Ukraine-Russia war latest: What's happening with conflict right now? (2024)

We'll be back with live updates on the war tomorrow - but for now, as always, we start the week by taking a few steps back and giving an overview of where the conflict is at right now.

Conflicting claims on the second front

Kharkiv remains a major focus after Russia opened a new front on the northeastern border.

It has been the subject of conflicting reports, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Ukraine had secured "combat control", while the Russian ministry of defence claimed its forces were advancing.

The British defence ministry said Russian gains in the northeast had not been joined up, allowing Ukraine to contain Moscow's momentum.

It assessed Vladimir Putin's attempt to create a buffer zone between Ukraine and Russia had been unsuccessful thus far and further gains were unlikely in the coming week.

But this will be little comfort to those living under the constant threat of Russian shells in the region.

An attack on a DIY store in Kharkiv city this weekend killed at least 16 people, injured more than 40, and the search is still on for others.

A 12-year-old girl was among the dead.

Aid

The US announced a new $275m package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine to help it repel Russia's assault in the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian troops have been forced to train without firing ammunition due to shortages.

Analysis shared with Sky News revealed the scale of the challenge facing Kyiv, with Russia producing artillery shells around three times faster than Ukraine's Western allies and for about a quarter of the cost.

Across the year, that means Russian factories are forecast to manufacture 3.2 million more shells than European nations and the US combined.

Peace summit

Mr Zelenskyy directly called on his US and Chinese counterparts to join his latest summit for peace in Ukraine.

Speaking from Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine on Friday, he announced a "global peace summit", co-hosted by Switzerland, starting on 15 June. He claimed 80 countries had already confirmed their attendance.

Putin's 'freeze'

Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a ceasefire that recognises current battlefield lines, four Russian sources told the Reuters news agency.

The narrative is widely viewed as a strategy to consolidate Ukrainian land under Russian control, with little or no guarantees Mr Putin wouldn't use it to launch another attack on what remains of Ukraine. Russian propogandists have previously advocated reducing Ukraine to the size of the Lviv region in the west.

Nuclear drills

Russia's defence ministry said it had begun a round of drills involving tactical nuclear weapons in response to remarks by senior Western officials about the possibility of deeper involvement in the war.

According to the ministry's statement, the first stage of the new drills included nuclear-capable Kinzhal and Iskander missiles in southern Russian regions.

Crimea

Ukraine claimed to have destroyed the last Russian warship armed with cruise missiles that was stationed on the occupied peninsula. It said a long-range attack destroyed the Russian minesweeping navy vessel Tsiklon in Sevastopol.

Vladimir Putin has arrived in Uzbekistan ahead of formal talks on Monday.

The Russian president laid a wreath at a monument to Uzbekistan's independence in the capital, Tashkent.

He is expected to hold formal talks withPresident Shavkay Mirziyoyev that are expected to focus on deepening the countries' relations.

The pair spoke in what were described by the Kremlin as informal talks on Sunday.

The visit is President Putin's third foreign trip since being inaugurated for a fifth term in May.

He first went to China , where he expressed appreciation for China's proposals for talks to end the Ukraine conflict, and later to Belarus.

For context: Now separated from Russia by Kazakhstan in central Asia, Uzbekistan was once part of the Soviet Union.

However, the invasion of Ukraine is believed to have accelerated a process of reducing Russian influence in the country.

In the two-plus years since February 2022, Uzbekistan has also boosted its relations with the EU.

Fighting continues along the Kharkiv frontline as Russian forces try to overwhelm defenders.

In an update on Sunday evening, Ukraine's armed forces said its troops were seeking to repel attacks and in places have mounted offensives.

The General Staff said on social media: "The Russian aggressor is trying to use superiority in manpower and equipment and air support.

"Ukrainian soldiers are giving battle to the enemy, and in some directions they themselves are carrying out effective assault actions to improve the stability of the defence and restore positions."

Twelve clashes were reported in the direction of Kharkiv, the update said, as well as near the villages of Lyptsi and Ternova.

"The situation is under control," the statement said.

Ukrainians gathered outside the US embassy in Kyiv as part of mounting demands to remove restrictions on where Ukraine can use Western weapons.

Many NATO countries who provide military aid to Ukraine currently do so on the condition that it is not used to strike targets inside Russia.

The US and Germany in particular have been strict on this issue, likely out of concern about escalation with Moscow.

Other countries - the UK and Sweden, for example - have confirmed or suggested that Ukraine can use their weapons to hit targets across the border.

In Kyiv today, activists held up placards saying "let Ukraine strike back" and "remove the restriction".

The US will participate in Volodymyr Zelenskyy's peace summit next month, an official has said.

It comes after the Ukrainian president called on America's President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping to attend the event.

However the US official did not say who would attend or at what level.

The summit, co-hosted by Switzerland, starts on 15 June and, according to President Zelenskyy, 80 countries have already confirmed their attendance.

Battling against the odds, the Ukrainians say they have become skilled at trying to make every round count.

"Often, with just one, two or three shells, we can completely destroy a target," said Senior Lieutenant Kostiantin, an artillery battery commander with the 57th Brigade.

His troops are fighting against a new Russian invasion into the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of Ukraine.

"We have to keep holding the Russians back… and make every metre of land they try to take cost them hundreds of lives."

Watch this report from our defence and security editor, Deborah Haynes:

Crowds of people marched through the Georgian capital, Tblisi, today to mark the country's Independence Day - and also to protest against the government's divisive "foreign agents" law.

The legislation is seen by some as threatening press and civic freedoms and there are concerns it's modelled on laws used by Vladimir Putin in neighbouring Russia.

Hundreds of people walked through the city on Sunday, as the EU anthem played.

Many held white and red Georgian flags, others the blue and yellow of the EU or the stars and stripes of the US.

There was also a military parade in the city centre as part of the celebrations, attended by Georgia's president and prime minister.

The pair are at odds over the "foreign agents" bill after President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the bill.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media congratulating the Georgian people on their Independence Day.

"Both our nations know all too well that freedom and independence are won rather than granted," he said on X.

"I wish the Georgian people to prosper and strengthen their statehood and ties will all other free nations. I also wish magnificent Georgian culture, identity, and hospitality to multiply over the years."

The parents of a Ukrainian girl who died after a Russian missile strike have bid goodbye to their daughter in emotional scenes at her funeral.

Just five years old,Zlata Rostochil was seriously wounded in an attack at the end of April and later died.

Today, her mother Nadiia and father Vyacheslav knelt beside her body during the memorial service in Odesa.

Other mourners stood solemnly behind them holding candles.

Russian forces are making "maximum efforts" to break through Ukraine's defences, amid fighting on the frontline near Kharkiv.

Kyiv's armed forces said there have been 83 clashes with the enemy on Sunday.

"Ukrainian troops are taking measures to maintain positions and destroy the offensive potential of the enemy," the General Staff said in an update on social media.

It said there were "no major changes" in the direction of Kharkiv but Russian troops continue to mount offensives around Vovchansk city and the village of Lyptsi.

Is National Service a good idea?

Rishi Sunak has talked a lot this week about security in Europe and the need to invest in defence - and then he announced that he would bring back National Service.

Our military analyst Sean Bell broke down the announcement on Sky News earlier...