Russian forces control most of the strategic Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk and are heavily shelling the twin city of Lysychansk, causing major damage, the governor of Luhansk region said on Wednesday. This comes as fighting intensifies in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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03:55am: ‘Fate of Donbas’ being decided in Severodonetsk, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Severodonetsk the “epicenter” of the battle for the Donbas.
“This is a very fierce battle, very hard, perhaps one of the most difficult of the entire war,” he said in his nightly video address, which was recorded in the street outside his office in Kyiv.
He said the Ukrainian army is defending its positions and inflicting real losses on the Russian forces.
“In many ways, it is there that the fate of our Donbas is being decided,” Zelensky said.
Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai acknowledged the difficulties of battling Russian forces, saying, “Maybe we will have to retreat, but right now battles are ongoing in the city.”
“Everything the Russian army has — artillery, mortars, tanks, aviation — all of that, they’re using in Severodonetsk in order to wipe the city off the face of the Earth and capture it completely,” he said.
2:40am: Millions hurt as Ukraine war hikes prices, UN says
A UN report says the war in Ukraine is increasing the suffering of millions of people by escalating food and energy prices, coming on top of ills from a growing financial crisis, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.
The report by the UN Global Crisis Response Group released Wednesday says the war “has exacerbated a global cost-of-living crisis unseen in at least a generation” and is undermining the UN goal of ending extreme poverty around the world by 2030.
The group was appointed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to assess the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Guterres says the report makes clear that “the war’s impact on food security, energy and finance is systemic, severe and speeding up.”
June 9, 12:29am: Sanctions wiping out 15 years of economic gains in Russia, report finds
Sanctions imposed on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine are rolling back more than a decade of economic progress and three decades of integration with the West, according to an analysis Wednesday.
But economists at the Institute for International Finance caution that the impact is a “moving target” since more sanctions are being added, and Russia could retaliate, notably on energy.
The damage will make it more costly for Russian president Vladimir Putin to continue the war, but sanctions do not work like “flipping a switch,” IIF economist Elina Ribakova told reporters.
In its latest analysis, IIF forecasts Russia’s economy will contract by 15 percent this year and another three percent in 2023.
The “economic warfare” is “unraveling its economy,” and the report authors note that “some of the most meaningful consequences have yet to be felt.”
IIF Executive Vice President Clay Lowery said gauging whether the penalties imposed on Russia are effective depends on what governments are trying to achieve.
“If success is damaging the economy... then it’s definitely some impact,” and that is likely to increase, he told reporters.
But sanctions do not have “a great track record” of driving big policy shifts, he said.
10:26pm: Regional governor says Western artillery is already making a difference for Ukraine
Western-supplied artillery systems are already making a difference on the ground for Ukraine and it is "just a question of time" before its forces win back significant ground in the south, the governor of the Mykolaiv region has said.
Governor Vitaliy Kim, whose region is partially occupied by Russia but remains just one of two that retains significant access to the Black Sea, told Reuters that the counterattack launched by Ukrainian forces in the neighbouring Kherson region had been somewhat successful.
Asked when Western weapons would start to make a difference on the ground against Russian forces that had invaded the country on February 24, he said: "It is already happening ... and we will have (more) success."
7:33pm: Russian forces control most of Severodonetsk & are shelling twin city of Lysychansk
Russian forces control most of the strategic Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk and are heavily shelling the twin city of Lysychansk, causing major damage, the governor of Luhansk region has said.
In an online post, Serhiy Gaidai also said there was no chance that Ukrainian troops in the Luhansk region would be encircled.
Russian forces temporarily control 90% of the region, he added.
5:33pm: Canada imposes new sanctions on Russia
Canada has said that it will impose new sanctions on Russia by banning the export of 28 services, such as accounting and advertising, which help run Russian oil, gas and chemical industries.
Canada's new measures target an industry that accounts for about 50% of Russia’s federal budget revenues, according to a statement from Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.
3:36pm: Ukrainian producers say Russia has stolen 600,000 tonnes of grain
Russia has stolen about 600,000 tonnes of grain from occupied Ukrainian territory and exported some of it, the deputy head of Ukrainian agriculture producers union UAC has said.
Ukraine will demand that Russia provide compensation for both the stolen grain and the destruction inflicted on farmers’ property, UAC deputy head Denys Marchuk told Ukrainian television.
