraine, China, and South Korea have become the latest countries to advise their citizens to leave Israel and Iran, citing “significant deterioration of the security situation” in the region.

Diplomacy

• US President Donald Trump, after leaving the G7 summit early, said he is not pushing for an Israel-Iran ceasefire but wants a “real end”, with Iran “giving up entirely” on nuclear weapons.
• He also wrote on his Truth Social app that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran”, without clarifying further, and made a thinly veiled threat to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
• The remarks come as US Vice President JD Vance said Trump may take “further action to end Iranian enrichment”.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is ready to act as a mediator, but added there is a “reluctance, at least on the part of Israel”, to start talks.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry denounced continued the Israeli attacks as illegal.
• Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned that Israel’s “attacks” on Iran threatened to dangerously escalate tensions and were “a threat to people everywhere”.
• Qatar also said it “strongly condemns” Israel’s attacks, calling them “an uncalculated measure that will have very dire repercussions”.
• French President Emmanuel Macron said he was against military action against Iran that could lead to regime change and potential “chaos”.

Here’s where things stand on Monday, June 16:

Fighting

• Multiple blasts were reported in Tehran as Israel issued new evacuation threats to the capital’s residents and attacked a military base in the west of the city.
• The Israeli military intensified its bombing of civilian targets, striking the building of Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran as well as the Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah in central Iran, damaging parts of it.
• In response, Iran later issued warnings for Israeli news channels N12 and N14.
• Iran launched a waves of attacks on Israel, hitting the Tel Aviv area and Haifa in the north.
• Israel’s Haifa-based Bazan Group said a power station producing steam and electricity was significantly damaged in an Iranian attack, with all refinery facilities shut down following the attack which also killed three people.
• The Israeli army claimed it destroyed one-third of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers without providing evidence.
• Israeli Army Radio reported that eight people were killed – five in central Israel and three in the port city of Haifa.

Casualties and disruptions

• More than 220 Iranians have been killed. Iranian authorities said 54 women and children were killed in recent attacks and 75 women and children were injured.
• The Israeli military’s Home Front Command said more than 20 people have been killed since it attacked Iran and Tehran retaliated.
• Electronic interference with commercial ship navigation systems has surged in recent days around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf, impacting vessels sailing through the region.
• The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, said there was a possibility of both radiological and chemical contamination within Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz after Israeli air strikes.
• Pakistan shut all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, according to provincial officials. Airspace in the Middle East has also been affected.

Diplomacy

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed parliament, saying the country is “not seeking nuclear weapons” and it “must stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression”.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a war criminal” and said he was deliberately provoking war to block a diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and the United States.
• Netanyahu refused to rule out the possibility of targeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, saying, “It’s not going to escalate the conflict. It’s going to end the conflict.”
• US President Donald Trump, speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, said Iran should talk about de-escalating hostilities with Israel “before it’s too late”.

This is how things stand on Monday, June 16:

Fighting

• Russia’s Ministry of Defence confirmed on Sunday that it launched a strike targeting the Kremenchuk oil refinery, a key fuel source for Ukrainian troops in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the attack as a “vile strike” on energy infrastructure, accusing Moscow of ignoring international appeals to de-escalate. Zelenskyy said the United States has asked Kyiv to refrain from targeting Russian energy sites.
• Russia claimed to have seized control of the village of Malynivka in Donetsk, referring to it by its Soviet-era name, Ulyanovka.
• Moscow reported making significant gains in Ukraine’s Sumy region, stating that its forces had pushed through enemy defences and caused major losses.
• In a rare long-range operation, Ukraine said it struck a drone production site in Yelabuga, Tatarstan, about 1,000km (621 miles) inside Russia. The military said the facility had been used to launch attacks on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure.
• Tatarstan’s regional leader, Rustam Minnikhanov, said that a drone strike had hit a car factory near Yelabuga, killing one person and wounding 13. Ukraine claims the site is used to manufacture drones for Russian military use.
• UK intelligence believes that more than 6,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured while fighting alongside Moscow’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region. The United Kingdom said the figure represents more than half of the 11,000 North Korean troops originally deployed, highlighting Pyongyang’s growing role in supporting Moscow’s war effort.

Diplomacy

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for increased pressure on Russia to achieve a ceasefire, urging the Group of Seven (G7) nations to strengthen sanctions against Moscow when they meet in Canada on Monday. Zelenskyy will attend the meeting.
• French President Emmanuel Macron said he plans to ask United States President Donald Trump if Washington is prepared to back stronger sanctions if Russia continues to refuse to agree to a ceasefire.
• The White House confirmed that Trump would meet Zelenskyy for bilateral talks.
• Russia has returned the bodies of 1,200 Ukrainians killed in the war, bringing the total number of bodies repatriated to Ukraine in a series of exchanges this week to more than 4,800.
• Russia said it had not received a single Russian corpse in return, accusing Ukraine of not upholding the agreement reached in Istanbul, which would see both sides hand over as many as 6,000 bodies and to exchange sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war as well as those aged under 25.

