US tells Ukraine it can’t use its Atacms missiles inside Russia – MASHAHER

The White House has confirmed that Ukraine cannot use US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia.

President Joe Biden this week gave Ukraine permission to strike inside Russian territory with American munitions – but under certain conditions.

A White House spokesperson said: “This does not apply to ATACMS or long-range strikes, but it is designed to enable Ukraine to defend itself.”

It is the second time this year that Mr Biden has quietly relaxed his policy on weapons supplies for Ukraine, bending to calls to send long-range missiles known as ATACMS to Kyiv.

Outgunned and outmanned on the battlefield, Kyiv has been increasing pressure on its Western allies to be able to launch offensive strikes at military targets inside Russia to better repel Russian advances.

“I think that using any weapon, Western kind of weapon, on the territory of Russia is a question of time. Otherwise, it is not about just peace,” president Volodymr Zelensky told reporters yesterday.

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05:33 PM BST

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The key developments from the day were:

• The White House has confirmed that Ukraine cannot use US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia.

• Russia unleashed the largest missile and drone attack against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure in more than three weeks, firing a combined 100 missiles and drones overnight.

• At least 19 people were injured by the Russian attacks.

• Mourners and soldiers laid flowers at a new statue to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a pro-Kremlin mercenary who staged a mutiny and died in a plane crash, at his grave in Saint Petersburg.

• Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at a Singapore security forum, where he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground.

• Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas told the BBC on Saturday that “we have no Plan B for a Russian victory”.

• Italy’s foreign minister has repeated his opposition to Ukraine using Italian weapons inside Russia, warning of a “delicate” situation where “rash” moves must be avoided.

• Vladimir Putin plans to impose the largest tax rises on Russians since the 1990s to help pay for his war in Ukraine.

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05:08 PM BST

Zelensky meets with Indonesia’s president

Volodymyr Zelensky has met with Indonesia’s president in Singapore and said that Ukraine is interested in developing relations with the Association of South East Asian Nations.

The presidents discussed progress in implementing the Ukrainian Peace Formula, and Mr Zelensky expressed hope for Indonesia’s attendance at the Peace Summit.

“We look forward to Indonesia’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mr Zelensky said.

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03:47 PM BST

Putin set to increase taxes to pay for war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin plans to impose the largest tax rises on Russians since the 1990s to help pay for his war in Ukraine.

He will ditch his once-feted flat-rate tax regime for a “progressive” tiered system to raise an extra £26 billion per year for his war machine.

Russia’s finance ministry submitted the new tax regime proposals to parliament this week, claiming they would “ensure stability” and “fairness” but analysts said they were a simple raid on earners.

Putin has forced the Russian economy to bend to his war by increasing spending on his military to 7 per cent of Russia’s GDP, a third of all government spending, as he cuts cash for social projects.

Sergei Aleksashenko, a US-based former deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who has criticised the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, said that the extra cash will be funnelled into the military.

“War is not a cheap thing,” he said. “Most of the corporation tax and income tax will go to the federal budget.”

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03:01 PM BST

Russian mercenary Prigozhin’s statue unveiled

Mourners and soldiers have laid flowers at a new statue to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a pro-Kremlin mercenary who staged a mutiny and died in a plane crash, at his grave in Saint Petersburg.

Prigozhin was head of the Wagner private militia, which fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, capturing the city of Bakhmut in a grinding months-long assault.

He staged a 24-hour mutiny last June, seizing Russian military command buildings in the southern city of Rostov and marching on Moscow in a bid to oust the country’s military leaders.

In voice messages published to social media he had raged daily against what he said was corruption and mismanagement of the offensive by bureaucrats in the defence ministry and General Staff.

Two months later, after backing down and being scolded as a traitor by President Vladimir Putin, he died in a plane crash.

On Saturday, when he would have turned 63, a bronze statue of Prigozhin was unveiled at his grave in Saint Petersburg’s Porokhovskoye cemetery.

Mourners, including soldiers wearing Wagner insignia, some with their faces covered, laid flowers at the feet of the statue, an AFP reporter saw.

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02:16 PM BST

Listen: ‘Historic moment’ as Biden permits US weapons to be fired on Russian soil

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12:32 PM BST

Italy warns against ‘rash’ moves over arms to Ukraine

Italy’s foreign minister has repeated his opposition to Ukraine using Italian weapons inside Russia, warning of a “delicate” situation where “rash” moves must be avoided.

Support is growing among Nato allies for allowing Ukraine to use Western-donated weapons to strike inside Russian territory – but Rome, a founding member of the alliance, remains opposed.

“It is a very delicate moment, we must not make false steps” and must avoid “rash steps and declarations”, Antonio Tajani told a meeting in Rapallo, northwest Italy, according to the AGI and ANSA news agencies.

He added that “even the US has not authorised the indiscriminate use of its weapons against Russia, but only to strike a base from where the drones depart. They too are very cautious”, AGI reported.

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12:09 PM BST

Russia says it hits depots with western weapons

Russian defence ministry has said that Russia had inflicted retaliatory strikes with high-precision weapons on Ukraine’s energy facilities operating for its military industrial complex, and depots with western weapons.

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11:33 AM BST

Zelensky arrives in Singapore

Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived at a Singapore security forum, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground.

Reporters saw Mr Zelensky enter the lobby of the luxury hotel hosting the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is attended by defence ministers from around the world.

Mr Zelensky will speak at the security forum on Sunday, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which organised the three-day event.

The Ukrainian president has been touring European nations in recent days to appeal for more military aid for the army, which has been ceding ground to relentless Russian attacks.

