Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy speaks of military presence in Russia's Belgorod region for first time
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said for the first time Monday that Ukrainian forces were operating in Russia's Belgorod region, where Moscow reported attacks in March. Belgorod is regularly the target of Ukrainian air attacks and is close to Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been desperately trying to hang on to territory since launching a surprise incursion last year. Zelenskyy said in his daily address that General Oleksandr Syrsky had reported on 'our presence in Kursk region and our presence in Belgorod region'. He added: 'We continue to conduct active operations in the border areas on the enemy's territory, and this is absolutely right – the war must return to where it came from.' It is the first time since the full-scale invasion began that Zelenskyy has explicitly mentioned a Ukrainian presence in Belgorod, a border region with a population of about 1.5 million people. The Russian military acknowledged facing Ukrainian land attacks in the region in March. According to the DeepState military blog, which is considered close to Ukraine's army, Ukrainian troops have occupied a 13 sq km (five square mile) area in the Russian region, near the border village of Demidovka. Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have said the incursion into Kursk and other Russian territory is to divert Russian forces attacking the Ukrainian regions of Sumy and Kharkiv.
Anger and outrage gripped Zelenskyy's home town on Monday as it held funerals for some of the 20 people, including nine children, killed by a Russian missile that struck apartment buildings and a playground. More than 70 were wounded in the attack on Kryvyi Rih last Friday evening. The children were playing on swings and in a sandbox in a tree-lined park at the time. Bodies were strewn across the grass. 'We are not asking for pity,' Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city administration, wrote on Telegram as Kryvyi Rih mourned. 'We demand the world's outrage.' The UN Human Rights Office in Ukraine said it was the deadliest single verified strike harming children since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. It was also one of the deadliest attacks so far this year.
Teacher Iryna Kholod remembered Arina and Radyslav, both 7 years old and killed in Friday's strike, as being 'like little suns in the classroom'. Radyslav, she said, was proud to be part of a school campaign collecting pet food for stray animals. 'He held the bag like it was treasure. He wanted to help,' she told the Associated Press. After Friday evening, 'two desks in my classroom were empty forever,' Kholod said, adding that she still has unopened birthday gifts for them.
'How do I tell parents to return their textbooks? How do I teach without them?' she asked.
Donald Trump has accused Russia of 'bombing like crazy right now' even as the US president claimed the parties were 'sort of close' on a deal. On Monday he reiterated his opposition to Russia's bombing of Ukraine as his administration participates in talks seeking an end to the fighting. 'I'm not happy about what's going on', he told reporters in the White House. 'So we're meeting with Russia, we're meeting with Ukraine, and we're getting sort of close, but I'm not happy with all the bombing that's going in the last week or so,' he said. 'It's a horrible thing.'
Trump's Monday remarks came hours after the Kremlin said it supported the idea of a truce in Ukraine but had many 'questions' about how such a deal would work, pushing back at US and European suggestions that it was playing for time. Russia has kept up its strikes on Ukraine unabated despite the US president's promise to bring peace within '24 hours' of returning to the White House in January.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
29 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Britain's Bond-style ‘Q' boffins unveil underwater drone to take on Putin's cable-cutters…by blowing them to smithereens
BRITAIN'S top defence brainboxes have unveiled a Bond-style underwater drone designed to stop Putin's cable-cutting saboteurs in their tracks. The super sub can hunt out and destroy sabotage threats lurking on the seabed - by blowing them to smithereens. 5 The underwater drone can prevent adversaries from sabotaging undersea cables and pipelines by disarming or removing threats Credit: UK Gov 5 The high-tech robot has already been trialled Portsmouth's Horsea Island, Portland Harbour, South Wales and Norway Credit: UK Gov 5 The sub targets any potential saboteurs by blowing them to smithereens Credit: UK GOV Developed by the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), it is armed and ready to protect the UK's vital undersea cables and pipelines. Using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), Dstl's boffins have added cutting-edge sensors, cameras, and explosive systems to high-tech underwater robot. That way, operators are able to spot unexploded bombs, place charges remotely, and safely neutralise the threat — without risking Royal Navy divers. John, a Dstl explosives engineer, said: 'This technology would be a valuable toolset for keeping our Armed Forces safe whilst providing the public with value for money. 'This unique capability with its sensors, tools and cameras will give operators a real time ability to deal with these underwater hazards in a safe, effective and efficient way.' The underwater drone goes deeper than any diver can, staying down for far longer and working tirelessly. It can be launched from a ship or even a shoreline, sending back sonar and video feeds to operators who remain at a safe distance while disarming explosives or fending off hostile actions. Crucially, it's reusable. Once a threat is neutralised, the drone sub lives to dive another day - cutting costs while keeping seas safe. The project is also a win for British industry, supporting specialist jobs through partnerships with firms like Alford Technologies, Atlantas Marine, Sonardyne and ECS Special Projects. Trials have already taken place in Portsmouth's Horsea Island, Portland Harbour, South Wales and as far afield as Norway. Putin humiliated as Russian war facility EXPLODES in Ukrainian drone strike The Royal Navy is now developing tactics and techniques to make full use of the new tech. The Ministry of Defence hailed the innovation on social media, calling it a leap forward in protecting sailors and vital undersea cables. The new underwater drone arrives amid warnings about Russian undersea activity in UK waters. In April, it was revealed that Kremlin spy sensors had been found close to British territory — believed to be tracking the Royal Navy's nuclear submarines. The sensors, reportedly deployed using Russian oligarchs' luxury yachts, were discovered washed ashore and picked up by Navy minehunter ships. Officials fear the covert operation could be part of a wider 'greyzone' campaign to gather intelligence and target undersea infrastructure. Royal Navy and RAF assets were scrambled last November when the suspected Russian spy ship Yantar was seen 'lurking around pipelines and internet cables' in the Irish Sea. Around the same time, RAF fighter jets intercepted a Russian warplane over the North Sea, and unmanned Russian underwater vehicles were also detected near communication cables. 