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Kloof High School is a values-based, co-educational school,

Which provides a disciplined, nurturing environment in which learners are challenged to be the best that they can be., one family, one school.

High school is a critical time for young men and women.

It is not only a stepping stone to their future, but also a place where they discover who they are and where they fit into the world. Ideally, it should be the best years of their lives.

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We provide excellent co-curricular facilities at Kloof High School that promote qualities like leadership, teamwork, dedication and communication.

Respect, understanding, diversity and socialisation are just some of the benefits of a co-educational school. Click below to read more.

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Kloof High School - Open Day 2024

Sat Feb 3, 08:00 - Sat Feb 3, 16:00

Kloof High School

High school is a critical time for young men and women. It is not only a stepping stone to their future but also a place where they discover who they are and where they fit into the world. Ideally, it should be the best years of their lives.

When choosing a high school for your child, understand that there is a difference between a good school and the right school. A good school looks great on paper, but the right school allows your child to flourish personally and academically.

At Kloof High School, we are a family of forward thinkers, where learners shine personally and academically. We put values like kindness and caring before everything we do, and we encourage our learners to do the same.

Every student is exposed to forward-thinking skills that focus on the abilities that they need to move ahead. These abilities are courage, leadership, emotional intelligence, commitment, empathy, responsibility, and collaboration.

Kloof High School learners graduate with the confidence that they are the leaders of tomorrow.

To learn more about our wonderful school, please join us for our Open Day, on the 3rd of February 2024.

There will be guided tours at 08:00, 9:30, 11:00, 13:30, 15:00.

Only parents and prospective students are permitted to attend our Open Day.

Ukraine-Russia war – latest: Moscow ready to strike French troops as UK sends Kyiv 1,000 drones

LIVE – Updated at 10:48

Russia is ready to strike French troops if they are sent to to Ukraine to help train Kyiv ’s soldiers, the Kremlin has suggested.

Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said French trainers would come to Ukraine “soon” last week, which was downplayed by both Paris and Kyiv .

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “No instructor involved in training the Ukrainian military has immunity. It doesn’t matter whether they’re French or not .”

In February, French president Emmanuel Macron said the situation in Ukraine was “dynamic” and nothing could be ruled out.

It comes as Britain is seeking to send 1,000 first-person view drones to Ukraine as part of an international support coalition.

The appeal, worth £300,000, calls for the procurement of up to 15 batches of 20 “first-person view racing quadcopter style drones”.

Meanwhile, Russian sources claimed that Ukraine fired American weapons at Belgorod for the first time after Washington lifted a ban on Kyiv using its weapons inside Russia.

The Ukrainians reportedly fired the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, at bordering Belgorod city, Russia’s defence ministry and military bloggers said.

Russia prepared to strike French troops in Ukraine, Kremlin suggests

• Russia warns US against 'fatal' miscalculation in Ukraine

Britain seeking to send 1,000 first-person drones to Ukraine

Russian soldiers’ wives demand putin return their men from war.

• Zelensky says China pressuring other countries to not attend peace talks

Investigation claims Russian Orthodox Church ‘Russifying’ abducted Ukrainian children

An investigation has found the Kremlin-backed Russian Orthodox Church has played a role in “Russifying” the identities of Ukrainian children.

War monitoring think-tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cited the investigation by Russian opposition student journal DOXA and open-source outlet Kidmapping.

The report found that in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials deported children from orphanages and boarding schools in occupied Donetsk Oblast to Russia’s Rostov Oblast.

It was here that the report claims the children were visited by senior clergyman Metropolitan Mercury who encouraged them to consider baptism into the church. 

Ukrainian children were also placed at shelters run by the church, where clergy and affiliated officials held “military-patriotic” events in an effort to encourage pro-Russian sentiment among the children and “cut the children off from their Ukrainian identities”.

Russian sociologist loses appeal against 5-year sentence for ‘justifying terrorism’

A Russian sociologist and activist had his appeal to overturn his five-year prison sentence on charges of “justifying terrorism” rejected.

Russia’s Supreme Court rejected Boris Kagarlitsky appeal on Wednesday after a petition calling for his release was signed by intellectuals and politicians from around the world including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn

Kagarlitsky, 65, is a longtime political dissident and has spoken out repeatedly against the conflict in Ukraine in a magazine he edited and on his YouTube channel.

A former teacher at the prestigious Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences, Kagarlitsky was designated a “foreign agent” by the Russian government in 2018 and was last year added to a register of “terrorists and extremists”.