Here are the key events on day three of the Israel-Iran conflict.

Here’s where things stand on Sunday, June 15:

Fighting

• Iran fired two separate salvoes of missiles and drones against Israel, including one that struck the Israeli port city of Haifa. At least 15 people were injured.
• Israel also fired a barrage of missiles against Iran, targeting several locations, including the capital Tehran, a Foreign Ministry building there, a military base of the Defence Ministry in Isfahan, and an aerial refuelling aircraft at Mashhad Airport.
• In Israel, rescue workers were searching for survivors in the rubble from the previous night’s wave of Iranian strikes. The hardest hit area was the town of Bat Yam, where dozens of buildings were damaged.

Casualties and disruption

• The Iranian Health Ministry said that at least 224 people were killed and 1,481 were wounded, since Israel attacked Iran.
• Overnight, Iran struck the Israeli port city of Haifa and neighbouring Tamra, where at least four women were killed.
• Since the start of the conflict on Thursday, at least 13 people have been killed and 380 have been wounded in Israel.
• The Israeli Civil Aviation Authority has announced a complete closure of airspace and airports. Iranian airspace is also closed.

Diplomacy

• Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran does not seek to expand the conflict to neighbouring countries unless forced to.
• Araghchi also said Iran has “solid evidence” of the support provided by the United States to Israel’s attacks.
• Iran’s top diplomat later said: “We will prepare the ground for a return to diplomacy and negotiations if the Israeli aggression stops. We hope that tomorrow’s IAEA governors’ meeting will condemn the aggression against our nuclear facilities.”
• Talking to Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to clearly confirm that, saying he informed US President Donald Trump ahead of launching the attacks.
• Netanyahu also projected that regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel’s attacks.
• Trump warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include US targets and didn’t rule out more direct US involvement beyond the vast arsenal and intelligence the US provides to Israel.
• Contrarily, the US president also claimed peace could be reached “soon”, suggesting that many diplomatic meetings were taking place.
• He also said he would be “open” to his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin serving as a mediator.
• French President Emmanuel Macron rebuked that idea, saying it would not be a good idea to have Putin, embroiled in his own war in Ukraine, as a mediator in the Israel-Iran conflict.
• European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has called a videoconference of EU foreign ministers for Tuesday to discuss the Middle East crisis.
• Hopes for a diplomatic solution seem distant for now, though they will no doubt be high on the agenda of the Group of Seven summit beginning Monday in Canada.

Maria went an early break up in the first set, drawing errors out of Anisimova, before a thumping backhand winner from the American put it back on terms.

However, Maria kept Anisimova on the move, visibly frustrating her, and a netted forehand gave Maria the break back, before she served out the set with ease.

The numbers told the story, with Anisimova committing 10 unforced errors to Maria’s three in the opener, and the momentum stayed with the German as she broke at the first chance in the second set.

A mammoth fourth game saw seven deuces and Maria saving two break points for 3-1, before a brilliant scamper to a drop shot in the next allowed her to go a double break up.

Anisimova, who won the WTA 1000 title in Qatar earlier this year, went for broke, pummelling her shots to rescue a break and keep in touch.

But Maria, backed by the packed crowd, kept her nerve to serve out to 30 and secure her place in Queen’s history.

Maria is due to compete at the Nottingham Open, which begins on Monday, but said she will celebrate with her family first.

“This doesn’t happen every week so we have to celebrate with something,” she added.

“I think the kids will probably want some crepes with Nutella!”

Here’s where things stand on Sunday, June 15:

Fighting

• Ukraine destroyed three Russian air defence systems in the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia region, Kyiv’s military intelligence said in a post on Telegram on Saturday.
• In his nightly address on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s forces recaptured Andriivka village in the northeastern Sumy region as part of a drive to expel Russian troops from the area.

Diplomacy

• Russian President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on Saturday that Moscow is ready to hold another round of peace negotiations with Kyiv after June 22, when the warring sides complete exchanging prisoners and soldiers’ bodies.
• Zelenskyy is set to attend the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Canada that begins Sunday. He is expected to meet Trump on the sidelines of the summit on June 17.
• Discussing sanctions against Russia and achieving a ceasefire is expected to be a part of the G7 agenda. A joint statement of G7 foreign ministers following an earlier meeting in Quebec in mid-March said they “discussed imposing further costs on Russia” if Moscow did not agree to a ceasefire.
• Finland accused senior officers of the Eagle S, a Russia-linked vessel that damaged undersea cables last year between Finland and Estonia, of criminal offences related to the wreckage. The European Union’s executive commission has described Eagle S as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers – vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine.
• Germany is eager to increase defence spending in the EU’s next budget, the Financial Times reported. Berlin’s move came in response to Russia’s threats to Europe and Trump’s call to the continent to do more for its own security, the report said.

