Ukraine war latest: Putin sacks minister in new sign of shift in war strategy; European country now pushing to let Ukraine strike deep into Russia (2024)

Missiles supplied by the United States were used to strike Russian-occupied Ukranian region Luhansk, a Moscow-installed official has said.

The head of theLuhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said today thatUkrainehad attacked it the previous day with ATACMS, wounding eight people.

The claim of the attack on the city of Sverdlovsk could not be independently verified.

Finland's government has proposed emergency legislation today to block asylum seekers entering across its vast and often snow-bound border with Russia.

Helsinki believes Moscow is promoting the migration due to political antagonism since theUkrainewar.

Finland shut the 830-mile frontier last year after increased arrivals from countries including Syria and Somalia, soon after Helsinki joined NATO.

The Kremlin denies weaponising migration, claiming the West is engaged in a smear campaign.

The draft law proposed by the right-wing coalition acknowledges that turning migrants back without processing asylum applications would breach Finland's international rights commitments.

But, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said, it would be temporary and only activated in exceptional circ*mstances.

We reported last week on the appointment of Andrey Belousov as Russia's new defence minister.

Analysts at the time said the decision to install an economist with no military experience indicated that Vladimir Putin was taking significant steps towards mobilising the Russian economy and defence industrial base to support a protracted war in Ukraine and possibly prepare for a future confrontation with NATO.

Seemingly in line with this move, the Russian president yesterday fired deputy defence minister Colonel General Yury Sadovenko and replaced him with former deputy economic minister and current federation council accounts chamber auditor Oleg Savelyev.

Thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said: "Russian milbloggers observed that Savelyev's appointment is consistent with the Kremlin's effort to improve the wartime economy, given that Savelyev has an extensive background in economics and experience in overseeing the audits of defence, national security, and law enforcement activities."

According to ISW, the milblogger added that Mr Belousov was beginning to form his own team within the Russian MoD. Some of those close to former defence minister Sergei Shoigu may soon resign, it has been suggested.

Mr Putin also dismissed presidential Advisor Alexandra Levitskaya yesterday, although the reason for his firing is "unclear", the organisation added.

Much has been made in recent months of Russia's apparently successful efforts to circumvent the plethora of Western sanctions imposed following their invasion of Ukraine.

In the latest response to this happening, US treasury secretary Janet Yellen has urged European bank executives this morning to step up their efforts to comply with moves to shut down Russia's evasion of sanctions.

She said at the start of a meeting with bankers that the secondary sanctions authority, implemented last December, had frustrated Russia's efforts to procure goods needed for its war in Ukraine, but that more work was needed.

"I urge all institutions here to take heightened compliance measures and to increase your focus on Russian evasion attempts," Ms Yellen said in prepared remarks.

"I ask that you ensure that your global sanctions compliance policies are stringently applied by your branches and subsidiaries abroad."

A longstanding point of contention since the war in Ukraine started has surrounded the issue of how the country should be permitted to use the weapons it receives from its Western supporters.

Mindful of the risks of an escalation that could draw NATO into a wider conflict, the major donors to Ukraine such as the US and UK have so far insisted that their weapons are not used to launch strikes into Russian territory.

While there has been a degree of broad contention around this policy, a minister from one European country is now suggesting it should be abandoned if Kyiv is to be given the best chance of defeating its invading forces.

Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said restrictions such as those imposed by the US on using long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia were a "mistake."

"From the beginning, we have made the mistake of limiting the Ukrainians because it could be seen as an escalation," he said in an interview with French TV station LCI.

Ukrainian officials are reportedly trying to convince Washington to lift the ban - and Mr Landsbergis said such decisions were "dominated by fear of Russia".

"The Ukrainians must be allowed to use the equipment provided to them so that they can achieve strategic objectives," he said.

"They must be able to strike Russian territory, supply lines, and military units preparing to attack Ukraine.

"Only one side has rules imposed on it. We must abandon these rules that we created."

Some of the latest images from Reuters in Ukraine show Ukrainian servicemen patrolling an area heavily damaged by Russian military strikes, in the city of Orikhiv, in Zaporizhzhia region.

We reported last week on the Russian deployment of resources near the border city of Sumy.

It was suggested by observers at the time that the move was an effort to draw Ukrainian forces away from other areas - in particular from the Kharkiv region, around 115 miles south along the border.

Sources cited by the Institute for the Study of War thinktank supported this theory, saying Russia was concentrating "limited, understaffed, and incohesive forces" in the Sumy direction, but added that "even such a Russian grouping of forces will be able to achieve the likely desired effect of drawing and fixing Ukrainian forces in the international border area".

It said the the deputy commander of a Ukrainian brigade operating in northern Kharkiv Oblast reported Russia's military, including Chechen forces, was "accumulating in the Sumy direction but that the limited number of Russian personnel suggests that the Russian objective is to draw and fix Ukrainian forces to the international border area".

Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets, the group reported, stated that the Russian grouping in Kursk Oblast consisted of 9,000–10,000 personnel, comprising up to "three under-strength motorised rifle regiments (each lacking one to two battalions); eight motorized rifle, tank, and infantry battalions; and one airborne (VDV) battalion all redeployed from various units, formations, and military districts; and at least two assault detachments at the echelon of a reinforced company or an under-strength battalion".

Ukrainian forces shot down 28 out of 29 drones used by Russian forces in an overnight attack on seven regions,Ukraine's air force said in a statement this morning.

Statements from Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov and the Ukrainian internal affairs ministry said the drone attack damaged four private residences and 25 trucks and buses in the region, injuring five people.

A missile attack later in the morning targeted transport infrastructure and injured two more people in the city, the governor added.

Two drones shot down in Dnipropetrovsk region damaged outbuildings, with no casualties reported by the region's governor.

Three Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kherson region, with 14 more shot down over the Odesa region, according to the Ukrainian military.

The rest of the drones targeted the Mykolaiv, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions.

The information could not be immediately verified.

Russia has stepped up drone and missile attacks aroundUkrainethis spring, causing significant damage to its energy infrastructure.

One person was killed and three wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on the village of Oktyabrsky in Russia's Belgorod region, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said.

We'll bring you more detail on this as we get it.

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

Yesterday, conflicting reports emerged from Bilohorivka, with Russia claiming to have taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian village and Kyiv claiming it was "holding back" Moscow's troops.

In Vovchansk, Ukrainian officials said troops were still in control of around 60% of the city, and house-to-house fighting had been taking place.

It marked the most detailed public assessment of the battle in the northeastern city to date.

Capturing Vovchansk would be Moscow's most significant gainsince it opened a new front in the northern part of Kharkivregion earlier this month.

We'll be bringing you the latest updates throughout the day, but here's a quick reminder of the other key events from the last 24 hours:

• The UK and Finland announced they would sign a new partnership agreement vowing continued support for Ukraine and declaring Russia the most significant and direct threat to European peace;
  
• A Russian court opened the trial of theatre directorZhenya Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, accused of advocating terrorism in a play;
• US defence secretary Lloyd Austin committed to keep supplying US weapons to Ukraine;
• Vladimir Putin appointed former deputy economy minister Oleg Savelyev asa deputy defence minister;
  
• The head of Ukraine's Russia-annexedLuhansk region said Ukrainian shelling haddamaged a fuel depot and triggered a fire in the town ofDovzhansk.