- The United Kingdom has said it will provide Ukraine with M270 multiple launch missile systems that can attack targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) in a coordinated move with the United States.
- Vladimir Putin asserts that supplies of long-range missiles sent to Ukraine mean “we will hit targets we have not hit before”.
- The governor of Luhansk claims that Ukraine reversed the Russian advance in Severodonetsk and recaptured about 20 percent of the strategic eastern city, meaning that Ukraine now controls half.
- A Russian journalist reported in state media that Moscow Major General Roman Kutuzov was killed in eastern Ukraine, adding to the series of high-level military losses incurred by Moscow.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits front-line forces in the Zaporizhia region, as well as the cities of Soledar in the Donetsk region and Lychansk in the Luhansk region, as Russia continues its offensive on the Donbass.
Here are the latest updates:
The Russian Ministry’s website appears hacked: Reuters
The website of the Russian Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities appears to have been hacked, with an internet search for the site leading to the “Glory to Ukraine” sign in Ukrainian, Reuters news agency reports.
Late on Sunday, the official RIA news agency quoted a representative of the ministry as saying that the site is down, but that users’ personal data is protected.
RIA said other media outlets reported that hackers were demanding a ransom to prevent public disclosure of users’ data. Reuters was unable to verify the media outlets cited by the RIA news agency.
Several Russian state-owned companies and news organizations have suffered sporadic hacking attempts since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February.
UK will send Ukraine M270 . missile launchers
The United Kingdom has said it will provide Ukraine with multiple launch missile systems that can attack targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles), in a coordinated move with the United States.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK’s support for Ukraine will change as Russian tactics evolve, explaining the gift of the M270 Multiple Launch Systems, which is similar to the ones sent by the US, the M142 High Mobility Missile Systems (HIMARS).
“High-capacity multiple launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves from the brutal use of long-range artillery, which [Russian President Vladimir] Wallace said in a statement that Putin’s forces were used indiscriminately to raze cities to the ground.
The United Kingdom has said that Ukrainian forces will train on how to use the new launchers in Britain, having previously announced that it will train Ukrainian personnel to use armored vehicles.
Russian general killed in Ukraine: state media
A Russian journalist said in the official media, on Sunday, that a Russian general was killed in eastern Ukraine, adding to the series of high-level military casualties suffered by Moscow.
The report, which was published by the state TV correspondent Alexander Sladkov, on the messaging application Telegram, did not say exactly when and where Major General Roman Kutuzov was killed.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russia already classifies military deaths as a state secret even in peacetime and has not updated its official casualty figures in Ukraine since March 25, when it said 1,351 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of its military campaign on February 24.
Rockets kill three and wound two in Donetsk: Governor
The governor said Russian missile attacks killed three people and wounded two others in the Donetsk region on Sunday.
Two people were killed in the town of Avdiivka and one in the town of Druzhivka, Pavlo Kirilenko wrote on Telegram.
He added that it was impossible to determine the exact number of victims in the occupied city of Mariupol and the town of Volnovaka.
Nearly 100 evacuees from Lysychansk: Governor
The region’s governor said evacuations resumed from the Ukraine-controlled part of Luhansk province on Sunday, and 98 people managed to flee the town of Lyschansk.
However, Serhiy Hayday said that “evacuation from Severodonetsk is currently impossible”, and about 15,000 people remained in the city.
Russian forces have been trying for weeks to cut off the main road to Severodonetsk and Lesichansk to encircle Ukrainian forces there, and evacuations were halted last week after a journalist was killed in a bombing.
Russia looks to Africa to sell stolen Ukrainian grain: NYT
The United States in mid-May sent an alert to 14 countries, mostly in Africa, that Russian cargo ships were leaving ports near Ukraine with what the State Department cable described as “stolen Ukrainian grain,” the New York Times reported.
The New York Times report stated that Russia is looking for buyers among African countries for the stolen grain in Ukraine.
