Ukraine-Russia live news: Six killed in eastern town Sloviansk | Russia-Ukraine war News

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says around 20 people were also injured after Russia shelled the town with multiple launch rocket systems on Sunday.

• Ukraine has withdrawn its forces from the city of Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says fighting remains on the city’s outskirts.
• Russia has claimed full control of the Luhansk region.
• At least six people have been killed and 20 wounded in Sloviansk after the eastern town was hit by Russian shelling from multiple rocket launchers, Zelenskyy says.
• Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has visited Kyiv and decried the “devastating destruction” in the embattled suburb of Irpin.
  

Here are the latest updates:

30 mins ago (23:50 GMT)

Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey says Russian ship carrying Ukrainian grain detained by Turkish customs

Turkish customs authorities have detained a Russian cargo ship carrying grain which Ukraine says is stolen, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey has said.

“We have full co-operation. The ship is currently standing at the entrance to the port, it has been detained by the customs authorities of Turkey,” ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said on Ukrainian national television on Sunday.

Bodnar said that the ship’s fate would be decided by a meeting of investigators on Monday.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from the territories that Russian forces have seized since its invasion began in late February. The Kremlin has denied that Russia has stolen any Ukrainian grain.

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32 mins ago (23:49 GMT)

With brooms, nail guns, and shovels, Kharkiv residents clean up after strike: Reuters

Armed with brooms, nail guns and shovels, residents in Kharkiv gathered to clean up after multiple Russian rockets hit at 4 am, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said on Sunday,

One of the rockets hit the yard between a school and some private houses. Residents were seen shovelling earth back into a large crater created by the strike, while others were sweeping broken window glass from the floors inside the school and surrounding houses. On Sunday morning, locals were busy fixing roofs and sweeping soot off the facade of the district’s school.

“It (missile blast) happened very early in the morning and in 15 minutes everyone was here.” Vita Kuzub, a school principal, told Reuters.

The strikes that began on Tuesday June 21 were the worst for weeks in an area where normal life had been returning since Ukraine pushed Moscow’s forces back in May.

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42 mins ago (23:39 GMT)

Russia shelled Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Kharkiv Sunday: Zelenskyy

The Russian army shelled the eastern towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk on Sunday, as well as the city of Kharkiv, with multiple launch rocket systems as well as Soviet Smerch rockets, Zelenskyy has said, adding that Russia has enough weapons to destroy every city in Ukraine.

“In Sloviansk alone, six people are on the list of dead, and about 20 are wounded. A girl died, her name was Yeva. She would have turned 10 in August this year,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime address.

“Russia has enough Smerch, Uragan and Grad systems to destroy city after city in Ukraine. They have now accumulated their largest firepower in Donbas,” he added.

The capture of Lysychansk would give the Russians more territory from which to intensify attacks on Donetsk. In recent weeks, Russian forces were thought to hold about half of Donetsk, but it’s not clear where things stand now.

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45 mins ago (23:36 GMT)

Fighting remains on Lysychansk outskirts: Zelenskyy

Kyiv’s forces are still battling Russian soldiers on the outskirts of the city Lysychansk “in a very difficult and dangerous situation,” Zelenskyy has said, after Ukraine withdrew its forces from Lysychansk and the Russian defence ministry claimed its army had captured the Luhansk region.

“We cannot give you the final judgment. Lysychansk is still being fought for,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv given alongside Australia’s visiting prime minister. He noted that territory can move quickly from one side to the other.

Russian forces maintain an advantage in the area, he acknowledged, calling it a Ukrainian military “weak spot.”