Ukraine has recaptured the village of Piatykhatky, in the southern Zapororizhzhia region, reports suggest. It would be the second gain in the area since it launched its counteroffensive earlier this month. A Russian-installed official said Ukrainian forces had taken the settlement and were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery, Reuters reports. If confirmed, this is Ukraine’s first village gain for nearly a week, and marks an apparent escalation of the offensive on the most direct route to Crimea.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Sunday that its forces had repelled a series of Ukrainian attacks across three sections of the frontline where it said Ukraine was pressing most actively in the Zaporizhzhia region, Reuters reports. The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

The EU is speeding up arms deliveries to Ukraine to support the counteroffensive against Russian forces, the EU industry chief Thierry Breton told the French daily Le Parisien. He said the EU would be stepping up its efforts, pledging that 1m high-caliber weapons must be provided within the next year.

The UK Ministry of Defence says heavy fighting continues to be focused in Zaporizhzhia oblast, western Donetsk oblast and around Bakhmut. It says both sides are taking high casualties, with Russian losses likely to be the highest since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March.

The death toll from flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam has risen to 16 in Ukraine and 29 in territories controlled by Russia, according to briefings by Kyiv and Moscow. Flood water poured across a huge area of southern Ukraine and Russian-occupied areas when the dam was breached on 6 June.

Ukrainian forces have destroyed an ammunition depot near the Russian-occupied port city of Henichesk, in the southern region of Kherson, a spokesperson for the Odesa military administration said on Sunday.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, confirmed troops were “engaged in active moves” to advance the counteroffensive in the country’s south. Ukrainian forces around Bakhmut, captured by Russia last month, were trying to push Russian forces out from the outskirts of the devastated city. Russia has not officially acknowledged Ukrainian advances and said it had inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv’s forces in the previous 24 hours.

Two people have died after a Russian missile strike on a village in the Kharkiv region in the north-east of the country, the regional governor, Oleh Synehubov, has said. Synehubov said on Telegram that Russian forces shelled the village of Huryiv Kozachok. An anti-tank guided missile hit a car driving towards the village, which is near the border with Russia.

Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia had deployed its first tranche of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. He said nuclear weapons would only be used in the event of a threat to the existence of the Russian state. Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, the Russian president also said there was a “serious danger” that the Nato military alliance could be pulled further into the Ukraine war. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Russia was ready for further talks on arms control. The US said there was no indication the Kremlin planned to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine.

Russia’s defence minister has called for more tanks to be manufactured “to meet the needs of Russian forces” in Ukraine after Kyiv launched a counteroffensive with western arms. Sergei Shoigu visited a military factory in western Siberia and stressed the need “to maintain the increased production of tanks”, the defence ministry said. Agence France-Presse reports that Shoigu said this was necessary “to satisfy the needs of Russian forces carrying out the special military operation” launched by Moscow in Ukraine in February last year.

Moscow has said it has destroyed three drones targeting an oil refinery in the southern border region of Bryansk. The regional governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said: “Russian air defence systems repelled an overnight attack by the Ukrainian armed forces on the Druzhba oil refinery in the district of Novozybkov. Thanks to the professionalism of our military … three aerial drones were destroyed.”

Jens Stoltenberg is expected to be asked to remain as Nato secretary general for another year, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Stoltenberg’s term has already been prolonged three times and he is due to step down in September after nine years as secretary general of the military alliance. The Norwegian has broad support among the alliance and continues to be an effective leader, the source, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. The chances of Stoltenberg being asked to extend his tenure for a fourth time have increased as its summit in Vilnius has neared, with allies fearing a show of disunity as Nato continues to respond to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

South Africa’s president arrived in St Petersburg, Russia, before talks headed by an African delegation pushing for negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s arrival in the country “follows constructive discussions with [Ukrainian] President Volodymyr Zelenskiy”, the South African presidency said. The delegation of African leaders seeking to mediate in the Ukraine conflict told Putin it was time to negotiate an end to fighting, which they said was harming the entire world. Putin claimed Russia is ready to consider any settlement but Ukraine is refusing to enter into talks, Reuters reports.

Yesterday the African leaders met Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv and urged Russia and Ukraine to de-escalate and negotiate, hours after sheltering from missile strikes on the capital. The diplomatic team called their visit a “historic mission” and voiced the concerns of a continent suffering from the fallout of the war, including rising grain prices. The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said both sides needed to stop fighting and “this war must be settled and there should be peace through negotiations”. Zelenskiy rejected any negotiations with Moscow, saying he had made clear to the African leaders that “permitting any talks with Russia now, when the occupier is on our land, means freezing the war, freezing pain and suffering”.

