Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged a group of top defence officials at a Singapore security conference to attend the Swiss summit this month on ending the Russian war on Ukraine. The Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, spoke earlier in the day at the Shangri-La conference but did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal. A military spokesperson, Nazar Voloshin, told national television on Saturday that Ukrainian forces controlled 70% of Vovchansk, 5km (three miles) inside the border, which Russian troops have been trying to capture. Russian forces fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday morning, hitting energy sites, Ukrainian officials said. The UK’s Ministry of Defence has estimated that the number of Russian troops killed or wounded since the war’s outbreak “has now likely reached 500,000”.

Source: The Guardian June 02, 2024 22:00 UTC