Ukraine-Russia war: Two British Storm Shadow missiles shot down over Ukraine, Russia claims

Russian forces intercepted two long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles supplied to Ukraine by Britain, Russia's Ministry of Defence has claimed.

The ministry also said it had intercepted shorter-range Himars and Harm missiles, and shot down 12 drones in the last 24 hours, RIA reported.

A Ukrainian national security adviser earlier said Ukraine is ready to launch its counter-offensive against Russia,

Speaking to the BBC, Oleksiy Danilov said the assault to regain territory from occupying Russian forces could begin "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week".

05:00 PM

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04:48 PM

Pictured: A destroyed building in Kupiansk, Kharkiv

04:41 PM

Drone attack damages Russian oil pipeline facility hundreds of miles from Ukraine

Ukrainian drones attacked and damaged oil pipeline infrastructure hundreds of miles inside Russia on Saturday, Russian officials said.

One of the pipelines reportedly attacked was the Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline in the Tver province of northwest Russia, 300 miles from the border with Ukraine.

“There were no casualties. Emergency services are currently working at the scene,” the Tver government said in a statement.

Read more from James Kilner here

04:06 PM

Tehran says Zelensky using Iran to gain West's support

Iran struck back at Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying his accusation the Islamic republic is arming Russia was an attempt to gain the West's military and financial support.

The United States and the European Union have sanctioned Iran over its drone programme, alleging it had supplied Moscow with unmanned aerial vehicles during Russia's invasion of Ukraine - a charge Tehran denies.

On Wednesday, during his daily speech, President Zelensky said Tehran's "support for evil cannot be denied" and appealed directly to Iranians, asking: "Why do you want to be accomplices in Russian terror?"

In response, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Zelensky's "repetition of false claims" against the Islamic republic was "in harmony with the propaganda and media war of the anti-Iranian axis".

03:35 PM

Russian Orthodox Church fires Archpriest for 'obstruction' of icon transfer

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, dismissed his expert on art and restoration for obstructing the transfer of a historic 15th-century Trinity icon to the Church from a Moscow museum.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided that the icon be handed over to the Church from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery because of its importance to believers, the Kremlin said this week.

Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s expert council on church art, architecture and restoration, told the Interfax news agency this week that dialogue between the museum and the church was being conducted "in good faith", after experts determined that the icon needed restoration work.

Patriarch Kirill decreed that Kalinin be dismissed from his post "in connection with the obstruction of bringing the icon" to Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Kalinin was also banned from the priesthood, according to the note published on the Russian Orthodox Church's website.

"Seemingly, I made some mistake," the TASS news agency quoted Kalinin as saying.

03:02 PM

Ukraine in pictures:

02:24 PM

Ukraine pressuring Germany to provide long-range missiles capable of striking Moscow

Ukraine has asked Germany to supply it with long-range Taurus cruise missiles capable of hitting Moscow.

Volodymyr Zelensky requested the missiles, designed to destroy heavily fortified, “high-value” enemy targets, during his trip to Berlin earlier in May, according to German media.

He reportedly used Ukraine’s supplies of Storm Shadow cruise missiles from Britain, which have a slightly shorter range of around 215 miles, to put pressure on Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor.

Read more here

01:54 PM

Ukraine 'ready to launch counter-offensive'

Ukraine is ready to launch its counter-offensive against Russia, a Ukrainian national security adviser has said.

Speaking to the BBC, Oleksiy Danilov said the assault to regain territory from occupying Russian forces could begin "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week".

Kyiv has been preparing its counter-offensive for months, hoping to recapture swathes of territory taken by Russia.

"We have to understand that that historic opportunity that is given to us - by God - to our country we cannot lose, so we can truly become an independent, big European country," Mr Danilov said.

He added that it "would be weird" to name a precise date when the assault would begin.

01:30 PM

Construction worker reportedly killed when Ukrainian shells hit inside Russian border

A construction worker was reportedly killed near the Russian village of Plekhovo, a few kilometres from the border with Ukraine after shelling from the Ukrainian side, Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk region said on Telegram.