A Russian court handed him a 600,000-rouble fine in December 2023 after finding him guilty of “publicly justifying terrorism” in a video commenting on a Ukrainian attack on the bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea in October 2022.

Russia is ready to strike French troops if they are sent to to Ukraine to help train Kyiv’s soldiers, the Kremlin has suggested.

Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said French trainers would come to Ukraine “soon” last week, which was downplayed by both Paris and Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “No instructor involved in training the Ukrainian military has immunity. It doesn’t matter whether they’re French or not.”

Britain is pushing to deliver 1,000 first-person view drones to Ukraine as part of an international coalition in support of Kyiv.

According to a tender notice posted on the Government’s website, industry providers have been invited to submit bids to provide drones and equipment that can be fitted with armour-destroying munitions.

Ukraine says use of western weapons to strike inside Russia is ‘vital'

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff has said that using Western weapons to strike inside Russia was a vital step that would impact Moscow’s tactical aviation and its capability to operate in border areas.

Following pressure from Ukraine and some of its European allies, the US agreed last week to change its policy and allow Kyiv to strike inside Russia with Western weapons as part of its campaign to repel Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Kyiv said the move would help push back Russian advances and better defend territory in the northeast Kharkiv region.

“Permission to use Western weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation is a vital decision,” Andriy Yermak said on the Telegram messaging app. “This will impact the conduct of the war, planning of counteroffensive actions, and will weaken Russians’ abilities to use their forces in the border areas.”

The decision would also help to better fend off Russian aerial attacks, Mr Yermak said.

Russia has ‘robbed normal life for an entire generation of Ukrainian children’, Zelensky says

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has shared an emotional video depicting some of the children who have been killed since the start of the war.

He said: “Many little Ukrainians will never grow up because they were killed in Russian attacks.”

“Thousands have been kidnapped, transferred from Ukraine to Russia, and scattered among strangers. Most of them are unable to contact their families,” he added.

“The way Russia treats Ukraine and its people is a deliberate and calculated genocide.”

Ukraine shoots down 22 of the 27 Russian drones launched overnight

The Ukrainian air force said it downed 22 of the 27 Shahed-type drones launched over five Ukrainian regions in Russia’s overnight attacks.

One person was injured and an industrial facility was damaged in the attack in the region of Poltava, its governor, Filip Pronin, said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian military destroyed six drones over the southern region of Mykolaiv, its governor said.Debris from one of them destroyed a private home, and damaged about 10 more, but no casualties were reported, he added.

Four drones were shot down over the southern region of Kherson and four more over the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the regions’ governors said.

The attack also targeted the northern region of Sumy, with no details of damage reported by regional authorities.

On Monday, Ukrainian forces claimed they struck inside Russian territory with Western-supplied weapons and hit a Russian S-300 missile system.

“It burns beautifully. It’s a Russian S-300. On Russian territory. The first days after permission to use Western weapons on enemy territory,” Ukrainian government minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

She posted a picture of the alleged attack on Facebook.

Russian-linked hacker group 'targeting Paris Olympics'

The Paris Olympics are being targeted by a Russian-linked disinformation campaign, according to Microsoft.

Since last summer, efforts have been under way by a hacker group named Storm-1679, according to research.

The hackers “are trying to cultivate an anticipation of violence”, said Clint Watts, the head of Microsoft’s Digital Threat Analysis Centre. “They want people to be fearful of going to the Olympics.”

US embassy in Ukraine issues warning to dual citizens

The American embassy in Ukraine has announced that US-Ukrainian dual citizens will no longer be able to leave the country.

The notification comes after the Ukrainian government reportedly removed the exception that allowed some Ukrainian males between 18 and 60 to leave the country, as long as they could prove they were resident abroad.

“Previously, dual US-Ukrainian citizens in this group could enter and then depart Ukraine if they had deregistered their Ukrainian residency and registered their US residency,” the embassy statement reads. “According to our information, this exception was revoked as of 1 June.”

The Ukrainian government also passed a bill on the mobilisation of men into the military in April as it faces a shortage of manpower amid the ongoing war with Russia.

Eight including two children injured after Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Dnipro

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine‘s central city Dnipro injured eight people, including two children, and damaged civilian infrastructure yesterday, Ukrainian authorities said.

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down two Iskander-K cruise missiles over the region. The missile debris damaged civilian infrastructure, causing a fire and injuring residents, according to Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor.

A month-old boy and a seventeen-year-old were among those injured, in addition to six adults, based on preliminary information from the governor and the state emergency services.