The head of the UN atomic energy agency has said the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine is “serious” and that ensuring water for cooling was a priority of his visit, adding that the station could operate safely for “some time”. Rafael Grossi, of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was inspecting the state of Europe’s largest nuclear plant after last week’s breach in the Kakhovka dam downstream on the Dnipro River. He said: “With the water that is here the plant can be kept safe for some time. The plant is going to be working to replenish the water so that safety functions can continue normally.”

The Ukrainian air force said it destroyed six Kinzhals, six Kalibr cruise missiles and two reconnaissance drones, with the chief of the Kyiv military administration stating they were all intercepted over the Kyiv region. Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said there was no damage in the capital and reported an explosion from air defence in the central Podil district.

The US has announced a further $205m (£163m) in humanitarian aid to Ukraine to help with shortages of food, drinking water and other needs. The aid, to be distributed via partner NGOs in the region, is also aimed at helping victims of the war maintain contact with family members who have been separated. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said in a statement: “We continue to call for an immediate end to Russia’s war of aggression and for Russia to facilitate unhindered access to providers of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine and safe passage for those who seek to move to safer areas.”

Nato has launched a new centre for protecting undersea pipelines and cables after the unsolved Nord Stream attack. “The threat is developing,” said Lt Gen Hans-Werner Wiermann, who heads a special unit focused on the challenge, after Nato defence ministers gave the green light for the centre, located in Northwood, north-west London. “There are heightened concerns that Russia may target undersea cables and other critical infrastructure in an effort to disrupt western life.”

The centre of the fighting in Ukraine has switched to the road to Mariupol where the Ukrainian offensive is slowly pushing back Russian forces, with British Challenger tanks ready to join battle, a minister in Kyiv has said.

Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia has deployed its first tranche of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. He said nuclear weapons would only be used in the event of a threat to the existence of the Russian state. Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, the Russian president also said there was a “serious danger” that the Nato military alliance could be pulled further into the Ukraine war. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Russia was ready for further talks on arms control.

A delegation of African leaders began a peace mission in Kyiv on Friday, undeterred by what Ukraine said was a barrage of Russian missiles intended to greet them in the Ukrainian capital. Volodymyr Zelenskiy reportedly said after meeting African leaders that peace talks with Russia would be possible only after Moscow withdraws its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory.

The Ukrainian air force said on Friday it destroyed six Kinzhals, six Kalibr cruise missiles and two reconnaissance drones, with the chief of the Kyiv military administration stating they were all intercepted over the Kyiv region. Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said there was no damage in the capital and reported an explosion from air defence in the central Podil district.

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, has said alliance members must ensure Ukraine keeps getting enough arms to pursue its counteroffensive against Russia.

Ukraine is taking significant casualties and making slow progress towards the Russian main line of defence, western officials have admitted in one of the west’s first assessments of the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched on 4 June.

Ukraine reported incremental advances in its counteroffensive against Russian forces on Wednesday, in what the country’s deputy defence minister described as “extremely fierce” fighting. In the past day, Ukrainian troops had advanced 200-500 metres in various areas near the largely devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, and 300-350 metres in the direction of the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Hanna Maliar said.

UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi delayed a trip to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station on Wednesday for security reasons, as heavy fighting raged in southern Ukraine.

The Kremlin said it was concerned by unconfirmed media reports that a senior Chechen commander had been wounded in Ukraine. Earlier on Wednesday, the defence ministry’s TV channel reported that Adam Delimkhanov, head of Chechnya’s national guard, had been injured in Ukraine. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov later claimed that Delimkhanov was alive and well.

Kalibr missiles hit the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa at 2.40am on Wednesday, setting a warehouse, a business centre, an educational institution, restaurants and shops ablaze. It was a one of a number of attacks across the country on Wednesday that left 13 civilians dead and 24 injured.

Russian air defence systems have shot down a Ukrainian missile near the Russian-controlled port city of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov, the TASS news agency reported.

Ukrainian troops said they had recaptured a village from Russian forces in the south-east, the first liberated settlement they have claimed since launching a counterattack this week. The settlement was identified as Blahodatne in Donetsk region in an unverified video. “We’re seeing the first results of the counter-offensive actions, localised results,” Valeryi Shershen, spokesperson for Ukraine’s “Tavria” military sector, said on television.

A drone attack by Russian forces killed three people and injured 27 people, including three children, in Ukraine’s Odesa oblast region in the early hours of Saturday morning, according to Ukraine’s southern command. Emergency services said but the fire had been rapidly put out and 12 people were rescued from the building.

