Russia-Ukraine war live: attacks reported across Ukraine; Putin nuclear weapons threat is ‘real’, says Biden

Kyiv has repatriated three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary after a group of PoWs was transferred there from Russia without coordination with Kyiv, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday according to Reuters.

Hungary, which under its prime minister, Viktor Orbán has forged strong political and economic ties with Moscow, said on 9 June that Budapest had received a group of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia.

“The embassy of Ukraine in Budapest managed to bring back three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on his Facebook page.

Nikolenko said they were already back on Ukrainian soil and were receiving the support they needed.

He said Ukrainian diplomats and other relevant Ukrainian authorities were working to try to bring back the remaining prisoners of war.

• One person has been killed and seven injured while they were clearing mud in the flooded area of Kherson, Ukrainian officials have reported.

• The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has unveiled an aid package for Ukraine worth €50bn (£43bn), Reuters reports. The sum comes after a review of the EU’s 2021-27 budget and before an international conference in London this week aimed at raising more funds to rebuild Ukraine from its war with Russia.

• Ukraine claims to have shot down 32 of 35 “Shahad” drones launched in an overnight attack mostly directed at Kyiv. Suspilne reports that in Kyiv, non-residential structures and several private houses were damaged by debris, and agricultural property and equipment were damaged in Zaporizhzhia after Russia launched seven S-300 missiles at the Ukraine-controlled portion of the region.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said drones attacked the Kyiv region in several waves, with the air alert lasting for more than four hours. Several commercial and administrative buildings and some private houses were damaged, it said. The energy ministry said debris from falling drones damaged electricity lines in the Kyiv region and also in the Mykolaiv region in the south, cutting off electricity for hundreds of residents.

Prosecutors served a notice of suspicion to the head of Kyiv’s municipal department for security on Tuesday after three people died in a Russian air attack when they were unable to get into a bomb shelter, the prosecutor’s office said according to Reuters.

The deaths of the people on 1 June after they rushed to an air raid shelter that failed to open caused a public outrage and prompted the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to vow a harsh response.

The prosecutor’s office said the suspect was accused of improperly performing their official duties and that a lack of control over the maintenance and readiness of city bomb shelters led to the deaths and injuries of people.

Kyiv’s prosecutor’s office did not name the suspect, but the capital’s city council identified him as Roman Tkachuk and said the municipal security department was cooperating and providing access to available documentation.

The destruction of the vast Kakhovka hydroelectric dam has caused €1.2bn (£1.02bn) of damage, Ukraine’s environment minister said on Tuesday according to Reuters, warning that mines unearthed by flooding could wash onto other European countries’ shores.

The collapse of the Russian-held dam on 6 June unleashed flood waters across southern Ukraine and Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region, killing more than 50 people and destroying homes and farmland.

Speaking by video link to a meeting of European Union countries’ environment ministers, the Ukrainian environment minister Ruslan Strilets said assessments of the damage was ongoing but the dam collapse was already the largest environmental disaster since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

“There are things that we can never restore. These are the ecosystems that were washed away into the Black Sea. This includes 20,000 animals that probably died, including endemic species that were only found in southern Ukraine,” he said.

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Water flows over the collapsed Kakhovka dam in Nova Kakhovka, in Russian-occupied Ukraine on 7 June. Photograph: AP

The World Bank is looking to enhance aid to Ukraine for urgent repair projects in the transport, energy and housing sectors, the bank’s director for operations, Anna Bjerde, said on Tuesday ahead of the Ukraine Recovery conference in London.

The Washington-based lender has disbursed more than $21bn (£18.5bn) to Ukraine, mainly via grants, since the war started in February 2022, focused on government expenditure.

“The budget support will continue, but now there is a comprehensive pivot to the country’s recovery,” Bjerde said.

The Ukraine Recovery conference on 21-22 June will focus on building international support for Ukraine’s recovery from war, and how the private sector can help with the reconstruction.

• One person has been killed and seven injured while they were clearing mud in the flooded area of Kherson, Ukrainian officials have reported.

• The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has unveiled an aid package for Ukraine worth €50bn (£43bn), Reuters reports. The sum comes after a review of the EU’s 2021-27 budget and before an international conference in London this week aimed at raising more funds to rebuild Ukraine from its war with Russia.

• The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he had called on China to use its influence over Russia more in regards to the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports. Speaking alongside China’s premier, Li Qiang, after bilateral talks in the German capital, Scholz also said China should not supply weapons to Russia and that the war in Ukraine should not become a frozen conflict.

• The Ukrainian kickboxing champion Maksym Bordus has been killed fighting Russian forces, a website that lists athletes killed in the war said on Tuesday. Bordus was killed on 11 June in “fierce fighting against Russian invaders”, according to Sport Angels, a Ukrainian website set up with the assistance of the sports committee that brings together NGOs and federations from non-Olympic sports, Reuters reports.

• The companies behind the Telegram and Viber messaging apps were fined by a Moscow court on Tuesday for failing to delete what Russia deems illegal content, Interfax news agency said, including about the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

European Union member states plan to train as many as 30,000 members of Ukraine’s armed forces this year, including from territorial defence units, Kyiv said on Tuesday, according to AFP.

“In 2023, the EU Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine plans to train 30,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel, including soldiers of the territorial defence forces,” the defence ministry in Kyiv said.

The statement follows a pledge from EU officials in February this year that it would train 30,000 Ukrainian troops, building on an initial target of 15,000 personnel.

The announcement came as Brussels asked EU member states to back a €50bn (£43bn) package to support Ukraine over the next four years.

The Ukrainian kickboxing champion Maksym Bordus has been killed fighting Russian forces, a website that lists athletes killed in the war said on Tuesday.

Bordus was killed on 11 June in “fierce fighting against Russian invaders”, according to Sport Angels, a Ukrainian website set up with the assistance of the sports committee that brings together NGOs and federations from non-Olympic sports, Reuters reports.

“Every day he brought Ukraine’s victory closer with a weapon in his hands, but he himself will not see it,” it wrote under a photograph of Bordus posing with several medals.

A petition was posted on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s website calling for Bordus to be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Sport Angels said he had won dozens of tournaments and was the World Association of Kickboxing (Wako) champion of Ukraine.

Our Brussels correspondent, Lisa O’Carroll, reports on the latest financial developments at the EU regarding Ukraine:

The European Union is proposing to create a €50bn (£42bn/$54.5bn) financial reserve for the next four years.

It took the unusual step of ringfencing potential funds after a review of the bloc’s 2021-27 budget. Since the outbreak of war it has diverted €30bn cash from other funding streams to respond to the crisis.

The European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, said it would be made up of loans and grants and would give Ukraine “predictability” and “incentivise other donors to step up too”.

The announcement was made on the eve of a major conference in London on the reconstruction of Ukraine.

World leaders, banks and private interests will attend with a view to forging an early framework for the construction, restoration of community infrastructures and to put in place mental health programmes for generations to come.

At a conference in Brussels, Peter Klanso, a director Danish Red Cross, said an estimated 9 million people were already impacted by the war, both civilians and soldiers.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the EU, Vsevolod Chentsov, said it was vital that Ukraine and Ukrainian people remained in control of the conversations about the future of the country.

The World Bank has estimated it will cost at least €411bn (£352bn/$448bn) to rebuild the country devastated by war.

Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, has reportedly been seen for the first time since numerous Russian theories emerged about his death or injury.

In what appeared to be recent pictures, Budanov was seen with Japan’s ambassador to Ukraine, Matsuda Kuninori.

Budanov and Ukraine’s top commander, Valery Zaluzhny, had been the subject of rumours by Russian figures, after having not been seen for some time.

Zaluzhny was seen in a video, released by the General Staff late on Monday, which showed the commander-in-chief sporting a badge of Grogu, the pale green, pointy-eared hero best known as “Baby Yoda” from the hit Disney Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian.

One person has been killed and seven injured while they were clearing mud in the flooded area of Kherson, Ukrainian officials have reported.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, posted to Telegram to say:

The Russian army fired at rescue workers in Kherson who were clearing mud. As a result of the shelling, one employee of the state emergency service was killed, and seven more employees were injured. Six are in serious condition.

