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Russian shelling of residential areas in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson left at least three people dead and five injured, local authorities said. The Kherson regional military administration said on its Telegram channel that Russian forces targeted a hospital, school, bus station, post office, bank and residential buildings in a strike on Sunday.
A missile hit an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killing one person and injuring others, according to the regional governor. Oleh Synehubov said the missile struck the city centre on Sunday.
Ukraine’s military and Russia’s Wagner private military group are both claiming to have control in the area of Blahodatne, eastern Donetsk region. “Units of Ukraine’s defence forces repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of … Blahodatne … in the Donetsk region,” Ukraine’s military reported, adding its forces also repelled attacks in 13 other settlements in the Donetsk region. Wagner, designated by the US as transnational criminal organisation, said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday that its units had taken control of Blahodatne.
President Tayyip Erdoğan signalled that Turkey may agree to Finland joining Nato without Sweden, amid growing tensions with Stockholm. “We may deliver Finland a different message [on their Nato application] and Sweden would be shocked when they see our message. But Finland should not make the same mistake Sweden did,” Erdoğan said in a televised speech aired on Sunday. Sweden and Finland applied last year to join Nato and need all member countries’ approval to join. Turkey and Hungary are holding out.
Vladimir Putin was open to contacts with Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, though no phone call was scheduled, a Kremlin spokesperson told the state Ria Novosti news agency. Scholz told the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel: “I will also speak to Putin again – because it is necessary to speak.”
Kyiv and its western allies are engaged in “fast-track” talks on the possibility of equipping Ukraine with long-range missiles and military aircraft, a top aide to Ukraine’s president said. Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine’s supporters in the west “understand how the war is developing” and the need to supply planes capable of providing cover for armoured vehicles the US and Germany have pledged.
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US military officials are reportedly urging the Pentagon to supply F-16 jets to Ukraine so it is better able to defend itself from Russian missiles and drones.
Olaf Scholz reiterated on Sunday that Germany will not send fighter jets. “I can only advise against entering into a constant bidding war when it comes to weapons systems,” Scholz said in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper. “If, as soon as a decision [on tanks] has been made, the next debate starts in Germany, that doesn’t come across as serious and undermines citizens’ confidence in government decisions.”
Russia’s ministry of education has provided further details on plans to include basic military training in secondary schools, according to Britsh intelligence. The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Sunday that the module “will include training with AK series assault rifles and hand grenades, military drill and salutes”. It added that the initiatives, to come into force in September, were most likely a deliberate “evocation of the Soviet Union” as similar training took place in schools up until 1993.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has stepped up his campaign to keep Russian athletes out of the 2024 Paris Games. Ukraine’s president said he had sent a letter to Emmanuel Macron, and allowing Russia to compete would be tantamount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable”.
Ukraine has imposed sanctions against 182 Russian and Belarusian companies, and three individuals, in the latest of a series of steps to block Moscow’s and Minsk’s connections to Ukraine. The sanctioned companies chiefly engage in the transportation of goods, vehicle leasing and chemical production, according to the list published by Ukraine’s national security and defence council.
Mourners gathered in Kyiv on Sunday to commemorate a British volunteer killed while on a rescue mission from the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar. British voluntary aid worker Andrew Bagshaw and fellow volunteer Chris Parry were killed during an attempted humanitarian evacuation.