The attack damaged cars and knocked windows out in residential buildings and a hospital, Lysak wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov added that at least 47 residences and a school were damaged.

Emergency services put out the fire caused by the attack.

Russian forces also launched four drones in the overnight attack. The Ukrainian air force said it shot down two of them over the northern region of Chernihiv.

Missile threat alert across Ukraine after aircraft intercepted

A missile threat alert was announced across the country after a MiG-31K aircraft took off overnight.

The Ukrainian Air Forces said they monitored the MiG-31K, an aircraft that can carry the Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles that are being used by Russian forces to attack Ukraine.

China pushes Beijing’s version of Ukraine peace plan after snub to Switzerland

The Chinese foreign minister has continued to push Beijing’s potential role as a mediator in Ukraine-Russia peace talks, days after China withdrew from an upcoming peace summit in Switzerland.

Wang Yi told reporters that both Russia and Ukraine have separately indicated their support for the peace plan laid out by China and Brazil last month.

Mr Wang said the two countries have “affirmed most of the content” of the plan that called for an international conference, inviting both Russia and Ukraine.

He said 26 nations have agreed or expressed interest in the plan and a total of 45 countries have given “positive feedback” to the idea.

China is seen as a close ally to Russia, a fact that puts into question its ability to serve as an independent mediator, though Ukraine has not entirely ruled out the idea.

Biden to skip Switzerland’s Ukraine peace summit

US president Joe Biden is set to skip the upcoming Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland despite the Ukrainian president’s direct appeal to his most significant ally.

The US will instead be represented by vice president Kamala Harris and Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan during the two-day event on 15 and 16 June in Lucern, the White House said in a statement.

Mr Zelensky had said that only Vladimir Putin will “applaud” Biden if he fails to show up in Switzerland.

“I believe that the peace summit needs President Biden, and other leaders need President Biden because they will look at the US’s reaction,” Mr Zelensky said at a press conference in Brussels last week.

Mr Biden’s absence “would only be met by an applause by Putin – a personal, standing applause,” he added.

China has already pulled out of the summit after it expressed concerns over Russia not being invited.

The Kremlin has pressurised its allies not to take part in the summit, claiming it lacks clear goals and that it was absurd to hold it without Russia.

As Russia’s forces edge ever closer, Kharkiv’s mayor has a defiant message for Putin

Britain to deliver 1,000 first-person view drones to Ukraine

The UK is expected to send 1,000 first-person view drones to Ukraine, according to a tender posted on the government’s website.

The government is inviting bidders to provide drones that are “capable of carrying varying payloads depending on their propeller size”, reported The Telegraph.

The notice called for 15 batches of 20 “first-person view racing quadcopter style drones” worth £300,000.

The potential delivery would be part of an international coalition launched by Britain and Latvia in February to supply unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the front lines of Ukraine.

Russia calls French military instructors in Ukraine ‘legitimate target’

Russian foreign minister Sergi Lavrov said any French military instructors in Ukraine would be a “legitimate target” for Russian armed forces amid reports Paris was considering sending trainers to Kyiv.

During his Africa tour yesterday, Mr Lavrov claimed French instructors were already on Ukrainian territory.

“As for the French instructors, I think they are already on the Ukrainian territory,” Mr Lavrov said, referring to the military instructors that France could send to train Ukrainian troops. “Regardless of their status, military officials or mercenaries represent a legitimate target for our armed forces.”

Ukraine‘s top commander said last week he had signed paperwork allowing French military instructors to access Ukrainian training centres soon.

But French president Emmanuel Macron said last week he would not comment on “rumours or decisions that could be made.”

He said he would elaborate on France’s support during the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day later this week.

Mr Macron’s office said it would not comment on Mr Lavrov’s remarks.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “instructors who train the Kyiv regime’s troops don’t have any sort of immunity, and it doesn’t matter whether they are French or not.”

Biden to meet Zelensky during France visit

President Joe Biden will meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in Normandy during his D-Day celebration visit to France, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

He confirmed that the US was not planning to send American military trainers to Ukraine.

“For our part, we’re not planning for a training mission in Ukraine,” Mr Sullivan said.

“They need more air defences and we are working on that and they need a continued flow of weaponry which we will supply to them.”

The US president’s remarks in Normandy, both on Thursday at the formal 80th anniversary ceremony and on Friday at the famed Pointe du Hoc cliffs, will centre around the dangers of isolationism and the need to stand up to dictators, Mr Sullivan said.

