Costs of Ukraine war pose tests for European leaders – and things may get worse

Analysis: Vladimir Putin claims time is on his side, but he will have only one shot at making a gas cutoff count

Desperate efforts in Italy to prevent the fall of Mario Draghi’s government are only the latest political firestorm in Europe tied to Vladimir Putin’s tests of the west’s powers of endurance. Draghi’s foreign minister, Luigi di Maio, suggested it will be Putin who celebrated the fall of another western government if Draghi does not survive a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday.

“A boat without a rudder goes adrift,” said Ferruccio Resta, the president of the Conference of Italian University Rectors – a metaphor that could apply, to Putin’s satisfaction, to much of Europe as governments come under growing pressure over the perceived domestic cost of the war in Ukraine.

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Russia is preparing for the next stage of its offensive in Ukraine, military officials say – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here

Today is the anniversary of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Donetsk in 2014, which killed 298 people onboard, including 196 Dutch nationals and 38 Australians.

With the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, this year’s anniversary has hit the international community even harder. Russia denied involvement in the downing of MH17, despite the findings of an international investigation that found multiple witnesses who saw an anti-aircraft missile launcher that had secretly crossed into Ukraine from Russia in the hours before it shot down the commercial flight.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russian forces ‘preparing new offensive’ – live

Representative of Ukraine’s defense ministry says ‘preparations for next stage of offensive actions are under way,’ Kyiv Independent reports

Two people were killed in Nikopol on Saturday when heavy Russian shelling hit the southern Ukrainian town, the emergency services and regional governor said.

The regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Valentyn Reznichenko, said Russia fired 53 Grad rockets at the town, Reuters reports.

We assess [that] an official Russian delegation recently received a showcase of Iranian attack-capable UAVs.

We are releasing these images, captured in June, showing Iranian UAVs that the Russian government delegation saw that day.

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‘Russia stole our history’: Ukraine’s bitter struggle to keep memory alive

Beyond the frontlines, academics are fighting to counter the fake tales of their country’s past that are peddled by the Kremlin

At the entrance to Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, a bronze relief of the face of Mykhailo Hrushevsky stares out towards the red-painted portico. A historian by training, and a key figure in Ukraine’s national revival in the early 20th century, Hrushevsky served briefly as the head of Ukraine’s revolutionary rada – or parliament – in 1918.

Taras Pshenychnyi, deputy dean of the history department, pauses to examine the image of his distinguished forebear, and to reflect on the extraordinary times the university is seeing since the Russian invasion.

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At least 15 killed in rocket strike on apartment building in eastern Ukraine

More than 24 people thought to be trapped in rubble of five-storey block in town of Chasiv Yar

At least 15 people have died and dozens were injured after a series of rockets fired by Russian forces hit a five-storey apartment building in the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow was accused of raising “true hell” in Donbas, stepping up the assault on the city of Sloviansk.

Earlier in the morning, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said on Telegram that more than 24 people could be trapped under the rubble of the apartment block, as rescue operations were still under way.

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‘Jokes are strategic’: how Mykolaiv’s leader uses humour to resist Putin

Vitaliy Kim, taekwondo-practising governor of Mykolaiv region, is famous for making anti-Russian gags on his social media channels, but deadly serious about defeating his foe in the Kremlin

When Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on 24 February, Vitaliy Kim was still in bed sound asleep.

“I was dreaming something, but can’t remember what, and when I woke up, everybody was panicking,” said Kim, 41, governor of the industrial region of Mykolaiv. “It was frightening. People were asking me what to do now.”

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Russia-Ukraine war: UN says both sides share blame for nursing home attack; Russian shelling reported in east – live

Ruling on an attack on a nursing home early in the conflict, UN says no war crimes committed but both sides partially responsible

Earlier we reported on Ukrainian soldiers arriving in UK for training. About 1,050 UK service personnel are running the programme, which will train up to 10,000 Ukrainians over the coming months.

The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, who visited the training this week, said:

This ambitious new training programme is the next phase in the UK’s support to the armed forces of Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression. Using the world-class expertise of the British army, we will help Ukraine to rebuild its forces and scale up its resistance as they defend their country’s sovereignty and their right to choose their own future.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kremlin warns it is using only ‘small portion’ of potential; fears of Sievierodonetsk humanitarian disaster – live

Vladimir Putin dares west to beat Russia on battlefield; Serhai Haidai says Sievierodonetsk ‘is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster’

The situation in occupied Sievierodonetsk “is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster” and the city is being widely looted by Russian troops, according to Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, Serhai Haidai.

