Summary
Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
It is currently 3am in the capital Kyiv. We will be pausing this live blog overnight and returning in the morning.
In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the days’ events in our summary below.
- Hundreds of civilians sheltering at the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk are no longer able to evacuate because of the sustained Russian artillery barrages, officials say. 568 people, including 38 children, are currently taking refuge in the Azot plant, Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai, told CNN. A pro-Russian separatist leader said Russian-backed forces will reopen a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the plant, the Interfax news agency reported.
- The leaders of France, Germany and Italy have vowed to support Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union on a visit to Kyiv. Macron said all four EU leaders present supported the idea of granting an “immediate” EU candidate status to Ukraine.
- Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia is “not ashamed of showing who we are” in an interview with the BBC. “We didn’t invade Ukraine, we declared a special military operation because we had absolutely no other way of explaining to the west that dragging Ukraine into Nato was a criminal act,” he said.
- Nato says it is committed to providing equipment to maintain Ukraine’s right to self-defence, and will be making more troop deployments on its eastern flank. Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, condemned “a relentless war of attrition against Ukraine” being waged by Russia, and said Nato continued to offer “unprecedented support so it can defend itself against Moscow’s aggression”.
- The head of the UK’s armed forces says Russia has already “strategically lost” the war in Ukraine and is now a “more diminished power”. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Vladimir Putin had lost 25% of Russia’s land power for only “tiny” gains. In an interview with PA Media, he said Russia was running out of troops and advanced missiles and would never be able to take over all of Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, appeared as a hologram while referencing Star Wars in an attempt to secure more aid from big tech firms. Zelenskiy told a crowd of hundreds at the VivaTech trade show in Paris on Thursday that Ukraine was offering technology firms a unique chance to rebuild the country as a fully digital democracy.
- At least three civilians were killed and seven injured by a Russian airstrike in the eastern city of Lysychansk, according to local officials. The strike hit a building where civilians were sheltering, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said.
- An overnight Russian air-launched rocket strike hit a suburb of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing four and wounding six, according to officials. Regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said another rocket strike hit the Dobropillia district, which lies next to the Russian border, at 5am on Thursday, followed by 26 mortar rounds fired from across the border.
- Children born in Ukraine’s Kherson region since 24 February will automatically receive Russian citizenship, according to an official. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-imposed military-civilian administration in the occupied Kherson region, claimed that thousands of citizens in the territory were applying for Russian citizenship. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of abducting children from its territory and transferring them into Russia.
- A Russian spy tried and failed to secure an internship at the international criminal court (ICC) using the false identity as a Brazilian citizen that he had built up for as long as a decade, according to Dutch intelligence. Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, accused of being an agent of Russia’s GRU military intelligence, was detained when he arrived and sent back to Brazil the following day.
- The UK announced a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia aimed at people involved with the “barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine”. Those targeted by sanctions include the Russian children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, military commanders, Vladimir Mikhailovich and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church.
- The UK has purchased and refurbished more than 20 long-range guns – M109s – from a Belgian arms company which it is sending to Ukraine, Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said. Russia outnumbers Ukraine in artillery fire by 20 to 1 in some areas but allies are beginning to give Ukraine the long-range artillery and rocket systems that will enable its forces to win, he told Sky News.
- Russia warned that gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline could be suspended, blaming problems with turbine repairs. Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told the state-owned news agency Ria that a complete halt in gas flows in the pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, would be a “catastrophe” for Germany. Canada says it is in active discussions with Germany about a Siemens-made turbine equipment undergoing maintenance in Canada and unable to return due to sanctions.
- Temporary silos on Ukraine’s border would prevent Russia from stealing Ukrainian grain and ensure the winter harvest is not lost due to a lack of storage, US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday. It follows comments from US President Joe Biden that temporary silos would be built along the border with Ukraine.
- Zelenskiy accused Russia of being unwilling to look for a way to peace, claiming it will “decide for himself that the war must end”. Ukrainian peace talks negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak also dismissed Russia’s most recent comments about being willing to continue negotiations as “an attempt to deceive the world”. Russia, he said, wanted to give the impression of being ready to talk while planning to stab Ukraine in the back.
Temporary silos on Ukraine’s border would prevent Russia from stealing Ukrainian grain and ensure the winter harvest is not lost due to a lack of storage, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday.
We know of circumstances and situations where that has occurred - Russians having taken grain from Ukrainian farmers. So to the extent that we can get it out of the country, that is a plus that reduces the risk of loss,” Vilsack told reporters.
However, Vilsack stressed that reviving shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was the most effective and efficient way to export grain.
We would like to see the ports open because that’s the most efficient, most effective way to transport that grain, but it’s still going to take time even if the port is open. So you still have to have a place to put the grain.”
US satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies said on Thursday that Russian-flagged ships have been transporting Ukrainian grain to Russian ally Syria over the last couple of months. Russia denies stealing Ukrainian grain.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that temporary silos would be built along the border with Ukraine in an effort to help export more grain and address a growing global food crisis.
Since Russia’s invasion and ports blockade, Ukrainian grain shipments have stalled, and more than 20 million tonnes are stuck in silos. The war is stoking a global food crisis with soaring prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertiliser.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of being unwilling to look for a way to peace, claiming it will “decide for himself that the war must end”.
In his latest national address, Zelenskiy said:
All leaders understand why negotiations to end the war are not under way.
Exclusively because of Russia’s position, which is only trying to intimidate everyone in Europe and continue the destruction of our state.
They do not want to look for a way to peace. This is an aggressor who must decide for himself that the war must end.
We will continue to fight until we guarantee our state full security and territorial integrity.”
Canada says it is in active discussions with Germany about Siemens-made equipment undergoing maintenance in Canada that Russia’s Gazprom has put the blame on for a gas supply cut at the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Reuters is reporting.
The capacity of Gazprom’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline to supply gas to Europe is partly constrained as sanctions make it impossible for Siemens to return a turbine being maintained in Canada, the companies said earlier this week.
“The government of Canada is in active discussions with Germany about the turbines in question, and we are working to reach a resolution,” a spokesman for Canada’s Natural Resources Minister said in a statement.
The UK will welcome representatives from Ukraine and business leaders on Friday to discuss how British companies can help rebuild key infrastructure in Kyiv.
Trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan will seek to promote collaboration between British companies in infrastructure, energy and transport, and Ukrainian public and private organisations to help repair damaged and destroyed infrastructure.
Trevelyan will also announce changes to trade remedy measures, including reallocating ring-fenced market access for steel imports from Russia and Belarus to other countries including Ukraine.
The support provided on Friday will form part of a UK commitment to provide a combined economic, humanitarian and military support package worth around $3bn.
The European Union has also proposed support to help Ukraine rebuild once the war with Russia ends.
Summary
It’s 1am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- “We’re not ashamed of showing who we are,” said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in a new interview with the BBC. “We didn’t invade Ukraine, we declared a special military operation because we had absolutely no other way of explaining to the West that dragging Ukraine into NATO was a criminal act,” Lavrov said.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for readiness checks in case of an invasion from neighboring Belarus, the Kyiv Independent reports. National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said Zelenskiy hosted a meeting to evaluate threats of further invasion their neighbor.
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The US on Thursday urged Russia to treat captured American volunteers who fought alongside Ukrainian forces as prisoners of war with guaranteed humane treatment. “The Russians have certain obligations and members of the Ukrainian armed forces - including volunteers who may be third-country nationals incorporated into the armed forces - should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
- The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday told Russia to prevent the execution of a Moroccan man sentenced to death in a pro-Moscow separatist region of Ukraine for fighting on behalf of Ukrainian forces. Russia “should ensure that the death penalty imposed on the applicant was not carried out,” the court said its emergency ruling following a petition filed this month by a representative of Saadoun.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pleaded among big tech firms on Thursday at a Paris conference, appearing as a hologram and referencing Star Wars in attempts to secure aid in his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion. Zelenskiy told a crowd of hundreds at the VivaTech trade show that Ukraine was offering technology firms a unique chance to rebuild the country as a fully digital democracy.