3:12pm: Ukraine and Russia exchange the bodies of dead soldiers on frontlines
Ukraine and Russia each handed over the bodies of 50 of their deceased soldiers in an exchange that included 37 Ukrainian soldiers that had been killed at Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks, the Ukrainian Ministry for Reintegration has said.
The ministry published a statement on its website saying that the exchange had taken place on the front lines in the southeast Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia. It also stated that such exchanges would continue.
2:30pm: Kremlin says Russian grain will not be delivered until Western sanctions are lifted
The Kremlin has said Russian grain will not be delivered to international markets until Western sanctions against Moscow are lifted.
"President (Vladimir) Putin said that in order for Russian grain volumes to be delivered to international markets, direct and indirect sanctions against Russia must be lifted," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
He said the sanctions, which the West had imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were affecting shipping insurance, payments, and access to European ports.
He added that "no substantive discussions" about lifting them were taking place.
1:36pm: Ukraine grain silos 'half-full' ahead of harvest
Grain silos in Ukrainian territory controlled by the government are about half full in the run-up to this year's harvest, according to the head of the Ukraine Grain Association.
There were some 30 million tonnes of grain stored in Ukrainian-held territory out of capacity of around 55 million tonnes, Mykola Gorbachov told an International Grains Council (IGC) conference in London, adding there were 13-15 million tonnes of storage capacity in Russian-occupied areas.
12:55pm: Kremlin says Russia has 'no grounds for default'
The Kremlin has said there are no grounds for Russia to default on its debts, as the country struggles to make interest payments to bond-holders because of Western sanctions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed the sanctions, which have seen almost half of the country's foreign currency reserves frozen, for "pushing Russia into an artificial man-made debt default".
12:45pm: Russia says any Putin-Zelensky meeting must be 'well prepared'
The Kremlin restated on Wednesday that any meeting that takes place between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky must be productive and "well-prepared".
"Our position is well known. Any meeting at the highest level must be productive and well prepared," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
12:11pm: Moscow to respond to French ban on some Russian TV channels
Moscow will respond to France's decision to ban some Russian television channels, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
"The foreign ministry will react to such actions, and a response to this will be given," Zakharova told reporters, without elaborating.
Russia on Monday warned US news organisations they risked being stripped of their accreditation unless the treatment of Russian journalists in the US improves, according to sources.
12:00pm: Russia says 'ready to guarantee' safety of ships leaving Ukraine ports
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the onus of restoring grain shipments in the Black Sea was on Ukraine and that Moscow needed to take no action since it had already made the necessary commitments and was "ready to guarantee the safe passage of vessels leaving Ukrainian ports and heading for [Turkish] waters."
Speaking at a joint press conference in Ankara, Lavrov's Turkish counterpart said a Un plan to ease the global food crisis by restarting Ukrainian grain exports along a sea corridor was "reasonable", and requires more talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Click here for a replay of Lavrov's press conference in Turkey.
11:57am: UN uses Uber to deliver aid in Ukraine
The UN's World Food Programme has teamed up with Uber to deliver aid to people in urban areas of war-torn Ukraine.
In areas where larger trucks cannot get through, the WFP said it was using a custom-built version of Uber's technology platform to coordinate, dispatch and track a fleet of smaller vehicles.
In a statement, it said it had already distributed food in Dnipro, while deliveries were also being carried out in the capital Kyiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi.
11:50am: Zelensky discusses Russia's treatment of POWs with Scholz
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he raised the issue of Russia's compliance with international rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war during a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He did not elaborate further about the prisoners.
More than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the city of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for investigation, Tass news agency cited a Russian law enforcement source as saying on Tuesday.
Zelensky and Scholz also discussed enhancing defence support for Ukraine and global food security, the Ukrainian leader tweeted.
11:44am: Italy warns Ukraine port blockade could kill 'millions'
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has warned that millions of people could die of hunger unless Russia unblocked Ukraine's ports, as he hosted Mediterranean ministers on the global food crisis.
"The next few weeks will be crucial to resolving the situation," he said after a virtual meeting involving Turkey and Lebanon among other countries, alongside G7 president Germany and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.
"I want to say clearly, we expect clear and concrete signals from Russia, because blocking grain exports means holding hostage and condemning to death millions of children, women and men."
Ships loaded with grain remain blocked in Ukraine, which before Russia's February invasion was considered a global breadbasket as a leading exporter of corn, wheat and sunflower seeds.
