NewsWorldEuropeMilitary commanders hit with sanctions as war enters its 100th day
Zelensky shuts down anchor’s suggestion that Trump would have stopped Russian invasion
The European Union has blacklisted Russian military leaders who it said led troops to commit atrocities in Ukraine, describing them as the “butchers” of Bucha and Mariupol.
The latest round of EU sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hits 65 more Kremlin-linked figures and confirms a ban on most oil imports and the removal of Russia’s top lender Sberbank from the Swift payments system.
Among the 65 people named was Azatbek Omurbekov, who the EU said led Russian troops as they “killed, raped and tortured civilians in Bucha”, earning him the nickname “Butcher of Bucha”.
Mikhail Mizintsev, a general the EU said oversaw the siege and bombardment of Mariupol that killed thousands, was also targeted and deemed the “butcher of Mariupol”. Russia has denied killing civilians in 100 days of what it calls a special military operation.
Moscow today announced its intention to stay in Ukraine until achieving all its goals. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “One of the main goals of the operation is to protect people in the [Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic] – two breakaway regionscontrolled by Russian-backed separatists.
1654318381Switzerland rejects request for transfer or arms to Ukraine over military neutralitySwitzerland “cannot agree” to Denmark and Germany’s requests to “transfer war material” to Ukraine, Federal Council spokesman André Simonazzi said on Friday.
However, Mr Simonazzi added, “the delivery of individual parts to European armaments companies remains possible.”
Switzerland’s War Materiel Act mandates that export requests cannot be approved if the recipient country is in an international armed conflict.
Maanya Sachdeva4 June 2022 05:53
1654316581Guterres renews calls for peace in Ukraine over ‘three-dimensional global crisis’United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once again called for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine, or 100 days since Russia’s invasion began.
Mr Guterres, in a tweet on Friday, said the war “is inflaming a three-dimensional global crisis – food, energy and finance” which is “pummelling the most vulnerable people, countries and economies”.
“The sooner this war ends, the better,” he wrote, adding, “For the sake of Ukraine, Russia, and the world.”
Maanya Sachdeva4 June 2022 05:23
1654314641Ukrainian forces have reclaimed 20 per cent of Sievierodonetsk from Russia, officials sayUkrainian armed forces have recaptured “approximately 20 per cent” of Sievierodonetsk from Russia since its invasion began, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said on Friday.
Making an announcement on national television, Mr Haidai said: “Whereas before the situation was difficult, the percentage (held by Russia) was somewhere around 70 per cent , now we have already pushed them back by approximately 20 per cent.”
Further, he added that Russian military were attacking and advancing on Ukrainian positions for hours – “moving forward, step-by-step” – until they were driven back.
On Thursday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced that the country’s forces had made “some progress” in the region, without providing any additional details.
Russian forces have been trying to capture Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, the only two cities in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province not controlled by the Kremlin. These provinces constitute the Donbas, or Ukraine’s eastern industrial region that Russia has been gunning to control.
Maanya Sachdeva4 June 2022 04:50
1654308000Biden says negotiations necessary to end Ukraine warJoe Biden on Friday said he thinks a “negotiated settlement” will be necessary to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Asked whether Ukraine should give up some of its territory to Russia in order to end the war and bring peace to the region, the US president said his policy continues to be that the United States will not make any decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine.
He said “it’s their territory” and “I’m not going to tell them what they should and shouldn’t do.”
But he also said “it appears to me that at some point along the line there’s going to have to be a negotiated settlement here.” He said he does not know what such an agreement would look like but that the US will continue to help Ukrainians defend themselves.
Mr Biden commented from Delaware on Friday, the 100th day of Russia’s invasion.
Liam James4 June 2022 03:00
1654302840Switzerland refuses Danish request to arm UkraineSwitzerland’s government on Friday said it would not honour a request by Denmark to send nearly two-dozen Swiss-made armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, citing Swiss “neutrality law” that bans the export of war material to a country at war.
The executive Federal Council confirmed the decision, reported in Swiss media this week, on Friday just as the Swiss government also announced that it would allow the transfer of some military equipment to Germany and Britain as they replenish supplies that the two countries have sent to Ukraine.
The announcement testified to the fine line Swiss authorities are treading to hold to Switzerland’s legal requirement to remain neutral as laid out in the War Materiel Act, which bars the transfer of Swiss-made weapons systems, ammunition and other war material to a country involved in an international conflict.
Denmark had requested that Switzerland transfer 22 Swiss-made Piranha III wheeled armored personnel carriers, which Denmark had procured and stored in Germany, to Ukraine.