- Ukraine should be the one to decide whether to accept any territorial concessions towards Russia in attempts of ending the war, said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on his visit to Kyiv. “This is up to Ukraine to decide … I think it is our duty to stand by our values, by international law and thus by Ukraine,” he said.
- Russia has announced that is is facilitating grain and oilseed exports from Ukraine via Russian-held transit points on the Azov Sea, without disclosing who is providing the sources for export. Russia’s deputy prime minister, Viktoria Abramchenko, said on Thursday that “Russia is securing a ‘green corridor’ for grains and any other foodstuff such as oilseeds ... so it can be exported from Ukraine without hurdles…”
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Ukrainian peace talks negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak dismissed Russia’s most recent comments about being willing to continue negotiations as “an attempt to deceive the world”. Russia, he said, wanted to give the impression of being ready to talk while planning to stab Ukraine in the back.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, today as I hand the blog over to my colleague in Australia, Samantha Lock, who will bring you the latest updates. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
“We’re not ashamed of showing who we are,” said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in a new interview with the BBC.
“We didn’t invade Ukraine, we declared a special military operation because we had absolutely no other way of explaining to the West that dragging Ukraine into NATO was a criminal act,” Lavrov said.
“Russia isn’t squeaky clean. Russia is what it is & we're not ashamed of showing who we are.” In an exclusive interview, I question Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Producers @BBCWillVernon @LizaShuvalova Cameras @AntonChicherov @LizaVereykina pic.twitter.com/yFccy6Vtiu
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) June 16, 2022
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for readiness checks in case of an invasion from neighboring Belarus, the Kyiv Independent reports.
⚡️President Zelensky calls for readiness checks in case of invasion from Belarus.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 16, 2022
National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said Zelensky held a meeting to assess threats of further invasion from Belarus and asked for readiness checks in four areas.
The US on Thursday urged Russia to treat captured American volunteers who fought alongside Ukrainian forces as prisoners of war with guaranteed humane treatment.
The State Department additionally announced that a third American was believed to be missing in Ukraine in addition to two military veterans who were reportedly captured by the Russian military last week.
“The Russians have certain obligations and members of the Ukrainian armed forces - including volunteers who may be third-country nationals incorporated into the armed forces - should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Prisoners of war must be “afforded the treatment and protections commensurate with that status, including humane treatment and fundamental process and fair-trial guarantees,” he said.
Families and members of Congress said Wednesday that Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama, lost contact with their relatives last week while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military near the Russian border.
Price said the US could not confirm details on Drueke and Huynh and added that there were reports of a third American who was said to have gone missing “in recent weeks.”
President Joe Biden’s administration, argues that the US is not directly fighting Russia and has discouraged Americans from traveling to the war zone, despite sending billions of dollars worth of weapons and economic aid to Ukraine.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday told Russia to prevent the execution of a Moroccan man sentenced to death in a pro-Moscow separatist region of Ukraine for fighting on behalf of Ukrainian forces.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Brahim Saadoun, a Moroccan citizen born in 2000, was sentenced to death along with two British men by the unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), following his surrender to Russian forces in the conflict sparked by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
Russia “should ensure that the death penalty imposed on the applicant was not carried out,” the court said its emergency ruling following a petition filed this month by a representative of Saadoun.
The ruling issued by Europe’s rights court is an urgent interim measure, provided on an exceptional basis, when the applicants would otherwise “face a real risk of irreversible harm,” it emphasised.
Britain has expressed fury over the death sentences handed to the two Britons in the case, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner. They surrendered in April in Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine that was captured by Russian troops after a weeks-long siege.
Ironically, the urgent interim measure is the same format used by the ECHR on Tuesday when it triggered the cancellation of the first deportation flight of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda, angering London.
That move has sparked debate within the British government about whether Britain should continue to implement ECHR rulings.
The ECHR is part of the Council of Europe, which ejected Russia from its membership in mid-March following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia simultaneously also took steps to leave the body.
The court still insists it can issue verdicts concerning Russia although the Russian parliament has adopted legislation insisting it should no longer adhere to ECHR rulings.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pleaded among big tech firms on Thursday at a Paris conference, appearing as a hologram and referencing Star Wars in attempts to secure aid in his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskiy told a crowd of hundreds at the VivaTech trade show that Ukraine was offering technology firms a unique chance to rebuild the country as a fully digital democracy.
He asked for help on the terms of lend-lease, an arrangement in which aid is offered without payment but on the understanding that hardware would be returned.
It’s unusual for presidents or heads of government to use a hologram to address people but this is not the only aspect of Star Wars that we are putting into practice.
“We will defeat the Empire too,” he added, obliquely likening Russian forces to the bad guys in the Star Wars franchise.
Zelenskiy added that his government would lay out a specific plan that would establish a digital government at a conference in Switzerland in the coming weeks.
No other country in the world will offer you such a chance to use the most advanced technologies at a state level … It’s an experiment and a digital revolution, and the modernisation of the current system all at the same time
Ukraine has won praise for its use of technology during the war with Russia, utilising crypto communities to raise funds and even successfully appealing to Elon Musk to supply the infrastructure for satellite-based internet services.
Updated
Ukraine should be the one to decide whether to accept any territorial concessions towards Russia in attempts of ending the war, said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on his visit to Kyiv.
When asked what concessions, including on its territory, Ukraine should accept, Macron Macron told TF1 television:
This is up to Ukraine to decide … I think it is our duty to stand by our values, by international law and thus by Ukraine.
The leaders of Germany, France and Italy, all criticised in the past by Kyiv for support viewed as too cautious, visited Ukraine on Thursday and offered the hope of EU membership to a country pleading for weapons to fend off Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has repeatedly said Ukraine will not accept giving up any of its territory as a result of Russia’s invasion.
Updated
Russia has announced that is is facilitating grain and oilseed exports from Ukraine via Russian-held transit points on the Azov Sea, without disclosing who is providing the sources for export.
Russia’s deputy prime minister, Viktoria Abramchenko, said on Thursday that “Russia is securing a ‘green corridor’ for grains and any other foodstuff such as oilseeds ... so it can be exported from Ukraine without hurdles …”
Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from its territories that Russian forces have taken control of.
However, in an interview with Reuters, Abramchenko said: “Russia does not ship grains from Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s inability to use its major deep-sea port, Odesa, because of Russia’s military incursion has led to a jump in global food prices and warnings by the United Nations of hunger in poorer countries that rely heavily on imported grain.
Abramchenko restated Russia’s line that it is for Ukraine to open sea-lanes to Odesa that have been mined. Each side accuses the other of laying the mines to obstruct access to the port, which Ukraine fears that Russia may try to seize with an attack from the sea.
“We cannot provide a green corridor for Odesa as Ukraine has done everything for this port not to work,” Abramchenko said.
Updated
Ukrainian peace talks negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak dismissed Russia’s most recent comments about being willing to continue negotiations as “an attempt to deceive the world”.
Russia, he said, wanted to give the impression of being ready to talk while planning to stab Ukraine in the back.
Kyiv would definitely return to the negotiations but only at the right time, he added.
In a separate Twitter post on Thursday, Podolyak added, “Classic ‘Russian style’: destroying cities, arranging public executions, preparing an annexation, but still pretending to negotiate.”
Classic “Russian style": destroying cities, arranging public executions, preparing an annexation, but still pretending to negotiate. If #Patrushev wants a dialogue, the words should be backed up by actions: a ceasefire, troops withdrawal, closure of the “🇷🇺 peace” project in 🇺🇦
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) June 16, 2022
Updated
Summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
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Hundreds of civilians sheltering at the Azot chemical plant in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk are no longer able to evacuate because of the sustained Russian artillery barrages, according to Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai. 568 people, including 38 children, are currently taking refuge in the Azot plant, he told CNN. A pro-Russian separatist leader said Russian-backed forces will reopen a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the plant, the Interfax news agency reported.