Lebanon's Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told the meeting that price rises in fuel and basic food stuffs were exacerbating the crisis in his country.
11:37am: Turkey says removal of Russia sanctions for grain exports 'legitimate'
Turkey's foreign minister called Russian demands for an end to sanctions to help grain onto the world market "legitimate". "If we need to open up the international market to Ukrainian grain, we see the removal of obstacles standing in the way of Russia's exports as a legitimate demand," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Ankara.
Sanctions imposed on Moscow's financial system have impeded the export of Russian grain and fertiliser. Lavrov arrived in Ankara on Tuesday amid stark warnings of global food shortages partly blamed on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the request of the United Nations, Turkey has offered its services to escort maritime convoys from Ukrainian ports, despite the presence of mines -- some of which have been detected near the Turkish coast.
Cavusoglu welcomed the UN plan as "reasonable" and "implementable", while offering to host a meeting in Istanbul to discuss the details of the scheme.
11:34am: Turkey is not powerful enough to guarantee Ukrainian grain exports says traders union
Turkey, which is negotiating with Russia to secure safe routes for grain exports from blocked Ukrainian seaports, is not powerful enough to act as a guarantor, the director of Ukrainian grain traders union UGA Serhiy Ivashchenko said on Wednesday.
He told an online grain conference in Kyiv that the de-mining of Ukrainian Black Sea ports could take no less than 2-3 months and that the Turkish and Romanian navies should be involved. He also said there were no discussions under way about a discount for Ukrainian grain exported via the Black Sea.
11:31am: Ukraine has filed more eight war crimes cases to court
Ukraine has filed eight more war crimes cases to court in addition to three sentences already handed down to Russian soldiers, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said on Wednesday. Ukraine has opened more than 16,000 investigations into possible war crimes during Russia's invasion which began on Feb. 24, she said on television.
11:22am: Lavrov says Russia won't take advantage if Kyiv lets grain shipments leave safely
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said Moscow would not use the situation surrounding grain shipments in and around the Black Sea to advance its "special military operation", as long as Ukraine lets ships leave safely. "These are guarantees from the president of Russia," Lavrov said.
11:07am: Russia's Lavrov says Ukraine needs to de-mine ports to allow grain shipments
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he hoped issues relating to grain shipments from ports in Ukraine could be resolved, provided Kyiv de-mines the waters around them. Speaking alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Lavrov said Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine was going according to plan and that peace talks would need to resume before there was any chance of presidential talks between President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
10:49am: After Russia meeting, Turkey says Ukraine grain-export plan reasonable
Turkey's foreign minister said a UN plan to open a corridor to restart Ukrainian grain exports was reasonable and requires more talks with all sides to ensure ships would be safe.
Speaking alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu said their meeting in Ankara was fruitful, including a will to return to negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv for a possible ceasefire.
9:09am: Ukrainian troops may have to retreat from Severodonetsk: governor
Ukrainian troops may have to retreat from the eastern city of Severodonetsk which is being shelled by Russian troops "24 hours a day", said the regional governor.
"It is possible that we will have to retreat" to better fortified positions, Luhansk governor Sergiy Gaiday said in an interview on the TV channel 1+1.
7:42am: Norway donates 22 howitzers to Ukraine
Norway donated 22 self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, including spare parts, ammunition and other gear, the Norwegian defence ministry has announced.
"The Norwegian government has waited to publicly announce the donation for security reasons. Future donations may not be announced or commented upon," it said in a statement.
7:13am: Ukrainian forces achieved recent success in Kherson region: UK
Ukrainian forces have recently achieved some success by counterattacking in the southwestern Kherson region, including regaining a foothold on the eastern banks of the Ingulets River, according to the daily UK military intelligence update posted on Twitter.
6:00am: Ukrainian man who learned of his family's death on Twitter seeks justice
Serhiy Perebyinis found out about the fate of his family in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin on Twitter. He was in the eastern Donetsk region at that time, caring for his mother sick with Covid-19, when he saw the disturbing image of the bodies of a woman and two children on the street. Russian shelling had instantly wiped out his young family. Now Perebyinis is seeking justice for the killings.
1:30am: Russia returns 210 dead Mariupol defenders
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency says Russia has so far turned over the bodies of 210 Ukrainian fighters killed in the battle for Mariupol. It says most of them were among the last holdouts in the Azovstal steelworks.
