A RUSSIAN victory at the hands of Vladimir Putin would be a 'catastrophe' Boris Johnson has said today after returning from Kyiv.
The Prime Minister made a surprise visit to Kyiv recently and has said it is important Britain continues to show it is supporting Ukraine, while warning of a risk of "Ukraine fatigue" setting in.
Boris Johnson told reporters: "The Russians are grinding forward inch by inch and it's vital for us to show what we know to be true which is that Ukraine can win and will win.
"When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it's very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them the strategic resilience that they need."
He added it would be a "catastrophe" if Russian President Vladimir Putin was able to secure cities in the south of Ukraine and the Donbas.
The news comes as Putin is said to be 'not looking well' according to an expert as he is seen gripping table so hard – his veins start to bulge.
Speculation surrounding the tyrant's condition has been a topic of hot discussion for a while now – with claims that he has Parkinson's.
Read our Ukraine war live blog below for the latest news & updates…
- Louis Allwood
Putin health latest
VLADIMIR Putin 'does not look well' according to an expert as he is seen gripping table so hard – his veins start to bulge.
Speculation surrounding the tyrant's condition has been a topic of hot discussion for a while now – with claims that he has Parkinson's.
However, there is once again speculation over the Russian president's health after a televised meeting with RusNano State Corporation’s CEO Sergey Kulikov in Moscow earlier this week.
Footage shows the veins on the president’s hand bulging – appearing like they are about to explode – as he furiously grips a table for support.
John Hardy, a neurogeneticist at the UK Dementia Research Institute, said: "Real neurologists are unlikely to comment because they are taught never to comment on people who are not their patients.
"No sign of parkinsonism in my view. He did not look well…but not Parkinson's disease."
Ray Chadhuri, a neurologist at the University of London, added: "Looking at the short clip, I can find no evidence that I can tell of parkinsonism in Putin."
- Matt Snape
Eurovision 2023 should be held in Ukraine, Boris claims
Boris Johnson has said Ukraine should host next year’s Eurovision song competition and that he hopes it will be able to do so, regardless of the ongoing war with Russia.
The Guardian quoted the Prime Minister speaking to reporters at RAF Brize Norton after returning from an unannounced visit to Kyiv, which is where he said he believed it should be possible for the show to go ahead there.
“The Ukrainians won the Eurovision song contest. I know we had a fantastic entry, I know we came second and I’d love it to be in this country,” he said.
- Matt Snape
Zelenskyy visits south Ukraine’s war-damaged Mykolaiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited the war-damaged southern city of Mykolaiv for the first time since the Russian invasion began.
Al-Jazeera reports that Zelenskyy’s office published a video of him looking at a badly damaged high-rise residential building in the city and holding a meeting with local officials.
- Matt Snape
Ukrainian Governor confirms ‘fierce battles’ outside Severodonetsk
“Fierce battles” with Russia are raging in villages outside the eastern city of Severodonetsk, a Ukrainian governor has confirmed.
“Now the most fierce battles are near Severodonetsk. They [Russia] do not control the city entirely,” the Governor of the eastern Lugansk region, Sergiy Haiday, said on Telegram.
“In nearby villages there are very difficult fights, in Toshkivska, Zolote. They are trying to break through but failing,” he said. “Our defenders are fighting Russians in all directions. Recently, they shot down a plane and took captives.”
Al-Jazeera reports that he added that Lysychansk, a Ukrainian-controlled city across a river from battered Severodonetsk, was being “heavily shelled”.
- Matt Snape
Eurovision may be COMING HOME to Britain
Boris Johnson threw his support behind Eurovision organisers hosting the next event here in Britain due to the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, he said on Saturday.
The Guardian reported that Johnson told reporters: “Of course I would love it to be in this country but the fact is they won and they deserve to have it and I believe they can have it and I believe that they should have it.”
“I believe that Kyiv or any other safe Ukrainian city would be a fantastic place to have it,” he added. “It is a year away, it is going to be fine by the time the Eurovision Song Contest comes round and I hope the Ukrainians get it.”
