Please come back again for more coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Before we dive into our live updates and analysis, here is an overview of the main developments in the war at the moment:
Peace Plan
President Vladimir Putin has laid out what he called preconditions for peace talks but analysts have criticised them as a hollow attempt to “entice” Western countries to give up on Ukraine.
In what the Institute for the Study of War called an “absurd ultimatum,” the Russian leader demanded that Ukraine essentially give up about 20 percent of its territory and abandon its NATO membership ambitions, while demanding that Western countries lift all sanctions and recognize parts of Ukraine as Russian territory.
His remarks came ahead of a peace summit being held in Switzerland at the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Dozens of world leaders attended, including from Japan, the UK, Germany, the EU and France, but Joe Biden missed the meeting to raise funds for his campaign, and China declined to take part.
Zelensky said Russia was not invited because “if Russia was interested in peace, there would be no war.”
The leaders rejected Putin’s proposal, with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan calling it a “completely absurd idea.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said freezing the conflict would “invite future wars of aggression”.
But Saudi Arabia, the favourite to host the next summit, said peace talks required “difficult compromises”.
assistance
The US president did not attend the summit, but Vice President Kamala Harris was there and announced a $1.5 billion aid package targeted at energy and refugees.
Earlier this week, G7 leaders agreed in Italy to provide additional financial aid to Ukraine, including a roughly $50 billion loan deal using interest earned on frozen Russian assets.
On the sidelines of the conference, Ukraine and Japan signed a security agreement worth £3.5bn over 10 years, including security and defence assistance and humanitarian aid.
Rishi Sunak has pledged £240 million for the recovery, and the Dutch government has agreed to provide £50.9 million to Ukraine’s air and naval drone purchases and production.
NATO
President Joe Biden and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement that is seen as “a bridge to Ukraine’s eventual membership in NATO.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, considered the EU leader closest to President Vladimir Putin, assured NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Hungary would not block military aid to Ukraine but would not support it itself.
Meanwhile, NATO allies have announced they will crack down on Russian espionage in response to hostile activity by Moscow, including sabotage and cyber attacks.
A meeting was held in Brussels to discuss how NATO can respond and protect critical maritime and cyber infrastructure.
Kharkov
Attention remains on the second front that Russia opened in northeast Ukraine last month.
A NATO official told Europa Pravda newspaper last week that an “astronomical” 1,000 people were killed per day in May as Russian forces raced across the border from Belgorod to Kharkiv while fighting on the eastern front.
Russian forces have advanced less than 10 kilometers into Ukrainian territory, but have not been able to take control of the city of Vovchansk.
The U.S. defense secretary said the Russian advance was slowing and the front line was stabilizing, in part because countries had lifted restrictions on the use of weapons donated by Ukraine on Russian territory.
Zelenskiy said a month-long delay in Republican-backed aid from the U.S. allowed Russia to launch a new aggression, but Ukraine was able to thwart it.
Meanwhile, in the same area, a Ukrainian combat brigade claimed to have taken dozens of Russian soldiers prisoner.
The Ukrainian brigade said the soldiers were captured during combat operations near the city of Vovchansk.