Tensions Escalate Along Ukrainian Border as Anti-Kremlin Forces Clash with Russian Troops.
Anti-Kremlin fighters captured several Russian soldiers and turned them over to Kyiv after the governor of the Belgorod region failed to show up for negotiations on a prisoner swap. Fresh battles broke out on the Russian side of the Ukrainian border on June 4. Russian air strikes over Ukraine have increased in recent weeks amid expectations that Ukrainian military forces will soon launch a much-anticipated counteroffensive to reclaim territory lost since Russia invaded in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on June 4 that Russia's war, now in its 16th month, had killed at least 500 Ukrainian children.