Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin 'trying to invoke memory of Cuban missile crisis' after Putin threat

Russia has accused Ukraine of using US-supplied rockets to shell civilian targets in the Russian Belgorod region.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, claimed HIMARS rockets had been used and women and children had been killed.

Speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg, Ms Zakharova said fragments of the rockets would serve as proof.

Sky News is unable to verify her assertions.

The Belgorod region is just over the border from Ukraine and close to Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, which has been subjected to a Russian bombardment recently.

America recently gave permission for some of its weapons to be used on Russian territory - but only near Kharkiv.

Vladimir Putin is beginning to "reap the whirlwind he's already sown" and is "getting some of his own medicine back", a former UK defence attache has told Sky News.

John Foreman, who represented Britain in both Moscow and Kyiv, was asked whether the Russian president had been angered by America's recent decision to allow some of its weapons to be used on Russian territory.

"I don't think it's just the US," Mr Foreman said.

"I think it's France, the UK and Germany," he added.

Washington said the use of its weapons on Russian territory was restricted to the area near Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.

The Russian offensive around Kharkiv - Ukriane's second city - has stalled, Mr Foreman said. 

Referring to comments Vladimir Putin made in St Petersburg yesterday about Russia potentially providing long-range weapons to other nations to strike Western targets, Mr Foreman said the president was "rambling" and his "demeanour wasn't great".

Mr Foreman continued: "He was rehearsing his greatest hits. 

"I think underneath the braggadocio and the boasting, I think there is a concern that [while] Russia has been able to attack Ukraine indiscriminately for two years, Putin is [now] reaping the whirlwind he's already sown and he's actually getting some of his own medicine back."

The European Commission will reportedly recommend this month that EU accession talks should begin with Ukraine.

It is part of an attempt to signal support for Kyiv before Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the EU next month, the Financial Times reported, citing "three people familiar with the matter".

Earlier this year, the EU announced it was sending an additional £42bn in aid to Ukraine - but only after weeks of resistance from Hungary, which reportedly has concerns about minority rights in Ukraine. 

The deal included a yearly discussion of the package and the option to review it in two years "if needed".

Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the EU on 1 July.

It is currently held by Belgium.

More than 50 missiles and drones were shot down over Ukraine overnight, the country's general staff has reported. 

It said Russian Tu-95 bombers released five cruise missiles - which were all shot down - while 53 Iranian-made Shahed drones were launched from Russian territory, of which 48 were downed. 

They were shot down over the Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Khmelnytskyi regions, the general staff said. 

Russia has not responded to the claims. 

Russian naval vessels that will be making port in Cuba next week is an attempt to invoke the historical memory of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, according to a leading thinktank. 

The Cuban ministry of the revolutionary armed forces announced yesterday that four Russian northern fleet vessels would make an official visit to the port of Havana between 12-17 June. 

The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the move was "likely part of a larger effort to invoke the historical memory of the Cuban missile crisis as part of Russia's reflexive control campaign to encourage US self-deterrence". 

Reuters separately reported that a senior US official claimed that the Russian vessels may also stop in Venezuela on an unspecified date in Summer 2024.

The Russian ministry of defence stated that Russia's objective is to ensure a Russian naval presence in "operationally important areas of the far ocean zone."

The vessels include the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, the Kazan nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine, the Academic Pashin replenishment oiler, and the Nikolai Chiker rescue tug.

"Russian media noted that the Admiral Gorshkov is carrying Zircon hypersonic missiles, which the Kremlin has touted as capable of carrying a nuclear warhead," ISW said, although the Cubans specifically claimed that none of the vessels were doing so.

"The Kremlin likely hopes that the clear allusion to the Cuban missile crisis and the inclusion of a reportedly nuclear weapons–capable ship will force the West to engage in self-deterrence," it added.

"The Kremlin likely coordinated the announcement of the Russian navy's port calls in Cuba with Putin's threats to provide long-range strike capabilities to unspecified actors for strikes against the West, as both activities can instil fear in the West." 

Joe Biden will meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in France to discuss a $225m (£175m) weapons package on the sidelines of D-Day anniversary events.

It will be their first in-person talks since the Ukrainian president visited Washington in December, when the two faced off with Republican opposition to more Ukraine aid. 

The pair will meet again next week at a G7 summit in Italy, as rich nations discuss using Russian assets frozen after the Ukraine invasion to provide $50bn for Ukraine.

Mr Biden yesterday drew a link between the Second World War battle against tyranny and Ukraine's war with Russia, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "dictator".

Hello and welcome back to our coverage of the war in Ukraine. 

We'll be bringing you live updates throughout the day, including a speech from Vladimir Putin later this morning. 

That's it for our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for today.

You can scroll through the blog below to catch up on the day's developments.

By Nicole Johnston, Asia correspondent in Beijing

Putin's St Petersburg summit comes right out of the same playbook as China's President Xi Jinping.

So how do you get a read on China's geo-political thinking? One way is by wading through the dry and detailed pronouncements of its president, that's where the nuggets are.

In 2022, Xi said: "The world today is undergoing major changes, unseen in a century.

"The most important characteristic of the world is chaos and the trend is likely to continue."

In the world according to Xi, the time is right to reorder global governance with China at its pinnacle, where it belongs. His view is that the US anchored world order is breaking down.

Many countries in the global south are on board with China, chaffing at the dominance of the US led international system and ready to countenance a shake-up.

Russia is in lock step with China. 

Both countries need each other. Though Russia needs China more, for trade and diplomatic cover.

In this great power rivalry, the China-Russian axis could draw in other regional disrupters like Iran and North Korea.

If that happens it will be a formidable alliance based on hostility towards the US, sympathy for Russia, a deep fear of subversion and in the case of China, a relentless goal to unify with Taiwan.

Ukraine's main hydropower company says it has initiated proceedings to secure damages for Russia's destruction of the Kakhovka dam and power station a year ago today.

State-run Ukrhydroenergo said it estimates the damage to be around €2.5bn (£2.12bn).

The explosion of the dam on 6 June 2023 - which sent huge amounts of water across swathes of southern Ukraine and left thousands of people without drinking water - was met with global outcry and accusations of a war crime.

"The company's actions aim to compensate for the losses caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant," Ukrhydroenergo said in a statement. 

"The company believes that initiating international arbitration process is the most promising way to compensate for the losses." 

The firm said Vladimir Putin, his government and other authorised bodies had been informed.