Ukraine 'struggling' to hold Sievierodonetsk

• Fighting remains fierce in key city of Sievierodonetsk
• Ukrainian forces 'not giving up positions,' Zelenskyy says
• US backs claims Russia is 'pilfering' Ukrainian grain
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said NATO's eastern flank would be strengthened

This article is now closed. For the latest on Ukraine head to Wednesday's live updates.

Ukraine struggling to hold Sievierodonestk, Russia claims advances

Ukrainian forces are struggling to repel Russian attacks in the centre of Sievierodonestk. However, Moscow does not control the key Donbas city, the governor of Luhansk region has said.

Serhiy Haidai also said Russian troops were constantly shelling Sievierodonetsk's twin city Lysychansk. 

Russia has declared the industrial eastern region of Donbas as the main objective since it failed to capture the capital Kyiv. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said Kremlin forces control 97% of the Luhansk region, one of two provinces that make up the Donbas.  

Russia returns bodies of Mariupol defenders

Russia has handed over to Kyiv the bodies of 210 Ukrainian fighters, most of whom who died defending the city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian military has said.

Ukrainians were holed up in the Azovstal steelworks for weeks as Russia tried to capture the city. The Ukrainian soldiers eventually surrendered last month and were taken into custody by Russia.

"The process of returning the bodies of the fallen defenders of Mariupol is under way. To date, 210 of our troops have been returned, most of them are heroic defenders of Azovstal," Ukraine's defence intelligence directorate said on Twitter.

Merkel speaks out on her Russia policy

In her first major interview since leaving office, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but said she refused to apologize for her policies towards Moscow.

Speaking on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she said: "In my view, what happened was not just unacceptable, but also a major mistake from Russia."

She also defended her opposition to Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO in 2008.

She said that if NATO had granted them membership, Russian President Vladimir Putin could have caused "enormous damage in Ukraine." 

"I don't blame myself for not having tried hard enough," Merkel responded to a question about how much she could have done to prevent an escalation with Russia. "Fortunately, I tried sufficiently. It is a great sadness that I did not succeed."

Lavrov arrives in Turkey to talk Ukraine grain exports

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has arrived in Turkey for talks over unblocking grain exports from Ukraine, which have been stalled due to Moscow's invasion of its neighbor.

This is Lavrov's second trip to Turkey after meeting his Ankara and Kyiv counterparts Mevlut Cavusoglu and Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya on March 10.

At the request of the United Nations, Turkey has offered to escort maritime convoys from Ukrainian ports.

At the center of the talks is the opening of a security corridor to ship Ukrainian grain. 

In a phone call last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow was ready to work with Ankara release maritime shipping blocked during the conflict. 

Deutsche Bank offers to move employees from Russia to Berlin

Deutsche Bank has offered all 1,500 or so employees of its IT centers in St. Petersburg and Moscow a job position in Germany, the business newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Tuesday, citing sources in the company speaking on condition of anonymity.

The company did not address the issue publicly. However, it did release a statement on Tuesday about its new technology center in Berlin, which will "primarily support the ambitions of our Investment Bank and Corporate Bank through application development and the integration of new technologies."

According to Handelsblatt more than a hundred employees had already transferred to that new facility.

Russia prosecutes army officers after conscripts sent to Ukraine

A Russian military prosecutor said that 12 military officers were being charged for allegedly allowing conscripts to be sent to fight in Ukraine.

"About 600 conscripts were pulled into the special military operation, but all were sent back within a short time," Artur Yegiyev told Russian media agency Interfax, using the phrase Russia uses for its invasion of Ukraine as a "special military operation."

Earlier in the war President Vladimir Putin had denied that conscripts were being used, saying that professional soldiers were being deployed, however the country's defense ministry conceded in March that some conscripts had mistakenly been sent.

Russia has not updated its casualty figure since March, when it reported there had been 1,351 deaths. Ukrainian authorities say there have been around 30,000 Russian deaths, although that figure cannot be verified.

4,253 civilians killed since Russian invasion — UN 

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded 9,394 civilian casualties since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Of that number the UN said 4,253 had been killed while 5,141 had been injured.

According to the UN statement 272 children were among those killed.

