Diplomacy
- Leaders of the United States and France have reaffirmed support for Ukraine in its battle against Russia’s invasion during a meeting in Paris, with President Joe Biden warning that Vladimir Putin would “not stop” at Ukraine.
- While in the French capital, Biden also apologised to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for previous delays in Washington’s aid to Kyiv, stressing that the US is “not going to walk away” from supporting Ukraine.
- A US congressional aid source told Foreign Policy that NATO is considering establishing a permanent envoy position in the Ukrainian capital as part of its long-term commitment to Ukraine.
Fighting
- Ukrainian forces killed at least 22 people and wounded 15 in the Russia-held Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, head of the occupation authorities, wrote on his Telegram channel.
- At least 59 explosions were reported in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Oblast over the past 24 hours, striking 11 communities, the regional administration said.
- Russian forces struck the city of Nikopol in the southeastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, Governor Serhiy Lysak said on social media. The town was hit with kamikaze drones and shelled with artillery, damaging five houses and a power line, the official said, adding that no casualties were reported.
- The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said a Russian Su-57 aircraft – among its most modern fighter jets – was hit for the first time in the Akhtubinsk airfield in southern Russia’s Astrakhan region.
- Nearly a third of Ukraine’s land, about 174,000sq km (67,182sq miles), has been mined since the start of the war, Ukrainian officials said, according to the Kyiv Independent.
- Russian forces in May installed eight barges on the southern side of the Kerch Bridge in an attempt “to defend the bridge and shipping channel, reducing the angles of approach for Ukrainian Unmanned Surface,” the British Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence bulletin.
