Ukraine-Russia war live: Advanced Russian air defences destroyed after Atacms strikes (2024)

Ukrainian soldiers wait for Russian kamikaze drones, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kherson region.

The coastal region of Kherson is situated atop the Russian-occupied Crimea, near the Black Sea coast.

Two years ago, the first of Ukraine’s regional capitals to fall, as Russian forces swept in from Crimea in March 2022. It was liberated by Kyiv’s military nine months later.

The United States will send another$1.1 billion Patriot missile air defence system to Ukraine in the coming days as the war-ravaged nation struggles to fend off Russian attacks on its cities and energy grid.

The new Patriot system would be at least the second that the US has sent to Ukraine.

The Patriot, considered the United States’ best air-defence weapon, can shoot down incoming missiles before they hit their intended targets and is already used by Israel and Saudi and Emirati forces in Yemen.

The critical systems are considered incredibly rare, even for the United States. Pentagon officials refuse to disclose how many are in its arsenal, but one senior military official said that the Army has deployed only 14 of them, in the US and around the world.

Patriot batteries can project defences out some 600 miles and are often used to target and shoot down long-range ballistic missiles and aircraft from hundreds of miles away.

The Patriot is by far the most expensive single weapon supplied by the US to Ukraine, with the total cost around $1.1 billion (£784m): $400 million (£303m) for the system and $690 million (£541m) for the missiles.

Ukrainian lawmakers announced a bill on Wednesday that would allow businesses to exempt their employees from military service if they pay a $500 (£390) monthly fee per worker.

Hundreds of thousands of draft-age men have left or stayed outside of Ukraine since the war began in 2022, with almost three quarters of companies experiencing staff shortages partly as a result, according to a survey published in April.

“In these times, the functioning of any business depends on predictability, and the first question that worries most manufacturers today is whether they will be able to retain critical employees,” ruling party MP Dmytro Natalukha said on Facebook.

According to the bill, “every business entity that pays the increased military fee of 20,000 hryvnia ($500) per month per employee” will have the opportunity to “reserve” that worker, Natalukha said.

The debate surrounding mobilisation is extremely sensitive in Ukraine, which has been unable to give its long-serving conscripts a break as it suffers from acute troop shortages on the front.

President Zelensky renewed a call for weapons to strengthen the country’s defence systems, following an overnight Russian attack on Kyiv and several other regions.

In a post on X, he wrote: “ Our air defenders responded effectively, shooting down five enemy missiles and more than 20 drones.

“Such a result in protecting lives can be our daily achievement if we have enough tools to repel terrorist attacks. I am grateful to all of our partners who understand this and work together with us to boost our resilience in this daily fight for life.”

An unexplained fire and explosion at an armaments factory in Poland killed one, the latest in a number of unexplained fires that senior politicians in the region have blamed on Russia.

The fire took hold at the Mesko arms factory in the southeastern Polish city of Skarzysko-Kamienna.

Poland arrested 12 people in May on suspicion of spying or planning to commit acts of sabotage on Polish soil.

Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Kyiv early on Wednesday, Ukrainian military said.

Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed all air weapons on their approach to the city, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military said on the Telegram messaging app.

Mr Popko added that according to preliminary information, Russia used a combination of cruise and ballistic missiles as well as drones in its attack. The size of the attack was not immediately clear.

Witnesses said that several blasts that sounded like air defence systems at work were heard in and around Kyiv. The weapons used could not be independently verified.

It was not immediately known whether there was any damage in the Kyiv region, which surrounds the capital and which is a separate administrative entity.

Ukraine’s military said it hit three Russian surface-to-air missile systems in Moscow-occupied Crimea overnight, its second reported strike on air defences on the peninsula this week.

Strikes targeted an S-300 system and two more advanced S-400 air defence and radar systems near Belbek and Sevastopol, Ukraine’s general staff said on Wednesday.

“As a result of the strikes, two radars of the S-300 and S-400 complexes were destroyed. Information about the third radar is being clarified,” it said on Telegram.

Hungary will not join Nato’s planned steps in support of Ukraine, but it will not stand in them either, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday.

Budapest has repeatedly opposed Ukraine joining Nato and the EU, sanctions on Russia, undermined Western aid efforts for Ukraine, and maintained close relations with Moscow throughout the full-scale war.