The UN’s top aid official Martin Griffiths has warned Ukraine’s humanitarian situation is “hugely worse” after the Kakhova dam rupture.

Counterattacking Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 1,400 metres at a number of sections of the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut in the past day, a military spokesperson said on Saturday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive operations were taking place in Ukraine, but told reporters that he would not say what stage they were at.

The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday that Ukraine’s forces have continued “unsuccessful” attempts in the past 24 hours to launch attacks south of Donetsk and in Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as in the area of the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Canada’s minister, Justin Trudeau, landed in Kyiv on Saturday and said Canada will be part of a multinational effort to train Ukrainian fighter pilots. He also announced C$500m ($375m) worth of military aid for Kyiv and said the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam is a “direct consequence of Russia’s war”.

German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Saturday that he planned to speak to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on the phone soon to urge him to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

Russian activists and dissidents from the Anti-War Human Rights Coalition say volunteers are reporting that 1,842 left bank residents including 338 urgent cases around Olekshy, and nearby, are being prevented from leaving by Russian authorities. They also include 148 children and 243 elderly people.

The latest intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence said over the past 48 hours “significant” Ukrainian operations have taken place in several sectors of eastern and southern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have “likely made good progress” and “penetrated the first line of Russian defences”, the MoD added. However, in other areas “Ukrainian progress has been slower”.

Russia has fired missiles and attack drones at the central Ukrainian region of Poltava overnight, inflicting “some damage of infrastructure and equipment” at the Myrhorod military airfield, according to the regional governor.

A £150m fund to help Ukrainians into their own homes has been announced by the UK government. More than 124,000 people have arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

The UK will provide an extra £16m of humanitarian aid to Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Iceland’s decision to suspend its embassy operations in Moscow “destroys” bilateral cooperation adding the action would elicit a “corresponding” response.

The southern reach of the Dnipro River is likely to return to its banks by 16 June after the breach of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam this week, a Russian-installed official said on Saturday. Vladimir Saldo said the water level at Nova Kakhovka, the town adjacent to the dam on the downstream side, had now dropped by 3 metres (10 feet) from Tuesday’s peak, Reuters reported.

German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency says it has put the last operating reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant into a “cold shutdown” as a safety precaution amid flooding from the collapse of the Kakhovka dam.

South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has briefed Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about an upcoming mission by African leaders to Russia and Ukraine to try and broker peace, Pretoria said on Saturday.

The UN has helped boost Russian exports of food and fertilisers, facilitating a steady flow of ships to its ports ahead of an important grain deal deadline. Top UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin as Moscow threatens to walk away from a deal allowing the safe export of food and fertiliser from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on 17 July if obstacles to its own shipments are not removed.

The Wagner group has been accused of stoking “anarchy” on Russia’s frontlines after one of the Kremlin’s military commanders claimed Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenaries had kidnapped and tortured his soldiers during the battle for Bakhmut.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin told a conference in Sochi on Friday that Ukraine had begun its expected counteroffensive against Russian forces, but without success.

Julian Borger, our world affairs editor, says there is growing evidence that the Nova Kakhovka dam was blown up after the publication of seismic data showed there was a blast at the site in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Norsar, the Norwegian Seismic Array, said signals from a regional station in Romania pointed to an explosion at 2.54am. Norsar did not draw conclusions on who was responsible.

Russia will start deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus after the facilities are ready on 7-8 July, President Vladimir Putin told his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Friday in a meeting in Sochi, Russia.

Ukraine’s domestic security agency said on Friday it had intercepted a telephone call proving Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and dam in Kherson region. It posted a 90-second audio clip of the alleged conversation on its Telegram channel.

Nato allies on Friday condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE).

The White House said on Friday that Russia appeared to be deepening its cooperation with Iran in “full-scale defence partnership” and had received hundreds of one-way attack drones that it is using to strike Ukraine.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a €200m (£170m/$215m) loan to Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsya to help improve links to the EU, officials said on Friday.

Hungary said on Friday it had received a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia, a release that Ukraine welcomed while expressing concern that it had not been informed.

The Netherlands’ highest court ruled Friday that a priceless collection of Crimean gold must be handed over to Ukraine, the latest move in a legal tug-of-war spanning almost a decade.

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked the US President Joe Biden for his $2.1bn (£1.6bn) security assistance package. In a tweet, Zelenskiy said the contribution is “more important than ever” since the Kakhovka dam collapse.

Iceland has announced that from 1 August it will suspend operations of its embassy in Moscow.

