Russia Ukraine War News Live: Children gather at a playground during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine May 11, 2022. (Reuters)Russia Ukraine War Highlights: Finland must apply to join the Nato military alliance “without delay”, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Thursday, a major policy shift triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia said on Thursday its forces hit two ammunition depots in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine.
Finland and Sweden are expected to be granted membership quickly, paving the way for increased troop presence in the Nordic region during the one-year ratification period. In the wider Nordic region, Norway, Denmark and the three Baltic states are already Nato members, and the addition of Finland and Sweden would likely anger Moscow, which says Nato enlargement is a direct threat to its own security.
In other news, Moscow has imposed sanctions on the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe, as well as the former German unit of the Russian gas producer Gazprom, whose subsidiaries service Europe’s gas consumption. Energy prices rose as the European Union weighs a possible embargo on Russian crude.
Emergency personnel work near a building damaged after a military strike, in Odesa, Ukraine, in this handout image released May 9, 2022. (Reuters)
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The Spanish authorities have identified assets, including houses, companies and at least one luxury yacht, belonging to 15 Russian oligarchs on the EU sanctions list, an official overseeing property registries told Reuters on Thursday.
Mariano García Fresno, the head of the General Council of Notaries' money laundering prevention unit, said the unit had detected activity after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine as the oligarchs sought to transfer their stakes in some companies to relatives or associates to avoid detection.
"They were already starting to move these holdings, especially in Spanish companies, or holdings or shares in foreign companies," García Fresno said.
"We have located some 15 people from that (EU sanctions) list and another 105 people linked to them or family members (...) There are people who are less well known on the list, but some of them were among the best known." Every week since Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Union has introduced new sanctions on Moscow, adding hundreds of top politicians, businessmen and military staff to its blacklist. (Reuters)
The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialised nations (G7) will discuss how to end a blockade of Ukrainian grain to enable it to be exported to the world, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday.
"There are 25 million tons of grain currently blocked in the Ukrainian port of Odesa, which means food for millions of people in the world that is urgently needed, above all in African countries and in the Middle East," Baerbock said.
The war in Ukraine has sent global prices for grain, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring, with United Nations agencies warning that the price hikes will worsen a food crisis in Africa. (Reuters)
The European Commission proposed helping Ukraine export its wheat and other grains by rail, road and river to get around a Russian blockade of Black Sea ports, which is preventing those critical supplies from reaching parts of the world at risk of food insecurity.
The European Union's executive arm said the plan aims to establish alternative routes and ease congestion between borders that also should facilitate getting humanitarian aid and other goods into the war-torn country.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has provoked disruptions of global food supplies, with both countries two of the world's biggest exporters of wheat, barley and sunflower oil. The blockade of Ukrainian ports has been particularly harmful, having accounted for 90% of grain and oilseed exports before the war, the commission said. (Reuters)
Pressure on Europe to secure alternative gas supplies increased on Thursday as Moscow imposed sanctions on European subsidiaries of state-owned Gazprom a day after Ukraine stopped a major gas transit route, pushing prices higher. Russia imposed sanctions late Wednesday mainly on Gazprom's European subsidiaries including Gazprom Germania, an energy trading, storage and transmission business that Germany placed under trusteeship last month to secure supplies.
It also placed sanctions on the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal-Europe pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there can be no relations with the companies affected nor can they take part in supplying Russian gas.
The affected entities, listed on a Russian government website, are largely based in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, most of them members of the European Union. Germany, Russia's top client in Europe, said some subsidiaries of Gazprom Germania were receiving no gas because of the sanctions, but are seeking alternatives. (Reuters)
The number of people who have fled Ukraine to escape Russia's invasion has passed 6 million in Europe's worst refugee crisis since the end of World War Two, UN refugee agency said on Thursday.
