{"id":665526,"date":"2026-06-30T05:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/665526\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T05:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:25:08","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-latest-zelensky-mocks-putins-failure-to-capture-donbas-15-times-already","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/665526\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky mocks Putin\u2019s failure to capture Donbas \u201815 times already\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Kremlin says Russia’s stance on conditions for a Ukraine peace deal has not changed since 2024<\/p>\n

Russia has not changed its stance on the conditions needed for a peace deal in Ukraine stated by president Vladimir Putin in 2024, the Kremlin said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s conditions from 2024 demand Kyiv’s forces to withdraw from four regions Moscow says are its own and publicly drop its plans to join Nato.<\/p>\n

“Our position is well known. In fact, our position has not changed. It was set out two years ago by our Head of State in a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is well known to the Kyiv regime, it is well known to the American negotiators, and it is entirely consistent,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.<\/p>\n

In a television interview over \u2060the weekend, Putin reiterated that Russia would \u200bpress ahead \u2060with its battlefield aim of fully controlling the four regions, rejecting what he said was a \u2060new proposal by Ukraine to rein in hostilities in \u200bthe \u2060more than four-year-old war.<\/p>\n

Zelensky responded to Putin\u2019s remarks and said the ultimatum from Russia has been made 15 times and the deadline has always been crossed.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 06:11<\/p>\n

<\/a>UK supply chain suffers blow from months-long delay in defence spending amid Russia threat<\/p>\n

Britain’s nine-month delay in setting out its defence spending plans to meet a rising threat from Russia has forced some small suppliers to collapse, others to hold off investments and many more to expand abroad instead.<\/p>\n

Prime minister Keir Starmer is finally expected to publish the Defence Investment Plan today, one of his final acts before he steps down in July, after his defence and finance departments spent months arguing over how to fill an estimated \u00a328bn shortfall.<\/p>\n

Many companies in the sector say that delay has damaged the UK’s military supply base and potentially the government’s efforts to make its cash-strapped forces war-ready.<\/p>\n

Dozens of smaller companies have gone out of business, or shut down their defence units to focus on other industries as a result, the defence lobby group ADS told Reuters.<\/p>\n

The chief executive of \u2060UK defence company Cohort said that over the last 18 months demand from militaries in other countries where it works, such as Germany, Poland, \u200bthe Nordics and Baltics, \u2060has been clearly ramping up, in contrast to Britain.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 06:01<\/p>\n

<\/a>Russia downs over 400 drones overnight<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s air defence units have downed or destroyed at least 419 drones overnight, its defence ministry said this morning.<\/p>\n

Russia typically reports only how many drones its air defences say they downed, not how many Ukraine launched, and rarely discloses the full extent of damage unless civilians are killed or civilian sites are hit. <\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 05:48<\/p>\n

<\/a>Ukrainian oligarch sanctioned for ties to Russia injured in Monaco blasts<\/p>\n

Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Iermolaiev has been reportedly injured in a deliberate blast in Monaco.<\/p>\n

Ukrainska Pravda said he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia.<\/p>\n

A blast from an explosive device has seriously injured three people at a residential building in Monaco, and the attacker fled to France, local authorities said.<\/p>\n

French and Ukrainian media reported that a Ukrainian magnate and his family were those injured.<\/p>\n

French and Monaco authorities are searching for the attacker, whose motive is under investigation, Monaco\u2019s most senior government official, Minister of State Christophe Mirmand, told reporters.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 05:17<\/p>\n

<\/a>10 killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine’s Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia<\/p>\n

Russian attacks \u200bacross Ukraine killed 10 people and wounded dozens on Monday, authorities said, with strikes continuing into the afternoon as the death toll climbed.<\/p>\n

A missile attack in the southeastern city of Dnipro killed six people and wounded 29, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram.<\/p>\n

He said a business, a school, private homes and cars had come under attack, “Russia launched a missile strike on Dnipro, targeting infrastructure,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr \u2060Zelensky said on X, adding that \u200brescue \u2060operations were underway at the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is essential that Europe is as active as possible in developing its own anti-ballistic defence its own systems and missiles,” he said.<\/p>\n

A Russian drone \u200battack \u2060on a passenger minibus in Zaporizhzhia \u200ckilled two men and a woman, and injured eight others, including a 7-year-old boy, regional officials said.<\/p>\n

The regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, posted footage on Telegram of a white minibus, its floor bloodied and back doors damaged, with a body of a man inside.<\/p>\n

Another attack on the city in the afternoon hit a civilian van, Fedorov said, \u2060setting it on fire but causing no casualties.<\/p>\n