The agency did not specify Tuesday how many more bodies are believed to remain in the rubble of the plant.
Russia now controls the destroyed port city. It began turning over bodies last week. Ukraine said Saturday that the two sides had exchanged 320 bodies, with each getting back 160. It is unclear whether any more bodies have been given to Russia.
The Ukrainian fighters defended the steelworks for nearly three months before surrendering in May under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, sea and air.
9:25pm: IAEA says Chernobyl radiation detectors back online, levels normal
Radiation detectors in the Exclusion Zone around Ukraine’s defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant are back online for the first time since Russia seized the area on February 24, and radiation levels are normal, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday.
“Most of the 39 detectors sending data from the Exclusion Zone ... are now visible on the IRMIS (International Radiation Monitoring Information System) map,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement. “The measurements received so far indicated radiation levels in line with those measured before the conflict.”
6:51pm: ‘On the frontlines, you see dozens of black shell holes in these vast green fields’
From Kyiv, FRANCE 24’s Gwendoline Debono, just back from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, brings us the latest on the state of play in the Donbas amid the ongoing battle for Severodonetsk.
6:04pm: Lavrov in Turkey for talks on Ukraine grain exports
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a two-day visit to Turkey on Tuesday for talks on unblocking grain exports from Ukraine, which have been stalled by Moscow's offensive.
The plane carrying Lavrov landed at the airport in the Turkish capital Ankara, an AFP photographer saw.
This is Lavrov's second trip to Turkey after meeting his Turkish and Ukrainian counterparts Mevlut Cavusoglu and Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya on March 10.
At the request of the United Nations, Turkey has offered its services to escort maritime convoys from Ukrainian ports, despite the presence of mines – some of which have been detected near the Turkish coast.
Lavrov is accompanied by a military delegation.
At the heart of the negotiations is the opening of a security corridor to ship Ukrainian grain – cereals and wheat in particular – blocked in the war-torn country's ports.
3:41pm: Kyiv says Russia is holding 600 Ukrainians in Kherson region
Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of detaining some 600 people, mainly journalists and pro-Kyiv elements in the southern region of Kherson, which Moscow's military now holds in its grip.
"According to our information, some 600 people are ... being held in specially converted basements in the region of Kherson," said Tamila Tacheva, the Ukrainian presidency's permanent representative in the Crimea, the peninsula to the south of Kherson which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Tacheva said the bulk of those being held were "journalists and militants" who organised "pro-Ukrainian gatherings" in Kherson (city) and the region around it after it was occupied by Russian forces in the wake of the invasion launched in late February.
"According to our information, they are being held in inhuman conditions and are victims of torture," Tacheva added without giving further details. Some Ukrainians held in the Kherson region – civilians but also detained combatants – have been sent to jails in Crimea, she added.
Straddling the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the Kherson region was home to around a million people before the invasion. However, thousands have fled the key port on the Dnipro River since the Russians targeted the city, which became the first major urban centre to fall in the first week of March.
1:23pm: Russian parliament votes to exit European Court of Human Rights
The Russian Duma has passed a pair of bills ending the European Court of Human Rights’ jurisdiction in Russia.
The bills include one removing Russia from the court’s jurisdiction and a second setting March 16 as the cut-off point, with rulings against Russia made after that date not to be implemented.
Appeals to the ECHR had become a last resort for plaintiffs in several high-profile cases that had been rejected by Russian courts.
On March 15, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to expel Russia from the organisation, of which the ECHR is part, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has said that it independently decided to leave the Council of Europe.
1:18pm: Russia controls Severodonetsk residential areas: defence minister
Russian troops are in full control of the residential areas of Severodonetsk and are trying to establish control over the city's "industrial zone and the nearest settlements", according to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
In televised remarks during a defence ministry meeting, Shoigu said Russian forces had "liberated" 97 percent of the Luhansk region.
Shoigu added that 6,489 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered to Russian troops since the start of Moscow's offensive.
His comments could not be independently verified.
1:01pm: Russian general killed in Ukraine: pro-Kremlin separatists
Kremlin-backed separatists in Ukraine on Tuesday confirmed the death of another Russian general during Moscow's invasion of the country.
The death of Major General Roman Kutuzov was reported earlier by a war correspondent for Russian state TV but has not been confirmed by officials in Moscow.
The leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in Ukraine’s Donbas region, Denis Pushilin, expressed his "sincere condolences to the family and friends" of Kutuzov.