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has told the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Friday that Japan will offer emergency humanitarian aid worth about $5m (£3.9m) after the bursting of the Nova Kakhovka dam, a Japanese government spokesperson has said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Friday that it had summoned the Japanese ambassador over Tokyo’s decision to supply military equipment to Ukraine.

Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 10.5% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period a year ago, the economy ministry said on Friday.

Eight people are dead in Russian-held territory and more than 5,800 have been evacuated from their homes as a result of the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, a senior Russian-appointed official said on Friday. Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed head of Ukraine’s Kherson province, which Russia claims to have unilaterally annexed, accused Ukraine of continuing to shell rescuers on the Russian-controlled left bank of the Dnipro River, Reuters reports.

The Ukrainian interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said on Friday four people had died and 13 were missing as a result of flooding in the southern region of Kherson after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Ukraine’s domestic Security Service (SBU) said earlier on Friday it had intercepted a telephone call proving a Russian “sabotage group” blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and dam in southern Ukraine. A one-and-a-half minute audio clip on its Telegram channel of the alleged conversation featured two unidentified men who appeared to be discussing the fallout from the disaster in Russian. One of the men said “Our saboteur group is there. They wanted to cause fear with this dam. It did not go according to the plan. More than they planned.”

The Kremlin on Friday accused Ukrainian forces of killing civilian victims of flooding caused by the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine in repeated shelling attacks, including one pregnant woman. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the purported attacks “barbaric”. Russia did not provide any evidence to back up its claims.

Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said on Friday that Crimea’s water supply will not be affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, and the peninsula had enough water reserves for 500 days. A canal from the destroyed reservoir fed drinking water to the peninsula. Kyiv cut access to the canal in 2014, after Russia illegally seized Crimea and claimed to annex it.

Vitalii Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv region, has posted to Telegram to say that for two hours there has been no rise in the level of the Inhulets River, and “accordingly, there is no water rise throughout the region”.

Ukraine’s interior ministry said one person had been killed, three were wounded, and four buildings were destroyed from falling debris after Russia’s latest attack. Ukraine’s military shot down four cruise missiles and 10 attack drones during a Russian air strike overnight, the air force said in a statement. It said Russian forces had launched 16 drones and six cruise missiles during the attack, and that two other cruise missiles had struck a civilian object in central Ukraine.

Zelenskiy on Thursday hailed what he described as “results” in heavy fighting in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. “There is very heavy fighting in Donetsk region,” Zelenskiy said in his daily video message, delivered in a train after visiting areas affected by the breach of the Kakhovka power dam. “But there are results and I am grateful to those who achieved these results. Well done in Bakhmut. Step by step,” he said.

On Friday, deputy defence minister Hannah Maliar said Ukrainian troops were “conducting active combat operations in several areas of the Bakhmut direction” and that Russian troops were “conducting defensive operations in the Zaporizhzhia direction” where “positional battles continue”.

Russia’s army on Friday reported heavy fighting in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, saying more than 21 Ukrainian tanks had been destroyed in battles across key sections of the frontline. A spokesperson for Russia’s Vostok group of forces said 13 Ukrainian tanks were destroyed in battles in the Zaporizhzhia region and eight in the Donetsk region. It reported artillery, drone and infantry battles. The claims have not been independently verified.

Evgeny Balitsky, the Russian-imposed acting governor of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, has announced the formation of a people’s militia.

Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, has reported that a 33-year-old man was wounded when “Shahed” drones struck an infrastructure object in Bohodukhiv.

Voronezh regional governor Alexander Gusev has said three people were wounded in an attack on the southern Russian city of Voronezh when a drone hit a residential building.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, has said it has fended off an aerial attack on the city of Belgorod, with air defence taking out two targets.

Sweden will allow Nato to base troops on its territory even before it formally joins the defence alliance, the prime minister and defence minister said on Friday. “The government has decided that the Swedish armed forces may undertake preparations with Nato and Nato countries to enable future joint operations,” the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and the defence minister, Pål Jonson, said.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has visited the Kherson region that has been impacted by flooding after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam. In a post to Telegram, Ukraine’s president said the main issues discussed during the visit were “the operational situation in the region as a result of the disaster, evacuation of the population from potential flood zones, elimination of the emergency caused by the dam explosion, organisation of life support for the flooded areas”.

Russia on Thursday denied Ukrainian accusations that it backed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and discriminates against ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, accusing Kyiv of “blatant lies” at the UN’s top court.

One of Russia’s longest-serving and most respected human rights campaigners Oleg Orlov went on trial on Thursday, facing the prospect of three years in jail if convicted of repeatedly discrediting Russia’s armed forces, his organisation said.

