These are the key events on day 1,199 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here’s where things stand on Saturday, June 7:
Fighting
- At least six people were killed in Russian missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and across the country on Friday.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said three of the victims were emergency responders who were killed in a missile and drone attack on Kyiv, while a further 80 people nationwide were injured in the attacks.
- Two people were killed in Ukraine’s northern city of Chernihiv, and at least one more person was killed in the northwestern city of Lutsk.
- Ukraine’s air force said Russia had used 407 drones, one of the largest numbers recorded in a single attack, as well as 45 cruise and ballistic missiles in the attack.
- The Ukrainian military said it had launched a preemptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs.
- Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia had “responded” to Kyiv’s audacious drone attack that destroyed Russian heavy bombers at airfields in Siberia last weekend by attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had carried out the strikes, which targeted military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia.
- Western military aviation experts told the Reuters news agency that Russia will take years to replace the nuclear-capable bomber planes that were hit in Ukrainian drone strikes on airfields in Siberia.
- Russia’s National Guard said it killed a man as he tried to prepare a drone attack on a military site in Russia’s Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow.
- Russian air defence units intercepted and destroyed 82 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including the Moscow region, Russia’s Defence Ministry said early on Saturday.
- Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said six drones headed for the capital city had been destroyed or downed.
- In total, Russia’s Defence Ministry said that air defences had downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions. Three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea.
- A locomotive train was derailed in Russia’s Belgorod region after the track was blown up, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Regional security
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said some US legislators do not understand the scale of Russia’s military rearmament campaign: “They clearly have no idea what is happening there right now,” he said after a meeting with US President Donald Trump.
- Merz said he had been reassured by President Trump’s “resounding no” to a question on whether the US had plans to withdraw from NATO.
Politics and diplomacy
- The Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by Trump, who likened the war in Ukraine to a bitter dispute between toddlers in a park.
- Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was possible Trump believed his own comments, but for Russia, the war on Ukraine was “existential”.
- “For us, it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country,” Peskov told reporters.
- Russia has asked the UN nuclear watchdog to mediate between Moscow and Washington to resolve the question of what to do with US nuclear fuel stored at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is under Russian control.
- Russian nuclear energy chief Alexei Likhachev said that Russia was willing either to use the fuel, supplied by US company Westinghouse, or to remove it entirely and return it to the United States.
Sanctions
- President Trump said that he had not decided whether to deploy sanctions against Russia that are being considered by the US Senate.
Economy
- The Russian central bank has cut its key interest rate by a full percentage point, a surprise move by the bank, which it justified by pointing to declining inflation pressure and a more robust rouble. It was the first easing since September 2022 by the bank, which has faced pressure from business leaders and top government officials to begin cutting rates.
