Putin’s forces launch 100 deadly glide bombs and dozens of drones across frontline

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited troops in the eastern frontline Donetsk region today with his top military leadership.

In a statement on Telegram, Mr Zelenskyy said he held a detailed meeting on security with military leaders and addressed many issues.

“There will be a separate conversation in Kyiv, particularly with officials who must be here and in other areas near the frontline – in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions. Solutions that simply cannot be seen from Kyiv,” he said.

The US embassy in Russia has said that Moscow has failed to provide any evidence to support espionage charges against Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

In a statement on the first day of Mr Gershkovich’s closed trial on spying charges, the embassy said the case was about the Kremlin using US citizens to achieve its political objectives.

“Russian authorities have failed to provide any evidence supporting the charges against him, failed to justify his continued detention, and failed to explain why Evan’s work as a journalist constitutes a crime,” the embassy said.

Moscow is working on a “big treaty” with Iran, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova has said.

Ms Zakharova’s comment appeared to be a reference to a comprehensive bilateral cooperation agreement that is being negotiated between Tehran and Moscow.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Iran had supplied Russia with ballistic missiles.

European Union countries agreed a sanctions package against Belarus on Wednesday, EU diplomats and Belgium said, to try to close off a route to avoiding restrictions on Russia.

The EU adopted this week its 14th package of sanctions to punish Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which included clauses that increased responsibility on EU companies exporting via non-EU countries.

“This package will strengthen our measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including combating circumvention of sanctions,” Belgium, which holds the EU presidency until the end of June, said on X.

China firmly opposes the European Union’s inclusion of some Chinese firms in a 14th package of sanctions on Russia, its commerce ministry said on Wednesday.

The move has a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations, the ministry said, adding it urges the bloc to “unconditionally” stop sanctioning Chinese firms.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemned Russia’s move to ban access inside Russia to 81 media outlets from the European Union.

“The EU condemns the totally unfounded decision by the Russian authorities to block access to over eighty European media in Russia,” said Borrell in a statement on Wednesday.

“This decision further restricts access to free and independent information and expands the already severe media censorship in Russia,” he added.

On Tuesday, Russia announced a ban on 81 different media outlets from the European Union including Agence France-Presse and Politico, in retaliation for a similar EU ban on several Russian media outlets.