05-06-2025
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kherson hit by glide bombs twice in same day as Putin ramps up attacks
Russia fired multiple rounds of glide bombs at the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Thursday, local authorities have said, as Vladimir Putin ramped up attacks across the country.
Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of the Kherson region, reposted footage of the aftermath of the attacks, which destroyed a government building and injured two people.
Several high-rise buildings were damaged, while a huge chunk of the top of the administrative building is seen missing in the video.
'Four KABs flew through this place,' Mr Prokudin wrote, using the Ukrainian phrase for glide bombs, which are modified, Soviet-era munitions carrying up to 1,500kg of explosives.
Additional footage posted by Mr Prokudin at around 2pm GMT appeared to show the building having sustained further damage after reports of a second round of glide bomb attacks.
Separately, a Russian drone strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky on Thursday killed at least five civilians, including a one-year-old child.
It comes as US president Donald Trump has warned that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will respond to Ukraine 's Operation Spiderweb, after the two leaders spoke on a phone call for around one hour and 15 minutes on Wednesday.
New German leader plans to discuss Ukraine and trade with Trump in Oval Office visit
Germany's new leader is meeting President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the U.S. on board with Western support for Ukraine, help defuse trade tensions that pose a risk to Europe's biggest economy and further bolster his country's long-criticized military spending.
You can read the full story below.
New German leader plans to discuss Ukraine and trade with Trump in Oval Office visit
Germany's new leader is meeting President Donald Trump in Washington as he works to keep the U.S. on board with Western support for Ukraine, help defuse trade tensions that pose a risk to Europe's biggest economy and further bolster his country's long-criticized military spending
Tom Watling5 June 2025 15:00
Russia drone attack hits northeast city of Kupyansk
Ukraine's state emergency services have posted photos showing the aftermath of a Russian drone attack on the city of Kupyansk.
Russian forces are within five miles of the city's outskirts.
'As a result of discharges from Russian First-Person-View drones in the city of Kupyansk, fires broke out in the private sector, a 74-year-old woman was injured,' the emergency services wrote.
'A house, a car and outbuildings were on fire. 13 rescuers from the State Emergency Service fought the fire, risking their lives due to the threat of repeated shelling.'
Tom Watling5 June 2025 14:30
Brazil, India, China should put pressure on Russia to end war in Ukraine, Macron says
Brazil, India and China should put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday during a joint press conference with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is on a state visit in France.
Tom Watling5 June 2025 14:14
Russia planning to make 2 million FPV drones in 2025, says Kyiv
Russia plans to produce two million first-person-view drones in 2025, Ukraine's foreign intelligence service has claimed.
Intelligence official Oleh Aleksandrov told Politico that Moscow has rapidly upped its production of the lethal but cheap drones, which have become one of the most common weapons on the frontlines in Ukraine.
'They aim to produce about 30,000 long-range drones of those types plus 30,000 false target drones they use to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses in 2025,' Aleksandrov said.
'As for the FPV drones, Russians are aiming to produce a whopping 2 million of them in 2025.'
Ukrainian forces working on tight budgets pioneered FPV drones, which are essentially affordable quadcopters retrofitted with small-munitions and cameras connected to a headset, allowing the drone pilot to steer it using a live, first-person-view feed.
They are short-range weapons operating on a timer.
Ukraine upscaled FPV production in 2024, creating around a million sets. They are aiming to produce 2.5 million this year.
Tom Watling5 June 2025 14:05
In pictures: Civilians clean up aftermath of deadly Russian strike
Below you can see pictures from the site of a Russian drone strike in the central city of Pryluky .
At least five people were killed in the strikes, including a one-year-old boy. The baby's mother and grandmother, who was the wife of the local fire chief, were also killed when a Russian drone hit their house.
Tom Watling5 June 2025 13:41
Zelensky launched a string of daring raids against Russia. He's proving to Trump that Ukraine has the cards after all
First came dozens of armed drones launched from trucks traveling deep inside Russia, swarming over military airfields across the country and raining down nuclear-capable long-range bombers. Then, two days later, a massive underwater bomb targeted a key bridge linking occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland.
The two daring raids by Ukrainian special forces have stunned the Kremlin, bolstered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and sent shockwaves through defence departments around the world.
But there has been an uncharacteristic silence from the White House, and its usually verbose inhabitants.
Zelensky's daring raids on Russia proves to Trump that Ukraine has the cards
Zelensky's dramatic military strike deep inside Russia may have changed Trump's perception of Putin as a 'winner' — with the U.S. president uncharacteristically quiet, write Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg.
Tom Watling5 June 2025 13:18
The Dutch queen unveils a bell made from Russian weapons to show solidarity with Ukraine
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands handed over a bell made partly from Russian weapons to a church in the Czech Republic on Thursday in a sign of solidarity with Ukraine.
Known as the Bell of Freedom, it was manufactured by the Dutch Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry that used fragments of artillery shells and other weapons fired by Russia against Ukraine.
'This bell has a lot of symbolism in it and it's a very special project for us,' the owner of the bell foundry, Joost Eijsbouts, told the Czech public radio. 'To use material designed for violence and turn it into something peaceful is a good idea.'
Read the full story below.
The Dutch queen unveils a bell made from Russian weapons to show solidarity with Ukraine
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands has handed over a bell made partly from Russian weapons to a church in the Czech Republic in a sign of solidarity with Ukraine
Tom Watling5 June 2025 12:48
Footage shows Russian attack on Kharkiv
Footage published by officials from the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv show the moment a Russian drone smashed into a high-rise building last night.
The video, shared by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's chief advisor, Andriy Yermak, is doing the rounds on Ukrainian social media.
Igor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second most-populated city, home to some 1.3 million people, posted the footage this morning.
No one was killed in the attack shown below; Mr Terekhov said the couple at home at the moment of the strike 'only escaped because they were sleeping in another room'. 'It's a miracle that everyone is alive,' he added.
He said 13 people were injured in total overnight after multiple Russian strikes on Kharkiv.
Mr Yermak wrote in a post on X alongside the video that it showed Vladimir Putin was only posing as a peacemaker by talking about negotiating an end to the conflict.
'Putin is a terrorist who tries to pose as a 'peacemaker' and makes hoax calls,' the official wrote. 'What about the ceasefire?'
Tom Watling5 June 2025 12:29
Nato near consensus on 5% defence spending commitment, claims US
Here we have some footage from today's meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels.
US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth says the alliance is 'nearing consensus' on Nato members hitting a pledge to spend five per cent of GDP on defence.
It will be a massive jump for most of the 32 Nato members to hit this increase; many have only just reached the two per cent threshold demanded of them a decade ago.
Tom Watling5 June 2025 12:24
Railway track damaged after blast in Russia's Voronezh region, state TV reports
A railway track in Russia's Voronezh region was damaged after an blast, state television Vesti Voronezh reported, citing an unidentified source.
There were no casualties as a result of the explosion, state TV reported.
Regional governor Alexander Gusev said via his channel in Telegram that several trains were stopped as a result of the damage to the railway. Gusev did not mention any blasts.
Russia's FSB security service also said that a railway track in the Voronezh region was damaged by the detonation of an explosive device, Interfax news agency reported.
The issue of opening a criminal case on terrorism is currently under consideration, the FSB said.
Tom Watling
