Another drone attack on Putin’s forces in Crimea as two killed in Russian shelling

An elderly woman and a police officer were killed early Saturday by Russian shelling on a settlement in Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia in the south, Ukrainian officials said.

“This morning, around 5:10, the enemy fired on Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi village in Kupiansk district. A residential building was damaged. A 73-year-old woman died,” Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.

In a separate attack on Orikhiv town in Zaporizhzhia region, one police officer was killed and 12 people, including four police officers, were injured, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. He said Russian troops used a guided aerial bomb. Reuters could not independently verify the details of the Ukrainian reports.

Eastern parts of Kharkiv region and most of Zaporizhzhia region are directly adjacent to the front line, and Ukrainian forces have reported an increase in Russian attacks there in recent weeks. Kharkiv regional authorities earlier this month announced the mandatory evacuation of civilians from settlements closest to the front line in Kupiansk district.

Ukrainian authorities said this week that Russia attacked a “civilian infrastructure object” in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday evening.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians during its invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its 18th month and has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, the uprooting of millions and the destruction of Ukrainian towns and cities.

Allegations of Ukraine’s civilians being snatched from their homes and abused in makeshift detention centres go “way beyond” the actions of rogue Russian soldiers, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture has told The Independent.

Dr Alice Jill Edwards has written to Russian authorities detailing the accounts she has received of harrowing and widespread human rights abuses by Moscow’s troops in Ukraine since Vladimir Putin’s invasion – including electrocutions, mock executions and threats of genital mutilation.

The 22-page letter serves to put Russia on notice of the extensive war crimes allegations, and in effect triggers Moscow’s obligations to investigate them, as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected remote Arctic garrisons of the Northern Fleet, the ministry said on Saturday, as a detachment of warships was sent to the Arctic Ocean to perform tasks.

Shoigu inspected the military infrastructure as well as “readiness for actions to protect and defend critical facilities”, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

A detachment of warships, including the destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov, the landing ship Alexander Otrakovsky and the rescue tug Altai went to the Arctic, the ministry said.

It was not clear when Shoigu visited the fleet. It started military training on Friday aimed at working out actions to protect Russia’s sovereignty in the waters of the Northern Sea Route, the fleet said.

As part of combat training, MiG-31 fighter-interceptors performed air defence, air reconnaissance and cover for troops and forces operating in the Arctic zone, the ministry said.

Establishing accurate data on the number of military casualties sustained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is difficult for two reasons, writes my colleague Joe Sommerlad.

The severity of the fighting on the ground and the fact that both sides are inclined to keep their cards close to their chests to avoid damaging morale – especially at a time when the war is entering a pivotal new stage.

The Kremlin, in particular, is unlikely to admit to high fatality rates among its troops because to do so would amount to a confession that Vladimir Putin’s spurious war to “de-Nazify” Russia’s neighbour state is not going according to plan and, in fact, represents a monumental miscalculation on the part of its leader, who is already under pressure at home over the attempted uprising by Wagner Group mercenaries.

But where does the official number stand and what are the unofficial estimates? Report:

Since Vladimir Putin rose to power as Russia’s president 23 years ago, few things have rocked his leadership as much as Saturday 24 June when Wagner mercenaries barrelled towards Moscow.

The “army within an army” who had been ruthlessly grinding away for months at the vanguard of some of the bloodiest fighting in eastern Ukraine were now on the verge of triggering a war within a war – this time, against the Kremlin.

The Ukrainian air force shot down one out of four hypersonic missiles fired by Russia on Friday at a military airfield in the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk, the military said.

“One X-47 (hypersonic) missile was destroyed within the Kyiv region. The rest hit near the airfield. Civilian infrastructure was damaged, and one of the missiles hit a residential area,” it said on the Telegram messaging app.

The German government is in talks with arms maker MBDA about the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, a security source told Reuters on Friday, echoing a report by Spiegel magazine.

Kyiv has been pushing Berlin to supply it with the Taurus, a missile with a range of more than 500km (311 miles) that is launched by fighter jets such as the Tornado, the F-15 or the F-18. Berlin has held back amid concern over the long range of the weapon and its potential use against targets inside Russia.

A German government spokesperson told Reuters the government had no update to its position. “Germany is focusing on heavy artillery, armored vehicles and air defense systems. There is no new information on the Taurus cruise missile,” said the spokesperson.

Cruise missiles are hard to detect by air defence radars as they fly at low altitudes. They are mainly used to hit high-value targets behind enemy lines such as command bunkers, ammunitions and fuel dumps, airfields and bridges.

Britain and France have supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles, and Ukraine’s military has said it had adapted Soviet-made aircraft to use them. However, the United States has so far refrained from sending its ATACMS to Ukraine despite requests by Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky broadened his battle against graft on Friday, firing all the heads of Ukraine’s regional army recruitment centres as the war with Russia enters a critical stage.

Mr Zelensky said a state investigation into centres across Ukraine had exposed abuses by officials ranging from illegal enrichment to transporting draft-eligible men across the border despite a wartime ban on them leaving the country.

He said 112 criminal cases had been opened in a wide-ranging probe launched after a graft scandal at a recruitment office in Odesa region last month. He used harsh rhetoric likely to be welcomed by Ukrainians appalled by cases of wartime corruption.

“This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason,” he said, adding that those fired would be replaced by recent veterans and soldiers wounded at the front.

Ukraine has made cracking down on graft a priority as it fends off Russia’s full-scale invasion and seeks membership of the European Union and has fired or prosecuted a string of high-ranking officials implicated in sleaze.

Friday’s move comes at a particularly sensitive moment for Kyiv with its long-touted counteroffensive hampered by extensive Russian defences across swathes of the southeast.

Mr Zelensky said that any sacked army recruitment officers who are not being investigated should head to the front to fight for Ukraine “if they want to keep their epaulettes and prove their dignity”.

“But let me emphasize: the army is not and never will be a substitute for criminal punishment. Officials who confused epaulettes with perks will definitely face trial,” he said in his statement.

Russia’s latest missile strikes killing one child in western Ukraine constitute “war crimes and must not go unpunished,” France’s foreign ministry said in a statement late on Friday.

“These attacks have once again targeted civilian infrastructure, including a residential zone, which is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian rights,” the statement read.

Moscow denied intentionally targeting civilians.

Russia launched four hypersonic missiles into the western Ukrainian region of Ivano-Frankivsk on Friday, with three landing near a military airfield including in residential areas.

The fourth Kinzhal missile was shot down by air defences, Ukraine’s air force has said.

The French ministry added France would reinforce its military support to Ukraine, notably in strengthening air defence capacities, in close cooperation with its partners.

“France’s support to Ukrainian and international jurisdictions to fight against the impunity of crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine remains total,” the statement read.

Russia destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched onto the Crimean Peninsula earlier today, Russian news agencies cited the defence ministry as saying.

Russia’s air defence systems shot down 14 drones, while electronic warfare neutralised six, the agencies cited the ministry as saying.

The reports could not be independently verified.