Ukraine Reports Clashes in East as US Presses on Diplomatic Front

This photograph taken on July 7, 2022 shows smoke billowing after shelling on the outskirts of the city of Sloviansk, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph taken on July 7, 2022 shows smoke billowing after shelling on the outskirts of the city of Sloviansk, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
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Ukraine Reports Clashes in East as US Presses on Diplomatic Front

This photograph taken on July 7, 2022 shows smoke billowing after shelling on the outskirts of the city of Sloviansk, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph taken on July 7, 2022 shows smoke billowing after shelling on the outskirts of the city of Sloviansk, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)

Ukraine reported clashes with Russian troops on Sunday on fronts in the east and south, with six civilians killed in one rocket attack, as the United States sought to marshal international support in opposing Russia's invasion.

Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions near the eastern town of Sloviansk but were forced to withdraw, Ukraine's military said, adding that Russian forces had launched a cruise missile attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv from their side of the border. It gave no details of damage or casualties.

Luhansk region Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces were gathering in the area of the village of Bilohorivka, about 50 km (30 miles) east of Sloviansk.

"The enemy is ... shelling the surrounding settlements, carrying out air strikes, but it is still unable to quickly occupy the entire Luhansk region," he said on the Telegram message channel.

"During the last night alone, the Russians launched seven artillery barrages and four rocket strikes."

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts.

Russia says it wants to wrest control of the entire Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, on behalf of Moscow-backed separatists in two self-proclaimed people's republics.

The governor of the Donetsk region said six civilians were killed in a Russian rocket attack on an apartment block in Chasiv Yar town, about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Sloviansk, with some 30 people believed to be trapped in the ruins.

Russia's Tass news agency, meanwhile, cited pro-Russian separatists as saying Ukrainian forces had fired an artillery barrage into residential districts of the city of Donetsk.

Ukrainian military spokesman was not immediately available for comment. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday the Russian army had targeted civilians on purpose.

Russia, which claimed control over all of Luhansk province last weekend, denies targeting civilians.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a "special operation" to degrade its military capabilities and root out what it calls dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and its Western allies call the invasion an unprovoked land grab.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw.

Focus on diplomacy

In the south, Ukrainian forces fired missiles and artillery at Russian positions including ammunition depots in the Chornobaivka area, Ukraine's military command said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Asia, where he has been urging the international community to join forces to condemn Russian aggression.

He told journalists on Saturday he had raised concerns with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, over Beijing's alignment with Moscow.

The two met for more than five hours on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 foreign ministers on the Indonesian island of Bali. Russia's Sergei Lavrov walked out of a meeting there on Friday, denouncing the West for "frenzied criticism".

The Chinese foreign ministry said, without giving details, that Wang and Blinken had discussed Ukraine.

It quoted Wang as saying Sino-American relations were in danger of being further led "astray", with many people believing that "the United States is suffering from an increasingly serious bout of 'Chinaphobia'."

Shortly before the Russian invasion, Beijing and Moscow announced a "no limits" partnership, although US officials have said they have not seen China evade US-led sanctions on Russia or provide it with military equipment.

Blinken was in Thailand on Sunday and due to visit Japan on Monday.

Zelenskiy dismissed several of Ukraine's senior envoys abroad, saying it was part of "normal diplomatic practice". He said he would appoint new ambassadors to Germany, India, the Czech Republic, Norway and Hungary.

Zelenskiy has urged his diplomats to drum up international support and high-end weapons to slow Russia's advance.

But Ukraine suffered a diplomatic setback on Saturday, when Canada said it would return a repaired turbine that Russia's state-controlled Gazprom used to supply natural gas to Germany. Ukraine had argued that a return would violate sanctions on Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that the Kremlin was in no mood for compromise, saying sanctions against Russia risked causing "catastrophic" energy price rises.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said sanctions were working, echoing calls for more deliveries of high-precision Western weapons.

"Russians desperately try to lift those sanctions which proves that they do hurt them. Therefore, sanctions must be stepped up until Putin drops his aggressive plans," Kuleba told a forum in Dubrovnik by videolink.



North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
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North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told Russia's top diplomat his country was ready to “unconditionally support” all actions taken by Moscow to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, state media has reported, as the two countries held high-level strategic talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is on a three-day visit to North Korea, which has provided troops and arms for Russia's war with Ukraine and pledged more military support as Moscow tries to make advances in the conflict, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Kim met Lavrov in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan where the two countries' foreign ministers held their second strategic dialogue, pledging further cooperation under a partnership treaty signed last year that includes a mutual defense pact.

Kim told Lavrov the steps taken by the allies in response to radically evolving global geopolitics will contribute greatly to securing peace and security around the world, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported.

“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis,” KCNA said.

Earlier, Russia's foreign ministry said Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where he described the two nations' relations as “an invincible fighting brotherhood.”

The ministry quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit represented the continuation of “strategic dialogue” between the two sides inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last year.

In a message passed on by Lavrov, Putin said that he hoped for more direct contacts in future, TASS news agency reported.

Lavrov, the ministry said, also thanked North Korea for the troops it had sent to Russia.

Relations between the two countries deepened during the conflict in Ukraine.

Thousands of North Korean troops were deployed during the months-long campaign to oust Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region, while Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with munitions.

Lavrov also met with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, TASS reported.