Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine.

Turkey, Finland and Sweden will meet on June 12 to discuss Stockholm’s bid to join the NATO military alliance, which has so far been held up over Ankara’s objections. NATO issued a statement on Sunday.

The announcement came after a meeting in Istanbul between NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and newly elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Finland and Sweden ditched their longstanding policy of political neutrality following Russia’s sweeping invasion of Ukraine and jointly applied to join NATO last June. Finland was admitted and joined the military organization in April.

Stockholm’s accession has been delayed amid Turkish concerns that Sweden is harboring militants from the PKK, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States, the European Union and others.

An energy facility is set ablaze after a drone strike by Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov in the Russian city of Belgorod on the Ukrainian border overnight on the telegram saidaccording to Google Translate.

Services were not shut down, he added.

In recent days, Belgorod has suffered from Ukrainian and domestic offensives. Earlier, the Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Kremlin Russian paramilitary group, Available Sunday on Telegram Hand over two captured Russian soldiers to Gladkov, provided the Governor personally arrives to meet them in Novy Tavorzanka.

Reuters reported that Gladkov had said he accepted the offer – but pro-Ukrainian groups later said According to Google Translate, the meeting never took place.

— Russandra Yodache

Kiev destroyed a Russian position near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces said on Monday.

“The Wehrmacht is working hard. We move on,” Oleksandr Syrskyi on the telegram sayaccording to Google Translate.

CNBC was unable to independently verify developments on the ground.

Bakhmut has symbolic and strategic significance for Russia, providing a stepping stone for Moscow’s army to advance into the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in the Donetsk region.

— Russandra Yodache

Russian Ministry of Defense on the telegram say Its forces repelled a massive Ukrainian offensive on Sunday morning at five locations in the southern direction of the annexed Donetsk region, according to Google Translate.

Russia said Ukraine deployed six mechanized battalions and two tank battalions as part of the offensive.

“The enemy’s goal is to break through our weakest defenses, in his view, the front line,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said. “The enemy did not fulfill his task, he did not succeed.

CNBC could not independently verify the claims.

daily of the general staff of ukraine statement on monday only According to Google Translate, there were 29 clashes on Sunday near the Lugansk and Donetsk regions.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has not issued a public statement related to the alleged attack. Kiev Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov posted on twitter on sunday Lyrics to Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence,” “Words are so unnecessary/They only do harm,” and a GIF of a soldier imitating the silence.

— Russandra Yodache

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pressured NATO to allow Ukraine to join the alliance – a topic of contention that has divided the 31-nation bloc.

“This year is the year of decisions,” Zelensky told a summit of the European Political Community in Moldova on Thursday. “The NATO summit in Vilnius in the summer needs an explicit invitation from Ukrainian member states and security guarantees in the process of joining NATO.”

Ukraine and those backing its bid say joining NATO is needed to stop Russia from attacking the country again, while others warn the move could further anger Moscow, which sees Kiev’s joining the Western alliance as a major red line.

Zelensky has also pushed for EU membership, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed strong support for. Ukraine still needs to meet a series of criteria, including cleansing itself of well-documented corruption, to join the economic bloc.

— Natasha Turak

The city of Nikopol in the southern region of Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk region came under heavy shelling by Russian troops overnight, regional governor Sergey Lysak reported.

“The aggressors did not stop. The Nikopol region was attacked again. At midnight, the Rush elements shelled Nikopol,” Lysak wrote on his Telegram channel, a term many Ukrainians use to refer to Refers to members of the Russian Armed Forces.

“Shells of heavy artillery flew into the city,” he wrote. “No one was hurt. Rescuers are checking the area. The enemy is insidious and has not given up its tactics of intimidating civilians.”

— Natasha Turak

Villages in western Russia’s Bryansk region have been shelled, with regional governor Alexander Bogomaz writing on his Telegram channel that the attackers were Ukrainians. He identified the two affected villages as Lomakovka and Novaya Pogoshch, and said one of the houses was on fire but no one was killed, according to Reuters.

CNBC could not independently verify the claims.

Offensives on Russian soil have reportedly surged in recent weeks, with drone strikes in Moscow, shelling and incursions into western Russia bordering Ukraine. The Kremlin has accused the Ukrainian government of directing the hostilities, while Kiev has denied any involvement.

The Free Corps of Russia and the Russian Volunteers claim most of the recent attacks and attempted incursions into Russian territory are being carried out by the Free Corps of Russia and the Russian Volunteers, who describe themselves as pro-Ukrainian ethnic Russians who are fighting the Russian government fight.

— Natasha Turak