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.
- 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.
Russian people and companies are using entities in Georgia to bypass western sanctions, a group of Ukrainian lawmakers say.
Speaking in Washington, David Arakhamia, Ukraine’s chief negotiator with Russia, said the Ukrainian delegation was set to have meetings at the US Congress, State Department and the Treasury to raise awareness of the issue, among other topics.
Speaking to reporters at a German Marshall Fund event, he said:
They (Russians) use heavily right now ... Georgian banks, Georgian financial system, Georgian companies and so on.
If you are a sanctioned Russian person, you go to the Internet, you open up a Georgian company, open up remotely the bank account and start processing.”
He did not provide further details or specific examples.
Here are some of the latest images of Ukraine’s fighters from the country’s eastern frontline.
The US is targeting Russia with technology to evade the censorship of news on the war in Ukraine and access western media, Reuters is reporting.
According to the news agency, the US government has pushed new, increased funding into three technology companies since the start of the Ukraine conflict to help Russians sidestep censors and access western media, according to five people familiar with the situation.
The financing effort is focused on three firms that build Virtual Private Networks (VPN) - nthLink, Psiphon and Lantern – and is designed to support a recent surge in their Russian users, the sources said.
VPNs help users hide their identity and change their online location, often to bypass geographic restrictions on content or to evade government censorship technology.
Reuters spoke to executives at all three US government-backed VPNs and two officials at a US government-funded nonprofit organisation that provided them with financing - the Open Technology Fund (OTF) - who said the anti-censorship apps have seen significant growth in Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched his war in Ukraine in February.
Between 2015 and 2021, the three VPNs received at least $4.8m in US funding, according to publicly available funding documents reviewed by Reuters. Since February, the total funding allocated to the companies has increased by almost half in order to cope with the rise in demand in Russia, the five people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Laura Cunningham, president of the OTF, said the organisation had increased its support to the three VPNs because “the Russian government is attempting to censor what their citizens can see and say online in order to obscure the truth and silence dissent.”
Censorship evasion tools, including the VPNs, backed by OTF averaged more than 4m users last month in Russia, Cunningham added.
In a statement, USAGM also said it was supporting the development of a range of censorship circumvention tools, including VPNs. It also did not give precise data on their funding.
“With the Kremlin’s escalating crackdown on media freedom, we’ve seen an extraordinary surge in demand for these tools among Russians,” USAGM spokesperson Laurie Moy said.
Russia attacking Luhansk in nine directions, Ukraine military says
Russia has concentrated its main strike forces in the north of Luhansk region and were trying to attack simultaneously in nine directions, the head of Ukraine’s military has said.
“The fierce struggle for Luhansk region continues,” Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said.
The Russians were using aircraft, rocket-propelled grenades, and artillery, he added.
Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said Ukraine’s army was defending the key city of Sievierodonetsk and trying to stop Russian forces from taking its twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river.
Summary
It’s 1am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- 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 Wednesday. John Kirby, a national security spokesman at the White House, said Wednesday 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.
- Turkey 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, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday. According to the Turkish foreign minister, the UN has submitted a plan to facilitate exports. “If Russia answers positively, there will be a four-partite meeting in Istanbul,” Cavusoglu said.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed his gratitude to US president Joe Biden after the US announced a $1 billion arms package deal earlier on Wednesday. “I am grateful for this support, it is especially important for our defence in (the eastern region of) Donbas,” he said, adding, “I am also grateful for the (US) leadership in mobilising the help of all partners.”
-
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office has confirmed that 21 more children have been killed in Mariupol, taking the total to 313. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, there have been at least 892 child casualties, including 313 children killed and 579 injured.
- The US has expressed concern regarding China’s alliance with Russia warning that countries choosing to align with Russia and Russian president Vladimir Putin will be “on the wrong side of history.” “China claims to be neutral, but its behavior makes clear that it is still investing in close ties to Russia,” a US State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.
- UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that men need to stop excluding women from peace talks, citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a situation that is “going backwards.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced millions of women and children to the flee the country, “putting them at high risk of trafficking and exploitation of all kinds,” he said, adding, “Women who chose not to evacuate are at the forefront of healthcare and social support.”
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.
Updated
Two U.S. 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 Wednesday.
The Associated Press reports:
Relatives of Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Trinity and Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa have been in contact with both Senate and House offices seeking information about the men’s whereabouts, press aides said.
