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An initial series of overnight missile and drone strikes – described by Kharkiv’s mayor Ihor Terekhov as the “most powerful attack” of the war so far – killed at least three people and injured 21 others, with a six-week-old baby and a 14-year-old girl among the wounded.
Ukraine’s second city was again struck later on Saturday afternoon with guided aerial bombs.
Warning that at least one person had been killed and more than 40 wounded in the second attack, Mr Zelensky said: “This is another savage killing. Aerial bombs were dropped on civilians in the city – there is even a children’s railway nearby.
“This makes no military sense. This is pure terrorism This cannot be turned a blind eye to. And this is not some kind of game. Every day, we lose our people only because Russia feels it can act with impunity. Russia must be firmly forced into peace.”
The strikes on Kharkiv came amid Russia’s second-largest overnight missile and drone attack of the war so far, which targeted nearly 20 locations across Ukraine and involved 452 projectiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
UK to give Ukraine 100,000 drones by April
The UK pledged to send 100,000 drones to Ukraine by the end of April, stating that such unmanned aerial vehicles were changing modern wars.
The promised number of drones is valued at £350 million and marks a tenfold increase from the UK's target of 10,000 in 2024.
"The UK is stepping up its support for Ukraine by delivering hundreds of thousands more drones this year and completing a major milestone in the delivery of critical artillery ammunition," defence secretary John Healey said.
The decision by the UK comes after Ukraine attacked Russian airbases with over 100 drones last weekend, damaging several warplanes.
"We are learning lessons every day from the battlefield in Ukraine, which British companies are using to develop advanced new drones to help protect Ukraine’s civilians and also strengthen our own national security," Mr Healey said.
Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 08:00
Zelensky labels Russian attacks 'pure terrorism'
Following the death of at least 4 people in Kharkiv due to Russian drone and missile strikes since Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called Moscow's act "pure terrorism".
"This is another savage killing. Aerial bombs were dropped on civilians in the city — there is even a children’s railway nearby," the Ukrainian president said.
"This makes no military sense. This is pure terrorism," Mr Zelensky said in a post on X.
At least two people were killed in Russian strikes on Kharkiv since last evening, with at least 18 people injured.
Rescuers are still searching for those trapped under the rubble with many more feared dead.
"In more than 11 years of Russia’s war against Ukraine, they have brought only one new thing to our land, and this is really the most widespread Russian product – ruins and death," Mr Zelensky said.
Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 07:30
Polish president-elect says he's against Ukraine joining EU
Polish president-elect Karol Nawrocki said yesterday that he was "against Ukraine's entry into the European Union".
"On the one hand, we must support Ukraine in its conflict with the Russian Federation, but Ukraine must understand that other countries, including Poland, Hungary, and other European countries, also have their own interests," Nawrocki told Hungarian outlet Mandiner.
The president-elect has repeatedly accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of taking advantage of allies.
"I see Ukraine as a country that, although it is very bravely defending itself against the Russian Federation, must also respect the interests of other countries that otherwise support Ukraine," he said.
Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 07:15
Russia accuses Europe of obstructing peace in Ukraine
Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov blamed Europe for being the main obstacle to negotiating peace with Ukraine.
Mr Ryabkov accused German chancellor Friedrich Merz of opposing peace in Ukraine and of trying to convince American president Donald Trump to return the US to the "path of escalation" in the war.
He claimed the US was aware Russia would not stray from its goal of eliminating the "root causes" of the war, a phrase the Kremlin has used to call for regime change in Kyiv since the start of its invasion of Ukraine.
Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 07:00
Russia's missile and drone attack on Kharkiv in pictures
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Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 06:45
Ukraine denies Russia's claim of Kyiv postponing prisoner swap
Ukraine has refuted Russia's claim that it delayed an exchange of prisoners of war and bodies of fallen soldiers planned for Saturday and Sunday.
Kyiv and Moscow had agreed on a major swap of prisoners, including of severely injured soldiers on both sides following peace talks in Istanbul last week.