Here are the key events on day 1,206 during Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Saturday, June 14:

Fighting

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said troops halted Russian forces from advancing in the northeastern Sumy region following Moscow’s deployment of approximately 53,000 troops in its direction.
• Zelenskyy dismissed Russia’s claims that its forces had crossed the administrative border into the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk.
• Russia’s defence ministry said troops had taken control of the village of Zelenyi Kut in the eastern Donetsk region.
• Russian air defences shot down 110 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles, its defence ministry added.
• Governor of Kherson, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram that a 45-year-old resident was killed after a drone attack.

Diplomacy

• Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war for the fourth time in one week under agreements signed in Turkiye earlier this month.
• Russia’s defence ministry said soldiers were receiving medical treatment in Belarus before being transferred to Russia, but the ministry did not say how many prisoners of war were involved in the swap.
• Ukraine said it received the bodies of 1,200 soldiers from Moscow. According to Russian state media, Moscow did not receive any of its dead soldiers from Kyiv.
• The prisoner swaps are expected to continue until June 20-21.
• Zelenskyy stressed that Europe’s support for his country was “stalling” without the United States.
• The Ukrainian leader wrote on X that  “US-Russia dialogue feels too warm” and warned that appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin would not end the war.
• Ukraine said it hoped that the ongoing military escalation between Iran and Israel would not affect its aid, as the attacks have led to a “sharp rise in oil prices”, which will hurt Kyiv and help Moscow, Zelenskyy said.
• The two sides are no closer to any temporary ceasefire agreement as a concrete step towards ending the war, despite some initial momentum from United States President Donald Trump.

These are the key events on day 1,205 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Friday, June 13:

Fighting

• A two-year-old boy was killed by a Ukrainian drone strike in Russia’s southern Belgorod region and his grandmother and another adult were wounded, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
• The Ukrainian military said it struck the Rezonit electronics factory in Russia’s Moscow region, resulting in explosions.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had shot down 260 Ukrainian drones over the past day, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the rapid development and deployment of separate drone forces within Russia’s military. “We are currently creating unmanned systems troops as a separate branch of the military and we need to ensure their rapid and high-quality deployment and development,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukrainian forces are gradually pushing Russian forces out of the border Sumy region, where Moscow has established a foothold in order to create a buffer zone with Russia’s western Kursk region.
• Ukraine and Russia have exchanged another group of ill and severely wounded prisoners of war. It was not immediately clear how many had been exchanged by each side. All of the Ukrainian soldiers need treatment, President Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Sanctions

• A Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Canada from June 15-17 will be about the extent to which the European Union and United States can align on sanctions against Russia, an unnamed German government official told the Reuters news agency.
• President Zelenskyy said he planned to attend the G7 summit and hoped to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the meeting. Zelenskyy said he would discuss continued support for Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and financing for Kyiv’s reconstruction efforts.
• NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said Russia’s approach to peace talks with Ukraine is not helpful. “The Russians are sending this historian now twice to these talks in Istanbul, trying to start with the history of 1,000 years ago and then explaining more or less that Ukraine is at fault here. I think that’s not helpful,” Rutte said.
•  At a meeting in Rome, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Britain said they were ready to step up pressure on Russia, “including through further sanctions” involving the energy and banking sector, to weaken Moscow in its war with Ukraine.

Military aid

• Speaking during his fifth visit to Kyiv since the start of the war, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said his country’s military support for Ukraine has reached 7 billion euros ($8.12bn) this year. Pistorius said a further 1.9 billion euros are pending parliamentary approval.
• Pistorius said Germany is not considering delivering Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine despite Kyiv’s repeated requests for the weapons.

Diplomacy

• US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy will soon leave her post, her embassy confirmed, after serving through one of the most tense and difficult periods in relations between Moscow and Washington.

These are the key events on day 1,204 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Thursday, June 12:

Fighting

• A concentrated, nine-minute-long Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv in the middle of the night killed six people and injured 64, including nine children, Ukrainian officials have said.
• The Ukrainian military said it had struck a major Russian gunpowder plant in the western Tambov region overnight, causing a fire at the site.
• Russian mechanised infantry units have reached the western border of Ukraine’s Donetsk region and, along with a tank division, are continuing their offensive against the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said.
• Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. Half of the drones were downed over the southern Voronezh region, while the rest were intercepted over the Kursk, Tambov, Rostov region and the Crimean Peninsula.
• Ukraine has brought home the bodies of 1,212 soldiers killed in its war against Russia, Kyiv officials said. The Kremlin said Ukraine returned the bodies of 27 Russian soldiers.

