Top news stories about the Russia-Ukraine war on Russia's Channel One on Friday, June 3, 2022.

By Madeline Roache and Jonathan Campion

What follows is NewsGuard’s summary and translation of top news stories from Russia’s state TV Channel One. NewsGuard presents these stories in the order that they appear on the program. NewsGuard shares this summary as part of our mission to monitor and report all categories of misinformation, including Russian disinformation. Please note that these summaries of Russian state TV broadcasts may well contain falsehoods or propaganda, and NewsGuard does not vet them for accuracy or balance.

Soldiers from the Lugansk People’s Republic foil an operation by Ukrainian militants

Fierce fighting has broken out in the town of Toshkovka, to the south of Lisichansk, where forces from the Lugansk People’s Republic have foiled an operation by Ukrainian militants. Their task was to block communications between two large radical groups in Lisichansk and Gorsky. There were multiple explosions from shells. Our film crew is working at the epicenter of events, and saw how the fighting unfolded. Dmitry Kulko has exclusive footage in this report. 

One of the soldiers interviewed said: “I have a wife at home, and we have a new baby, born three months ago, just before I left for this military operation.” A mechanic also interviewed said: “It was a bit scary to leave my children, but as soon as I arrived here I realized it was worth it.”

Ukrainian militia open fire on Donetsk’s Petrovsky district

Ukrainian militants have opened fire on Donetsk, targeting the Petrovsky district. This neighborhood is on the western edge of the city, where most of the fighting is centered. They opened fire with heavy artillery. Other settlements in the Donetsk People’s Republic are also under attack: the militia has launched heavy-caliber mortar shells at Yasinovataya and Gorlovka.

In the areas under their control, the radicals continue to use peaceful civilians as human shields. Our National Defense Management Center has announced some new facts. In Zelenodolsk in the Dnepropetrovsk region, people are being held hostage, prevented from leaving for the areas that have been liberated by our soldiers. Civilians are severely punished for any attempt to leave the town.

In Korobochkino in the Kharkov region, checkpoints have been set up opposite a school. In Krasnogorovka, Ukrainian forces are using residential buildings as firing positions, and for storing ammunition. Residents are forbidden from leaving their apartments, under threat of being shot.

Self-propelled Msta-S howitzers are destroying weapons that militants are using to fire on peaceful civilians

Russian soldiers are continuing to destroy weapons that militants are using to fire on peaceful civilians. They are using our Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, which are fast, maneuverable, and reliable.

An accurate hit – and then straight for cover, so as not to come under return fire. But as soon as the coordinates of a new target appear, they get into position again. They work day and night, neutralizing targets up to 30 kilometers away, destroying the Ukrainian forces’ artillery squadrons, their command posts, weapons and military equipment.

Residents of Melitopol apply for Russian passports

In the territories that have already been liberated, a new and peaceful life is beginning. People no longer live in fear of speaking their mother tongue, or honoring their forefathers. A Russian passport is a guarantee of safety. In the Zoporozhye region, thousands of people are rushing to apply for a Russian passport — it is the  moment they have long been waiting for. The problem with mobile networks has also been all but resolved — residents are switching en masse to Russian phone numbers. 

A woman interviewed at the passport office commented: “Yesterday there were over a thousand. There have already been 611 today”. 

The Russian Defense Ministry has published documents from the operation to liberate Nikolaev in 1944 

New archives have been published by the Defense Ministry, entitled “1944: the Nikolaev Operation.” The declassified documents show how Soviet Ukraine was liberated from the Nazis. They contain operation maps, battle logs, eyewitness accounts, and testimonies of German prisoners of war about mass executions of civilians. Twenty-five thousand people were shot.

 In the grounds of a hospital there was a concentration camp. During the occupation, Nikolaev became an enemy fortress; there was a minefield around the town. Soviet commanders decided to send volunteers to the rear of the Nazis, along the river. There were 67 men — ten times fewer than the enemy. Natalia Malinovskaya is the daughter of Marshal Malinovsky, who was commanding the Third Ukrainian Front at this time. She knows about the events from those days, including from her father’s diaries.

 “The shabby, useless fishing boats were quickly patched up and lowered into the water. There was a gale-force wind, fog, and they had to travel 15 kilometers in these flimsy boats, along the bank occupied by the enemy. By some miracle they succeeded,” said Natalia Malinovskaya, daughter of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky.

 In just a couple of days, the Soviet heroes killed 700 Nazis, and withstood 18 attacks. Only 11 men from the group survived. Afterwards, our attack aircraft and artillery arrived. The city was liberated, and all the soldiers from the Nikolaev landing force were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

War correspondents working in the zone of the military operation to protect Donbas have been presented with awards in a national online ceremony

The nominations included a special category, “Strength in Truth.”  Among the winners was Channel One correspondent Irina Kuksenkova, who has been working literally in the line of fire since the start of the special operation. While filming a report at the Ilyich plant in Mariupol, Irina was wounded; our soldiers protected her and took her to hospital. Irina Kuksenkova was awarded the Order of Courage.

“The word ‘truth’ was said very often today. Some of the nominees have come out and said, ‘We are not bloggers, we are journalists or war correspondents’, and today millions of people watch their reports on the internet. These people are working today on the frontline to provide information. Millions of people can see it with their own eyes, and feel what they feel. The demand for this is incredible,” said Sergey Kiriyenko.

“I would like to say a sincere thank you for noticing our work. It gives us the inner moral strength to continue our work; to keep bringing the truth to people,” Irina Kusesenkova said.

 Another special award, “The World Should Know,”  was won by the pranksters Vovan and Lexus. The duo, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Aleksey Stolyarov, have repeatedly succeeded in making phone calls to leading Western politicians and officials, presenting the world with several information bombshells. For example, they revealed state secrets of the United Kingdom when the British Defense Minister Ben Wallace thought he was talking to the head of the Ukrainian government. Wallace, for example, did not rule out supporting Kiev in developing nuclear weapons.