Ukraine-Russia war: Putin to deliver speech after US and Ukraine agree major 10-year security agreement - and Russia suffers 'astronomical' losses (2024)

We brought you reports yesterday that US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been jailed for over a year in Russia on espionage charges, will stand trial.

Here is what we know right now...

The Wall Street Journal reporter will have his trial in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, according to the authorities.

An indictment of reporter has been finalised and his case was filed to the Sverdlovsky Regional Court in the city, about 870 miles east of Moscow, according to Russia's prosecutor general's office.

There is still no word on when the trial will begin.

What happened to Evan Gershkovich?

Mr Gershkovich, 32, is accused of "gathering secret information" on orders from the CIA.

He was detained while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in March 2023 and accused of spying for the US. The reporter, his employer and the US government denied the allegations, and Washington designated him as wrongfully detained.

Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, alleged after arresting Mr Gershkovich that he was acting on US orders to collect state secrets but provided no evidence to back up the accusations.

The US state department spokesman Matthew Miller slammed the development, saying there was "absolutely zero credibility to those charges" and adding that the US government would continue to work to bring Mr Gershkovich home.

The Ukrainian military has said it downed seven of 14 missiles and all 17 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack.

The Ukrainian military shot down the targets over seven regions.

The governor of the Zaporizhzhia region said a missile struck an open area, with no damage and casualties immediately reported.

The air force also destroyed five drones over the Dnipro region, its governor said, with no reports of damage or casualties.

Hundreds of Cubans and tourists boarded the Russian frigate Gorshkov, part of the war fleet that carried out military manoeuvres in the Atlantic yesterday.

Cuban and Russian authorities agreed to allow citizens access to this flagship, which arrived the day before accompanied by nuclear-powered submarine Kazan and two logistic ships, the oil tanker Pashin and the salvage tug Nikolai Chiker.

The chance to board ships of different nationalities arriving in the Bay of Havana is quite usual.

Last week Cuba's government announced that a royal Canadian navy ship was also set to arrive soon.

As for the Russian fleet, Cuban authorities confirmed that it would be docked in Havana until Monday.

The Russian defence ministry reported that the exercises conducted by its fleet were aimed at simulating missile attacks against other ships.

US officials downplayed the danger of the visit but said they would closely follow every move of the Russian military vessels - while the Kremlin yesterday insisted the West should not "worry" about the move.

Debris from a downed Ukrainian drone damaged an unused reservoir at a fuel depot in Russia's southwestern Voronezh region today, regional governor Alexander Gusev has said.

In a statement on Telegram, Mr Gusev said "an attempt was made to attack an oil depot with Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles from an ultra-low altitude".

There were no casualties or fire, and the drone was one of six downed by air defences over the region, he added.

Separately, the RIA news agency cited Russia's defence ministry as saying that 70 Ukrainian drones had been downed overnight over the southwestern Rostov region, and 17 over other regions.

Vladimir Putin will make a speech at Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs meeting this morning– the first time he has appeared at the meeting in three years.

The Russian leader's speech - which is due to take place at around 9am UK time - comes after it was announced last night that the US and Ukraine have signed a major 10-year security agreement (see our 18.35 post from yesterday).

It also follows an emergency phone call that was held yesterday by senior officials of South Korea and the US over a possible impending visit by Mr Putin to North Korea in the coming weeks.

To add to the backdrop to his speech, a series of Western nations have recently agreed that their weapons can be used to launch strikes inside Russia - provoking angry responses in Moscow.

And it comes ahead of a Ukraine summit that will be held over the weekend.

Around 90 states and organisations have confirmed their participation for the conference in Switzerland on 15 and 16 June that aims to create a pathway for peace in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will use the talks to build support for Ukraine's position on three key themes:food security, nuclear safety and the release of all prisoners and deportees.

Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Yesterday was a major day for diplomacy as a G7 summitin Italy focused on how to intensify financial pressure on Russia.

G7 leaders announced a $50bn support package for Ukraine which will use frozen Russian assets as collateral.

But perhaps the bigger news was the signing of a 10-year security agreement between the US and Ukraine.

It establishes that the two governments will meet within 24 hours at senior levels to discuss any response in the event of an armed attack against Ukraine.

The deal is also thought to be a precursor to Ukraine's eventual membership of NATO.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyy afterwards, Joe Biden said it was a "reminder" to Vladimir Putin that the US is not backing down.

Here are more updates from the last 24 hours...

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Chinese president had told him Beijing would not sell weapons to Russia;
• Ukraine and Japan signed a security agreement worth £3.5bn;
• Germany said Mr Putin's plan to wait for the world's support to stop has failed;
• Russia suffered "astronomical" losses during its Kharkiv offensive, an anonymous NATO official told European Pravda;
• Moscow was accused of a plot to influence the election in Moldova this coming October;
• American journalist Evan Gershkovich will stand trial in Russia after being accused of spying for the CIA;
• The Kremlin insisted that Russian warships which have arrived in Cuba for an exercise are no threat.

The map below shows the territorial picture in Ukraine...

By Nicole Johnston, Asia correspondent

Alongside who is attending the Switzerland summit, keep an eye out for who is not.

Russia won’t be there (it's not invited) and China has taken a controversial wide pass.Pressure to urge China to attend only seems to have driven it deeper into the arms of Russia.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue on 2 June, Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accused China of "working hard" to prevent countries from participating in the Switzerland summit.

China pushed back. Its foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning told reporters: "Not attending it does not mean not supporting peace."

Ukraine believes China has leverage over Russia and could impose conditions to force Vladimir Putin to end the war.But for China this expectation is too much, it has not bought-into the Zelenskyy-led peace formula, so China has walked away.

The country was already facing stinging criticism from the West for backing Russia.Without China's booming trade with Russia, it grew by 60% last year to $240bn, President Putin would not be able to continue his war in Ukraine.

There are reports of Russian elite arranging Mandarin lessons for their children, turning to the East while Western sanctions turn Russia into a fortress.

With two wars to deal with in Ukraine and Gaza, the US is bogged down and unable to focus on Asia. That plays to China’s advantage.

It is forging new friendships with countries in the Global South and many of them see the world differently.

As India's external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, said two years ago: "Europe has to grow out of the mindset that its problems are (the) world’s problems."

That's all for our coverage for this evening.

Scroll back through this blog to see the day's updates.

A high-profile Ukrainian combat brigade has allegedly captured dozens of Russian soldiers amid fighting in the Kharkiv region.

Footage shared by Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade appeared to show the soldiers sitting in a school conference room.

The Ukrainian brigade said the troops were taken prisoner during combat operations around the northern Ukrainian town of Vovchansk.

Social media figures had previously reported substantial numbers of Russian troops surrendering in the area last week after counterattacks by Ukrainian infantry assault units.

The Khortit*iya Regional Command also claimed more than 60 Russian soldiers had been captured in the area in less than a week.

The Euros begin tomorrow, and for most teams the tournament is the first thing on their mind.

But for Ukraine's national team, they are also focused on their country's fight for freedom.

Thirteen players from the team have taken part in a video calling for the world to support Ukraine.

As each state where they were from, images of destruction in each city flash up.

"Our hometowns would like to host the Euros, but now they are fighting not for the tournament but for freedom," the video says.