They escaped Russia’s deadly assault on Kharkiv – now these Ukrainians face another catastrophe

They escaped Russia’s deadly assault on Kharkiv – now they face another catastrophe

The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine

The war against rabies in Ukraine and the race to stop it crossing borders

The war against rabies in Ukraine and the race against time to stop it spreading

Putin’s forces killed his brother. He takes revenge using hundreds of suicide drones to blow Russian troops up

The Ukraine politician avenging his brother’s death with hi-tech ‘suicide drones’

Zelensky accuses China of helping Russia sabotage Ukraine peace summit

Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers prepare to hit Russian forces in Dontesk

UK vows action over hundreds of Ukrainians with disabilities vanished into Russia

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused China of helping Russia to disrupt an upcoming peace conference on the war in Ukraine.

Speaking at Asia’s premier security conference in Singapore, Mr Zelensky alleged Russia had been using Chinese diplomats in the wider Asian region to influence and dissuade countries from attending the peace summit, due to be held in Burgenstock Resort, central Switzerland, on 15 and 16 June.

“Russia, using Chinese influence in the region, using Chinese diplomats also, does everything to disrupt the peace summit,” said Mr Zelensky at a news conference at the Shangri-La defence forum.

“Regrettably this is unfortunate that such a big independent powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin.”

Read more here:

Kremlin says Swiss summit on Ukraine is waste of time without Russia

The Kremlin said it was understandable that some countries were declining to take part in a Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine this month because the gathering lacked clear goals and it was absurd to hold it without Russia.

Ukraine says more than 100 countries and organisations have agreed to attend the summit on June 15-16, to which Moscow has not been invited.

“This is a completely absurd activity, this is an idle pastime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He said it was obvious the meeting was not geared towards results, and “that’s why many countries don’t want to waste time.”

Over the past two years operating along the Ukrainian front line, Khrystyna Drahomaretska has gained a veteran’s understanding of the battle tactics employed by the invading Russian troops.

During the day, the 27-year-old explains, they will freely dispatch cheap kamikaze drones to kill anyone on sight. At night, however, the high-value drones equipped with hi-tech sensors are used more sparingly to target vehicles instead.

That was the calculation she made two weeks ago while conducting a daring night-time rescue operation a few hundred metres from the Russian positions near the city of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region where Putin’s forces are currently pushing towards.

Mindful of the night vision drones, she ditched her van and crept towards her target on foot. But the enemy started firing anyway, with more than a dozen missiles launched towards her position.

Hiding behind a copse of trees, one exploded nearby sending a knuckle-sized piece of shrapnel searing straight through her leg.

Many soldiers will insist that killing their enemies is not personal. But when Stepan Barna’s suicide drone unit takes Russian soldiers’ lives, he does not disguise his feeling that every killing is a very personal payback for the death of his brother last year.

Stepan and his older brother, Oleh, were both well-known Ukrainian politicians long before Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Stepan had been the governor of the Ternopil region in the country’s west.

Oleh had been a member of the Ukrainian parliament. He gained notoriety in 2015 when he grabbed the then prime minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk, whose politics he disagreed with, while Yatseniuk was addressing the parliament, and dragged him off the podium.

Moscow could ‘attack Nato in three years’

Nato only has two to three years to prepare before Russia regains its ability to launch a conventional attack on the alliance, Norway’s top general said.

“At one point someone said it’ll take 10 years, but I think we’re back to less than 10 years because of the industrial base that is now running in Russia,” General Kristoffersen said.

“It will take some time, which gives us a window now for the next two to three years to rebuild our forces, to rebuild our stocks at the same time as we are supporting Ukraine.”

Ukraine using Western weapons to hit targets in Russia won't lead to escalation, says German chancellor

Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia will not “contribute to escalation,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said.

Germany has long opposed lifting the ban on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons to target Russia, but changed course last month.

“We are certain that it will not contribute to an escalation because, as Joe Biden has also described, it is only a matter of being able to defend a large city like Kharkiv,” Mr Scholz said.

Putin asks Xi to ‘snub’ Switzerland peace conference

Vladimir Putin reportedly asked Xi Jinping to snub an upcoming peace conference in Switzerland which Russia is not attending.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba stated on June 3 that Russia is trying to discredit the upcoming Ukrainian peace summit by convincing other states that the summit is insignificant.

Other Ukrainian officials have recently emphasized that it is imperative for both the United States and the PRC to attend the June 2024 peace summit as their participation is “decisive” in compelling Russia to participate in the process of restoring peace and security.

