Russia-Ukraine war: 120,000 Russians flee border areas, says state media; Zelenskiy says situation in Ukraine’s east is ‘difficult’ – as it happened

3.57pm BST

Closing summary

We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Russia-Ukraine war coverage here .

Here is a summary of today’s developments:

• Russia’s military said on Tuesday its forces had thwarted attempted Ukrainian attacks on four settlements in its western Kursk region and taken control of what it described as the strategic logistics hub of Niu-York in eastern Ukraine .

• Russian forces also said they had captured the key hub of New York (also referred to as Niu-York) in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow – under pressure by a Kyiv counterattack on its territory – presses on with its offensive. The defence ministry said its troops had captured “one of the largest settlements of the Toretsk agglomeration and the strategically important logistics hub (of) Novgorodskoye ”, referring to the town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region by its former name.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation on Ukraine’s eastern frontline, near the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk, and also close to Toretsk, was “difficult”. Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook that 14 combat clashes had been reported in the Toretsk area and 34 in the Pokrovsk sector since the start of the day.

• Over 122,000 Russians have fled the border regions amid Ukraine’s Kursk invasion, according to Russian media. Residents have left their homes in huge numbers following Kyiv’s surprise counter-punch, TASS said, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

• Russia said it summoned a senior U.S. diplomat to protest over what it called the “provocative actions” of American journalists in Russia’s Kursk region. Moscow appeared to be referring to reporting by the Washington Post and CNN from Sudzha, a Russian border town currently under Kyiv’s control. The foreign ministry said it had protested over the actions of American reporters who had “illegally entered the Kursk region for propaganda coverage of the Kyiv regime’s crimes”. It did not name the reporters or their media outlets.

• Russia’s FSB Security Service detained a scientist in Moscow on suspicion of state treason, Interfax news agency reported. The scientist allegedly carried out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on critical infrastructure on behalf of Ukrainian security services, it quoted the FSB as saying.

• Civilians with small children in their arms and lugging heavy suitcases have fled from Ukraine’s eastern city of Pokrovsk , where the Russian army was bearing down fast despite a lightning Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Local authorities said Russian forces were advancing so quickly that families were under orders to leave the city and other nearby towns and villages starting Tuesday.

• Ukraine’s parliament passed a ‘historic’ bill which paves the way for a ban of the Russia-linked minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) . The legislation prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and envisages a ban, to be approved by a court decision, on religious organisations “affiliated” with it.

• Russian authorities struggled to put out a massive fire in the southern Rostov region for a third consecutive day after an oil depot was hit by Ukrainian drones as Ukrainian forces pushed further into Russia’s Kursk region.

• The Czech Republic announced it will use part of the interest generated from Russian central bank assets frozen in the European Union to buy large-calibre ammunition for Ukraine . Western countries blocked about $300bn worth of sovereign Russian assets after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. EU countries are taking the interest earned on the assets – which include bonds and other securities bought by the Russian central bank – and putting it into an EU fund to aid Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.

  The Kremlin called the plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian assets to fund military aid to Ukraine “theft” and said it would take legal action against anyone involved in the decision.

• Russia launched its fifth missile attack on Kyiv this month overnight. Air defence systems successfully repelled the strike, the Ukrainian military said. Elsewhere in Ukraine, air defence systems shot down three ballistic missiles and 25 of the 26 drones launched in the attack on nine regions.

• People were urged to stay inside their homes in Ukraine’s Ternopil after a large fire broke out overnight during air raid alerts. Russian forces hit an industrial facility during the attack, Ukrainska Pravda reported, adding that a tank containing fuel and chemicals was struck around 3am local time.

3.40pm BST

Russia says it thwarts attacks in Kursk region, advances in east Ukraine

Russia’s military said on Tuesday its forces had thwarted attempted Ukrainian attacks on four settlements in its western Kursk region and taken control of what it described as the strategic logistics hub of New-York (also referred to as Niu-York) in eastern Ukraine.