A group of leading Russian independent media organisations together with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have called on big tech companies to establish a working group to prevent Russia’s online information shutdown, the Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer reports.

The past few days have brought a very marked intensification of fighting south of Zaporizhzhia in the direction of the key town of Tokmak. While the situation remains highly confused, some Russian military bloggers have been speculating that this might be the beginning of the long anticipated Ukrainian summer offensive, the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont reports.

The cooling pond at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is in danger of collapse as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam and the draining of its reservoir, according to a French nuclear safety organisation, the Guardian’s Julian Borger reports.

The World Health Organization has rushed emergency supplies to flood-hit parts of Ukraine and are preparing to respond to an array of health risks including trauma, drowning and waterborne diseases such as cholera, officials said on Thursday.

Ukraine could lose several million tons of crops because of flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in the south of the country, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said on Thursday.

Drone footage shows the extent of flooding after the Ukraine dam collapse.

About 42,000 people are estimated to be at risk from flooding after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, a major hydroelectric dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, on the frontline between Russian and Ukrainian forces. At least people have been confirmed dead as a result of flooding, Ukrainian media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing the exiled mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in Kherson region.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been left “without normal access to drinking water” after the destruction, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned. The Ukrainian leader said the evacuation of people and the urgent provision of drinking water were top priorities.

Drone footage showed roads and buildings in Kherson completely submerged by flood water. The critical dam, which lies along the Dnipro River in Ukraine’s Kherson region – now held by Russia – collapsed on Tuesday, flooding a swathe of the war’s frontline.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister has confirmed that in some areas Kyiv’s forces are moving to “offensive actions”, heightening speculation that a counteroffensive is close to launch. In a post on Telegram, Hanna Maliar said: “We are continuing the defence that began on 24 February 2022. The defensive operation includes everything, including counteroffensive actions. Therefore, in some areas we are moving to offensive actions.”

Russia claimed to have repelled a “major offensive” in the Donetsk region and to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops, but the claims could not be independently verified. The defence ministry in Moscow said Ukraine had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions from two brigades.

The ministry claimed 250 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured personnel carriers destroyed. It also claimed that Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of general staff, had been near the frontlines when the attack was repelled. The Russian defence ministry has consistently made exaggerated claims about the casualties its forces have inflicted.

A Moscow-backed militia leader and Russian military bloggers admitted that Ukrainian forces had achieved a breakthrough in at least one point in south-western Donetsk. Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a “disgrace”. Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that a 55-year-old security guard has been killed by a Russian attack on a business in Kherson, citing the head of the region, Oleksandr Prokudin.

The US imposed sanctions on Monday on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow’s efforts to destabilise democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury department said. The sanctions target seven individuals, several of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said. They include the group’s leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organised the plot to destabilise the government of Moldova, which borders Ukraine, earlier this year.

The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv. They discussed preparations for the Nato summit in Lithuania next month and Ukraine’s plan for ending Russia’s invasion. During the meeting, Cleverly said: “Ukraine will win this war and can count on our support.”

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed leader in the occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast has rebuked those sharing information. He wrote on Telegram: “Friends, I ask you not to rush to publish news about the mass use of Leopard [tanks] on the Zaporizhzhia front. Wait for the official or at least video confirmation of their use by the enemy in our direction. Observe information hygiene!” Alexander Khodakovsky, the head of the pro-Moscow Vostok Battalion in the Donbas, had posted to Telegram to say that “the situation on Novodonetsk and to the left towards Velykonovosilkivskyi is difficult” and that “for the first time we saw Leopards [tanks] in our tactical area”.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, said three people were killed in the region yesterday as a result of Russian attacks.

Two drones have fallen on the M3 Ukraine highway, in the Russian region of Kaluga, just south of Moscow, the region’s governor has said. There was no detonation and the sites have been cordoned off by investigators, said governor Vladislav Shapsha.

Poland’s agriculture minister has received a draft regulation from the European Commission extending a ban on Ukrainian grain imports until 15 September, he said on Monday.

Belgium will ask Ukraine for clarification on reports that rifles made in Belgium had been used by pro-Ukrainian forces to fight Russian troops inside Russia’s western border, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said on Monday.

Sky News has reported it has seen documents it believes are authentic that show Iran supplying arms to Russia.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has been tasked by Pope Francis to carry out a peace mission to try to help end the war in Ukraine, will visit Kyiv on 5-6 June.

Russia’s Baltic fleet started naval exercises in the Baltic Sea on Monday