Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv threatens to withdraw ceasefire offer as ‘our patience is not endless’

A deep historical rift is now challenging the strong alliance between Poland and Ukraine, despite their shared war against Russia.

The dispute centres on Kyiv’s renaming of an army unit after a nationalist force, responsible for Second World War massacres of Poles, which has soured relations and exposed rival historical interpretations.

Here’s how their rival interpretations of history have soured relations:

Ukraine’s UN envoy, Andrii Melnyk, warned that Kyiv could reconsider its current ceasefire proposal if there was no meaningful international push to end the war, saying “our patience is not endless”.

Melnyk said Ukraine remained open to direct negotiations with Russia but cautioned that its offer of a ceasefire along the current front lines was already a significant concession. “If the security council would further choose a wait-and-see approach, I cannot exclude that Ukraine may recalibrate and modify its offer. Ceasefire along the de facto ‌front line is already a great compromise,” he said.

The warning comes as Ukraine projects growing confidence after a series of strikes on Russian oil facilities, supply routes and military infrastructure. Ukrainian attacks have disrupted fuel supplies in Russian-occupied Crimea, where authorities have restricted civilian gasoline sales.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian chef was killed when the Turkish dry cargo vessel Victress caught fire during Russian attacks in the Black Sea, according to Ukrainian officials. Eight crew members, including Turkish and Indian citizens, were evacuated.

Russian strikes overnight wounded six people in Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, while Kyiv briefly issued an air raid alert. In Sumy, a drone strike killed three members of a family.

Britain has tested new long-range strike weapons, with the government hoping for delivery to Ukraine within months.

The initiative aims to produce munitions more quickly and affordably than existing systems like Storm Shadow missiles.

New systems, capable of hitting targets at least 500km away and carrying a 225kg warhead, have been fired at a range in the Hebrides, with further UK trials planned.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) challenged firms to develop weapons exceeding 600km per hour, costing around £400,000 per unit, and producing at least 20 a month within months of an order.

Ukraine may revise its offer to Russia of a ceasefire along the de facto frontline if the United Nations Security Council fails to pass a resolution urging a full and unconditional end to the hostilities, a top Ukrainian official said on Monday.

Ukraine’s envoy to the UN, Andrii Melnyk, spoke during a lengthy session of the UN Security Council, the sixth such meeting called to address the war in recent months.

“Ukraine stands ready to engage in direct negotiations with Russia to secure a just and lasting peace in accordance with the UN Charter, but our patience is not endless,” he said, noting Ukraine had repeatedly urged the Security Council to adopt a resolution for a full and unconditional ceasefire.

“If the Security Council would further choose a wait-and-see approach, I cannot exclude that Ukraine may recalibrate and modify its offer. Ceasefire along the de facto front line is already a great compromise,” he said. He gave no further details.

Melynk insisted that Ukraine had changed the dynamic in the war, now in its fifth year, with recent strikes, adding that some 40% of Russia’s oil refineries had been damaged.

Six people were wounded in Russian air strikes on Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, local authorities said, while Russia’s ongoing fuel crisis deepened into parts of Siberia.

The strikes came in the wake of a Ukrainian attack on a plant producing electronics for missiles in Russia’s border Voronezh region on Monday that killed five people and injured dozens, according to the local governor.

Russia and Ukraine have continued to exchange strikes as the war has dragged into a fifth year. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sought support from Western allies for a peace deal while also pushing for fast-track admission to the European Union.

Two people sought medical help after Russian forces struck the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram, and three more people were wounded in Sumy, in the north, late on Monday, emergency services said.

One woman was injured in a drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram on Monday evening. Early on Tuesday, Kyiv authorities briefly issued an air raid alert before withdrawing it.

Zelenskiy warned last week that Russia was preparing a massive attack — something Moscow has said it would conduct regularly. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022.

Nato is preparing for future wars fought by thousands of drones controlled by AI, according to a top Nato general.

Major-General Constantin-Adrian Ciolponea, who represents the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) in Europe, told The Times that the military alliance must adapt to the new technology.

“The next stage of evolution for drones will be swarm-type attacks when you don’t have one or two, ten or twenty — you have thousands of drones commanded from a single point, whether that is a human or just a ’mother’ drone,” the special forces officer told the outlet.

“Nations without this type of [swarm] technology will be forced to join a security organisation or to accept the conditions of an aggressor,” he warned.

Russian strategic Tu-160 missile-carrying bombers conducted a 16-hour flight including an air-to-air refueling test in the neutral zone over the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea, the defense ministry said on Telegram.

The flight, which the ministry said was a routine one, was accompanied by Russian MiG-31 fighter jets and was escorted by foreign fighter jets at certain points, the post, issued in the early hours of Tuesday, said, without specifying the countries involved.

In the north, Russia borders NATO members Norway and Finland.

South Korea will accept all North Korean prisoners of war who fought for Russia and were captured by Ukraine if they choose to go to South Korea, Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

South Korea opposes any repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war to Russia or to North Korea against their wishes, the ministry said.

South Korean and Ukrainian ministers are set to hold talks in Seoul on June 30.