Live blog: Pro-Ukraine group claims to have captured Russian soldiers

Sunday, June 4, 2023

A pro-Ukraine group of Russian partisans has said it captured several Russian soldiers during a cross-border raid and would hand them over to Ukrainian authorities.

The Russian Volunteer Corps made the claim in a video statement released on Telegram. The brief clip showed what appeared to be around a dozen Russian soldiers being held captive, with two lying on hospital beds.

The group said earlier it had taken two soldiers prisoner.

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1559 GMT — Russian forces repel incursion by Ukrainian saboteurs

Russian forces used artillery to repel a cross-border incursion by a group of pro-Ukrainian "saboteurs", Interfax news agency has reported, citing Russia's defence ministry.

Earlier, the governor of Belgorod, a Russian region bordering Ukraine, had reported fighting in the border town of Novaya Tavolzhanka.

1426 GMT — Russian governor says he is ready to meet group keeping captives

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region has said that he was willing to meet a pro-Ukraine group of Russian fighters keeping two Russian soldiers captive.

The group said earlier it was willing to exchange the soldiers in exchange for a meeting with the governor.

"Most likely they killed them, as hard as it is for me to say. But if they are alive, from 5-6 pm - Shebekino checkpoint. I guarantee safety," Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

1116 GMT — Thousands relocated amid 'Ukraine shelling' in Russia's Belgorod

Shelling by Ukrainian forces on Russia's Belgorod region has continued overnight after two people were killed the previous night and hundreds of children were evacuated away from the border, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

"Overnight, it was quite restless," Gladkov said on the Telegram channel, adding that the Shebekino and Volokonovsky districts suffered "lots" of damage from shelling during the night.

More than 4,000 people were relocated to temporary accommodation in the region, which borders Ukraine to its south and west, Gladkov said.

In late May, Russia's military said it had repelled one of the most serious cross-border attacks by a Ukrainian "sabotage group" that it said had entered Russian territory in Belgorod.

Ukraine denied attacking Moscow last week and has also denied that its military is involved in the incursions into Belgorod. It says they are conducted by Russian volunteer fighters.

0836 GMT — Kiev says Russia hit airfield in central Ukraine

Kiev has said that Russian missiles had struck an airfield near the city of Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine.

"Six missiles and five attack drones" were launched by Russia, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said on television.

"Unfortunately not all of them were destroyed. Of the six, four were destroyed by air defence and two hit the operational airfield near Kropyvnytskyi," he said, giving no further details.

The attack comes as Russia has intensified air assaults on Ukraine, with the capital Kiev attacked several days in a row this week.

0711 GMT — Five drones shot downed in Crimea's Dzhankoi: Russian official

Five drones have been shot down and four jammed and did not hit their targets in Dzhankoi in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, a Russian official said.

There were no casualties but windows were broken in several houses, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea's administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

He added that one unexploded drone was found on the territory of a residential house, forcing the temporary evacuation of about 50 people in the area.

0540 GMT — One dead and two more injured in Dnipro stike: Ukraine officials

An airstrike that hit a residential district in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro has killed a two-year-old girl and injured 22 others, officials said.

Saturday's attack, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed on Russia, partially destroyed a pair of two-storey buildings as well as 10 private homes, a shop and a gas pipeline, according to the region's governor.

"At night, a girl's body was retrieved from under the rubble of a house in the Pidhorodnenska community," Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, posted on Telegram early Sunday. "She just turned two."

"22 people were injured, 5 of them were children," he added, having said earlier that three boys were in serious condition at the hospital.

0533 GMT — Clashes near Bakhmut continue despite easing: Ukraine's military

Despite a recent easing of combat in Bakhmut, clashes around the obliterated city in eastern Ukraine continue with Moscow suffering significant losses, Kiev's armed forces have said.

Ukraine's top military command said in its daily report on Sunday that Russian forces had carried out two unsuccessful operations around Bakhmut and launched a number of air strikes and artillery shelling on nearby villages.

The report said some 23 combat clashes had taken place over the past day in the Donetsk region, home to Bakhmut, and the neighbouring Luhansk region, which together makes up the Donbass.

The head of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group said that 99 percent of his fighters had left Bakhmut. British defence intelligence said Russia is redeploying regular military units to replace the Wagner fighters.

0311 GMT — 'Russian strike' wounds 20 in Dnipro city: Ukraine

An air strike has hit a residential district in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, wounding 20 people and leaving three children in a serious condition, officials said.

"They [Russia] hit between two two-story residential buildings. Unfortunately, there are people under the rubble," Zelenskyy said on Facebook, adding more people were trapped beneath the wreckage.

"Five children were wounded by the enemy in Pidhorodnenska community," said Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region.

"The condition of the three boys is now assessed by doctors as serious. They are in operating rooms. The total number of injured increased to 20. Of these, 17 are hospitalised," he added.

0239 GMT — Drone shot down in Crimea's Dzhankoi

A drone has been shot down in Dzhankoi in Crimea, a Russian-installed official in the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, said.

"There is damage to windows in several houses in a residential district" from the overnight incident, Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser in the area, posted on the Telegram messaging app.

"All services are working. Official information – in the morning," he said.

Russia has a military air base near Dzhankoi and Ukrainian officials have long said the city and surrounding areas have been turned into Moscow's largest base in Crimea.

For our live updates from Saturday (June 3), click here.