The claims have not been independently verified.

The United States is not promoting a particular candidate to lead Nato, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday when asked about the leadership of the transatlantic military alliance.

“We’re not pushing, promoting any particular candidate. We’re in very close consultation with our allies and partners to determine where we want to go with Nato and its leadership,” Blinken told reporters in a press conference alongside the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in London.

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Antony Blinken (right) and James Cleverly hold a press conference in London. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty

The British defence minister, Ben Wallace, has said he would like to be Nato’s next secretary general, however behind the scenes it is believed that France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, thinks the head of Nato must be from an EU member state.

A Russian soldier who destroyed a German Leopard tank in a battle in Ukraine has been given a 1m rouble (£9,282) reward by a private foundation, Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

On Friday it was reported that the defence ministry had said Russian troops who had destroyed German-made Leopard tanks and US-supplied armoured vehicles being used by Ukraine would receive bonus payments.

The ministry said this was part of a wider reward scheme under which more than 10,000 Russian servicemen had received individual bonuses since the start of the war, nearly 16 months ago.

On the basis of reports from Russian field commanders, “payments are currently being made to servicemen of the Russian Federation armed forces who in the course of military operations destroyed Leopard tanks, as well as armoured fighting vehicles made in the USA and other Nato countries”, the ministry said.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he had called on China to use its influence over Russia more in regards to the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Speaking alongside China’s premier, Li Qiang, after bilateral talks in the German capital, Scholz also said China should not supply weapons to Russia and that the war in Ukraine should not become a frozen conflict.

Scholz also said he told Li in talks in Berlin that Germany did not want to decouple from China but to diversify trade in a bid for more balanced relationships all round.

Speaking at a joint news conference, Scholz said he had told Li that German companies still faced challenges in accessing the Chinese market and unfair business conditions.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has unveiled an aid package for Ukraine worth €50bn (£43bn), Reuters reports.

The sum comes after a review of the EU’s 2021-27 budget and before an international conference in London this week aimed at raising more funds to rebuild Ukraine from its war with Russia.

The €50bn budget reserve would provide perspective and reliability to the bloc’s Ukrainian partners, Von der Leyen said in remarks to journalists after an EU commission meeting in Brussels.

“This financial reserve will allow us really to calibrate our financial support according to the evolution of the situation on the ground,” Von der Leyen said according to Agence France-Presse news agency.

Trade, climate change and the war in Ukraine are on the agenda Tuesday as the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, meets the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, who is on his first foreign trip since taking office.

The Associated Press news agency reports Germany is keen to maintain good ties with China, its biggest trading partner, despite wariness over Beijing’s growing assertiveness and refusal to criticise the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Germany’s recently published national security strategy describes China as “a partner, competitor and systemic rival”.

The meeting in Berlin is the seventh time Germany and China have held high-level government consultations. It comes a day after the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, met the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, indicating an effort by Beijing to reach out to the west and improve frosty relations.

Li, a former Communist party secretary for Shanghai who took office in March as China’s No 2 official, met the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Monday and had dinner with Scholz at the Chancellery before the start of formal talks.

Russia sees scant chance of peace talks with Ukraine due to Kyiv’s stance on the issue despite constructive efforts by an African peace mission, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had held “very productive” talks with African leaders on Saturday and remained open to dialogue and contacts on Ukraine, said Peskov.

But he told reporters that what he called the history of Kyiv’s position meant “one can hardly talk about stable grounds” for peace negotiations.

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Dmitry Peskov looking on following a meeting with Vladimir Putin and a delegation of African leaders in Strelna, outside Saint Petersburg. Photograph: Sergey Bobylev/Rianovosti/AFP/Getty

The companies behind the Telegram and Viber messaging apps were fined by a Moscow court on Tuesday for failing to delete what Russia deems illegal content, Interfax news agency said, including about the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Dubai-based Telegram was ordered to pay 4 million roubles ($47,525), Interfax said, and the Japanese company behind Viber was fined 1 million roubles.

Telegram, founded by Russian-born brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov in 2013, is hugely popular in Russia where it is used on a daily basis by the Kremlin and defence ministry as well as by journalists, opposition figures, rights groups and millions of ordinary people.

