🔴 Live: Zelensky says Ukraine ‘ready’ to launch counteroffensive

Issued on: 03/06/2023 – 10:46

11:39am: Indonesia proposes peace plan for Russia-Ukraine war

Indonesia’s defence minister proposed a plan Saturday to end the war between Russia and Ukraine at a defence summit in Singapore, an initiative that drew quick criticism from attendees.

In a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue defence summit, Prabowo Subianto proposed a ceasefire “at present positions”, and demilitarised zones that would be guaranteed by observers and United Nations peacekeeping forces.

He also suggested an eventual “referendum in the disputed areas” organised by the UN.

Defence chief Subianto’s proposal was criticised at the summit on Saturday, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying peace in Ukraine had to be achieved on “just” terms.

11:13am: Russia to come back to START if US abandons its ‘hostile stance’, says foreign minister

Russia will come back to full compliance with the New START treaty if Washington abandons its “hostile stance” toward Moscow, Russian news agencies reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

The United States said earlier this week that it would stop providing Russia some notifications required under the arms control treaty, including updates on its missile and launcher locations, to retaliate for Moscow’s “ongoing violations” of the accord.

“Our own condition for returning to a fully operational treaty is for the US to abandon its fundamentally hostile stance toward Russia,” Ryabkov said

10:47am: Counter-offensive on track despite Russian missile barrages, says Ukrainian defence official

Ukraine’s plans for a counteroffensive against Russian occupation remain on track, its deputy defence minister told Reuters on Saturday, despite an “unprecedented” wave of missile and drone attacks across the country in recent weeks.

“[Russia’s] primary goal is to stop our counteroffensive and target decision-making centres,” Volodymyr V. Havrylov said on the sidelines of Asia’s top security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Havrylov noted that his country’s air defence systems had been “more than 90 percent effective” against the attacks.

For Russia “it was a huge surprise to find that the effectiveness of (their ballistic missiles) was almost zero against modern air defence systems, which we received from our partners”, he said.

9:20am: Zelensky says Ukraine ready to launch counteroffensive

Ukraine is ready to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Saturday.

“We strongly believe that we will succeed,” Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal.

“I don’t know how long it will take. To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.”

A long spell of dry weather in some parts of Ukraine has driven anticipation that the counteroffensive might be imminent.

Over the past several weeks Ukraine has increased its strikes on Russian ammunition depots and logistical routes.

6:47pm: Two hurt, industrial site ablaze after shelling in Russia’s Belgorod, says governor

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Friday that two people had been injured and an industrial facility had caught fire after shelling around the border town of Shebekino.

Both Belgorod region and the town of Shebekino, which are adjacent to Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, have come under repeated fire in recent weeks from the Ukrainian side of the border.

Key developments from Friday, June 2:

Four people died in shelling in the Russian region of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, the regional governor said.

Ukrainian officials said air defences destroyed all 15 missiles and 21 drones from a wave of overnight attacks into Friday that left two people wounded in Kyiv. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that calls from Russia and China for peace negotiations would result in a false “Potemkin peace” that would not secure Ukraine’s sovereignty. “We believe the prerequisite for meaningful diplomacy and real peace is a stronger Ukraine, capable of deterring and defending against any future aggression,” Blinken said in a speech in Finland.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)