Russia's invasion, which started on Feb. 24, has triggered a massive displacement of people, including more than 8 million Ukrainians within the country. UN data showed that 6.03 million had fled Ukraine as of Wednesday. Most have crossed to the European Union through border points in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. (Reuters)
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz on Thursday welcomed the Finnish move towards NATO membership, in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Schloz in a tweet said, "I welcome Finland's decision to support the country's accession to NATO without delay. In a phone call with the President Sauli Niinistö, I assured the full support to the Finnish federal government."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Germany on Saturday for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on their response to the war in Ukraine, the State Department said on Thursday. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock last month invited the ministers to an unofficial meeting in Berlin. The meeting comes as Finland, worried by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, moves to join NATO.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said any accession process would be "smooth and swift" and that Finland would be warmly welcomed. On Sunday, May 15, Blinken will travel to Paris with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for the second ministers' meeting of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council. (Reuters)
Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Thursday it would no longer be able to export gas through Poland via the Yamal-Europe pipeline after Moscow imposed sanctions against the firm that owns the Polish section of the pipeline.
"A ban on transactions and payments to entities under sanctions has been implemented," Gazprom said in a statement. "For Gazprom this means a ban on the use of a gas pipeline owned by EuRoPol GAZ to transport Russian gas through Poland." (Reuters)
Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, will increase wheat exports this year due to a potentially record harvest, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. Russia competes with the European Union and Ukraine for supplies of wheat to the Middle East and Africa. It continues to export despite difficulties with logistics and payments caused by Western sanctions on Moscow over what Russia terms its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Russia currently expects to harvest 130 million tonnes of grain in 2022, including 87 million tonnes of wheat, Putin told a meeting of top economic officials in Moscow.
Russia produced a record grain crop 133.5 million tonnes in 2020, including 85.9 million tonnes of wheat. The crop was smaller in 2021. "If this happens, which we are counting on, it could be an all-time record [for the wheat crop] in Russian history," Putin said. He did not provide an export estimate. (Reuters)
The United Nations Human Rights Council will decide on Thursday whether to launch an investigation into alleged abuses by Russian troops in the Kyiv area that Ukraine says amount to war crimes.
A resolution brought by Ukraine and supported by more than 50 other countries would mandate a newly-formed Commission of Inquiry to investigate events in the regions around Kyiv that were temporarily held by Russian troops. It would prepare a report by early next year.
"The areas...which have been under Russian occupation in late February and March have experienced the most gruesome human rights violations on the European continent in decades," Emine Dzhaparova, Ukraine's First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the council. A spokesman for the Russian mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not provide an immediate comment on the possibility of a war crimes investigation. (Reuters)
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Finland's move to join NATO was "definitely" a threat to Russia and that the expansion of the military bloc would not make Europe or the world more stable. Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the steps taken by Finland to join NATO were a cause for regret and a reason to impose a symmetrical response.
Finland's president and prime minister said earlier on Thursday their country must apply to join the NATO military alliance "without delay." Asked whether this presented a threat to Russia, Peskov said: "Definitely. NATO expansion does not make our continent more stable and secure." He said Finland had joined "unfriendly steps" against Russia.
Asked what form Russia's response would take, he replied: "Everything will depend on how this (NATO) expansion process of NATO expansion plays out, the extent to which military infrastructure moves closer to our borders." (Reuters)
Russian sanctions imposed on the former German unit of Russian gas producer Gazprom and a number of other entities mean no relations are possible between them and the Russian state gas company, Kremlin said on Thursday. Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, declined further comments. (Reuters)
Ukraine's announcement Tuesday that it would suspend the flow of gas through a transit point bringing Russian fuel to Europe does not present a gas supply issue, the European Commission said on Thursday.
"While these developments may have an impact on part of the gas transit to the EU, they do not bring about any immediate security of supply issue for the EU," a Commission spokesperson said, adding that Ukraine's inability to operate the Novopskov gas compressor station was a result of actions by Russia.
"Ukraine has been a reliable transit partner for many years," the spokesperson said. (Reuters)
Russia said Thursday its forces hit two ammunition depots in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine.
Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia had destroyed a Ukrainian S-300 air defence missile system in the Kharkiv region and a radar station near the city of Odesa.
Russia also said it shot down a Ukrainian drone near Snake Island, a remote outcrop taken by Russia on the first day of the invasion. (Reuters)
While there is no set time frame, here are the steps in Nato's membership process that would apply for Helsinki and Stockholm:
Moscow has imposed sanctions on the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe, as well as the former German unit of the Russian gas producer Gazprom, whose subsidiaries service Europe’s gas consumption.
The entities on a list of affected firms on a Russian government website on Wednesday were largely based in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, most of them members of the European Union.