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The leaders of France, Germany and Italy have vowed to support Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union on a visit to Kyiv intended as a show of unity in the face of Russian advances and complaints from the Ukrainians about the pace of weapons supplies. Macron said all four EU leaders present supported the idea of granting an “immediate” EU candidate status to Ukraine.
- Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, reiterated the alliance’s commitment to providing equipment to maintain Ukraine’s right to self-defence, and announced that Nato will be making more troop deployments on its eastern flank. He condemned “a relentless war of attrition against Ukraine” being waged by Russia, and said Nato continued to offer “unprecedented support so it can defend itself against Moscow’s aggression”.
- At least three civilians were killed and seven injured by a Russian airstrike in the eastern city of Lysychansk, according to the Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai. The strike hit a building where civilians were sheltering, Haidai said. It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
- An overnight Russian air-launched rocket strike hit a suburb of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing four and wounding six, according to officials. Regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said another rocket strike hit the Dobropillia district, which lies next to the Russian border, at 5am on Thursday, followed by 26 mortar rounds fired from across the border.
- Russia’s strategic goal in the war is the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, has said. She added that the situation remained difficult for Ukrainian forces and that Russia’s main focus now was on establishing full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine.
- Children born in Ukraine’s Kherson region since 24 February will automatically receive Russian citizenship, according to a statement by an official. Yesterday Stremousov claimed that thousands of citizens in the occupied territory were applying for Russian citizenship. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of abducting children from its territory and transferring them into Russia.
- A Russian spy tried and failed to secure an internship at the international criminal court (ICC) using the false identity as a Brazilian citizen that he had built up for as long as a decade, according to Dutch intelligence. Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, accused of being an agent of Russia’s GRU military intelligence, was detained when he arrived and sent back to Brazil the following day, having failed in his long-term deception.
- The UK announced a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia aimed at people involved with the “barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine”. Those targeted by sanctions include the Russian children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, the so-called mastermind behind the shadowy abduction programme. Other sanctioned individuals included military commanders and Vladimir Mikhailovich, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church.
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The UK has purchased and refurbished more than 20 long-range guns – M109s – from a Belgian arms company which it is sending to Ukraine, Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said. Russia outnumbers Ukraine in artillery fire by 20 to 1 in some areas but allies are beginning to give Ukraine the long-range artillery and rocket systems that will enable its forces to win, he told Sky News.
- Russia’s foreign ministry announced new sanctions against 121 Australian citizens, including journalists and defence officials, citing what it calls a “Russophobic agenda” in the country. Among those newly sanctioned are journalists from Australia’s ABC News, Sydney Morning Herald and Sky News, as well as various defence officials, it said.
- Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow was ready to restart peace talks with Kyiv but claimed it had yet to receive a response to its latest proposals. According to Interfax news agency, Medinsky said Kyiv was to blame for the lack of progress.
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Two American volunteers in Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said on Wednesday. Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, are both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama and went to Ukraine to assist with war efforts. The pair haven’t been heard from in days, members of the state’s congressional delegation have said.
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Russia has warned that gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline could be suspended, blaming problems with turbine repairs. Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told the state-owned news agency Ria that a complete halt in gas flows in the pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, would be a “catastrophe” for Germany.
- Western and Ukrainian rhetoric claiming Russia will be required to pay reparations for the damage caused by its invasion of Ukraine is not backed by a coherent roadmap based on international law to achieve justice for Ukraine’s victims, a new report has warned. The report says little progress has been made in setting up a global mechanism to require Russia to pay compensation and says the delays must end.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today as I hand the blog over to my colleague Maya Yang. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
The White House said it is “working very hard to learn more” about two US citizens who are missing in Ukraine.
Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, were last in contact with their families on 8 June.
The pair are thought to have been involved in a mission around the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine, where they had volunteered to fight, Reuters reports.
US officials have siad there is no confirmation that the two men have been captured by Russian forces.
Our Dan Sabbagh has the full report on how a Russian spy was caught trying to infiltrate the international criminal court (ICC), according to Dutch intelligence:
A Russian spy tried and failed to secure an internship at the international criminal court (ICC) using the false identity of a Brazilian citizen that he had built up for over a decade, according to Dutch intelligence.
Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, accused of being an agent of Russia’s GRU military intelligence, flew to the Netherlands in April believing he had succeeded in an extraordinary effort to gain inside access to the war crimes court.
But he had already been unmasked by western intelligence officers and when he arrived to take up his position at the court, Dutch immigration officials were warned by the country’s intelligence agency, AIVD.
Cherkasov had travelled under the name Viktor Muller Ferreira, claiming to be 33, but was detained when he arrived and sent back to Brazil the following day, having failed in his long-term deception.
At the time, the ICC had begun to investigate alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Had Cherkasov succeeded he would have obtained access to the international court’s email systems and might have been able to copy, tamper with or destroy documents or evidence submitted to the court.
The spy had developed an elaborately constructed false identity over many years, marking him out as one of Russia’s prized programme of “illegals” – a spying programme that dates back to the cold war and has been revived extensively under Vladimir Putin.
Western sources fear that the Ukraine crisis has prompted the GRU and other Russian agencies to take a more aggressive and potentially reckless attitude to their espionage operations, as Moscow has been dramatically isolated by the west following the invasion of Ukraine.
Hundreds of Ukrainian families have been left homeless in England after arriving on visas designed to secure them a place to live, official figures reveal.
Since the end of February, at least 480 Ukrainian families with children and 180 single adults have applied to councils for help with homelessness.
Despite the government insisting that the Homes for Ukraine and family visa schemes would ensure refugees had housing, both are leaving people struggling when arrangements break down.
The data exposes the cracks already appearing in the Homes for Ukraine scheme, with 145 placements having ended in homelessness by 3 June. Of these, 90 ended because the arrangement broke down and a further 55 never got off the ground properly because the accommodation was unavailable or unsuitable on arrival.
Anna, 37, fled Kyiv with her husband and their three-year-old son when war broke out. They came to Britain at the end of March after matching with a family of four who lived in a large house in Northampton.
After initially being welcoming, their hosts became less enthusiastic within a few weeks. “We didn’t understand what was happening because they changed their mood very quickly,” Anna said.
Anna and her family were moved into an annexe. The host said he wanted a key to it and they agreed as long as he warned them before going in, but shortly afterwards he called the council to say he wanted to terminate his sponsorship.
“They didn’t explain anything to us,” Anna said. “They were not ready to share their house. They tried to get rid of us as soon as possible.”
Here’s more from Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, who visited Kyiv alongside the leaders of France and Germany today. He said the main message of his talks in Kyiv with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was that Italy wants to see Kyiv as a part of the EU.
Speaking at a news conference following the talks, Draghi said:
I want to say today that the most important message of my visit is that Italy wants Ukraine in the European Union. And it wants Ukraine to have candidate status and will support this position at the next European Council.
He added:
We are at a turning point in our history. The Ukrainian people defend every day the values of democracy and freedom that underpin the European project, our project. We cannot wait. We cannot delay this process.
He also said he fully supported investigations into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said announcements of new deliveries of weapons by allies to Kyiv should be made on a weekly basis and “in sufficient quantities”.
Speaking to the BBC, Kuleba said:
This is the reality. We appreciate everything that has been done, we do not complain.
But the truth is that we’re still outnumbered when it comes to artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and defence systems, and we cannot make any big progress until we strike a balance with Russia in the numbers on these three positions.
The extent of death and destruction in Mariupol “strongly suggests” serious international law violations that will leave an “indelible mark” on generations to come, according to the UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet.
