The Russians say they are gaining ground, wounded on both sides…

One man was killed and two others injured in a Russian bombardment on the village of Dergatchiv, in the Kharkiv region, according to its governor, Oleg Synegoubov.

Bulgaria, a member of the European Union and NATO, began on Monday using fuel from the American giant Westinghouse in its only nuclear power plant in Kozlodoui (in the north of the country). This Soviet-designed site supplies more than a third of the electricity consumed in this Balkan country,

The oldest reactor on the site, dating from 1987, was successfully connected to the electricity network in the morning after loading “43 fuel assemblies, manufactured by Westinghouse”, the plant announced in a press release. The transition process is expected to take four years.

With the same aim of “diversification of supplies”, the second reactor of the plant will be supplied with fuel from the French company Framatome from 2025.

A Russian man was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for insulting a boy wearing a hat with a “Z” on it, the symbol of supporters of Russia’s assault on Ukraine. Alexander Neustroyev was on trial for having shouted in April 2023 at an 11-year-old child “Stuff that hat up your ass, idiot”, according to Russian media. The incident took place in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg.

According to the local prosecutor, the accused was convicted of “hooliganism”, a term covering acts of vandalism or harassment in Russian criminal law. He must serve his sentence in a penal village, a less strict form of detention than penitentiaries.

Seven people were injured Monday in a Russian town bordering Ukraine, four of them in a mine explosion and the other three in a Ukrainian shelling, Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. . “Four people jumped on a mine in the town of Chebekino, including three members of the territorial defense and an employee of the Rossia-24 television channel,” the official said on Telegram.

The cameraman was transported “in serious condition”, he said, “injured by shrapnel to the abdomen and left shoulder”.

Chebekino is a town of 40,000 inhabitants located very close to the border with Ukraine, less than 100 km from Kharkiv, the second Ukrainian city whose eponymous region has been the target of an offensive by Russian forces since May 10.

A senior official responsible for the reconstruction of Ukraine and figure in the pro-European Maidan revolution in 2014 announced his resignation on Monday due to tensions with the executive. A former well-known journalist and political activist, Moustafa Nayyem was appointed at the end of January 2023 to head the agency responsible for rebuilding infrastructure damaged by the war. He denounced on Monday “constant opposition” to his work.

“I am resigning from my position at the head of the agency. I made this decision on my own due to systemic obstacles that prevent me from effectively carrying out my duties,” he explained on his Facebook page. He notably denounced the decision of Prime Minister Denys Chmygal to cancel his official participation in the conference on the recovery of Ukraine scheduled for June 11 and 12 in Berlin.

Russia claimed Monday the capture of a village in southeastern Ukraine, in one of the few areas where Ukrainian troops made progress during their difficult counter-offensive last summer.

“Units of the Eastern group of troops continued to advance deep into the enemy defense and liberated the settlement of Staromayorské,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced in its daily report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday denied the capture by Russian forces of the village of Ryjivka, in the Sumy region (northeast), which was earlier claimed by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

“Regarding the village of Ryjivka, the occupier tried to carry out a propaganda operation there. Since this morning, the Russian flag (raised in the) village has been destroyed and there is no presence of the occupier,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

Switzerland is hosting a summit on Saturday and Sunday designed as a “first step” to find the path to peace in Ukraine, with dozens of senior leaders, but without Russia and presumably China. “We dare to talk about peace,” launched the Swiss Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis, presenting the program of the meeting to the media on Monday.

The “High Level Conference on Peace in Ukraine”, its official name, will take place in the wake of the G7 meeting, from Thursday to Saturday, in southern Italy, with the participation of the Ukrainian president in both meetings. Volodymyr Zelensky. G7 leaders hope to reach an agreement on using interest from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

More than 90 states and organizations are expected in Switzerland, including French President Emmanuel Macron, American Vice-President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

“The conference is a first step,” stressed Ignazio Cassis, but “there will be no peace process without Russia. The question is not if Russia will be on board but when.” Bern did not invite Russia, the latter having indicated that it was not interested because it considers that Switzerland has lost its neutrality by aligning itself with European sanctions.

The head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov said on Sunday that Russian forces had captured the border village of Ryzhivka, in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine. The fighters of the Akhmat battalion “carried out tactical operations together with servicemen of other Russian units and liberated another locality from the enemy” which “is the village of Ryzhivka,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on the Telegram messenger.

“As a result of large-scale planned offensive actions, the Ukrainian side suffered significant losses and was forced to retreat,” he added.

AFP was not immediately able to verify the Chechen leader’s claims.

Sunday, the day was marked by the announcement by the Ukrainian army of a strike that hit Su-57 fighter parked at an airfield in southern Russia, its first attack against this latest generation Russian stealth plane.

Like every day, the 20 Minutes editorial team is working to provide you with all the information on the conflict. War was declared with Russia’s invasion of the country on the night of February 23 to 24, 2022. This Monday is the 838th day of war.