Liam James4 June 2022 01:34
1654298400Russia will remain in Ukraine until goals are met, says KremlinThe Kremlin says it will press on with its military operations in Ukraine until its goals are met.
Asked how the Kremlin views progress in Ukraine 100 days into the war Friday, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian troops have succeeded in their main task of protecting civilians in areas of the Donbas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Mr Peskov said Russian forces had “liberated” many areas in Ukraine from the “pro-Nazi” Ukrainian military and nationalist units, adding that “this work will continue until all the goals of the special military operation are achieved.”
Speaking during a conference call with reporters, Mr Peskov was evasive when asked whether Russian authorities are planning to hold referendums in those areas to join Russia, saying that it will depend on how the situation evolves. Mr Peskov and other Russian officials have said repeatedly that it will be up to the residents of those regions to determine their status.
In 2014, Russia used a referendum to claim legitimacy for its capture of Crimea from Ukraine. The result was claimed to 95.5 per cent in favour of Russian rule – the result was widely viewed in the west as rigged and the UN voted to describe the referendum as illegal.
Liam James4 June 2022 00:20
1654294107Battles rage on in Sievierodonetsk, says Luhansk governorA regional governor in eastern Ukraine says intense fighting is continuing in a key town that has faced a massive Russian offensive.
Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai told the Associated Press that “fierce battles are continuing in Sievierodonetsk”, where about 13,000 residents left in the city are sheltering in basements to escape relentless Russian bombardment.
Mr Haidai said Friday that the Russian forces were also pummeling the nearby city of Lysychansk that has remained under Ukrainian control.
Some 20,000 residents, or about one-fifth of Lysychansk’s pre-war population, have remained in the city which has seen 60 per cent of its residential buildings and civilian infrastructure shattered by the Russian shelling. Mr Haidai said a civilian was killed in the Russian shelling of Lysychansk on Friday.
He told the AP that the Russians have been shelling a key highway linking Lysychansk with Bakhmut, but that it remained under Ukrainian control.
AP
Liam James3 June 2022 23:08
1654289907Hillary Clinton says Putin has ‘almost messianic belief in himself and what he was destined to be’Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has an “almost messianic belief in himself and what he was destined to be”, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said (Namita Singh writes).
She was in conversation with civil liberties advocate Helena Kennedy at the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts in Wales when the former first lady shared her brief experience of working alongside Mr Putin during her tenure as the US secretary of state.
Ms Clinton said she saw him harbouring the “goal of restoring imperial Russia” while working with him between 2009 and 2014, when he was prime minister of Russia. It prompted her to write multiple memos warning the world about the impending “threat to Europe and the rest of the world”, she said.
“When he invaded Ukraine, I was sadly not surprised,” she said, according to The Guardian. “I was very pleasantly surprised at how effective the government of [Volodymyr] Zelensky and Ukraine defended themselves.”
Liam James3 June 2022 21:58
1654284927Germany approves €100bn defence fund in response to Ukraine warGermany’s Bundestag has approved the creation of a €100bn (£86bn) special defence fund in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The money is destined to top up the regular defence budget of around €50bn euro over several years to help rebuild Germany’s military, which has been neglected since the end of the Cold war.
The fund should enable Germany to meet the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of its economic output on defence each year, making it the world’s third-biggest military spender behind the United States and China.
The Kremlin earlier on Friday accused Germany of “remilitarisation” as it moved to boost military spending and said it increased security risks.
The Bundestag also passed a budget foreseeing €139bn of new debt this year – Germany’s second-highest-ever level – to cushion Europe’s biggest economy against fallout from the Ukraine conflict.
Liam James3 June 2022 20:35
1654280667Russian TV mocks ‘opulent’ Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and warns UK faces power cutsRussian state-owned television channel has mocked the UK’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, after the country began four days of events to mark the Queen’s 70-year reign (Tom Batchelor writes).
A bulletin aired by the Kremlin-affiliated broadcaster Rossiya 1 suggested Britain had “found the money for an opulent celebration” in the middle of an energy crisis.
The channel sought to juxtapose the pageantry of the day with apparently declining living standards in the UK, which the report blamed on sanctions imposed on Russia.
“The UK, which as a consequence of its sanctions against Russia is bracing for power cuts, has found the money for an opulent celebration of the Queen’s platinum jubilee,” the evening news, which included a live report from a Rossiya 1 journalist in London, said.
“The reign of Elizabeth II has seen the final collapse of the British empire,” the report was translated as saying.
Read the full report here:
Liam James3 June 2022 19:24
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