Last month, Russia declared victory in its months-long battle to conquer the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol after Ukraine ordered the last of its troops holed up in the city’s Azovstal steelworks to lay down their arms.
Between February and the end of April, Mariupol was “likely the deadliest place in Ukraine”, Bachelet said at the UN’s human rights council in Geneva.
Bachelet said:
The intensity and extent of hostilities, destruction and death and injury strongly suggest that serious violations of international... law have occurred.
She said her staff, who did not have access to Mariupol, had verified 1,348 civilian deaths in the city, including 70 children. The actual death toll of hostilities on civilians is “likely thousands higher”, she said.
“At least” 22,000 people were killed in the siege of Mariupol, Ukraine’s government representative, Tetiana Lomakina, said. Another 47,000 have been “forcefully transferred” to Russia or other occupied territories, she said.
Bachelet said the current situation in the Russian-occupied city remained “dire”, with residents left behind “struggling daily with limited access to basic utilities and social services, such as medical care”.
She warned of possible abuse of some of the more than 2,000 Ukrainian troops from Mariupol now held as prisoners of war.
Bachelet said:
The horrors inflicted on the civilian population will leave their indelible mark, including on generations to come.
On the parents who had to bury their own children, on people who witnessed their friends commit suicide, on families ripped apart, on all those who had to leave a much-loved city with uncertain prospects of ever seeing it again.
Western and Ukrainian rhetoric claiming Russia will be required to pay reparations for the damage caused by its invasion of Ukraine is not backed by a coherent roadmap based on international law to achieve justice for Ukraine’s victims, a new report prepared by the British thinktank Ceasefire has warned.
The report, one of the first detailed studies on how reparations for Ukraine might work, says little progress has been made in setting up a global mechanism to require Russia to pay compensation and says the delays must end.
It says it is remarkable how far plans are lagging in comparison with the number of war crimes investigations being launched, even though history suggests the numbers of Russian soldiers or politicians likely to be prosecuted is low.
The Ceasefire report says payment of state reparations is well established in international law but basic questions remain to be answered.
Questions that need answering include:
What form should such reparations take? To whom would they be made and on what authority? What sort of mechanism could be entrusted to take on the task of awarding and administering reparations on such a scale? Where will the money come from?
Ceasefire’s director, Mark Lattimer, proposes a UN general assembly or multilateral mechanism to take charge of administering reparations to civilian claimants, with the UK and other national governments using national and international law to put sanctions on assets to make Russia pay.
The UK has purchased and refurbished more than 20 long-range guns – M109s – from a Belgian arms company, which it is sending to Ukraine, Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said.
The heavy weapons fire 155mm rounds, he told Sky News after a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels.
Wallace said:
We are deploying over twenty 155 self-propelled guns that we have purchased on the global market, we have refurbished them & they’re starting to go in and they have a much longer range.
Russia outnumbers Ukraine in artillery fire by 20 to 1 in some areas but allies are beginning to give Ukraine the long-range artillery and rocket systems that will enable its forces to win, he said.
He said Ukraine’s forces would soon be able to make “significant progress in the east of the country”.
NEW: The UK has purchased and is refurbishing more than 20 long range guns – M109s – from a Belgian arms company which it is sending to Ukraine, Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP has said. The heavy weapons fire 155mm rounds.
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) June 16, 2022
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Evacuation from Azot plant in Sievierodonetsk now ‘impossible’, says governor
Hundreds of civilians sheltering at the Azot chemical plant in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk are no longer able to evacuate because of the sustained Russian artillery barrages, according to Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai.
Speaking to CNN, Haidai said:
It is impossible to get out of there now. I mean, it is physically possible, but it is very dangerous due to constant shelling and fighting.
Some 568 people, including 38 children, are currently taking refuge in the Azot plant, according to Haidai.
He said authorities had tried to convince the civilians to leave last month, before major bridges out of the city were destroyed, but that many “didn’t want to go” and were convinced that they would be safer to stay in place.
There have been several cases of civilians who were killed or injured by incoming fire when trying to leave the shelter, for example to cook, he said.
Earlier today, a pro-Russian separatist leader said Russian-backed forces will reopen a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the Azot chemical plant, the Interfax news agency reported.
Leonid Pasechnik, head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, said separatist forces had entered the plant but had been unable to dislodge Ukrainian fighters from the factory, the Tass news agency reported.
Haidai told CNN that an evacuation would be possible only if there were a complete ceasefire, but he was highly sceptical of any promises made by Russia.
He said:
I hear a lot of what they say, but 99% of it is just nonsense or a lie. If there is a complete ceasefire, then we can take people out. But I do not believe the Russians — as much as they lie, as much as they gave their word and did not keep it. There is a lot of such evidence.
Today so far...
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, have arrived in Kyiv on a symbolic joint trip to show their support for Ukraine. The three leaders, along with Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, met with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for talks as Ukraine struggles to resist Russian advances in the east of the country.
- Following the talks in Kyiv, Macron said all four European Union leaders present supported the idea of granting an “immediate” EU candidate status to Ukraine. Draghi said his main message was that Italy wants to see Ukraine as a part of the EU. Scholz pledged that Germany would continue to support Kyiv financially and militarily as long as it needs.
- Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has reiterated the alliance’s commitment to providing equipment to maintain Ukraine’s right to self-defence, and announced that Nato will be making more troop deployments on its eastern flank. He condemned “a relentless war of attrition against Ukraine” being waged by Russia, and said Nato continued to offer “unprecedented support so it can defend itself against Moscow’s aggression”.
- At least three civilians were killed and seven injured by a Russian airstrike in the eastern city of Lysychansk, according to the Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai. The strike hit a building where civilians were sheltering, Haidai said. It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
- An overnight Russian air-launched rocket strike hit a suburb of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing four and wounding six, according to officials. Regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said another rocket strike hit the Dobropillia district, which lies next to the Russian border, at 5am on Thursday, followed by 26 mortar rounds fired from across the border.
- Thousands of civilians, including women, children and elderly people, are trapped in Sievierodonetsk with a diminishing supply of food, clean water, sanitation and electricity. An urgent situation is developing in the bunkers beneath the Azot chemical plant in the city, a UN spokesperson said. Russian troops control 80% of the embattled eastern city that has become a focal point of Russia’s advances in the east of the country.
- Russia’s strategic goal in the war is the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, has said. She added that the situation remained difficult for Ukrainian forces and that Russia’s main focus now was on establishing full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine.
- Children born in Ukraine’s Kherson region since 24 February will automatically receive Russian citizenship, according to a statement by an official. Yesterday Stremousov claimed that thousands of citizens in the occupied territory were applying for Russian citizenship. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of abducting children from its territory and transferring them into Russia.
- A Russian spy tried and failed to secure an internship at the international criminal court (ICC) using the false identity as a Brazilian citizen that he had built up for as long as a decade, according to Dutch intelligence. Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, accused of being an agent of Russia’s GRU military intelligence, was detained when he arrived and sent back to Brazil the following day, having failed in his long-term deception.
- The UK announced a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia aimed at people involved with the “barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine”. Those targeted by sanctions include the Russian children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, the so-called mastermind behind the shadowy abduction programme. Other sanctioned individuals included military commanders and Vladimir Mikhailovich, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church.
- Russia’s foreign ministry announced new sanctions against 121 Australian citizens, including journalists and defence officials, citing what it calls a “Russophobic agenda” in the country. Among those newly sanctioned are journalists from Australia’s ABC News, Sydney Morning Herald and Sky News, as well as various defence officials, it said.
- Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow was ready to restart peace talks with Kyiv but claimed it had yet to receive a response to its latest proposals. According to Interfax news agency, Medinsky said Kyiv was to blame for the lack of progress.