“Reconnaissance and search operations continue to identify and destroy enemy sabotage groups in clumps of forest that were trying to penetrate deep into Russian territory,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

Russian warplanes had also struck concentrations of Ukrainian manpower and hardware on the Ukrainian side of the border, it said.

It said the attempted Ukrainian assaults inside Kursk were near the settlements of Borki, Korenevo, Kremyanoye and Russkaya Kanapelka. The Guardian could not independently verify battlefield reports.

The capture of New-York, if confirmed by Ukraine, would mark another advance in Moscow’s grinding drive to capture the entire Donetsk region even as it fights to end the two-week-old Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region.

There was no immediate confirmation by Ukraine that Niu-York was in Russian hands. Ukraine’s General Staff acknowledged Russian troops were attacking near Niu-York but said Ukrainian forces were giving them “a worthy rebuff”.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said separately that the situation was “difficult” on Ukraine’s eastern frontline, near the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk and also close to the city of Toretsk.

Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook that 14 combat clashes had been reported in the Toretsk area and 34 in the Pokrovsk sector since the start of the day.

Ukrainian officials said Russia had also hit energy infrastructure in northern Ukraine in an overnight missile and drone attack and caused a huge fire in the west of the country, resulting in an increase in chlorine levels in the air.

Updated at 3.48pm BST

3.17pm BST

We have received more information about Russia’s summons of a senior US diplomat to protest against the presence of American journalists in Kursk.

Moscow appeared to be referring to reporting by the Washington Post and CNN from Sudzha, a Russian border town currently under Kyiv’s control.

In the CNN broadcast, journalists travelled with a Ukrainian military convoy from Ukraine to Sudzha, where they encountered a nearly deserted town with a few dozen elderly residents remaining. For the Washington Post, a text reporter, a videographer and a photographer travelled to Sudzha on Saturday escorted by Ukrainian troops, and interviewed dozens of Russian civilians and Ukrainian soldiers.

The foreign ministry said it had protested over the actions of American reporters who had “illegally entered the Kursk region for propaganda coverage of the Kyiv regime’s crimes”.

It did not name the reporters or their media outlets.

The journalists’ actions “clearly prove the involvement of the United States as a direct participant in the conflict”, the foreign ministry said.

Contacted by Reuters, a Washington Post spokesperson said: “We are proud of our reporting on the Ukraine-Russia war and remain committed to covering all aspects of this important, evolving conflict.” CNN and the US embassy in Moscow did not immediately reply to comment requests.

In its statement on Tuesday, Moscow added that there was “evidence of the participation of Americans PMCs (private military companies) on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during their invasion of the territory of the Russian Federation.” It did not say what evidence it was referring to.

All foreign mercenaries who enter Russia illegally “automatically become a legitimate military target”, the ministry said.

Updated at 3.19pm BST

2.59pm BST

Russia's FSB detains scientist on suspicion of treason, Ifax reports

Russia’s FSB Security Service has detained a scientist in Moscow on suspicion of state treason, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.

The scientist allegedly carried out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on critical infrastructure on behalf of Ukrainian security services, it quoted the FSB as saying.

2.38pm BST

Zelenskiy: situation in Ukraine's east is 'difficult'

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday the situation on Ukraine’s eastern frontline, near the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk, and also close to Toretsk, was “difficult”.

Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook that 14 combat clashes had been reported in the Toretsk area and 34 in the Pokrovsk sector since the start of the day.

We will have more on this story as it develops.

2.08pm BST

Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker on ‘fear and grief’ of Russia’s invasion, Euro 2024 dismay and Mykhailo Mudryk.

While there are understood to have been enquiries from several clubs across the continent – including from the Premier League – Georgiy Sudakov remains a Shakhtar player for now. But he has been thinking about the day he will have to leave the club he joined from Metalist Kharkiv as a 14-year-old.

