A first responder with an injured victim of Russia’s aerial attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine, June 7, 2025

Saturday’s Coverage: Trump Justifies Russia’s Murders as 1st Responders Killed

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1536 GMT:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that the Trump Administration weakened Ukraine’s air defenses by diverting 20,000 anti-drone missiles to American forces in the Middle East.

Zelensky noted that Ukraine had counted on the missiles to help counter Russian attacks with Iran-made drones, which have escalated to record daily totals this month.

“We have big problems with [Iran-made] Shaheds….We will find all the tools to destroy them,” Zelensky said. “We counted on this project — 20,000 missiles. Anti-Shahed missiles. It was not expensive, but it’s a special technology.”

The delivery of the missiles had been agreed with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden Administration.

Austin’s successor Pete Hegseth ordered the diversion of the fuzes for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System.

UPDATE 1038 GMT:

At least 12 civilians were killed and 65 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

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Six civilians were murdered and 44 injured in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine (see Original Entry).

In the Donetsk region in the east, four people were killed and nine wounded.

One civilian was slain and nine injured in the Kherson region in the south as Russia struck residential areas and critical infrastructure.

A man was killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine when Russian forces dropped three guided aerial bombs.

Casualties were also reported in the Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions.

UPDATE 0754 GMT:

Russian strikes killed a civilian and caused widespread damage in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine overnight.

Drones, artillery, and rockets destroyed buildings and power lines.

“The invaders struck… Synelnykivsky district with a guided aerial bomb. A man was killed. Our sincere condolences to his family,” said Dnipropetrovsk Council chief Mykola Lukashuk. “Five private houses and a kindergarten were also damaged.”

UPDATE 0727 GMT:

The New York Times reports on a secret intelligence unit, within Russia’s State security service FSB, which is preparing for China as an “enemy”.

Citing an eight-page internal planning document which it has obtained, the Times says the unit is warning that China is a serious threat to Russian security. Russian officers assess Beijing is trying to recruit Russian spies and obtain sensitive military technology, including through the recruitment of disaffected Russian scientists.

China is also allegedly spying on the Russian military’s operations in Ukraine, hoping to learn about Western weapons and warfare. The unit is warning that Chinese intelligence agents are carrying out espionage in the Arctic, using mining firms and university research centers as cover, and they fear that Chinese academics are laying the groundwork to make claims on Russian territory.

UPDATE 0704 GMT:

A chemical plant in western Russia is ablaze after Ukrainian drones reportedly targeted it for the second time in two weeks.

The Azot plant is in Novomoskovsk in the Tula region, around 395 km (245 miles) from Ukraine. It produces ammonia and nitrogen fertilizers, organic plastics, resins, chlorine, and nitric acid.

Tula Governor Dmitry Milyaev said, “According to preliminary information, two people were injured, but their lives are not in danger.”

The plant was struck and caught fire on May 24 during an overnight drone attack.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called out the Kremlin’s murder of civilians, as Russia continued its missile, drone, and guided bomb attacks on Saturday.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky explained:

What the Russians want is the complete destruction of life. In more than eleven years of Russia’s war against Ukraine, they have brought only one new thing to our land, the most widespread Russian “legacy”, ruins and death.

The President said Kyiv is “working to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense” but “urgently need positive signals from the United States regarding air defense systems — we are still waiting for a response to our request to purchase systems that can help”.

He thanked European countries for their assistance while saying it is “absolutely essential” to “achieve results in joint production of air defense systems and missiles”.

On Saturday evening, the Russians murdered a 30-year-old woman has been killed and wounded at least 18 other civilians in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv.

The woman was slain after strikes in the early morning killed at least three people and wounded 22, including a 18-month-old infant and a 14-year-old girl. Rescuers were still searching for six victims believed to be trapped under rubble.

In the early evening, Russia launched four KAB bombs at central Kharkiv, targeting the Shevchenkivskyi and Kyivskyi districts. One bomb hit the Children’s Railway, a popular spot for families.

Zelensky commented:

This makes no military sense. This is pure terrorism. And this has been going on for more than three years of the full-scale war. This cannot be ignored.

Euromaidan Press remembers an engaged couple, in Lutsk in northwest Ukraine, who were among those murdered on Friday amid Russia’s firing of 407 drones and 44 missiles: