Russia's war in Ukraine

Follow the latest news on Russia's war in Ukraine here and read more about today's developments in the posts below.

Rocket attacks in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed at least three people and injured 15 others, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.

“We have hit along the Dnipro. Rockets hit the industrial enterprise and the busy street next to it,” Reznichenko said on Friday evening. He added that the scale of the destruction was still being assessed. 

Among those killed was a driver for one of the city’s main bus routes, according to Ivan Vasiuchkov, a representative of the transportation department of Dnipro's city council. Vasiuchkov said on Facebook that the bus driver had finished working for the day and was heading to a bus park.

Dnipro City Council Deputy Mayor Mykhailo Lysenko said on Friday that water interruptions might occur in the city due to the attack. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian slammed US national security adviser Jake Sullivan for accusing Iran of preparing to send hundreds of weapons-capable drones to Russia, calling the claims "baseless allegations against Iran," Iran's state-run IRNA reported on Friday.

"Information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred (unmanned aerial vehicles), including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline," national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House press briefing on Monday.

"Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs, with initial training session slated in as soon as early July. It's unclear whether Iran has delivered any of these UAVs to Russia already," he added.

Some more context: A spokesperson at the White House National Security Council told CNN that the information Sullivan described to reporters was based on recently declassified intelligence.

Russia looking to Iran to supply drones “speaks volumes” about the isolation of both nations from the international community and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “problems in terms of replenishing his own defense needs,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told CNN on Thursday.

Ukraine’s defense ministry spokesperson says up to 70% of Russian missile strikes are on peaceful cities and non-military targets.

Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said on Friday only 30% of Russian missile strikes are on military targets.

He went on to say, “The only way to stop this missile terror is to destroy the missiles that Russia launches over Ukraine.”

According to Motuzyanyk, the anti-aircraft systems worked “as well as it could” when Vinnytsia was attacked on Thursday.

“Two missiles out of five were shot down. If we had more powerful modern anti-aircraft weapons, we could destroy more of those Russian missiles. Today we need modern air defense,” Motuzyanyk said.

He added HIMARS are working well on the front lines and more than 30 of Russia’s military logistics facilities have been destroyed.

The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has summoned Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin "to express the UK’s deep concern at reports of the death of British National Paul Urey in captivity in the non-Government controlled areas of Ukraine," FCDO said in a statement Friday. 

"I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine. Russia must bear the full responsibility for this," UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. 

Truss said Urey "was captured while undertaking humanitarian work" and that he was in Ukraine "to try and help the Ukrainian people in the face of the unprovoked Russian invasion."

A statement on the website of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic ombudsman Daria Morozova claimed that a British citizen whose name she gave as "Paul Johnson Anthony Dominic Urey" had been detained in April and “charged with mercenarism." Urey had been “diagnosed with a number of chronic diseases,” the statement added.

Truss has instructed Sir Tim Barrow, second permanent FCDO under-secretary, to summon Kelin "to urge Russia to clarify the status of Mr Urey," FCDO said. 

"Sir Tim will demand that that the Russian Federation meet all its obligations under International Humanitarian Law, including by respecting and protecting all civilians," FCDO said. 

"He will make clear that the UK holds the Russian Federation responsible for the safety and welfare of civilians in the non-Government controlled areas of Ukraine, including those within the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’, which the United Kingdom does not recognise as independent states," it added.

Urey had the “biggest heart,” his friend Lex Roberts told CNN on Friday.

Few details are known surrounding Urey's death, Roberts said. He said he had spoken with Urey’s mother, who is “devastated.” 

Roberts grew up with Urey in Manchester, UK. According to Roberts, Urey had a number of health conditions including diabetes.  

CNN's Karen Smith contributed reporting to this post.

The European Commission has proposed an import ban on Russian gold as part of its latest package of sanctions against Russia.

“The European Commission has today adopted a joint (High Representative-Commission) proposal for a new package of measures to maintain and strengthen the effectiveness of the EU's six wide-ranging and unprecedented packages of sanctions against Russia,” the commission said in a press release.

The proposed package aims to also prevent EU sanctions from targeting “in any way the trade in agricultural products between third countries and Russia.” It also suggests the extension of the current EU sanctions for six months, until the next review at the end of January 2023.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “Russia's brutal war against Ukraine continues unabated. Therefore, we are proposing today to tighten our hard-hitting EU sanctions against the Kremlin, enforce them more effectively and extend them until January 2023. Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression.”

The package will still need to be discussed and adopted by the EU member states.

Germany plans to give Moldova 40 million euros ($40.2 million) in direct budgetary support to help protect the poorest people in one of Europe's poorest countries from breakneck inflation as it continues to host Ukrainian refugees, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday.

Baerbock said that Moldova — a country of 2.5 million people sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine — is still hosting more than 70,000 Ukrainian refugees as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  

Moldova is ''feeling the economic shockwaves of the war,'' Baerbock said, adding that the war has contributed to the country's 29% inflation rate, which is ''something many of us can hardly imagine.'' 

Germany's Foreign Office and Development Ministry will provide the 40 million euros to help the country develop renewable energy sources, Baerbock said, adding that the support must still be approved by the German parliamentary budget committee.

When Tatiana and Iuri Gavriliuc, along with their four adopted children, crossed the Ukrainian border into Moldova, they had no plan. They just knew they had to leave.

Their home in Chornomorsk, a town near Odesa in southern Ukraine, was shelled regularly after Russian forces intensified their assault on the region in mid April. And Iuri lost his job when the local port shut down because of the war.

When the family crossed the border in their car, Tatiana said she asked her husband where they were going.

“And he says, ‘just straight ahead and we’ll see,'” Tatiana said with a laugh. 

Near the village of Popeasca, they saw a big sign that said, “We stand with Ukraine” in the Ukrainian language. Locals there pointed the exhausted family to a nearby refugee shelter where they have stayed ever since.  

The center, which is inside an old school building with a dormitory, has toys and computers and a big playground outside where their 5-year-old daughter Alerina loves to run around and play.

Tatiana and Iuri have six children — two biological and four adopted — and four grandchildren. The couple's older kids, a 29-year-old daughter and a 31-year-old son, are still in Ukraine along with their own families. 

“Our son is fighting for the Ukrainian army. He is stationed near Odesa,” Tatiana said. “He is tall, beautiful, young. He is defending Ukraine."

Rescue operations continue in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv after four people were injured in missile strikes on Friday morning, according to Hanna Zamazeieva, the head of the Mykolaiv regional council.

At least 10 missiles were aimed at two universities and civil infrastructure facilities, Zamazeieva said on Telegram. Residential buildings were damaged.

All of the injured haven been taken to medical facilities for assistance.

The strikes happened around 7:50 a.m. local time, when there were "many people on the streets," Mayor Oleksandr Syenkevych said earlier on Telegram.

Photos on the Facebook page of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine show damaged buildings and firefighters extinguishing fires amid the rubble.

In a separate Telegram post, Vitalii Kim, head of Mykolaiv region military administration, named the two universities hit as the Mykolaiv Pedagogical Institute and the Mykolaiv Shipbuilding Institute.

According to Syenkevych, Mykolaiv was hit by 10 strikes overnight, causing "powerful explosions."