Russia and China in ‘disagreement’ over gas pipeline

Moscow and Beijing are in disagreement over a planned gas pipeline connecting Russia with China despite a public show of allignment, according to reports.

China and Russia disagree about the details of the PS - 2 gas pipeline, with Beijing wanting to pay prices near Russia’s subsidised domestic gas prices and to only commit to buying a small part of the pipeline’s planned capacity, the Financial Times reported.

Gazprom boss Alexei Miller did not accompany Russian President Vladimir Putin on his recent visit to the PRC due to the disagreements over the pipeline.

Russian missile attack on Dnipro injures seven, including two children

At least seven people, including two children, were injured as a Russian missile hit the central city of Dnipro, local officials said.

The missile attack in the early hours today by Russian forces also damaged civilian infrastructure.

Ukrainian air force said it shot down two Iskander-K cruise missiles over the region. The missile debris damaged civilian infrastructure, causing a fire and injuring residents, according to Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor.

Two boys were among those injured, in addition to five adults, based on preliminary information from the governor.

The attack damaged cars and knocked windows out in residential buildings and a hospital, Lysak wrote on Telegram.

Russian forces also launched four drones in the overnight attack but the Ukrainian air force said it shot down two of them over the northern region of Chernihiv.

Nearly 1300 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine in past 24 hours

Russian forces have lost 1,290 soldiers and more than 200 pieces of military equipment in the past 24 hours, senior Ukrainian military officials said in a daily update this morning.

A total of 512,420 Russian military personnel have been killed or injured since the invasion in February 2022, the update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

The General Staff also reported 126 combat clashes took place on the war frontline over the past day.

“During the day, the Russian occupiers launched two missile attacks on the territory of Ukraine using six missiles and 37 air strikes using 51 UAVs, and launched 359 kamikaze drones. In addition, the occupiers fired over 2,100 times at the positions of our troops and settlements using various types of weapons,” it said.

The Russian Ministry of Defence does not comment on the casualty count of its troops shared by Kyiv.

White House says Ukraine has no stronger backer than US as Biden misses peace talks

Asked Monday if president Joe Biden was sending the wrong message globally by forgoing the peace summit to attend a glitzy California fundraiser, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said: “There hasn’t been any single leader around the world who has supported Ukraine more and more stridently than Joe Biden.”

He said vice president Kamala Harris will be attending the summit “because of our desire to be represented around that table” and her presence will help demonstrate that “Ukraine has no stronger backer than the United States”.

“No matter who represents the United States at this summit,” Kirby said during a virtual briefing with reporters, “It can’t be said that the United States has in any way walked away from supporting Ukraine.”

The US confirmed vice president Harris will represent Washington at this month’s global peace summit on the war in Ukraine. The summit, organised by Switzerland, will be led by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Latest pictures from Ukraine

Kamala harris to represent us at swiss ‘peace summit’ for ukraine.

US vice president Kamala Harris will represent Washington at this month’s global peace summit on the war in Ukraine. The summit, organised by Switzerland, will be led by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russia has not been invited, raising questions about what purpose the summit would serve without the participation of one of the parties to the conflict. China has declined to attend for this reason.

The White House said Ms Harris would attend the meeting in Lucerne on 15 June. President Joe Biden is scheduled to be at a campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles hosted by actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

“The vice president will underscore the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to supporting Ukraine’s effort to secure a just and lasting peace, based on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and the principles of the UN charter, said her communications director Kirsten Allen.

She said Ms Harris will also “reaffirm support for the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against ongoing Russian aggression”. Mr Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will join Ms Harris as part of the US delegation.

Mr Zelensky has heavily boosted the summit and encouraged world leaders to attend, even as he has accused Russia of trying to undermine the meeting with China’s help.

A disease which has been largely eradicated from Europe, rabies is suddenly raising its head in Ukraine where millions of abandoned pets are now running wild.

Ahead of a film exposing the public health crisis,  Joe Shute  talks to Khrystyna Drahomaretska who caught the disease during her work inoculating feral cats and dogs roaming the streets in the wartorn country:

Nato has two to three years to prepare for confrontation with Russia, says Norway’s top general

Norway’s top military general has warned that Nato’s window of preparing against Russian aggression has dwindled from 10 years to two-three years.

