Russia Ukraine war live: Putin threatens to arm West’s enemies as Kyiv frustrated by slow F-16 training

Russian forces have captured a Colombian national who was fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers, the state-run TASS news agency reported today citing Russia’s defence ministry.

The ministry identified the man as Angel Cardenas Montilla and published a video of him urging other Colombians not to join the war.

The Independent has not been able to immediately verify the reports.

At least four people were injured at a civilian apartment block in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk after a Russian drone attack this morning, officials said.

The attack damaged an infrastructure facility, a nine-storey apartment block, and three houses in Nikopol, said Serhii Lysak, head of Dnipropetrovsk oblast military administration.

The four civilians passengers travelling in a bus were also hit by the drone, the official said.

“Russian artillery and kamikaze drones attacked the Nikopol district. [The city of Nikopol] was hit in the morning. An enemy drone hit a bus. It caught fire, and firefighters promptly extinguished the flames. Some of the people who were inside sustained injuries,” Mr Lysak said on his Telegram channel.

The Ukrainian air force shot down 17 out of 18 Shahed-type drones over four regions fired by Russia overnight, military officials said this morning.

Of these, Ukraine shot down eight drones over the southern region of Mykolaiv with no damages reported by the regional governor. Drones were also shot down over the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Russia’s attack caused a fire at an infrastructure facility in Khmelnytskyi region, where one drone was shot down, the regional governor said.

Russian forces also used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles to attack Dnipropetrovsk region, the military said. No details on damage from the missile attack were immediately available.

No casualties have been reported so far.

Vladimir Putin has sought to claim that Donald Trump’s hush money conviction is the result of America’s justice system being used “in an internal political struggle”.

Speaking in St Petersbury as Alexei Navalny ally Ilya Yashin lost an appeal against his bogus designation as a “foreign agent”, the Russian president claimed the United States was “burning themselves from the inside, their state, their political system”.

He added: “It is obvious all over the world that the prosecution of Trump, especially in court on charges that were formed on the basis of events that happened years ago, without direct proof, is simply using the judicial system in an internal political struggle.”

Vladimir Putin has claimed Russia could retaliate in kind against those permitting Ukraine to target Russia with their long-range missiles – by providing such weapons to countries within striking distance of Western nations.

In wide-ranging remarks at his annual economic forum in St Petersburg, the Russian president sought to insist that Moscow “does not care” about the upcoming US election, claimed candidate Donald Trump’s hush money conviction was “political”, and dismissed fears that Russia wants to attack Nato as “nonsense”.

Ukrainian soldiers can shift the difficult battlefield situation in the country’s east, where the fiercest fighting is underway, and turn it to their advantage by doing “everything possible,” top military official said.

Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said his commanders of Ukrainian units are “fully aware of the situation” and are “skillfully” using all types of weapons, including attack drones. “Our task is to stop the enemy and force them to go on the defensive,” he said.

“Despite the difficult situation, we have a chance to change the situation in our favour. And the defence forces are doing everything possible to do so,” the top Ukrainian military official said in a daily update last night after visiting the eastern part of the frontline.

Russian forces are continuing to push on the Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Kupiansk, and Kharkiv sectors.

Heavy fighting is also ongoing near the town of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, where Russian troops are trying to break through Ukraine’s defence from two directions, Syrskyi said.

“In Vovchansk, our main task at this stage is to hold back the enemy, inflict maximum losses and gradually move forward to liberate our territories,” the commander said.

The top military command’s task is now to provide the Kharkiv region troops with ample ammunition and combat-ready reserves.

France will aid Ukraine with loans and grants worth over $700m to help address Kyiv’s critical infrastructure targeted by Russian forces.

The agreement between Ukraine and France is expected to be finalised by tomorrow during Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Paris, reported French media outlet 20 minutes.

It added that the first part of the agreement will give the war-hit nation around $435m in loans and $54m in grants to the French Development Agency (AFD), in order to “expand its activities in Ukraine” until the year 2027.

The second tranche will offer $217m to a critical infrastructure support fund.

Mr Zelensky is set to meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron tomorrow and both will hold joint press conference on 7 June announcing the aid package, among other agreements.

Russian opposition activist Ilya Yashin – imprisoned for criticising the war in Ukraine – lost a court appeal on Wednesday against being designated as a “foreign agent”, Russian news outlets reported.

Mr Yashin, aged 40, was jailed in December 2022 for eight and a half years on charges of spreading so-called “false information” about the Russian army, under sweeping wartime censorship laws passed shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A longtime friend and ally of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Mr Yashin was convicted over statements he made on his YouTube channel about alleged war crimes by Russian forces in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in the first weeks of the war.

In a speech to the court, Yashin said ironically that many would consider it an honour to be on a “foreign agent” list alongside some of Russia’s most famous opposition figures and artists. “But personally, I see no honour in the fact that the authorities brand their public opponents like cattle,” Mr Yashin was quoted as saying by his supporters.

“For me, the status of a foreign agent is offensive because I have devoted my life to defending Russia’s interests as I understand them.”

Ukraine is pushing its allies to amp up the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters jets, noting that not enough pilots have been trained, reported Politico.

At least 30 pilots from Kyiv are eligible to start training in the US immediately, according to Ukraine, but the process is being slowed by the Biden administration over a lack of school seats.

The US’s Arizona-based programme can only accept 12 pilot trainees at a time, reported Politico, citing three people with direct knowledge of the request. Similar issues of available training spots are being reported in two other facilities in Denmark and Romania.

Ukraine, in a series of meetings and calls in the past few weeks, has also officially requested that the US train the additional pilots at Morris Air National Guard base in Tucson, Arizona. American lawmakers have also pressed the administration to approve the additional training.

At this rate, Ukraine is unlikely to have a full squadron of trained pilots until the end of 2025, a former official said.

Ukraine’s power grid operator, Ukrenergo, ordered immediate power cuts in 12 regions yesterday evening after consumption limits were exceeded due to critical shortages.

Ukrainians have been warned to limit consumption after Russian air strikes in recent weeks inflicted serious damage on the country’s generating capacity.

The cuts went into effect from 8.40pm (1740 GMT), extending from Volyn and Lviv in the northwest to Odesa in south and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast.

“Interruptions in energy supply to critical infrastructure facilities are possible,” Ukrenergo said. Cuts would be ended when consumption levels decline to agreed levels.

“In view of repairs to units and the latest destruction, we are catastrophically short of electricity for our needs,” Serhii Kovalenko, head of Yasno, the largest private power company in Ukraine, wrote on Telegram ahead of the latest cuts.

“There will therefore be restrictions and they will be scheduled. If we don’t meet the limits, Ukrenergo will introduce emergency restrictions.”