A Kremlin spokesman said the Biden Administration is “deliberately and diligently pouring fuel into the fire," by sending new missile systems to Kyiv.
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The Biden administration is getting ready to send Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium-range rocket systems, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been pleading for as they struggle to stall Russian progress. The rocket systems are part of a new $700 million tranche of security assistance for Ukraine from the US that will include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems and tactical vehicles.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have now seized half of Sievierodonetsk, a key city in eastern Ukraine, as heavy fighting between Russians and Ukrainians continues.
Follow Wednesday's developments in Ukraine as they unfolded in our blog below:
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Live ended
- A Kremlin spokesperson says US plans to send more missile systems to Ukraine are ""deliberately and diligently pouring fuel into the fire."
- Russia claims to have completed testing of a hypersonic cruise missile.
- Russian forces now control 70% of the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk, according to the regional governor.
- Germany is to send Ukraine anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems, amid criticism that it's not doing enough to help Kyiv.
- Russian gas exports plunged 27.6 per cent in 2022, according to Gazprom.
- Denmark is holding a referendum today on whether to join the EU common defence policy.
- Russia is cutting off natural gas supply to Denmark, adding the country to a list that includes Finland, Poland, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
- Russia has criticised the US over its plans to send advanced arms shipments to Ukraine, including medium-range rocket systems.
- Ukrainian counter-offensives in Kherson are critical terrain, says US think tank.
That's our Ukraine live blog coming to a close for Wednesday evening.
We're back again on Thursday morning with all the latest developments.
Ukraine beat Scotland to go one step closer to World Cup
Ukraine’s emotion-filled quest to qualify for the World Cup amid an ongoing war moved a step closer with a 3-1 win over Scotland in a pulsating playoff semifinal on Wednesday.
Veteran captain Andriy Yarmolenko lifted his nation by scoring a deft lobbed goal in the 33rd minute and then helped set up Roman Yaremchuk’s header in the 49th.
Ukraine dominated for much of a deserved win though had to resist a Scotland revival as risk-filled attacks brought a goal in the 79th by Callum McGregor, before Ukraine substitute Artem Dovbyk broke clear to score with the last kick of the game.
Dovbyk led teammates toward the corner of the stadium to share the celebration with 3,000 Ukraine fans in the 51,000 crowd, applauding each other with hands raised high above their heads.
Now Ukraine moves on to face Wales on Sunday with a place at the World Cup at stake.
The winner in Cardiff will go to Qatar in November to play in a group against England, the United States and Iran.
Ukraine put in a slick display despite using six starters who had not played a competitive game of any kind since December.
Most of Ukraine’s squad play for home-based clubs whose league was shut down after Russia's invasion, and the playoff in Glasgow was postponed in March. FIFA and Scotland agreed to give the Ukrainian team a fair chance to prepare for games that have become a focus of national identity and pride.
Scotland lacked the class needed and its wait for World Cup soccer now extends beyond the 24 years since it went to the 1998 tournament.
(AP)
NATO organising Turkey, Finland, Sweden meeting over membership
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said he’s convening a meeting of senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey to try to overcome Ankara’s objections to the two Nordic countries joining the alliance.
Stoltenberg told reporters that the talks will be held in Brussels “in a few days with senior officials,” but provided no further details.
“I’m confident that we will find a way forward,” he said.
Roused by security concerns over Russia’s war on Ukraine, Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO last month. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is blocking their path. He has said they’re not doing enough to fight Kurdish extremism.
Asked how long it might take to end the standoff, Stoltenberg said his goal is before the NATO summit.
US President Joe Biden, Erdogan and their NATO counterparts are meeting in Madrid from June 28-30.
“We want to make sure that all allies have their security concerns taken into account, and that includes Turkey,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
(AP)
Zelenskyy lauds Polish help with refugees and military support
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday thanked Poland for its military support.
Speaking at a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Zelenskyy hailed what he described as “unprecedented defense support” from Warsaw.
He also voiced gratitude to Poland for hosting Ukrainians who were forced to leave the country during the war, praising its “warm and humane attitude to our people.”
