Ukraine war latest: Russia ponders nuclear shift and change in relations with West - as US leads drills after North Korea warhead test (2024)

Swedish furniture giant IKEA are set to reopen their Kyiv store.

The company, like other multinational brands, closed its stores in Ukraine when Russia launched its invasion of the country in February 2022.

Now it's set to follow in the footsteps of popular retailers H&M, which reopened in November 2023, and Inditex, which owns Zara, by returning to Kyiv.

Ikea's "main priority for the resumption of store operations in Kyiv is the safety of our employees and customers," the Ingka Group, which is part of the Ikea group, told Forbes Ukraine in a comment.

"The return and success of H&M was an important signal for the head office of Ikea, and they also closely followed the recovery of Inditex," one of Forbes Ukraine's sources told the outlet.

A chemical plant in Russia was targeted in an overnight drone attack, according to state-run RIA news agency.

The Redkinsky Experimental Plant, located in the Tver region to the northwest of Moscow, produces a number of chemicals used in the aviation industry.

The plant was previously struck by Ukrainian drones in September 2023. At the time, Ukraine's intelligence agency claimed the plant produces decalin, an aviation fuel additive.

This morning's attack saw four drones damage the plant's pipeline, roof, and a workshop building, according to independent Russian news outlet SOTA.

The Tver regional government said on Russian social media platform VKontakte that air defence systems thwarted a drone attack, but didn't comment on whether the plant was targeted.

"At around 4 a.m. on June 27, in the Konakovo municipal district of the Tver region, the air defence systems on duty of the Russian ministry of defence repelled another UAV attack," it said.

"Emergency services specialists continue to work at the site where the UAV debris fell. There were no casualties."

Russia has started the new trial of imprisoned US citizen Robert Gilman on four new charges, the state-run RIA news agency reported.

A former US Marine, Mr Gilman was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in October 2022 for attacking a police officer while drunk.

RIA said that sentence was reduced on appeal to three and a half years in May 2023.

Mr Gilman — from Massachusetts — said he did not remember the incident, but had "apologised to Russia" and to the officer he had kicked.

His lawyers told TASS, the Russian state news agency, that Mr Gilman was in Russia to study and obtain citizenship.

For context: Mr Gilman is one of at least a dozen US citizens being held in Russian prisons.

Among those, the best known is Evan Gershkovich. The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in March 2023 on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.

Mr Gershkovich and his newspaper strongly reject the charges.

The US government has designated him as wrongfully detained, meaning it must seek ways to get Mr Gershkovich released, which could include a prisoner swap.

The Kremlin says Russia is considering a possible downgrading of diplomatic relations with the West due to the hostile approach of the US and its allies towards Moscow.

Speaking to reporters today, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the move is "standard practice" for states that face "unfriendly or hostile manifestations".

He added: "Due to the growing involvement of the West in theconflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot butconsider various options for responding to such hostile Westernintervention in the Ukrainian crisis."

Peskov said that no decision had yet been made on thematter and that Russia was considering different ways to respondto the West.

North Korea has successfully conducted a test aimed at developing missiles carrying multiple warheads, state media agency KCNA reports.

The country said the test was carried out yesterday using the first-stage, solid-fuel engine of an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

KCNA said the missile succeeded in separating warheads in a test that was aimed at developing multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology.

"The purpose was to secure the capability to destroy individual targets using multiple warheads," it said.

What else happened this week?

The dispatch comes a day after South Korea's military said North Korea had launched what appeared to be a hypersonic missile off its east coast that exploded in mid-air.

South Korea, the US and Japan condemned that launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious threat, and warned against additional provocations in the wake of last week's summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.

Today, the US, Japan and S Korea began large-scale joint military drills involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defence against missiles, submarines and air attacks.

During Mr Putin's first visit to North Korea in 24 years, the two leaders signed a mutual defence pact, which Mr Kim lauded as an alliance, but which South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called "anachronistic".

A passenger train derailment in northern Russia has killed at least two people and left one other missing, a state-run railway company has said.

The 14-carriage train derailed in Russia's northern republic of Komi last night, Russian Railways said, with nine carriages coming off the tracks.

Up to 50 people were injured, Russia's news agency Interfax reported, citing emergency officials.

The train, carrying 232 passengers, was headed to the southern city of Novorossiysk from Vorkuta, a coal mining town in the north of Komi, Russian Railways said.

It said that heavy rainfall, which washed out parts of the track, was the likely cause of the derailment.

The Ukrainian air force has said it shot down all 23 drones and five out of six missiles launched by Russia this morning.

Serhii Tiurin, the regional governor of Khmelnytskyi, western Ukraine, said the air defences shot down nine aerial targets over his region.

Local authorities have not received any reports of casualties or property damage, he added.

Meanwhile, governor Vitaliy Kim said the military destroyed six drones and three cruise missiles over the southern region of Mykolaiv.

Ukraine and Russia often send drones across the border but both sides have said they only target military infrastructure.

A senior Russian diplomat has urged the US to pay attention to discussions under way on possibly altering Moscow's nuclear doctrine to suit changed conditions in international relations.

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, interviewed by the Izvestia media outlet, also said Moscow did not rule out downgrading diplomatic relations with certain Western countries if they failed to alter their "Russophobic" approach to ties.

Mr Ryabkov restated Vladimir Putin's assertions of recent weeks that Russia's nuclear doctrine, setting down when such weapons could be used, was being reassessed.

He said that the doctrine was drafted "in a different era and in different circ*mstances" and that he hoped the discussions now "are being taken seriously by our opponents".

"I am not anticipating the outcome, but I urge our adversaries to think about what the president is saying," he said.

"They are literally playing with fire... and must learn not to indulge in dangerous illusions, but to try to look at the world soberly and understand that we have immutable national interests which we are prepared to defend to the end," he said.

The doctrine states Russia may use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or in the event of a conventional attack that poses an existential threat to Russia.

Mr Putin said this month that Russia had no need to use nuclear arms to secure victory in Ukraine.

The Russian navy missile cruiser Varyag has carried out drills in the Mediterranean Sea, the state-owned TASS news agency reports.

The drills focused on repelling a mass sea drone attack, the navy command said, and also involved simulated engagements with an enemy vessel and a submarine.

The drill come weeks after a Russian naval frigate and a nuclear-powered submarine conducted missile drills in the Atlantic Ocean while on their way to Cuba.

Such moves will be closely watched by the US.

Welcome back to our coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Yesterday, NATO appointed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as its next secretary general.

And Russian pranksters released footage of David Cameron being tricked into thinking he was speaking to a former Ukrainian president.

The Foreign Office (FCDO) announced at the start of June that a "number of text messages were exchanged followed by a brief video call" between Lord Cameron and someone who claimed to be Petro Poroshenko.

In the casual video call published by website Guido Fawkes, Lord Cameron discusses Labour, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Here is what else has happened in the last 24 hours:

• Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said if North Korean troops were sent to Ukraine to help the Russian army they would become "cannon fodder";
• Evan Gershkovich was seen before the start of his behind-closed-doors trial in Russia;
• Vladimir Putin held a phone call with the interim president of Iran, Mohammad Mokhber;
• European Union countries agreed a sanctions package against Belarus.

The map below shows the latest territorial picture in Ukraine...