++ Ukraine News: Explosions and air alert

+++ 7.30 a.m.: Russian Duma deputy Andrei Gurulev has threatened to bomb Britain. London will be the first city to be bombed by Russian troops. This scenario occurs if the blockade of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad leads to a war with NATO. “The first city to be hit will be London. It is crystal clear that the threat to the world comes from the Anglo-Saxons,” he said on Russian state television. He also claimed that Russia will destroy NATO’s space satellites. The information cannot be independently verified.

+++ 07.00 a.m.: Russian troops are apparently shelling various communities around the city of Dnipro. Several explosions were reported there during the night, which led to a nationwide air alert (see update from 5:45 a.m.). According to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the regional military administration, multiple rockets were used. The shelling destroyed infrastructure and there have been no injuries so far. The information that the news portal Kyiv Independent published, are not independently verifiable.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia sees “aggressive action” by the EU

+++ 6.30 a.m.: Russia has described the granting of EU candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine as a “geopolitical hijacking”. They want to “keep Russia in check,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, on Friday. This is an “aggressive approach” that could lead to a new division in Europe, said Zakharova. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was surprisingly more reserved. The granting of EU candidate status to the two countries is an “internal matter” for the EU. However, this should be viewed critically, Peskow continued.

News about the Ukraine war: nationwide air alert in the night

Update from Saturday, June 25, 05:45: A nationwide air alert was triggered in Ukraine on Saturday night. The background to this was rocket attacks by the Russian army on the cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine. Several explosions were reported according to consistent media reports. The information cannot be independently verified.

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+++ 10.30 p.m.: “By what right or logic does Russia insist on inspecting Ukrainian ships leaving Ukrainian ports and going to other countries? It makes no sense,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen at a press conference in Germany on Friday (June 24). Blinken is in Berlin for a ministerial conference on food security. He also said that Ukraine needs assurances that its ports are safe from potential Russian ships.

Ukraine War News: US Secretary of State – “Ukraine Needs Reassurances Russian Ships Are Safe”

Blinken did not discuss whether there had been any progress in outsourcing Ukrainian grain. However, he expressed his support for the United Nations, which is trying to work with both the Russians and the Ukrainians to find a solution. “The United Nations and the Secretary-General have been working very hard to reach an agreement that would allow Ukrainian ships to leave Odessa and carry food and grain. We strongly support this effort,” said Blinken.

News on the Ukraine war: Russian troops with “storm activities” near chemical plant – hundreds entrenched

+++ 8 p.m.: Despite Kiev’s fundamental decision to give up the heavily contested administrative center Sievjerodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to the German Press Agency, troops loyal to the government, but also civilians, are still stuck in the former city. This emerges from the situation report of the general staff and from statements by the district administration on Friday. Russian troops “conducted storming activities in the Sievarodonetsk industrial zone,” the General Staff said.

According to the head of the district administration, Roman Vlasenko, the withdrawal of the Ukrainian troops will take a few more days. In an interview with the US broadcaster CNN, he also said that 568 civilians were still hiding from the attacks in the chemical plant “Azot”. These could leave the plant as soon as the fire had stopped, but then only in the direction of Russian-occupied areas, said Wlassenko.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia is apparently planning attacks “against civilians” in Belarus

+++ 5.05 p.m.: According to information from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the Kremlin is planning a “series of provocations against infrastructure and civilians” in Belarus in order to “engage the country in a military conflict with Ukraine,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.

Among other things, residential buildings in Masyr could be bombed, it said. Groups disguised as civilians are said to have arrived in the southeastern city, including employees of the Russian secret service and mercenaries from private military companies. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense expects a scenario similar to that in the 1990s “during the outbreak of the war in Chechnya.” The information cannot initially be checked independently. Belarus recently increased its military presence on the border with Ukraine.

News about the Ukraine war: New weapons arrived from the USA

+++ 4.15 p.m.: The first shipment of four mobile artillery missile systems promised by the US to Ukraine have now arrived, a US Department of Defense spokesman confirmed. The newly announced deliveries of the four multiple rocket launcher artillery systems by Himar are expected to arrive “mid-July”. In addition, Ukrainians are currently being trained to operate such systems, CNN reported, citing the US defense official.

First report from Friday, June 24, 3:30 p.m.: The Russian military continues to advance in the Luhansk region. In the meantime, the city of Hirske in eastern Ukraine has also been conquered by Russian occupiers. This was announced by Oleksiy Babchenko, head of the community, according to the Arab news agency Aljazeera. “Unfortunately, the entire Hirske district has been occupied since today,” Babtschenko said on a television program. There is still some “minor local fighting” but the enemy has invaded. (marv/ktho/tu/kas with AFP/dpa)

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