Now with a two-year-old daughter called Milana, who was born a few months after the war against Russia began, he is focused on repeating last season’s league and cup double and making another impression in Europe, where Shakhtar have direct entry to the expanded Champions League.

Sudakov has never been to the club’s home ground – the Donbas Arena in Donetsk – after they were forced to play their matches elsewhere because of the Russian occupation of the region in 2014.

Read the rest of the article here:

Related: Ukraine’s Georgiy Sudakov: ‘I have friends who are fighting. It is hard to focus on football’

1.40pm BST

Russia protests to US over American journalists in Kursk

Russia said it summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on Tuesday to protest over what it called the “provocative actions” of American journalists in Russia’s Kursk region.

The Foreign Ministry said it had told U.S. Charge d’Affaires Stephanie Holmes that the reporters had crossed illegally into the region, where Ukrainian forces mounted an incursion two weeks ago, and that Russia intended to prosecute them.

1.14pm BST

Over 122,000 Russians flee border areas amid Kursk invasion, says state media

Over 122,000 Russians have fled the border regions amid Ukraine’s Kursk invasion, according to Russian media.

Residents have left their homes in huge numbers following Kyiv’s surprise counter-punch, TASS said, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has previously said that his forces have captured 1,250sq/km (480 square miles) and 92 settlements in Kursk so far.

12.51pm BST

Reuters have also covered the capture of the town, using the spelling Niu-York .

The news wire service says the Ukrainian military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the current status of the settlement but had said earlier on Tuesday that heavy fighting was underway in the Toretsk sector, including in Niu-York, amid reports from Russian military bloggers that Moscow’s forces were engaged in mopping up operations in the town.

In a morning report, Ukraine’s Khortytsia group of forces said on Telegram that Russian forces had tried to advance 24 times in various areas, including Niu-York.

On Monday, Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-backed official, posted video of a Russian soldier hoisting the Russian flag atop what looked like an administrative building in Niu-York while a charred Ukrainian flag lay on the pavement outside.

12.36pm BST

Russians say they have captured Donetsk town of New York

Russian forces said on Tuesday they had captured the key hub of New York in eastern Ukraine , as Moscow – under pressure by a Kyiv counterattack on its territory – presses on with its offensive.

The defence ministry said its troops had captured “one of the largest settlements of the Toretsk agglomeration and the strategically important logistics hub (of) Novgorodskoye ”, referring to the town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region by its former name.

The capture of the town, which had a population of around 10,000 before Moscow launched its offensive, is the latest in a string of Russian advances in the region.

As Agence France-Presse reports, Kyiv has struggled to hold the front line there, facing manpower and ammunition shortages after months of attritional fighting.

Ukraine launched a border incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region two weeks ago, a move it hoped could relieve pressure in other parts of the battlefield.

But the Russian advance in Donetsk has continued.

New York first found itself on the front line in 2014, when Moscow-backed separatists in the east tried to breakaway from Kyiv, triggering an armed conflict.

The origin of the town’s name is a mystery, with theories including possible American connections among its founders.

It was renamed “Novgorodskoye” – New City – by Soviet authorities in 1951 for ideological reasons, before Ukrainian lawmakers voted to switch it back to New York in 2021.

12.12pm BST

The bill paving the way for a ban of the Russia-linked minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been welcomed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office.

“There will be no Moscow Church in Ukraine,” Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said on Telegram.

The bill needs to be signed by Zelenskiy to come into force.

Lawmaker Iryna Gerashchenko called the vote “historic.”

“This is a matter of national security, not religion,” she said in a post on Telegram.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday that Ukraine was trying to “destroy ... true Orthodoxy.”

11.04am BST

Ukraine adopts law paving way for ban of Russia-linked minority church

Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that paves the way for a ban of the Russia-linked minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), lawmakers said.

The legislation prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and envisages a ban, to be approved by a court decision, on religious organisations “affiliated” with it.

Kyiv has cast the minority UOC, which is historically linked to Russia, as a hotbed of Russian influence and complicit in the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A total of 265 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, with 29 against, parliamentarian Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on Telegram.

