How successful has Ukraine’s counteroffensive been so far?

Ukraine’s brigades record videos of flag-raisings in a series of villages but its fundamental challenge of a lack of combat aircraft remains

Two things stand out with Ukraine’s counteroffensive more than a week under way. Ukraine is pushing forward at several points, mostly along the southern front but also in the east. And in some places, its army is making incremental but real gains, liberating villages near the frontline.

In the last week Ukraine has attacked on the western edge of the Zaporizhzhia sector, where the frontlines meet the Dnipro River at a point; again south of Orikhiv 18 miles east and, most significantly, either side of a Russian salient at the border between Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts.

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No need for martial law in Russia, says Putin; senior Russian general killed in Zaporizhzhia, says Moscow – as it happened

Russian president says Russia needs to ‘fight enemy agents’ inside its own territory; Maj Gen Sergei Goryachev killed by cruise missile. This live blog is closed

What we know on day 475 of the way

A fire broke out at an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight, Russia’s RBK news outlet reported, citing the local city administration.

RBK reported that the fire was now contained and its cause was not immediately clear.

This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.

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Ukraine: Russia launches deadly missile attack on Kryvyi Rih, says mayor

People feared trapped in rubble from attack on five-storey residential building in central Ukrainian city

Six people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a Russian missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, as air attacks were reported in Kyiv and other cities.

“A five-storey building got destroyed” Serhiy Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram. “There are still people under the rubble.”

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Belgian man charged with fatally shooting British girl, 11, in France

Suspect Dirk Raats has been officially put under investigation for murder of Solaine Thornton

A man has appeared in court in France charged with shooting dead an 11-year-old British girl who was playing in the garden of her family home.

The suspect, Dirk Raats, 70, originally from Antwerp in Belgium, has been officially put under investigation for the murder of Solaine Thornton and the attempted murder of her parents, Adrian and Rachel Thornton.

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Romania recalls ambassador who allegedly compared monkey to African diplomats

UN’s Africa group ‘not prepared to participate’ with Dragos Viorel Tigau after alleged comment in Kenya

The Africa group within the United Nations said it would never work again with the Romanian ambassador to Kenya in certain forums after he allegedly compared them to a monkey while attending a meeting in Nairobi.

The group also demanded an unconditional and public apology to the people of Africa.

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Too soon to say where counteroffensive going, US says, but Washington confident Kyiv will prevail – as it happened

US secretary of state Antony Blinken says Ukraine should expect ‘robust’ political and practical support from the Nato summit. This live blog is closed

Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Kherson over the news wires.

Ukraine has issued this video which shows footage from the liberation of Storozheve.

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Silvio Berlusconi, scandal-ridden former Italian prime minister, dies aged 86

Health of flamboyant media tycoon who led three Italian governments had deteriorated in recent years

Allies and critics have paid tribute to the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the country’s longest-serving postwar leader and one of its most divisive, who has died aged 86.

The billionaire media tycoon and former AC Milan owner who entered politics at the head of his own Forza Italia in the 1990s as the traditional parties of the right collapsed led three governments between 1994 and 2011 and succeeded in making a comeback in 2017 despite a career tainted by sex scandals, allegations of corruption and a tax fraud conviction.

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Skulls left scattered after Ukraine dam breach may be from second world war

Mudflats are littered with bones, some of which may be remains from battle 80 years ago near Nikopol

The emptying of the vast reservoir along the Dnipro River in Ukraine as a result of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam last week has left mudflats littered with skeletons, according to footage posted online, in a reminder of the region’s violent past.

Videos taken on Ukrainian-held and Russian-occupied sides of the Dnipro where the reservoir used to be, show skulls scattered in the ooze, one wearing a second world war helmet. The footage could not be independently verified due to fighting in the area.

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Netherlands to provide free sun cream to tackle record skin cancer levels

Dispensers will be in place at schools, parks, sports venues and festivals across country this summer

Citizens of the Netherlands are to be offered free sun protection this summer in an effort to tackle record levels of skin cancer in the country.

Sun cream dispensers will be made available this summer in schools and universities, at festivals, parks, sports venues and open public spaces across the country, according to the government.

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Berlusconi’s death poses challenge for his party and for Meloni

Italian PM needs a stable Forza Italia but without its longtime leader there are questions over its survival

For better or worse, Silvio Berlusconi held a formidable sway over Italian politics for almost three decades, navigating even his own troubled times with such a finely honed instinct for survival that he left even critics enthralled by his apparent invincibility.

But as his life’s legacy is contemplated, the death of Berlusconi, who was elected prime minister three times, raises questions over the survival of his Forza Italia party and the impact his absence will have on Giorgia Meloni’s ruling government coalition.

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UN concerned by ‘discrepancy’ in Ukraine nuclear plant water levels after dam collapse

IAEA head Rafael Grossi, who will visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says there is a difference of about 2 metres from the reservoir that cools the plant

The UN atomic watchdog has said it needs wider access around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to check “a significant discrepancy” in water level data at the breached Kakhovka dam used for cooling the plant’s reactors.

International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi, who is to visit the plant this week, said that measurements the agency received from the inlet of the plant showed that the dam’s water levels were stable for about a day over the weekend.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 474 of the invasion

Russian forces open fire on boat carrying flood evacuees, killing three; Ukraine claims to have liberated three frontline villages in western Donetsk

Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed to have liberated three frontline villages in western Donetsk, almost a week after the launch of counteroffensive operations. Soldiers were shown in video footage raising the Ukrainian flag over the village of Blahodatne, south of the town of Velyka Novosilka, one of the main axes of the counteroffensive so far. Troops from another brigade filmed themselves with their unit’s banner in Neskuchne. Later on Sunday, Kyiv said a third village, Makarivka, had been taken.

