logo
Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region amid row over dead soldiers, World News

Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region amid row over dead soldiers, World News

AsiaOne4 days ago

MOSCOW/KYIV — Russia said on Sunday (June 8) its forces had advanced to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk amid a public row between Moscow and Kyiv over peace negotiations and the return of thousands of bodies of soldiers who fell in the war.
Despite talk of peace, the war is stepping up with Russian forces grabbing more territory in Ukraine and Kyiv unfurling high-profile drone and sabotage attacks on Russia's nuclear-capable bomber fleet and, according to Moscow, on railways.
Russia, which controls a little under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, has taken more than 190 sq km of the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine in less than a month, according to pro-Ukrainian open source maps.
Now, according to the Russian defence ministry, units of the 90th Tank Division of the Central Grouping of Russian forces have reached the western frontier of Ukraine's Donetsk region and are attacking the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region.
"The enemy does not abandon its intentions to enter the Dnipropetrovsk region," Ukraine's Southern Defence Forces said on Telegram. "Our soldiers are courageously and professionally holding their section of the front, disrupting the occupier's plans. This work does not stop for a minute."
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the Dnipropetrovsk offensive showed that if Ukraine did not want to accept the reality of Russia's territorial gains in peace talks then Moscow's forces would advance further.
The pro-Ukrainian Deep State map showed Russian forces very close to the Dnipropetrovsk region, which had a population of more than three million before the war, and advancing on the city of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region from several directions.
A Ukrainian military spokesman, Dmytro Zaporozhets, said that Russian forces were trying to "build a bridgehead for an attack" on Kostyantynivka, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.
Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of delaying the swap of prisoners of war and return of the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. Ukraine denied those claims.
On Sunday, Russia said it was moving bodies towards the border and television showed refrigerated trucks containing the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers on the road in the Bryansk region. Ukraine, officials said, was playing politics with the dead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged to press on with prisoner exchanges.
"The Russian side is therefore, like always, even in these matters, is trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game," he said in his nightly video address.
"We believe that the exchanges will continue and will do everything for this. If the Russians do not stand by agreements even in humanitarian matters, it casts great doubt on all international efforts - including those by the United States in terms of talks and diplomacy."
Zelenskiy said he had reviewed commanders' reports about areas hit by heavy fighting, including near Pokrovsk, targeted by Moscow for months. He said the situation was "far from easy, but everything depends on the resilience of our units."
US President Donald Trump, who says he wants an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, on Thursday likened it to a fight between young children and indicated that he might have to simply let the conflict play out. Accusations over willingness for peace
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not think Ukraine's leaders wanted peace, after accusing them of ordering a bombing in Bryansk, western Russia, that killed seven people and injured 115 a day before talks in Turkey.
Ukraine, which has not commented on the attack on a Bryansk bridge, has similarly accused Moscow of not seriously seeking peace, citing Russian resistance to an immediate ceasefire.
Russia is demanding international recognition of Crimea, a peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory. Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from all of them.
Russia controlled 113,273 sq km, or 18.8 per cent, of Ukrainian territory as of June 7, according to the Deep State map. That is an area bigger than the US state of Virginia.
The areas under Russian control include Crimea, more than 99 per cent of the Luhansk region, over 70 per cent of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, all in the east or southeast, and fragments of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions in the northeast.
Putin told Trump on Wednesday that he would have to respond to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's bomber fleet and the bombings of the railways.
Zelenskiy warned Ukrainians in his video message to be particularly attentive to air raid warnings in the coming days.
The United States believes that Putin's threatened retaliation against Ukraine over its attacks has not happened yet in earnest and is likely to be a significant, multi-pronged strike, US officials told Reuters.
[[nid:718851]]

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

German defence minister: not considering sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine
German defence minister: not considering sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