- Matt Snape
Russia ADVANCING to Ukrainian city of Izium, claims Britain’s defence ministry
Russia may be advancing south of Ukraine’s eastern city of Izium in the past 48 hours, the UK’s defence ministry says.
Reuters reported the ministry adding that if trapped Ukrainian civilians did not accept an offer of exiting via a corridor, Russia could claim justification in making less of a distinction between them and any Ukrainian military targets in the area.
- Matt Snape
Russian sanctions are like ‘economic blitzkrieg’, Putin claims
Russian President Vladimir Putin has lambasted the sanctions placed on it by Western countries following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Peony Hirwani reports.
Independent.co.uk reported on the President’s comments, where he said: “The economic blitzkrieg against Russia had no chance of succeeding from the very beginning,”, adding that the sanctions were “more harmful” to those who imposed them.
- Matt Snape
Former US soldier in Ukraine describes battle that led to American fighters being captured
An ex US soldier fighting alongside Ukrainian forces recalled the battle he experienced on June 9 where American volunteer fighters Alexander John-Robert Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh were reportedly captured by Russian troops.
The man, who requested to be identified with the code name "Pip" whist speaking to CNN’s Sam Kiley, stated his team was sent out on a mission east of Kharkiv where a Russian armored assault was taking place.
Drueke and Huynh fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at a BMP vehicle that was travelling through the forest and destroyed it.
But the team had to quickly withdraw as more than 100 Russian infantry began advancing and the American fighters ended up in a village they previously thought was in Ukrainian hands.
Pip told CNN "we suspect they were knocked out by either the T-72 tank shooting at them or by the blast of the mine. This is only speculation we don't know what really happened to them."
- Matt Snape
Boris Johnson’s major troop-training scheme in Ukraine
Boris Johnson’s proposed major armed forces training operation for Ukraine could “change the equation” against the Russian invasion, the Prime Minister believes.
He made a surprise trip to Ukraine on Friday.
Independent.co.uk reports that the Prime Minister said Britain could train up to 10,000 troops every 120 days.
“My visit today, in the depths of this war, is to send a clear and simple message to the Ukrainian people: the UK is with you, and we will be with you until you ultimately prevail,” Mr Johnson said in a statement.
- Matt Snape
Ukrainian civilian casualties hit 10,000-mark, according to UN
Civilian casualties in Russia’s war on Ukraine have passed the 10,000 mark, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) has stated
Al-Jazeera reports that officials said they have recorded 10,046 civilian casualties in the nation, including 4,481 who were killed and 5,565 injured.
Officials have confirmed that the actual numbers are likely higher.
- Matt Snape
$773m loaned to Ukraine from Canada
$773m has been loaned to Ukraine from Canada, its finance ministry confirmed in a statement on Friday.
“The funds will be directed to the state budget to finance priority expenditures, in particular, to ensure priority social and humanitarian expenditures,” the ministry said.
Al-Jazeera reports that Ukrainian Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko said he was grateful to the government of Canada “for the unwavering support for Ukraine in the fight for our freedom”.
- Milica Cosic
Lavrov: Russia not squeaky clean but not ashamed of it
Ukraine's foreign minister claims that Russia has not been “squeaky clean” in the war – and is “not ashamed of it”.
Sergei Lavrov was asked by the BBC about a UN report in the Ukrainian village of Yahidne where 360 residents were forced to stay in a school basement by Russian forces for 28 days and 10 people died.
He replied: “It’s a great pity but international diplomats, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Secretary-General and other UN representatives, are being put under pressure by the West.
"And very often they’re being used to amplify fake news spread by the West.”
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky: Ukraine to introduce visas for Russians
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that Kyiv intends to introduce visas for Russians from July 1, four months into Moscow's invasion of his country.
"Ukraine is introducing a visa regime for citizens of the Russian Federation," Zelensky said on his Telegram account. He said the requirement would take effect on "July 1, 2022", according to a government decision that he expected "today."