“Today we have embarked on the inevitable path of cleansing from within the Kremlin’s agent network, which has been hiding behind the mask of a religious organisation for decades,” lawmaker Roman Lozynskyi said on Facebook.

There was no immediate reaction from the minority church but it has said in the past that it had cut ties with the ROC, which is an open supporter of Moscow’s war, after the February 2022 invasion.

Ukrainian officials dispute that claim and have launched dozens of criminal proceedings, including treason charges, against dozens of their clerics. At least one has been sent to Russia as part of a prisoner swap.

The legislation still needs a signature from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who described the move earlier this month as “aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s spiritual independence”.

He said the law should guarantee “there will be no manipulation of the Ukrainian Church from Moscow”.

Updated at 11.27am BST

10.31am BST

Fire rages for third day at Russian oil depot targeted by Ukrainian drones

Russian authorities struggled Tuesday to put out a massive fire in the southern Rostov region for a third consecutive day after an oil depot was hit by Ukrainian drones as Ukrainian forces push further into Russia’s Kursk region.

The fire at the depot in the town of Proletarsk burned across an area of 10,000 square meters, according to Russian state news agencies. There are 500 firefighters involved in the operation, and 41 of them already have been hospitalised with injuries, according to the Russian state-owned news agency TASS, citing local officials.

Ukraine’s Army General Staff claimed responsibility Sunday for attacking the oil depot, which was used to supply the needs of Russia’s army, calling it a measure “to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation.”

10.21am BST

Czechs will buy ammunition for Ukraine with income from frozen Russian assets

The Czech Republic will use part of the interest generated from Russian central bank assets frozen in the European Union to buy large-calibre ammunition for Ukraine, the Czech Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

Western countries blocked about $300bn worth of sovereign Russian assets after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

EU countries are taking the interest earned on the assets – which include bonds and other securities bought by the Russian central bank – and putting it into an EU fund to aid Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.

EU governments agreed in June to use 1.4 billion euros ($1.5bn) in profits generated by the assets to buy arms and pay for other kinds of support to Ukraine.

The Czech Defence Ministry said some of that money would be used for an effort it has been leading to buy artillery ammunition for Ukraine around the world, funded by western partners.

In June, Ukraine received its first consignment under the initiative and deliveries continue every month, Czech officials have said.

“This is a unique opportunity quickly and effectively support Ukraine,” a ministry statement said.

The Kremlin called the plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian assets to fund military aid to Ukraine “theft” and said it would take legal action against anyone involved in the decision.

9.57am BST

Ukraine repels missile strike on Kyiv, air force says

Russia launched its fifth missile attack on Kyiv this month overnight, Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday.

Air defence systems successfully repelled the strike, it added.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, air defence systems shot down three ballistic missiles and 25 of the 26 drones launched in the attack on nine regions.

The strikes targeted nine regions in the centre, north and south of the country, Ukraine’s air force said.

Kyiv has been under air raid alerts 41 times this month.

9.10am BST

Residents urged to stay inside after large fire breaks out in Ternopil

People were urged to stay inside their homes in Ukraine’s Ternopil after a large fire broke out overnight during air raid alerts, the military administration of the western Ukrainian region said on Tuesday.

Russian forces hit an industrial facility during the attack, Ukrainska Pravda reported, adding that a tank containing fuel and chemicals was struck around 3am local time.

“Do not leave your home unnecessarily, limit children’s time outdoors as much as possible, close windows indoors,” the administration said on the Telegram messaging app.

It added emergency services were working on the site of the fire that occurred overnight “during air raid alerts.”

It was not immediately known what facility was on fire.

Updated at 9.15am BST

8.50am BST

Here are the latest photos of civilians fleeing the city of Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow’s forces were said to be bearing down on the city, despite Kyiv’s recent lightning incursion into the Kursk region hoping to take pressure off the frontline.