“At one point someone said it’ll take 10 years but I think we’re back to less than 10 years because of the industrial base that is now running in Russia. It will take some time, which gives us a window now for the next two to three years to rebuild our forces, to rebuild our stocks at the same time as we are supporting Ukraine,” said General Eirik Kristoffersen, the head of the Norwegian Armed Forces.

He said Russia’s positions near his country’s borders have not changed significantly over the past year and this allows Oslo to strengthen defence capabilities agreed upon within Nato.

“So we can fulfil those plans and those decisions with content in the next years, but we need to speed up. We need to do it in two to three years to make sure that we are ready for whatever might happen,” the top military official told Bloomberg.

Vladimir Putin’s defence minister Andrei Belousov has been asked by a group of Russian women to return their mobilised husbands from the war frontline in Ukraine, in a rare protest against the Kremlin.

One of the woman at yesterday’s protest, who gave her name as Paulina, said a group of 18 women had gathered to appeal personally to Belousov, an economist by training whom Putin appointed to the job last month.

Paulina, who said she was 20 years old and had a husband fighting in Ukraine, said the women want Belousov to impose strict limits on how long soldiers can serve before they must rotate out of active duty.

Pictures and videos Paulina published on Telegram showed women holding signs with slogans including “Please bring Papa home”. Several had brought along their school-aged children and toddlers in pushchairs.

No ministry officials came out of the building to speak with the women, Paulina said.

The protest showcases the anger and despair that has gripped some soldiers’ families as the war in Ukraine grinds on into its third year, with no end in sight.

The women’s protests are sensitive for the authorities, given that the Kremlin presents what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine as having the overwhelming support of the Russian people.

For months, different groups of Russian women have organised sporadic demonstrations to exert pressure on authorities to return their husbands, sons and brothers who were mobilised after a decree by Putin in September 2022.

Poland has arrested 18 people on allegations of planning hostile acts on behalf of Russia, Belarus

Poland has arrested 18 people on allegations of pursuing hostile activities or planning sabotage on behalf of  Russia  and Belarus, including plans to assassinate Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the interior minister said Monday.

Ten of those arrested since December were directly involved in planning various forms of sabotage across Poland, Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told a news conference.

Polish authorities have linked some recent arsons or attempted arsons to Russian-sponsored agents. Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian nationals are among those arrested in recent months, according to the Internal Security Agency’s communiques.

Italy to send second air defence system to Ukraine for Russian ballistic missiles

Italy will send a second SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine, its foreign minister said in a radio interview, responding to Kyiv’s pleas for greater help to fend off Russian missile attacks.

The system, also known as MAMBA, is a Franco-Italian battery that can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once. It is the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.

Rome and Paris jointly delivered a first system in 2023, but in recent months Ukraine has repeatedly called on partners to provide more help with air defence as it faces an increasing barrage of attacks on cities and energy infrastructure.

“It is known that we will send SAMP/T, which is an instrument of air defence, therefore of protection, that Ukraine itself asked us for,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani told state broadcaster Rai, confirming earlier media reports.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Italy has approved eight support packages to the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr Tajani said the SAMP/T will be part of a ninth package under preparation, but did not give a time frame for delivery.

Russia intercepts 20 Ukrainian drones in Kursk

Russian air defence units intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones in southern Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine, regional governor Alexei Smironov said last night.

The governor claimed that the Ukrainian forces attacked four villages in his region using attack drones and helicopters, but no injuries were reported.

In Belgorod region, to the southeast, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said air defence units had downed “several airborne targets”. Roofs of some dwellings were damaged.

Zelenskyy will participate in G7 summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate in the G7 summit later this month his spokesman has confirmed

He will attend the summit in southern Italy either online or in person from 13 to 15 June to participate in discussions about ways to use profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, I cannot confirm or deny that the President will physically participate in the G7 summit, but in any case, whether online or physically, there is no doubt that he will be there,” the president’s spokesman, Sergey Nikiforov told Ukrainian television.

Unsafe to restart Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, UN official says

It will be unsafe to restart the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine as long as war rages around it, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday.

Grossi held a meeting with Russia on the issue last week after officials including President Vladimir Putin told him Moscow hopes to restart Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, where the six reactors are now shut down as the International Atomic Energy Agency has recommended on safety grounds.

“The idea, of course, they have is to restart at some point. They are not planning to decommission this nuclear power plant. So this is what prompts the need to have a discussion about that,” Grossi told a news conference on the first day of a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors.

Russia said after last week’s meeting it is not currently planning to reactivate the plant. Grossi said some important steps need to be taken before it can restart safely.