A glide bomb also hit the northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing a 23-year-old woman and wounding 10 others, according to officials there. That strike damaged a tram and more than 15 cars, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.<\/p>\n

Another glide bomb flew in less than an hour later but failed to detonate.<\/p>\n

Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, three large industrial cities, have come under repeated Russian attacks during the war, now in its fifth year.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 05:11<\/p>\n

<\/a>North Korea suffered 7,000 troop casualties fighting with Russia, Ukraine says<\/p>\n

North Korean troops have suffered more than 7,000 casualties while fighting alongside Russia, Ukrainian military intelligence.<\/p>\n

The figures is significantly higher than previously reported by British and South Korean intelligence agencies, which estimated around 6,000 casualties between August 2024 and March 2025.<\/p>\n

The updated figure, reported by Kyiv Independent, comes as Russia and North Korea deepen their military cooperation.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 04:41<\/p>\n

<\/a>Russia may allow lower quality fuel production and imports as fuel crisis deepens<\/p>\n

Russia may allow companies to temporarily produce gasoline and diesel with lower quality and allow lower quality imports, Kommersant daily newspaper said on Monday, as the country tries to ease the fuel crisis amid Ukraine’s attacks on its refineries.<\/p>\n

The newspaper, \u2060citing a draft governmental document, said Russia may allow \u2060production of gasoline and \u200bdiesel \u2060of the Euro-2 standard \u200cwith higher sulphur content and which has been banned since 2013, \u200cfor a year until \u200cJuly 2027, as well as allowing the imports.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in the fifth year of the war, triggering widespread fuel shortages and price spikes as Kyiv tries to push Moscow to the negotiation table.<\/p>\n

President Vladimir \u200cPutin acknowledged on Sunday \u200bat a meeting with government \u200cministers and other \u2060officials that Ukrainian drone strikes \u2060had triggered fuel shortages in some \u200cregions, but said \u200bRussia was dealing \u200cwith them. <\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 04:18<\/p>\n

<\/a>Zelensky mocks Putin’s military drive, says deadline to capture postponed 15 times<\/p>\n

Volodymyr Zelensky has ridiculed Russia\u2019s goal to capture Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donbas region, saying that the attempt has been made 15 times and failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the start of the full-scale war, the Russian army has been given as many as 15 deadlines for capturing our Donetsk region. Russia\u2019s political leadership remains obsessed with Donbas. They have entertained this delusion \u2013 that they would fully capture Donbas \u2013 15 times already,\u201d Zelensky said in his nightly address.<\/p>\n

He recounted mutliple deadlines Putin set for his troops to capture the region but has instead faced a war of attrition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2022, the deadlines were 31 March, then 9 May, 1 June, 15 September, and 31 December. In 2023, Putin set two more deadlines for capturing Donbas: 1 March, and then, when that failed again, they moved it to 31 December. In 2024, there were again two such deadlines,\u201d Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

He added that last year when Russians wanted to convince Trump that Ukraine would \u201csupposedly fall\u201d, they had set three final dates to completely capture the Donetsk region.<\/p>\n

He has warned that the deadline will be moved again if the war does not end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Russia does not end its war, they will have to move this deadline again as well. If Putin wants to sacrifice another million of his soldiers to keep smashing against this wall, then the million Russians who have not yet been mobilised into the Russian army and are arguing in gas lines should think about what awaits them next,\u201d Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

In the weeks following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces \u200cinitially \u2060tried to advance on the capital Kyiv, but when they failed to complete that advance they withdrew and focused efforts on capturing Donbas.<\/p>\n

Russia has captured all of the Luhansk region and large chunks of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.<\/p>\n

Although Moscow’s forces are slowly moving westward through Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials say the advance has slowed considerably \u200bwhile Ukraine steps up its \u200bcampaign of medium and \u2060long-range drone strikes.<\/p>\n

Arpan Rai30 June 2026 04:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>I\u2019ve fought Putin for 17 years \u2013 he\u2019d rather watch Russia burn than admit he can\u2019t win this war<\/p>\n

The huge losses now coming home to Russians every day will not bring a leader who runs his country like a prison yard to the negotiating table \u2013 if he shows weakness, he knows he will end up in a coffin, says Bill Browder.<\/a><\/p>\n

Nicole Wootton-Cane30 June 2026 03:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Watch: Putin says Russia is ready for peace talks with UkrainePutin says Russia is ready for peace talks with Ukraine<\/p>\n

Nicole Wootton-Cane30 June 2026 02:00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kremlin says Russia’s stance on conditions for a Ukraine peace deal has not changed since 2024 Russia has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-665526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}