Rep. Robert Aderholt said Huynh had volunteered to go fight with the Ukrainian army against Russia, but relatives haven’t heard from him since June 8, when he was in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, which is near the Russian border. Huynh and Drueke were together, an aide to Aderholt said.
“As you can imagine, his loved ones are very concerned about him,” Aderholt said in a statement. “My office has placed inquires with both the United States Department of State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation trying to get any information possible.”
Rep. Terri Sewell said Drueke’s mother reached out to her office earlier this week after she lost contact with her son.
The U.S. State Department said it was looking into reports that Russian or Russian-backed separatist forces in Ukraine had captured at least two American citizens. If confirmed, they would be the first Americans fighting for Ukraine known to have been captured since the war began Feb. 24.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with Ukrainian authorities,” the department said in a statement emailed to reporters. It declined further comment, citing privacy considerations.
John Kirby, a national security spokesman at the White House, said Wednesday 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.
However, he reiterated his warnings against Americans going to Ukraine.
“Ukraine is not the place for Americans to be traveling,” he said. “If you feel passionate about supporting Ukraine, there’s any number of ways to do that that that are safer and just as effective.”
Turkey 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, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Millions of tons of wheat are currently stuck in Ukrainian ports, either blockaded or occupied by Russian forces, and vessels face the danger of mines. According to the Turkish foreign minister, the UN has submitted a plan to facilitate exports.
Under the plan, safe corridors could be established without de-mining in the Black Sea for grain exports from Ukraine, he said.
“If Russia answers positively, there will be a four-partite meeting in Istanbul,” Cavusoglu said.
The UN Secretary-General’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ankara had an important role in resolving the situation which has raised the prospect of worldwide food shortages.
“We have been in very close contact and we are working in close cooperation with the Turkish authorities on this issue,” he said, adding, “I think the role of the Turkish military will be critical in that regard.”
Cavusoglu last week hosted his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Ankara to discuss the issue, but without conclusive results.
Prior to the war, Ukraine was a major exporter of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but shipments have been blocked since Russia invaded its neighbour in late February, causing food prices to soar worldwide.
At the request of the UN, Turkey has offered its services to escort maritime convoys from Ukrainian ports, despite the presence of mines - some of which have been detected near the Turkish coast.
After hosting talks between Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in March aimed at ending the war, the country has positioned itself as a neutral mediator as it maintains a delicate balancing act between its two Black Sea neighbours.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed his gratitude to US president Joe Biden after the US announced a $1 billion arms package deal earlier on Wednesday.
“The United States announced new strengthening of our defence, a new $1 billion support package,” Zelenskiy said on Wednesday. “I am grateful for this support, it is especially important for our defence in (the eastern region of) Donbas.”
“I am also grateful for the (US) leadership in mobilising the help of all partners,” he said. He added that he discussed with Biden “the tactical situation on the battlefield and how to accelerate our victory”.
“Every day I fight for Ukraine to get the necessary weapons and equipment,” Zelensky said. “But courage, wisdom and tactical skills cannot be imported. And our heroes have those,” he added.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office has confirmed that 21 more children have been killed in Mariupol, taking the total to 313, Euromaidan Press reports.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, there have been at least 892 child casualties, including 313 children killed and 579 injured.
21 more children confirmed dead in Mariupol, taking total to 313 - Prosecutor General Office
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 15, 2022
There have been at least 892 child casualties in Ukraine as a result of the full-scale aggression by the Russian Federation: 313 children killed, 579 woundedhttps://t.co/ycpHElFWHR pic.twitter.com/mtJxmYbsL6
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tweeted on Wednesday the breakdown of the $1 billion security assistance package to Ukraine including Harpoons, tactical vehicles and secure radios, among other items:
We just announced our single largest Ukraine 🇺🇦 security assistance package to date: $1 billion worth of Harpoons, 155mm Howitzers, HiMARS ammunition, tactical vehicles, secure radios, and other equipment that will directly help Ukraine on the battlefield. pic.twitter.com/EmvE002qx9
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 15, 2022
“All Russian war crimes will be investigated and punished,” said Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova on Wednesday.
In a tweet on Wedneday, Venediktova tweeted a photo of her and Karim A. Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court surveying damaged as a result of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
“Proscutors are working even under fire gathering evidence for [Ukraine] and Int[ernational] Courts,” she wrote.
