Ukraine ‘hits missile launch sites in Russia’

Ukrainian officials have reported five deaths in Russian bombardments in the last 24 hours, four of them in Kharkiv region.

Mr Terekhov said that the shelling of Kharkiv had become more frequent in the last two days, but it had generally been calmer.

“There has been a break in the shelling, which I think is connected with the fact that the equipment that Kharkiv was being shelled with has been successfully hit,” he told Reuters news agency.

“As compared to May, we experienced a more or less calm week until Sunday… Therefore, it’s been a bit calmer, but I can’t say that it’s been completely so.”

Mr Zelensky has been pleading for more air defence systems to stop Russian attacks, at the conference in Germany.

Speaking alongside the Ukrainian president, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany was sending more air defences, including a third Patriot system, and missiles to help Ukraine.

At the end of May, US officials said President Joe Biden had allowed Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia, but only near the Kharkiv region.

The city of Kharkiv is close to the Russian border and therefore vulnerable to attack from within Russia.

Previously Western nations had restricted targeting of weapons they provided to Russian-held areas of Ukraine, because of fears that attacking Russia itself could lead to escalation of the conflict.