Works were being carried out not far from Plekhovo on fortifying defensive lines for the state border, the governor said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

12:55 PM

Pictured: Firefighters extinguish a fire at a medical facility in Dnipro

12:32 PM

Germany to remove at least 100 staff from its missions in Russia

Germany will remove more than 100 employees working at its missions in Russia after Moscow imposed limits on the numbers allowed to work in the country, a source with the German foreign ministry said on Saturday.

"This limit, set by Russia for the beginning of June, requires a major cut in all areas of our presence in Russia," the source said.

Those affected include teachers, as well as other employees of schools and the Goethe Institute, and is necessary to maintain the right balance for Germany's diplomatic presence, said the person, who described the number affected as at least 100.

11:59 AM

Drones damage building in Russia's Pskov region, claims governor

Two drones damaged an administration building of an oil pipeline in Russia's western Pskov region, the regional governor has claimed.

"Early morning, an explosion damaged the administrative building of the oil pipeline near Litvinovo, Nevelsky district," governor Mikhail Vedernikov said.

Shortly after, he said that, according to preliminary information, the building was "damaged as a result of an attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles."

There were no reported casualties, and an investigation was still ongoing.

11:31 AM

Fires surge as Ukraine bombards Russian-held territory

Fires in Russian-held territory have increased fourfold since Britain’s delivery of Storm Shadow missiles, as Ukraine continues to set the stage for its much-anticipated counter-offensive.

Satellite data shows more than 900 war-related fires have occurred in Russian-held territory in Ukraine in the last two weeks, likely caused by missile strikes.

The fires have spanned the frontline from the city of Kharkiv in the east to Kherson, in the south, at a frequency of more than four times as many as the two weeks before, according to an analysis by The Economist.

Read more here

11:10 AM

Pictured: Grabs from a recruitment video urging people to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine

10:42 AM

Kyiv says Russian forces ease attacks on Bakhmut to regroup

Russian forces have temporarily eased their attacks on the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to regroup and strengthen their capabilities, a senior Kyiv official has said.

Russia's Wagner private army began handing over its positions to regular Russian troops this week after declaring full control of Bakhmut following the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

In a statement on Telegram, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian forces have continued attacking but that "overall offensive activity has decreased".

"Yesterday and today there have not been any active battles - neither in the city nor on the flanks," she wrote, adding that Moscow's troops were instead shelling the outskirts and approaches to Bakhmut.

"The decrease in the enemy's offensive activity is due to the fact that troops are being replaced and regrouped," she said. "The enemy is trying to strengthen its own capabilities."

She added that Ukrainian troops "firmly hold" the heights overlooking Bakhmut from the north and south, as well as a portion of the outskirts, but have not advanced during the past two days to focus on "other tasks".

10:20 AM

Latest MoD update

09:49 AM

Russia ‘poses danger to UK’ if beaten in Ukraine

Russia will be “vindictive” if it loses the Ukraine war and poses a direct threat to the UK, the outgoing head of the RAF has warned.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, the Chief of the Air Staff, has told The Telegraph that Russia’s air force, surface navy and submarine force are a threat to Britain and Nato and that this is something “we must focus our minds on”.

He warned that the threat will endure or even get worse if Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is ousted.

Read more from Dominic Nicholls here

09:48 AM

Pictured: Residents walk past a building destroyed by shelling in the centre of Kupiansk

09:47 AM

Ukraine asks Germany for air-to-surface missiles

Ukraine has asked Berlin to provide it with Taurus air-to-surface missiles that have a range of in excess of 500 kilometres, Germany's defence ministry told AFP.

"We have a received a request from the Ukrainian side in recent days," a ministry spokesman said, without providing further details.

The request comes as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive in an effort to wrestle back territory seized by Russia since Moscow invaded its neighbour in February 2022, sparking the biggest conflict on European soil since World War II.

The missiles, produced by a Germany-Swedish joint venture Taurus Systems, would allow Ukraine to strike well inside Russia with their range of more than 500 kilometres (310 miles).

09:44 AM

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