Prosecutors are working even under fire gathering evidence for 🇺🇦 and Int.Courts. For the first time in history, the @IntlCrimCourt @KarimKhanQC is a part of the Joint Investigation Team on the @Eurojust platform. All #RussianWarCrimes will be investigated and punished. pic.twitter.com/CwSEE76YAx
— Iryna Venediktova (@VenediktovaIV) June 15, 2022
The US has expressed concern regarding China’s alliance with Russia warning that countries choosing to align with Russia and Russian president Vladimir Putin will be “on the wrong side of history.”
“China claims to be neutral, but its behavior makes clear that it is still investing in close ties to Russia,” a US State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The statement came hours after Chinese president Xi Jinping assured Putin of Beijing’s support for Moscow’s “sovereignty and security” during a call between the two leaders on Wednesday.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, China has refused to condemn Russia and has also been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by condemning Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv.
According to the State Department spokesperson, Washington was “monitoring China’s activity closely.”
“But in other key respects, China has already made a choice,” the statement continued.
More than three months into the invasion, “China is still standing by Russia. It is still echoing Russian propaganda around the world. It is still shielding Russia in international organizations... And it is still denying Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine by suggesting instead that they were staged,” it said.
“Nations that side with Vladimir Putin will inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of history... This is not a moment for equivocation or hiding or waiting to see what happens next. It is already clear what is happening,” the statement concluded.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that men need to stop excluding women from peace talks, citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a situation that is “going backwards.”
The secretary-general said that lack of female representation in conflict negotiations shows “how enduring power inbalances and patriarchy are continuing to fail us.”
It results in “men in power and women excluded, their rights and freedoms deliberately targeted,” Guterres said in a Security Council meeting.
But women’s “right to equal participation at all levels, is essential for building and maintaining peace,” he added, noting that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced millions of women and children to the flee the country, “putting them at high risk of trafficking and exploitation of all kinds.”
“Women who chose not to evacuate are at the forefront of healthcare and social support,” he said.
Their perspectives are therefore “critical to understanding conflict dynamics,” and make their participation “essential for resolving conflicts.”
Summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- 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 a day earlier to stop “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 this morning. British intelligence appears to have confirmed Ukraine’s claims that civilians are hiding in the plant.
- The United States will provide an additional $1bn in security assistance to Ukraine for its efforts in the eastern Donbas, President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during a call today. 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 defense 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 defense 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”.
-
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, spoke by phone where Xi said all parties should work towards resolving the crisis in Ukraine “in a responsible manner”, Chinese state media reported. The pair agreed to expand cooperation amid a global economic situation that has become “more complicated due to the west’s illegitimate sanctions policy”, the Kremlin said.
- Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, has given further details of a UN plan to create a sea corridor from Ukraine for grain exports, saying safe routes could be formed without needing to clear mines around Ukrainian ports. Çavuşoğlu said it would “take some time” to de-mine Ukraine’s ports, in comments which appeared to mark a shift from earlier proposals. He also said Ankara’s expectations were not met by documents from Sweden and that any negotiations on Finland and Sweden’s bid to join Nato would have to address Turkey’s demands first.
- 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 on Facebook 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.
- 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.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today as I hand the blog over to my US colleagues. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
Canada will provide 10 replacement barrels for M777 howitzer artillery guns to Ukraine in new military aid valued at C$9 million (£5.7m), the country’s defence minister, Anita Anand, said.
Anand said in a statement:
We will continue to work around the clock to provide Ukraine with the comprehensive military aid that it needs to defend its sovereignty and security.
Canada donated the M777 howitzers to Ukraine earlier and the replacement barrels are needed to maintain their distance range and accuracy, Reuters reports.
A quick snap from Reuters: Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said Ankara’s expectations were not met by documents from Sweden.
Çavuşoğlu insisted that any negotiations on Finland and Sweden’s bid to join Nato would have to address Turkey’s demands first.
Here’s more on the new $1bn US weapons aid package for Ukraine. The US defense department said the package includes shipments of additional howitzers, ammunition and coastal defence systems.
Pentagon spokesperson J. Todd Breasseale said in a statement:
The United States has now committed approximately $6.3bn in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration, including approximately $5.6bn since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked invasion on February 24.
