Russia-Ukraine war live: Germany joins US in allowing Kyiv to use its weapons to strike Russia over Kharkiv

“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use US weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” a US official said, according to Politico. They added that US policy on longer range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.”

Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Friday, each sending back 75 POWs in the first such swap in the past three months, officials said. The Ukrainian POWs, including four civilians, were returned on several buses that drove into the northern Sumy region. As they disembarked, they shouted joyfully and called their families to tell them they were home. Some knelt and kissed the ground, while many wrapped themselves in yellow-blue flags.Ukrainian POWs are seen in a bus after a swap at an undisclosed location in Ukraine.

NATO foreign ministers were meeting in the Czech capital Friday to prepare for this summer’s leaders’ summit as the alliance boosts support for Ukraine and countries one-by-one remove restrictions on how Kyiv can use western-supplied weaponry to combat Russia’s invasion.

A day after U.S. President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use American munitions to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, numerous ministers, including those from the Netherlands, Finland, Poland and Germany, expressed approval of the decision, saying that Ukraine has the absolute right to defend itself from attacks originating on Russian soil.

Russia conducted an array of aerial attacks on Ukraine with cruise missiles, drones and ballistic missiles, Ukraine’s air force said Thursday, while the chief of the army said Russia is increasing its troop concentration in the Kharkiv region where Moscow‘s forces have made significant advances in a spring offensive.

Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence operation claimed that sea drones destroyed two Russian KS-701 patrol boats in the Black Sea off the Russia-annexed Crimean peninsula. Russian officials did not immediately comment on the claim.

The air force said the overnight attacks included eight S-300 ballistic missiles, 11 cruise missiles and 32 Shahed drones. All the drones and seven of the cruise missiles were shot down, the air force said but did not give other details.

A non-governmental organization in Georgia said Thursday it is preparing a lawsuit in the country’s constitutional court to challenge a law that critics say will stifle news media and independent organizations.

The law will require media and non-governmental organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as representing the interests of foreign powers. Opponents claim that the law would discredit such organizations and that it will obstruct Georgia’s bid to join the European Union.

Massive demonstrations have filled the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi for weeks to protest the measure, whose foes call it “the Russian law” because of similar laws in Russia pushed by the Kremlin.

China said Friday it would be “’hard to meet” calls for discussions on the Russia-Ukraine war, citing problems with arrangements that appear to point to Beijing’s strongly pro-Moscow stance.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that “China’s hopes appear to be hard to meet at the meeting.

“There is still a clear gap between the arrangements for the meeting and the demands of the Chinese side, as well as the general expectations of the international community,” Mao said.

Three people were killed and several others injured in Ukrainian army shelling of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Friday, Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-installed mayor, said.

Reuters could not independently verify his assertion and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

In a separate incident, authorities in the Russian city of Belgorod reported that a residential building had been hit by a Ukrainian drone. There were no casualties, they said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that Russian air defence forces had downed seven drones over the Belgorod region around 1600-1630 local time (1300-1330 GMT).

Poland’s state news agency was probably hit by a Russian cyberattack on Friday, a government official said, after a false article about military mobilisation appeared on its news feed.

Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempting to destabilise Poland because of its role in supplying military aid to Ukraine, allegations Russian officials have dismissed.

“Due to the probable Russian cyberattack on the Polish Press Agency and disinformation about the alleged mobilisation in Poland, the Internal Security Agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digitisation took immediate action,” Jacek Dobrzynski, spokesperson of the minister coordinating special services, wrote on X.

The Russian embassy in Warsaw said had no knowledge of the incident and declined further comment.

Jan Grabiec, the head of the prime minister’s office, said Poland’s special services were investigating the incident.

The article that appeared twice on the PAP newswire, days before an election to the European Parliament, said Prime Minister Donald Tusk would mobilise 200,000 people to fight in Ukraine.

“The false article was published twice on Friday – at 14.00 and 14.20,” PAP wrote. “It was withdrawn both times. After the first withdrawal, it was re-released.”

Russia conducted 25 strikes with precision-guided weapons aimed at Ukrainian military facilities from May 25 to May 31, the Interfax news agency cited Russia‘s defence ministry as saying on Friday.

The ministry said Russian forces were advancing in several directions and confirmed that they have captured two villages in Ukraine‘s Kharkiv region, Berestove and Ivanivka.