TOP HEADLINES

• Two people were killed and two others injured after Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks targeted several regions in western Russia overnight, according to local governors. The deaths took place near the Ukrainian border in Russia's Belgorod when fragments of shells hit passing cars, killing two women "on the spot," the region's governor said. READ MORE BELOW

• Shelling also hit Russia's Bryansk region, drone attacks were reported in the Kursk and Smolensk regions, while the head of Russia's Kaluga region said a blast was reported in a forest. There were no reports if further casualties from the strikes outside of Belgorod. READ MORE BELOW

• China's special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said he believes neither Ukraine nor Russia have "firmly" shut the door to talks, despite difficulties in getting negotiations going now. Li, giving a media briefing on his European tour last month, added that Moscow appreciated China's efforts to promote a peaceful settlement on the crisis, but said the risk of escalation was still high.

• Ukrainian forces said they shot down 36 Russian missiles and drones in and around Kyiv overnight, with two people injured by falling debris. Russia has launched about 20 aerial attacks on the capital since the beginning of May, a surge the Kyiv government says is aimed at derailing its preparations for a major counter-offensive.

• Ukrainian forces hit a "hospital camp" in the Russian-claimed region of Zaporizhzhia, a Moscow-backed official said on Friday, adding that information about casualties and damages were still being clarified.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed anger over the death of three people, including a nine-year-old girl, killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv after the air raid shelter they rushed to failed to open. He said that if local officials were unable to provide protection, they could be prosecuted.

• Attending a meeting of European leaders in Moldova, the Ukrainian leader also asked NATO to take a clear decision on whether to admit his country, while reiterating calls for the West to supply Kyiv with fighter jets. Zelenskyy said after the summit he had "heard powerful support from many countries" for giving his country U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets.

• One of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's close allies has publicly criticised Russia's most prominent mercenary, saying Wagner's Yevgeny Prigozhin had become a blogger who shouts all the time about his problems. "Stop shouting, yelling and screaming," Adam Delimkhanov said in a video message. 

• The U.S. said it will offer to keep to the nuclear weapons limits set in the New START treaty until its 2026 expiration if Russia does the same in order to strengthen global security, according to government officials. 

• A man visiting St. Peter's Basilica stripped off his clothes and stood naked on the church's main altar in what appeared to be a protest against the Ukraine conflict, according to the Vatican. The man reportedly had an inscription painted on his back calling for the children of Ukraine to be saved and self-inflicted cuts on his body from his fingernails.

IN DETAIL

Russia says two killed after Ukraine shelled border regions

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said that two people were killed and two others injured on Friday after Ukraine shelled a town near the border, while officials in nearby regions reported overnight drone attacks.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that shelling had struck a section of road in the town of Maslova Pristan, some 15 kilometers from Ukraine's northern Kharkiv region, and that shell fragments had struck passing cars.

"Two women were traveling in one of them. They died from their injuries on the spot," he said.

The governor of the Bryansk region, north of Belgorod, said four homes had been damaged by shelling, while the head of neighboring Kursk region said some buildings had been damaged in an overnight drone attack.

Long-range drones also hit two towns in the Smolensk region overnight, the local governor there said, while the head of Russia's Kaluga region said a blast had been reported in a forest.

Russian officials have in recent days reported increased attacks from northern Ukraine. The defense ministry said its forces repelled three cross-border attacks on Thursday by what it said were Ukrainian "terrorist formations" into the Belgorod region. Ukraine denies its military is involved in the incursions into Russian territory and says they are conducted by Russian volunteer fighters.

The Belgorod governor said on Friday at least one incident of shelling had been reported overnight in the Shebekino district, and over 2,500 people were being evacuated from the area.

Ukrainian authorities on Friday lifted air raid alerts across most of the nation, and officials in the capital Kyiv said defenses appeared to have shot down more than 30 missiles and drones fired by Russia.

Moscow has launched around 20 separate missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian cities since the start of May.

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