Russia had also offered to return the bodies of 6,000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers and officers.
But on Saturday, the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky accused the Ukrainian side of postponing the transfer of bodies and the POW exchange "indefinitely".
Ukraine's defence ministry refuted the claim.
"Unfortunately, the Ukrainian side is once again facing attempts to retroactively revise agreements. If the Russian side is now backing away from what was promised in Istanbul, it raises serious questions about the reliability and capability of their negotiating team," Ukraine's defence ministry said in a post on Telegram.
Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 06:30
Ukraine drone attacks lead to closure of key Moscow airports
A Ukrainian drone attack forced closure of two of the key airports serving Moscow, Russia said early on Sunday.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russia air defence units destroyed nine Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow around 4am GMT.
There was no immediate comment on the strikes from Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones also attacked the Azot chemical plant in Russia's Tula region, sparking a short-lived fire, Reuters reported.
Russia's civil aviation authority announced halting of flights at the Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports to ensure air safety.
Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 06:15
Editorial | Zelensky has exposed Putin for what he really is
Today’s editorial in The Independent states:
Mr Zelensky has .. exposed Mr Putin for what he really is. The Ukrainian president has given the Russian leader every chance for peace. He has been prepared to compromise on territory and alliances in a way that no leader of a sovereign nation should be asked to do. And yet Mr Putin presses on, making it abundantly clear, even to Mr Trump, that it is the Kremlin that is the obstacle to peace.
Even if Mr Trump’s apparent taking of sides with Mr Putin against the Ukrainian people were a cunning plan to soothe the paranoid mystical nationalism of Mr Putin and his cronies, it has not worked. Mr Putin has made it clear that he will be satisfied by nothing less than the subjugation of the whole of Ukraine by force of arms.
In which case, he must be resisted. Mr Trump is right about one thing: that war is a terrible thing. But a peace built on surrender to an imperialist dictator would be no peace at all.
The Ukrainian people must continue to fight, and all the nations of the world that believe in freedom, democracy and national self-determination must continue to help to defend them.
Andy Gregory8 June 2025 06:00
Ukrainian attack damaged 10% of Russia’s strategic bombers, Germany says
Ukraine’s audacious drone attack last weekend likely damaged around 10 per cent of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet and hit some of the aircraft as they were being prepared for strikes on Ukraine, a senior German military official has said.
“According to our assessment, more than a dozen aircraft were damaged, Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes,” German Major General Christian Freuding said in a YouTube podcast, according to Reuters, which saw the clip ahead of its publication.
The affected A-50s, which provide aerial situational awareness, were likely non-operational when they were hit, said the general, who coordinates Berlin’s military aid to Kyiv and is in close touch with the Ukrainian defence ministry.
“We believe that they can no longer be used for spare parts. This is a loss, as only a handful of these aircraft exist,” he said. “As for the long-range bomber fleet, 10 per cent of it has been damaged in the attack according to our assessment.”
Washington estimates that Ukraine’s attack hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two US officials told Reuters earlier this week.
Andy Gregory8 June 2025 05:30
Analysis | As Putin ramps up his summer offensive in Ukraine, will he succeed?
Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:
As the summer fighting season gets underway in the fourth year of Putin’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Russia has clearly shifted its main effort to permanently destabilising Ukraine.
Putin may have given up on regime change, but he wants to take all of the territories Russia has illegally annexed – Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as hanging onto Crimea. If he manages this, he may be able to convince European leaders that a peace along lines defined by the Kremlin is the least-bad outcome.
Kyiv, meanwhile, has demonstrated that it is no longer on the back foot and that it is far from defeated. Indeed two years after its failed summer counter-offensive, Kyiv is growing in strength and confidence.
Ukraine doesn’t have the capacity to drive Russia out of its lands this year. But it is hanging on and by next year may find it has the upper hand as European aid begins to come through to replace the military support that the US has withdrawn.
Read more analysis here:
Andy Gregory8 June 2025 05:00