5 The Minehunter HMS Cattistock (R) shadowing Admiral Vladimirsky through the English Channel Credit: SWNS 5 One senior source told The Sunday Times: 'It's a bit like the space race. This is a world clouded in secrecy and subterfuge… but there's enough smoke to suggest something is on fire somewhere.' In March, HMS Cattistock and a Wildcat helicopter were sent to monitor the Admiral Vladimirskiy, a so-called research ship revealed in 2023 to be a spy vessel suspected of probing Britain's power supply and internet links. HMS Somerset and other Royal Navy units were also deployed multiple times to escort Russian vessels including a beach landing ship returning from the Mediterranean. At least 11 internet cables in the Baltic Sea have been damaged in the past 15 months — some suspected to have been dragged by Russian ships — while surface vessels like the Admiral Vladimirskiy have continued probing waters near the UK. In response, military chiefs are drawing up Operation Atlantic Bastion — a sweeping new patrol mission using air, land and sea forces to defend UK and Nato interests in the North Atlantic.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
NATO chief to call for four-fold increase in Europe's air defense spending
LONDON — Washington's European allies must make a 'quantum leap' in military spending to deter Russia, the head of NATO is expected to say Monday, calling for a 400% increase in the continent's air and missile defense budget. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's comments are set to be among the strongest yet from the organization as it attempts to improve the continent's insufficient defenses against Russi a while also avoiding the political ire of President Donald Trump. 'The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defense,' Rutte is expected to say in a speech to the London-based think tank Chatham House, in remarks released beforehand by the alliance. 'The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends.' Trump's clear signaling that he would like to at least significantly reduce decades of American military support for Europe has sent its nations scrambling to beef up their own arms industries. The American president's suggestion that NATO allies should up their minimum defense spend from 2% to 5% of GDP was once seen as outlandish; but last month Rutte too backed this idea and said he expected it to be adopted at NATO's June 24-25 summit. On Monday he will make a similarly ambitious call, according to NATO's pre-released remarks. He will ask for a '400% increase in air and missile defense' and add that 'militaries also need thousands more armored vehicles and tanks, millions more artillery shells, and we must double our enabling capabilities, such as logistics, supply, transportation, and medical support.' 'Wishful thinking will not keep us safe,' he will say. 'We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy. So NATO has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance.' Rutte's comments would come against the backdrop of European powers vowing to spend more on their military budgets, having relied for decades upon America's protection first against the Soviet Union and now Putin's revanchist Kremlin. NATO's constituents must also maintain a balancing act when it comes to Ukraine — which is not a member. Kyiv's allies want to support a neighbor it sees as a bulwark against Russian aggression, while keeping onside a White House increasingly sympathetic to Moscow's worldview. Trump has previously described his 'very, very good relationship' with Putin, a man considered a pariah by former President Joe Biden and other Western leaders. Many officials and analysts in Europe acknowledge that Trump is right to demand that wealthy nations such as Germany be able to look after themselves without Washington's help. However many of these same commentators have expressed their horror at the tactics used by Trump, who has suggested that the United States would not protect underpaying allies, and openly inviting Russia to 'do whatever the hell' it wants to them. That risks shattering the central premise of NATO: Article 5 of its founding charter — an 'all-for-one and one-for-all' mutual defense promise suggesting that if one ally is attacked, the rest would come to its aid. The scenario the founders had in mind was that the U.S. would join the fight if Russia decided to launch an act of aggression against a smaller European country. In practice however, the only time it has been used in the real world was the other way round, when the alliance lent Washington symbolic defensive help after 9/11. Previous American presidents have always seen this as a good trade off: America underwrites European security, and in return has a huge influence over political, diplomatic and even cultural happenings on the continent and beyond. The soft power return on investment was always seen as a profitable one. However, Trump has repeatedly questioned this logic, not only undermining the promise behind Article 5 but using hostile language against those historically considered Western brethren. The realization among European allies that Washington is no longer committed to its mutual defense has sparked a drive to push up defense budgets and revive the long-since dormant arms industry on the continent.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Czech court sentences Colombian to 8 years for arson attack which officials think is tied to Russia
A court in the Czech capital sentenced a Colombian national to eight years in prison on Monday for an arson attack and planning another one, in a case which authorities believe may be linked to Russia. Prague 's Municipal Court also ordered Andrés Alfonso de la Hoz de la Cruz to pay damages worth 115,000 koruna ($5,300). The court approved a plea agreement between prosecutors and the defendant, who pleaded guilty. The 26-year-old Colombian was arrested a year ago after setting ablaze three Prague public buses at a depot at night. The court said that he recorded what he did and left. Local workers managed to extinguish the fire. The court said the man received orders on the Telegram messaging app and was promised $3,000. He was also planning one more attack, possibly at a movie theater in Prague. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala previously said the failed arson attack was likely part of Russia's hybrid war against his country. Czechia, which is more widely known in English as the Czech Republic, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full scale-invasion. Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since Moscow launched all-out war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, according to data collected by The Associated Press. They allege the disruption campaign is an extension of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war, intended to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine. ___
