The Russian army doesn’t take any breaks: Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s president says air alarms rang out across most of Ukraine Tuesday night as Russian forces continued to ‘intimidate’ and ‘take people’s lives’.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says air alerts rang out across almost all of Ukraine Tuesday night, as he calls again for a modern, effective air-defence system.
• He says there were strikes in the Khmelnytskyi region of western Ukraine, the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, the border region of Sumy, and the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv and its region.
• Russian troops are engaged in heavy fighting and making their way into Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the governor of Luhansk has said, adding that a large quantity of equipment is being sent towards Donetsk.
• Local officials have said at least two people were killed and seven injured after Russian forces struck a market and residential area in Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region on Tuesday.
• The governor of Donetsk has urged some 350,000 citizens to evacuate the region to help Ukraine’s forces fight better with Russian troops.

Here are the latest updates:

37 mins ago (23:45 GMT)

Air alarms blared across almost all of Ukraine Tuesday: Zelenskyy

An air alert rang out across almost all of Ukraine on Tuesday night, Zelenskyy has said, as he again called for a modern modern anti-missile system.

“Before that, there has been no air alert in the capital and in some regions for some time, and some people even felt particularly anxious because of such unusual silence. They were overthinking, dreading, looking for some kind of explanation – as if the occupiers were preparing for something…,” he said in his nighttime address.

“You should not look for logic in the actions of terrorists. The Russian army does not take any breaks. It has one task – to take people’s lives, to intimidate people – so that even a few days without an air alarm already feel like part of the terror. And this evening, Kyiv and again almost the whole of Ukraine heard the air alarm,” he added.

Zelenskyy said there were strikes in the Khmelnytskyi region of western Ukraine, the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, the border region of Sumy, and the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv and its region. “Some of the missiles were shot down by our air defence forces. And we have not reduced and will not reduce our diplomatic activity for a single day to obtain modern anti-missile systems for Ukraine in sufficient quantity.”

45 mins ago (23:38 GMT)

Russians moving into Ukraine’s Donetsk: Governor

Russian troops are engaged in heavy fighting and making their way into Ukraine’s Donetsk region after taking control of the last two towns in neighbouring Luhansk, the regional governor of Luhansk has said.

Serhiy Haidai said the Russian troops had sustained heavy losses in the long process of capturing the twin towns of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, but were channelling their efforts into moving southward.

“Heavy fighting is going on at the edge of Luhansk region… All the forces of the Russian army and reserves have been redirected there… They are sustaining heavy losses,” Haidai told Ukrainian television.

“A large quantity of equipment is being sent towards Donetsk region. Of course, after Luhansk region, Donetsk is at the top of their list.”

48 mins ago (23:35 GMT)

Ukraine is a ‘terrorist’ state: Russia parliament speaker

The speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament has told members in a plenary session that Ukraine had become a “terrorist state”, according to remarks posted on the State Duma’s website.

Vyacheslav Volodin was quoted as saying that Zelenskyy was the head of a “criminal regime”.

Russian officials have since the beginning of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine sought to paint their neighbour as being controlled by anti-Russian fascists and “neo-Nazis”, but have not pushed the idea that it is a terrorist state.

Ukraine and the West say the claim is baseless propaganda, used to justify a land grab.

59 mins ago (23:24 GMT)

Two killed, seven injured in Sloviansk Tuesday: Officials

At least two people were killed and seven injured after Russian forces struck a market and a residential area in Sloviansk on Tuesday, local officials have said.

A Reuters reporter on the scene saw yellow smoke billowing from an auto supplies shop, and flames engulfing rows of market stalls as firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze.

It was not immediately clear what munitions had been used in the attack on the frontline city in the Donetsk region, or how many people had been at the market when it was hit.

“Russians again deliberately target areas where civilians congregate,” Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote in a Facebook post that detailed the toll of Tuesday’s strikes. “This is sheer terrorism.”

Read more here.

Read all the updates for July 5 here.