Ukraine-Russia war latest: French and German leaders say Ukraine allowed to strike inside Russia (2024)

A German government spokesperson says agreements on how Ukraine deploys weaponssupplied by the West are confidential.

They batted away questionson whether Ukrainian forces could use them to strike intoRussian territory.

The government was pressed on the issue at a news conference after French and German leaders said Kyiv should beallowed to hit military sites inside Russia from which missileswere being fired at Ukrainian territory.

Yesterday, Vladimir Putin tried to frame his invasion across the Kharkiv border, opening up a second front, as a result of the West failing to prevent Kyiv from attacking Russian targets.

Ukrainian drones have the capability of striking a target up to 1,550 miles away, but Moscow hasbeen protected, a senior Russian airforceofficial has said.

The comments, made by Dmitry Bogdanov, head of theradio-electronic warfare department of the Russian AerospaceForces, suggest a wide swath of Russian territory bordering Ukraine isvulnerable to attack.

"The enemy is not standing still," Mr Bogdanov was quotedas saying by state news agency Tass.

"Now unmanned aerial vehicles can traverse an area of upto 2,500 kilometres, and many [Russian] regions are aware ofthis."

It comes after a Kyiv source told Reuters on Monday that a Ukrainian drone had attempted its deepest strike yet, targeting a Russian early-warning military radar system in the Orenburg region, almost 1,000 miles away.

Since the start of the year, drone attacks have also struckcritical oil refining infrastructure in Russia.

Ukraine does not officially confirm or deny it isattacking refineries inside Russia, but it says such sites arelegitimate targets as they aid Moscow's military effort.

A major barrage in May last year saw two drones fly towards the Kremlin complex overlooking Red Square before they were destroyed.

Police have searched the office of a European Parliament employee in Brussels over suspected Russian interference, Belgium's federal prosecutor's office says.

Officers also raided the employee's residence and the EU Parliament's French headquarters.

It comes after an investigation was launched last month by the Belgian prime minister, who said his intelligence service uncovered a network trying to undermine support for Ukraine.

"The searches are part of a case of interference, passive corruption and membership of a criminal organisation and relates to indications of Russian interference, whereby members of the European Parliament were approached and paid to promote Russian propaganda via the Voice of Europe news website," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said they believe the employee played "a significant role in this".

This comes less than two weeks before polls open on 6-9 June to elect a new EU parliament.

"According to our intelligence service, the objectives of Moscow are very clear," said Belgian leaderAlexander De Croo.

"The objective is to help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the European Parliament and to reinforce a certain pro-Russian narrative in that institution."

The Swedish government will donate military aid to Ukraine worth £960m.

It is the largest package of the 16 Sweden has agreed to so far.

"It consists of equipment that is at the top of Ukraine's priority list," deputy prime minister Ebba Busch said.

This includes air defence, artillery ammunition and armoured vehicles.

Sweden's defence minister Pal Jonsson said the country has ruled out sending any Swedish-built JAS 39 Gripen jets for now, saying Ukrainian is focusing on implementing the F-16 programme.

Several countries have said they want to donate F-16s, with Belgium pledging 30 yesterday.

Mr Jonsson said Sweden "is still working on possibly being able to contribute with the Gripen system later."

Prisoner of war exchanges between Russia and Ukraine have been suspended for several months, Russia's human rights commissioner says.

Tatyana Moskalova blamed what she called Kyiv's "false demands", the state news agency Tass reported.

It was unclear precisely when swaps ceased. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Moscow and Kyiv have carried out periodic prisoner swaps via intermediaries since Moscow launched its invasion.

Outside Kyiv, manufacturers have been demonstrating their answer to the challenge of rescuing injured soldiers from the battlefield.

Several remote-controlled stretchers were being tested in these pictures taken by Reuters at an undisclosed location.

Russian guided bombs killed twocivilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Toretsk yesterday, Donetsk's regional governor has said.

They heavily damaged two multistorey apartment buildings, said Vadym Filashkin.

Mr Filashkin saidRussian forces attacked the city with three bombs, located north of Russian-held Donetsk.

Rescue teams were onsite to determine the extent of casualties.

Sky News cannot independently verify these battlefield reports.

Russia launched 14 drones in an overnight attack on the three regions, according to the Ukrainian airforce.

The Ukrainian military shot down 13drones, but debris fell on energy infrastructure in Ukraine'snorthwestern region of Rivne, governor Oleksandr Koval said.

The attack triggered a defence mechanism that cutpower to some areas, although it has since been restored.

Drone debris also damaged power lines in central Kirovohrad region with repair work ongoing, its governor said.

The airforce shot down 11 drones over the Mykolaiv region,with no details on damage reported by the local governor.

France and Germany'sleaders have said Ukraine should be allowed to hitmilitary sites inside Russia from which missiles were beingfired at Ukrainian territory, but not other targets.

Their comments, made last night, came after Vladimir Putin warned the West that NATO members in Europe were playing with fire byproposing to let Ukraine use Western-supplied weapons to strikeinside Russia.

"We support Ukraine and we don't want escalation, thathasn't changed," Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said at ajoint news conference with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, inMeseberg, northeast Germany.

"We think we should allow them to neutralise military sitesfrom which missiles are fired, military sites from which Ukraineis attacked, but we shouldn't allow them to hit other targets inRussia and civilian or other military sites in Russia."

Mr Scholz said he agreed with Mr Macron and that as long asUkraine respected the conditions given by countries thatsupplied the weapons, including the United States, andinternational law, it was allowed to defend itself.

"I find it strange when some people argue that it should notbe allowed to defend itself and take measures that are suitablefor this," Mr Scholz said.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

We'll be bringing you live updates and analysis throughout the day - but before we begin, here is a recap of the key developments that took place over the past 24 hours.

• Poland should not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said;
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belgium's prime minister Alexander De Croosigned a security pact including the delivery of 30 F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv;
• NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine's use of weapons supplied by its Western allies to hit targets inside Russia would not make NATO and its members part of the conflict;
• Vladimir Putin tried to frame Russia's invasion of Kharkiv as the fault of the West, saying it had ignored warnings not to allow Kyiv to strike the Russian region of Belgorod;
• Mr Zelenskyy called for Joe Biden to attend a peace summit organised by Kyiv in Switzerland next month.