“Our relations have progressed through the war of Russia against Ukraine from warm and good-neighborly relations to another stage of strong and historic ties," Zelenskyy said.
(AP)
Poland to improve infrastructure to ease Ukraine grain export buildup
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Wednesday his country is improving its transport infrastructure to ease the export of grain and other key products from neighboring Ukraine that has been severely restricted by Russia's invasion.
Morawiecki spoke in the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, near Kyiv, that was heavily damaged by Russian shelling. He was there to inaugurate container houses, provided by Poland, for people left homeless by the fighting.
Morawiecki said Poland is working on expanding its transport infrastructure and the flow capacity to facilitate the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products to the world. Poland is receiving EU funds for the purpose, Morawiecki said.
He said North African and Middle Eastern countries rely heavily on Ukraine grain and could face problems feeding their populations without it.
Poland is currently a key route for Ukraine exports, but border bottlenecks - among other difficulties - are restricting the flow of goods.
Poland and Ukraine are also discussing Poland’s assistance in rebuilding Ukraine after the war, as well as stronger cooperation in defense, security and infrastructure.
The prospective deals will “on one hand help Ukraine, on the other hand will give an economic impulse to Poland," Morawiecki said.
Later Wednesday Morawiecki was joined in Kyiv by Poland's most powerful politician, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, for talks on Ukraine's recovery with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
(AP)
Italy imports more Russian oil despite impending embargo
Even as the European Union decided to reduce Russian crude oil imports by 90% by the end of the year, Italy has become the only country in Europe to increase them, an unintended consequence of EU sanctions against Russia.
Meant to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, the EU oil embargo is now putting at risk one of Italy’s largest refineries, located in Sicily, which would deal an economic blow to the depressed region’s economy.
Italy agreed with its EU partners to cut Russian crude imports by 2023, a move that Premier Mario Draghi called “a complete success,″ that ”just a couple of days ago wouldn’t have been believable.”
But Rome also has to deal with the fate of the refinery in Sicily owned by Russia’s Lukoil. As a result of previous sanctions against Russia, ISAB Srl has paradoxically gone from processing 15% of Russian crude to 100%.
That’s because banks have refused to take the risk of extending credit to Russia-controlled ISAB that would allow it to buy oil from non-Russian sources, even if not specifically barred from doing so, said Matteo Villa, an energy analyst at the ISPI think tank in Milan.
Italy in May received about 400,000 barrels of Russian oil a day in May, four times the pre-invasion levels, according to the Kpler commodity data company. Of that total, ISAB received 220,000 barrels a day from Russia.
“Italy is the only country in Europe increasing oil imports,” Villa said, going from the sixth-largest importer of Russian oil to the the largest in the three months since the invasion.
The plant employs 3,500 people at three production sites, including a refinery, gasification and electricity cogeneration plant, in Sicily’s Syracuse province, and risks closure if a solution isn’t found before the embargo kicks in. The plant and related activities generate half of the provincial gross domestic product and 8% of the region’s economic activity, processing one-fifth of Italy’s crude oil imports.
(AP)
Report: China bars Russian airlines using foreign planes
China has barred Russia’s airlines from flying foreign-owned jetliners into its airspace, the Russian news outlet RBK reported, after President Vladimir Putin threw the aircrafts’ ownership into doubt by allowing them to be re-registered in Russia to avoid seizure under sanctions over Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
The European Union, home to major aircraft leasing companies, banned the sale or lease of aircraft to Russian carriers in February. Putin responded by approving the re-registration measure in March, which prompted suggestions foreign owners may never recover planes worth billions of dollars.
China’s air regulator asked all foreign carriers last month to update ownership information and other details, RBK said, citing two unidentified sources. It said Russian airlines that couldn’t provide documents showing their aircraft were “de-registered abroad” were barred from Chinese airspace.
(AP)
Netherlands increases defence spending
The Dutch government on Wednesday announced what it is calling the biggest boost in its military spending since the end of the Cold War as war rages in Ukraine.
Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said “threats in the world and the war in Ukraine show that peace and security cannot be taken for granted.”