The OHCHR said the actual number of civilians killed is likely to be far higher than the number provided.

Most of the deaths were caused by heavy weapons like artillery and rocket launchers with the ability to cause destruction on a wide radius.

Reinforcements for NATO's eastern flank — Chancellor Olaf Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has held talks in Lithuania with the heads of three Baltic countries about the state of security on NATO's eastern flank.

At a joint press conference in Vilnius, the leaders highlighted the threat Russia posed to regional security following its invasion of Ukraine.

Scholz said the leaders had continued intensive talks and said that "we are demonstrating in the face of Russia's aggression, unity."

The German chancellor spoke about NATO's enhanced forward presence in Lithuania and said "we are going to increase our contribution by strengthening the eastern flank of NATO, and we are ready to strengthen our engagement and to develop it towards a robust combat brigade."

This is the first time Scholz has visited a NATO country that borders Russia since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February.

The three Baltic countries all border Russia, and Latvia and Lithuania border Russian ally Belarus. Thousands of NATO soldiers, including German soldiers, are stationed in this region.

UK PM Johnson: Ukraine must not be pressured into 'bad peace'

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a Cabinet meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should not be pressured "into accepting bad peace," according to Johnson's spokesman. 

Johnson added that "the world must avoid any outcome where Putin's unwarranted aggression appears to have paid off," his spokesman said.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also said during the Cabinet meeting that London was readying further sanctions against Russia.

Ukraine opposes planned IAEA visit to Zaporizhzhia

Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear agency, said it opposed a planned visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi to its nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia.

The plant has been under Russian occupation. It is Europe's largest nuclear plant. 

"Ukraine did not invite Grossi to visit the Zaporizhzhia plant and refused to let him make such a visit in the past. The visit to the plant will only become possible when Ukraine takes back control of the site," Energoatom said on its Telegram channel. 

German minister of state for culture: Ukraine's cultural identity threatened

Germany's Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth said on Tuesday that Russia's war on Ukraine was threatening the country's cultural identity. 

"This war is also a war against culture, against the culture of democracy," said Roth, who is on a visit to the port city of Odesa.

Nearly 375 cultural institutions have been destroyed or damaged since the start of the war in Ukraine in February.

Some 137 churches have also been affected. 

"It becomes clear: it is about attacking the cultural identity of Ukraine," she said.

The minister promised support to Ukraine.

"We are now trying to send an international signal by supporting the nomination of Odesa's old town as a World Heritage City," she said on German public broadcaster ZDF's "Morgenmagazin" program. 

Roth is the first German member of the government to visit Odesa since the war began. 

Odesa —a cultural metropolis — is of key strategic importance because of its large harbor.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia plans to cut off Sievierodonetsk from north and south

Russia's wider plan likely continues to be to sever the Sievierodonetsk area from both the north and the south, Britain's Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Tuesday. 

While Ukrainian forces have recaptured parts of over the weekend, Russian soldiers continue to occupy eastern districts, the statement said.

The ministry added that Russia made gains on the southern Popasna axis in May, however, its progress in the area has impeded over the last week. 

"Reports of heavy shelling near Izium suggest Russia is preparing to make a renewed effort on the northern axis," the ministry said.

"Russia will almost certainly need to achieve a breakthrough on at least one of these axes to translate tactical gains to operational level success and progress towards its political objective of controlling all of Donetsk Oblast."

Russia returning bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed at Azovstal: report

Russia has begun turning over the bodies of dozens of Ukrainian troops who died fighting at the Azovstal steel mill in the war-ravaged city of Mariupol, the AP news agency reported.  

The remains of the dead soldiers recovered from the bombed-out plant, which became a symbol of resistance against Russia’s invasion, were sent to Kyiv, according to the AP.

DNA testing was underway in the Ukrainian capital to identify the dead, the report added, citing a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.

The Azov Regiment was one of the units that fought for Ukraine at the plant for nearly three months before surrendering in May.

EU accusations prompt Russian walkout at UN

Russia's ambassador to the UN stormed out of a Security Council meeting after European Council President Charles Michel accused Russia of using food supplies as "a stealth missile against developing countries."