Regional security

• Russia sent long-range Tu-22M3 bomber planes on a flight over the Baltic Sea, Russia’s Defence Ministry said, in what appeared to be a mission aimed at sending a message of business-as-usual following the stunning June 1 Ukrainian attack on Russian airbases in Siberia.
• Russia’s nuclear capability did not suffer significant damage due to the Ukrainian attacks on its airfields, and the scale of the damage has been exaggerated, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov claimed.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking on state television, said 95 percent of weapons in Russia’s strategic nuclear forces were fully up to date.

International relations

• The United States ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said the Ukrainian drone attack on Russian strategic bombers at their airbases earlier this month was “badass” but also “a little bit reckless, and a little bit dangerous”.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing a conference of southeast European leaders in the Black Sea port of Odesa, said Russia was determined to destroy the south of his country as well as nearby Moldova and Romania, as he called for increased pressure on Moscow to prevent further military threats.
• Serbia’s Kremlin-friendly populist President Aleksandar Vucic travelled to Odesa for the regional summit. It is the first time the leader has visited Ukraine during his 12 years in power.
• Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs said it had summoned a Russian diplomat over a suspected June 10 violation of Finnish airspace by Russian aircraft, the second such event in under three weeks.
• Slovakia will not back the European Union’s 18th package of sanctions against Russia unless the European Commission provides a solution to the situation the country faces if the bloc phases out Russian energy as planned, the country’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has said.
• Germany’s imports of goods from Russia fell by 95 percent in the 2021-2024 period, while its exports of goods to Russia were cut by 72 percent, the country’s statistics office Destatis has reported.
• The EU as a whole cut its imports from Russia by 78 percent and exports by 65 percent over the same timeframe, leading to a trade deficit of 4.5 billion euros ($5.1bn) in 2024 compared with 147.5 billion euros ($170bn) in 2022, Destatis added.

Russian affairs

• A court in western Russia has ruled that opposition politician Lev Shlosberg be placed under house arrest for two months and face unspecified restrictions on his activities for “discrediting” the Russian army after describing the war in Ukraine as a game of “bloody chess”. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
• Russian dissident Leonid Volkov, a prominent ally of late opposition leader Alexey Navalny, was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison for spreading fake news about the war in Ukraine and “justifying terrorism”.

These are the key events on day 1,202 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Tuesday, June 10:

Fighting

• Russia launched large drone attacks on Kyiv and the southern port of Odesa on Tuesday morning, regional authorities said.
• Timur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said that several districts of the capital were being attacked simultaneously, resulting in damage to buildings and fires.
• Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, said on Telegram that a “massive” drone attack struck an emergency medical building, a maternity ward and residential buildings. Kiper said that a 59-year-old man was killed and four others injured in the attack on residential buildings, but there were no casualties at the maternity ward.
• Russian air defence systems destroyed 76 Ukrainian drones over a two-hour period on Monday, Russian media outlets reported.

• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces “continued to advance into the depths of the enemy’s defence” in Ukraine’s east-central region of Dnipropetrovsk and taken control of more territory.

Diplomacy

• Russia and Ukraine on Monday carried out an exchange of prisoners of war aged under 25. The exchange followed talks between the sides earlier this month in Istanbul.

Transportation

• Russia’s civil aviation authority said early on Tuesday that it had temporarily suspended flights at all four major airports serving Moscow in response to Ukrainian drone attacks.

These are the key events on day 1,200 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Sunday, June 8:

Fighting

• Russian forces attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv at night and in the evening with drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing at least four people and wounding more than 60, including a baby, according to local officials.
• “Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a post on Telegram.
• Elsewhere in Ukraine, three people were killed in the front-line Donetsk region, which has seen the most intense fighting of the war, and three more in the Kherson region, which is partially occupied by Moscow’s forces, the AFP news agency reported.
• Russian forces took control of a section of the Yunakivka-Sudzha highway in Ukraine’s Sumy region, which “Ukrainian troops once used to supply their group in the [Russian] Kursk Region”, Russia’s TASS news agency reported, citing a military analyst.
• The Ukrainian military said that Russia launched 206 drones, two ballistic and seven other missiles at Ukraine overnight. Kyiv said its air defence units shot down 87 drones while another 80 drones were lost.
• It also said on Telegram that a Russian Su-35 fighter jet was shot down after “a successful Air Force operation in the Kursk direction”.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv’s forces recently destroyed three Iskander missile systems and damaged Russian military helicopters. “This helps our defence – every complication for Russia is important for us,” he said in his evening statement.
• German Major General Christian Freuding, meanwhile, said his country estimates that a recent Ukrainian attack damaged 10 percent of Russia’s long-range bomber fleet but said the attack will only have an “indirect effect” since Moscow still retains 90 percent of its strategic bombers.
• In Russia, officials said a Ukrainian drone attack in the Moscow region wounded two people.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence said that air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Saturday, including the Moscow region.