Ollongren unveiled 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) a year in increased military spending.
The extra money will fund military hardware purchases in coming years including six new F-35 fighter jets and a doubling of the military’s fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones from four to eight.
The Defense Ministry said the investment means the Netherlands will meet the NATO agreed defense spending of 2% of its gross domestic product in 2024 and 2025.
It also aims to ease shortages in military supplies and equipment. That will enable military personnel to “work with the best equipment and train a lot without constant shortages of spare parts, transport and ammunition,” the ministry said.
(AP)
Ukraine 'assures US' over weapons use
Ukraine has given "assurances" to the United States that it will not use new missile systems promised by Washington to target Russian territory, US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken said Wednesday.
"It is Russia that is attacking Ukraine, not the other way around. To be clear, the best way to avoid escalation is for Russia to stop the aggression and the war that it has launched," he told reporters, responding to Moscow's accusations that it was providing the new US weapons.
Read more about the high-tech weapons system America plans to send to Ukraine at our story here.
(Euronews / AFP)
Russian oligarch goes to court over Monaco bank account
Russian oligarch Boris Rotenberg, a resident of Monaco, has gone to court in the tiny principality to force a bank to open an account for him after his was closed earlier this year, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Mr Rotenberg, 65, who made his fortune in the construction industry and also holds a Finnish passport, was included with his brother Arkadi on the list of people close to the Russian regime subject to individual sanctions by the European Union on 8 April because of the Russian war in Ukraine.
But the decision by the bank Société Générale to close his account happened in January, before Rotenberg was sanctioned.
In February, Rotenberg had then applied to another bank, Banque J. Safra, which also refused the request to open an account, according to documents seen by AFP.
By virtue of his right to an account, the oligarch applied to the Monegasque Budget and Treasury Department to designate a new banking establishment.
On 6 April, the Compagnie monégasque de banque was designated but "refused in turn the request to open the account", according to the summons.
In order to open an account for a client, a bank is "subject to due diligence obligations" and can therefore refuse to open the account if it has not been able to carry out these obligations.
The Compagnie monégasque de banque "did not carry out the due diligence obligations", explains Rotenberg's lawyer, calling it "an arbitrary decision which only results from its own inertia".
The request to open an account "was only for a deposit account, so there is no risk that would justify such a refusal", the lawyer said, asking the court to "order" the Compagnie monégasque de banque to open a deposit account for Mr Rotenberg, with a penalty payment.
The Monegasque government said they did not want to make any comment, calling it a "private matter."
Childhood friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom they practised judo, the two Rotenberg brothers once controlled construction giants and became rich through huge public contracts, particularly for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Boris Rotenberg owns a villa in Eze (Alpes-Maritimes) which is on the list of assets frozen as part of the EU sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine.
(AFP)
Russian official predicts referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories by July
One of Russia's negotiators on the Ukraine conflict told the Ria Novosti agency on Wednesday that Ukrainian occupied by Russian forces could hold referendums as early as July with a view to annexation.
"I don't want to predict (...), but I think that the liberated territories will hold a referendum more or less at the same time, which is logical," said Leonid Slutski, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament.
"I expect it to take place in July," added the official, who is a member of the Russian delegation to the peace talks with Ukraine that have been stalled for weeks.
Russia calls the Ukrainian regions it occupies with its separatist allies "liberated territories".
These are the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose independence Moscow has recognised and whose leaders aspire to rejoin Russia, but also the regions of Kherson and Zaporijjia in southern Ukraine, which the Russian army has largely conquered since late February.
Administrations have been imposed there to introduce the Russian rouble as a currency, grant Russian citizenship to the inhabitants or install Russian communication networks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that the inhabitants of the four territories "should be able to choose their future".
"We have no doubt that they will make the best decision," he said.
(AFP)
Germany: West must give Ukraine long-term support
Germany’s foreign minister says the West must give Ukraine long-term support, and is defending the time it’s taking to deliver weapons systems to Kyiv.