TASS news agency said the fine against Telegram was for refusing to remove 32 channels publishing false information about what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Russia has tightened controls over the coverage of the conflict by media and bloggers, introducing tougher punishments after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year for “discrediting” the actions of its armed forces or publishing false information about them.

• Ukraine claims to have shot down 32 of 35 “Shahad” drones launched in an overnight attack mostly directed at Kyiv. Suspilne reports that in Kyiv non-residential structures and several private houses were damaged by debris, and agricultural property and equipment were damaged in Zaporizhzhia after Russia launched seven S-300 missiles at the Ukraine-controlled portion of the region.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said drones attacked the Kyiv region in several waves, with the air alert lasting for over four hours. Several commercial and administrative buildings and some private houses were damaged, it said. The energy ministry said debris from falling drones damaged electricity lines in the Kyiv region and also in the Mykolaiv region in the south, cutting off electricity for hundreds of residents.

• Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said in a radio interview that it was simply not possible for air defence systems to cover all of a country as large as Ukraine.

• An unspecified critical infrastructure facility was hit in Lviv, which is about 70 km (43 miles) from the border with Nato member Poland. As a consequence some tram routes were altered during the morning rush hour, officials said. “They hit a critically important facility. There were three hits,” said regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy.

• Russia’s defence minister has threatened “immediate strikes on decision-making centres” in Ukraine if western-supplied long-range weapons are used to strike at Crimea. The ministry of defence statement from Sergei Shoigu said an attack on Crimea with Himars and Storm Shadow missiles would constitute an attack “outside the zone of the special military operation” and would mean “the full involvement of the United States and Great Britain in the conflict”. Russia illegally seized the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

• Ukraine is in negotiations with western arms manufacturers to boost production of weapons, including drones, and could sign contracts in coming months, a Ukrainian minister told Reuters. Sergiy Boyev, the deputy minister for Strategic Industries in Ukraine, said Kyiv was in talks with manufacturers from Germany, Italy, France and eastern Europe about them producing weapons in Ukraine.

• Ukraine’s ministry of the interior has stated that four settlements and 818 houses remain flooded on the right bank of the Dnipro in Kherson. Authorities in Mykolaiv reported some flooding remains in their region too. One person has been killed in Kherson this morning as a result of Russian attacks.

• Russia has issued an appeal for staff at Ukrainian embassies around the world to defect to Moscow. In a statement, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said “We appeal to the employees of Ukrainian diplomatic missions and representative offices of state bodies abroad. If you feel responsible for the fate of your Motherland, ensuring peace and stability in Europe and are under pressure from the criminal Kyiv regime leading Ukraine to a national catastrophe, come to Moscow, where you and your loved ones will be guaranteed safety.”

• Russian state-owned media reports that Ukraine struck the occupied settlement of Nova Kakhovka with “kamikaze” drones, injuring three people.

• Russia’s security forces, the FSB, have claimed to have detained a Ukrainian national in the Kabardino-Balkaria region on suspicion of espionage.

• Heavy casualties are being endured by both Ukrainian and Russian forces, British military intelligence has said, two weeks into the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The level of losses among Russian troops was said by British officials to be at its highest level since the peak of March’s battle for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, with Ukraine claiming to have killed or injured 4,600 soldiers.

• Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said Monday Ukraine must prepare itself for a “tough duel” but that “the biggest blow is yet to come”. Separately she said that Russia had concentrated a significant number of units in the east, including air assault troops, but that Ukrainian forces were preventing their advance. She described the situation in the east of the country as “difficult”.

Russia’s defence minister has threatened “immediate strikes on decision-making centres” in Ukraine if western-supplied long-range weapons are used to strike at Crimea. Russia illegally seized the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

The ministry of defence statement from Sergei Shoigu says an attack on Crimea with Himars and Storm Shadow missiles would constitute an attack “outside the zone of the special military operation” and would mean “the full involvement of the United States and Great Britain in the conflict”.

In the statement, Shoigu said:

According to our information, the leadership of the armed forces of Ukraine plans to strike at the territory of the Russian Federation, including Crimea, with Himars and Storm Shadow missiles.

