LIVE – War in Ukraine: At least two dead, three missing and 14 injured after Russian attacks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video of the large-scale attack in the Zaporizhia region on social media. “There were more than 60 Shaheds (a type of explosive drone, editor's note) and almost 90 missiles of various types,” Volodymyr Zelensky listed on social networks, offering “his condolences to the families of those killed by this terror.” Without mentioning the results of these strikes. “Electricity is being restored,” he assured.

Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of the Russian-controlled city of Mariupol since 2022, said on Telegram, along with supporting photos, that a Russian missile hit a trolleybus traveling over the Dnipro hydroelectric dam, the target of a Russian strike. This Friday morning. It is reported that civilians who were traveling in the vehicle died in this strike. No confirmation or comment from the authorities was immediately available.

As Ukrainian Energy Minister German Kalushchenko hinted at a large-scale Russian attack against Ukrainian infrastructure, Ukrainian media The Kyiv Independent reported that the Dnipro hydropower plant in Zaporizhia had been hit. A fire broke out at the plant, the company responsible for its operations said.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has indicated that she wants to impose tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports of grains, which have been exempted so far, in seeking solutions from Europeans to support Ukraine against Russia.

Following the announcement of the Ukrainian strike in Russia's Belgorod region by the region's local governor, the Russian Defense Ministry noted that it had destroyed eight rockets fired by a missile system above the region. .

Li Hui, China's ambassador to the Ukraine question in Beijing, returned from a mission in Europe to report that major differences persist over peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. “All parties recognize the risk of seeing the current situation continue to deteriorate,” he told a news conference. However, “there is a significant gap (between them) on the issue of peace talks,” the diplomat continued.

China, which presents itself as a neutral party but whose ties to Russia have deepened since the beginning of the conflict, continues to call for a political solution to end the fighting in Ukraine.

One of two power lines supplying a Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia was cut by a blast, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Kalushchenko announced, as he condemned a large-scale Russian attack against Ukrainian infrastructure.

“The enemy is currently conducting the biggest attack on the Ukrainian energy sector in recent times,” German Kalushchenko said on Facebook. “Due to the bombing, one of the transmission lines supplying the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was severed,” he added.

Ukrainian operator Energoatom confirmed that after the outage, the plant was connected to Ukraine's electricity grid by only one line. In the event of an outage, the plant's reactors would rely solely on emergency diesel generators for cooling, the operator recalled, stressing that a nuclear accident would occur if these generators stopped working.

A strike on the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, left one person dead and several others injured this morning, the local governor said. “Another strike. Unfortunately, one person died,” Vyacheslav Klatkov wrote in a telegram, referring to the victim as a woman. “Injured,” he added.

According to initial reports, the strike damaged three medical institutions and several houses, Vyacheslav Kladkov added.

Along with the regular army, Ukrainian special forces have also been sent to Sudan. The video below explains the operation external to the LCI.

Over the past 24 hours, the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine has been marked by several events:

• Ukraine shot down 31 Russian missiles. Kyiv announced that it had foiled a major attack against the capital. “All the missiles were shot down in the Kyiv area,” the Air Force said. According to the Ukrainian president, 13 civilians were injured in different parts of the city because of the damage caused by falling debris.
• Delivery of F-16s from “this summer”: “The first F-16 fighter jets will arrive in Ukraine this summer,” Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said in an interview with Radio Svoboda. Denmark and the Netherlands formalized in August 2023 a commitment to supply 61 fighter jets to Ukraine once Ukrainian pilots are trained.
• Russian advance capturing Donenke village: Russia said it had captured the village of Donenke, west of the town of Avdiivka, which it had taken in February, making slow advances against a Ukrainian army short on men and ammunition.
• European Summit to Help Ukraine: European leaders, meeting in Brussels, have moved alarmingly down the path of military aid to Ukraine, after a fresh call for help from its president, and the Russian threat is seen as more worrisome. In particular, they decided to “move forward” with a plan to arm Ukraine using profits from Russia's frozen assets in the EU.
• Line Russian cereals: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed imposing tariffs on grain from Russia, which is currently exempt, much to the dismay of EU farmers.

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine. Here you can find all the current information regarding this invasion launched by Russia two years ago.