- Zelenskyy addresses humanitarian concerns during front line visit
- UK to send M270 rocket launchers to Ukraine
This article was last updated 23:25 UTC/GMT
UK to provide Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems
The UK said it will provide Ukraine with M270 multiple-launch rocket systems capable of hitting targets as far away as 80 kilometers (50 miles). The effort to supply Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems was coordinated with the US.
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Britain’s support for Ukraine would evolve with Russia’s changing tactics. Wallace added the new systems will “enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery.”
Last week, the US said it would give Ukraine M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems known as HIMARS after Kyiv reassured the weapons would not strike targets inside Russia.
Zelenskyy addresses humanitarian matters during front line visit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Zaporizhzhia region and two towns near the front lines, Lysychansk and Soledar, he said in his nightly video address.
During his visit to Zaporizhzhia, he met with the head of the regional military administration, Oleksander Starukh, and national police in the region.
“I am proud of everybody I met, everyone I shook hands with, everyone with whom I connected with and had expressed my support,” Zelenskyy said.
Starukh reportedly told Zelenskyy that nearly 60% of the territory in Zaporizhzhia region has been occupied by Russian troops as fighting continues. Seventy-seven villages in the region have seen their electricity cut, Starukh said.
Temporary shelters for those fleeing from nearby Kherson and Mariupol have also been set up. Zelenskyy urged local leaders to continue the flow of aid to those fleeing from elsewhere.
What happened in Russia’s war on Ukraine on Sunday
Early Sunday explosions were heard in the capital Kyiv and videos showing cruise missiles soaring above the capital appeared on social media.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said tanks and other armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine by Eastern European countries had been destroyed by Russian forces in a barrage of missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital.
The ministry said high-precision, long-range air-launched missiles were used in the strikes on the outskirts of Kyiv, with T-72 tanks among the weaponry hit in the attacks. The damage was not immediately confirmed by Ukraine’s military.
Ukraine’s state nuclear power operator Energoatom did say though that one Russian cruise missile that was possibly aimed at the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, flew over the South Ukraine Nuclear Plant at a dangerously low altitude.
In April 1986, Ukraine, then a Soviet republic, was the site of a major nuclear catastrophe when a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant went into meltdown. The disaster is considered the worst-ever such incident in the world in terms of costs and casualties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Russia will respond to the West delivering long-range missiles to Ukraine.
His remarks come after the US pledged to supply Kyiv with M142 systems armed with precisions-guided missiles. The range of the missiles, according to media reports, would be between 70 to 80 kilometers (43.5 to 50 miles).
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov believes the war in Ukraine could end before the end of 2022.
His comments come a day after presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak also said it was hard to talk about deadlines for ending the war, but judging by the “stockpiled weapons, this could drag on for a period of two to six months.”
In an intelligence update, the UK Ministry of Defense said counterattacks carried out by Ukrainian forces in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk might be negating some of the advances made by attacking Russian troops.
You can revisit our live updates from June 5 here.
ar/wd (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-s-zelenskyy-visits-embattled-eastern-regions-live-updates/a-62039353?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf