Separatist leader won’t forgive Britons for execution
This page summarizes the news from Ukraine on Monday, June 6. 13. Follow here for the latest updates and news from Tuesday, June 14, as the Russian invasion continues.
A Ukrainian regional governor says Russian control of Sievierodonetsk has risen from 70% to 80%, indicating the key city in the Luhansk Territory may soon fall as invading forces continue to make progress in their efforts to capture the eastern region of Donbass.
Ukrainian forces are fighting the enemy “block by block, street by street, house by house with varying degrees of success,” Lugansk Governor Serhiy Haidai told The Associated Press.
Sievierodonetsk is one of two large towns in Luhansk that have yet to be fully captured by Russian troops, who have driven Ukrainians out of central neighborhoods. Haidai said the Russians aimed to encircle the city and blew up two of the three bridges that connect it to Lysychansk, the other city in the region not yet overrun by Moscow but under constant shelling.
The remaining bridge is old, decrepit and dangerous, the governor said. With the bridges inoperable, more than 10,000 people remain in the city unable to escape, Haidai said.
In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Battle of Donbass “will surely go down in military history as one of the most brutal battles in Europe and for Europe”.
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Latest developments
►German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi plan to visit Kyiv ahead of this month’s G7 meeting, German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported.
►Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of indiscriminately using banned cluster munitions in strikes on Kharkiv, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians in Ukraine’s second-largest city.
►The Mexican president called NATO’s policy on the Russian invasion “immoral”. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday that the policy was tantamount to saying: “I will supply the arms and you will supply the dead”.
►State Department officials met on Monday with representatives of Brittney Griner’s WNBA team about the Phoenix Mercury star’s months-long detention in Russia and the Biden administration’s efforts to secure his release, reported the Associated Press.
►The Ukrainian authorities have opened criminal investigations into the murder of more than 12,000 people during the Russian invasion.
India and China offer vast markets for Russian energy exports that are funding the war
Despite Western sanctions imposed for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is finding vast markets for its energy products, which keeps the Kremlin’s war machine well funded.
China, India and other Asian countries are becoming an increasingly vital source of oil revenue for Moscow, despite heavy pressure from the United States not to increase purchases as the European Union and others allies cut energy imports from Russia in accordance with sanctions. These sales increase profits from Russian exports at a time when Washington and its allies are trying to limit them.
The Finland-based Energy and Clean Air Research Center said on Monday that Russia received about 93 billion euros ($97.4 billion) in revenue from the sale of oil, gas natural and coal since the February 24 invasion. China overtook Germany as the top buyer, spending $12.6 billion over that period. Germany, which is trying to wean itself off from Russian energy dependence, has spent 12.1 billion euros.
“Revenue from fossil fuel exports is the primary catalyst for Russia’s military buildup and aggression, providing 40% of federal budget revenue,” the center said.
Russia’s energy exports fell in May, but soaring global oil prices offset the losses. They have also enticed India and other countries to buy oil which Moscow is offering at deep discounts of $30 to $35, compared to Brent crude and other international oils which are currently trading at around $120 a day. barrel. India increased its purchases of Russian oil from 12 million barrels in 2021 to nearly 60 million barrels this year, by far the biggest jump of any country, according to commodity data firm Kpler.
Separatist leader: No pardon for British nationals
The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic sees no reason to pardon two British nationals and a Moroccan who were sentenced to death after they were captured while fighting with the Ukrainian army.
On Thursday, the Donetsk Supreme Court sentenced Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan Saadoun Brahim, to death by firing squad for serving as mercenaries alongside the Ukrainian armed forces. Prosecutors said the men pleaded guilty to all charges.
“First, I should be guided by the court decision,” said separatist leader Denis Pushilin. “By the nature of these articles, these offenses that they have committed, I see no reason, no precondition for me to decide to pardon them.”
Pinner’s family released a statement saying they were “devastated and saddened by the outcome of the unlawful show trial”. They described Pinner as a Ukrainian soldier, not a mercenary, and said he should be treated as a prisoner of war, not a criminal.
“We sincerely hope that all parties will urgently cooperate to ensure Shaun’s safe release or exchange,” the statement said. “Our family, including his son and his Ukrainian wife, love and miss him so much and our hearts go out to all the families involved in this terrible situation.”
Nuclear arsenals will increase over next decade, says new report
After years of limited reductions in nuclear warheads among the nine countries that possess them, nuclear arsenals are expected to increase over the next decade, a troubling sign as much of the world is affected by the war in Ukraine.
The assessment was one of the main findings of the 2022 yearbook released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which assesses the state of armaments, disarmament and international security. The United States and Russia account for more than 90% of all nuclear weapons, the organization said.
“All nuclear-weapon states are increasing or modernizing their arsenals and most are sharpening nuclear rhetoric and the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies,” said Wilfred Wan, director of the weapons of mass destruction program of the SIPRI. very worrying trend.”
A Russian official who questioned the invasion has been fired
A Russian official who questioned the invasion of Ukraine months ago has been removed from his post as deputy head of the agency responsible for international humanitarian cooperation, Russian media reported on Monday. Natalia Poklonskaya, a Russian politician born in Ukraine’s Lugansk region, said in a Telegram post that she was moving to an unidentified post and thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin “for his support and trust”.
In April, Poklonskaya questioned the popularity of the letter “Z” in Russia, representing the war effort. She said the war meant a lot of death and heartache for many families.
“This letter Z symbolizes tragedy and grief for Russia and Ukraine,” she said.
Kremlin: Western journalists “have gone mad”
Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the impact of sanctions on global energy and food prices at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum which opens on Thursday. More than 100 nations are expected to be represented at the rally, according to Russian organizers. The United States will not be part of it.
“We urge governments and businesses to join our boycott and send a clear message that there is no ‘business as usual’ as Russian forces brutalize Ukraine,” the doorman said. State Department spokesman Ned Price in a post on Twitter. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi will be the main guest of honour. Russian officials said representatives of company unions in Italy, Canada and France are also expected to attend.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS that foreign journalists are welcome.
“The president feels comfortable communicating with foreign and Russian journalists,” Peskov told Tass. But he added that “the mental health of many leading Western journalists is currently raising questions, at least for us, and we wouldn’t call them truthful and unbiased journalists, because they’ve all just gone mad.”
Ukraine provides list of military equipment needed to expel Russians
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needed 1,000 155mm howitzers, 300 multiple rocket launchers, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones to win its war against Russia. Mykhailo Podolyak declared that his country “awaits a decision” from the NATO defense ministers who met on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels. Ukrainian cities have been pounded by Russian rockets and mortars for months, killing thousands of civilians and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.
“I will be frank. To end the war and expel Russia from Ukraine, we need parity in heavy weapons,” Podolyak said on Twitter.
Ukraine arrests alleged spy who informed Russians of troop locations
The Ukrainian Security Service arrested a man who allegedly disclosed to the Russians the position of the Ukrainian army in the Kharkiv region. The alleged spy, detained in the suburbs of Kharkiv, is a local resident who was recruited via the Internet.
The government says the man, on instructions from his Russian handler, recorded the location of Ukrainian military units and other military formations in the area. Among other intelligence, the Russians were interested in the coordinates of Ukrainian checkpoints and military fortifications, according to the government. If found guilty, the man faces 12 years in prison.
contributing; The Associated Press
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