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Two American volunteers in Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said on Wednesday. Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, are both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama and went to Ukraine to assist with war efforts. The pair haven’t been heard from in days, members of the state’s congressional delegation have said.
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Russia has warned that gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline could be suspended, blaming problems with turbine repairs. Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told the state-owned news agency Ria that a complete halt in gas flows in the pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, would be a “catastrophe” for Germany.
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Western and Ukrainian rhetoric claiming Russia will be required to pay reparations for the damage caused by its invasion of Ukraine is not backed by a coherent roadmap based on international law to achieve justice for Ukraine’s victims, a new report has warned. The report says little progress has been made in setting up a global mechanism to require Russia to pay compensation and says the delays must end.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here with you today to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
EU leaders in Kyiv support immediate EU candidacy for Ukraine, says Macron
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said all four European Union leaders present in Kyiv supported the idea of granting an “immediate” EU candidate status to Ukraine.
Macron was speaking at a news conference after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, alongside German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis .
Macron said:
We all four support the immediate EU candidate status.
France would step up arms deliveries to the country at war with Russia, he added.
At the news conference, Draghi said his main message during his visit to Kyiv was that Italy wants to see Ukraine as a part of the EU.
Scholz pledged that Germany would continue to support Ukraine as long as it needs, describing Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion as “heroic”.
Germany had taken in 800,000 Ukrainian refugees and was also supporting Ukraine financially and militarily, he said, adding:
We will continue do this as long Ukraine needs our support.
Zelenskiy said Russia’s invasion amounted to aggression against all of Europe.
The more weapons Ukraine receives from the West, the faster it will be able to liberate its occupied land, he said, adding that he had discussed further sanctions against Russia and post-war reconstruction at talks with the EU leaders.
Netherlands says it foiled Russian spy attempt to infiltrate the international criminal court
The Dutch intelligence service said it had uncovered a Russian military agent attempting to use a false identity to infiltrate the international criminal court (ICC), which is investigating accusations of war crimes in Ukraine.
Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov created an elaborate cover story dating back years to try and enter the Netherlands as a Brazilian national for an internship at the Hague-based ICC in April, the agency’s head told Reuters.
“This was a long-term, multi-year GRU operation that cost a lot of time, energy and money,” said the Dutch intelligence agency chief, Erik Akerboom.
The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) said in a statement that the man, who went by the alias Viktor Muller Ferreira, was picked up at a Dutch airport. He was declared an undesirable alien and put on the next flight back to Brazil, where he faces court proceedings, it added.
“It clearly shows us what the Russians are up to – trying to gain illegal access to information within the ICC. We classify this as a high-level threat,” Akerboom added, saying the ICC had accepted him for an internship.
ICC spokesperson Sonia Robla said the court was grateful to Dutch authorities for the operation and the exposing of security risks. “The ICC takes these threats very seriously and will continue to work and cooperate with the Netherlands,” she said.
There is yet to be any comment on the accusation by authorities in either Russia or Brazil.
Updated
Russia’s strategic goal in the war is the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, has said.
Reuters reports she told a briefing “Russia’s main strategic, military-political and military-economic goals as regards our state remain the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, as well as the destruction of the military and economic foundations of our state.”
She said Russia’s military goals also included the destruction of weapons and equipment sent to Ukraine by its foreign partners, and damaging transport infrastructure used to transport military and civilian goods.
She added that the situation remained difficult for Ukrainian forces, and that Russia’s main focus now was on establishing full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine.
This week, Vladimir Putin’s long-term ally Dmitry Medvedev posted to Telegram scoffing at the prospect of Ukraine arranging deals where it would pay off debts in two years, saying: “Who said that in two years Ukraine will even exist on the world map?”
Updated
Stoltenberg defends Nato against pope's accusation Ukraine war was ‘perhaps somehow provoked’
Jens Stoltenberg has reiterated Nato’s commitment to providing equipment to maintain Ukraine’s right to self-defence, and announced that Nato will be making more troop deployments on its eastern flank.
Speaking in Brussels, the secretary general of Nato condemned “a relentless war of attrition against Ukraine” being waged by Russia, and said Nato continued to offer “unprecedented support so it can defend itself against Moscow’s aggression”.
Stoltenberg said “All countries have the right to choose their own path without outside interference” and that Nato was planning a comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine to improve interoperability and transition Ukraine from Soviet-era equipment to Nato-compatible weapons.
In broader terms, Stoltenberg said “Russia’s aggression is a game-changer”, and that the Nato alliance would be deploying more air, sea and cyber defences as well as more forward-positioned troops. He suggested that in future groups of troops would be charged as planning to defend specific countries, rather than being on more general duty, which he said would make response times faster.
Asked about recent comments by Pope Francis that the Ukraine war was “perhaps somehow provoked”, Stoltenberg laid the blame firmly at the door of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying:
Nato is a defensive alliance, and the war in Ukraine is President Putin’s war. What Nato has been doing for many years is to support an independent sovereign nation in Europe in Ukraine. This is not a threat to anyone. This is not a provocation. And that is what we continue to you. It is President Putin and Moscow which is responsible for this brutal aggression against Ukraine.
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At least three civilians were killed and seven injured by a Russian airstrike in the eastern city of Lysychansk, according to the Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai.
The strike hit a building where civilians were sheltering, Haidai said. Rescuers are clearing the rubble at the site, he added.
In the Luhansk Oblast, the Russian troops struck at one of the buildings where people were hiding. At least three civilians were killed and seven were injured,announced the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Hayday.
— Hromadske Int. (@Hromadske) June 16, 2022
It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
Updated
The Russian Orthodox Church has responded to British sanctions against its leader, Patriarch Kirill, describing the move as “absurd and counterproductive”.
Church spokesperson, Vladimir Legoyda, said on Telegram:
Attempts to intimidate the primate of the Russian Church with something or to force him to renounce his views are senseless, absurd and unpromising.
He said the church was the “last bridge, a means of communication” that Britain was “trying to destroy” with the aim of “the escalation of conflict and the alienation of peace”.
He added:
There is no other way I can explain such absurd and counterproductive measures, which contribute to only one thing - breaking the already severely damaged communication between the European community and Russia.
Here’s a bit more on Britain’s latest round of sanctions against Russia, which include Moscow’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
The UK foreign office said it had sanctioned Lvova-Belova for the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children, while Kirill was targeted for “his prominent support of Russian military aggression in Ukraine”.
Four senior military officials from a unit “known to have killed, raped, and tortured civilians” in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were also sanctioned, it said in a statement.
The government said the sanctions also targeted Putin’s allies, military commanders and Russian and Myanmar arms dealers.
Scholz: Russia’s war of ‘unimaginable cruelty’ in Ukraine must end
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Russia’s war of “unimaginable cruelty” and “senseless violence” in Ukraine must end during a visit to the town of Irpin in the Kyiv suburb with other European leaders.
Like Bucha, Irpin has become a symbol of the “cruelty” of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Scholz tweeted. He wrote:
Irpin, like Bucha, has long since become a symbol of the unimaginable cruelty of the Russian war, of senseless violence.
The brutal destruction in this city is a memorial - this war must come to an end.
#Irpin ist wie #Butscha längst ein Symbol für die unvorstellbare Grausamkeit des russischen Kriegs geworden, für sinnlose Gewalt. Die brutale Zerstörung in dieser Stadt ist ein Mahnmal - dieser Krieg muss zu Ende gehen. pic.twitter.com/DEPZUfh9OY
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) June 16, 2022
Scholz arrived in Kyiv today in an attempt to restore confidence among Germany’s allies over the repeated rows over weapons that he has promised Ukraine.
He told German media on the way to the Ukrainian capital:
We want to show not only solidarity, but also assure that the help that we’re organising - financial, humanitarian, but also, when it comes to weapons - will continue. And that we will continue it as long as it is necessary for Ukraine’s fight to defend itself against Moscow.
Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the UK “wholeheartedly” supports the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, amid reports that he was abruptly moved to a high-security prison camp.
Speaking in parliament today, Truss said:
We wholeheartedly support Navalny and we are very, very concerned about the reports we have heard and we urge Russia to release him as soon as possible.
It comes after Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, announced yesterday that he had been transferred from the IK-6 penal colony to a maximum security jail in Melekhovo, 155 miles (250km) east of Moscow. Yarmysh tweeted: “IK-6 in Melekhovo is a monstrous place.”
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Russia’s foreign ministry announced new sanctions against 121 Australian citizens, including journalists and defence officials, citing what it calls a “Russophobic agenda” in the country.
Among those newly sanctioned are journalists from Australia’s ABC News, Sydney Morning Herald and Sky News, as well as various defence officials, it said.
The ministry announced similar sanctions against 29 members of the British media, including five Guardian journalists, on Tuesday in response to what it described as the “spreading of false information about Russia” as well as “anti-Russian actions of the British government”.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the leaders of France, Germany and Italy should “not be focused exclusively on weapons shipments to Ukraine” during their visit to Kyiv.
During his regular briefing with reporters, Peskov told reporters that Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi should use their time with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to take a “realistic look at the state of affairs”.
Peskov said:
I would like to hope that the leaders of these three states - and the president of Romania - will not only focus on supporting Ukraine by further pumping Ukraine with weapons.
That would be “absolutely useless and will cause further damage to the country”, he added.
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Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and now deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said the visit of the French, German and Italian leaders to Kyiv is of “zero use”.
Medvedev tweeted that the visit by Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi “won’t bring Ukraine closer to peace”, and called the three leaders “European fans of frogs, liverwurst and spaghetti”.
European fans of frogs, liverwurst and spaghetti love visiting Kiev. With zero use. Promised EU membership and old howitzers to Ukraine, lushed up on gorilka and went home by train, like 100 years ago. All is well. Yet, it won’t bring Ukraine closer to peace. The clock’s ticking
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) June 16, 2022
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, French president, Emmanuel Macron, and Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, have arrived in Kyiv on a symbolic joint trip to show their support for Ukraine as it struggles to resist Russian advances in the east.
The three were pictured travelling together overnight in a train from Poland used to transport high-profile guests to Ukraine, but little information was given about the details of the highly anticipated trip.
Macron told reporters at the train station in Kyiv:
It’s an important moment. It’s a message of unity we’re sending to the Ukrainians, of support, to talk both about the present and the future, since the coming weeks, as we know, will be very difficult.
The three leaders were greeted with air raid sirens in the Ukrainian capital, as Russia continued to strike targets across the country. Local officials said on Thursday that an overnight Russian air-launched rocket strike hit a suburb of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing four and wounding six.
Macron added:
We’re here, focused, and we’re about to meet President Zelenskiy now to visit a war site where massacres have been committed, and then to lead the conversations that are scheduled with President Zelenskiy.
Soon after their arrival, the three leaders were pictured visiting Irpin, a commuter town a few miles from Kyiv that was subject to some of the heaviest fighting in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion.
Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, who also arrived in Kyiv on Thursday by train is expected to join them for talks with the Ukrainian leader.
The visit comes as complaints grow louder in Kyiv about slow arms deliveries, with one official saying this week that Ukraine had only received 10% of the weapons it had requested from the west.
Updated
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, have arrived in Kyiv to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, joined Macron to show their joint backing for Ukraine as they struggle to withstand Russian assault.
UK announces new Russia sanctions for ‘barbaric treatment of children’ in Ukraine
Britain has announced a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia aimed at people involved with the “barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine”.
Those who have been sanctioned include Moscow’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the “forced transfer and adoption” of 2,000 Ukrainian children.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a long-time Putin ally and vocal supporter of the war in Ukraine, has also been sanctioned. Kirill was excluded from the latest round of EU sanctions against Russia following objections from Hungary.
In a statement, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said:
Today we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin*s war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children.
We will not tire of defending freedom and democracy, and keeping up the pressure on Putin, until Ukraine succeeds.
Just Announced: I have sanctioned:
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) June 16, 2022
👉 Patriarch Kirill, Head of Russian Orthodox Church & vocal supporter of Putin’s war
👉 Enablers & perpetrators of Putin’s war who have brought suffering to Ukrainehttps://t.co/NBBxfwqd5t
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Russia has warned that gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline could be suspended, blaming problems with turbine repairs.
Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told the state-owned news agency Ria that a complete halt in gas flows in the pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, would be a “catastrophe” for Germany.
The Nord Stream 1 gas flow to Germany has been cut twice this week, a move that the country’s economy minister said was aimed at sowing uncertainty and pushing up fuel prices.
Uniper, Germany’s biggest importer of Russian gas, said yesterday that deliveries from Russia were down a quarter from agreed upon volumes.
Sergiy Makogon, the head of Ukraine’s gas transit operator, said the gas cuts amounted to “blackmailing of the EU”.
Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow was ready to restart peace talks with Kyiv but claimed it had yet to receive a response to its latest proposals, the Interfax news agency reports.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations have held intermittent talks remotely and in person since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February, but efforts have largely stalled since March.
According to Interfax, Medinsky said Kyiv was to blame for the lack of progress.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest news from Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Today so far …
- French President Emmanuel Macron praised the heroism of Ukraine’s army and people and said that there were “traces of barbarism” from Russian forces after a visit to the Ukrainian town of Irpin which was the closest Russian troops got to Kyiv in the early stages of the war. He and other European leaders visited the town before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
- German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi and Macron arrived in Kyiv after an overnight train journey from Poland. The three leaders were greeted with air raid sirens in the Ukrainian capital, as Russia continued to strike targets across the country. Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis also visited Irpin with them, and is expected to join them later for talks with the Ukrainian leader.
- Ukraine has ignored a Russian ultimatum to surrender Sievierodonetsk, with Moscow controlling 80% of the embattled eastern city that has become a focal point of Russia’s advances in the east of the country. Russia ordered Ukrainian forces to stop their “senseless resistance and lay down arms” from Wednesday morning and accused Kyiv of disrupting plans to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the area.
- Thousands of civilians, including women, children and elderly people, are trapped in Sievierodonetsk with a diminishing supply of food, clean water, sanitation and electricity. An urgent situation is developing in the bunkers beneath the Azot chemical plant in the city, a UN spokesperson said. About 500 civilians believed to be trapped alongside soldiers inside Azot were preparing to flee the city through a possible humanitarian corridor.
- Serhai Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has said “Fierce battles are fought for every house” in Sievierodonetsk, as Russia continues its attempts to capture the city in eastern Ukraine.
- Russia’s combat force in the Donbas is highly likely operating in increasingly ad hoc and severely undermanned groupings, the UK ministry of defence has said in its latest report.
- An overnight Russian air-launched rocket strike hit a suburb of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing four and wounding six.
- Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, has called for “all Russian cities” in Ukraine, including Odesa, to be occupied by pro-Russian forces.
- Children born in Ukraine’s Kherson region since 24 February will automatically receive Russian citizenship, according to a statement by the Russian-imposed authority occupying the region.
- US President Joe Biden yesterday announced a new $1bn arms packages for Ukraine , following appeals by Kyiv for help on the eastern and southern fronts. The support package, confirmed on Wednesday, includes 18 additional howitzers with tactical vehicles to tow them, 36,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition for the howitzers and two Harpoon coastal defence systems, the defence department said.
- Russia and the United States must discuss the extension of the START nuclear arms reduction treaty, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RIA news agency in an interview on Thursday. The matter was important for global security and Russia’s military operation in Ukraine was no reason to avoid its discussion, Peskov added.
- Two American volunteers in Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said on Wednesday. Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, are both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama and went to Ukraine to assist with war efforts.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. For the next few hours it will be Léonie Chao-Fong bringing you further updates on the war in Ukraine.
