Russia Ukraine war live: Kyiv says its forces hit one of Putin’s most advanced warplanes

As Russia continues pressing on with its all out war in Ukrainian territories, many families have made desperate attempts to flee their war-ravaged towns.

A family of refugees now living in the city of Kharkiv recounted the horrifying story of their last-minute evacuation as Russian soldiers approached.

A mother and her five children were living in the village of Zakharivka, just a few miles from the Russian forces advancing across the border into Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. The region has been the scene of intense fighting for weeks.

“Mummy, when will this war end?” nine-year-old Sasha asked his mother.

Read Tom Watling’s full report recounting the family’s escape.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian army has failed in its Kharkiv offensive.

“A very significant result is that the Russian army failed. The direction is strengthened. And it will be strengthened more,” Mr Zelensky said.

Russia launched its offence in Kharkiv Oblast on 10 May where it managed to advance as far as 10kms. However, the Ukrainian push halted the Russian military’s advance near the first line of defence.

“We are now restraining them as much as possible and destroying the Russian units that enter our land and terrorize the Kharkiv region,” he said.

A Moscow court has ordered a French citizen accused of collecting information on military issues in Russia be held in jail pending investigation and trial.

Laurent Vinatier was arrested in the Russian capital on Thursday as tensions have flared between Moscow and Paris following French president Emmanuel Macron’s statements about the possibility of deploying the country’s troops in Ukraine.

The authorities accused Mr Vinatier of failing to register as a “foreign agent” while collecting information about Russia’s “military and military-technical activities”, which could be used to the detriment of the country’s security.

They did not provide details of the accusations beyond alleging that Mr Vinatier repeatedly travelled to Russia to collect this information. Under Russian law, it is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in prison.

Mr Vinatier appeared in court on Friday. Russia’s state news agency Tass cited his lawyer as saying in the courtroom that he admitted his guilt and maintained that he simply did not know about the requirement.

Mary Dejevsky travels to Finland, the Baltic states and Poland, where one issue stands above all others

Russia has put former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on its wanted list, Russian state media reported, citing the Interior Ministry’s database.

Russian state news agency Tass said Tymoshenko was listed as wanted on unspecified criminal charges.

She reportedly joins Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, on the same list, which also includes scores of officials and lawmakers from Ukraine and NATO countries.

A family of refugees now living in the city of Kharkiv recount to Tom Watling the horrifying story of their last-minute evacuation as Russian soldiers approached

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian army has failed in its Kharkiv offensive.

“A very significant result is that the Russian army failed. The direction is strengthened. And it will be strengthened more,” Mr Zelensky said.

Russia launched its offence in Kharkiv Oblast on 10 May where it managed to advance as far as 10kms. However, the Ukrainian push halted the Russian military’s advance near the first line of defence.

“We are now restraining them as much as possible and destroying the Russian units that enter our land and terrorize the Kharkiv region,” he said.

Russia has put former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on its wanted list, Russian state media reported, citing the Interior Ministry’s database.

Russian state news agency Tass said Ms Tymoshenko was listed as wanted on unspecified criminal charges.

She reportedly joins Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, on the same list, which also includes scores of officials and lawmakers from Ukraine and Nato countries.

Ms Tymoshenko and her Batkivshchyna (the Fatherland) party did not immediately comment Saturday.

Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet, reported that both Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Poroshenko had been listed since at least late February.

Ukraine on Sunday said its forces hit an ultra-modern Russian warplane stationed on an air base nearly 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the front lines, after its Western allies allowed Kyiv to use their weapons for limited strikes inside Russia.

Kyiv’s main military intelligence service shared satellite photos it said showed the aftermath of the attack. If confirmed, it would mark Ukraine‘s first known successful strike on a Su-57 fighter plane, a twin-engine stealth fighter lauded as Moscow’s most advanced military aircraft.

In one photo, black soot marks and small craters can be seen dotting a concrete strip around the parked aircraft. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine‘s Ministry of Defense, the strike took place on Saturday at the Akhtubinsk base in southern Russia, some 589 kilometers (366 miles) from the front line.

It wasn’t immediately clear what weapons were used, but the airfield’s distance from Ukraine suggests that it was likely hit by drones.

The strike comes after the United States and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv.

The Ukrainian agency said that the plane, which is capable of carrying stealth missiles across hundreds of kilometers (miles), was among “a countable few” of its type in Moscow’s arsenal. According to reports by Russian agencies, Moscow’s armed forces obtained “more than 10” new Su-57s last year, while 76 are set to be produced by 2028.

Moscow did not immediately comment on the reports. Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday claimed its forces downed three Ukrainian drones in the Astrakhan region, home to the Akhtubinsk airstrip.

US officials expect the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy democracies to send a tough new warning next week to smaller Chinese banks to stop assisting Russia in evading Western sanctions, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Leaders gathering at the 13-15 June summit in Italy hosted by prime minister Giorgia Meloni are expected to focus heavily during their private meetings on the threat posed by burgeoning Chinese-Russian trade to the fight in Ukraine, and what to do about it.

Those conversations are likely to result in public statements on the issue involving Chinese banks, according to a US official involved in planning the event and another person briefed on the issue.

The United States and its G7 partners – Britain, Canada France, Germany, Italy and Japan – are not expected to take any immediate punitive action against any banks during the summit, such as restricting their access to the Swift messaging system or cutting off access to the dollar.