The latest package includes 18 additional howitzers with tactical vehicles to tow them, 36,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition for the howitzers, the department said.
The US will also send two Harpoon coastal defence systems, thousands of “secure radios” and thousands of night vision devices, thermal sights, and “other optics”, it said.
Updated
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the west has “shot itself in the head” by trying to limit energy imports from the oil and gas fields of Siberia.
Speaking to reporters, Zakharova contrasted western sanctions against Russia with China, which has increased deliveries from Russia. She said:
Energy supplies are steadily increasing: China knows what it wants and doesn’t shoot itself in the foot. While to the west of Moscow, they shoot themselves in the head.
She said Moscow’s strategic partnership with Beijing had withstood attempts by the west to sow discord, adding that the EU was plotting a “suicidal” course by trying to diversify away from Russian energy.
Russia’s diplomatic resources had already been redirected away from Europe, the US and Canada to Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Union, she added.
US to send $1bn in weapons aid to help Ukraine in Donbas, says Biden
The United States will provide an additional $1bn in security assistance to Ukraine for its efforts in the eastern Donbas, President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during a call today.
The support package includes “additional artillery and coastal defence weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems,” Biden said in a statement from the White House after the call.
Biden added:
I reaffirmed my commitment that the United States will stand by Ukraine as it defends its democracy and support its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of unprovoked Russian aggression.
He said he and Zelenskiy also discussed efforts by the US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, in Brussels today “to coordinate additional international support for the Ukrainian armed forces”.
The US will also provide $225m in humanitarian assistance, which Biden said will go toward “supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items”.
Updated
Ukraine’s police prevented a terrorist attack against the country’s leadership, according to a government minister.
In a television interview quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Ukraine’s first deputy interior minister, Yevhen Yenin, said an attack had been thwarted thanks to “information we are receiving from our operational sources”.
He said he was not able to disclose any details but that “it will be possible to tell about it in significantly more detail after the victory” in the war with Russia.
It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
Updated
Updated
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.
The US president, Joe Biden, has 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.
In an address to a Philadelphia union convention, Biden said Ukrainian grain could not “get out through the Black Sea because it will get blown out of the water”, referring to floating mines.
Instead, he said, Washington was developing a plan to get grain out by rail but noted Ukrainian railway tracks were different to those in Europe – being slightly wider spaced – so the grain would have to be transferred to different trains at the border. “So we’re going to build silos, temporary silos, on the borders of Ukraine, including in Poland,” Biden said.
Responding to Biden’s announcement, Kowalczyk wrote on Facebook:
President Biden’s proposal is an interesting idea but it requires working out several details, including location, infrastructure, financing, ownership. We also have to realise that finalising this type of investment takes three-four months.
Igor Denisov, former captain of the Russian national football, has called on Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine.
Igor Denisov, the former captain of Russia’s football team has spoken out against the war. “These events are catastrophic. It’s horrific. I am not sure if I will be jailed or killed for this, but I am saying it as it is”https://t.co/C0THoYbHRG
— Pjotr Sauer (@PjotrSauer) June 15, 2022
Today so far...
If you’ve just joined us, here’s where we stand:
- The Sievierodonetsk mayor, Oleksandr Stryuk, said Ukrainian forces still control the embattled eastern city’s industrial district and its perimeter, making it “possible to connect” with the neighbouring city of Lysychansk. The situation is “difficult but stable”, he said, adding that the city had not been completely cut off.
-
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 this morning. British intelligence appears to have confirmed Ukraine’s claims that civilians are hiding in the plant.
-
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr 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 defense 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”.
-
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, spoke by phone where Xi said all parties should work towards resolving the crisis in Ukraine “in a responsible manner”, Chinese state media reported. The pair agreed to expand cooperation amid a global economic situation that has become “more complicated due to the west’s illegitimate sanctions policy”, the Kremlin said.
- Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, has given further details of a UN plan to create a sea corridor from Ukraine for grain exports, saying safe routes could be formed without needing to clear mines around Ukrainian ports. 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. His comments appeared to mark a shift from earlier proposals.
- The US president, Joe Biden, announced that temporary silos would be built along the Ukraine border, including in Poland, in an attempt to help export more grain from the country and avert a global food crisis. Biden said he was working with European governments on a plan “to help bring down food prices” and that the grain could not “get out through the Black Sea because it will get blown out of the water”, referring to floating mines.