The implications for gas supplies to Europe, which buys more than a third of its gas from Russia, were not immediately clear. Eastbound gas flows continued via the Yamal-Europe pipeline from Germany to Poland, data from the Gascade pipeline operator showed. (Read more)
Finland's president and prime minister said Thursday they're in favour of applying for Nato membership, paving the way for the alliance to expand amid Russia's war in Ukraine.
The announcement by President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin means Finland is virtually certain to seek Nato membership though a few steps remain before the application process can begin. Neighbouring Sweden is expected to decide on joining Nato in coming days.
“Now that the moment of decision-making is near, we state our equal views, also for information to the parliamentary groups and parties,' Niinisto and Marin said in a joint statement. 'Nato membership would strengthen Finland's security.”
“As a member of Nato, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance,” they said. “Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.” (AP)
Russia invaded Ukraine with the intention of toppling the government; seizing Kyiv, the capital; and bringing the nation firmly into the Kremlin’s sphere of influence.
While Moscow failed in those sweeping objectives, Russian forces have seized a wide swath of southern Ukraine and redeployed soldiers, vehicles and heavy weapons with the aim of pushing deeper into eastern Ukraine, expanding the territory it has controlled through proxy forces since 2014.
Here is a look at where things stand.
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” This quote from George Orwell’s world-famous novel “1984” describes in one sentence the importance of history in politics.
The quote finds a place in the preface of the recently published book “Dancing on Bones,” authored by journalist Katie Stallard. In the book, she described how the leaders of Russia, China and North Korea use history for their own purposes. Read full story here.
Ukrainian forces are keeping up a counterattack to the north of the second largest city of Kharkiv and recapturing several towns and villages toward the Russian border, Britain said Thursday.
Russia has reportedly withdrawn units from the area and the forces are likely to redeploy after replenishing the losses to the eastern bank of the Siverskyi Donets river, the British defence ministry said in a regular Twitter bulletin.
On Wednesday, Ukraine said it had pushed back Russian forces in the east to recapture Pytomnyk, a village on the main highway north of Kharkiv, about halfway to the Russian border. (Reuters)
Ukraine's top prosecutor disclosed plans Wednesday for the first war crimes trial of a captured Russian soldier, as fighting raged in the east and south and the Kremlin left open the possibility of annexing a corner of the country it seized early in the invasion.
Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said her office charged Sgt. Vadin Shyshimarin, 21, in the killing of an unarmed 62-year-old civilian who was gunned down while riding a bicycle in February, four days into the war. Shyshimarin, who served with a tank unit, was accused of firing through a car window on the man in the northeastern village of Chupakhivka. Venediktova said the soldier could get up to 15 years in prison. She did not say when the trial would start.
Venediktova's office has said it has been investigating more than 10,700 alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces and has identified over 600 suspects. (AP)
Firing from Ukraine killed one person and wounded seven in the Russian border village of Solokhi in the province of Belgorod, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Thursday.
Authorities in the area bordering Ukraine have accused Kyiv of a series of strikes, including a helicopter raid on a fuel depot. Kyiv, which has been fighting off a Russian invasion since February, has not claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation". (Reuters)
A Ukrainian commander stuck in the besieged port city of Mariupol has reached out to billionaire Elon Musk for help in getting out those trapped at the Azovstal steelworks plant, as per an AFP report.
?? Ukraine reported pushing back Moscow's forces in a counterattack that could signal a shift in the momentum of the war and shut gas flows on a route through Russian-held territory, raising the spectre of an energy crisis in Europe.
?? Ukraine's armed forces' general staff said it had recaptured Pytomnyk, a village on the main highway north of the second largest city of Kharkiv, about halfway to the Russian border.
?? Ukrainian officials issued dire warnings on about the fate of civilians and the last fighters in the southern port of Mariupol, after weeks of Russian bombardment which the city's mayor said had turned it into a 'medieval ghetto'.
?? The Russian-occupied region of Kherson in Ukraine plans to ask Russian President Putin to incorporate it into Russia, TASS news agency said, citing a Russian official. The ousted governor says the region's people want to return to being part of Ukraine. (Reuters)
Germany may be able to cope with a boycott of Russian gas imports as soon as the coming winter, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told WirtschaftsWoche weekly on Thursday.
"If we have full storage facilities at the turn of the year, if two of the four floating LNG tankers we have leased are connected to the grid and if we make significant energy savings, we can to some extent get through the winter if Russian gas supplies collapse," Habeck told WirtschaftsWoche.
