LIVE – War in Ukraine: Russia says it has captured two new villages

The Zaporozhye region in southern Ukraine declared Sunday a day of mourning after the Russian strike killed seven people and wounded nearly forty others.

“June 30 in the Zaporizhia region commemorates those killed in the enemy attack on Vilnius,” regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on social media.

Three children, a woman and three men were killed and 36 others injured in Saturday’s strike in Vilnius, the Interior Ministry said. The area is 29 kilometers northeast of the main Ukrainian-controlled regional city of Zaporizhia.

Russia took control of two new villages in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, after taking a third the day before, continuing a slow push against an enemy short on men and ammunition.

The Defense Ministry said in its daily statement that Russian troops had taken control of Spirn, near the city of Luhansk, which is already controlled by Moscow, and Novoleksandrivka, near the main town of Ocheridyn.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday morning that it had shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight in six regions of western Russia.

“Active air defense systems destroyed 15 drones in the Kursk region, nine drones in the Lipetsk region, four drones in the Voronezh and Bryansk regions, and two drones in the Ural region over Belgorod,” the ministry said in a telegram. Without reporting any damage or injuries.

Here’s what happened in the last 24 hours in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia:

• Russia and Ukraine announced Saturday a prisoner exchange that included several priests, a rare civilian exchange that comes after the exchange of dozens of soldiers earlier this week. Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests held captive in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk have been returned to Ukraine through Vatican mediation, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. “Bogdan Gueleta and Ivan Levytsky both preached the word of God at the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Parish of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Berdyansk,” Mr. Zelensky said.
• Eleven people were killed Saturday in Russian strikes against a town in Ukraine’s southern and eastern Zaporizhia region and villages in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials said. “The Russians attacked the city of Vilnіansk”, in the Zaporizhzhia region, and “the enemy killed seven people. Two of the dead were children”, announced regional governor Ivan Fedorov on the social network. He added that ten people were injured and several buildings, including residences, were damaged. Vilnius is 29 kilometers northeast of Zaporizhia, the main regional city under Ukrainian control. Russia claims to have annexed the region
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on his Western allies to “accelerate” their arms deliveries to Kiev’s forces after new deadly Russian attacks. “We need quick results, any delay in this war means loss of lives,” said Mr. Zelensky pleaded, calling for weapons to “destroy Russian ballistic missiles.”

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