-
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.
Hello everyone. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news from the war in Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.
Updated
Ukraine ‘still holds industrial area of Sievierodonetsk’, says mayor
In his latest update on Telegram, Sievierodonetsk’s mayor, Oleksandr Stryuk, said Ukrainian forces still controlled the embattled eastern city’s industrial district and its perimeter, making it “possible to connect” with the neighbouring city of Lysychansk.
Stryuk wrote:
Efforts are being made to push the enemy back towards the city centre. It’s a permanent situation with partial success and tactical retreat in places.
The situation is “difficult but stable”, he said.
Stryuk added that the city had not been completely cut off. He said:
The fact the bridges have been blown up has made things rather complicated, but at the same time there are routes to pull back, even if they are rather dangerous. You can’t say that the city has been completely cut off.
Meanwhile, a Russian-backed separatist blamed Ukrainian troops for disrupting the evacuation of civilians holed up in the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk.
Up to 1,200 civilians may be sheltering in the plant, according to Rodion Miroshnik, an official in the Russian-backed self-styled separatist administration of the Luhansk People’s Republic.
Writing on Telegram, Miroshnik said:
At Azot, militants are trying to disrupt the evacuation! From the territory of the plant, the militants have begun firing from a mortar and a tank.
He blamed Ukraine’s military for having “completely thwarted” the “withdrawal of the civilian population from the territory of Azot”.
It has not been possible to independently verify these claims.
Updated
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Here is more from today’s meeting of defence ministers in Brussels. The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was at a “pivotal” moment and America and its allies “cannot afford to let up and lose steam”.
Austin was speaking at the start of the meeting, which will focus on weapon deliveries to Ukraine. He said:
We cannot afford to let up and we cannot lose steam. The stakes are too high. We must intensify our shared commitment to Ukraine’s self-defence and we must push ourselves even harder to ensure that Ukraine can defend itself, its citizens, and its territory.
Ukraine is facing a “pivotal moment on the battlefield” in Sievierodonetsk, with Russian forces using long-range weapons to try to overwhelm Ukrainian positions, he continued.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s Anthony Capaccio reports that the US plans to announce a new $650m (£538m) package of weapons aid to Ukraine, which will include vehicle-mounted Harpoon anti-ship missiles for the first time.
Breaking. US to announce new $650m package from Ukraine Security Assistance fund for new arms/secure communications gear/NVGs for Ukraine..includes for first time vehicle-mounted Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
— Anthony Capaccio (@ACapaccio) June 15, 2022
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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.
Stoltenberg was speaking to reporters before a meeting in Brussels of defence ministers from Nato and other countries to discuss and coordinate help for Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said:
Sometimes these efforts take time. That’s exactly why it is important to have a meeting like we have today … to meet with the Ukrainian representatives to identify the challenges and the issues they would like to raise with us.
The agreement will help Ukraine move from old Soviet-era weaponry to “more modern Nato standard” gear, he said.
Stoltenberg told reporters:
It is very much about enabling the Ukrainians to transition from Soviet-era, from old equipment to more modern Nato standard equipment.
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Kremlin: Putin and Xi agree to expand cooperation 'due to the west’s illegitimate sanctions policy'
There is a readout from the Kremlin of a call between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Reuters reports that the Kremlin says: “It was agreed to expand cooperation in energy, finance, industry, transport and other spheres, taking into account the global economic situation that has become more complicated due to the west’s illegitimate sanctions policy.”
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The German economic minister, Robert Habeck, has said he believes Gazprom’s reduction of gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is “a political decision” and not due to technical issues, as the Russian energy giant claims.
Gazprom announced on Tuesday it would cut the daily flow of natural gas via Nord Stream 1 by 40%, citing the delayed return of repaired compressor units by the German company Siemens.
Asked at a press conference whether he believed Gazprom’s explanation was genuine, Habeck said: “I have the impression that what happened yesterday is a political decision and not a decision that can be justified in technical terms.”
The Green politician added that maintenance work in the pipeline that would have a “relevant” impact on supply wasn’t due to be carried out by Siemens until the autumn, and wouldn’t affect 40% of deliveries in any case.
The German government insists there won’t be any supply shortages as a result of Gazprom reducing its deliveries, though experts warn that the limited flow could affect the country’s plan to fill its storage tanks for the winter.
