A senior UN official says Russian strikes are inflicting “unimaginable suffering” on the people of Ukraine and that more than 18 million Ukrainians – 40% of them – need humanitarian assistance. Ramesh Rajasingham, director of coordination in the UN humanitarian office told the UN security council on Tuesday that thousands of civilians have been killed in strikes on homes, schools, fields and markets since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The UN human rights office has formally verified 9,900 civilians killed, but he said “the actual number is certainly higher.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned on Tuesday against expecting too much success too quickly in Ukraine’s campaign to reclaim occupied lands. Ukraine’s military said Russian forces were gearing up for fresh attacks in different sections of the front. There has been little movement along the 1,000km frontline in recent months.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said that Russia would be successful in Ukraine unless the US’s support for Kyiv continued. “I can guarantee that without our support Putin will be successful,” Austin said during a Senate hearing on President Joe Biden’s request for $106bn to fund plans for Ukraine, Israel and American security.
Russia has reportedly imposed additional currency controls in an attempt to prop up the falling rouble, restricting western companies that sell their Russian assets from taking the proceeds in dollars and euros. International companies that want to exit Russia after its invasion of Ukraine have to sell their assets in roubles under new government restrictions, according to the Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the matter.
Three Russians were arrested in New York for evading US sanctions to ship electronic components for weapons used by Moscow in its war in Ukraine, authorities said. The trio are accused of evading sanctions to dispatch, over the course of a year, “over 300 shipments of restricted items, valued at approximately $10m, to the Russian battlefield,” Ivan Arvelo, special agent with the US Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. The three defendants are yet to enter a plea.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he was certain that Sweden would join the defence alliance but declined to predict an exact time for when this would happen, Reuters reported.
Two Russian soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of killing a family of nine, including two young children, in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained an accomplice in the attempted killing of former Ukrainian politician and pro-Russian politician and businessman Oleg Tsaryov, Russian state news agencies reported.
The UN human rights office has found “reasonable grounds” to conclude a missile strike that killed 59 people in a cafe in the Ukrainian village of Hroza was launched by Russia’s armed forces, the office said.
Police in France have detained the Russian tycoon Alexey Kuzmichev and raided two of his properties in connection with alleged tax evasion, money laundering and sanctions violations.
