Ukraine-Russia war latest: Ukraine peace summit 'opens door to limited talks with Russia'

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has "Russified" Ukrainian children abducted by the country's occupying forces, according to a new investigation.

Children from orphanages and boarding schools in the occupied Donetsk region were sent to Russia's Rostov region, a joint investigation by Russian opposition student journal DOXA and open source outlet Kidmapping found. 

The report, cited by the Institute for the Study of War, found that in Rostov, the children were visited by senior ROC clergyman Metropolitan Mercury - also known by his secular name Igor Ivanov - who encouraged them to consider baptism into the church. 

Other ROC clergy have also called for the baptism of deported Ukrainian children into the church and reportedly encouraged them to join various "military-patriotic" youth organisations in Russia, the report said.

Ukrainian children from occupied Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts also stayed at shelters run by the ROC in Voronezh Oblast, where clergy and affiliated officials held "military-patriotic" events in an effort to encourage pro-Russian and pro-ROC sentiment among the children and cut them off from their Ukrainian identities.

The Institute for the Study of War previously found that the ROC is instrumental in enacting the Kremlin's Ukraine occupation plan. 

Kremlin-appointed Commissioner on Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, against whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant due to her role in the deportation of Ukrainian children, is married to an ROC priest.

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said Moscow is prepared to target French military instructors in Ukraine.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his counterpart in the Republic of Congo, Mr Lavrov said he had "reason to believe" the instructors were "already working" in the country.

It comes after top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said last week that he had signed paperwork allowing French military instructors to visit Ukrainian training centres soon.

"Regardless of whether they are members of the French Armed Forces or simply mercenaries, they represent an absolutely legitimate target for our armed forces," he said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has also said anyone training Ukrainian troops doesn't "have any sort of immunity, and it doesn't matter whether they are French or not".

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron declined to comment on Mr Lavrov's remarks.

 Here is how the situation looks on the ground...

More on the story we brought you yesterday on a Microsoft report that alleged Russia was targeting this summer's Paris Olympics with a disinformation campaign. 

Colonel Simon Diggins, former British defence attache in Kabul, told Sky News that Russian disinformation is "only going to get worse". 

He said Russia's motivation in attacking France "appears to be sour grapes". 

"Russia obviously is not allowed to appear at the Olympics as Russia. 

"In the past, when Russia's been put in a bad place like this, for example in the 1984 Olympics, the Soviet Union was banned because of the invasion of Afghanistan. 

"They also ran disinformation campaigns and tried to disrupt and divide the Olympics as well."

But Col Diggins believes that this isn't the only reason why Russia is targeting the Olympics.

He said: "The bigger picture is Russia's very, very irritated with France because France has been saying very clearly that they're comfortable with Ukrainians using their missiles for attacks into Russia.

"This slight ambiguity that we saw with the Americans about the use of their weapons systems into Ukraine does not exist with the weapons system provided by France."

Col Diggins added that Russia's disinformation tactics were "very sophisticated" but also are "plausibly deniable" for Moscow.

"A group of people put [disinformation] out, they've got these codenames, which might be criminal, might be hackers - could be anything. 

"So the Russian state can claim 'this is not us' but actually it is them and that's what they've been doing elsewhere as well. It's a malign influence operation," he said.

Ukraine's military says it has downed 22 out of 27 Russian drones launched overnight.

The air force said Russian forces launched the Shahed drones from the Russian Kursk region and from occupied Crimea.

Anti-aircraft weapons downed 22 of the drones over Ukraine's Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipro, Sumy and Poltava regions, it said.

It did not say what happened to the remaining five.

An upcoming Swiss-hosted summit on Ukraine will aim to create a pathway for Russian officials to take part in future talks, US news outlet Bloomberg reports. 

The summit will focus on nuclear safety, food security and returning abducted children in an effort to build trust to later engage with Russia on a limited number of issues, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg.

Organisers of the meeting, which will be held on 15 and 16 June, have also narrowed Ukraine's 10-point blueprint so that as many leaders as possible participate in the summit. 

Russian officials have been excluded from this meeting but organisers said in the document that all parties must be involved in any measures designed to end the war.

China has signalled it may not attend the summit, while the level of participation by nations including India, Brazil, South Africa and Saudi Arabia, remains unclear. 

The three main principles that the summit centres on are: 

• Nuclear power facilities must be safe, operate under Ukrainian control, in line with principles set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency;
• Food security must not be weaponised, and must be guaranteed by free navigation in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Ukraine must also have access to third parties for agriculture products;
• All captives of war must be released, including all "deported and unlawfully displaced" Ukrainian children and civilians.

US President Joe Biden will meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week, a US official said overnight.

President Biden flew to France on Tuesday and is spending five days there to attend D-Day celebrations in Normandy. 

That will be the setting for Biden's meeting with Zelenskyy, in which they will talk about the war effort to repel Russian invaders.

The pair will also meet again at the G7 summit in Italy between 13 and 15 June. 

The potential use of some $300bn in frozen Russian assets to aid the Ukraine war effort will be discussed by Mr Biden and Emmanuel Macron during the visit. 

While in France, President Biden is set to deliver a high-profile speech and hold a formal state visit with Mr Macron.

Mr Biden and Mr Zelenskyy last met in December 2023 when the Ukrainian president was in Washington DC making a plea for further military and economic aid. 

Aid packages from the US to Ukraine have been delayed in recent months after Biden's opponents in Congress have sought to frustrate his efforts in a significant election year.

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

Before we begin, here is a recap of the key events over the last 24 hours.

• US President Joe Biden announced overnight that he will meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Europe this week;
• The US also is set to provide a $50bn loan to Ukraine that would be repaid by profits from frozen Russian assets if the EU can indefinitely extend sanctions against Moscow, according to reports;
• Russia could be ready to attack NATO in two to three years, Norway's top general said;
• The Kremlin has said there is no substance to allegations that Russia was targeting this summer's Olympics with a disinformation campaign;
• Alexei Navalny's mother and his supporters visited his grave to lay flowers and pay tribute to the late Kremlin critic on what would have been his 48th birthday.

We're pausing our coverage for today but we will be back tomorrow with more updates.

Here is a rundown of the key developments today:

• Norway's top general said NATO only has two to three years to prepare before Russia regains its ability to launch a conventional attack on the alliance;
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Ukraine's use of Western-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia will not "contribute to escalation";
• Microsoft made allegations in the New York Times that Russia was targeting the upcoming Olympics with a disinformation campaign;
• The mother of Alexei Navalny and his supporters visited his grave to lay flowers and pay tribute to the late Kremlin critic on what would have been his 48th birthday.

You can scroll back through the blog to read all our updates from today.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said any foreign military staff training Ukrainian troops will not have any "immunity" from Russian strikes.

"Any instructors who train the Kyiv regime's troops don't have any sort of immunity," he said in a conference call with reporters today.

Reports have suggested talks are ongoing over whether French instructors could soon be sent to support training centres in Ukraine.