Putin forces claim they’ve destroyed Ukraine’s ‘last warship’ – live

Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Wednesday that its forces had destroyed what it described as Ukraine’s “last warship” two days ago in the port of Odesa in a missile strike.

Ukraine’s navy declined to comment.

“The last warship of the Ukrainian navy, the Yuriy Olefirenko, was destroyed at a warship mooring in the port of Odesa,” defence ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a daily briefing on the war.

He said the vessel had been hit with “high-precision weapons” – a phrase he uses to mean missiles – on May 29, but gave no further details.

Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy, said he would not respond to any assertions made by Russia. The Ukrainian navy will not disclose any information about losses during the war, he added.

Emmanuel Macron says negotiations with Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine may have to take priority over war crimes charges against him.

The French President says it might not be possible to send Putin for a war crimes trial at The Hague because he is the only person the west can negotiate with to end the war.

Delivering a speech in which he tackled a wide range of issues at the EU leaders conference in Moldova, Macron said: “If in a few months to come we have a window for negotiations, the question will be arbitrage between a trial and a negotiation, and you have to negotiate with the leaders you have de facto, and I think negotiations will be a priority … You can put yourself in a position where you say: ‘I want you to go jail but you are the only one I can negotiate with’.”

But President Macron also said that evidence against Russia and its leaders should be gathered and assembled in the meantime.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has urged NATO to provide Ukraine with“tangible and credible” security as it continues to battle Russia.

Speaking at the GLOBSEC Bratislava Global Security Forum, President Macron said: “We have to build something between the security provided to Israel and full-fledged membership.”

He added that Ukraine needed to be helped with “all means possible” because it is “today protecting Europe”.

A U.S. military aid package for Ukraine that is expected to be announced this week will total up to $300 million and will include additional munitions for drones, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The drone ammunition comes after new attacks by unmanned aircraft targeted Moscow.

There has been no suggestion that U.S.-made drones or munitions were used in the recent attacks on Moscow, and U.S. officials have repeatedly said that Ukraine has agreed not to use any American-provided weapons for attacks on Russian soil. The Kremlin blamed Kyiv for Tuesday’s attack, but Ukrainian officials had no direct comment.

But the new aid package comes at a tense moment in the war. The latest drone attack on Moscow follows Russia’s seizure of the eastern Ukrainian city Bakhmut after a nine-month battle that killed tens of thousands of people. Ukraine is also showing signs that its long-awaited spring counteroffensive may already be underway.

The fiancee of a former British soldier who was killed in a car crash in Ukraine has told how she had made a wedding ring on the day she was told of his death.

Louise Lathbury has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for repatriating Julian Thorn’s body from the war-torn nation, hoping to raise £15,000.

Ms Lathbury, originally from Berkshire, said Mr Thorn’s mother and grandfather were also desperate to bring him back to the UK, saying it would mean “everything to bring him back whole”.

British public officials are a “legitimate military target” because of the UK’s support for Ukraine, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has warned.

Mr Medvedev, deputy chairman of Vladimir Putin’s security council, claimed the UK’s support for Kyiv amounted to an “undeclared war” against Russia.

His comments came after Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Ukraine had the right to “project force beyond its borders” into Russia to resist Mr Putin’s invasion.