Ukraine war: Zelenskyy warns of Russian plan to intensify invasion on second front; attack kills 16 at Kharkiv DIY shop

Ukrainians gathered outside the US embassy in Kyiv as part of mounting demands to remove restrictions on where Ukraine can use Western weapons.

Many NATO countries who provide military aid to Ukraine currently do so on the condition that it is not used to strike targets inside Russia. 

The US and Germany in particular have been strict on this issue, likely out of concern about escalation with Moscow.

Other countries - the UK and Sweden, for example - have confirmed or suggested that Ukraine can use their weapons to hit targets across the border.

In Kyiv today, activists held up placards saying "let Ukraine strike back" and "remove the restriction". 

The US will participate in Volodymyr Zelenskyy's peace summit next month, an official has said.

It comes after the Ukrainian president called on America's President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping to attend the event.

However the US official did not say who would attend or at what level.

The summit, co-hosted by Switzerland, starts on 15 June and, according to President Zelenskyy, 80 countries have already confirmed their attendance.

Battling against the odds, the Ukrainians say they have become skilled at trying to make every round count.

"Often, with just one, two or three shells, we can completely destroy a target," said Senior Lieutenant Kostiantin, an artillery battery commander with the 57th Brigade.

His troops are fighting against a new Russian invasion into the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of Ukraine.

"We have to keep holding the Russians back… and make every metre of land they try to take cost them hundreds of lives."

Watch this report from our defence and security editor, Deborah Haynes:

Crowds of people marched through the Georgian capital, Tblisi, today to mark the country's Independence Day - and also to protest against the government's divisive "foreign agents" law.

The legislation is seen by some as threatening press and civic freedoms and there are concerns it's modelled on laws used by Vladimir Putin in neighbouring Russia.

Hundreds of people walked through the city on Sunday, as the EU anthem played. 

Many held white and red Georgian flags, others the blue and yellow of the EU or the stars and stripes of the US.

There was also a military parade in the city centre as part of the celebrations, attended by Georgia's president and prime minister.

The pair are at odds over the "foreign agents" bill after President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the bill.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media congratulating the Georgian people on their Independence Day.

"Both our nations know all too well that freedom and independence are won rather than granted," he said on X.

"I wish the Georgian people to prosper and strengthen their statehood and ties will all other free nations. I also wish magnificent Georgian culture, identity, and hospitality to multiply over the years." 

The parents of a Ukrainian girl who died after a Russian missile strike have bid goodbye to their daughter in emotional scenes at her funeral.

Just five years old, Zlata Rostochil was seriously wounded in an attack at the end of April and later died.

Today, her mother Nadiia and father Vyacheslav knelt beside her body during the memorial service in Odesa. 

Other mourners stood solemnly behind them holding candles.

Russian forces are making "maximum efforts" to break through Ukraine's defences, amid fighting on the frontline near Kharkiv.

Kyiv's armed forces said there have been 83 clashes with the enemy on Sunday.

"Ukrainian troops are taking measures to maintain positions and destroy the offensive potential of the enemy," the General Staff said in an update on social media.

It said there were "no major changes" in the direction of Kharkiv but Russian troops continue to mount offensives around Vovchansk city and the village of Lyptsi.

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By John Sparks, international correspondent

If the war in Ukraine was fought in the media alone, the Russians would have been repelled months, or even years, ago.

While the Kremlin funds "debate shows" with far-right nationalists spouting historical theories from the 19th century, the Ukrainians fight their corner with slickly-produced content highlighting every aspect of their defence.

Want to see the Ukrainians blowing up Russian tanks? That will be on X.

The petition to send clapped out cars in London to the Ukrainian military? Head to "Insta".

The passionate address where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from a burnt-out book-making factory, pleading with Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to turn up at a peace summit?

That dropped this morning.

Read more: 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeated his view that weapons donated to Ukraine should not be used to strike targets inside Russia.

There are "clear rules for German arms deliveries that have been agreed with Ukraine and that work," he said in Berlin earlier, according to Tagesschau television.

"That is my theory anyway," he said, explaining that the aim of his Ukraine policy is to "prevent this from becoming a really big war".

German arms deliveries to Ukraine come with the condition that the weapons not be used on Russian territory - similar to donations by many other NATO countries.

But - as we have discussed on this blog today - there is increasing discussion in the West about whether this is a sustainable policy.

Anton Hofreiter, from the rival Green Party, called at the weekend for Ukraine to be permitted to hit Russian territory with Western weapons. 

A 12-year-old girl is among those killed in the strike on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

In an update this afternoon, Ukraine's ambassador to the US said the rescue operation is still ongoing.

Oksana Markarova said 16 people were killed including the girl and that 44 people were wounded.

She said on X: "Just yesterday I saw texts from 20 year old young woman who was looking for her mom and 12-year-old sister as their phones went silent. 

"Do not be silent. Help us stop Russia!"