Russian governor says two dead from Ukrainian shelling in border region

11:29am: Homes damaged in Ukraine shelling says Russia’s Bryansk governor

The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said on Friday that four houses were damaged after Ukrainian forces shelled a town near the border.

No injuries were reported, governor Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.

11:34am: Blinken says Ukraine war ‘strategic failure’ for Russia

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday called the invasion of Ukraine a “strategic failure” for Russia, pointing to Western unity and Moscow’s losses.

“Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure — greatly diminishing Russia’s military, economic, and diplomatic power and its influence for years to come,” Blinken said in a speech in Helsinki.

He added that a strong Ukraine a prerequisite for “real peace”, and said that the war in Ukraine had strengthened US resolve on China.

“Our support for Ukraine hasn’t weakened our capabilities to meet potential threats from China or anywhere else — it has strengthened them,” Blinken said in a speech in Helsinki.

11:00am: China’s Ukraine envoy calls for governments to ‘stop sending weapons to the battlefield’ 

China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs on Friday laid blame for the conflict on the West, which has sent arms to Ukraine in a bid to assist it in its fight against the Russian offensive.

“If we really want to stop the war, save lives and achieve peace, we should stop sending weapons to the battlefield,” Li said.

“The painful lessons of how the Ukraine crisis developed to its current state merit deep reflection by all parties,” he added.

10:47am: China willing to consider another Europe visit for Ukraine peace talks, envoy says

China is willing to consider sending another delegation to Europe for talks on resolving the war in Ukraine, its special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said on Friday.

Li told a news conference that his European trip last month, being the first visit to promote a political settlement to the war, may not lead to any immediate outcome.

“We felt that there is a big gap between both sides’ positions,” he said of Russia and Ukraine.

10:40am: Russian regional governor says two dead after Ukraine shelled town near border

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Friday that two people had been killed and two others injured when Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the town of Maslova Pristan near the Ukrainian border.

“Fragments of the shells hit passing cars. Two women were travelling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Reuters was not able to immediately verify the reported attack.

10:26am: Russia sowed winter crops in annexed regions of Ukraine, deputy PM says

Russia sowed winter crops for this year’s harvest on an area of 1.3 million hectares in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow claimed to annex last year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko said on Friday.

Abramchenko said Russia had provided state support worth 3 billion roubles ($37.1 million) to farmers in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to annex in September, following what Ukraine said were sham referendums.

The move was condemned by many countries as illegal. Russian forces only partly control the four regions.

Abramchenko said grain, beans and rapeseed had been harvested.

10:14am: Ukraine says downed all missiles, drones in new attacks

Ukraine said Friday it destroyed all 15 missiles and 21 drones from a new wave of overnight attacks that left two people wounded in Kyiv.

“The occupiers don’t stop trying to terrorise the capital of Ukraine with attack drones and missiles,” the air force said.

“All 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones were destroyed,” it added.

An 11-year-old and a 68-year-old were wounded, according to a statement from the prosecutor general.

The capital has seen frequent air raids since the start of May, including a rare daytime attack on Monday.

9:42am: China’s Ukraine peace envoy says Russia appreciated its efforts to promote peace

China‘s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said on Friday that the Russia appreciated China’s desire and efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

“The risk of escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war is still high,” Li said at a news briefing on his European tour last month.

“All sides must ensure the safety of nuclear facilities and take concrete measures to cool down the temperature,” he said.

7:51am: ‘We can’t trust them’: Anti-Russia sentiment grows in Finland

Since the war in Ukraine began, tensions have been simmering between Russia and Finland. The neighbouring countries – which share a 1,300-kilometre border – have honoured neutrality pacts towards each other for decades, but today, anti-Russian sentiment runs strong among the Finnish population, as FRANCE 24’s team on the ground reports.

7:29am: Two villages in western Russia shelled from Ukraine, regional governor says

Two villages in Russia‘s western Bryansk region have been shelled by Ukrainian forces, but no one was injured, regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a series of posts on the Telegram messaging app on Friday.

Reuters could not immediately verify the reported attacks on Lomakovka and Novaya Pogoshch villages, which are located close to the border with Ukraine’s Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Friday at least one incident of shelling had also been reported overnight in the Shebekino district, and over 2,500 people were being evacuated from the area.

2:27am: US debt ceiling bill does not stop Congress pursuing more aid for Ukraine, says Schumer

A US debt ceiling bill that the Senate passed on Thursday does not prevent Congress from pursuing more aid for Ukraine or for future national emergencies, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

2:27am: Kyiv says anti-aircraft defences in action against Russian attacks

Anti-aircraft defences in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were in action early on Friday morning, trying to fend off Russian attacks, the mayor and military authorities said in separate messages on Telegram.

“There are explosions in the city. Air defences are working,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a message, adding that a new wave of drones was heading for the city.

Russia has launched around 20 separate missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian cities since the beginning of May.

12:52am: UN warns of new threat to global food security after Russia limits Ukraine grain shipments

Warning of a new threat to global food security, the United Nations said Thursday that Russia is limiting the number of ships allowed to pick up Ukrainian grain at Black Sea ports in its campaign to get Kyiv to open a pipeline for a key ingredient of fertilizer to get to world markets.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed serious concern that only 33 ships departed from Ukrainian ports in May, half the number compared to April, and exports of grain and other foodstuffs totalled just 1.3 million metric tonnes last month, less than half the amount of the previous month.

He said Russia informed the centre in Istanbul coordinating the arrivals, departures and inspections of ships involved in the Black Sea Grain Initiative “of its decision to limit registrations in the port of Yuzhny”, near Ukraine’s Odesa.

Key developments from Thursday, June 1:

Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv early Thursday, killing three people including a child and bringing fresh terror to the city after a week of strikes. 

Russia‘s defence ministry said it had repelled three cross-border attacks on Thursday near the town of Shebekino near the Ukraine border, and it accused Ukraine of using what it said were “terrorist formations” to carry out attempted attacks on Russian civilians. Earlier on Thursday, evacuated residents from Shebekino were filling up temporary shelters in the regional capital, the governor of the Belgorod region said.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)