Ukraine war latest: Zelensky calls on Nato to shoot down Putin’s missiles

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged European bank executives on Tuesday to step up their efforts to comply with moves to shut down Russia‘s evasion of sanctions.

Yellen said at the start of a meeting with bankers that the secondary sanctions authority, implemented last December, has frustrated Russia‘s efforts to procure goods needed for its war in Ukraine, but more work was needed.

“I urge all institutions here to take heightened compliance measures and to increase your focus on Russian evasion attempts,” Yellen said in prepared remarks.

“I ask that you ensure that your global sanctions compliance policies are stringently applied by your branches and subsidiaries abroad.”

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that decisions on military aid from Western allies are late “by around a year” as his nation’s troops fight off an assault by Russian forces in the northeast region of Kharkiv.

Mr Zelensky was speaking as fresh US support is starting to arrive after a $61bn (£48bn) package was finally signed off by president Joe Biden in April after months of delay in the US Congress, with Kyiv’s forces severely outgunned.

He described the delivery of military aid, in particular of air defences like the Patriot systems Ukraine relies on heavily to fight off Russia’s invasion, as “one big step forward but, before that, two steps back”.

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Poland has arrested nine people in connection with acts of sabotage committed in the country on the orders of Russian services, prime minister Donald Tusk said late on Monday.

Warsaw says its position as a hub for supplies to Ukraine has made it a key target for Russian intelligence services, and accuses Moscow of trying to destabilise the country.

“We currently have nine suspects arrested and charged with engaging in acts of sabotage in Poland directly on behalf of the Russian services,” Tusk told private broadcaster TVN24.

“This includes beatings, arson and attempted arson.”

He said Poland was collaborating with its allies on the issue and that the plots also affected Lithuania, Latvia and possibly also Sweden.

Tusk said earlier this month Poland would allocate an additional 100 million zlotys ($25.53 million) to its intelligence services due to the threat from Russia.

In April, two people were detained in Poland on suspicion of attacking Leonid Volkov, an exiled top aide to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Ukrainian forces shot down 28 out of 29 drones used by Russian forces in an overnight attack on seven regions, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement on Tuesday.

The drone attack damaged four private residences, 25 trucks and buses in Kharkiv, injuring five people, according to the region’s governor Oleh Syniehubov and Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry’s statements on the Telegram messaging app.

A missile attack later in the morning targeted transport infrastructure and injured two more people in the city, the governor added.

Two drones shot down in Dnipropetrovsk region damaged outbuildings, with no casualties reported by the region’s governor.

Three Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kherson region, with 14 more shot down over the Odesa region, according to the Ukrainian military.

The rest of the drones targeted the Mykolaiv, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions.

Reuters could not independently verify the information on damages.

One person was killed and three wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on the village of Oktyabrsky in Russia’s Belgorod region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said this morning on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine is gearing up for international talks in Switzerland next month that will exclude Russia and are aimed at trying to unify and harden opinion against Moscow. Volodymyr Zelensky said it was crucial to get as many countries around the table as possible. “And then Russia will have to answer to the majority of the world, not Ukraine. …

No one says that tomorrow Russia will agree, but it is important that we have the initiative.”

Beijing has yet to say whether it will participate, although Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin met last week in China and pledged a “new era” of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States.

“It is very important that they (China) are there,” said Mr Zelensky. “Because in principle, after this summit, it becomes clear who wants to end the war, and who wants to remain in strong relations with the Russian Federation.”

On US politics, he sought to dampen concerns that any win for Republican candidate Donald Trump in November elections could spell trouble for Ukraine. Trump is a Ukraine aid sceptic who has stressed “America First” policies.

“I don’t believe that Republicans are against support for Ukraine, but some messages that are coming from their side raise concerns.”

Comment: Reporting on the kidnapping and abuse of the most vulnerable in Ukrainian society makes one thing clear, writes Bel Trew: in war people with disabilities are the last to be remembered and the first to be left behind:

Used as human shields, starved or deprived of medicines, tortured, abducted, disappeared. These are the potential crimes that have been committed against people with disabilities since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, according to a new 18-month investigation by The Independent.

A Conservative former minister has claimed it is “extremely unlikely” that Ukraine will succeed against Russia, as he urged MPs to be realistic.

During a debate on Ukraine, Sir Edward Leigh argued that “America could’ve won this war by now” if it had armed Ukraine sufficiently.

Sir Edward said current resources are not enough for Ukraine to win, before revealing he is prepared to send UK troops to fight and put the UK’s economy on a war footing.

The Gainsborough MP said: “It is extremely unlikely, sadly, that Ukraine can win this war.”