Prisoner Exchange

• Russia and Ukraine accused each other of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday.
• Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation, said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post, Medinsky said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed-upon exchange site at the border when the news came.
• In response, Ukraine said that Russia was playing “dirty games” and manipulating facts.
• According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement on Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that did not correspond to agreements reached on Monday.

Weapons

• Zelenskyy appealed to the United States to “urgently” send “positive signals” regarding Ukraine’s request to buy air defence systems, following the latest deadly Russian attacks on Kharkiv. Zelenskyy first publicly requested to buy US Patriot air defence systems in mid-April this year.
• France’s armed forces minister, Sebastien Lecornu, told France’s LCI news that a French car maker is preparing to manufacture drones in Ukraine.
• Canadian Minister of National Defence David McGuinty announced military assistance worth 35 million Canadian dollars ($25.5m) for Ukraine, including Coyote and Bison armoured vehicles.

Diplomacy

• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS that Russia had asked US officials to resume direct flights between the two countries and lift restrictions on Russian diplomats in the US.
• “To put it mildly, at this point, they are not very enthusiastic,” Ryabkov said regarding the proposal to resume flights.

These are the key events on day 1,199 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Saturday, June 7:

Fighting

• At least six people were killed in Russian missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and across the country on Friday.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said three of the victims were emergency responders who were killed in a missile and drone attack on Kyiv, while a further 80 people nationwide were injured in the attacks.
• Two people were killed in Ukraine’s northern city of Chernihiv, and at least one more person was killed in the northwestern city of Lutsk.
• Ukraine’s air force said Russia had used 407 drones, one of the largest numbers recorded in a single attack, as well as 45 cruise and ballistic missiles in the attack.
• The Ukrainian military said it had launched a preemptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs.

• Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia had “responded” to Kyiv’s audacious drone attack that destroyed Russian heavy bombers at airfields in Siberia last weekend by attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had carried out the strikes, which targeted military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia.
• Western military aviation experts told the Reuters news agency that Russia will take years to replace the nuclear-capable bomber planes that were hit in Ukrainian drone strikes on airfields in Siberia.
• Russia’s National Guard said it killed a man as he tried to prepare a drone attack on a military site in Russia’s Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow.
• Russian air defence units intercepted and destroyed 82 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including the Moscow region, Russia’s Defence Ministry said early on Saturday.

• Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said six drones headed for the capital city had been destroyed or downed.
• In total, Russia’s Defence Ministry said that air defences had downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions. Three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea.
• A locomotive train was derailed in Russia’s Belgorod region after the track was blown up, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Regional security

• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said some US legislators do not understand the scale of Russia’s military rearmament campaign: “They clearly have no idea what is happening there right now,” he said after a meeting with US President Donald Trump.
• Merz said he had been reassured by President Trump’s “resounding no” to a question on whether the US had plans to withdraw from NATO.

Politics and diplomacy

• The Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by Trump, who likened the war in Ukraine to a bitter dispute between toddlers in a park.
• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was possible Trump believed his own comments, but for Russia, the war on Ukraine was “existential”.
• “For us, it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country,” Peskov told reporters.
• Russia has asked the UN nuclear watchdog to mediate between Moscow and Washington to resolve the question of what to do with US nuclear fuel stored at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is under Russian control.
• Russian nuclear energy chief Alexei Likhachev said that Russia was willing either to use the fuel, supplied by US company Westinghouse, or to remove it entirely and return it to the United States.

Sanctions

• President Trump said that he had not decided whether to deploy sanctions against Russia that are being considered by the US Senate.

Economy

• The Russian central bank has cut its key interest rate by a full percentage point, a surprise move by the bank, which it justified by pointing to declining inflation pressure and a more robust rouble. It was the first easing since September 2022 by the bank, which has faced pressure from business leaders and top government officials to begin cutting rates.

These are the key events on day 1,198 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Friday, June 6 :

Fighting

• Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where authorities said drone fragments had fallen in at least three districts of the city. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said the strikes triggered fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city. There were no immediate reports on casualties.

• Air defence units were in action repelling Russian drones, according to military authorities in Kyiv, as news outlets reported a series of explosions in the city.