Annalena Baerbock told the German parliament that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “fundamentally changed” his strategy after failing to take Ukraine quickly. She said that “he is now counting on having more staying power than we who support Ukraine.”
Baerbock said Wednesday that “we need staying power in supporting Ukraine.”
The minister fended off criticism of perceived delays in fulfilling promises to send weapons, telling lawmakers that “the stuff has to arrive and above all the soldiers must be able to use it.” Her comments came hours after Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will send modern air-defense missiles. Baerbock said those were originally supposed to go to another country, which she didn’t identify.
She said that “we need these medium- and long-term signals that we haven’t given up on Ukraine in three months, but that we are defending it durably as we can without participating in this war ourselves.”
(AP)
Ukraine wheat production to fall as war continues
Ukraine is expected to see its wheat production fall by 40% for the 2022-23 season, the Grain Association of Ukraine said on Wednesday, while exports are expected to fall by 50%, due to the war with Russia.
This association, which brings together producers and exporters of cereals, said it expects a harvest this season of 19.2 million tonnes of wheat, "significantly lower than the record" of the 2021-2022 season, where it harvested 33 million tonnes. .
"Despite the occupation of territories and mined fields, Ukraine will be supplied with cereals and will be able to export part of the harvest", the association said in a press release.
Before the start of the war, Ukraine was the world's fourth largest exporter of wheat and corn.
(AFP)
Russia accuses US over new missile shipments
A Kremlin spokesman says Moscow “negatively” views US plans to supply more weapons to Ukraine, and accuses the US of "deliberately and diligently pouring fuel into the fire."
The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it will send Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium-range rocket systems. Ukrainian leaders have begged for rocket launchers as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during his daily conference calls with journalists on Wednesday that Moscow doesn’t trust Kyiv’s assurances that the multiple-launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S. will not be used to attack Russia.
US officials say the aid package expected to be unveiled Wednesday tries to strike a balance between the desire to help Ukraine battle ferocious Russian artillery barrages while not providing arms that could allow Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia and trigger an escalation in the war.
“The US sticks to the line of fighting with Russia until the last Ukrainian (left standing),” he said.
(AP)
Poland will serve as 'economic hub' for Ukraine, says PM
Poland’s prime minister says the European Union member state will serve as an “economic hub” for neighbouring Ukraine, helping it export grain and other products while Russia continues to block its export routes, chiefly its ports.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke Wednesday in the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, near Kyiv, where he came to inaugurate a series of container houses for homeless residents that were funded by Poland, reports the Associated Press.
Morawiecki said his country is working on expanding its infrastructure and capacity to facilitate the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain and other agriculture products.
Poland is receiving EU funds for the purpose, he said.
Ukraine holding just 20% of Sievierodonetsk, says mayor
Ukrainian forces are holding just a fifth of the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk but there is still hope that they can prevent Russia taking full control, the head of the city administration told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
If Russia captures the city and its smaller twin Lysychansk it will hold all of Luhansk, one of two provinces in the eastern Donbas region that Moscow claims on behalf of separatists and a key war aim of President Vladimir Putin.
Russian forces now control 60% of the city and Ukraine holds 20% while the rest has become "no-man's land", said Oleksandr Stryuk, the Ukrainian head of the city administration, who declined to give his location.
"The 20% is being fiercely defended by our armed forces," he said. "Our troops are holding defensive lines. Attempts are being made to drive out the Russian troops."
"We have hope that despite everything we will free the city and not allow it to be completely occupied," he said.
Stryuk said that 12-13,000 people remain in the city but that all essential infrastructure had been destroyed and that access to the city to deliver food or other aid was impossible.
"They are living in conditions of constant shelling, and now street battles are going on too, which has heightened the danger to the civilian population."
Sweden plans to continue dialogue with Turkey over NATO bid
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Wednesday that the Nordic country would continue its dialogue with Turkey over Ankara's objections concerning its application to join the NATO military alliance.
"I'm looking forward to constructive meetings with Turkey in the near future," she told a news conference with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"Our responses to demands and also questions from Turkey we will take directly with Turkey and also sort out any issues and misunderstandings that there might be."