He posted to Telegram this morning, claiming:

In Sievierodonetsk, 80% of housing was destroyed or damaged. Some people try to return for things, but more and more often … they find an empty apartment, even if it survived. Having entered the city, the Russians first deported part of the local population, took away the keys, and then began to rob everything. They drive up to high-rise buildings in trucks. If the furniture is good, they take it away. It is no longer just about household appliances.

The city is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster – there is no centralised water supply, gas supply, or electricity supply.

Last night, for the first time in several weeks, there was no night shelling of Kharkiv. But we have no right to lose our vigilance. After all, just yesterday evening, the enemy massively shelled the Nemyshlyan district of the city. Damaged houses, garages, containers, outbuildings. In total, four people died and nine were injured in Kharkiv oblast during the day.

Active hostilities continue on the contact line. In the Kharkiv direction, the enemy is shelling the positions of our defenders and the civilian population with artillery and rocket systems.

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Putin claims Russia has barely started campaign in Ukraine

Russian president dares the west to try to win on the battlefield and says chances of talks growing dimmer

Vladimir Putin has issued one of his most ominous warnings yet, claiming Moscow has barely started its campaign in Ukraine and daring the west to try to defeat it on the battlefield.

Speaking at a meeting with parliamentary leaders on Thursday, the Russian president said the prospects for any negotiation would grow dimmer the longer the conflict dragged on.

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Ukrainian flag arrives in Snake Island after Russian retreat

Ukraine officials clarify initial confusion as to whether the flag has been raised, saying it is there but will be hoisted only once troops arrive

Ukrainian forces are set to raise the country’s flag on Snake Island, a strategic and symbolic outpost in the Black Sea that Russian troops retreated from last week after months of heavy bombardment.

“The military operation has been concluded, and … the territory, Snake Island, has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine,” Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, told reporters.

This article and its headline were amended on Tuesday 5 July 2022 to take in the update of when the flag would be raised on Snake Island.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian forces retreat from Lysychansk as Russia claims strategic city – live

Russia claims major victory by seizing control of entire eastern Luhansk region

A Ukrainian defence ministry spokesperson has denied Moscow’s claims that the southern city of Lysychansk is under “full control” of Russian forces.

Speaking to the BBC, Yuriy Sak admitted, however, that the situation in the area had been “very intense for quite a while now”, with Russian forces attacking “non-stop”.

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F1 seeks distance from Ecclestone after his claim he would ‘take bullet’ for Putin

Former F1 chief calls Russian president ‘first-class person’ in GMB interview and blames war on Zelenskiy

Formula One has sought to distance itself from remarks made by its former chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who said he would “take a bullet” for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and described him as “a first-class person”.

Ecclestone, who reportedly has been friends with Putin since the introduction of the Russian Grand Prix in 2014, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have been avoided if the latter’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had done more.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Nato calls Moscow ‘the most direct threat to security and stability’ as it welcomes Finland and Sweden – live

Latest updates: Ukraine says at least three people killed and five wounded after eight missiles hit southern city of Mykolaiv

More on the attack in Mykolaiv, in Ukraine’s south, near the Black Sea:

Reuters is also reporting that further east, in Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, a key battleground in Russia’s assault on the industrial heartland of Donbas, the governor reported increased military action.

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Boris Johnson claims Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he was a woman

Prime minister says Russian president’s gender a contributory factor to Ukraine invasion

Boris Johnson has claimed that Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he was a woman and believes that the war is a “perfect example of toxic masculinity”.

In an interview with German media following the G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, the prime minister cited the Russian president’s gender as a contributory factor to the conflict.

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Olaf Scholz says world must ‘avoid Putin’s trap’ and claims of discord

German chancellor argues there is more unity in the west and support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said the world is more unified in its support for Ukraine than Russia suggests, as the war dominated a G7 meeting also tasked with crises in food supply, the climate emergency and a breakdown in global order.

“We must not walk into the trap Putin sets of asserting that the world is divided into the global west – the G7 and its friends in the north – and all the rest. That’s not true,” Scholz told Germany’s ZDF television.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: at least 16 killed after missile strike hits busy shopping centre in Kremenchuk

Zelenskiy says over 1,000 civilians were inside mall at time of attack, as eight civilians killed while collecting water in Lysychansk

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to address world leaders at the G7 meeting virtually today. He has just posted to Telegram pictures of damage from missile strikes in Kyiv, with the message:

No Russian missiles, no strikes can break the morale of Ukrainians. And each of their missiles is an argument in our negotiations with partners.