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The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, has given further details of a UN plan to create a sea corridor from Ukraine for grain exports, saying safe routes could be formed without needing to clear mines around Ukrainian ports. His comments appeared to mark a shift from earlier proposals.
Reuters reports Çavuşoğlu told reporters 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.”
Çavuşoğlu had previously discussed the plan with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Ankara last week. Lavrov rather dismissively suggested that Russia need take no action to facilitate the export of Ukraine’s grain, and that it was simply a matter of Ukrainian authorities removing the mines from their waters. Kyiv fears de-mining the waters would open up a new opportunity for Russia’s Black Sea fleet to strike at Ukraine from the south.
Updated
Temporary silos will be built along the border with Ukraine, including in Poland, in an attempt to help export more grain from the country and avert a global food crisis, Joe Biden has announced.
The US president told a Philadelphia union convention on Tuesday that he was working with European governments on the plan “to help bring down food prices”.
An estimated 20m tonnes of grain has been trapped in Ukraine – the world’s fifth-biggest wheat exporter – since the war began in late February, leading to fears of famine in some countries.
When Russia invaded, it blockaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Russian and Ukrainian forces have also filled the surrounding waters with mines. Attempts to restart shipping have failed, and about 84 foreign vessels are stuck in Ukrainian ports, many with grain cargoes on board.
A huge diplomatic effort to rescue Ukraine’s grain has faltered as it has always been transported by sea rather than through less reliable road or rail networks.
In his speech, Biden said the grain could not “get out through the Black Sea because it will get blown out of the water”, referring to floating mines.
Instead, he said, Washington was developing a plan to get grain out by rail but noted Ukrainian railway tracks were different to those in Europe – being slightly wider spaced – so the grain would have to be transferred to different trains at the border. “So we’re going to build silos, temporary silos, on the borders of Ukraine, including in Poland,” Biden said.
Grain could be transferred from Ukrainian railway cars into the new silos, and then on to European freight cars to “get it out to the ocean and get it across the world”, he said, adding the plan was taking time.
Updated
Thousands of civilians trapped in Sievierodonetsk as water supplies dwindle, UN says
Thousands of civilians, including women, children and elderly people, are trapped in the embattled Ukrainian city of 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 spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian affairs office, Saviano Abreu, told the BBC.
Abreu said:
The lack of water and sanitation is a big worry. It’s a huge concern for us because people cannot survive for long without water.
Food and health services are also at risk of running out, he said, adding:
Both parts of the conflict have an obligation under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, so it is not an option - they have to assure the people who want to leave the city that they can do it safely.
Separately, the head of Sievierodonetsk’s military administration, Roman Vlasenko, told CNN that the more than 500 civilians sheltering underneath the Azot plant have not been supplied in two weeks.
Vlasenko said:
There are food stocks, but they have not been resupplied for two weeks. So stocks won’t last long. If there is a humanitarian corridor, I believe people are ready to leave Azot.
Updated
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Ukraine’s presidential aide, Mykhaylo Podolyak, appealed to western allies for greater military assistance ahead of a gathering of Nato officials in Belgium to discuss more supplies.
Podolyak tweeted that Ukrainian soldiers asked when western artillery was expected on the frontlines, adding:
Brussels, we are waiting for a decision.
He said the ratio of Russian to Ukrainian artillery along the frontline in some areas was 10 to 1.
Ratio 🇷🇺/🇺🇦 artillery in some areas: 10 to 1. Front line — more than 1000 km. Daily, I receive a message from the defenders: "We are holding on, just say: when to expect the weapons?". I address this question to the Rammstein participants. Brussels, we are waiting for a decision.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) June 15, 2022
Podolyak also accused Dmitry Medvedev, a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin and a former president of Russia, as “a small man with huge insecurities”.
Medvedev, who is currently deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, “sprinkles poison towards Ukraine” and is the “face” of Russian imperialism, Podolyak said.
If 🇷🇺 imperialism had a face, it would be #Medvedev. A small man with huge insecurities, who sprinkles poison towards Ukraine or threatens the world as the only way to assert oneself. 🇺🇦 was, is and will be. The question is where would Dmitry Medvedev be in two years.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) June 15, 2022
Updated
China’s president, Xi Jinping, spoke by phone to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, where he said all parties should work towards resolving the crisis in Ukraine “in a responsible manner”, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reports.