Sweden and Finland both applied to join NATO last month but their bids have faced unexpected objections from Ankara which accuses them of being safe havens for Kurdish militants and wants them to reverse an arms exports ban.
(Reuters)
Talks with Zelenskyy possible, but negotiations stalled, says Kremlin
Russia said on Wednesday that it did not rule out a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but that any such talks needed to be prepared in advance.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a call that work on a peace document with Ukraine had stopped a long time ago and had not restarted.
Peskov said that people in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donbas must decide their own futures and the Kremlin did not doubt they would make the "best decision".
Ukraine has previously said that annexation of the regions by Russia would end peace talks between the two sides.
(Reuters)
HIMARS: What are the high-tech rocket systems the US plans to send to Ukraine?
On Tuesday evening the Biden administration said it will be sending Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium-range rocket systems, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been pleading for to aid in their fight against Russia.
But what exactly are these weapons? Read below to find out:
Russia has no information on death of French journalist, says official
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it had no information as to the circumstances of the death of a French journalist in Ukraine during a bombardment attributed to Russian forces.
"To draw conclusions, you need detailed information about where it happened, under what circumstances, what is the truth, what is not. We don't have such information," Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian Presidency, told the press.
Peskov's statement is the first from a Russian official since Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, a journalist working for the French channel BFMTV, was killed in eastern Ukraine on Monday, while reporting on a humanitarian operation.
The head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, said in a tweet that the 32-year-old reporter had been "killed by a Russian bombardment".
(AFP)
Portuguese marines sent to strengthen NATO's defences in Lithuania
Portugal has sent more than 100 marines to join a NATO force in stationed in Lithuania, in a bid to reinforce the alliance's defences on its eastern flank.
The aim of the deployment is to "support high levels of readiness and discourage direct of indirect threats against NATO member states, especially in the Baltics, said Portugal's defence ministry Wednesday.
146 marines will be deployed, including divers specialising in deactivating mines and other explosive devices.
They will remain in Lithuania for three months, having left for the country on Wednesday.
NATO countries have sent troops, tanks, aircraft and other military equipment to Lithuania and the wider Baltic region, since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 Feburary.
(AP)
Fuel partially made from Russian crude allegedly in US - despite ban
Fuel allegedly made, in part, with Russian crude has been imported to the United States (US), in spite of a ban on Russian oil, gas and energy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US newspaper reported that traders are attempting to evade sanctions on Russian oil imports by blending the oil in refined products, such as petrol, diesel and chemicals.
Arriving in New York and New Jersey last month, the cargoes were transported through the Suez Canal and across the Atlantic from Indian refineries, which are big buyers of Russian oil.
"It does look like there’s a trade where Russian crude is refined in India and then some of it is sold to the US," one analyst, who has been monitoring Russian fossil fuel exports, told the paper.
Oil is also being transferred between ships in the Mediterranean, off the coast of West Africa and the Black Sea, and then moved to China, India and Western Europe, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at US ports," said US president Joe Biden in March.
Russian gas exports plunge in 2022
Russia gas exports fell by 27.6 per cent between January and May 2022 compared to the same period last year, Russian gas giant Gazprom announced Wednesday.
The figures come against a backdrop of Russian-European tensions over the war in Ukraine, although Gazprom did not explain the reasons for this drop.
"Exports to countries far abroad (not including the CIS countries, editor's note) amounted to 61 billion cubic meters, or 27.6 per cent (23.2 billion cubic meters) less than for the same period of 2021," Russia's largest energy company wrote on Telegram.
It specified to deliver gas "in accordance with confirmed orders," adding that "gas exports to China through the Power of Siberia pipeline are increasing, under a long-term contract between Gazprom and CNPC."
No sanctions on Russia gas exports to the EU have been put in place, although plans to open a new gas pipeline from Russia to Germany have been frozen.
However, faced with the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the European Union (EU) is trying to reduce its dependence on Russia gas and find alternative suppliers, such as the United States (US).
Russia, which has the world's largest reserves of natural gas, previously provided 40 per cent of the EU's gas.
