Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mocked Russia's military drive, stating that the Kremlin has set and postponed 15 deadlines to capture Ukraine's eastern Donbas region over the course of more than four years. The comment came in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rejection of a Ukrainian proposal to abandon long-range strikes and scale down fighting.
Zelenskyy's response to Putin's rejection
In his nightly video address on Monday, Zelenskyy said Putin's comments showed he was out of touch with Russians facing fuel shortages due to Ukrainian strikes on oil industry targets. "Even an oil-producing state – a ‘gas station’ as Russia has often been called – is now facing fuel shortages," Zelenskyy said. "This is a direct consequence of the war; one of many consequences. It is also one example of how Ukraine responds – with precision, not through terrorism."
Zelenskyy also noted that the Kremlin had set and later put back 15 deadlines over more than four years to capture four regions in eastern Ukraine: Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. "Russia's political leadership remains obsessed with Donbas," he said. "If Russia does not end the war, it will have to postpone that deadline once again."
Russian attacks kill 10, wound dozens on Monday
Russian attacks across Ukraine killed 10 people and wounded dozens on Monday, authorities said, with strikes continuing into the afternoon. A missile attack in the south-eastern city of Dnipro killed six people and wounded 29, according to the regional governor. Zelenskyy said the strike targeted infrastructure and that rescue operations were under way.
A Russian drone attack on a passenger minibus in Zaporizhzhia killed two men and a woman and injured eight others, including a seven-year-old boy, regional officials reported. A glide bomb also hit the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, killing a 23-year-old woman and wounding 10 others, according to local officials.
Russian court jails three for LGBT 'extremism'
A Russian court has jailed three bar workers for participating in the "international LGBT community," in the first such case since Moscow labelled the community "extremist" in 2023. Russia has targeted LGBTQ+ organisations for years but has become more hostile since invading Ukraine in 2022. A court in Orenburg, a city bordering Kazakhstan, said on Monday its verdict was in the "first criminal case" for "organising and participating in the activities of an extremist organisation – the international LGBT movement."
The court said the owner, administrator, and art director of the Pose bar in Orenburg were found guilty of organising "events united by the theme of demonstrating solidarity with people of non-traditional sexual orientation" – the Russian legal term for LGBTQ+ people. The three received sentences between two and seven years in jail, and the owner must pay a 1 million rouble ($13,000) fine.
Ukraine's energy grid under heatwave pressure
Ukraine's energy grid was buckling under temperatures exceeding 36°C on Monday amid a European heatwave. Authorities in the western Rivne region introduced emergency power outages to ease pressure on the grid, while the central Khmelnytsky region also announced temporary outages. Five other regions – from Ivano-Frankivsk in the west to Zaporizhzhia on the frontline in the south – warned households and businesses to prepare for blackouts on Tuesday.
Russian veteran jailed for threatening mutiny
A Russian army veteran who threatened Vladimir Putin with mutiny has been convicted of displaying "extremist" symbols and jailed, according to his Telegram account and court documents. The former soldier, who reportedly served on the frontline against Ukraine, posted videos on Instagram last week calling for a meeting with Putin – alleging that many soldiers were being tortured for refusing "mindless, suicidal orders" – and threatening an army mutiny, attracting millions of views. The Kremlin said on Friday it had not yet seen the video but that it appeared to have "strange wording." The court on Monday published limited information confirming the case without giving the sentence, but the soldier's Telegram account said he was jailed for 11 days.
