Missiles Hit Near Odesa in Ukraine as New Mariupol Evacuation Bid Planned

Ukraine estimates 20,000 people have been killed in the war so far. Genya SAVILOV AFP
Ukraine estimates 20,000 people have been killed in the war so far. Genya SAVILOV AFP
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Missiles Hit Near Odesa in Ukraine as New Mariupol Evacuation Bid Planned

Ukraine estimates 20,000 people have been killed in the war so far. Genya SAVILOV AFP
Ukraine estimates 20,000 people have been killed in the war so far. Genya SAVILOV AFP

Missiles struck near Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Sunday with Russia saying it had destroyed an oil refinery used by the Ukrainian military, while attempts to evacuate people from the devastated city of Mariupol were due to continue.

There was little sign of a breakthrough in efforts to negotiate an end to the five-week war, although Russia's chief negotiator said talks were due to resume on Monday.

In Odesa, the city council said "critical infrastructure facilities" were hit by missiles. No casualties were reported.

Russia's defense ministry said strikes by its military destroyed an oil refinery and three fuel storage facilities near Odesa. It said the facilities were used to supply Ukrainian troops near the city of Mykolaiv.

Odesa, on the Black Sea, is the main base for Ukraine's navy. It has been targeted by Russian forces seeking a land corridor to Transdniestria, a Russian-speaking breakaway province of Moldova which hosts Russian troops.

"Smoke is visible in some areas of the city. All relevant systems and structures are working ... No casualties reported," Vladyslav Nazarov, an officer of Ukraine's South Operational Command, said on Telegram.

Dmytro Lunin, governor of the central Poltava region, said the Kremenchug oil refinery, 350 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of Odesa, had been destroyed in a separate rocket attack on Saturday.

Evacuation efforts in Mariupol and nearby Berdyansk, both also on Ukraine's southern shores, were due to continue with a convoy of buses being prepared for the operation with help from the Red Cross.

"Seven buses will try to get closer to Mariupol, accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online video posting.

The ICRC abandoned earlier attempts due to security concerns. Russia blamed the ICRC for the delays.

Mariupol is Russia's main target in Ukraine's southeastern region of Donbas, and tens of thousands of civilians there are trapped with scant access to food and water.

Peace talks

Russia's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said a draft deal was not ready for any meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

On Saturday, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia raised hope for negotiations with Russia, saying enough progress had been made for direct talks between the two.

Medinsky said that while Ukraine was showing more realism by agreeing to be neutral, renouncing nuclear weapons, not joining a military bloc and refusing to host military bases, there had been no progress on other key Russia demands.

"I repeat again and again: Russia's position on Crimea and Donbas remains UNCHANGED," he said on Telegram, adding talks via video-conference would continue on Monday.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has recognized declarations of independence by the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine which rose up against Kyiv's rule.

Bucha Destruction

Ukraine said on Saturday its forces had retaken all areas around Kyiv, claiming complete control of the capital region for the first time since Russia launched its invasion on Feb 24.

Russia has pulled back forces that had threatened Kyiv from the north to regroup for battles in eastern Ukraine.

There was no Russian comment on the claim that the Kyiv region was entirely in Ukrainian hands, which Reuters could not immediately verify.

The mayor of Bucha, a liberated town 37 km (23 miles) northwest of the capital, said 300 residents had been killed during a month-long occupation by the Russian army, and victims were seen in a mass grave and still lying on the streets.

"The bastards!" Vasily, a 66-year-old man said, weeping with rage as he looked at more than a dozen bodies in the road outside his house. "I'm sorry. The tank behind me was shooting. Dogs!"

The Kremlin and the Russian defense ministry in Moscow did not immediately reply to requests for comment when asked on Saturday about the bodies found in Bucha.

Moscow denies targeting civilians and rejects war crimes allegations.

Among those killed near Kyiv was Maksim Levin, a Ukrainian photographer and videographer who was working for a news website and was a long-time contributor to Reuters.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she was appalled by atrocities in Bucha and voiced support for the International Criminal Court's inquiry into potential war crimes.

Ukraine's emergencies service said more than 1,500 explosives had been found in one day during a search of the village of Dmytrivka, west of the capital.

Zelenskiy warned in a video address: "They are mining all this territory. Houses are mined, equipment is mined, even the bodies of dead people." He did not cite evidence.

Russia's defense ministry did not reply to a request for comment on the allegations about mines. Reuters could not independently verify them.

Since the launch of what Putin called a "special military operation" to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, Russia has failed to capture a single major city and has instead laid siege to urban areas, uprooting a quarter of the country's population.

British military intelligence said Russian naval forces were maintaining a blockade along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, but the option of amphibious landings were becoming increasingly high-risk for Russia.

It said reported mines, the origin of which remained unclear and disputed, posed a serious risk to shipping in the Black Sea.



Armenia PM’s Ruling Party Wins Polls, Show Preliminary Results

 Armenian Prime Minister and leader of the Civil Contract party Nikol Pashinyan holds a press conference following the parliamentary election at the party's headquarters in Yerevan early on June 8, 2026. (AFP)
Armenian Prime Minister and leader of the Civil Contract party Nikol Pashinyan holds a press conference following the parliamentary election at the party's headquarters in Yerevan early on June 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Armenia PM’s Ruling Party Wins Polls, Show Preliminary Results

 Armenian Prime Minister and leader of the Civil Contract party Nikol Pashinyan holds a press conference following the parliamentary election at the party's headquarters in Yerevan early on June 8, 2026. (AFP)
Armenian Prime Minister and leader of the Civil Contract party Nikol Pashinyan holds a press conference following the parliamentary election at the party's headquarters in Yerevan early on June 8, 2026. (AFP)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's ruling party has won parliamentary elections, preliminary results showed on Monday, cementing the nation's Westward tilt after threats from Moscow and claims of Russian interference.