The use of these missiles outside the zone of the special military operation will mean the full involvement of the United States and Great Britain in the conflict and will entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres on the territory of Ukraine.

Shoigu also claimed that Russia has repulsed over 200 attacks from Ukraine in recent weeks. He said:

Since 4 June, the armed forces of Ukraine have launched 263 attacks on the positions of Russian troops. Thanks to the competent and selfless actions of our units, all of them were repulsed, the enemy did not achieve his goals.

Ukraine claims to have retaken at least eight settlements during that period of time, and advanced the front in Zaporizhzhia region by several kilometres.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, is reporting that one person has been killed in Kherson this morning as a result of Russian attacks. It cited the head of the regional authority, Oleksandr Prokudin.

It posted to its Telegram news channel for the region:

Russian troops attacked Kherson in the morning. A 27-year-old man died. Houses, a kindergarten, a school and a service station were hit by Russian shells, as was a team of doctors who went to help the Kherson people. The doctors were not injured.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Reuters is carrying some more comment from Ukrainian sources about the overnight Russian drone attacks on the country.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said drones attacked the Kyiv region in several waves, with the air alert lasting for over four hours. Several commercial and administrative buildings and some private houses were damaged, it said.

The energy ministry said debris from falling drones damaged electricity lines in the Kyiv region and also in the Mykolaiv region in the south, cutting off electricity for hundreds of residents.

Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said in a radio interview that it was simply not possible for air defence systems to cover all of a country as large as Ukraine.

Ukraine is in negotiations with western arms manufacturers to boost production of weapons, including drones, and could sign contracts in coming months, a Ukrainian minister told Reuters.

Sergiy Boyev, the deputy minister for Strategic Industries in Ukraine, said Kyiv was in talks with manufacturers from Germany, Italy, France and eastern Europe about them producing weapons in Ukraine.

“We are in very detailed discussions with them. And we are certain that we will have the contracts agreements signed within the next few months,” Boyev told Reuters on the sidelines of the Paris airshow.

Russia has issued an appeal for staff at Ukrainian embassies around the world to defect to Moscow.

In a statement, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said:

We appeal to the employees of Ukrainian diplomatic missions and representative offices of state bodies abroad. If you feel responsible for the fate of your Motherland, ensuring peace and stability in Europe and are under pressure from the criminal Kyiv regime leading Ukraine to a national catastrophe, come to Moscow, where you and your loved ones will be guaranteed safety.

State-owned news agency Tass quotes director of the service, Sergey Naryshkin, saying “the consequences of the steady degradation of the internal political and socio-economic situation in Ukraine, as well as the repressive methods of managing the state apparatus implemented by the Kyiv regime, are increasingly affecting the personnel of Ukrainian missions abroad.”

The service claims that “Large-scale purges are being carried out in the foreign establishments of Ukraine, aimed at identifying employees disloyal to Kyiv and ensuring their early return to their homeland.”

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Finland’s newly elected parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of National Coalition Party leader Petteri Orpo to become prime minister, as widely expected, ushering in a right-wing government and ending Social Democrat Sanna Marin’s rule, Reuters reports.

Finland formally joined Nato in April, having applied to become a member of the alliance after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares as 1,340km (832 mile) border with Russia, the longest of any EU member.

This image sent to us over the news wires shows smoke rising over the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

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This picture shows a cloud of smoke after a night drone strike on Lviv. Photograph: Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP/Getty Images

An unspecified critical infrastructure facility was hit in the city, which is about 70 km (43 miles) from the border with Nato member Poland. As a consequence some tram routes were altered during the morning rush hour, officials said. “They hit a critically important facility. There were three hits,” Reuters reports regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy said.

There has been some comment on social media, including from Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun, about the appearance of Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi wearing a baby Yoda insignia from the Star Wars series The Mandalorian.

Ukrainian forces on Tuesday struck the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region with drones and three civilians were wounded, the Tass news agency reported, citing the local Russian-imposed authorities.

Reuters reports that the authorities claim “kamikaze” drones were used.

Ukraine’s ministry of the interior has stated that four settlements and 818 houses remain flooded on the right bank of the Dnipro in Kherson.

Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass reports that security forces have detained a Ukrainian national in the Kabardino-Balkaria region on suspicion of espionage.

It quotes the FSB saying:

In the city of Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkar Republic, [the FSB] stopped the illegal activities of a 44-year-old citizen of Ukraine suspected of espionage. It was established that the detainee, acting on the instructions of the security service of Ukraine, collected and handed over military information to a foreign intelligence officer.

The investigation continues. If found guilty, espionage charges carry a term of between ten and 20 years in jail in Russia.

Here is an overnight summary of developments in Ukraine as reported by Suspilne on its official Telegram channel:

At night, the Russian Federation released 35 “Shahed” attack drones over Ukraine – 32 of them were shot down. Anti-aircraft defence operated in most regions, but the main direction of the attack was Kyiv region.

In the Kyiv region non-residential structures and several private houses were damaged by debris. There were no casualties or injuries.

In Lviv, there were three hits on a critically important object. There was a fire. People were not injured. Due to shelling, the routes of three trams in the city were changed.

Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs were fired at with seven S-300 missiles at night: they damaged agricultural property and equipment and one of the recreation areas. There were no injuries or damage to residential buildings.

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An explosion is seen in the sky over Kyiv. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters

The claims have not been independently verified.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that yesterday Russia shelled 19 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region, and that one person was injured in Orikhiv as a result. It cited the local authority. Zaporizhzhia is one of four Ukrainian regions that the Russian Federation claimed to annex late last year.

Western powers will only protect Ukraine’s multibillion-dollar postwar recovery if they agree a unified strategy to make aid conditional on clear progress on combating judicial corruption, reinstating the obligation on Ukrainian public officials to declare assets and ensuring all recovery finds can be digitally traced, according to an authoritative report from the German Marshall Fund.

The US thinktank’s proposals, matching calls from Ukrainian civil society and G7 ambassadors in Ukraine, reflect a concern that donors have not yet assembled a strategy to ensure how recovery funds can be monitored in a country that has made progress in tackling capture by oligarchs since 2014 but still has many unreformed institutions.

The report, published before the UK government-led Ukraine recovery conference takes place in London, argues that Ukraine is fighting a two-front war to defeat Russia and to permanently embed the rule of law.

Members of Ukrainian civil society feel they have been sidelined at the conference, which will be dominated by the private sector and international politicians.

Related: West needs strategy to tie Ukraine aid to corruption progress, thinktank says

The leader of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is involved in yet “another deliberate effort to undermine the authority of the official military authorities,” in Russia, the UK’s Ministry of Defence writes in its latest intelligence update.

On Monday, “Prigozhin said that he was expecting a reply from the Russian MoD regarding a ‘contract’ of his own drafting which he had delivered to the ministry three days before,” the MoD said.

“This follows the MoD’s own ultimatum to Wagner and other ‘volunteer formations’ to sign contracts with the MoD by 01 July 2023.

“Although the content of Prigozhin’s document has not been made public, the act of him delivering it raises the stakes, and is highly likely another deliberate effort to undermine the authority of the official military authorities.

“Prigozhin’s tone towards the MoD has become unambiguously confrontational. The MoD almost certainly sees this as deeply unfortunate at a time when it is grappling with Ukraine’s counter-offensive.”

Prigozhin has been feuding with the Russian military for months, accusing it among other things of failing to provide enough ammunition to his forces. The dispute reached new heights this month when a Russian commander accused Wagner of kidnapping and torturing his soldiers.

More from the most recent ISW analysis, which writes that Russian sources have claimed that a car carrying a Zaporizhia Oblast occupation official exploded in Simferopol, occupied Crimea on Sunday. It reports:

Zaporizhia Oblast occupation official Vladimir Rogov claimed that the gas tank of the assistant to the Zaporizhia Oblast occupation deputy prime minister, Vladimir Epifanov, exploded, injuring Epifanov and two other passengers.

Rogov claimed that the cause of the explosion is unknown but that unspecified actors inspected the gas tank on June 17, implying possible sabotage.