“In terms of what needs to happen ..., there shouldn’t be any bombing or any activity of this type,” Grossi said.

“Then there should be a more stable assurance of external power supply. This requires repairs, important repairs of existing lines, which at the moment, and because of the military activity, are very difficult to envisage.”

Energy shutdowns hit Ukraine after Russian attacks target infrastructure

Ukraine imposed emergency power shutdowns in most of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia unleashed large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure and claimed it made gains in the eastern  Donetsk  province.

The shutdowns were in place in all but three regions of Ukraine following Saturday’s drone and missile attack on energy targets that injured at least 19 people.

Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo said the shutdowns affected both industrial and household consumers.

Italy likely to send second air defence system to Ukraine, source says

Italy will likely send a second SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Monday, responding to Kyiv’s demands for greater help to fend off Russian missile attacks.

The source, who declined to be named, confirmed newspaper reports that Italy was preparing to send a SAMP/T system which is deployed in Kuwait, but is soon due to return to Italy.

However, he did not give a timeframe for any delivery.

Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Monday that the government could green light the new supplies after a summit of leaders of the Group of Seven major democracies, which Italy will host on June 13-15.

1,270 Russian casualties in 24 hours, Ukraine claims

Ukrainian officials have claimed Russia has suffered 1,270 casualties in the past 24 hours.

If correct, this would be one of the highest daily casualty figures since the war began in 2022.

Ukraine imposed emergency power shutdowns in most of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia unleashed large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure and claimed it made gains in the eastern Donetsk province.

Germany aims to order two more frigates to bolster defences

The German government wants to buy two further frigates provided parliament approves the deal, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday, as part of a policy shift to bolster its defences after Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking in the Baltic port of Wolgast at a keel-laying ceremony for the first of four F126 frigates already ordered, he said he had reached a deal with the finance ministry to present parliament with a draft budget for two additional ships.

The F126 frigates comprise a core element of Germany’s so-called “Zeitenwende” (sea change) in defence policy initiated by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Germany needs six, not just four of them, Pistorius said.

“It (the frigate) was developed to play its part in our collective defence, it is crucial for a credible deterrence, in particular for the protection of our northern flank,” Pistorious told reporters at the ceremony.

The first frigate of the new type is expected to be delivered to the German navy in 2028. It will be capable of striking targets above and under water.

The first four ships will cost some 6.2 billion euros ($6.72 billion) and be built in the ports of Wolgast, Kiel and Hamburg with Dutch shipbuilder Damen as a general contractor.

The contract includes an option for two further ships.

Ahead of a film exposing the public health crisis, Joe Shute talks to Khrystyna Drahomaretska who caught the disease during her work inoculating feral cats and dogs roaming the streets in the wartorn country:

Poland has arrested 18 people on allegations of pursuing hostile activities or planning sabotage on behalf of Russia and Belarus, including plans to assassinate Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the interior minister said Monday.

Nearly 1,000 people honor a young Ukrainian journalist and volunteer combat medic killed in action

Nearly 1,000 people attended a ceremony Sunday honoring the memory of Ukrainian journalist Iryna Tsybukh, who was killed in action while serving as a volunteer combat medic a few days before her 26th birthday.

Tsybukh was killed while on rotation in the Kharkiv area, where Russia started its offensive nearly a month ago.

She had left a note describing how she wished the ceremony to be held, asking people to sing Ukrainian songs and attend in vyshyvankas — traditional embroidered shirts — instead of black clothes.

Zelensky: Parts of Russia’s weaponry still come from other countries

Sri Lanka says 455 citizens duped into fighting for Russia in Ukraine as 16 go missing in action

In case you missed it...

Sri Lanka and Russia are starting talks to resolve the issue of Sri Lankans fighting alongside Russians in the war against Ukraine , after at least 16 people were reported missing in action.

On Thursday, Junior Foreign Minister Tharaka Balasuriya said that the Sri Lankans, mostly retired soldiers, had been duped into traveling to Russia with promises of good salaries and privileges including Russian citizenship.

“The situation in Russia is very unfortunate,” Balasuriya told reporters, adding that he is working with the defense ministry to ascertain the number of people fighting in Russia.

Sri Lanka reports 455 men duped into fighting for Russia as 16 go missing

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Russia’s attempts to conclude a major gas pipeline deal with China have run aground over what Moscow sees as Beijing’s unreasonable demands on price and supply levels, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Beijing’s tough stance on the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline underscores how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left President Vladimir Putin increasingly dependent on Chinese leader Xi Jinping for economic support.