The move will end visa-free travel for Russians that began when Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the move was being taken because of Russia's invasion that began on February 24 and to bolster his country's defensive efforts.
"Due to the full-scale war launched by the Russian Federation, we need to strengthen the control over the entry of Russian nationals into our territory. Security is a priority."
The two neighbours share a border stretching almost 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) and share extensive family links.
- Matt Snape
Good morning! Matt Snape here will be blogging from 6am-2pm.
- Milica Cosic
Video shows Putin GRIPPING table hard amid claims he has Parkinson's
VLADIMIR Putin 'does not look well' according to an expert as he is seen gripping table so hard – his veins start to bulge.
Speculation surrounding the tyrant's condition has been a topic of hot discussion for a while now – with claims that he has Parkinson's.
However, there is once again speculation over the Russian president's health after a televised meeting with RusNano State Corporation’s CEO Sergey Kulikov in Moscow earlier this week.
Footage shows the veins on the president’s hand bulging – appearing like they are about to explode – as he furiously grips a table for support.
John Hardy, a neurogeneticist at the UK Dementia Research Institute, said: "Real neurologists are unlikely to comment because they are taught never to comment on people who are not their patients.
"No sign of parkinsonism in my view. He did not look well…but not Parkinson's disease."
Ray Chadhuri, a neurologist at the University of London, added: "Looking at the short clip, I can find no evidence that I can tell of parkinsonism in Putin."
- Milica Cosic
PM: UK military assistance should ‘expel Russia from Ukraine’
Speaking at a joint news conference in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday, Boris Johnson has pledged his continued support for Ukraine.
“We will continue, as we have from the beginning, to provide the military equipment you need – and now, of course, the training that may be necessary to go with that new equipment – so that you, the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian armed forces, will be able to do what I believe Ukrainians yearn to do, and that is to expel the aggressor from Ukraine,” Johnson said.
“That will be the moment for talks about the future of Ukraine and it will be in that context of a free Ukraine that we and other countries will be making the security commitments and guarantees we have discussed so often.”
He said there is “evidence” Russian troops are under “acute pressure” and are taking “heavy casualties”.
“Their expenditure of munitions – of shells and other weaponry – is colossal. After 114 days of attack on Ukraine, they have still not achieved the objectives they set out for the first week,” he said.
“We are here once again to underline that we are with you to give you the strategic endurance that you will need and we are going to help to continue to intensify the sanctions on Putin’s regime.”
- Milica Cosic
'Full intention Ukraine's win will be reflected in next year's Eurovision'
Yesterday, we reported that war-torn Ukraine, which won this year's Eurovision, will be unable to host next year's contest, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said.
Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra last month won the world's biggest live music event, and according to tradition, the country should host next year's event.
But EBU said "given the ongoing war" since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February, it had determined it was impossible for the event to go ahead there.
"Given the current circumstances, the security and operational guarantees required for a broadcaster to host, organise and produce the Eurovision Song Contest… cannot be fulfilled," it said.
Instead, EBU said it would "now begin discussions with the BBC, as this year's runner up, to potentially host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in the United Kingdom."
"It is our full intention that Ukraine's win will be reflected in next year's shows," the EBU stressed.
"This will be a priority for us in our discussions with the eventual hosts."
The office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the move.
- Milica Cosic
Moldova hails Ukraine’s ‘important’ move towards EU candidacy
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu has yesterday hailed as an “important moment” the decision of the European Commission to recommend granting EU candidate status to the ex-Soviet country.
The European Commission on Friday recommended that Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24, and Moldova each be formally named a “candidate” for joining the EU.
“This is an important moment for the future of the Republic of Moldova, and this is the hope our citizens need,” Sandu said on Telegram.
“We know that the process will be difficult, but we are determined to follow this path, the purpose of which is to consolidate our country in the space of European values, on the path of progress and prosperity,” she added.
Sandu said the EC’s decision “encourages us and strengthens our confidence that we are on the right track”.
Foreign minister Nicu Popescu also called the decision “a historic day on the path of Moldova’s accession to the European Union”.