He said everyone could play a part. "Less consumption is the be-all and end-all," he said, adding that if industry and private individuals could reduce gas consumption by 10%, it would help avoid an emergency. He warned, however, that gas prices would increase further.
Germany is Europe's biggest natural gas consumer. Last year, Russian gas accounted for 55% of its imports and Berlin is under growing pressure to turn its back on an energy relationship with Russia which critics say helps finance the Ukraine war. (Reuters)
The Ukrainian national football team took to the turf on May 11 to play its first football match since the Russian invasion of the country on February 24.
As thousands of spectators clad in the blue and yellow colours watched, the team beat German club Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1 in a friendly match set up to raise funds for victims of the conflict.
Among the top reasons for the ongoing war in eastern Europe is the desire of Ukraine to become part of NATO, a Western military alliance led by the United States. To President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine becoming part of NATO poses an existential threat to Russia that is serious enough for him to start a war of the scale that Europe has not seen since the end of World War II in 1945.
Barring a brief period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia under Putin has been suspicious and insecure about the West. The three Baltic states, now part of NATO, share borders with Russia, and only Belarus and Ukraine among the countries that were once in its sphere of influence are now outside of the western military alliance. (Read more)
President Sauli Niinisto is expected to give a greenlight Thursday for Finland to join the Nato military alliance, in a major shift of security policy in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Finland, which shares a 1,300 km border and a difficult past with Russia, has gradually stepped up its cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as a partner since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. But it has refrained from joining in order to maintain friendly relations with its eastern neighbour.
Niinisto leads Finland's foreign policy in cooperation with the government under the constitution and therefore his stance is considered decisive for the application. The government and parliament are also expected to give their approvals for the decision shortly. (Reuters)
The United States does not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to militarily take on the NATO alliance, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday, as Moscow struggles to achieve its goals in Ukraine three months into its invasion. "As you look at Putin's calculus, my view - and I'm sure the chairman has his own view - but my view is that Russia doesn't want to take on the NATO alliance," Austin said during a congressional hearing. (Reuters)
The United States and Russia need to talk to each other to try to put an end to the fighting in Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Wednesday, a day after meeting US President Joe Biden.
Draghi told a news conference that he and Biden recognised that the road to peace was very complicated, but said that everyone needed to make an effort to help Russia and Ukraine find an end to the conflict. "There are so many possibilities, but before we even get to that point, there is an effort that needs to be made and it is an effort that all allies, particularly Russia and the United States, need to make to sit down at a table," Draghi said. (Reuters)
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Washington's ambassador, John Sullivan, met in Moscow on Wednesday. The U.S. Embassy said that "the United States remains committed to open channels of communication with the Russian government, both to advance U.S. interests and to reduce the risk of miscalculation between our countries".
Russia's foreign ministry issued a short statement with no details of the conversation. Relations between Moscow and Washington have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War after Moscow sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb 24. (Reuters)
A top European official has backed a multi-trillion-euro 'Marshall'-style plan to rebuild Ukraine, pledging the firepower of the EU's lending arm for what he said must be a global rescue effort. Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank, said Europe must not be left alone to foot the vast bill that he predicted could run into the trillions.
Under the post-World War Two U.S. scheme known as the Marshall Plan, the United States granted Europe the present-day equivalent of some $200 billion over four years in economic and technical assistance.
Addressing the need for a similar programme for Ukraine, Hoyer told Reuters that the cost of rebuilding the country had been discussed at recent meetings at United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington. (Reuters)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Swedish counterpart said that relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin can never be normalised following the invasion of Ukraine. Johnson met Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson to discuss topics including security in Europe.
"The leaders agreed that the aftershocks of Putin's abhorrent invasion of Ukraine had fundamentally changed international security architecture," a spokesperson for Johnson said after the meeting. "They underlined that relations with Putin could never be normalised." (Reuters)
The Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) in eastern Ukraine said on Wednesday they had blocked access to Facebook and Instagram, aligning themselves with Russia's policy on the U.S.-based social networks.
Moscow recognised the two separatist regions as independent on Feb. 21, and three days later launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in what it calls a "special military operation" aimed partly at protecting Russian-speakers there.