Three civilians were killed and 10 others wounded after Russian forces opened fire on a boat carrying flood evacuees to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson. A 74-year-old man used his body to shield a woman from Russian fire and was hit in the back, Reuters reported. Two of the 10 people wounded were law enforcement officers.

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his fighters will not sign contracts with the Russian defence ministry, hours after the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, sought to bring volunteer detachments under its control. “Wagner will not sign any contracts with Shoigu,” Prigozhin said on Sunday, adding that the minister “cannot properly manage military formations”. Wagner was completely subordinated to the interests of Russia, Prigozhin said, but its command structure would be damaged by reporting to Shoigu.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet in Kherson region, where the breach of the Kakhovka dam has led to major flooding. Russia also repelled three Ukrainian attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region, the ministry said, while the Tass news agency reported Russian air defence systems shot down a Ukrainian missile near the Russian-controlled port city of Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov.

Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had made an unsuccessful attempt to attack a vessel of its Black Sea fleet which was protecting natural gas pipelines. The ship was monitoring the situation along the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines route in the Black Sea, it said.

Russian forces blew up the Khakhovka dam to prevent Ukrainian troops from launching an offensive and advancing in the southern Kherson region, according to Kyiv’s deputy defence minister. Hanna Maliar said the action was also intended to help Russia deploy reserves to the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut areas.

Russia and Ukraine have simultaneously swapped nearly 100 prisoners each. The Ukrainian prisoners included members of the national guard and border guards who had been in action in several places, including near the city of Mariupol and the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

Russia’s defence minister has awarded medals to soldiers after Moscow said its forces had destroyed four German-made Leopard tanks and five US-made Bradley fighting vehicles while repelling a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Sergei Shoigu was shown on state television awarding the Hero of Russia gold star, Russia’s highest military honour, on Sunday to soldiers who said they had destroyed enemy tanks and armoured vehicles.

Two drones crashed early on Sunday in Russia’s Kaluga region – one near the village of Strelkovka, another in the woods in the Medynsky municipal district, according to the governor of the region, Vladislav Shapsha. There were no casualties and only minimal damage, he said on Telegram.

A US citizen arrested in Russia on drugs charges this week is a military veteran and musician who has lived in Moscow for nearly a decade. Travis Michael Leake and a friend, Valeria Grobanyuk, were arrested in a drug raid that has the potential to further ignite tensions between Washington and Moscow. “I don’t understand why I’m here,” said a man shown on camera and identified by Russian state media as Leake. “I do not admit my guilt.”

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Albania is a ‘safe’ country, cross-party MPs group finds

People who flee to seek sanctuary in UK should not routinely be granted asylum, home affairs select committee report says

Albania is a “safe” country and people who flee from there to seek sanctuary in the UK should not routinely be granted asylum, according to a report published on Monday from a cross-party group of MPs.

The report from the home affairs select committee found little evidence to indicate significant numbers of Albanian nationals are at risk in their own country but accepted that some Albanians making asylum claims, mainly women, have been trafficked. It recommends that this group should be returned to Albania only if appropriate safeguards are in place.

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British girl, 11, shot dead in family’s garden in western France

Child’s father and mother were also injured in attack while her eight-year-old sister escaped unhurt

An 11-year-old British girl was shot dead as she played on swings in the garden of her family home in a village in western France on Saturday.

The girl’s father and mother were also injured in the attack in the village of Saint-Herbot in Brittany while her eight-year-old sister escaped unhurt.

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Ukraine claims to have liberated three frontline villages in Donetsk

Soldiers filmed raising Ukrainian flag and banner in villages, a week after launch of counteroffensive

Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed to have liberated three frontline villages in western Donetsk, almost a week after the launch of counteroffensive operations.

Soldiers were shown in video footage raising he Ukrainian flag over the village of Blahodatne, south of the town of Velyka Novosilka, one of the main axes of the counteroffensive so far. Troops from another brigade filmed themselves with their unit’s banner in Neskuchne. Later on Sunday, the deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said a third village, Makarivka, had been taken. It was believed to have been retaken on Sunday morning.

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EU may give Tunisia more than €1bn in aid to help finances and stem migration

Ursula von der Leyen says €900m will be macrofinancial assistance while €105m will help combat people-smuggling

The European Union is considering providing more than €1bn (£850m) in aid for Tunisia to rescue state finances and deal with a migration crisis, the EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday.

Speaking in Tunisia, Von der Leyen said €900m would be macrofinancial assistance while an immediate €150m would support a reform agenda set by the International Monetary Fund.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine says flood evacuees killed by Russian attack – as it happened

Three people killed and 10 wounded after a boat heading to Kherson is shelled; about 100 captured soldiers from each side are returned

Russian forces blew up the Khakhovka dam to prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing in the southern Kherson region, Kyiv’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam from inside its associated hydroelectric power station. The site has been under Russian occupation since the early weeks of the invasion in February last year.

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American citizen arrested in Moscow on drugs charges

Michael Travis Leake, described in Russian state media as a former paratrooper and musician, faces two months of pre-trial detention

An American citizen who has lived in Russia for more than a decade has been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, according to local state media.

The reports said Michael Travis Leake, 51, is accused of selling mephedrone, whose effects are similar to those of cocaine and MDMA, and that a court in Moscow has ordered for him to be held for two months in pre-trial detention.

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