Ukraine says Russia has stolen up to 500,000 tonnes of wheat, worth $100 million, since the invasion of Moscow in February. Ukrainian officials said most of the grain was taken to ports in Russia-controlled Crimea and then transferred to ships, including some under Western sanctions.
On Friday, Vladimir Putin met with the President of the African Union, President of Senegal Macky Sall, who tried to find a solution to the grain problem, and called on the West to lift sanctions. African countries have been severely affected by the grain shortage crisis driven in large part by Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports, which has driven up prices for grain, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer.
Zelensky visits towns near the front in eastern Ukraine
Ukrainian President Zelensky said he visited two towns near the front line of battles against the Russian army after meeting troops in the Zaporizhia region.
“Then I went with the chief [my] office in the east. “We were in Lysichansk and Solidar,” Zelensky said in his nightly video.
“I am proud of everyone I met, everyone I shook hands with, everyone I reached out to and expressed my support.”
Lysychansk is located in Luhansk region and Soledar is located in Donetsk region. Both regions make up the Donbass, which is the focus of the Russian campaign in eastern Ukraine.
Russia hits Kyiv with missiles
Russia targeted western military supplies to Ukraine on Sunday, launching air strikes on Kyiv that it claimed destroyed tanks donated from abroad.
Ukraine said missiles targeting the capital hit a train repair shop. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least one person had been taken to hospital, but no deaths were reported.
Before the morning attack, Kyiv had not faced any Russian airstrikes since the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 28.
Read more here.
Putin: We will “use our means of destruction” instead of arms supplies
Putin has criticized Western arms shipments to Ukraine, saying they are aimed at prolonging the conflict.
“All this fuss about additional shipments of weapons, in my opinion, has only one goal: to prolong the armed conflict as much as possible,” the Russian president said.
He insisted that such supplies were unlikely to change the Ukrainian government’s military situation.
He added that if Kyiv gets long-range missiles, then Moscow “will draw appropriate conclusions and use our means of destruction, of which we have a lot, in order to strike those things that we have not yet installed.”
Read more here.
Russia uses proxy forces to limit its losses: UK
The British Ministry of Defense said that the Ukrainian counterattacks in Severodonetsk “likely to weaken the operational momentum previously gained by Russian forces through the concentration of combat units and firepower”.
Russian forces had previously made a series of advances into the city, but Ukrainian fighters had retreated in recent days. The ministry’s intelligence brief also stated that the Russian military relied in part on the separatist reservists in Luhansk.
“These forces are poorly equipped and trained and lack heavy equipment compared to regular Russian units,” she added, adding that the use of these forces likely “indicates a desire to limit losses incurred by regular Russian forces.”
Last update of the Defense Intelligence of the situation in Ukraine – June 5, 2022
Find out more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/8afxKwSwSn
🇺🇦 #Stand with Ukraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/Sy8NG76Fa8
– Ministry of Defense 🇬🇧 (DefenceHQ) 5 June 2022
Ukraine lost 1-0 to Wales in the World Cup qualifier
It was a painful end to Ukraine’s mission to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar while remaining under the invasion of Russia.
The Ukrainian players looked sad after the defeat, wanting to give their country a positive image after it was bombed for three months.
Ukraine coach Oleksandr Petrakov said he could not utter a word to criticize his players.
“I think we did everything we could but I want the people of Ukraine to remember our team and our efforts. I want to say sorry we didn’t score. But this is the sport, it happens.”
Read more here.
Ukraine says it controls “half” of Severodonetsk
Ukraine said its forces have recaptured half of the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk as a counter-attack brought Russian forces back into the decisive battle in the Luhansk region.
But Luhansk Governor Serhiy Hayday said they expect a major counterattack from Russian forces in the coming days.
“Our armed forces have cleansed half” of the industrial center of the Russian forces, Haiday said on his official social media channels. “In the next five days, there will be a significant increase in the number of shells from heavy artillery.”
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s ongoing coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Read all updates from Sunday, June 5 here.