• International monitors at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine have reported hearing repeated rounds of gunfire that appeared to be aimed at drones apparently attacking the site’s training centre, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said.
• The nuclear plant’s Russian management had earlier said that Ukrainian drones landed on the roof of the training centre in “yet another attack” on the facility. The management said there had been no casualties or damage. The nuclear facility’s reactors are in shutdown mode amid the war.
• Russian investigators announced that they have opened a criminal case into an “act of terrorism” after a stretch of railway track in Russia’s Voronezh region was damaged in an explosion.
• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, at his daily briefing with reporters, described the latest rail attack as “nothing other than terrorism at the state level”. Russia has not yet provided evidence that Ukraine ordered the rail attacks, and Kyiv has not acknowledged responsibility.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russia will respond to Ukraine’s latest attacks – which have included an audacious drone attack on heavy bomber warplanes in Siberia – as and when its military sees fit, the Kremlin said, accusing Kyiv of state terrorism as US President Donald Trump downplayed prospects for an immediate peace between the countries.
• Speaking to reporters before his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump said he believed that “at some point” there would be peace between Russia and Ukraine. When asked if he would impose further sanctions on Russia, Trump responded, “When I see the moment where it’s not going to stop … we’ll be very, very, very tough. And it could be on both countries, to be honest. You know, it takes two to tango.”
• Trump also said that he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to not retaliate after Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russia’s airbases.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to “unconditionally support” Russia in its war in Ukraine and said he expects Moscow to emerge victorious, the country’s state media reported.
• Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said it had put Artyom Timofeyev, a Russian citizen who was born in Ukraine, on a national wanted list on suspicion of taking part in the attacks on Russian military airfields, state news agency TASS reported. Russian media reported earlier that Timofeyev, who reportedly owns a freight forwarding company, had left Russia for Kazakhstan.

• Russian warplanes targeted in the June 1 drone attack were damaged but not destroyed, and they will be restored, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. The US has assessed that up to 20 warplanes were hit and around half were destroyed during the attack.
• Germany needs up to 60,000 additional troops under new NATO targets for weapons and personnel, the country’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in advance of the meeting between Trump and Merz on Thursday. NATO is focused on building up its forces to respond to what it sees as an increased threat from Russia.
• The Trump administration has announced the nomination of US Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich as the next top US general in Europe, and said he would also assume the traditional role of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
• Russia’s Federal Security Service has accused British intelligence of using the British Council, which promotes international education and cultural relations, as a cover to undermine Russia. The security service said it had identified teachers at leading universities who cooperated with the London-based charity. The United Kingdom is now considered “enemy number one” by Russian officials, amid the intensifying conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
• Slovakia’s parliament, in a thinly attended session, approved a resolution calling on the government not to vote in favour of new sanctions on Russia, raising questions over the country’s future stance on European sanction packages.

Economy

• Ukraine’s export losses are set to reach $800m for the period June to December this year, following the expected end of free access to the European Union market, the country’s central bank deputy governor, Serhiy Nikolaichuk, said.

These are the key events on day 1,197 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Thursday, June 5:

Fighting

• Russian drones have struck apartment buildings in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, triggering fires and injuring at least nine people, the city’s mayor said early on Thursday.
• New Ukrainian drone attacks hit energy infrastructure in Russian-occupied parts of the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in southern Ukraine, Russian-installed officials said. The Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said the attacks left 97 settlements, with some 68,000 residents, without power.
• Russian forces have taken control of the settlements of Ridkodub in eastern Ukraine and Kindrativka in Ukraine’s Sumy region, the Russian Ministry of Defence said.
• Commenting on Ukraine’s attack on the Crimean bridge – a major Russian-built road and rail bridge linking Russia and the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula – the Kremlin said that while there was an explosion, the bridge was undamaged.

Ceasefire talks

• Russian President Vladimir Putin said he does not think Ukraine’s leaders want peace after accusing them of ordering a bomb attack in Western Russia on Saturday, which killed seven people and injured 115.
• Putin described the attack, which struck a highway bridge over a railway line carrying passenger trains, as a “terrorist” action aimed at wrecking the peace talks.
• Putin also told United States President Donald Trump during a phone call that he would have to respond to Ukraine’s Sunday drone attacks, which targeted Russia’s nuclear-capable bomber fleet deep in Siberia and Russia’s far north.
• Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy aide to Putin, said the Russian leader told Trump on the call that ceasefire talks “on the whole were useful”, despite attempts by Ukraine to “disrupt” them.
• Two unnamed US officials have told the Reuters news agency that Ukraine’s drone attack in Siberia hit about 20 Russian warplanes, destroying about 10 of them, a figure that is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said the risk of escalation from the war in Ukraine was “going way up” after Ukraine’s drone attack over the weekend.
• Zelenskyy has proposed implementing a ceasefire until a meeting can be arranged with Putin. “My proposal, which I believe our partners can support, is that we agree a ceasefire with the Russians until the leaders meet,” he told a briefing in Kyiv.
• Pope Leo urged Russia to take steps towards ending its war on Ukraine when he spoke to Putin for the first time over the phone, the Vatican has said.