(AFP)
The Ukraine war and the cost of living crisis
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to record-breaking inflation.
But how is the war affecting the current cost of living crisis?
Read more below.
Russian troops retreating, claims Mykolayiv regional governor
Russian troops are retreating and blowing up bridges to obstruct a possible Ukrainian advance, according to a regional governor in southern Ukraine.
Mykolayiv region governor Vitaliy Kim claimed Wednesday that Russia was on the defensive.
“They are afraid of a breakthrough by the (Ukrainian Armed Forces), but we are not afraid and we support our troops,” Kim wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He didn’t specify exactly where the retreat he described was happening. The parts of the Mykolayiv region which have been held by Russian forces in recent days are close to the large Russia-occupied city of Kherson.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday that Ukrainian fighters had seen “some success in the Kherson direction.”
Russia is concentrating most of its military power on trying to capture all of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.
(AP)
Ukraine losing 60-100 soldiers a day, says President Zelenskyy
Ukraine’s president says his country is losing between 60 and 100 soldiers a day in the fighting with Russian forces.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told American TV channel Newsmax that “the most difficult situation is in the east of Ukraine," including Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
“The situation is very difficult. We’re losing 60-100 soldiers per day as killed in action and something around 500 people as wounded in action. So we are holding our defensive perimeters,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine has largely refrained from disclosing its military losses since the beginning of the Russian invasion, but Zelenskyy previously said the country was losing between 50 and 100 soldiers a day.
(AP)
Russia claims to have completed testing of hypersonic cruise missile
Russia has completed testing of its hypersonic Zircon cruise missile and will deploy it before the end of the year on a new frigate of its Northern Fleet, a senior military official said on Wednesday.
Alexander Moiseyev, commander of the Northern Fleet, said the Admiral Golovko frigate would become the first to be armed full-time with the Zircon, TASS news agency reported.
President Vladimir Putin has described the Zircon as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems, travelling at nine times the speed of sound.
Russia has suffered heavy losses during its three-month war in Ukraine, but has continued to stage high-profile tests of its newest missiles.
The defence ministry said last week it had successfully test-fired a Zircon cruise missile from a vessel in the Barents Sea to a target some 1,000 kilometres away in the White Sea.
(Reuters)
Russian forces now control 70% of Sievierodonetsk
Russian forces now controls around 70% of Sievierodonetsk, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk.
“The Russians control 70% of Sievierodonetsk. Ukrainian troops retreated to more advantageous, pre-prepared positions. Another part continues fighting inside the city,” Haidai wrote on Telegram.
The city has become the main battleground in Ukraine, and a key objective for Russian forces as they look to control the whole of the Donbas region.
Haidai added that while “Lysychansk is completely under Ukrainian control. All free settlements of Luhansk region are constantly under fire. Evacuation is suspended.”
Grain cannot be used as 'weapon of war', says Pope Francis
Pope Francis on Wednesday appealed to authorities to lift the block on wheat exports from Ukraine, saying that grain cannot be used as a "weapon of war," reports Reuters.
Speaking at his general audience to thousands of people in St Peter's Square, he said the block should be lifted because many millions of people depend on wheat from Ukraine, particularly in the world's poorest countries.
Russia cutting off natural gas supply to Denmark
Denmark’s largest energy company said Russia is cutting off its gas supply as of Wednesday, because it refused to pay in rubles.
Russia previously halted natural gas supplies to Finland, Poland and Bulgaria for refusing a demand to pay in rubles. And on Tuesday, the tap was turned off to the Netherlands.
Danish energy company Ørsted said it still expected to be able to serve its customers.
“We stand firm in our refusal to pay in rubles, and we’ve been preparing for this scenario,” Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper said. ”The situation underpins the need of the EU becoming independent of Russian gas by accelerating the build-out of renewable energy.”
The Danish Energy Agency said that in the first 18 weeks of 2022, Russian gas amounted to approximately 25% of EU gas consumption. The agency said that Denmark losing its supply would not have immediate consequences
“We still have gas in Denmark, and consumers can still have gas delivered,” Kristoffer Böttzauw, head of the Danish Energy Agency. said in a statement Monday. “But we have plans ready if the situation worsens.”
