A Ukrainian soldier flashes the victory sign atop a tank in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Monday 20 June as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
A Ukrainian soldier flashes the victory sign atop a tank in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Monday 20 June as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Mass mobilisation is “about to happen” in Russia with the Kremlin recruiting people in poorer regions to fight in Ukraine, according to western officials.
Moscow is “concerned” that mobilisation would be an “admission of failure” in what was intended to be a quick, clean operation in Ukraine and has turned into a slow and grinding conflict, officials said.
Fears that countrywide mobilisation could stoke unrest in cities have led to the Kremlin “doing very significant recruitment” in poor areas in an effort to increase its pool of fighters, they said.
Officials also said there was “more chatter” about Vladimir Putin’s health and “more speculation” about who would replace him in Russia.
The 2024 presidential election “is certainly looking more interesting than it perhaps was six months ago”, they said.
However, there does not appear to be an “immediate threat” to the Russian president’s position from the elite or the general population, they said.
Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of goods on an EU sanctions list across its territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Hosting a meeting in Kaliningrad, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation, said Lithuania’s actions were “hostile” and Russia would respond.
'Russia will respond': Moscow warns Lithuania over goods blockade – video
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, is in Ukraine to discuss efforts to identify, arrest and prosecute individuals involved in war crimes during Russia’s invasion, a justice department official said.
Garland met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, as part of his unannounced trip to Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in Ukraine, Garland said:
The United States is sending an unmistakable message. There is no place to hide. We will, we and our partners will pursue every avenue available to make sure that those who are responsible for these atrocities are held accountable.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Ukrainian Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
As reported earlier, Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov has auctioned off his Nobel peace prize medal to raise money for Unicef to help Ukrainian children displaced by war. Here’s our video package of the auction.
Russian editor's Nobel medal auctioned for Ukraine refugees fetches $103.5m – video
Russian troops have captured the frontline village of Toshkivka near the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the Donbas region. The head of the Severodonetsk district military administration, Roman Vlasenko, said the village had not been under Ukrainian control since Monday, adding that the battle for Donbas was “now in full swing”.
A fire that broke out after Ukrainian forces allegedly attacked oil rigs in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea is approaching an oil well, according to a pro-Russian official. Three people were wounded and seven people are still reportedly missing. The Russian-backed leader of annexed Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, blamed Kyiv for the attack.
The Kremlin has said that two captured US volunteers are not covered by the Geneva conventions and could face the death penalty. Russian media has claimed that two of three US volunteers missing in Ukraine have been captured and are being held by pro-Russian separatist forces. The Kremlin, however, denied that it knew the location of the two men.
The sister of Brahim Saadoun, the Moroccan man who was captured while serving in the Ukrainian military, has said she feared he has been abandoned by his own government and has called on the international community to “claim my brother”. “I just want any authority, anybody who is willing to help, to come and help,” Iman Saadoun said in an interview with the Guardian, describing being left in limbo while seeking government support for him.
A senior Ukrainian government official and a business leader have been detained on suspicion of being part of an alleged Russian spy network, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said. It claimed the pair had “passed on various intelligence information to the enemy: from the state of our defence capability to arrangements at the state border and personal data of Ukrainian law enforcement officers”.
European countries are united in their support for granting Ukraine the status of European Union member candidate, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister has said. Jean Asselborn told reporters: “We are working towards the point where we tell Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends.”
The UK government is “determined” to impose further sanctions on Russia and will continue to do so until Moscow fully withdraws from Ukraine, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said. She told parliament that she would be travelling to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options to help get grain out of Odesa.
New rules that will allow Ukrainian children to come to Britain alone are expected to be announced this week. It follows revelations in the Guardian that more than 500 children who fled the war without their parents have been stuck waiting in limbo across Europe after applying to the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The announcement could come as soon as Wednesday.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you to bring you all the latest news from Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag. You can reach me on Twitter or via email.
New rules that will allow Ukrainian children to come to Britain alone are expected to be announced this week.
It follows revelations in the Guardian that more than 500 children who fled the war without their parents have been stuck in limbo across Europe after applying to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Most are teenagers who thought they would be eligible and have British families waiting to host them, but have heard nothing from the Home Office.
The announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph, which said under-18s will be allowed to come to Britain unaccompanied if they have written permission from a parent or legal guardian.
A Home Office spokesperson would not confirm any details but did not deny that an announcement was expected on Wednesday. It is understood that the policy will be part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Teenagers travelling without their parents were initially accepted for visas under Homes for Ukraine. A policy banning under-18s from travelling without their parents or a legal guardian was then introduced, but the Home Office did not offer a decision or solution to all those who applied before this was set out.
The US state department has confirmed the death of an American citizen, Stephen Zabielski, the second American known to have been killed in combat in Ukraine.
According to his obituary in the New York newspaper The Recorder, Zabielski died on 15 May while fighting in the war in Ukraine.
A US government spokesperson said:
We have been in touch with the family and have provided all possible consular assistance. Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have nothing further.
The other American known to have died in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion is a Marine Corps veteran, Willy Cancel, who was killed in April fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.
A senior Ukrainian government official and a business leader have been detained on suspicion of being part of an alleged Russian spy network, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said.
It did not name the two suspects but identified them as a senior official in the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers and a department head at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Reuters reports.
The suspects were detained as part of a “multi-stage special operation” to neutralise the alleged spy ring, the SBU said in a statement on Telegram.
The statement went on to say that the pair had “passed on various intelligence information to the enemy: from the state of our defence capability to arrangements at the state border and personal data of Ukrainian law enforcement officers”.
The SBU said Russia paid the suspects from $2,000 to $15,000 for each task, depending on the level of secrecy and the importance of the information.
Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.
A border guard looks at cars queueing at the Krakovets-Korczowa checkpoint at the Ukraine-Poland border. Photograph: Future Publishing/Ukrinform/Getty Images
Soldiers survey damage and salvage items after a projectile and subsequent fire destroyed a warehouse building in Druzhkivka. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
A view of damage by recent shelling in the Donetsk region. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A grain store in the Zaporizhzhia region. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Another view of damage caused by shelling in the Donetsk region. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Daniel Boffey in Brussels has this explainer for us on why Kaliningrad has suddenly become a flashpoint between Russia and the EU:
After Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU imposed heavy sanctions on the Russian economy. Just under half of all goods that usually transit through Lithuania, including coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology, are covered by a ban on Russian exports entering EU territory.
There is a different enforcement date for many of the goods. On 17 June the prohibition on Russian steel and iron ore came into force. The Lithuanian state railways said they would no longer allow these goods to be carried on its tracks.
In response, the region’s governor, Anton Alikhanov, said ferry services from St Petersburg would take the strain and that there was no need to panic. That led to panic.
Russia’s foreign ministry accused Lithuania of breaking international law and a series of agreements on the facilitation of transit from mainland Russia that had been agreed in 2004. The Kremlin has accused Lithuania of blockading its citizens.
