Ukraine–Russia latest: 80 drones shot down in mass attack by Putin’s forces

Vladimir Putin has claimed that Moscow needs to secure conditions for a lasting peace in Ukraine, which he said would help ensure Moscow’s long-term security interests.

The Russian president praised a joint proposal by China and Brazil for ending the war in Ukraine as “balanced” and said it would provided a good basis for finding a solution.

The Chinese-Brazilian proposal, made public in May, calls for de-escalating the situation and resuming direct dialogue without requiring Russia to pull back its forces from Ukrainian territory.

Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the initiative as serving Moscow’s interests.

Russia has returned the bodies of 501 soldiers, Ukrainian authorities said, in what appeared to be the biggest repatriation of war dead since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Most of the soldiers were killed in action in the eastern Donetsk region, mostly around the city of Avdiivka which was captured by Russian forces in February after a long and grinding battle, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.

Law enforcement agencies and forensic experts will identify the victims, who will then be handed to family members for burial, it said.

Russia could sign a bilateral agreement with Brazil to bypass the Internationl Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for him if necessary ahead of the upcoming G20 summit, Vladimir Putin has claimed.

“Decisions of this kind are very easy to circumvent, it is enough to sign an intergovernmental agreement and that’s it – the jurisdiction of the ICC will be limited,” Mr Putin said.

Russia, which is not a signatory to the ICC, strongly denies the allegations of war crimes made against it by the court, Ukraine and its Western allies.

Vladimir Putin has said that his possible attendance at next month’s G20 summit in Brazil would disrupt the important work there, adding that another official would represent Moscow.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued a warrant for Mr Putin’s arrest over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, and Kyiv has urged Brazil to arrest him if he travels to the summit.

“I have wonderful friendly relations with President Lula but why would I go there on purpose to disrupt the normal work of this forum,” Mr Putin told reporters.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelesnky has said that Ukraine’s allies are pushing for the country to lower its military draft age – but that he saw no reason to do so.

Under current laws, only men aged between 25 and 60 can be mobilised into Ukraine’s military.

Russia is testing the readiness of a missile unit that forms part of its strategic nuclear forces, the defence ministry has said – with Russian officials having repeatedly raised the spectre of nuclear war over the West’s support for Ukraine.

The drill involves a unit equipped with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles which are capable of reaching US cities and can be equipped with multiple nuclear warheads, a reminder to the world that Russia possesses the world’s largest atomic arsenal.

Troops are practising moving the missiles in the field over distances of up to 60 miles under camouflage and protecting them against air attack and enemy sabotage groups, the ministry said.

My colleague Rachel Hagan reports:

Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that he had asked the defence ministry to work on proposals for possible weapons exports.

The Ukraine’s president told broadcasters that the exports would be possible only to Ukraine’s allies that are included in the Ramstein group which coordinates military support for Kyiv.

Vladimir Putin has threatened that Russia would not let Ukraine get nuclear weapons, after Ukraine’s leader said that since Kyiv had given up its Soviet-era nuclear arms, it must join Nato.

Mr Putin said any move by Ukraine to get nuclear weapons could not be concealed and would draw an appropriate Russian response. “Russia will not allow this to happen, no matter what,” he told reporters.

His remarks appear to refer to comments by Volodymyr Zelensky, who said on Thursday he had told Donald Trump that Ukraine needed either nuclear weapons or Nato membership for its security – but as it gave up nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union’s collapse, joining Nato was the only way it could deter Russia.

Mr Zelensky later clarified that he had never said Ukraine was preparing to build a nuclear weapon. “We don’t do nuclear weapons. Please, don’t move these messages,” he said.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons after the breakup of the Soviet Union but voluntarily relinquished them in the 1990s in return for guarantees of its territorial integrity, a deal it says Moscow reneged on by invading its land.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that some allies have been raising the issue of Kyiv holding direct talks with Russia, which he said was dangerous for Ukraine and plays into Moscow’s hands.

“This is a desirable idea for Russia,” he added.

Ukraine is not considering developing nuclear weapons and recent reports on the topic were driven by an incorrect interpretation of remarks by president Volodymyr Zelensky, his chief of staff said on Friday.

“We have not these thoughts about nuclear, we refuse it,” Andriy Yermak told a think-tank event in Brussels, after Vladimir Putin called suggestions of nuclear weapons in Ukraine a dangerous provocation.