Latest news on the war in Russia and Ukraine: Putin’s adviser warns of “retaliation” after US missile attack on Crimea

At least 29 drones launched from Ukraine were shot down by Russian air defense systems in a nighttime air strike, the Russian Defense Ministry said this morning.

“Air defense systems in service intercepted and destroyed 29 drones over the territory of the Belgorod region and destroyed one drone over the territory of the Voronezh region,” the Telegram channel said, blaming the “Kiev regime.”

No immediate casualties have been reported so far.

The European Union will begin accession talks with Ukraine today, giving the country a political boost amid its struggle against Russian invasion. But the country still has a long and rocky road ahead of it before it can join the Union.

The ceremony in Luxembourg is more about symbolism than about the concrete negotiations, which cannot really begin until the EU has examined reams of Ukrainian legislation to determine what reforms are needed to meet the bloc’s standards.

Ihor Zhovkva, foreign policy adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said this would greatly boost Ukrainians’ morale. “It is very important,” he told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv. “The path to full membership, which Ukraine deserves, is irreversible.”

By starting talks with Ukraine and its neighbouring country Moldova later in the day, the EU is signalling that both countries are on a path away from Russian influence and towards greater integration with the West.

For many Ukrainians, this moment will be poignant, as they trace the current conflict with Moscow back to the Maidan uprising in 2014, when protesters ousted a pro-Russian president who reneged on his promise to build closer ties with the EU.

High-ranking North Korean military officials on Monday criticized the United States for its expanded military aid to Ukraine and warned of a “new world war.”

North Korea’s Deputy Defense Minister Kim Kang Il said the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the Korean peninsula was a “very dangerous” show of force and opened the door for North Korea’s “overwhelming new show of deterrence,” state media KCNA reported.

The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan on Saturday to take part in joint military exercises with the host nation and Japan later this month, naval officials said.

Just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang, Pak Jong Chon, one of North Korea’s highest-ranking military officials, said Moscow had the “right to choose any kind of retaliatory strike” if Washington continued to pressure Ukraine into a “proxy war” against Russia.

This could lead to a more violent reaction from Moscow and a “new world war,” Pak said, according to KCNA.

Four people were injured and numerous buildings damaged in several Ukrainian attacks on the Belgorod region, the governor of the southern Russian region on the border with Ukraine said today.

At least six drones launched from Ukraine were destroyed over the Yakovlevsky district of the Belgorod region, the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram. Two people were injured by shrapnel, he added.

Another person was injured when a drone was shot down over the city of Belgorod, the administrative center of Belgorod Region, and another woman was injured in one of the region’s villages, Gladkov said.

He said numerous buildings and cars were damaged throughout the region.

He said on Telegram: “And, of course, the agency must be acquitted of anyone who chooses any other choice than Ukraine or brings the State Security Service into disrepute.” The security service ensures the safety of various government officials.

Two U.S. officials said the U.S. is expected to announce an additional $150 million package of urgently needed weapons to Ukraine today.

The upcoming shipment is expected to include ammunition for the highly mobile HIMARS artillery rocket system. The air defense system is capable of firing the long-range missiles of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which Russia says would trigger retaliatory strikes and risk escalating the conflict. One of the U.S. officials said he could not verify whether this aid package included ATACMS ammunition, but said the aid did not include cluster munitions.

The package also includes anti-tank weapons, small arms and grenades, as well as the coveted 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells.

The continued flow of American ammunition from existing stockpiles is intended to help Ukrainian forces fend off increased Russian attacks.

This comes at a time when Moscow accuses Ukraine of using US munitions to carry out attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory.

A senior U.S. diplomat held talks in Vietnam on Saturday and said trust between the two countries was “at an all-time high,” just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Daniel Kritenbrink insisted that his trip had nothing to do with Putin’s visit on Thursday.

Vietnam last year elevated the US to the highest diplomatic status of comprehensive strategic partner, putting it on a par with China and Russia. The strengthening of US ties suggests Vietnam wanted to shore up its friendships as Western companies look to shift their supply chains away from China.

Ukrainians in Warsaw jumped over a bonfire and floated braids on the banks of the Vistula River on Saturday night to honor the life forces of water and fire. They celebrated their solstice tradition of Ivan Kupalo Night, far from their war-torn homeland. Hundreds took part in the event, most of them war refugees.

“We are maintaining this tradition here to preserve our culture, which now needs all our support because Russia is trying to destroy everything Ukrainian,” says Viktoria Pogrebniak, 29, from the Ukrainian social initiative Euromaidan-Warszawa, which organized the celebrations.

“We want the people who left Ukraine to remember their tradition and that they have a connection with Ukraine,” Pogrebniak told the Associated Press.

Despite wartime restrictions, Ukrainians celebrated Midsummer Night with festivities that included wild folk dancing, floral decorations, and jumping over bonfires.

Sunday’s Ivana Kupala festival came at a time when Ukrainians are entering their third summer of war. Power outages and night-time curfews are a regular occurrence in Kyiv and other cities.

An hour’s drive south of the capital, several thousand people took part in the summer festival, many wearing shirts and dresses embroidered with traditional patterns.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Ukraine had hit more than 30 Russian oil processing and storage facilities.

The Ukrainian military has stepped up attacks on Russian oil infrastructure this year in an effort to disrupt oil supplies to the Russian army and limit Moscow’s revenues to finance its war against Ukraine.

“More than 30 oil refineries, terminals and oil depots of the terrorist state were hit,” Zelensky told officers from the Special Operations Center “A” of the State Security Service (SBU) who were involved in the attacks.

He did not provide any further details or specify a time frame. A video of his speech was shared on his account on X.

For its attacks, Ukraine used long-range drones developed by both military intelligence and the SBU.

“For SBU drones, a distance of 1,500 kilometers is no longer a problem,” Zelensky said, apparently referring to a May 9 attack that hit a large oil processing plant in the Bashkiria region.

In the most recent attack on June 21, drones hit four refineries, including the Ilsky refinery, one of the largest fuel producers in southern Russia.