- Milica Cosic
UK: Russia will never take control of Ukraine
The head of the UK's armed forces on Thursdayday said that Moscow will never be able to take over all of Ukraine.
"This is a dreadful mistake by Russia. Russia will never take control of Ukraine.
"Russia has strategically lost already. NATO is stronger, Finland and Sweden are looking to join."
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said President Vladimir Putin has lost 25% of Russia's land power for only "tiny" gains.
- Milica Cosic
Total ceasefire needed for civilians to exit Azot plant
Ukraine said today that only a "complete ceasefire" would make it possible for hundreds of civilians to be evacuated from the Azot chemical plant in the embattled eastern city of Severodonetsk.
"It is now impossible and physically dangerous to get out of the plant due to constant shelling and fighting. There are 568 people in the shelter, including 38 children," Lugansk governor Sergiy Gaiday said on social media.
"Exit from the plant is possible only with a complete ceasefire."
Severodonetsk is the largest city in the Lugansk region that is still in Ukrainian hands and it has been under heavy Russian shelling for weeks.
- Milica Cosic
UK sets out new Russia sanctions for “barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine”
Britain yesterday said it had sanctioned Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the “forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children”, as part of a new wave of sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.
“We are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of (Russian President Vladimir) Putins war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children,” Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.
Britain said the latest sanctions round of sanctions also included Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, targeted for his support and endorsement of the war in Ukraine.
- Milica Cosic
Russia won’t stop at Ukraine, says Zelenskiy
President Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia aims “to break Ukraine and to break the whole of Europe through Ukraine”.
President Zelenskiy has given a very grave warning that Putin aims to destroy the whole of Europe.
Ukraine is desperate to join the EU as soon as possible, Zelenskiy said membership “can amplify freedom in Europe historically and become one of the key European decisions of the first third of the 21st century.”
He was joined with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis for the Press Conference today in Kyiv.
- Milica Cosic
NATO pledged to deploy military to eastern Europe
There are already 40,000 troops mobilised in response to Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine.
Germany has previously announced that it will strengthen engagement with Lithuania.
France aims to increase its presence in Romania, where it plans to have deployed 1,000 troops by the end of 2022.
- Lauren Lomas
'The European dream' EU chief gives Ukrainians touching message.
Ursula von der Leyen was "moved by President Zelensky's kind words over the phone today."
The European Union has made further positive connections with Ukraine, it looks as though Ukraine's application to join the EU could be accepted very soon.
Taking to Twitter, EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen said: "Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective.
"We want them to live with us the European dream."
Many were pleased with the statement, one replied: "Thank you to the EU for your support. Ukrainians know the price of freedom and democracy. Of course we still have a lot of work to do, but I’m sure that we will only strengthen the EU."
However, not everyone was in support of her statement, with one replying: "Are gay people allowed to marry each other and adopt children in Ukraine?"
"Right, a multinational democracy, which was overthrown in 2014," one replied.
A third wrote: "First part of tweet is true but sounds just horrible. I'm Ukrainian but I want to live. Don't want to die for any ideology."
Another said: "64% of Ukrainians support a legalization of same-sex marriages. So it's a matter of time) In recent years, Ukraine's tolerance level has grown significantly, it is higher than in some European countries that are members of the EU."
- Lauren Lomas
Completely destroyed: Donetsk left in utter shambles
Fighting rages on, with many settlements now left completely obliterated by fighting.
Since 2014, the Donetsk and Luhansk have been in conflict with Kyiv.
This is Ukraine's 'grey' area, where there are many Russian natives, who were placed there after World War II.
There are pro-Russian separatists living there, mixed with Ukrainian supporters.
Donetsk has been ravaged by war since February 2022, and has been ruined by the fighting.
A house is on fire after shelling in Donetsk, on the territory which is under the Government of the Donetsk Peopleâs RepublicCredit: AP Smoke rises from the gutted remains of a vehicle and a house, background, following shelling in DonetskCredit: AP
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