Macron criticises Russian ‘barbarism’ during Irpin visit
French President Emmanuel Macron said that massacres and barbarism have been committed in the Ukrainian town of Irpin, which he and other European leaders visited before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“It’s a heroic city, marked by the stigmata of barbarism,” Reuters reports Macron told reporters.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi and Macron arrived in Kyiv after an overnight train journey from Poland.
The three leaders were greeted with air raid sirens in the Ukrainian capital, as Russia continued to strike targets across the country. Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis also visited Irpin with them, and is expected to join them later for talks with the Ukrainian leader.
Updated
Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, has called for “all Russian cities” in Ukraine, including Odesa, to be occupied by pro-Russian forces, in an interview carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
It quotes Pushilin saying “We need to liberate all Russian cities” in response to a question about Odesa. Pushilin also says that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy should face an international tribunal because of what the self-styled DPR leader considers to be war crimes in the Donbas.
The Russian ministry of defence has issued its operation briefing for today.
In the last 24 hours Russia claims to have destroyed among other things two command posts, an electronic warfare station, a Tochka-U launcher in Kharkiv, a Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system in Sumy, two ammunition depots in the Razdolovka area of what it terms the Donetsk People’s Republic, and to have killed 480 members of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The claims have not been independently verified. The Russian ministry of defence continues to designate its latest invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation in Ukraine”.
Reuters has a quick snap that the deputy head of Russia’s State Duma parliamentary committee on information policy, Anton Gorelkin, said today he expected Google would remain in Russia. Moscow had no intention of blocking YouTube, Gorelkin added.
Updated
The headquarters of the territorial defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has issued its operational briefing for the day. In it they claim to control 238 settlements within occupied Donetsk. They claim that one person was killed and three inured as a result of shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces in the last 24 hours. The claims have not been independently verified. Russia is the only UN member state to recognise the Donetsk People’s Republic as a legitimate authority.
In the UK, the former Commander Joint Forces Command of the British army, Gen Richard Barrons, has been interviewed by Sky News about the current situation in Ukraine. He had this to say on the prospect for humanitarian corridors out of Sievierodonetsk, where some 10,000 civilians are said to be trapped:
It’s very unlikely to work until – and unless – Russia sees advantage in doing that. And so were Russia to decide it has gone as far as it wants to, or can, in the Donbas, it might try and make a virtue of letting people out of cities like this, so that they no longer are a threat to them, and they no longer have to look after them.
He stressed that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin seems very secure in his position, observing:
This isn’t a war just between Putin and Ukraine. This is a war where a large number of the Russian population genuinely supports it. It’s a combination of the information that they receive, and also their view of Russian history and Russia’s place in the world. This is not just a war with a small clique in the Kremlin.
Barrons said that Russia’s action would have to prompt a strategic rethink from Nato, telling viewers:
In the short to medium term, Nato is revitalising itself because it’s seen what Russia is really like under Putin and what it’s capable of doing. So it’s going to reset the conventional defence and deterrence of Europe, with the new members as they line up.
He suggested that western countries needed to offer further military support to Ukraine, saying:
I think everyone has to be impressed by the spirit of national resistance we’ve seen from Ukraine. We should recognise they knew this day would come. They knew Russians would invade again after 2014. And we should also recognise that that we simply failed to give them the military means they needed to deter and defeat that invasion. And now we’re all playing catch up.
Luhansk governor: 'fierce battles fought for every house' in Sievierodonetsk
Serhai Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has posted his latest status update for the region to Telegram. He reports:
For almost four months, the Russians have not had significant victories, so they throw all their reserves to capture Sievierodonetsk. Fierce battles are fought for every house in the city. The Ukrainian military needs long-range artillery to push the Russians to a safe distance. Dozens of occupiers die every day during street clashes in Sievierodonetsk.
Here are some of the first pictures of the visit to Kyiv by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
• This post was amended on 17 June 2022. The original caption on the middle picture misidentified the woman as the Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Updated
Macron, Scholz and Draghi arrive in Kyiv
Reuters has a news flash that Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi have arrived in Kyiv. It also has some lines that have been given to the press pool from one of Macron’s Elysee officials. They say:
- the three leaders will discuss Ukraine’s EU candidacy with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
- they know that Ukraine wants a strong symbol ahead of the 23-24 June EU summit
- they need to balance Ukraine’s natural aspirations for EU membership with the aspirations of all of the existing candidate countries
- they want to ensure the EU is not destabilised or fractured
French President Macron is quoted as telling reporters on his arrival that he will pass on a message of “European solidarity” to Zelenskiy, and that today marks an “important moment”.
For context, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are all currently candidate countries for EU membership. Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina also have open discussions about potentially becoming candidate countries.
Those with the longest processes so far for joining the EU are Turkey, which became a candidate country in 1999, and North Macedonia, which became one in 2005.
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Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.
Children born in Ukraine’s Kherson region since 24 February will automatically receive Russian citizenship, according to a statement by an official.
Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-imposed military-civilian administration in the occupied Kherson region has told Russian news agency RIA Novosti:
Children born after 24 February in the Kherson region will automatically receive citizenship of the Russian Federation. Plus, orphans will also be registered as citizens of the Russian Federation.
Yesterday Stremousov claimed that thousands of citizens in the occupied territory were applying for Russian citizenship.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of abducting children from its territory and transferring them into Russia.
- This is Martin Belam taking over the blog in London. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
Russia’s combat force in the Donbas is highly likely operating in increasingly ad hoc and severely undermanned groupings, the UK ministry of defence has said in its latest report.
The full report reads:
All of the main bridges over the Siverskyy Donets River, which link the contested town of Sieverodonetsk and Ukrainian-held territory, have now highly likely been destroyed.
Ukraine has probably managed to withdraw a large proportion of its combat troops, who were originally holding the town. The situation continues to be extremely difficult for the Ukrainian forces and civilians remaining east of the river.
With the bridges highly likely destroyed, Russia will now likely need to either conduct a contested river crossing or advance on its currently stalled flanks to turn tactical gain into operational advantage.
Russia’s combat force in the Donbas is highly likely operating in increasingly ad hoc and severely undermanned groupings.
As claimed by the Ukrainian authorities, some Russian Battalion Tactical Groups (BTGs) - typically established at around 600 to 800 personnel - have been able to muster as few as 30 soldiers.
For both sides fighting in contested towns, front line combat is likely increasingly devolving to small groups of troops typically operating on foot.
Some of Russia’s strengths, such as its advantage in numbers of tanks, become less relevant in this environment. This is likely contributing to its continued slow rate of advance.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 16 June 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 16, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/mUcMIcLHxU
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/bJGO1qRWlT
An overnight Russian air-launched rocket strike hit a suburb of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing four and wounding six, officials say.
Regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi did not specify the target of the strike on the suburb of Sad.
He said another rocket strike hit the Dobropillia district, which lies next to the Russian border, at 5am on Thursday, followed by 26 mortar rounds fired from across the border.
Presidential advisor Anton Herashenko also appeared to confirm the news, writing over his Telegram account: “Last night the occupiers fired at Glukhov in Sumy region from helicopters ... Unfortunately, according to preliminary data, there are losses among the local population.”
Russia has torpedoed a western-backed proposal to discuss whether its diamonds are funding war ahead of an international conflict diamond meeting in Botswana, letters seen by Reuters show.
The rift in the Kimberley Process (KP), which certifies rough diamond exports, risks paralysing the body which makes decisions by consensus.
The letters, which have not been previously reported, show a dispute over a proposal by Ukraine, the European Union, Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and whether to broaden the KP’s definition of conflict diamonds to include state actors at its June 20-24 meeting in Botswana.
The United States and Britain have already placed sanctions on Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds, which accounted for around 30% of global output last year, and is partly state-owned.