Our armed forces continue to destroy the occupiers on the line of contact. In the Kharkiv direction, the invaders attacked in the direction of Dementiivka and Pitomnyk, suffered losses and retreated. In the area of Izium, the enemy does not stop trying to advance. Our defenders are resisting, destroying the occupiers’ manpower and armoured vehicles.

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Russia-Ukraine war: one killed as Kyiv hit by missile strikes; G7 leaders gather in Germany – live updates

Strikes hit Shevchenkivskiy district of Ukraine capital, says mayor Vitali Klitschko; G7 leaders to discuss energy and food crisis at Bavarian retreat

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, says two people have been taken to hospital after Sunday morning’s missile strikes, with search and rescue operations continuing. In a Telegram post, Klitschko said people may still be trapped under rubble at a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

Some of the dozens of long-range Russian missile strikes on Saturday were, for the first time, launched from Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus, Ukraine’s military says.

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Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 123 of the invasion

Kyiv under attack as G7 leaders meet in Germany; focus of Russia’s campaign shifts to Lysychansk

Kyiv has come under attack for the first time since 5 June, with Russian missiles striking at residential buildings and a Kindergarten in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital. At least five people were injured, including a seven-year-old girl. There are unconfirmed reports that her father was killed in the attack. A Russian woman was among the injured.

Another civilian was killed in a missile attack on Cherkasy south-east of the capital. A bridge over the Dnipro river was also hit.

Both the attacks on Kyiv and Cherkasy are being seen message of defiance by Russia to G7 leaders gathering at a summit in Bavaria, Germany. Russia said it hit military targets in Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Lviv. Joe Biden condemned the Russian attacks as “more barbarism”. Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said they showed the importance of G7 unity.

Members of the G7 have confirmed a ban on imports of Russian gold. The move by Britain, the United States, Japan and Canada is part of efforts to tighten the sanctions squeeze on Moscow. Gold exports were worth $15.2bn to Russia in 2021, and their importance has increased since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The UK and France have agreed to provide more support for Ukraine, according to Downing Street. Leaders of the G7 have spoken of their solidarity for Ukraine. “We have to stay together,” Joe Biden said.

Russian forces are trying to cut off the strategic twin city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, having reduced Sievierodonetsk to rubble. Lysychansk is set to become the next main focus of fighting, as Moscow has launched massive artillery bombardments and airstrikes on areas far from the heart of the eastern battles. Ukraine called its retreat from Sievierodonetsk a “tactical withdrawal” to fight from higher ground in Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river.

Russian news footage has showed defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s visiting troops involved in the Ukraine war. It is unclear if he visited Ukrainian territory, but the footage appeared to confirm that colonel-general Gennady Zhidko is now commanding troops in Ukraine.

The mayors of several European capitals have been duped into holding video calls with a deepfake of their counterpart in Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. The mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, took part in a scheduled call on the Webex video conferencing platform on Friday with a person she said looked and sounded like Klitschko. “There were no signs that the video conference call wasn’t being held with a real person,” her office said in a statement.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Saturday that Ukraine will win back all the cities it has lost to Russia, including Sievierodonetsk. “All our cities – Sievierodonetsk, Donetsk, Luhansk – we’ll get them all back,” he said in a late-night video address. Zelenskiy also admitted that the war was becoming difficult to handle emotionally.

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‘Ukraine’s future is in the EU’: Zelenskiy welcomes granting of candidate status

Move opens door to EU membership amid outrage over the brutality of the unprovoked Russian attack

European leaders have granted Ukraine candidate status, in a historic decision that opens the door to EU membership for the war-torn country and deals a blow to Vladimir Putin.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels approved Ukraine’s candidate status on Thursday night, nearly four months after the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, launched his country’s bid to join the bloc in the early days of the Russian invasion. Moldova was also given candidate status.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy expects Russian attacks to intensify over EU decision — live

Adviser to interior minister gives warning after Amnesty accused Russia of war crimes in country’s second largest city

Ukraine is losing territories and struggling to regain them since Russia began concentrating its military attacks on the country’s east, Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsintzadze has said.

Klympush-Tsintzadze told Sky News that she hopes the military situation in eastern Ukraine will change soon. “Unfortunately, at this particular moment, Russia has gathered all this military capacity in the in the east of the country.

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