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11:17 AM BST

In pictures

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11:06 AM BST

German MP urges military to activate 900,000 reservists

The chair of the German parliament’s defense committee has called on the country’s armed forces to activate 900,000 German reservists in light of Russia’s threatening policies, the DPA news agency reported on June 1.

“Putin is training his people for war and positioning them against the West. We must, therefore, become capable of defense as quickly as possible,” Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the co-ruling Free Democratic Party, told the Funke media group.

She then called on Germany’s military, to “activate the roughly 900,000 reservists we have.”

In Germany, reservists include all former military service members and soldiers who have served for an extended period of time, excluding former East German military members who did not join the Bundeswehr after the reunification in 1990.

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10:51 AM BST

We have no Plan B if Ukraine falls, says Estonia

Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas told the BBC on Saturday that “we have no Plan B for a Russian victory”.

The Nato-member considers itself a front-line state, and is convinced that once the fighting stops in Ukraine, Russia will turn its attention to the Baltics.

“We should not give in to pessimism. Victory in Ukraine is not just about territory. If Ukraine joins Nato, even without some territory, then that’s a victory because it will be placed under the Nato umbrella,” she said.

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10:27 AM BST

Zelensky to address security forum in Singapore

Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Singapore to address a major security forum, the organisers told AFP on Saturday, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv.

Mr Zelensky will speak in-person at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said.

There had been feverish speculation that Mr Zelensky would make an appearance at this weekend’s security forum attended by defence ministers from around the world, including the United States and China.

Mr Zelensky has been touring European nations in recent days to appeal for more military aid for the Ukrainian army, which has been ceding ground to relentless Russian attacks.

The Singapore announcement follows a US decision to partially lift restrictions on using US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, which Zelensky has hailed as a “step forward”.

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10:10 AM BST

Russia unleashes biggest missile attack in weeks

Russia unleashed the largest missile and drone attack against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure in more than three weeks, firing a combined 100 missiles and drones overnight.

The barrage targeted energy sites across the country and damaged two thermal power plants, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

“The enemy launched 53 missiles of various types and 47 attack drones,” the air force said, adding that it shot down 35 of the missiles and all but one of the drones.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow was trying to “exploit” a lack of “determination” among Ukraine’s key Western backers and repeated his call for more air defence systems.

“Russia’s main goal is to normalise terror, to exploit the lack of sufficient air defence and determination of Ukraine’s partners,” he said.

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10:02 AM BST

Nineteen injured in overnight attacks

At least 19 people were injured by the Russian attacks overnight, local officials say.

Injuries were reported by officials across the country, including in Ukraine’s western Lviv region and the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Twelve people, including eight children, were hospitalised after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering in the Kharkiv region, said governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Elsewhere, five civilians died amid Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, said the area’s Moscow-installed leader Denis Pushilin. Another three people were injured, he said.

“Civilians, infrastructure and energy facilities. This is what Russia is constantly at war with,” said Volodymr Zelensky.

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09:38 AM BST

Ukraine reaches preliminary agreement with IMF on $2.2 billion loan

Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund reached a preliminary agreement to unseal a $2.2 billion chunk of a four-year loan to help cover the war-torn country’s budget, Bloomberg reports.

The staff-level agreement, which still requires approval by the IMF’s board, comes at the completion of the fourth review of the overall $15.6 billion IMF aid package, the fund said in following talks in Kyiv and Warsaw.

“Performance under the program has remained strong despite the challenges of the war,” Gavin Gray, the IMF mission chief to Ukraine, said in the statement. “However, risks are high and rising as the war continues, and the outlook for the remainder of the year remains highly uncertain.”

The fund’s review of the Ukrainian economy and financial sector included fiscal policies and reforms, risks from state-owned entities and the energy sector, and the country’s debt load.

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09:30 AM BST

Where Ukraine could strike inside Russia after Biden authorises cross-border attacks

Ukraine could strike troops, air bases and logistics hubs inside Russia after Joe Biden authorised American weapons to be fired across the border.

The partial lifting of the ban on firing US-supplied weapons into Russia, which applies only to the defence of Kharkiv and does not change a ban on long-range deep strikes further inside Russia, comes nearly a month into the Kremlin’s cross-border offensive.

Ukraine was unable to break up Russian troops’ concentrations or conduct effective counter-battery fire when the attack on Kharkiv began on May 10 because, unlike most other Russian offensives over the past two years, it was launched from across the border.

The American move followed a plea from Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, and after key European allies including Britain, France, Germany and Sweden partially or fully lifted their own restrictions on firing donated weapons into Russia.

British, European and Ukrainian sources said the rapid change in the rules was directly related to the Kharkiv offensive.

Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, said: “The attack will have been supported by artillery and rocket launchers inside Russia.

“So not being able to engage with western supplied long-range weapons, things like GMLRS [Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System] and Atacms make it much more difficult to deal with those targets. It’s really simple.”

Read the full article here

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09:23 AM BST

Iran condemns EU sanctions over drone programme

Iran has criticised the European Union’s imposition of new sanctions on high-ranking officials and the Revolutionary Guards for supplying drones to Russia and its Middle East allies.

The EU’s measures, unveiled on Friday, target Iran’s defence minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani and Esmail Qaani, the commander of the Guards’ foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, among others.

The sanctions also target an armed forces command centre, the head of a state aviation firm and the Kavan Electronics Behrad company.

The Islamic republic’s foreign ministry described the move as “regrettable”, saying they were based on “repeated, absurd, and baseless excuses and accusations”.

“The European Union… once again resorted to the obsolete and ineffective tool of sanctions against the powerful Iran,” ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement.

The sanctions forbid any EU citizen or company from engaging in business with the listed individuals and organisations.