Ukraine war latest news: Russia forced to re-mobilise Soviet-era T-62 tanks due to losses

Five staff members of the Croatian embassy in Moscow are being expelled from the country.

This was announced by Russia’s foreign ministry.

The move is in response to Zagreb kicking out 24 Russian embassy staff from Croatia in April, over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Pro-Russian separatists from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said that they have established full control over the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian and Russian forces had been fighting for the Donbas region town for several days.

Reuters news agency said it could not immediately confirm the information.

More than 5,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war are being held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the province’s separatist leader said.

The comment by Denis Pushilin was reported by Russian news agency TASS.

Reuters news agency said it was not immediately able to verify the report.

Yesterday, Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik was quoted by TASS as saying that there are about 8,000 prisoners of war in both separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine – in DPR and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).

Mr Miroshnik reportedly said: “There are a lot of prisoners. Of course, there are more of them on the territory of Donetsk People’s Republic, but we also have enough, and now the total number is somewhere in the region of 8,000.

“That’s a lot, and literally hundreds are being added every day.”

Russia has deployed its Soviet-era T-62 tanks after losing more than 1,300 armoured vehicles during its invasion of Ukraine.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that the tanks – that are up to 60-years-old – have been taken out of “deep storage” to be used in southern Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s troops are seeking to occupy seized territory.

The tanks are said by the MoD to be “particularly vulnerable” to anti-tank weapons. The British government department said that the move to use them highlights “Russia’s shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment”.

In its latest intelligence update, the MoD said: “Russian ground forces continue their attempt to surround Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, recently capturing several villages north-west of Popasna.

“Russia is pressuring the Severodonetsk pocket although Ukraine retains control of multiple defended sectors, denying Russia full control of the Donbas.”

Ukraine’s armed forces said the tanks are being used around Zaporizhzhia. Russia has lost 1,322 tanks and 29,750 troops, it also said.

Ukraine is taking measures to strengthen its defence on its border with Belarus, as it said the threat of missile and air strikes from its neighbour remains.

In the Ukrainian ministry of defence’s daily operational update, it said today: “There are no significant changes in the activity of units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus in the Volyn and Polissya areas.

“Measures to strengthen the protection of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border are underway. The threat of missile and air strikes from the territory of the Republic of Belarus remains.”

A sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Russian military broke into a hotel after Ukrainian forces tried to drive the troops out of Severodonetsk, according to a local official.

The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, in eastern Ukraine, are being bombarded by Russian forces.

Oleksandr Striuk, the head of the City Civil-Military Administration of Severodonetsk, reportedly told a news programme: “We have a hot spot – this is the Myr Hotel that was entered by a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group, which during the day we tried to get out of there.

“The situation there was quite fierce, but we persevered.

“They tried to enter from the other side… At the same time, the artillery shelling of the city is relentless.”

Mr Striuk said that 12 people had been evacuated from the city over the past 24 hours.

Kyiv has responded to the publication of a Russian presidential decree simplifying the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of southern Ukraine.

The Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine said that the push for Russian citizenship and passports is a “gross violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Ukrainian state.

“This decree will not have any legal consequences. Because the international community and international law will give due consideration to bold actions, the scale of which has not been repeated since the Second World War,” the statement said.

The ministry said the forced passportization of Ukrainians should be an indisputable reason for the European Union and other countries to impose new packages of sanctions against Russia from the European Union and other countries.

The US won the latest round of a legal battle today to seize a $325-million Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji.

Fiji’s Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Feizal Haniff, who represents the company that legally owns the superyacht Amadea.

Mr Haniff had argued the US had no jurisdiction under Fiji’s mutual assistance laws to seize the vessel, at least until a court ascertained who was the true owner of the superyacht.

He said he now plans to take the case to Fiji’s Supreme Court.

The US argues that its investigation has found that the Cayman Islands-flagged yacht is owned by the sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, an economist and former Russian politician.

Ukraine has grain reserves to meet domestic and global demand until the end of 2022 provided all military actions in the Black Sea are called off, Oleh Ustenko, president Volodymyr Zelensky’s economic adviser, said.

“Russia wanted to use food as a weapon, among other things,” he said.

“They are playing different cards at the same time – energy, food, plus they are conducting their ‘military operation’ on our land and destroying infrastructure, as well as destroying all our food supplies,” he explained.

Mr Ustenko added: “I believe that the only way to bring grain to world markets is to stop the war or at least stop all military action in the Black Sea.”

Nine people, including a five-month-old child, were killed by a Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on Thursday.

“So far, 19 people have been injured, including a nine-year-old child. And unfortunately, nine were killed, including a 5-month-old infant,” governor Oleg Sinegubov said.

The family was walking outside when the Russian forces struck the city, killing the infant and the father, the governor added. The mother is in the hospital in critical condition.

Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov urged people to find shelter following the airstrikes. “Enemy troops are shelling our city again. I urge you to stay in safe places, basements, shelters and at subway stations,” he said in a video on Telegram.