Straits Times

time34 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

German defence minister: not considering sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius speaks to the media as he visits a makeshift memorial for fallen Ukrainian defenders, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko BERLIN - German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday that Germany is not considering delivering Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine despite Kyiv's repeated requests. Although Germany is one of Ukraine's main military backers, Berlin has never supplied Taurus missiles, which have a range in excess of 300 miles (480 km). Answering a journalist's question during his fifth visit to Kyiv since the start of the war, Pistorius said, "Since you asked me whether we are considering this, my answer is no." In the same news conference, the minister said his country's military support for Ukraine had reached 7 billion euros ($8.12 billion) this year and a further 1.9 billion euros were pending parliamentary approval. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Ukraine's Zelenskiy to attend G7, hopes to meet President Trump
Ukraine's Zelenskiy to attend G7, hopes to meet President Trump

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Ukraine's Zelenskiy to attend G7, hopes to meet President Trump

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a joint press conference with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (not pictured) after talks, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he planned to attend the Group of Seven summit in Canada next week and hoped to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the meeting. Zelenskiy told a news briefing he planned to discuss continued support for Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, and future financing for Kyiv's reconstruction efforts during the upcoming summit. "Anyway, the final decision is in the White House, it depends on the President of the United States of America," Zelenskiy said regarding the possible imposition of tough sanctions against Russia. "I hope that we will have a conversation (with Trump) at the G7 summit and I hope that if no decisions are made before then, I will be able to have at least an understanding of how close we are to that decision," he added. Trump last week said that he hadn't decided whether to deploy sanctions against Russia that are being considered by the U.S. Senate. Zelenskiy said at a joint press conference with the German defence minister Boris Pistorius that Kyiv was unlikely to be able to compensate for U.S. weapons systems if such deliveries stopped. He also said that Ukraine intends to expand cooperation with Germany in joint weapon production. "We need financing... Germany is one of those countries where they understand it and they know the rules and they always do what they say," Zelenskiy said. Pistorius said on Thursday that his country's military support for Ukraine had reached 7 billion euros ($8.12 billion) this year and a further 1.9 billion euros are pending parliamentary approval. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

European foreign ministers ready to toughen action against Russia
European foreign ministers ready to toughen action against Russia

Straits Times

time2 hours ago

  • Straits Times

European foreign ministers ready to toughen action against Russia

Spain's State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs Diego Martinez Belio, Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Britain's Minister of State for Europe Stephen Doughty and French Foreign Ministry's Director General of Political and Security Affairs Frederic Mondoloni pose for a family photo, on the day of a meeting on the latest developments in Ukraine and security in Europe, at Villa Madama in Rome, Italy, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani attends a joint press conference, on the day of a meeting to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and security in Europe, at Villa Madama in Rome, Italy, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul attends a joint press conference, on the day of a meeting to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and security in Europe, at Villa Madama in Rome, Italy, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul attend a joint press conference, on the day of a meeting to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and security in Europe, at Villa Madama in Rome, Italy, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attend a joint press conference, on the day of a meeting to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and security in Europe, at Villa Madama in Rome, Italy, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane ROME - Foreign ministers from large European countries said on Thursday 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. The meeting in Rome was attended by officials from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Britain and the European Union. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and a Ukrainian representative also joined the talks. "We reiterated our readiness to step up our pressure on Russia as it continues to refuse serious and credible commitments, including through further sanctions and countering their circumvention," the foreign ministers' statement said. The Rome gathering took place as Russia intensifies attacks against Ukraine, which Moscow says are retaliatory measures for recent strikes by Kyiv on its own soil. Representatives from the two sides met in Istanbul earlier this month for peace talks which were inconclusive and failed to bring a ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept. The Europeans said on Thursday they were "ready to swiftly adopt new measures (notably in the energy and banking sectors) aimed at undermining" Russia's war effort. They stressed they would keep frozen Russian sovereign assets in their jurisdiction "until Russia ceases its aggression and pays for the damage it has caused." Some $300 billion of Russian state assets were frozen by the Group of Seven (G7) rich democracies after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Last year, G7 leaders agreed to provide Ukraine with $50 billion via a series of bilateral loans that Kyiv could pay off using windfall profits from these frozen Russian assets. "We are prepared to enhance our support, including through improving defence industrial cooperation with Ukraine, and exploring additional forms of security and defence cooperation," the statement said, without elaborating. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store