Since there is no pipeline going directly from Russia to Denmark, Russia will not be able to directly cut off gas supplies to Denmark, Ørsted said.
Denmark has been a net exporter of natural gas for many years, but because its Tyra field in the North Sea is being renovated, the country currently imports about 75% of its gas consumption via Germany. The Tyra field is expected to reopen in mid-2023.
(AP)
Germany to send Kyiv anti-aircraft missiles, radar systems
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that his country will supply Ukraine with modern anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems, stepping up arms deliveries amid criticism that Germany isn’t doing enough to help Kyiv.
Scholz told lawmakers that the government has decided to provide Ukraine with IRIS-T missiles developed by Germany together with other NATO nations.
He said Germany will also supply Ukraine with radar systems to help locate enemy artillery.
The announcements come amid claims at home and abroad that Germany has been slow to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to defend itself against Russia.
(AP)
Russia criticises US over advanced arms shipments to Ukraine
Russia has pushed back against the decision by the US to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions to Ukraine, saying the move would increase the risk of a direct confrontation.
On Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency RIA Novosti that Moscow viewed US military aid to Ukraine as "extremely negatively".
He singled out plans to supply Kyiv with High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a multiple rocket launcher system that Washington said it would supply to Ukraine as part of its latest military aid package.
Swiss deny Danish request to send Swiss-made vehicles to Ukraine
The Swiss government has vetoed Denmark's request to send Swiss-made armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine, citing its neutrality policy of not supplying arms to conflict zones, Swiss broadcaster SRF reported on Wednesday.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) rejected Denmark's bid to provide around 20 Piranha III infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, SRF said, citing confirmation from the agency.
SECO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neutral Switzerland requires foreign countries that buy Swiss arms to seek permission to re-export them.
In April it vetoed the re-export of Swiss-made ammunition used in anti-aircraft tanks that Germany is sending to Ukraine. It has also rejected Poland's request for arms to help neighbouring Ukraine.
Switzerland has parted with past practice and adopted European Union sanctions designed to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, an incursion Moscow describes as a special military operation to disarm and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
But Swiss neutrality faces its biggest test in decades as a domestic debate rages over how to interpret the policy that kept Switzerland out of both world wars during the 20th century.
(Reuters)
China bars Russian airlines with foreign planes
China has barred Russian airlines from flying foreign-owned jetliners into its airspace, the Russian news outlet RBK reported, after President Vladimir Putin threw the aircrafts' ownership into doubt by allowing them to be re-registered in Russia to avoid seizure under sanctions over Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
The European Union, home to major aircraft leasing companies, banned the sale or lease of aircraft to Russian carriers in February. Putin responded by approving the re-registration measure in March, which prompted suggestions foreign owners may never recover planes worth billions of dollars.
China’s air regulator asked all foreign carriers last month to update ownership information and other details, RBK said, citing two unidentified sources. It said Russian airlines that couldn’t provide documents showing their aircraft were “de-registered abroad” were barred from Chinese airspace.
(AP)
Denmark holds referendum on joining EU common defence policy
Traditionally eurosceptic Denmark votes today in a referendum on whether to overturn its opt-out on the EU's common defence policy after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The vote comes on the heels of neighbouring Finland's and Sweden's historic applications for NATO membership, as the Ukraine war forces countries in Europe to rethink their security policies.
More than 65% of Denmark's 4.3 million eligible voters are expected to vote in favour of dropping the exemption, an opinion poll published on Sunday suggested.
However, analysts' predictions have been cautious, given the low voter turnout expected in a country that has often said "no" to more EU integration, most recently in 2015.
The defence opt-out means that the Scandinavian country, a founding member of NATO, does not currently participate in EU foreign policy where defence is concerned, and does not contribute troops to EU military missions.
"I believe with all my heart that we have to vote 'yes'," said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a televised debate on Sunday. "At a time when we need to fight for security in Europe, we need to be more united with our neighbours."