International diplomacy

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met Russia’s Security Council secretary, Sergei Shoigu, as he pledged unconditional support for Moscow’s position on Ukraine.
• Ukraine is invited to the NATO summit in The Hague, which will take place in a few weeks, Mark Rutte, the military bloc’s chief, said.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will tell Trump on his upcoming visit that Europe is firmly on Ukraine’s side and that no chance for peace must be passed up, Germany’s foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, has said.
• Wadephul also said that Germany is pushing for new sanctions against Moscow, which should be coordinated with the US, as he accused Russia of not seriously engaging in peace talks.
• Ukraine has discussed with the US how to make a minerals fund operational by the end of the year. The fund’s first meeting is expected in July, Ukraine’s economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, who is also a deputy prime minister, said during her visit to Washington, DC.
• Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC, during his visit there.
• Kyiv’s allies have voiced a willingness to pay for defence manufacturing by Ukrainian companies in allied countries, Ukrainian Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov said after meeting Western counterparts at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
• United Kingdom Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK will increase tenfold the number of drones it will deliver to Ukraine, aiming to ship 100,000 of the devices.

These are the key events on day 1,196 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Wednesday, June 4 :

Fighting

• Russian shelling on the Ukrainian city of Sumy killed four people and injured 28, including three children, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said in a post on Telegram.
• The Interior Ministry also said that two people were killed when fires broke out after a Russian attack on homes in the Kharkiv region’s village of Chistovodivka.
• Ukraine’s SBU security service said it detonated explosives targeting underwater supports on the Crimea Bridge, which links Russia with Russian-occupied Crimea, causing “severe damage” to the structure.
• The Russian Ministry of Transport said in a statement that “standard operations” had resumed on the bridge after earlier “temporary closures”, without providing a reason for the disruption, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Military aid

• Secretary of Defence John Healey said the United Kingdom will spend 350 million pounds ($473.5m) to deliver 100,000 drones to Ukraine as part of the UK’s 4.5 billion pound ($6bn) military support for Ukraine this year.

Politics and Diplomacy

• White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that United States President Donald Trump “was not” informed in advance of Ukraine’s unprecedented drone attack on Russian airbases earlier this week. Asked if Trump approved of the attack, Leavitt said that “the president does not want to see this war prolonged”.
• US Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Senate would begin working on a bill to impose sanctions on Russia as it works with Trump to “get Russia to finally come to the [negotiating] table in a real way”.
• Russia’s mission to the United Nations said it would hold an informal UN Security Council meeting at 10am New York time (14:00 GMT) on Wednesday on “understanding and eliminating the ideological root causes of the Ukrainian crisis”.
• Switzerland said it would impose sanctions on “17 individuals and 58 entities” listed in the European Union’s latest sanctions package, “in response to Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine”.

🚨 The Ukrainian Red Cross #EmergencyResponse team is responding to the Russian shelling in #Sumy. Volunteers provide first aid and help transport victims to hospitals. 3 dead, 16 injured. Damage reported to homes, a warehouse, cars & hospital. #NotATarget pic.twitter.com/3ymyuJc9Hs

— Ukrainian Red Cross (@RedCrossUkraine) June 3, 2025

Here’s where things stand on Tuesday, June 3:

Fighting

• Ukrainian officials said at least five people were killed from fighting and shelling along the war’s front line in eastern Ukraine, which is mostly occupied by Russia.
• Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks on key infrastructure in Russian-occupied areas of southeastern Ukraine led to power cuts across the whole of the Zaporizhia region, according to Russian-installed officials there.
• Similar attacks damaged electrical substations in the adjacent Kherson region, leading to power loss for 100,000 residents and 150 towns and villages, according to the Russian-installed officials.
• However, there has been no effect on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, according to Russian officials who occupy the site. The station is currently in shutdown mode.

Ceasefire

• Little headway was made during talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul, but the two sides did agree to swap thousands of prisoners and the remains of 6,000 deceased soldiers. The deal will also include all injured soldiers and those aged between 18 and 25.
• Russia set out a memorandum at the talks to end its war on Ukraine. Terms include Ukrainian forces withdrawing from the four regions annexed by Russia in September 2022, but that Russian forces have failed to fully capture, Kyiv halting war mobilisation efforts and a freeze on Kyiv importing Western weapons.
• The Russian document also proposes that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the two countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty.

• Ukraine must also abandon its bid to join NATO, set limits on the size of its armed forces and recognise Russian as the country’s official language on a par with Ukrainian, according to the memorandum.
• Ukraine – which has previously rejected all such demands by Moscow – said it would spend the next week reviewing the memorandum and proposed another round of talks between June 20 and 30.
• The White House said that United States President Donald Trump is “open” to a three-way summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said in a post on Telegram after the talks that he did not believe Moscow wanted a ceasefire. “The Russians are doing everything to not cease firing and continue the war. New sanctions now are very important,” he wrote.