Interestingly, the ISW appears to contradict Biden’s assessment of the risks posed by Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. In its latest analysis, the US think tank writes:

ISW has long assessed that Russia will likely keep tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in order to consolidate de facto control of Belarus but maintains that this deployment is extraordinarily unlikely to have battlefield impacts in Ukraine.

A European Union report will this week say that Ukraine has met two out of seven conditions to start membership negotiations, two EU sources have said according to Reuters, with the bloc’s executive set to highlight progress made despite the war triggered by Russia’s invasion.

The news agency reports:

In a highly symbolic move, the EU granted Ukraine formal membership candidate status a year ago – four months after Russia, Kyiv’s Soviet-era overlord, attacked the country amid its efforts to pursue integration with the West.

But the EU set seven conditions – including on judicial reform and curbing endemic corruption – to launch accession negotiations. Ukraine has called for talks to start this year.

The executive European Commission’s report is a milestone in that process, which supporters of Ukraine’s quest for swift EU accession hope will culminate in a decision by the bloc’s 27 member countries in December to start the talks with Kyiv.

Two senior EU officials who were briefed on the report, which has not been made public, said Ukraine has met two of the criteria by now. One of the officials said these related to judicial reform and media law, and added that the focus in the report was on the positives.

“There is progress. The report will be moderately positive,” said the person, who spoke under condition of anonymity. “It’s not about embellishing reality but recognising progress, there have been prominent anti-corruption cases to name, for example.”

Ukraine has in recent months gone after several cases of high-profile corruption, including detaining the head of its Supreme Court over a suspected $2.7 million bribe.

Beyond stronger anti-graft efforts, other criteria include reforms to Ukraine’s Constitutional Court and law enforcement, anti-money laundering measures as well as laws to rein in oligarchs and safeguard rights of national minorities.

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy (C) with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (L) and European Council president Charles Michel (R) in Brussels in February. Photograph: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

US president Joe Biden says the threat of Russian president Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is “real”, days after denouncing Russia’s deployment of such weapons in Belarus. Reuters reports:

On Saturday, Biden called Putin’s announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus “absolutely irresponsible”.

“When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy,” Biden told a group of donors in California on Monday.

“They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It’s real,” Biden said.

Last week, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said his country had started taking delivery of Russian tactical nuclear weapons, some of which he said were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The deployment is Russia’s first move of such warheads – shorter-range, less powerful nuclear weapons that could be used on the battlefield – outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

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US president Joe Biden says ‘real’ possibility Russian president Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

Russia’s mercenary Wagner group is calling for people aged 21 to 35 with a “gaming background” to join it as drone specialists as it seeks to expand its recruitment pool following heavy losses, the Institute for the Study of War notes in its latest update on the conflict.

The group’s recruiters are posting messages on social media platforms, the thinktank said citing Russian opposition outlet Verstka, which reported that recruits needed no previous experience.

The ISW also pointed to an audio intercept posted by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), in which a Russian soldier discusses a new Wagner recruitment campaign launched due to heavy battlefield losses.

“The new Wagner recruitment campaign reportedly advertises training with well-prepared instructors, health and life insurance, modern equipment, and guarantees that all recruits will receive all promised payments,” the ISW wrote.

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A Wagner recruitment billboard with the slogan ‘Join the winning team’. Photograph: Artem Priakhin/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Livingstone.

Moscow launched raids across Ukraine overnight, with Kyiv reporting drone attacks while explosions were also reported in the western city of Lviv and in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. There were no immediate reports of casualties but authorities in Lviv said a piece of critical infrastructure was set on fire.

US president Joe Biden meanwhile warned that the possibility that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons was “real”.

“When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy,” Biden told a group of donors in California.

“They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It’s real,” Biden said.

Other key developments:

• Heavy casualties are being endured by both Ukrainian and Russian forces, British military intelligence has said, two weeks into the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The level of losses among Russian troops was said by British officials to be at its highest level since the peak of March’s battle for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, with Ukraine claiming to have killed or injured 4,600 soldiers.

• Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said Ukraine must prepare itself for a “tough duel” but that “the biggest blow is yet to come”. Separately she said that Russia had concentrated a significant number of units in the east, including air assault troops, but that Ukrainian forces were preventing their advance. She described the situation in the east of the country as “difficult”.

