Ukraine War Latest: Live Updates as Ukrainian troops plead for more artillery to offset Russia’s firepower in Sievierodonetsk

CityNews Nigeria brings you the Ukraine War Latest.

Here’s a comprehensive run-down of where things stand in Ukraine as of 3.30am.

• Russian president Vladimir Putin paid tribute to tsar Peter the Great, drawing a parallel between what he portrayed as their twin historic quests to win back Russian lands. After visiting an exhibition in Moscow dedicated to the 350th birthday of the 18th century ruler on Thursday, Putin told a group of young entrepreneurs that “you get the impression that by fighting Sweden he was grabbing something. He wasn’t taking anything, he was taking it back”.

• Ukrainian troops claim they have advanced in fierce street fighting in Sievierodonetsk butsay their only hope of turning the tide is with more artillery to offset Russias massive firepower. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine is “holding on” to key frontline cities in Donbas. “Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk and other cities in Donbas, which the occupiers now consider key targets, are holding on,” he said, adding that Ukraine has had some success in Zaporizhzhia.

• Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, said if the west could supply long-range weapons, Ukrainian forces would be able to “clean up Sievierodonetsk in two or three days”. Haidai’s remarks on Telegram came afterUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the battle for the eastern city will decide the fate of Donbas and is seeing probably the most difficult fighting since Russia’s invasion began.

• Zelenskiy lobbied again for more weapons from the west, comparing Russia’s invasion to Covid and describing weapons and sanctions as a vaccine. “Weapons and sanctions are … a vaccine … against Covid-22 brought by Russia,” Zelenskiy said while speaking via video link at a gala to celebrate Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year.
  
• Two British men and a Moroccan national captured while fighting in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol have been sentenced to death by pro-Russia officials after a days-long process described as a “disgusting Soviet-era show trial”. A court in Russian-controlled east Ukraine convicted 28-year-old Aiden Aslin, from Newark, 48-year-old Shaun Pinner, from Watford, and Saaudun Brahim on charges of “terrorism”.

• The number of Russian soldiers killed since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine could now be as high as 20,000, according to the latest assessment by western officials. Previous estimates, given several weeks ago, were about 15,000. The official did not speculate on the number of Ukrainians. killed in the war.

• Ukrainian military casualties are now between 100 and 200 per day, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who spoke with the BBC on Thursday. Zelenskiy said last week that the Ukrainian army was losing 60 to 100 soldiers a day.

• The Kremlin said no agreement has been reached with Turkey on exporting Ukrainian grain shipments across the Black Sea. Turkey has been pushing for an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to ease the global food crisis by negotiating safe passage for grain stuck in Black Sea ports, but its efforts have been met with resistance. Ukraine says Russia is imposing unreasonable conditions and the Kremlin says shipment is dependent on ending sanctions.

• Finland’s government is planning to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia, it said. The move to amend border legislation comes as the Finnish government rushes to strengthen border security amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Finland’s bid to join the Nato military alliance.

• Nearly 5 million Ukrainians have been registered across Europe since the beginning of the war, according to figures by the UN’s refugee agency. Far more will have actually left the country, with UNHCR data showing that more than 7.3m border crossings out of Ukraine had been recorded by 7 June. Another 2.3m crossings had been registered back into the country. The war in Ukraine has “caused one of the largest human displacement crises in the world”, UNHCR said.

• Russia may be getting more revenue from its fossil fuel sales now than before its invasion of Ukraine, according to one US official. Increases in global oil prices have offset the impact of import bans, US energy security envoy, Amos Hochstein, told lawmakers during a senate hearing. Russia has been able to sell more cargoes to other buyers, including major energy consumers China and India, by offering it at a discount to oil from other origins, he said.

• Zelenskiy said he had a phone conversation with French president Emmanuel Macron in which “special attention was paid to Ukraine’s path to the EU”. “We are coordinating steps,” he said.