Sanctions

• The US Senate said it would start working on further rounds of sanctions for Russia and secondary sanctions for its trade partners if peace talks continue to stall.
• Possible sanctions include 500 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil, gas and uranium. The tariffs would hit India and China, Moscow’s two largest energy customers.
• US Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that senators “stand ready to provide President Trump with any tools he needs to get Russia to finally come to the table in a real way”.

These are the key events on day 1,194 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Monday, June 2:

Fighting

• Ukraine said it destroyed Russian bombers worth $7bn at air bases as far away as Siberia in an attack that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Kyiv’s “longest-range operation”.
• Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow, said the “simultaneous large-scale attack” was “launched from inside Russia” and targeted “Russian planes that have been carrying out attacks on Ukraine”.
• An official at Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service told the Reuters news agency the operation involved hiding explosive-laden drones inside the roofs of wooden sheds and loading them onto trucks that were driven to the perimeter of the air bases. At least 41 Russian warplanes were hit, they said.
• Russia’s Tass news agency said there were no military or civilian casualties and that “some of the participants” had been detained.
• The operation came as Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 472 drones at the country overnight, in the highest nightly total of the war. Moscow also launched seven missiles.
• This included a missile attack on a Ukrainian military training ground that killed 12 soldiers and wounded more than 60 on Sunday morning, according to Ukraine’s Land Forces.
• The assault led Ukrainian ground forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty to announce his resignation, saying he felt a “personal sense of responsibility” for the soldiers’ deaths.
• Meanwhile, in Russia, at least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a bridge in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, collapsed onto a passing passenger train. Moscow Railway, in a post on Telegram, said the bridge had collapsed “as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport”.
• A second bridge collapse caused a freight train to derail in Russia’s Kursk region, which also borders Ukraine, injuring a train driver, according to the acting governor of the area.
• A Ukrainian drone attack on Kursk also sparked fires after debris from destroyed drones fell on private homes, the acting governor said.

Politics and diplomacy

• Zelenskyy confirmed Ukraine was sending a delegation led by Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov to a second round of peace talks that are set to begin today in Istanbul, Turkiye.
• Vladimir Medinsky, a former cultural minister who will lead Russia’s delegation in Istanbul, said Moscow has received Ukraine’s “version of the memorandum on a peaceful settlement,” the TASS news agency reported.
• However Zelenskyy said that Russia is yet to share its own memorandum. “We don’t have it, the Turkish side doesn’t have it, and the American side doesn’t have the Russian document either,” the Ukrainian president said in a post on X.
• TASS also reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart Marco Rubio spoke by telephone about “several initiatives aimed at a political solution to the Ukraine crisis”, including Monday’s talks. 
• An exit poll in Poland’s presidential run-off shows the two candidates are very close and that the race is still too close to call, in an election where aid to Kyiv, Ukraine’s potential membership of NATO, and Ukrainian refugees were key issues.

Here’s where things stand on Sunday, June 1:

Fighting

• The governor of Russia’s Bryansk, Alexander Bogomaz, said seven people were killed, and 30 were injured in a train derailment in the region bordering Ukraine. Moscow Railway said in a post on Telegram that the derailment and bridge collapse was a result of “illegal interference in transport operations”. Ukraine’s military did not immediately comment.
• A Russian attack killed a child and wounded another person in the Ukrainian village of Dolynka in Zaporizhia, the region’s governor said.
• A man was also killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.
• The Ukrainian Air Force said Russian forces launched an estimated 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine on Friday and overnight. Ukrainian forces destroyed 42 of the drones, it added.
• Russia’s military said it captured the Ukrainian village of Vodolahy in the Sumy region and Novopil in the Donetsk region.
• The announcement came after Ukraine ordered the evacuation of 11 more villages in the Sumy region, saying Russia had amassed some 50,000 troops in the area.

Politics and diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia did not “look very serious” and had given “no clear information” on what it plans to achieve at peace talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, next week.
• He did not comment on whether Ukraine would participate in the new round of negotiations, though Russia has said it would send a delegation led by Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister.
• China’s embassy in Singapore criticised French President Emmanuel Macron for comparing the defence of Ukraine with the need to protect Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, saying that “the two are different in nature and not comparable at all”.
• Russia’s war on Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meets with United States President Donald Trump on Thursday at the White House, according to a spokesman for the German government.
• Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said new rules set to regulate foreign ships crossing Swedish territorial waters from July 1 come amid “a growing number of concerning incidents in the Baltic Sea”, as Russia’s so-called Shadow Fleet continues to run into problems.

Weapons

• British Defence Secretary John Healey announces plans to build at least six new factories producing weapons and explosives, saying that “the hard-fought lessons from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine show a military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them.”