"Access to the information resources of the American company Meta, which allows calls for violence against Russian-speaking users on its social networks, has already been blocked," the DNR's communications ministry said in a statement. "In light of this, access to the Facebook and Instagram social networks is blocked on the republic's territory." (Reuters)
Sovereign states must be free to make difficult decisions, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday, speaking in Sweden during a visit to sign new defence and security declarations.
"The war in Ukraine is forcing us all to make difficult decisions, but sovereign nations must be free to make those decisions without fear or influence or threat of retaliation," Johnson said. (Reuters)
Russian energy giant Gazprom says that Ukraine has left only one entry point for transiting Russian gas to Europe and that this is undermining the security of gas supplies, RIA news agency reported on Wednesday. Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine fell by a quarter on Wednesday after Kyiv halted the use of a major transit route. (Reuters)
Russia is closely watching anything that can affect NATO's configuration on its borders, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, in response to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visiting Sweden and Finland on Wednesday. Both Sweden and Finland are expected to make decisions this month on whether to apply to join the Western military alliance. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday I thanked US President Joe Biden and House speaker Nanacy Pelosi for the quick approval of the law on additional financial support to Ukraine. Zelenskyy in a tweet said, "@SpeakerPelosi and all friends of Ukraine in US House of Representatives for the quick approval of the law on additional financial support for our state initiated by @POTUS. We are looking forward to consideration of this important document for us by the Senate."
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev accused the United States on Wednesday of waging a “proxy war” against Russia after the House of Representatives approved a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, and said the U.S. economy would suffer.
Writing on the messenger app Telegram, Medvedev said that the bill approved by the House on Tuesday was a bid “to deal a serious defeat to our country and limit its economic development and political influence in the world.” Medvedev said: “It won't work. The printing press by which America is constantly increasing its already inflated government debt will break faster.”
Medvedev, who has served as deputy chairman of Russia's security council since resigning as prime minister in January 2020, blamed “insane” prices for U.S. fuel and groceries on what he called America's “Russophobic authorities”. (Reuters)
The war in Ukraine will slow down economic growth in the European Union but not stall it, the bloc's trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in Marrakech at a meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
He said the EU was ready to extend its suspension of import duties and quotas for all Ukrainian imports and was preparing a plan to move away from dependence on Russian fossil fuels. (Reuters)
British and Dutch wholesale gas prices rose on Wednesday morning, rising after a two-day slide, after Russian gas flows via Ukraine fell after force majeure was declared on one route. In the British gas market, the contract for immediate delivery rose by 10.00 pence to 40.00 pence per therm by 0901 GMT while the contract for next day delivery rose by 3.00 pence to 41.00 pence per therm.
In the Dutch gas market, the contract for next day delivery rose by 6.42 euros to 87.00 euros per megawatt/hour (MWh), while that for July delivery rose by 4.9 euros to 98.50 euros/MWh. 'This is death by a thousand cuts. We sit there without knowing what to expect. Although we are still getting loads of gas, the curve is holding high due to uncertainty,' a European gas trader said. (Reuters)
Russia invaded Ukraine with the intention of toppling the government; seizing Kyiv, the capital; and bringing the nation firmly into the Kremlin’s sphere of influence.
While Moscow failed in those sweeping objectives, Russian forces have seized a wide swath of southern Ukraine and redeployed soldiers, vehicles and heavy weapons with the aim of pushing deeper into eastern Ukraine, expanding the territory it has controlled through proxy forces since 2014.
The Ukrainian and Russian armies are now in a gruelling war of attrition, often fighting fiercely over small areas. But if Russia can hold the territory it occupies on land and maintain its dominion at sea, that could give it the capacity to strangle the Ukrainian economy and provide either leverage in any negotiated settlement or a staging ground for broader assaults across the country.
Here is a look at where things stand.
Russian shipments via pipelines should be exempted from planned European Union oil sanctions against Moscow that, in their current form, would destroy Hungary's economy, its Foreign Minister said on Wednesday.
Peter Szijjarto said that, following talks with EU officials, an agreement between Budapest and Brussels on the proposed ban still looked unlikely.
"Brussels has no proposal for a solution ... which could handle the atomic bomb like impacts of this potential oil embargo against Russia on Hungary's economy." Szijjarto said said in a video posted on his Facebook page. (Reuters)
Ukraine's natural gas pipeline operator has stopped Russian shipments through a key hub in the east of the country.
