Ukrainians evacuated from eastern city amid battles in Donbas
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the UK for its “effective support”, following an in-person meeting with the British defence secretary in Kyiv.
- Estonia has summoned the Russian ambassador to condemn President Vladimir Putin’s “completely unacceptable” praise of Peter the Great.
- A Ukrainian governor says the country conducted its 11th prisoner exchange with Russia.
- Amid heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine, 300 Ukrainians left the city of Pokrovsk on a special evacuation train heading to Dnipro and other cities further west.
Here are the latest updates:
Russia wants to destroy every city in Donbas: Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy has said his army’s ability to hold off Russian forces in the Donbas region depends on the supply of Western weapons.
“The Ukrainian troops are doing everything to stop the offensive of the occupiers, as much as is possible. As much as the heavy weapons, modern artillery – all that we have asked for and continue to ask for from our partners – allow them,” he said in his nightly video address.
He said that Russia wants to destroy every city in the region.
“Every city – that’s not an exaggeration. Like Volnovakha, like Mariupol. All of these ruins of once-happy cities, the black traces of fires, the craters from explosions – this is all that Russia can give to its neighbours, to Europe, to the world.”
US inflation at new 40-year high as price increases spread
The prices of gas, food and most other goods and services in the United States jumped in May, the Labor Department has said, raising inflation to a new four-decade high and giving American households no respite from rising costs.
The report underscored fears that inflation is spreading well beyond energy and goods whose prices are being driven up by clogged supply chains and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also sent stock prices tumbling.
“Virtually every sector has higher-than-normal inflation,” said Ethan Harris, head of global economic research at Bank of America. “It’s made its way into every nook and cranny of the economy. That’s the thing that makes it concerning because it means it’s likely to persist.”
Celebrity chef Jose Andres testifies before Congress subcommittee
Celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, has testified during a US congressional hearing on efforts to address the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
Andres told lawmakers that structural changes and reforms are needed to improve how the international community responds to urgent humanitarian needs around the world.
“The best way America and the international community can be helping Ukraine is not by bringing everything from the outside but is making sure that we keep supporting the local economy, the local infrastructure, investing the money locally, creating jobs locally that will keep Ukraine in the fight for freedom of their country,” he said.
Ukraine conducts 11th prisoner exchange with Russia
A Ukrainian governor said on Friday that his country has conducted the 11th prisoner swap with Russia since February, exchanging four Russians for five Ukrainians.
Mykolaiv region governor Vitaliy Kim wrote on Telegram that one of the freed Ukrainians was local village head Oleh Pylypenko, who Kim said was “kidnapped” by Russian forces on March 10.
Estonia summons Russian envoy to protest Putin remarks
Estonia has summoned the Russian ambassador to condemn President Vladimir Putin’s “completely unacceptable” praise of Peter the Great, a Russian ruler who captured a city that is now Estonian.
Estonia’s foreign ministry said Ambassador Vladimir Lipayev had been summoned “to condemn recent statements by President Putin … including his comments on the Estonian city of Narva,” it said in a statement.
“At a time when Russia is … trying to destroy the statehood and people of Ukraine, it is also completely unacceptable,” it added.
Zelenskyy thanks UK for ‘effective support’
Zelenskyy has thanked the United Kingdom for its “effective support” of Kyiv, following an in-person meeting with Britain’s defence chief.
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace met Zelenskyy, as well as his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, during an unannounced two-day visit to Kyiv.
“The head of state thanked the minister for the effective support of Ukraine by the British government in our fight against Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy’s press service said in a statement.
“The war showed who our real friends and partners are, not only strategic, but effectively acting today. Great Britain is one of such friends.”
Ukraine fears a long war might cause West to lose interest
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds on, officials in Kyiv have expressed fears that the spectre of “war fatigue” could erode the West’s resolve to help the country push back against the Russian offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already has chafed at Western suggestions he should accept some sort of compromise. Ukraine, he said, would decide its own terms for peace.
“The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome [that is beneficial] for themselves, and we want [an] outcome for ourselves,” he said.
Read more here.
Hundreds flee as forces fight for control in Ukraine’s east
Hundreds of people have continued to flee intense fighting in eastern Ukraine as Russian and Ukrainian forces battle for control of key cities and villages in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Ukrainians left the city of Pokrovsk on a special evacuation train heading to Dnipro and other cities further west.
The train carried about 300 people — mostly women, children, and the elderly — who were forced to leave as the fighting neared their homes.
According to the UN refugee agency, as of Thursday, 4.9 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries in Europe in search of safety since the war began.
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Read all the updates from Friday, June 10 here.
