Ukraine war latest: Russia dismisses Turkey offer after Putin meets Erdogan; day of mourning in Ukrainian city (2024)

We reported earlier that Ukrainian troops have pulled back from a part of the key frontline town of Chasiv Yar in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region (see post at 8.12am).

Now, Kyiv's military spokesman Nazar Voloshyn has said Russian forces "did not leave a single building intact".

"The positions of the Ukrainian defenders were destroyed, and keeping personnel there was a threat to the lives of our soldiers," he said in an interview with the Kyiv Post.

He also said: "The enemy did not leave a single building intact; after the bombing and artillery shelling, it looks like a 'moonscape'".

For context: Chasiv Yar is a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region.

It lies a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle.

For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies a strategic, elevated location.

Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region.

Russia's defence ministry has released footage of its forces firing from a howitzer at Ukrainian troops.

The video (stills below) was captured in an undisclosed wooded area of Ukraine.

One person has been killed and gas infrastructure has been damaged in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine's Poltava region, the country's energy ministry has said.

In a post to Telegram, the ministry said Russian forces struck a facility of gas producer UkrGasVydobyvannya yesterday.

Unspecified infrastructure was damaged, while a 49-year-old employee was killed and three other workers were hurt, it said.

Ukraine's air force said yesterday that it downed a Russian missile over the central Poltava region, but the regional governor reported damage from missile debris.

Ukraine is addressing its manpower challenges by forming new brigades, but delays to Western supplies of weapons are likely preventing them from being properly equipped, according to military analysts.

The Institute for the Study of War said Kyiv is relying on "timely and appropriate Western security assistance".

It described prompt aid from Ukraine's allies as a "crucial determinant of when and at what scale Ukrainian forces can contest the battlefield initiative and conduct operationally significant counteroffensive operations in the future".

It comes after Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Bloomberg TV that Ukrainian forces were better positioned in terms of manpower than a few months ago - but any future counteroffensive was dependent on brigades having heavy equipment and artillery.

The Ukrainian president said military equipment pledged by the US was taking too long to arrive on frontlines.

"This is the biggest tragedy of this war, that between the decision and real fact, we have a real long, long, long wait," Mr Zelenskyy said.

Russia will potentially target Ukraine's supplies of materials including gold, uranium and coal in a bid to "grind down" its economy, the UK's Ministry of Defence has said.

In its latest intelligence update, the MoD said Ukrainian government sources have "long highlighted Russian theft of Ukrainian resources from areas it has occupied".

It said materials such as iron ore, coal, titanium, uranium, manganese, gold and lithium deposits are "almost certainly covered by Russia but also potential targets as Russia seeks to grind down Ukraine's economy".

Moscow is looking to improve transport networks in occupied Ukraine in order to "extract more Ukrainian minerals", it said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia next week for talks with Vladimir Putin, India's foreign ministry has announced.

Mr Modi will visit the country for two days from Monday at Mr Putin's invitation, it said in a statement.

According to the foreign ministry, the two leaders will review their countries' developing bilateral ties and discuss regional and global issues.

The Kremlin said earlier this week that the planned visit had been likely to take place in July. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described it as "very important".

"In addition, our trade and economic cooperation is alsoone of the main issues that is being discussed, the most diverseareas of cooperation that we intend to develop, for which thereis mutual political will," Mr Peskov said."This is the main thing."

Mr Modi last visited Russia in 2019 for an economic forum in the far eastern port of Vladivostok.

India is the world's third-largest crude consumer and a major buyer of Russian oil, increasing its purchase more than 20 times compared with 2021 as Russia discounts its barrels amid Western energy restrictions.

Mr Modi sent Mr Putin "warm congratulations" when he extended his presidential term in March following an election which Western nations deemed to be neither free nor fair.

India has retained a neutral position on the conflict, refraining from publicly criticising Mr Putin's invasion while trying to maintain ties with the West.

Russia has increasingly sought to strengthen ties with its partners as it tries to avoid becoming a global pariah following its invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Putin has made recent visits to both North Korea and Vietnam, and in the former signed a security deal.

Four people have been injured in an early morning attack by Russia on the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, officials have said.

The regional prosecutor's office said Russian forces carried out airstrikes in the village of Hlushkivka at around 5am today, injuring three women and a man.

A number of private homes and commercial buildings were also damaged, it said.

A Russian court has ruled to keep a French citizen accused of illegally gathering information on the Russian military in pre-trial detention until August - rejecting an appeal against his arrest.

Researcher Laurent Vinatier, 47, was arrested in a Moscow restaurant by masked officers in June. He stands accused of failing to register as a "foreign agent" while collecting information about Russia's "military and military-technical activities".

The offence is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Yesterday, Russia's federal security service (FSB) said Mr Vinatier had pleaded guilty during questioning.

The Russian state-owned RIA news agency quoted him as telling the court today that he "loved Russia" and his life was "connected with Russia".

Vladimir Putin has held talks with Iranian interim president Mohammad Mokhber at the sidelines of the summit in Kazakhstan.

Moscow and Tehran are in the process of discussing a "comprehensive agreement" reflecting the "unprecedented upswing" in their bilateral ties, according to Russia's foreign ministry.

Earlier this year it said the treaty was in the final stages of being agreed.

Mohammed Mokhber was appointed acting president of Iran after the death of former leader Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's spokesman has denied a claim by US media personality Tucker Carlson that he has secured an interview with the Ukrainian president.

In a post to X last night, Carlson - who in February became become the first Western journalist to interview Vladimir Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine - suggested he had "got the Zelenskyy interview".

"We've been trying for two years, and with particular intensity after interviewing Putin," he said.

But Mr Zelenskyy's press secretary Serhii Nykyforov has dismissed the claim, saying Carlson "should check his FSB (Russian security service) sources more carefully".

"The President of Ukraine has a completely different schedule, and Tucker Carlson is not there," he wrote in a Facebook post.

After their interview in February, Mr Putin complained that he did not get "complete satisfaction" as he felt Carlson had failed to challenge him during the more than two-hour exchange.

Ukrainians were quick to criticise Carlson, who has been a vocal supporter of Mr Putin in the past, for speaking to the Russian president while Russia continued to bombard their country.