Wednesday's move was the first time natural gas supply has been affected by the war that began in February. It may force Russia to shift flows of its gas through territory controlled by Ukraine to reach its clients in Europe.
Russia's state energy giant Gazprom initially said it couldn't reroute the gas, though preliminary flow data suggested higher rates moving through a second station in Ukrainian-controlled territory.The pipeline operator said Russian shipments through its Novopskov hub, in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, would be cut because of interference from “occupying forces,” including the apparent siphoning of gas. (AP)
The British military says Ukraine's targeting of Russian forces on Snake Island in the Black Sea is helping disrupt Moscow's attempts to expand its influence in the Black Sea.
In a daily intelligence briefing posted to Twitter on Wednesday, the British Defense Ministry said "Russia repeatedly (is) trying to reinforce its exposed garrison located there." It added: "Ukraine has successfully struck Russian air defenses and resupply vessels with Bayraktar drones. Russia's resupply vessels have minimum protection in the western Black Sea, following the Russian Navy's retreat to Crimea after the loss of the Moskva." This corresponds to satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press this weekend showing the fighting there.
The British military warned: "If Russia consolidates its position on (Snake) Island with strategic air defense and coastal defense cruise missiles, they could dominate the northwestern Black Sea" (AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv's military has made small gains in the east, pushing Russian forces out of four villages near Kharkiv, as his country's foreign minister suggested Ukraine could go beyond just forcing Russia back to areas it held before the invasion began 11 weeks ago.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba voiced what appeared to be increasing confidence — and expanded goals — amid Russia's stalled offensive in the east, telling the Financial Times that Ukraine initially believed victory would be the withdrawal of Russian troops to positions they occupied before the February 24 invasion. But that's no longer the case.
Now if we are strong enough on the military front, and we win the battle for Donbas, which will be crucial for the following dynamics of the war, of course the victory for us in this war will be the liberation of the rest of our territories," Kuleba said. (AP)
A US-Ukraine flag pin is visible on the jacket of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she and other members of a congressional delegation that recently visited Ukraine speak to the media after holding a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, US.
China's Shandong Port International Trade Group, a provincial government-backed commodities and oil trader, has secured a rare shipment of Russian crude oil for arrival into east China this month, according to traders and a company statement.
This marks the first such deal under which a Chinese firm other than Beijing's national oil giants has directly bought oil from a Russian supplier, as global oil majors and traders phase-out dealing in Russian oil to pressure Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow has called a "special operation".
In a statement posted on the Shandong Port group's official Wechat account on Tuesday, the company said a 100,000-tonne crude oil shipment loaded in recent days was scheduled to arrive at Shandong province in the middle of this month. (Reuters)
Russia pummeled the vital port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday, in an apparent effort to disrupt supply lines and Western weapons shipments as Ukraine's foreign minister appeared to suggest the country could expand its war aims.
Ukraine said Russian forces fired seven missiles Monday at Odesa, hitting a shopping center and a warehouse in the country's largest port. One person was killed and five wounded, the military said.
Images showed a burning building and debris — including a tennis shoe — in a heap of destruction in the city on the Black Sea. Mayor Gennady Trukhanov later visited the warehouse and said it "had nothing in common with military infrastructure or military objects." (AP)
Russia was behind a massive cyberattack against a satellite internet network that took tens of thousands of modems offline at the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war, the United States, Britain, Canada, Estonia and the European Union said on Tuesday.
The digital assault against Viasat's KA-SAT network in late February took place just as Russian armour pushed into Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the cyberattack was intended "to disrupt Ukrainian command and control during the invasion, and those actions had spillover impacts into other European countries".
The Viasat outage remains the most publicly visible cyberattack carried out since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in part because the hack had immediate knock-on consequences for satellite internet users across Europe and because the crippled modems often had to be replaced manually. (Reuters)
Oil rose on Wednesday, following a 9% drop over the previous two sessions, on supply concerns as the European Union worked on gaining support for a ban on Russian oil and major producers warned they may struggle to fill the gap when demand improves.
Brent crude rose $1.42, or 1.4%, to $103.88 a barrel at 0232 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed $1.23, or 1.2%, to $100.99 a barrel. Both contracts fell more than $1 in early trade.
