The Ukrainian military claims it has successfully destroyed 50 Russian military vehicles in a devastating strike on the Armiansk bridge connecting occupied Crimea to mainland Ukraine.Ukraine’s 1st Separate Assault Regiment Da Vinci said the attack “completely paralysed” a key logistical route for Russian forces, rendering the bridge unusable.Kyiv says the Russian military vehicles hit in the attack were loaded with ammunition and fuel to be used near Zaporizhzhia oblast.Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, has said that Ukraine is capable of fully cutting off Russia’s access to Crimea in the “near future”.Earlier, ambassadors from the UK, France and Germany met at the Russian foreign ministry yesterday amid a Europe-led push for fresh peace talks.The ministry shared a video of the three diplomats arriving at the building in central Moscow to attend a meeting with Sergei Lavrov’s deputy. The foreign minister said on Wednesday Russia was open to hear what Europe had to say.World chess body suspends Russia after legal challenge by UkraineThe governing body of world chess has suspended Russia – for decades the dominant force in the game – after a successful ⁠legal challenge by Ukraine.An international tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in March upheld a complaint by Ukraine that Russia's chess federation had usurped control of the game in areas of Ukraine captured by Russian forces since 2022. It gave Russia 90 days to relinquish control of chess bodies in five regions of Ukraine and stop holding tournaments there.But on Wednesday the International ⁠Chess Federation (FIDE) - which is headed by Russia's former deputy prime minister ​Arkady ⁠Dvorkovich - said Russia had not complied with the deadline and it had therefore decided to "impose the sanction of temporary suspension of (Russia's) membership... with immediate effect".Arpan Rai12 June 2026 06:04Ukrainian attacks on Russia kill two and injure 10At least two people were killed and another 10 injured in a Ukraine attack on ⁠Russia's border region of Bryansk, acting regional governor Yegor Kovalchuk said.Two were killed and another two injured in shelling of the Suzemka area close to the border, with another seven wounded in an attack on petrol stations in Starodub some 110km (68 miles), he said, adding that a five-year-old boy was also injured in a separate drone attack.Bryansk, a Russian oblast on the border with Ukraine, has frequently been targeted by Ukrainian forces in response to Russian aggression on its border villages.Arpan Rai12 June 2026 05:48Ukraine says 50 Russian military vehicles destroyed in attack on Crimean bridgeThe Ukrainian military has claimed it has successfully destroyed 50 military vehicles in a strike on the Russia-occupied Armiansk bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Ukraine.The attack was confirmed by Ukraine’s 1st Separate Assault Regiment Da Vinci which said that “the enemy’s important logistical route is completely paralysed”.It added that the bridge is out of commission now and additional attacks are not needed.Russian military vehicles hit in the attack were loaded with ammunition and fuel to be used near Zaporizhzhia oblast.File: Russian troops move towards Ukraine on the road near Armiansk (EPA)Arpan Rai12 June 2026 05:07Ukraine can cut Crimea off from Russia 'in near future', says drone commanderRobert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said the drone attack campaign has reduced the traffic using the Novorossiya highway – a critical Russian military supply route through occupied southern Ukraine to Crimea - by more than two thirds over the past month.Within another month, Ukraine would have total control over the road, said Brovdi, who is best known by his call sign "Madyar", a nod to his ethnic Hungarian roots.Ukraine's escalating drone strikes across Russian-occupied parts of the country have disrupted military logistics and fuel supplies, prompting authorities last month to introduce fuel rationing in Crimea."We will isolate Crimea in the near future," Brovdi told Reuters in his cramped cubicle inside the bunker, as he sipped black tea and smoked one cigarette after another.Brovdi said striking vehicles on the exposed highway as "as easy as shooting partridges in an open field”.He added that one of his strategic aims was to force Moscow to pull back troops rather than push forward.(AFP/Getty)Arpan Rai12 June 2026 04:51Russia says it has taken two more east Ukrainian villagesRussia has claimed its forces have captured two new settlements – Rozkishne village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, near the key town of Kostiantynivka, and Okhrimivka, in the ⁠neighbouring Kharkiv region.Ukrainian reports gave no indication of either settlement changing hands, but the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said Russian forces had launched attacks around Okhrimivka.A separate Ukrainian account described difficult conditions for Kyiv's forces ⁠around Kostiantynivka, which has long withstood ​Russian ⁠assaults.The Russian defence ministry said its forces had taken control of Rozkishne after an intelligence operation and deployment of artillery and drones.Rozkishne is about 30km (18 miles) west of ​Kostiantynivka, long ⁠a target of Moscow's ‌military as part of its drive to advance through eastern Ukraine.The Russian defence ministry said its forces had established control over eastern districts of the town on Thursday amid street fighting.The Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske on Wednesday quoted the commander of Ukraine's 28th Separate Mechanised Brigade, Serhiy Yaryi, as saying the Ukrainian force defending the ⁠town was now "semi-encircled" because of Russian advances to the east.Arpan Rai12 June 2026 04:35In message to Putin, North Korea’s Kim voices full support for RussiaNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a congratulatory message to Russian president Vladimir Putin on Russia’s National Day, ⁠voicing full support for Moscow’s domestic and foreign policies, state media KCNA said this morning.Kim said ties between North Korea and Russia were strengthening into an alliance based on a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, and pledged to always be with Russia, KCNA reported.Separately, Russian and ⁠North Korean officials visited a monument and cemetery ​of ⁠fallen Soviet Army ‌fighters to mark Russia’s National Day, while Russia's embassy hosted a reception for North Korean senior ‌officials, KCNA said.Ties between the two countries have been deepening amid North Korea’s deployment of thousands of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.(AFP/Getty)Arpan Rai12 June 2026 04:25Arpan Rai12 June 2026 04:20Fuel stations in Crimea run dry after fresh night of Ukrainian drone strikesFuel stations on the Russian-held Crimean peninsula were out of petrol yesterday, Reuters witnesses said, as a Ukrainian campaign against supply lines to the peninsula escalates.A Reuters witness in Sevastopol, the peninsula's largest city, said that there was no fuel at most local petrol stations, with supplies struggling even to keep up with a rationing regime imposed in recent weeks.Another, in the resort town of Yevpatoriya, said that there was a long queue outside the single working petrol station there. Ukraine has been intensifying drone strikes on supply lines to the peninsula, which Russia ⁠seized from Kyiv in 2014.Local authorities have imposed fuel rationing ​regimes, ⁠with some foodstuffs also running short.Fuel shortages in Russia have been reported by the media and on social media in around a dozen regions, according to data compiled by Reuters. Besides Russian-held Crimea, only two regions in Siberia have officially confirmed the shortages.Most other regions have said that the situation is under control and some disruptions ​were ⁠caused by panic buying. Moscow has denied there were ‌any problems with fuel supplies.Pedestrians walk past a closed fuel station after local authorities restricted petrol sales and introduced rationing amid a supply shortage in the Black Sea resort city of Yevpatoriya, Crimea (Reuters)Arpan Rai12 June 2026 04:13Russia's Togliatti city under drone attack, regional governor saysRussia's city of Togliatti, home to the country's biggest carmaker Avtovaz, has come under drone attack, Samara region governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Telegram."Attention! Drone ‌attack regime ‌for Togliatti," he ⁠wrote. Togliatti is a city on the Volga River some ‌800km (500 ‌miles) southeast ⁠of Moscow.Arpan Rai12 June 2026 03:55Bryony Gooch12 June 2026 03:00