Here are the key events so far on Friday, June 17.
Get the latest update here.
Fighting
- Russian-backed separatists in Luhansk said they were ready to open a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from a chemical plant in Severodonetsk if Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire. Ukraine said Russia’s proposal for peace talks was an “attempt to deceive the world”.
- Ukrainian officials said their troops were still holding out against massive Russian bombardment in the eastern city of Severodonetsk.
- An air raid hit a building sheltering civilians in Ukraine’s embattled eastern city of Lysychansk, killing at least three people, according to the regional governor.
- At least 1,348 people have been killed in Mariupol since the beginning of the war, making it the “deadliest place in Ukraine”, United Nations’ top human rights official Michelle Bachelet said, adding the death toll was likely “thousands higher”.
- The intensity and extent of the death and destruction in Mariupol suggested that “serious violations” of international humanitarian law and “gross violations” of international human rights law occurred during the battle for the city, Bachelet said.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s invasion amounted to aggression against all of Europe and that the more weapons Ukraine received from the West, the faster it would be able to liberate its occupied land.
- The United States said it had not asked Russia about two US citizens reported missing after travelling to Ukraine to fight against Russian forces and said there were reports of a third missing American.
Diplomacy
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis have backed Ukraine’s bid for European Union candidate status on their first trip to Kyiv since the war started.
- The EU executive is expected to propose on Friday that Ukraine become a formal candidate for membership.
- The United Kingdom will welcome representatives from Ukraine and business leaders on Friday to discuss how British companies can help rebuild infrastructure in Kyiv.
- The Dutch intelligence service said it 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.
- Russia said it had banned 121 Australian citizens from entering.
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would attend a NATO meeting in Madrid at the end of the month.
Economy
- Russia’s economy faces pressure from abroad that could persist “for a long time indeed, if not forever”, the head of the Russian Central Bank warned.
- US satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies obtained pictures of a Russian-flagged ship carrying Ukraine’s stolen grain to Syria over the last couple of months. Moscow’s representative to Syria said these reports were fake, state news agency RIA reported.
- Ships loaded with grain and metals will leave the port of Mariupol soon, with shipments potentially headed to the Middle East, a pro-Russian separatist leader told the Interfax news agency.
- Russia said it would speed up talks about increased gas sales to China and warned that Europe would pay a hefty price for its oil embargo against Russia.
- Europe’s energy security is not at immediate risk as a result of Russia reducing gas supplies to more European countries, a European Commission spokesperson said.