Oil prices have slumped with commodities and share markets this week, on worries about the hit to economic activity from prolonged Covid curbs in China and sharp interest rate hikes in the United States. (Reuters)
As the European Union tries to impose sanctions on Russian oil over the war in Ukraine, Hungary has emerged as one of the biggest obstacles to unanimous support needed from the bloc’s 27 member nations.
Hungary’s nationalist government — one of the most friendly to Moscow in the EU — insists it will not support any sanctions that target Russian energy exports. Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas and says the EU oil boycott would be an “atomic bomb” for its economy and destroy its “stable energy supply.” Von der Leyen made a surprise trip to Hungary’s capital on Monday for negotiations with Prime Minister Viktor Orban to try to salvage the proposal, but no agreement has yet been reached. (Read more)
?? Ukraine said its forces had recaptured villages from Russian troops north and northeast of Kharkiv, pressing a counter-offensive that could signal a shift in the war's momentum and jeopardise Russia's main advance.
?? Ukrainian troops had recaptured the settlements of Cherkaski Tyshky, Ruski Tyshki, Borshchova and Slobozhanske, in a pocket north of Kharkiv in recent days, according to a spokesperson for the main Ukrainian force near Kharkiv.
?? Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said the region was attacked 22 times over the previous 24 hours.
?? In the southern port city of Mariupol, Russian forces continued their assault on the Azovstal steel plant where the city's last defenders are holed up. An aide to the city's mayor said at least 100 civilians were still trapped there.
?? Ukraine's emergency services said all fires resulting from Russia's Monday strikes on the Black Sea port of Odesa had been put out.
?? Asked if Moscow would rule out a preemptive tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine, Russia's deputy foreign minister said the option was clearly set out in Russia's military doctrine, RIA reported. (Reuters)
The US House of Representatives approved more than $40 billion more aid for Ukraine Tuesday, as Congress races to keep military aid flowing and boost the government in Kyiv as it grapples with the Russian invasion. The House passed the Ukraine spending bill by 368 to 57, with every 'no' vote coming from Republicans. The measure now heads to the Senate, which is expected to act quickly.
President Joe Biden had asked Congress to approve an additional $33 billion in aid for Ukraine two weeks ago, but lawmakers decided to increase the military and humanitarian funding. (Reuters)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday reopened her country's embassy in Kyiv that was closed more than two months ago following the Russian invasion.Baerbock, the first German Cabinet member to visit Ukraine since the start of the war, also pledged that Berlin would provide further support to Kyiv, including when it comes to investigating and prosecuting war crimes.
Speaking after visiting the towns of Bucha and Irpin, where Russian soldiers are alleged to have killed numerous civilians, Baerbock said there can “never again be impunity for the war crimes committed by Russia, the deportations, or for the murderers and rapists." “That is why we will provide political, financial, and support through German staff, particularly at the International Criminal Court,” she said, adding that Germany will also pay for two additional Ukrainian prosecutors who will investigate sexual violence committed during the conflict.
Ukraine's gas system operator GTSOU said on Tuesday it would declare force majeure on the transportation of gas through the Sokhranivka entry point, with flows stopping on May 11. GTSOU said it could not carry out operations at the Novopskov gas compressor station at the site due to "the interference of the occupying forces in technical processes."
Russia was behind a massive cyberattack against a satellite internet network which took thousands of modems offline at the onset of the war in Ukraine, Britain and the European Union said on Tuesday. The digital assault against Viasat's KA-SAT network in late February took place just as Russian armour pushed into Ukraine and helped facilitate President Vladimir Putin's invasion of the country, the Council of the EU said in a statement.
"This cyberattack had a significant impact causing indiscriminate communication outages and disruptions across several public authorities, businesses and users in Ukraine, as well as affecting several EU Member States," the statement said. "This unacceptable cyberattack is yet another example of Russia's continued pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, which also formed an integral part of its illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine," it added. (With Reuters)
Thousands more civilians have been killed in Ukraine during nearly 11 weeks of war there than the official U.N. death toll of 3,381, the head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission for the country said on Tuesday. The United Nations team, which includes 55 monitors in Ukraine, has said most of the deaths were caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area such as missile and air strikes.
"We have been working on estimates, but all I can say for now is that it is thousands higher than the numbers we have currently given to you," Matilda Bogner told a news briefing in Geneva, when asked about the total number of deaths and injuries.