???? Live: Ukraine says it downed Russian cruise missiles headed towards airfield

Issued on: 23/06/2023 – 10:01

9:17am: Ukraine says it downed 13 Russian cruise missiles

Ukrainian forces downed 13 Russian cruise missiles in the early hours of Friday that were headed towards a military airfield in the western Khmelnitskyi region, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement.

The missiles had been launched by Russian strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea area, it said.

8:42am: Russia says Ukrainian shelling kills one in Zaporizhzhia region

One person was killed and one injured on Friday as Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, which Moscow now considers part of its own territory, Russia’s TASS news agency cited emergency services as saying.

The incident took place near the village of Novohorivka, it said.

2:15am: Drone downed in Russia’s Kursk region, governor says

Anti-aircraft fire downed a drone late on Thursday over the southern Russian city of Kursk, near the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said.

Roman Starovoit, writing on Telegram, said anti-aircraft systems had been in action twice. He made no mention of damage or casualties and asked residents to avoid any fallen debris.

A series of attacks from the air have been launched across the Ukrainian border into southern Russia. There have also been armed incursions for which groups saying they oppose the Kremlin have claimed responsibility.

Ukraine routinely declines to comment on such attacks or incursions.

11:40pm, June 22: Council of Europe demands Olympic ban for Russia and Belarus

Europe’s leading human rights watchdog on Thursday demanded a total ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Olympics “as long as Russia’s war of aggression” in Ukraine continues.

The Council of Europe urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its constituent sports federations to uphold “its position expressed in 2022 and to ban the participation” of these athletes from the next Olympics, as well as “all other major sporting events”.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus have faced sanctions in a multitude of sports since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

11:35pm: Russia is hiding bodies of victims of Kakhovka dam breach, Zelensky says

Russia has formed special groups to collect and hide bodies of people killed in the aftermath of the breach this month of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

“The Russian evil has formed special groups there to remove and, obviously, hide the victims’ bodies,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

Zelensky described the situation in Russian-occupied parts of the region as “catastrophic to put it mildly”.

Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of being behind the breach.

10:15pm: Kyiv says Ukrainian forces fend off Russian assaults in east

Ukrainian forces are containing Russian forces on the eastern front and have not allowed “a single metre” of Russian advances, Deputy Prime Minister Hanna Maliar has said.

“Our defence forces continue to contain effectively advances by Russian troops,” Maliar wrote on the Telegram app, referring to four key sectors in the east, including the Lyman further north, where officials say Russian forces have been active.

Maliar said Ukrainian forces on the southern front, where several villages were captured last week, were “gradually moving forward. We have had partial success. We are pushing back the enemy and levelling the front line.”

Key developments from Thursday, June 22:

An international conference in London aimed at funding Ukraine’s reconstruction closed with foreign donors pledging €60 billion in new financial support, according to UK Foreign Minister James Cleverley.

Ukrainian forces carried out a missile strike on the Chonhar bridge connecting Russian-held parts of the Kherson region and Crimea, Russian-appointed governors in both regions said. 

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)