President Volodymyr Zelensky cited a “positive mood” in his first, guarded comments about Ukraine’s new offensive. Ukraine conducted operations in at least four areas on Saturday, according to the Institute for the Study of War. Geolocated footage “indicates that Ukrainian forces in western Zaporizhzhia oblast made localised gains during counterattacks southwest and southeast of Orikhiv, and Russian milbloggers continued to claim that Russian forces in this area are successfully defending” against attempted advances, the US-based analysts said. Ukraine’s military cited 35 combat engagements in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

The visit to Kyiv on Saturday by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came a month ahead of the key Nato summit in Vilnius. Zelensky is pushing for a path to membership of the military alliance, which Trudeau said Canada supports “as soon as conditions allow for it.”

The UK defence ministry said the collapse of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam last week “has almost certainly severely disrupted the occupied Crimean peninsula’s primary source of fresh water”. The water level in the Kakhovka reservoir continues to decline, while floodwaters downstream are receding as evacuations continue in the Kherson region.

Latest developments

• Germany eyes Polish involvement in Nord Stream sabotage
• Six Shahed drones downed in Ukraine’s northeast
• UAE delegation visits Kyiv to discuss security
• Trudeau pledges new military aid during surprise Kyiv trip
• Ukraine warns of toxic Black Sea ‘garbage dump’ from dam debris

Wagner chief says his mercenaries won’t sign ministry contracts

Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said his mercenary forces fighting in Ukraine won’t sign contracts with Russia’s Defence Ministry, pushing back on a new requirement aimed at formalising the nation’s volunteer formations.

Prigozhin says orders and decrees from Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu pertain only to ministry staff and soldiers, not his group. The ministry on Saturday ordered volunteer units to sign contracts by 1 July in what it said was an effort to provide necessary legal status and extend social protection and support measures to volunteers and their family members.

“Wagner is absolutely, completely subordinate to the interests of the Russian Federation and the Commander-in-Chief,” Prigozhin wrote on Sunday on his Telegram channel. His group coordinates all its actions and performs the tasks set by General Sergey Surovikin, he added.

Russia says it repelled Ukrainian attack on Black Sea fleet ship

Russia’s Defence Ministry says it repelled an attack by Ukrainian speedboats on one of its Black Sea naval vessels early on Sunday.

The Vishnya-class intelligence ship Priazovye was attacked 300km southeast of Sevastopol in Crimea, the ministry said on its Telegram channel.

The attacking boats, which Russia said were armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, were destroyed and there were no casualties or damage to the ship, it added. The report couldn’t be independently verified, and Ukraine hasn’t commented on the incident.

Sierra Leone’s Bio hopes African mission can end Ukraine war

President Julius Maada Bio says many troubles afflicting Sierra Leone, from high inflation to unrest, originate from outside his nation. Facing a tight run for reelection later this month, he says he hopes an African peace mission can help solve one of those external pressures: the war in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine are key suppliers of wheat and fertiliser to the West African nation, and the war has driven up the cost of importing those commodities.

“It’s affecting us very seriously because we’re a net importer. Almost all of our essential commodities and food items, we get them from outside,” Bio said in an interview with Bloomberg in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown.

Bio spoke as leaders from six African nations are set to visit Moscow and Kyiv later this month. It’s not clear what the leaders from Zambia, Senegal, Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Africa will propose to end the war.

“We’re trying again with the hope that we’ll be able to get the side of President Putin, or both sides, to really bring this war to an end,” Bio said. Last June, the then head of the African Union, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, travelled to Russia where he met Putin in an attempt to free up stocks of cereals and fertilisers for African nations.

Trudeau pledges new military aid to Ukraine in surprise trip 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced C$500-million ($375-million) in new military assistance to Ukraine during a surprise visit to the war-torn country on Saturday.

The Canadian leader and his deputy, Chrystia Freeland, met with Zelensky in Kyiv as Ukraine’s military stepped up its efforts to liberate the eastern and southern regions occupied by Russia with a new ground offensive.

Trudeau’s second visit since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 also came as the Ukrainian government struggled with the aftermath of the destruction this week of the giant Kakhovka dam and the resultant flooding.

“Russia is responsible and will be held to account” for the dam’s destruction, Trudeau said during a joint appearance with Zelensky. “We’ve all seen the devastation caused by the collapse of the dam. This was a direct consequence of Russia’s war.”

The visit comes a month before a key Nato summit in Lithuania in July; Zelensky is expected to attend the gathering in his bid to secure a path to membership for Ukraine. Canada supports Ukraine becoming a member “as soon as conditions allow for it”, according to a joint declaration issued by Trudeau and Zelensky.

Trudeau said Canada would contribute to multinational efforts now under way to train Ukrainian pilots on advanced fighter jets. The Canadian leader said Ottawa would contribute to the Leopard 2 tank maintenance centre in Poland and would provide 288 AIM-7 missiles to be retrofitted in the US for use in air defence systems. More than 100 Roshel armed vehicles will be delivered in the coming weeks.

“Canada will continue to stand with Ukraine whatever it takes, for as long as it takes,” Trudeau said.

Ukraine warns of toxic Black Sea ‘garbage dump’ from dam debris

Floodwaters started to recede four days after the destruction of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam, laying bare environmental destruction as well as the risk of catastrophic health problems for the downstream population.

Ecological damage alone from the collapse of the dam in its southern region will be more than 55 billion hryvnia ($1.5-billion), although the consequences have just started to unfold, Ukraine’s environment ministry said on Saturday. Ukraine’s border guard warned of a toxic “garbage dump” flowing into the Black Sea.

A third of the national parks in the Kherson region were at risk of disappearing because of plummeting water levels in the Kakhovka reservoir, Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets said in an emailed statement. The reservoir, which supplied water to millions, had lost 62% of water as of Saturday and water continued to pour out, he said. Many rare or unique wildlife habitats had been destroyed or could take years to regenerate.

Ukrainian and European Union leaders have blamed Russia for the blast that wrecked the dam and triggered catastrophic flooding, just as Kyiv’s troops embarked on their long-awaited bid to retake land occupied by Russian forces for over a year. The UK on Saturday said it would provide £16-million in aid to offset the dam’s destruction. Japan on Friday pledged $5-million in help. DM