Local authorities said Russian troops were advancing so quickly that families had been ordered to leave the 53,000-strong city, and nearby towns and villages.

8.23am BST

Belarus says sending more troops, military equipment to border with Ukraine

Belarus claimed on Monday to have sent more troops, aircraft and armoury to its border with Ukraine.

The update comes a day after President Alexander Lukashenko said he deployed almost a third of his country’s armed forces to the region – a statement Ukraine said was false.

“The group has been significantly increased, and at the moment they are on duty at the southern borders of our country,” Commander of the air force and Air Defence of Belarus Maj. Gen Andrei Lukyanovich, told the state-owned CTV broadcaster.

Aviation, anti-aircraft missile forces, and radio-technical troops were deployed to the border, Lukyanovich said.

“The fact that drones are the plague of the 21st century is obvious,” Lukyanovich added.

“This is a headache, which, I think, we will find the means to counter.”

Ukraine said it had not seen an increase in Belarusian troops on the border and called Lukashenko’s statements “rhetoric” aimed at pleasing Putin, who used Belarus as a launchpad to start his invasion in Ukraine in February 2022.

Updated at 8.24am BST

8.10am BST

Civilians flee Pokrovsk as Russia’s army bears down on key eastern Ukraine city

Hello, welcome to our rolling coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Civilians with small children in their arms and lugging heavy suitcases have fled from Ukraine’s eastern city of Pokrovsk, where the Russian army was bearing down fast despite a lightning Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Associated Press reports.

Local authorities said Russian forces were advancing so quickly that families were under orders to leave the city and other nearby towns and villages starting Tuesday. Around 53,000 people still live in Pokrovsk, officials said, and some of them decided to get out immediately. We will have more detail on that shortly.

In other developments:

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region shows Kremlin threats of retaliation are a bluff as he urged Kyiv’s allies to loosen curbs on using their weapons against targets on Russian territory . Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces had gained control of more than 1,250 sq km (483 sq miles) and 92 settlements in Kursk.

• Speaking to Ukrainian diplomats, the president said the “naive, illusory concept of so-called red lines” had “crumbled apart”. But restrictions imposed by allies remain, and Zelenskiy urged allies to be bolder in helping Ukraine . “The world sees that everything in this war depends only on courage – our courage, the courage of our partners. On brave decisions for Ukraine, on courage in supporting Ukraine.”

• Ukraine has destroyed a third bridge over the Seym River in Kursk , Dan Sabbagh writes , as part of an apparent attempt to expand what Zelenskiy has described as a military “buffer zone” inside Russia .

• Ukraine’s top general said Kyiv was also “doing everything necessary” to defend the eastern city of Toretsk as Moscow tries to threaten Ukrainian supply lines. Russia said its forces had captured the nearby town of Zalizne.

• Dmytro Lykhovii, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Tavria group of forces, said Russian ground assaults had decreased on the war’s southern Ukrainian front compared with last week. Likhovey did not say whether it was due to Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region, the official Ukrinform news agency said. In the Zaporizhia region around Orekhovo and Gulyai-Polye there had been no clashes for a third day. Only small Russian attacks were mounted on Ukrainian-held positions on the western side of the Dnipro river in the Kherson region, Lykhovii told Ukrainian media, but Russian aircraft continued to carry out strikes with glide bombs .

• The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, “remains absolutely resolute” in supporting Ukraine, his spokesperson said on Monday, after Zelenskiy suggested that UK support “has slowed down recently” .

• Back in Russia, an oil facility in Proletarsk, southern Rostov region, has burned for two days after a Ukrainian drone strike . Russian social media channels reported a massive fire and successive explosions, backed up by pictures and footage online, with 11 storage tanks said to have been destroyed. Forty-one firefighters needed hospital treatment, said the Rostov region governor, Vasily Golubev.

• Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow was not ready to hold peace talks with Ukraine for now, given the Kursk attack. Ukraine has demanded a full withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory before it sits down for any talks.

Updated at 10.11am BST