The announcement comes as Russian forces and their Moscow-backed allies are carrying out a major assault on Donbas, with fierce fighting taking place for the city of Severodonetsk.
Hundreds gathered in Russia-annexed Crimea in late March for the funeral of Andrei Paliy, the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet who died in combat near Ukraine's port city of Mariupol.
A funeral for Major General Vladimir Frolov was held in April in Russia's second city, Saint Petersburg, with local authorities confirming that he died in Ukraine.
10:34am: Ukraine slams planned IAEA mission to Russian-occupied nuclear plant
Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom has criticised a plan by the UN atomic watchdog IAEA to send a delegation to a Russian-occupied nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, saying it "did not invite" such a visit.
"We consider this message from the head of the IAEA as another attempt to get to the (power plant) by any means in order to legitimise the presence of occupiers there and essentially condone all their actions," Energoatom wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
IAEA head Raphael Grossi said on Monday that the organisation was working on sending an international mission of experts to the Russian-held nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia, which is Europe's largest.
10:05am: Russian superyacht in Fiji handed to US authorities
Fiji's top court has handed a Russian superyacht to US authorities, ending a contested eight-week stay.
The $300 million Amadea, linked by the US to billionaire Russian politician Suleiman Kerimov, a target of sanctions, was impounded on arrival in Fiji in April at Washington's request.
Fiji's Supreme Court President and Chief Justice Kamal Kumar on Tuesday dismissed an application to delay execution of the court order that was lodged last week by the vessel's registered owners, Millemarin Investments.
The ruling meant a US justice department warrant to seize the boat had been accepted, said Fiji's director of public prosecutions. "The decision acknowledges Fiji's commitment to respecting international mutual assistance requests and Fiji's international obligations," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
7:56am: Russia's progress on Popasna axis has stalled, says UK
Ukrainian forces recaptured parts of Severodonetsk over the weekend, but Russian forces are likely to continue to occupy the city’s eastern districts, according to a daily British defence intelligence update.
Russia's progress made through May on the southern Popasna axis stalled over the last week amid reports of heavy shelling near Izium, which suggests that Moscow is preparing to make a renewed effort on the northern axis, said the defence ministry in a tweet.
"Russia will almost certainly need to achieve a breakthrough on at least one of these axes to translate tactical gains to operational level success and progress towards its political objective of controlling all of Donetsk Oblast," the ministry said.
7:14am: Ukrainian troops ‘outnumbered’ in Severodonetsk, says Zelensky
Ukrainian troops are outnumbered by "stronger" Russian forces in the flashpoint eastern city Severodonetsk, said President Volodymyr Zelensky in his latest nightly video address.
"We're holding out" in the key city but "there are more of them and they are stronger", said Zelensky. "Fierce street fighting continues" in Severodonetsk and other towns and cities in the Donbas region, Zelensky added. Despite the pressures, the Ukrainian president said "the Ukrainian Donbas stands. It stands firmly."
Street fighting continued to rage for control of Severodonetsk on Tuesday, with one official saying the situation was changing "every hour".
Severodonetsk – the largest city still in Ukrainian hands in the Luhansk region of the Donbas – has been the focal point of fighting in recent weeks, with officials describing a fast-changing situation on the ground.
"The situation is changing every hour, but at the same time there are enough forces and resources to repel attacks," Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said on Monday.
"We have hope, we have faith in our armed forces, no one's going to abandon [Severodonetsk]," he added.
6:45am: Ukraine recovers bodies from Mariupol steel plant
Russia has begun handing over over the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol where the fighters' last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion, according to an AP exclusive report.
The dead taken from the ruins of the bombed-out mill were transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where DNA testing is under way to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.
The Azov Regiment was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for nearly three months before surrendering in May under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, sea and air.
It was unclear how many bodies might remain at the plant.
5:50am: Russia imposes sanctions on 61 US citizens
Russia’s foreign ministry announced Monday that is levying sanctions on 61 US nationals. It said the move was being taken “in response to the ever-expanding US sanctions against Russian political and public figures, as well as representatives of domestic business".
The list includes US officials and former and current top managers of large American companies, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
3:45am: Japan to freeze assets of two Russian banks
Japan will freeze the assets of two more Russian banks and one more Belarusian bank as part of additional sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, Japan's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
(FRANCE24 with REUTERS, AP and AFP)
