(CNN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that Moscow would attack new targets if the United States supplied Ukraine with long-range missiles, according to Russian state media.
Delivering new weapons to Kyiv is only aimed at “prolonging the armed conflict for as long as possible,” Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel, Russian state media TASS reported.
In the case of deliveries of long-range missiles to Kyiv, Russia will draw “appropriate conclusions” and attack those “facilities” it has not yet attacked, he said.
“If they are supplied, we will draw the appropriate conclusions from this and use our own weapons, of which we have enough, to attack those facilities that we are not targeting yet,” Putin said, commenting on the situation regarding the supply of US weapons, the multiple launch missile systems (MLRS), to Ukraine.
The supply of US MLRS to Ukraine essentially changes nothing, as Kyiv had similar weapons before, including missiles of similar range, so they are simply making up for their losses, Putin noted, according to TASS.
United States President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the United States will provide Ukraine with “more advanced missile systems and munitions” as its war with Russia progresses.
Separately, five civilians were killed on Saturday as a result of multiple explosions near the city of Donetsk, the Russian state news agency TASS said. Meanwhile, hundreds of people are fleeing the eastern city of Sloviansk daily.
These are the most recent developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:
Donetsk explosions
Five people were killed and 20 injured as a result of multiple explosions near the city of Donetsk caused by the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
The city is held by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, but is rarely bombed by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian officials have not commented on the explosions.
Russia says it destroyed tanks in Kyiv
Smoke rises after a missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 5. (Vladislav Sodel/Archyde.com)
Russian missiles destroyed T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles near Kyiv that had been supplied by Eastern European countries to Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
The ministry added that the Russian Aerospace Forces used long-range, high-precision air-launched missiles in the attacks on the outskirts of the capital, hitting the buildings of a car repair company.
Background: The Russian announcement comes after multiple explosions rocked Kyiv on Sunday morning, in the first attacks on the capital in weeks. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person has been hospitalized.
The Ukrainian government confirmed that a military target was hit by a Russian missile in Kyiv on Sunday.
“A military object was hit and a civilian. There were no casualties, one person was hospitalized,” said Vadym Denysenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister.
133 churches have been destroyed in Ukraine since the war began
The view outside a destroyed church on April 10, in the town of Lukashivka, Ukraine. (Anastasia Vlašova/Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russian artillery has “destroyed” 113 churches since the invasion of Ukraine began.
“Among them are the old ones, the ones that resisted World War II, but did not resist the Russian occupation,” he said.
On Saturday, CNN reported that the Church of All Saints in Sviatohirsk Lavra was “destroyed” by Russian bombing.
The fight for Severodonetsk continues
The Russian army is “investing all its reserves” in capturing the city of Severodonetsk in the eastern Luhansk region, according to Serhiy Hayday, head of the regional military administration.
“Earlier they had managed to capture most of the city, but now our army has pushed them back,” he said, saying the Russians are “suffering huge losses.”
Earlier on Saturday, Hayday said Ukraine now controls about half of Severodonetsk.
Hundreds of people flee Sloviansk daily
Residents of Sloviansk evacuate the city in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region on June 2, 2022. (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Hundreds of people are fleeing the eastern city as the Ukrainian military says Russian units are being reinforced on the approaches to Sloviansk in preparation for resuming an offensive.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Friday that the Russians are concentrating a force of up to 20 battalion tactical groups in the area.
There are currently about 22,000 people left in Sloviansk, about a fifth of the pre-war population.
The state of the fight
As Russia intensifies its assault on eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military says Russian troops are making little progress, particularly in the Donetsk region.
Russian air activity “remains high” over eastern Ukraine and has contributed to Russia’s “recent tactical successes” but “has not had a significant impact on the conflict,” the latest intelligence assessment reported on Saturday. of the UK Ministry of Defence.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that a fifth of the country’s territory is under Russian control, with the Donbas area “almost completely destroyed.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister criticizes Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris on June 3, 2022. (ROSA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reacted angrily to French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments that “we must not humiliate Russia.”
Kuleba said that it is “Russia that is humiliating itself. It is better that we all focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives.”