Pashinyan has sought to loosen the ex-Soviet republic's dependence on Moscow, while forging closer ties with the West.

His ruling Civil Contract party got 49.8 percent of the vote, comfortably ahead of the 23.3 percent of the Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia alliance, after all electoral precincts declared results, the Central Election Commission said.

Two other opposition forces -- ex-president Robert Kocharyan's "Armenia" alliance and the Prosperous Armenia party -- also cleared the electoral threshold to get into parliament, winning 9.9 percent and four percent of the vote, respectively.

Turnout was 59 percent, the commission said.

Pashinyan hailed his party's "historic victory that will ensure Armenia's eternity and development."

He pledged to "continue the course of rapprochement with the West" while also developing Armenia's relations with Russia.

His opponent Karapetyan called the elections "shameful" and denounced violations and repression, saying dozens of his campaign staff had been arrested.

Armenia's Investigative Committee said it had opened 59 criminal cases over alleged electoral violations -- including multiple voting -- and detained nine people.

Pashinyan has frozen participation in a Russia-led security bloc while deepening ties with the European Union and United States, and set Armenia on a path toward possible EU membership.

Moscow has bristled at the possible loss of yet another ally in its backyard.

In a pointed remark, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in May: "We all see what is happening with Ukraine now... How did it all begin? With Ukraine's attempt to join the EU."

The Kremlin has been accused of seeking to sway the vote.

Analysts have noted misinformation on the web, hacker activity and Kremlin-friendly narratives portraying Western cooperation as dangerous.

In the weeks before the vote, Russia banned the import of several products from Armenia -- seen as a move to heap economic pressure on the country.

And Armenian officials have warned "enemies of freedom" are funding propaganda efforts.

For many Armenians, the opposition remains associated with Russian influence and oligarchs.


Taiwan Says China Maritime Operation ‘Provocative’

A crew member on board a Taiwan Coast Guard ship monitors a Chinese Coast Guard vessel in waters east of Taiwan. (AFP file)
A crew member on board a Taiwan Coast Guard ship monitors a Chinese Coast Guard vessel in waters east of Taiwan. (AFP file)
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Taiwan Says China Maritime Operation ‘Provocative’

A crew member on board a Taiwan Coast Guard ship monitors a Chinese Coast Guard vessel in waters east of Taiwan. (AFP file)
A crew member on board a Taiwan Coast Guard ship monitors a Chinese Coast Guard vessel in waters east of Taiwan. (AFP file)

Taiwan said Monday that China's maritime operation in waters to the east of the island democracy was "provocative" and "expansionism in disguise".

Chinese ships are conducting a "law enforcement operation" in response to talks between Japan and the Philippines to draw a boundary in waters to the east of Taiwan, Chinese state media said Saturday.

China, which asserts Taiwan is part of its territory, called the talks "illegal" and has claimed exclusive control over the waters.

"It's nothing but expansionism in disguise that threatens regional peace & stability," Taiwan's National Security Council chief Joseph Wu wrote on X.

Defense Minister Wellington Koo said the Chinese actions were "provocative".

Koo told reporters that the move was a "cognitive warfare operation" designed to claim that the waters off Taiwan's east coast fell within China's "enforcement jurisdiction".

Taiwan's coast guard has deployed seven patrol vessels to monitor the Chinese ships.

The Taiwanese vessels expelled four Chinese ships from waters off the island's southernmost tip on Sunday.

The ships have since moved further east, Taiwan's coast guard said Monday, after an hours-long standoff.


Ukrainian Drone Kills One in Russia-Annexed Crimea, Moscow-Installed Governor Says

A drone crater at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 01 June 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
A drone crater at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 01 June 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
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Ukrainian Drone Kills One in Russia-Annexed Crimea, Moscow-Installed Governor Says

A drone crater at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 01 June 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
A drone crater at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 01 June 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)

A Ukrainian drone struck a train in Crimea, killing its assistant driver and injuring the driver, the peninsula's Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov said in a Telegram post early on Monday.

Passengers on the train, commuting between Moscow and Simferopol, the main city of the Russia-annexed Black Sea Crimea peninsula, were not harmed, Aksyonov added. The train connection in Crimea was ‌suspended, Interfax ‌news agency reported.

Russia seized and ‌annexed ⁠Crimea in 2014 - ⁠long before its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine - after public protests in Kyiv prompted a Moscow-friendly president to flee Ukraine. Crimea is a popular destination for Russian tourists.

Drone raid sirens were sounded in the early hours of Monday in the Black ⁠Sea port of Novorossiysk, a ‌major export hub for oil ‌and grains in Russia's Krasnodar region about a ‌two-hour drive from the bridge Moscow built to ‌connect to Crimea, local authorities said on Telegram.

The most recent Ukrainian drone strikes, attacking fuel infrastructure, have forced the Russian-controlled Crimea to tighten its rationing of fuel ‌supplies.

In the Crimean port of Sevastopol, the peninsula's second-largest city where the Russian ⁠Black ⁠Sea fleet is stationed, the local Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram that fuel rationing would continue.

"The number of (electronic) codes issued for (fuel refill at) the gas stations for tomorrow was bigger than yesterday. Those were gone in just a few dozen seconds," he said on Monday.

"Those who received a code today will not be able to get the new one for the next seven days."

Reuters could not independently verify all the reports.