Russia Ukraine war live: Putin’s forces massing in northern Kharkiv as Sweden sends Kyiv surveillance planes

Western countries should let Ukraine strike military bases inside Russia with the sophisticated long-range weapons they are providing to Kyiv, French President Emmanuel Macron said, pressuring his allies in the most recent sign of a potentially significant policy shift that could help change the complexion of the war.

The question of whether to allow Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil with Western-supplied weaponry has been a delicate issue since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that the United States, NATO and some European countries were encouraging Ukraine to continue what it called Kyiv’s “senseless war” with Russia and accused them of escalating tensions in recent weeks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday accused some Western countries of raising tensions in recent weeks by allowing Ukraine to use weapons they had supplied against targets inside Russia, something the United States has not publicly agreed to do yet.

“The member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance – the United States in particular, other European capitals – have in recent days and weeks embarked on a new round of escalation,” Peskov told reporters.

“They are doing this deliberately. We hear a lot of bellicose statements. … They are encouraging Ukraine in every possible way to continue this senseless war,” he said.

“This will all, of course, inevitably have consequences and will ultimately be very damaging to the interests of those countries that have taken the path of escalation.”

France could soon send military trainers to Ukraine despite the concerns of some allies and criticism by Russia, and may announce its decision next week during a visit by the Ukrainian president, three diplomatic sources said.

The diplomats said Paris hoped to forge and lead a coalition of countries offering such assistance to Kyiv’s war effort even though some of its European Union partners fear it could make a direct conflict with Russia more likely.

France would initially send a limited number of personnel to assess the modalities of a mission before dispatching several hundred trainers, two of the diplomats said.

Training would centre around demining, keeping equipment operational and technical expertise for warplanes to be provided by the West, they said. Paris would also finance, arm, and train a Ukrainian motorised brigade.

“The arrangements are very advanced and we could expect something next week,” said one of the sources.

Russia is building up forces near the northern part of Ukraine‘s Kharkiv region where it launched an offensive this month, but it still lacks the troop numbers to stage a major push in the area, Ukraine‘s top commander said on Thursday.

Ukraine says it has stabilised the front in the northeastern Kharkiv region where Russian forces launched a cross-border assault on May 10 that opened a new front in the 27-month-old war and stretched Kyiv’s outnumbered troops.

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia was continuing to send additional regiments and brigades from other areas and from training grounds to bulk up its troops on two main lines of attack in Kharkiv region’s north.

That includes the Strilecha-Lyptsi area between two small villages and the vicinity of the border town of Vovchansk where there has been street fighting.

“These forces are currently insufficient for a large-scale offensive and breakthrough of our defence,” Syrskyi said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine‘s General Staff said its forces were continuing to strengthen their defensive lines in the area and repelled one Russian attack near the village of Starytsia on the Kharkiv front on Thursday. Syrskyi said Ukraine‘s “creation of an ammunition reserve” had also reduced the offensive capabilities of Russian forces.

National Guard spokesperson Ruslan Muzychuk said Russian forces had not advanced in the Kharkiv region in the past day.

Natalia Komarova, the governor of Siberia’s oil-rich Khanty-Mansiisk region who was last year criticised for remarks she made about the war in Ukraine, announced on Thursday that she was resigning from her post.

In a video posted on her official Telegram channel, Komarova, who oversaw a region which accounts for more than 40% of Russia‘s total oil output, said she was moving to another undisclosed job even though her term in office does not expire until next year.

Komarova, who did not explain what had prompted her decision, was criticised by an anti-war activist last year who called for her to be prosecuted for discrediting the Russian army after she appeared to suggest that Moscow had not needed or been ready for what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

Aides said her remarks had been taken out of context and that Komarova supported the military.

In her resignation video, she thanked President Vladimir Putin for his trust and spoke of the efforts being made by Russian forces on the frontline.

Komarova, 68, was the only serving female governor and had been at the helm of the regional administration since 2010.

Before that, she had headed the committee on natural resources at Russia‘s State Duma lower house of parliament.

Local press has tipped the mayor of the city of Tyumen, Ruslan Kukharuk, as her successor as governor.

The mayor of the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiisk issued an air raid alert on Thursday morning, but said the city was not under attack at the moment.

Mayor Andrei Kravchenko said on the Telegram messaging app that security services have warned authorities about a potential threat.

Italy will never send any troops to Ukraine and any weapons it has supplied to Kyiv should not be used on Russian territory, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani has said.

“All the weapons leaving from Italy (to Ukraine) should be used within Ukraine,” Tajani said in a TV interview with public broadcaster RAI.

Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, but Rome has never disclosed any details about its military aid.

Tajani also dismissed the possibility that former Italian Prime Minister and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi could become the next EU Commission President.

“Draghi is not an (official) candidate and does not belong to any (European) political family… I see it as a complicated matter,” he said.

Earlier, we reported that Ukraine’s intelligence services had posted footage detailing what appeared to be a successful attack on an occupied port in Crimea.

Below, you can see a map detailing where the attack happened.

A Ukrainian special ops mission has destroyed two Russian boats in the Crimean port of Uzka.

The overnight attack was carried out using Magura V5 marine attack drones, which are uncrewed boats packed with explosives.

They have been used to destroy Vladimir Putin’s prized Black Sea Fleet over the past six months, forcing much of the fleet to retreat from the occupied peninsula.

The dramatic footage by Ukraine’s intelligence services showed Russia unsuccessfully using aircraft and 30mm guns to try to stop the drones.

Sweden announced on Wednesday that it was sending Ukraine a £981 military package, including two ASC 980 surveillance aircraft.

Below, we look at exactly what was included in that package and why the ASCs are so crucial to Ukraine’s fight against Russia.