A draft agenda dated May 20 included an hour-long slot to discuss the issue, but the item was removed after objections from Russia, Belarus, Central African Republic (CAR) and Kyrgyzstan.
“We find ourselves at an impasse,” Botswana’s KP chair Jacob Thamage told participants - who include 85 nations, industry representatives, and civil society organisations - in a June 9 letter urging them to find common ground.
The KP defines conflict diamonds as gems used to fund rebel movements seeking to undermine legitimate governments.
Officially labelling Russian diamonds “conflict diamonds” would require widening the definition. The KP Civil Society Coalition has been calling for such a change for years, along with some KP member countries.
Two US volunteers in Ukraine feared taken prisoner by Russia
Two American volunteers in Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said on Wednesday.
Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, are both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama and went to Ukraine to assist with war efforts. Relatives have been in contact with Senate and House offices seeking information on the men’s whereabouts.
The pair haven’t been heard from in days, members of the state’s congressional delegation have said.
If confirmed, they would be the first Americans fighting for Ukraine known to have been captured since the war began in February.
US pledges further $1bn arms package
US President Joe Biden earlier announced a new $1bn arms packages for Ukraine , following appeals by Kyiv for help on the eastern and southern fronts.
The support package, confirmed on Wednesday, includes 18 additional howitzers with tactical vehicles to tow them, 36,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition for the howitzers and two Harpoon coastal defence systems, the defence department said.
This morning, I spoke with President Zelenskyy to discuss Russia’s brutal and ongoing war against Ukraine. I reaffirmed our commitment to stand by Ukraine and shared that the United States is providing over $1.2 billion in additional security and humanitarian assistance.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 16, 2022
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was “extremely focused on stepping up support” for Ukraine.
While Ukraine has welcomed the new pledges, it says deliveries are not coming fast enough.
Recent deliveries of M777 howitzers from the United States have been too few and that Ukraine remains numerically outgunned, officials said.
I just finished hosting an extremely productive third meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. 50 countries — our highest tally yet — joined me in Brussels to discuss how we can fortify support for Ukraine as they defend themselves from Russia’s unprovoked invasion. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/PVMLdkCHNx
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 16, 2022
German chancellor Olaf Scholz, the French president Emmanuel Macron and the Italian prime minister Mario Draghi are on their way to Ukraine this morning.
The group reportedly took an overnight train from Poland and were pictured in one of the train’s compartments.
It is well after midnight on the train from the Polish border to the Ukrainian capital. pic.twitter.com/Vz1avMCnql
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) June 16, 2022
Updated
EU leaders to visit Kyiv to show support for Ukraine
The leaders of the European Union’s three biggest countries, Germany, France and Italy, are expected in Kyiv on Thursday to show their backing for Ukraine as it struggles to withstand a relentless Russian assault.
The visit by the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, the French president Emmanuel Macron and the Italian prime minister Mario Draghi has taken weeks to organise with the three men looking to overcome criticism within Ukraine over their response to the war.
The expected trip, which has not been announced for security reasons, comes a day before the European Commission is due to make a recommendation on Ukraine’s status as an EU candidate, something the biggest European nations have been lukewarm about.
Speaking in Romania on Wednesday, Macron said it was time for Europe to reassure Ukraine over its EU ambitions.
“We are at a point when we need to send clear political signals, us Europeans, towards Ukraine and its people when it is resisting heroically,” he said, without giving details.
Russia and the United States must discuss the extension of the START nuclear arms reduction treaty, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RIA news agency in an interview on Thursday.
The matter was important for global security and Russia’s military operation in Ukraine was no reason to avoid its discussion, Peskov added.
When asked about the possibility of a nuclear war, Peskov said: “I believe that today the media should be professional enough not to ask such questions, and those who are being interviewed should be wise enough not to answer such questions.”
Summary and welcome
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you to deliver all the latest developments from Ukraine.
The leaders of the European Union’s three biggest countries, Germany, France and Italy, are expected in Kyiv today to show their backing for Ukraine as it struggles to withstand a relentless Russian assault.
Here are the major developments:
- Ukraine has ignored a Russian ultimatum to surrender Sievierodonetsk, with Moscow controlling 80% of the embattled eastern city that has become a focal point of Russia’s advances in the east of the country. Russia ordered Ukrainian forces to stop their “senseless resistance and lay down arms” from Wednesday morning and accused Kyiv of disrupting plans to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the area.
- Thousands of civilians, including women, children and elderly people, are trapped in Sievierodonetsk with a diminishing supply of food, clean water, sanitation and electricity. An urgent situation is developing in the bunkers beneath the Azot chemical plant in the city, a UN spokesperson said. About 500 civilians believed to be trapped alongside soldiers inside Azot were preparing to flee the city through a possible humanitarian corridor.
- The United States will provide an additional $1bn in security assistance to Ukraine for its efforts in the eastern Donbas, US president Joe Biden confirmed. The support package includes 18 additional howitzers with tactical vehicles to tow them, 36,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition for the howitzers and two Harpoon coastal defence systems, the defence department said.
- President Zelenskiy urged the EU to tighten sanctions on Russia and warned Moscow’s forces could attack other countries after invading his own. In an address to the Czech parliament, Zelenskiy said Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine “is the first step that the Russian leadership needs to open the way to other countries, to the conquest of other peoples”.
- Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said allies would continue to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons and long-range systems, with an agreement on a new package of assistance to Kyiv expected at the summit in Madrid later this month. The agreement will help Ukraine move from old Soviet-era weaponry to “more modern Nato standard” gear, he said. Stoltenberg was speaking before a meeting in Brussels of defence ministers from Nato and other countries to discuss and coordinate help for Ukraine.
- At the meeting in Brussels, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said Ukraine was facing a “pivotal moment on the battlefield” in Sievierodonetsk, with Russian forces using long-range weapons to try to overwhelm Ukrainian positions. Austin urged America and its allies not to “let up and lose steam” and to “intensify our shared commitment to Ukraine’s self-defence”.
- China’s Xi Jinping has assured Vladimir Putin of China’s support on Russian “sovereignty and security” prompting Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up “on the wrong side of history”. China is “willing to continue to offer mutual support [to Russia] on issues concerning core interests and major concerns such as sovereignty and security,” state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying during a call with Putin. US State Department spokesperson responded: “China claims to be neutral, but its behaviour makes clear that it is still investing in close ties to Russia.”
- Turkey has said it is ready to host a four-way meeting with the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine to organise the export of grain through the Black Sea, saying safe routes could be formed without needing to clear mines around Ukrainian ports. Foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said it would “take some time” to de-mine Ukraine’s ports and that a safe sea corridor could meanwhile be established in areas without mines. “Since the location of the mines is known, certain safe lines would be established at three ports,” he said. “Ships, with the guidance of Ukraine’s research and rescue vessels as envisaged in the plan, could thus come and go safely to ports without a need to clear the mines.”
- Poland’s agriculture minister, Henryk Kowalczyk, said building grain silos at the Polish-Ukrainian border to help channel the crop from Ukraine to global markets would take three to four months. Kowalczyk’s remarks came after President Joe Biden, proposed that temporary silos would be built along the border with Ukraine in a bid to help export more grain and address a growing global food crisis.
- Two US veterans from Alabama who were in Ukraine assisting in the war against Russia haven’t been heard from in days and are missing, members of the state’s congressional delegation said. John Kirby, a national security spokesman at the White House, said that the administration wasn’t able to confirm the reports about missing Americans. “We’ll do the best we can to monitor this and see what we can learn about it,” he said.
- Europe’s unity over the war in Ukraine is at risk as public attention increasingly shifts from the battlefield to cost of living concerns, polling across 10 European countries suggests. The survey found support for Ukraine remained high, but that preoccupations have shifted to the conflict’s wider impacts, with the divide deepening between voters who want a swift end to the conflict and those who want Russia punished.
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