Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature Germany has released a full list of its military aid to Ukraine after increasing its support package to €2 billion. The list of military aid includes seven Panzerhaubitzen 2000 self-propelled aircraft, cars, a field hospital, spare parts for MiG-29s, armored vehicles, tanks, air defense systems and MLRS. Also included are 14,900 anti-tank mines, 500 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and 21.8m ammunition. Updated at 06.58 BST
Russia and Ukraine will meet to break the grain impasse in Turkey
Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first talks with UN and Turkish officials aimed at breaking a months-long stalemate over grain exports. The four-way meeting in Istanbul comes as Black Sea exports continue to be blocked by Russian warships and sea mines laid by Kyiv to prevent a feared amphibious assault. The negotiations have been complicated by growing suspicions that Russia is trying to export grain it has stolen from Ukrainian farmers in areas under its control. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier played down expectations from the talks in Istanbul. We are really working hard, but there is still a way to go,” the UN chief told reporters. The meeting will be attended by military delegations from the three countries and diplomats from the UN. Farmer Serhiy gestures as he stands near a hill of grain in his barn in the village of Ptyche in eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Sunday, June 12. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said they would focus “on the safe shipment to international grain markets waiting at Ukrainian ports.” NATO member Turkey is using its good relations with both the Kremlin and Western-backed leaders in Kyiv to try to broker a deal on a safe way to deliver the grain. Ukraine estimates that up to 25 million tons of grain are blocked in its ports. Turkey says it has 20 merchant ships waiting in the region that could be quickly loaded and sent to world markets. A UN plan suggests ships follow safe “corridors” that cut through the known location of the mines. Updated at 06.43 BST The Ukrainian World Congress is taking legal action against Canada for violating sanctions and shipping repaired turbines to Germany for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline. According to a statement issued on Tuesday, the organization said: In recent days, the Ukrainian World Congress together with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress asked the Canadian government to revoke the exemption granted to Siemens Canada, which allows the return of the repaired Nord Stream 1 turbines to Germany. We also called on the government to ensure that all sanctions imposed by Canada on Russia remain in place and are significantly strengthened. To date, our efforts have been unsuccessful and we have no choice but to take legal action.” The agency filed a notice of application for judicial review, stating that the decision to grant the license was not reasonable, transparent or properly authorized. We cannot give a terrorist state the tools it needs to finance the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people,” said Paul Grod, President and UWC. It’s not just about one turbine, or potentially many turbines, to support Russia’s energy exports, it’s about continuing to cave to Russia’s blackmail.”
Strike on Russian-held Nova Kakhovka attributed to US-supplied missile
Peter Beaumont At least seven people were reportedly killed by a Ukrainian missile attack on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russian-held Kherson, in an attack attributed to newly acquired US weapons. Claims of casualties were made by the Russian-installed city administration and could not be immediately verified, although footage on social media showed a large explosion lighting up the night, burning ammunition and smoke. The blast hit a warehouse near a key railway line and a dam on the Dnipro River. Images from Nasa Firms Global Fire Monitoring System showed a series of secondary fires in buildings around the original blast site. The video appears to show a Ukrainian missile strike in Russian-held Kherson Kyiv said it had launched artillery barrages that destroyed a Russian arms depot, hitting artillery, armored vehicles “and an ammunition depot” and also carried out a “special operation” to free military prisoners in Moscow-controlled territory. Russian-backed authorities accused Ukraine of destroying civilian infrastructure. Pro-Russian officials and some Ukrainian commentators were quick to suggest that the explosion was the result of a strike by Ukraine’s newly-supplied US Himars missile system. Several recent strikes on ammunition depots and Russian command centers have been attributed to Heimaris.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s rolling live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments for the next while. It’s almost 8am in Kyiv and here’s where things stand right now:
The death toll from a weekend Russian missile attack on an apartment building in Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine, rose to at least 45 on Tuesday. Saturday’s strike destroyed the five-story building and damaged several others in the city of Donetsk region. Nine people were pulled out alive as the rescue operation continued.
At least seven people were reportedly killed by a Ukrainian missile attack on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russian-held Kherson, in an attack attributed to newly acquired US weapons. The blast hit a warehouse near a key railway line and a dam on the Dnieper River. Footage on social media showed a large explosion lighting up the night, burning ammunition and billowing smoke.
Russia reportedly heavily bombed the eastern city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region overnight in response to the Nova Kakhovka strike. Kyiv Independent reporter Illia Ponomarenko tweeted alongside video purportedly of the attack: “Meanwhile, Russia responds by sweeping Bakhmut off the ground with artillery at night.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia “doesn’t have the courage” to admit defeat. In a nationally televised address, Zelensky also mocked the Russian military’s apparent reliance on aging Soviet-era weapons and tactics and insisted the unity of his country’s citizens, combined with the strength of Ukraine’s armed forces, meant the outcome of the war was “certain”.
Grain shipments via the Danube River have increased with the reopening of the Bystre Canal. The number of foreign ships arriving at Ukrainian ports to help with grain exports doubled to 16 in the past 24 hours, according to Ukraine’s deputy infrastructure minister Yuriy Vaskov. Ukraine has restored ports long decommissioned to facilitate grain exports due to Russia’s Black Sea blockade and expects to increase monthly exports to 500,000 tonnes.
The US Treasury announced on Tuesday that it was sending an additional $1.7bn (£1.4bn) in financial aid to Ukraine to fund “essential services”. European foreign ministers late on Monday approved €1bn (£850m) in aid, the first installment of a €9bn rescue package agreed in May.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to visit Tehran next week for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting comes as the US has accused Iran of preparing to supply Russia with hundreds of weapons-capable drones for use in Ukraine.
Military delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey will meet UN officials in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal to resume safe exports of Ukrainian grain from the major Black Sea port of Odessa as the global food crisis worsens .
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s February 24 invasion, adding that the true toll was probably much higher.
The European Union has so far frozen €13.8bn (£11.7bn) worth of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, it said on Tuesday the EU’s highest judicial officer.
Russia has claimed to have killed a significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine over the past three weeks, including 23 from Britain.
Russia has opened a criminal case against one of the country’s last remaining opposition figures for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian military, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Ilya Yashin, 39, a Moscow city councilor, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last month for disobeying police. He was set to be released early Wednesday.
Appeals against the death sentences of the arrested Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim will be heard within a month, an official of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she “absolutely condemns” the sentencing, stating: “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham crisis without any legitimacy at all.”
Brazil wants to buy as much diesel as it can from Russia and the deals were closed “just yesterday,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Franca said on Tuesday, without elaborating.
