Europe

KYIV, June 10 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukrainian counter-offensive operations were under way, but declined to divulge details, telling reporters to pass on to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine's generals are optimistic.

The Ukrainian leader, in his trademark khaki fatigues, shrugged at a press conference in Kyiv when asked about comments by Putin, who said on Friday that Kyiv had begun its counter-offensive but failed to make progress.

KYIV, June 10 (Reuters) - Counterattacking Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 1,400 metres at a number of sections of the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut in the past day, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

The advance is the latest in a series of similar gains reported this week by Kyiv near Bakhmut, which Russia said it had fully captured last month after the bloodiest and longest battle since it began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

MOSCOW, June 9 (Xinhua) -- More than 5,800 people, including 243 children, have been evacuated from the flooded areas of the Kherson region after the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam collapsed, a local official said on Friday.

In total, 22,273 houses in 17 settlements were affected in the Kherson region and the rise in water level can last up to 10 days, acting governor of the region Vladimir Saldo said in a Telegram post.

As water is draining from the Kakhovka reservoir, there is a threat to the supply of drinking water to 4,000 local residents, he added.

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro is holding an early parliamentary election Sunday, a vote that could provide indications of whether the small NATO member in the Balkans will overcome the deep political divisions and instability that have hampered its route to joining the European Union.

Some 542,000 voters are eligible to choose among 15 parties and coalitions fielding candidates, ranging from groups that are staunchly pro-Western to ones that are pro-Serbian and pro-Russian.

FUERTH, Germany (AP) — The artificial intelligence chatbot asked the believers in the fully packed St. Paul’s church in the Bavarian town of Fuerth to rise from the pews and praise the Lord.

The ChatGPT chatbot, personified by an avatar of a bearded Black man on a huge screen above the altar, then began preaching to the more than 300 people who had shown up on Friday morning for an experimental Lutheran church service almost entirely generated by AI.

LONDON (AP) — Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson left chaos in his wake Saturday after quitting Parliament with a blast at fellow lawmakers he accused of ousting him in a “witch hunt.”

As opponents jeered, the Conservative government absorbed the shock of yet another Johnson earthquake, while a band of loyal supporters insisted Britain’s divisive ex-leader could still make a comeback. Two Johnson allies joined him in quitting the House of Commons, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive actions are underway against Russian forces, asserting that his top commanders are in a “positive” mindset as their troops engaged in intense fighting along the front line.

The Ukrainian leader, at a Kyiv news conference alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responded to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comment a day earlier that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had started — and Ukrainian forces were taking “significant losses.”

London, Jun 10 (PTI) Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has abruptly resigned as a lawmaker, claiming he was the “victim of a witch-hunt”, after being told by a parliamentary committee that he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street during his premiership.

Johnson, 58, one of the main architects of Brexit, compared the Privileges Committee probe to a “kangaroo court” as he quit.

SOCHI, June 9. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian forces achieved no success with their operations at the frontline due to the courage of Russian servicemen, the quality of Russian weapons and proper command organization.

"The enemy had no success in any area. It is all due to the courage and heroism of our soldiers, the proper organization and management of troops and the great efficiency of Russian weapons, especially advanced weapons," Putin told reporters.

He said the fighting has been very intense in the past two days.

VILNIUS, June 9. /TASS/: The Estonian Foreign Ministry on Friday banned 58 Russians, including Patriarch Kirill, of Moscow and All Russia, from entering the country.

"Today, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna reintroduced the ‘Magnitsky List,’ which bans 58 people, including the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill and nine people who persecuted and imprisoned human rights activist Vladimir Kara-Murza (recognized in Russia as a foreign agent - TASS) from entering Estonia," the Estonian Foreign Ministry said on its website.