Millions of tons of grain and wheat were stuck in containers and ships at the port of Odesa "because of Russian warships in the Black Sea," he said.

He also said Russian forces were stealing grain from occupied areas. 

Michel addressed Vassily Nebenzia directly, saying Russia was "solely responsible for the looming food crisis." 

Nebenzia said he had to leave the meeting because of the "lies Michel came to distribute."

Ukraine's Zelenskyy stresses importance of EU membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed the importance of his country joining the European Union in his nightly address.

Kyiv is waiting on a response from Brussels on the country's candidacy application "in the coming weeks," he said. Zelenskyy added that he had discussed the matter with Polish President Andrzej Duda, who he thanked for supporting Ukraine.

"I believe that this will be a decision not only about Ukraine, but also about the entire European project. About whether it has a future as a really strong union," Zelenskyy said.

Communications Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov is headed to Berlin Tuesday to make the case for Ukrainian EU accession.

"The European Union should embrace Ukraine," Chernyshov said ahead of his meetings in Berlin.

"We do not expect accession through the back door, nor do we expect a fast track for Ukraine," he said. He added that Ukraine had no interest in any other form of partnership with the EU short of full membership.

Ukrainian troops 'holding positions' in Sievierodonetsk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his troops are not giving up positions in Sievierodonetsk.

Ukrainian and Russian troops are fighting street by street for control of the key industrial city.

"Our heroes do not give up positions in Sievierodonetsk. In the city, fierce street fighting continues," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Monday.

"And the Ukrainian Donbas [where Sievierodonetsk is located] stands, stands strong," Zelenskyy said.

The city has become the main target of the Russian offensive in the Donbas.

DW reporter: Ukrainian forces 'outgunned'

DW's Nick Connolly has said that Ukraine's army has suffered setbacks recently, mainly because "Western weapon deliveries that Ukraine has been asking for with ever greater intensity ... are not getting there as fast Ukraine needs them to."

In his nightly address, President Zelenskyy also thanked the UK for announcing it would join the US in sending multiple-launch rocket systems.

These are the "weapons we so desperately need to protect the lives of our people," he said.

Connolly noted though, that it would still take weeks for the weapons to arrive and for troops to be trained in them.

"We're getting reports that Ukrainian commanders are having to think twice before using shells because they don't have the depth of ammunition that the Russians have." 

DW has not been able to confirm how much of Sievierodonetsk Ukraine still controls. Nick Connolly said the latest reports suggest they only control "one industrial area on the edge of town."

US: 'Credible' reports Russia is 'pilfering' Ukrainian grain 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has backed claims that Russia has stolen grain from Ukraine in order to sell it on.

"There are credible reports... that Russia is pilfering Ukraine's grain exports to sell for its own profit," Blinken said at a State Department conference on food security issues.

Blinken also accused Russian forces of planting explosives in captured farmland.

He blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for "aggressively using his propaganda machine to deflect or distort responsibility because he hopes it will get the world to give in to him and then the sanctions. In other words, quite simply put: It's blackmail."

What happened in Russia's war on Ukraine on Monday

Luhansk's regional governor Serhiy Haidai said fierce fighting continued in Sievierodonetsk. He described the combat situation as "quite dynamic." He said the shelling of Sievierodonetsk had intensified, with the Russians "destroying everything in line with their scorched-earth tactics."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that, although Russian forces have a numerical advantage in the battle for the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine's forces were still capable of fighting back.

The UK said it will provide Ukraine with M270 multiple-launch rocket systems capable of hitting targets as far away as 80 kilometers (50 miles).

Roman Starovoit, governor of Kursk Oblast, claimed that the village of Tyotkino near the Ukrainian border came under fire early on Monday morning. He said that a few local businesses and a bridge had been hit.

Russia imposed personal sanctions on another 61 US officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm as well as leading defense and media executives. 

Germany's government minister for culture and the media, Claudia Roth of the Greens, has arrived in Odesa for a two-day visit. She's the first German government official to visit the city and she intends to remain there overnight. 

You can revisit our live updates from June 6 here.

jsi,kb,sdi/msh (Reuters, AFP, AP,dpa)