“Hungary made clear today that it will not block decisions by NATO which, although they differ from our rational assessment of the situation, are shared and advocated by the rest of the alliance,” Mr Orban told a news conference.

He added that he had received assurances from Nato’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, that Hungary would not have to provide funding for Ukraine or send personnel there.

Western countries have debated the possibility of training troops in Ukraine, but Nato has repeatedly said it does not want to become directly involved in the conflict.

India says two of its nationals who had been recruited by the Russian army have been killed in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The Indian foreign ministry said it had urged the Russian authorities to repatriate the bodies of the two deceased.

It also urged Moscow to quickly release and return all Indian nationals who are with the Russian army.

Moscow is yet to comment.

The ministry its citizens to “exercise caution” while seeking employment in Russia amid reports that dozens of Indians had been duped by agents into fighting for the Russian military.

Ukraine plans record power imports on Wednesday after significant energy infrastructure damage by Russian missile attacks, the Ukrainian energy ministry said.

Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector have intensified since March, resulting in blackouts in many regions, forcing Kyiv to start large-scale electricity imports from the European Union.

The ministry said in a statement the country would import 29,796 Megawatt hours on Wednesday, exceeding the previous record of up to 28,000 MWh earlier this month.

Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine produced around 55 GW of electricity, which was among the largest in Europe.

That power generation capacity has now plummeted to below 20 GW, according to Ukrainian officials.

China will resolutely oppose all unilateral sanctions, following new warnings from G7 countries on small Chinese banks concerning their ties to Russia, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

It will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, spokesperson Lin Jin said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.

It was reported yesterday that member countries of the G7 were set to send a tough new warning next week to smaller Chinese banks to stop assisting Russia in evading Western sanctions.

Leaders are gathering for the summit on June 13-15.

Russia lost at least 980 troops, including those killed and injured, on the frontline in Ukraine in just the past day, senior Ukrainian military officials said this morning.

“Over the past day, the Russians lost 980 servicemen killed and wounded, nine tanks and 46 artillery systems on the battlefield,” the General Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said in his daily update.

It said the total casualties of those killed and wounded in Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022 has now risen to 521,830.

Russia has not commented on the daily death toll shared by Ukrainian forces and authorities, nor has it separately issued its own death toll since the full scale invasion of Ukraine.

The United States will send another Patriot missile air defense system to Ukraine in the coming days, according to US media, who cited unnamed administration and military officials.

The news comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky implored on Tuesday for more air defenses from Western partners.

Zelensky has recently called for several additional Patriot systems, including two to defend the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russia has recently been pressing a fresh offensive.

“Russia’s greatest strategic advantage over Ukraine is superiority in the sky. It is missile and bomb terror that helps Russian troops advance on the ground,” Zelensky said at a conference in Berlin Tuesday.

“Air defense is the answer,” he added.

The delivery would be at least the second Patriot system sent to Ukraine by Washington.

The Dutch government will provide 60m euros (£50.9m) to bolster Ukraine’s aerial and naval drone purchasing and production, Dutch Defense Minister, Kajsa Ollongren, said on Tuesday.

A total of 17.5m euros (£14.7m) will be allocated towards the purchase of naval drones, while the remaining 42.5m euros (£35.4m) will go towards bilateral drone deliveries through the international drone coalition.

This will include at least 20 million euros for the purchase of first-person view drones.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his country is an “invincible comrade-in-arms” with Russia in a message to President Vladimir Putin, state media KCNA said on Wednesday, amid speculation over Putin’s impending visit to North Korea.

Mr Kim said his meeting with Putin at a Russian space launch facility last year elevated the ties of their “century-old strategic relationship”.

The message comes after a Russian newspaper on Monday reported Putin would visit North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks.

An official in Vietnam told Reuters the Vietnam trip was planned for June 19 and 20, but has not yet been confirmed. The Kremlin has said Russia wants to foster cooperation with North Korea “in all areas” but has not confirmed the date of the visit.

The US government plans on Wednesday to announce wider sanctions on the sale of semiconductor chips and other goods to Russia, with the goal of targeting third-party sellers in China, sources familiar with the plans said late on Tuesday.

The moves are part of a push by the Biden administration to respond to Russia’s efforts to dodge Western sanctions and stifle its war effort against Ukraine.

The administration will announce it is broadening existing export controls to include US-branded goods, not just those made in the United States, sources familiar with the plans have said.