Russian strikes have killed five and injured six in the Kherson and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, officials have said. Three women were killed in the street after artillery hit a residential area in Kherson, internal affairs minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed, whilst in the east of the country, two men were killed in attacks on Krasnohorivka. A further three people were injured, with three more injuries sustained by further shelling nearby in Kostyantynivka. Earlier on Thursday, Nato’s secretary general said that Putin’s forces are being pushed back by Ukraine’s army, which is “gradually gaining ground” in the counteroffensive. Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Jens Stoltenberg said “every metre that Ukrainian forces regain is a metre that Russia loses.” “And there is a stark contrast: Ukrainians are fighting for their families, their future, their freedom,” he added. “Moscow is fighting for imperial delusions.” Meanwhile, Zelensky stressed Ukraine‘s need for more air defence against Russian attacks, saying Moscow had used more than 40 Shahed drones in strikes on Ukraine the previous night alone. Read More Putin’s shameless UN charm offensive - with stolen grain from Ukraine Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's Olympic doping case will resume for two more days in November Ukraine's Zelenskyy taps celebrities for roles as special adviser and charity ambassador

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Greta Gerwig has revealed the scene in Barbie that she refused to cut. The Academy Award-nominated director said that it was suggested she remove a scene where Barbie meets an elderly woman on a bench and tells her she’s beautiful. “I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth. She’s a legend. It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way - it doesn’t lead anywhere. "And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, ‘Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about.'” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In another interview, Gerwig called the scene a "transaction of grace" and said it is vital to understand how the living doll perceives the human world. “The idea of a loving God who’s a mother, a grandmother - who looks at you and says, ‘Honey, you’re doing ok’ - is something I feel like I need and I wanted to give to other people,” Gerwig told The New York Times. “If I cut that scene, I don’t know why I’m making this movie,” the director added. “If I don’t have that scene, I don’t know what it is or what I’ve done.” Gerwig's critically lauded and box-office-smashing movie was released worldwide last Friday with seemingly everyone heading out to see the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling starring comedy about the iconic toy. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Phosphates have been found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, in a new breakthrough discovery that boosts hopes for finding alien life in our solar system. It is the first time phosphorus has been found in an ocean beyond those on Earth, and marks a major development in our understanding of other ocean worlds. Enceladus is one of the most likely hopes for finding nearby extraterrestrial life. While its outside is wrapped in an ice crust, underneath is a global ocean that could be a home for alien life. Some of that ocean spews up and out of the surface of Enceladus, in the form of vast plumes. Scientists have been able to examine those plumes to better understand the ocean itself, including in the new study. Researchers in the latest study used data from the Cassini mission – which flew around Saturn and Enceladus – to find out what the oceans are made up of. They not only found phosphorus, but data suggested that it could be there are concentrations at least 100 times higher than in Earth’s oceans. What’s more, modelling based on the new data suggests the same could be true for other ocean worlds, potentially boosting the chances of alien life there, too. Phosphorus is not in itself evidence of life. But on Earth, the presence of phosphorus compounds in water are crucial for biological activity, and so it is a key part of evaluating whether a distant world might support life. Read More Astronomers find rare planet circling two stars like Star Wars’s Tatooine Elon Musk to launch biggest ever rocket after dramatic failure US government contradicts whistleblower’s claims of possible ‘non-human’ material

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Jake Paul and Conor McGregor have reignited their feud, with the YouTuber claiming that he will ‘beat up’ the former UFC champion if they go head to head. Paul has gone 6-1 as a professional boxer in recent years, while McGregor is due to return to the Octagon later this year to fight Michael Chandler. Paul and McGregor have long traded barbs, however, and the latter called the American a ‘donkey’ this week. Paul, 26, was quick to respond to the Irishman, addressing McGregor’s comment while speaking on Impaulsive – a podcast hosted by his brother Logan Paul – on Wednesday (31 May). “I think Conor McGregor is funny as f***,” Paul said, “but when I watch him talk s*** about me, I’m like: ‘Guess what, Conor? I’ll beat the f*** out of you.’” Paul went on to mention his upcoming boxing match with Nate Diaz, with whom McGregor traded wins in the UFC in 2017. “You can’t box as good as me, and I’m gonna do to Nate what you couldn’t, which is knock him out,” Paul said. “You’re gonna be sitting there with your new beer company, which is failing, realising that you p****d your life away. You’re gonna say, ‘Damn, I really thought no one was gonna do what I did in this sport, I really thought no one was gonna be as big of a name, I really thought I was gonna be the biggest forever.’ “But you can’t have both lives; you can’t have the fun, party life and be the greatest fighter in the world, and you chose the wrong path. But that money fight will always be there, and when I knock Nate Diaz the f*** out and you realise I’m the biggest fight for you, call me.” While Paul vs Diaz is set for 5 August in Dallas, McGregor vs Chandler is still without a date, location and weight class. McGregor, 34, and Chandler are serving as opposing coaches on the new season of The Ultimate Fighter, which began airing on Tuesday (30 May). At the end of the first episode, one of McGregor’s team members was knocked out within eight seconds. In May, a new documentary about McGregor’s career was released on Netflix. McGregor Forever is a four-part series covering the former champion’s fights with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Donald Cerrone, and his back-to-back bouts with Dustin Poirier in 2021. You can read The Independent’s review of the documentary here. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Conor McGregor mentee loses in eight seconds on The Ultimate Fighter How to watch The Ultimate Fighter 31 in the UK McGregor Forever: The problem with the new Conor McGregor documentary UFC star Dustin Poirier makes surprising Paul vs Diaz prediction What is an exhibition fight and how is it different to a professional bout? The Independent’s pound-for-pound boxing rankings