Missiles struck the Ukrainian capital at the start of a peace mission by seven African leaders – who will meet Vladimir Putin tomorrow. He told business leaders that the Russian economy has shrugged off Western sanctions and is growing. Listen to the Daily podcast as you scroll.
Saturday 17 June 2023 04:11, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Every metre of Ukrainian territory recaptured from Russian occupying forces is “of the utmost importance”, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
“Our movement forward is the most critical thing,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly video address after meeting top military commanders.
“Every soldier, every new step we take, every metre of
Ukrainian land freed from the enemy is of utmost importance.”
Ukraine began its highly-anticipated counteroffensive earlier this month, and has already claimed to have retaken at least seven settlements.
Earlier today, at least 23 people were injured in a “massive” shelling attack on the southern city of Kherson.
Three children were among those injured, and three others were seriously wounded – all of them were hospitalised, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said.
The country’s national police force has since shared some photos of the destruction caused by the attack…
The Ukrainian military has been capturing five to 10 Russian soldiers a day in the Donbas and Zaporizhzhia region, according to a report by the Kyiv Post.
In fact, in the space of a week, more than 70 Russian prisoners of war were captured, it said.
After reviewing 31 videos shared by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the news outlet found most of the Russian servicemen on surrendered once Kyiv’s infantry overran their positions.
Multiple videos showed troops taking Russians into captivity, ordering them to remove their outer clothing and submit to a head-to-toe search, after which the POWs eyes are covered and hands tied with military tape, it said.
Russia launched an attack on Ukraine today as a delegation of African leaders arrived in the country’s capital.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said the strike sent a “message to Africa” that Russia “wants more war, not peace”.
Our defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke has taken a look at Moscow’s Africa play, and why Vladimir Putin is actually trying to bring leaders on board with his invasion…
At least 150 families have been given “life-saving” supplies in the flooded Kherson region today, UNICEF has said.
Several communities in the southern region were flooded last week after the Kakhovka dam was severely damaged.
UNICEF volunteers in Ukraine shared a video after delivering the aid…
Vladimir Putin’s claims that the first Russian nuclear weapons have arrived in Belarus should be taken “very, very seriously”, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has told CNN.
Vadym Prystaiko said rearming Belarus, a close ally of Russia, is a violation of international agreements and an attempt to blackmail the West.
“I believe that the West have to take it very, very seriously,” he said.
When asked if Ukraine views it as a threat from Putin to use nuclear weapons in the months ahead, Mr Prystaiko replied: “I believe that he was blackmailing all of us: Ukrainians, first of all, but then Europeans and Americans and all our partners around the globe.”
Seven people – including two children – have been injured in a shelling attack on Kyiv earlier today, a Ukrainian authority has reported.
The capital city came under fire this morning as African leaders arrived ahead of a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Three properties were destroyed and 28 private houses, a shop and a car were damaged, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.
As we told you earlier, 15 Russian soldiers are due to go on trial for committing war crimes after nearly an entire Ukrainian village was captured and held underground.
Back in late February 2022, in the violent first month of war, almost everyone in Yahidne – a village with a population of around 400 before the Russian invasion – was held captive below in dark, freezing temperatures with little electricity.
However, it could take “many years” before the “actual perpetrators will sit in a court”, a human rights expert has told Sky News.
Matilda Bogner, the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, visited the village last year, where she spoke to survivors about their ordeal.
Describing what the conditions in the basement were like, Ms Bogner said they were “a form of torture” and “inhumane”.
She explained that it is difficult to rank the worst violations committed there because there have been so many serious incidents recorded.
“War is always brutal but what makes this is a crime is that people were taken, civilians who were non-combatant were taken, were forced to remain in a basement and we see this as a form of illegally holding people in confined areas,” she said.
“That is not allowed under international humanitarian law and international human rights laws.”
Six hypersonic Russian Kinzhal missiles have been downed over Kyiv today, Ukraine’s air force has claimed.
If true, it will come as a blow to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who has previously described the weapons as “undefeatable”.
The claim comes after a delegation of African leaders came under fire during a visit to the Ukrainian capital earlier today.
A further six Kalibr cruise missiles and two drones were also shot down, the air force said.
A married couple were killed by Russian shelling in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine overnight, a local official has said.
Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces had shelled the village of Novoberyslav, on the right bank of the Dnipro River overnight from a Russian-occupied position on the opposite side of the river.
He said on Telegram: “A couple died as a result of a hit on one of the houses. The woman died on the spot. Doctors tried to save the man, but he died of his wounds on the way to hospital”.
Parts of the Kherson region were recaptured by Ukraine at the end of last year, including the city of Kherson, where Russian troops withdrew in November.
The region has faced regular shelling from Russian troops on the opposite side of the Dnipro River.
The destruction of the Moscow-controlled Nova Kakhvovka dam on the Dnipro River flooded a large part of the frontline in the Kherson region.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
