Ukraine-Russia war – latest: Kyiv accuses Putin of blowing up second dam

Russian president Vladimir Putin marked the country’s national day on Monday by appealing to patriotic pride at what he said was a “difficult time” for the country.

However, speaking at a lavish award-giving ceremony in the Kremlin, Putin made no direct comment on the latest developments in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces have launched a long-awaited counteroffensive and have retaken several villages in the eastern Donetsk region over the past few days.

“This public holiday marks the inseparability of our centuries-old history, the greatness and glory of the fatherland,” Putin told the assembled dignitaries.

“Today, at a difficult time for Russia, (feelings of patriotism and pride) unite our society even more strongly… (and) serve as a reliable support for our heroes taking part in the special military operation (in Ukraine),” Putin said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry released a video for Monday’s national day featuring scenes of Russian lakes, forests and Orthodox churches and icons, along with clips of soldiers expressing love for their country.

Russian air strikes overnight hit several civilian buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, including a five-storey building, the mayor of the city said this morning.

“There are people wounded in extremely serious condition,” mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said on Telegram app.

“Likely, there are people under the rubble.”

Radio New Zealand, the country’s public service radio station, issued an apology after it was found that one of its journalists edited reports on the Russia-Ukraine war to add “pro-Kremlin garbage”.

The taxpayer-funded RNZ said it has so far found 16 stories that were found altered to include Russian propaganda and were published during more than a period of one year.

Paul Thompson, the chief executive of RNZ, said he was “gutted” and shocked with the discovery of edited stories, pledging to get to the bottom of it.

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam has unleashed an ‘environmental and humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions’, the Kherson governor tells Bel Trew

Ukraine has celebrated the first territorial gains of its long-trailed counteroffensive against the invading Russian forces.

Unverified photographs and video appearing on Sunday and on Monday morning showed Ukrainian soldiers holding their country’s blue and yellow flag aloft in triumph in the eastern villages of Storozheve, Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka in Donetsk, suggesting they had been recaptured from occupying enemy troops.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar posted one of the photos from Storozheve and thanked the 35th Separate Brigade of Marines for liberating it.

The leaders of France, Germany and Poland met in Paris Monday for talks focusing on military support for Ukraine’s counteroffensive and future security guarantees to be given to the country, ahead of a NATO summit in July.

French President Emmanuel Macron said “the Ukrainian counteroffensive began several days ago,” in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda at the Elysee presidential palace.

In a show of unity, the three leaders insisted they would continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary.

A Ukrainian defence spokesman said Russia had blown up a dam on the Mokri Yaly, near the village of Novodarivka in Luhansk, to make it harder for Kyiv’s forces to push farther south as part of its ongoing counterofffensive.

It comes less than a week after the huge Kakhovka dam was destroyed on the much larger Dnipro River, in the Kherson region, causing a humanitarian catastrophe in a swathe of the south.

Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the breach.

The Ukrainian-appointed governor of Kherson region on Sunday said Russian forces had shelled three boats evacuating mainly elderly evacuees to safety, killing three and injuring 10.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was too soon to say exactly where Ukraine‘s counteroffensive was going, but said Washington was confident that Kyiv will continue to have success in trying to take back its land seized by Russia.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington on Monday, Blinken said the United States was determined to maximize its support for Ukraine so it can succeed on the battlefield.

A “robust” package of political and practical support for Ukraine, Blinken added, can also be expected at the upcoming Nato summit in Vilnius.

A White House meeting between Joe Biden and Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that had been set to take place on Monday has been rescheduled to Tuesday, the White House said.

It comes after an announcement that the US president would undergo an unscheduled root canal.