The people familiar with the matter said China had asked to pay close to Russia’s heavily subsidised domestic prices and would only commit to buying a small fraction of the pipeline’s planned annual capacity of 50bn cubic metres of gas.

Approval for the pipeline would transform the dire fortunes of Gazprom, Russia’s state gas export monopoly, by linking the Chinese market to gasfields in western Russia that once supplied Europe.

Gazprom suffered a loss of Rbs629bn ($6.9bn) last year, its biggest in at least a quarter of a century , amid plummeting gas sales to Europe, which has had greater success than expected in diversifying away from Russian energy.

While Russia has insisted it is confident of agreement on Power of Siberia 2 “in the near future”, two of the people said the impasse was the reason Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s chief executive, had not joined Putin on the Russian leader’s state visit to Beijing last month .

Miller, who was instead on a trip to Iran, would have been essential for any serious negotiations with China and his absence was “highly symbolic”, said Tatiana Mitrova, a research fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

A deal on the pipeline was one of three main requests Putin made to Xi when they met, according to the people familiar with the matter, along with more Chinese bank activity in Russia and for China to snub a peace conference being organised by Ukraine this month.

China announced on Friday it would skip Ukraine’s summit in Switzerland. Two of the people said Beijing and Moscow were discussing ringfencing one or more banks that would finance trade in components for Russia’s defence industry — all but certainly incurring US sanctions that would cut any such bank out of the broader global financial system.

An agreement on the pipeline, however, remains distant, while the proposed co-operation with Chinese banks remains at a far smaller scale than Russia had requested, the people added.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said Russia and China were still in talks on the pipeline.

“It’s totally normal for each side to defend their own interests. Negotiations will continue, because the leaders of both countries have the political will for it, and commercial issues will continue to be worked out, and we have no doubt all the necessary agreements will be made,” Peskov told reporters on Monday.

“As far as aspects of ongoing commercial negotiations go, they are, of course, not public,” Peskov added. Gazprom declined to comment.

Asked about the gas talks, the Chinese foreign ministry said only that “the presidents of China and Russia agreed to look for areas where our interests converge . . . and enable each other’s success”.

China would “work with Russia to deliver on important common understandings reached between our two leaders and deepen our all-round cooperation [for] mutual benefit”, the ministry said.

Russia’s failure to secure the deal underscores how the war in Ukraine has made China the senior partner in the countries’ relationship, according to Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.

“China could need Russian gas strategically as a secure source of supply not based on maritime routes that would be affected in case of a maritime conflict around Taiwan or the South China Sea,” Gabuev said. “But to make that worthwhile, China really needs a very cheap price and flexible obligations.”

China’s demand for imported gas is expected to reach about 250 bcm by 2030, up from less than 170 bcm in 2023, according to a paper published by Columbia’s CGEP in May.

That paper said the 2030 level of demand could still be largely or entirely met through existing contracts for pipeline supply and for liquefied natural gas. However, by 2040, the gap between China’s import demand and existing commitments would reach 150 bcm, it said.

Russia’s lack of an alternative overland route for its gas exports means Gazprom would probably have to accept China’s conditions, Gabuev said.

“China believes time’s on its side. It has room to wait to squeeze the best conditions out of the Russians and wait for attention on the China-Russia relationship to move elsewhere,” he said. “The pipeline can be built rather quickly, since the gasfields are already developed. Ultimately the Russians don’t have any other option to market this gas.”

Before the war in Ukraine, Gazprom relied on selling gas to Europe at high prices in order to subsidise Russia’s domestic market.

China already pays Russia less for gas than to its other suppliers, with an average price of $4.4 per million British thermal units, compared with $10 for Myanmar and $5 for Uzbekistan, the CGEP researchers calculated from 2019-21 customs data.

During the same years Russia exported gas to Europe at about $10 per million Btu, according to data published by the Russian central bank.

Gazprom’s exports to Europe fell to 22 bcm in 2023 from an average 230 bcm a year in the decade before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These are likely to dwindle further once a trans-shipment agreement with Ukraine expires at the end of this year.

Failure to agree increased supplies to China would be a hefty further blow. An unreleased report by a major Russian bank, seen by the Financial Times, recently excluded Power of Siberia 2 from its baseline forecast for Gazprom. That reduced the company’s expected profit for 2029 — when the bank expected the project to launch — by almost 15 per cent.

China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article has been amended since initial publication to reflect that the Ukraine peace summit is taking place at the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland, not Geneva

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