• Ukraine has recaptured the village of Piatykhatky, a settlement on a heavily fortified part of the frontline near the most direct route to the country’s Azov Sea coast, Maliar confirmed. It brings the tally of settlements liberated in the past two weeks up to eight, with 113 sq km of territory said to have been seized from the occupying forces.

• Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged his supporters to begin a broad campaign against Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as he went on trial on new charges of extremism that could keep him behind bars for decades. In a statement posted on social media by his allies, Navalny declared that the decision to close his trial was a sign of fear on the part of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

• The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he had asked China’s government to be vigilant about private companies that may be providing Russia with technology that could be used against Ukraine, although he said he had seen no evidence Beijing was providing lethal assistance to Moscow. “With regard to lethal aid to Russia for use in Ukraine, we and other countries have received assurances from China that it is not and will not provide lethal assistance to Russia for use in Ukraine,” Blinken said in Beijing.

• The British government announced plans to tighten its sanctions policy against Russia, including introducing legislation to keep assets frozen until Moscow has agreed to pay compensation to Ukraine. The new measures will require any individual who has been designated under the sanctions to disclose assets held in Britain.

• The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed his country’s need for long-range weapons and pushed for tougher sanctions on Russia in a phone call with Rishi Sunak. The British prime minister said the UK was firmly behind Ukraine and that “small steps forward will bring success”.

• A photograph of a car apparently laden with explosives parked at the top of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam shortly before it gave way has been said to offer further evidence Russia was behind the bombing. A Ukrainian special forces communications official told the Associated Press he believed the car was there to stop any Ukrainian advance on the dam and to amplify a planned explosion originating in the machine room.

• Kyiv has accused Hungary of barring access to 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war whom Russia handed over to the EU country, which has maintained ties with the Kremlin during the invasion of Ukraine. “All attempts by Ukrainian diplomats over the past few days to establish direct contact with Ukrainian citizens have not been successful,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement on Facebook. “Essentially they are being kept in isolation.”

• Nato leaders will not issue a formal invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance at a summit in Vilnius in mid-July, Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, said although he added leaders would discuss how to move Ukraine closer to Nato. He also warned against accepting a frozen conflict in Ukraine in return for an end to the war and “accepting a deal dictated by Russia”.

• The Kremlin said Russia’s decision to decline UN help in areas of Russian-held Ukraine flooded by the Kakhovka dam breach was motivated by security concerns and “other nuances”.

• Ukraine deputy minister for strategic industries Sergiy Boyev told Reuters at the Paris airshow that Ukraine was in talks with arms manufacturers in Germany, Italy, France and eastern Europe to boost output of weapons, including drones, and possibly manufacture them in Ukraine. “We are in very detailed discussions with them. And we are certain that we will have the contracts agreements signed within the next few months,” Boyev said.

• A military attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a report by the Swedish military has said, stressing the importance of its swift entry into Nato. The report entitled Serious Times did not single out Moscow for instigating a potential attack but rather said Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s mounting influence in Asia and the world were responsible for rising insecurity.

Russia launched attacks across Ukraine overnight, including on the capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, close to the border with Poland.

Kyiv’s military administration said Moscow had launched a drone attack in the early hours of Tuesday, warning residents to find shelter, in a post on the Telegram messaging app. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The administration later said the city’s air defences had detected and destroyed about two-dozen Iranian-made Shahed drones in the “massive air attack”. It was the second drone attack on the city since the beginning of the month, it said.

In Lviv, a piece of “critical infrastructure” was hit and set on fire, the city’s military administration said, but there were no injuries. Earlier, the city’s mayor, Andriy Sadovy reported explosions in Lviv and the surrounding area. It was not clear if the explosions came from air defences or from missile strikes.

Air raid alerts also sounded in Zaporizhzhia, the Kyiv Independent reported, noting that the southern city has been heavily targeted by Russian artillery over the past few days.

The situation in the city was “stable” despite a “a restless and noisy night” the head of the city council, Anatoly Kurtev, later said on Telegram. No injuries were reported and there was no damage to residential buildings while all utility systems were working as normal, he said.