"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The air raid was announced at around 2:30 p.m. local time, while the explosion sounded around 2:50 p.m. The number of victims killed rose to three, Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported at 8:42 p.m.
If confirmed, the decision would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that President Volodymyr Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The disclosure follows a warning from Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who on May 6 said Moscow was carrying out an "unprecedented" interference campaign.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva claimed that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had appealed to his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira, to ask Putin if he was willing to conclude a peace agreement.
Earlier reporting from the Washington Post cited a former Russian official who claimed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, would represent Moscow in the talks.
The Council of Europe on May 14 approved the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmaker Maria Mezentseva reported.
Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted she was in Russian detention the following year.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel speaks about the future of the EU-led special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and its role in bringing Russia to justice.
An image shows the damage to the destroyed Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in Kherson Oblast on the morning of June 6, 2023. (Energoatom)
Ukraine's Interior Ministry reported on June 6 that 885 residents of Kherson Oblast had been evacuated as of 11:00 a.m. local time following Russia's destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant's dam.
Evacuation is ongoing as around 80 settlements are at risk of potential flooding, according to the ministry, most of which are under Russian occupation.
According to a Kyiv Independent employee on the ground, local authorities in Kherson are conducting partial evacuation from the central part of the city and the Ostriv district.
Flooded houses and other buildings are seen on the edge of the Ostriv district, located on the Dnipro River's bank. The movement to the district is restricted, and some public transport routes in the city have been suspended, the employee said.
"In general, there is no panic (in Kherson), but it (the dam destruction) is the only thing that people are talking about, everyone is discussing it in the queues."
While rescue workers were evacuating civilians from Kherson, Russian forces shelled the city, injuring two police officers, the ministry said earlier.
Around 16,000 people's homes in Kherson Oblast are located in "critical risk" zones for flooding, according to Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant's dam across the Dnipro River on the morning of June 6, sparking a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine.
Built in 1956, the power plant is crucial to Ukraine's energy infrastructure. According to Ukraine's state hydroelectric power company, the damage caused by the breach is "impossible to repair."
Around 16,000 people's homes in Kherson Oblast are reportedly located in "critical risk" zones for flooding.
Olena Goncharova