(Euronews / AFP)
Ukrainian counter-offensives in Kherson are critical terrain, says US think tank
The Washington DC-based Institute for the Study of War has highlighted the painful strategic choices that must be made in wartime.
It suggests that Ukrainian forces are now apparently withdrawing from Severodonetsk rather than fighting to the end, a factor that has allowed Russians to move into the city relatively rapidly after beginning their full-scale assault.
“Both the decision to avoid committing more resources to saving Severodonetsk and the decision to withdraw from it were strategically sound, however painful,” it said. “Ukraine must husband its more limited resources and focus on regaining critical terrain rather than on defending ground whose control will not determine the outcome of the war or the conditions for the renewal of war.”
The institute added that Moscow’s concentration on seizing Severodonetsk, and Donbas more generally, continues to create vulnerabilities in the Kherson Oblast, where Ukrainian counter-offensives are taking place.
“Kherson is critical terrain because it is the only area of Ukraine in which Russian forces hold ground on the west bank of the Dnipro River,” it said. “If Ukraine regains Kherson, on the other hand, Ukraine will be in a much stronger position to defend itself against future Russian attack.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen to concentrate all the forces and resources that can be scraped together to try to seize areas of eastern Ukraine that will give him largely symbolic gains, it said. “Continuing successful Ukrainian counter-offensives in Kherson indicate that Ukraine’s commanders recognise these realities and are taking advantage of the vulnerabilities that Putin’s decisions have created.”
Russia's nuclear forces holding drills northeast of Moscow
In a ratcheting up of tensions, Russia's nuclear forces are holding drills in the Ivanovo province, northeast of Moscow, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Wednesday.
This comes shortly after US President Joe Biden announced that the US would be sending a $700m package of security assistance to Ukraine, including long sought after medium range missiles.
Some 1,000 servicemen are exercising in intense manoeuvres, using over 100 vehicles including Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, it cited the ministry as saying, according to Reuters.
Russian forces have seized half of Sievierodonetsk, says mayor
Russian forces in a “frenzied push” have seized half of Sievierodonetsk, the eastern Ukrainian city that is key to Moscow's efforts to complete the capture of the industrial Donbas region, the local mayor said Tuesday.
“The city is essentially being destroyed ruthlessly block by block,” Oleksandr Striuk said.
Striuk said heavy street fighting continued and artillery barrages threatened the lives of the estimated 13,000 civilians still sheltering in the ruined city that once was home to more than 100,000.
A Russian airstrike on Sievierodonetsk hit a tank of nitric acid at a chemical factory, causing a huge leak of fumes, according to Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region. He posted a picture of a big cloud hanging over the city and urged residents to stay inside and wear gas masks or improvised ones.
Haidai said later Tuesday that “most of Sievierodonetsk" was under Russian control, though he added that fierce fighting continued and the city wasn’t surrounded.
Sievierodonetsk is important to Russian efforts to capture the Donbas before more Western arms arrive to bolster Ukraine’s defence. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian troops in the region for eight years and held swaths of territory even before the invasion.
(AP)
US sending medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine
The Biden administration says it will send Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium-range rocket systems, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been begging for as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region.
The rocket systems are part of a new $700 million tranche of security assistance for Ukraine from the US that will include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more, two senior administration officials said Tuesday. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the weapons package that will be formally unveiled on Wednesday.
The US decision to provide the advance rocket systems tries to strike a balance between the desire to help Ukraine battle ferocious Russian artillery barrages while not providing arms that could allow Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia and trigger an escalation in the war.
The aid package expected to be unveiled Wednesday would send what the US considers medium-range rockets — they generally can travel about 70 kilometres, the officials said.
The Ukrainians have assured US officials that they will not fire rockets into Russian territory, according to the senior administration officials. One official noted that the advanced rocket systems will give Ukrainian forces greater precision in targeting Russian assets inside Ukraine.
The expectation is that Ukraine could use the rockets in the eastern Donbas region, where they could both intercept Russian artillery and take out Russian positions in towns where fighting is intense, such as Sievierodonetsk.
(AP)