In their call, Xi reiterated China’s willingness to help resolve the situation, according to CCTV.
China has refused to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, and has urged a negotiated solution.
Updated
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said he would be speaking to the Turkish government next week about Sweden and Finland’s applications to join Nato.
Speaking at a news conference, Wallace said it was “important” to listen to Turkey.
The two Nordic countries formally applied last month to join the military alliance but are facing opposition from Turkey, which accuses them of supporting and harbouring Kurdish militants and other groups it deems terrorists.
Wallace has previously said he believed there was a way to address Ankara’s concerns. “I think we will get there in the end,” he told parliament last month.
The Kremlin said communication with the US remains “essential” and must be on the basis of “mutual respect and mutual benefit”.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was asked about the state of US-Russia relations during his regular briefing with reporters. Peskov replied:
Communication is essential, in the future we will still have to communicate.
The US is not going anywhere, Europe is not going anywhere, so somehow we will have to communicate with them.
He said the current situation made it “unlikely” that the two sides would get back to what he called the “spirit of Geneva” – a reference to a 2021 summit between the US president, Joe Biden, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that raised hopes of limited detente.
Instead, future communication between the two countries would have to be on the basis of “mutual respect and mutual benefit”, Peskov said, adding:
This is not a topic on the short-term horizon.
Updated
Zelenskiy: Ukraine opens way for Russia to invade other countries
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr 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 reiterated calls for the EU to allow Ukraine to start on the road to membership of the bloc by giving it candidate country status.
Zelenskiy said:
As in the past, the Russian 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.
Meanwhile, Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, said granting EU candidate status to Ukraine would be the “correct solution from a moral, economic and security perspective”.
A decision on granting Ukraine EU candidate status could come by the end of June, Iohannis suggested.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest from Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Today so far …
- About 500 civilians believed to be trapped alongside soldiers inside Azot, a chemical factory in Sievierodonetsk, are preparing to flee the city through a possible humanitarian corridor this morning.
- Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk region, said about 500 civilians, 40 of them children, were sheltering from heavy Russian attacks on the plant. Russia has told Ukrainian forces holed up there to lay down their arms.
- British intelligence appears to have confirmed the claims that civilians are hiding there. Russian forces now control the majority of the Ukrainian city, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest report.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the outcome of the battle for the Donbas region would determine the course of the war, adding that Ukraine’s forces were suffering “painful losses” in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. The battle for Luhansk’s Sievierodonetsk is now the biggest fight in Ukraine as its defenders try to repel a fierce Russian onslaught in the twin eastern cities.
- Zelenskiy repeated his call for the west to step up the provision of heavy weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said the country had received only 10% of what it had asked for and there was no path to victory without the aid: “No matter how hard Ukraine tries, no matter how professional our army is, without the help of western partners we will not be able to win this war”. Zelenskiy added that Ukraine did not have enough anti-missile systems to shoot down Russian projectiles targeting its cities. “Our country does not have enough of them … there can be no justification in delays in providing them.”
- Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that it has destroyed an ammunition depot for weapons transferred by Nato as well as weapons and military equipment sent from the US and European countries at several railway stations.
- Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has said six people, including a one-year-old boy, were injured when they were hit by debris from a Russian missile that had been downed.
- Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Kursk, said the Krupets checkpoint in Rylsky district within Russia was fired on by Ukrainian forces. The headquarters of the territorial defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has claimed Ukraine shelled 18 settlements within the occupied region.
- Dmitry Medvedev, a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin and deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, has posted a message to Telegram in which he expressed doubt that “Ukraine will even exist on the world map” in two years time.
- 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, with the divide deepening between voters who want a swift end to the conflict and those who want Russia punished.
- France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is on a visit to Romania. He will travel to Moldova later today, and it is rumoured in diplomatic circles that he will visit Kyiv tomorrow alongside the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi.
- The US president, Joe Biden, said temporary silos will be built along the border with Ukraine, including in Poland, in a bid to help export more grain from the war-torn country.
- Nato must build out “even higher readiness” and strengthen its weapons capabilities along its eastern border, the military alliance’s chief said on Tuesday ahead of a summit in Madrid at the end of the month. The secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance needed a “more robust and combat-ready forward presence and an even higher readiness and more pre-positioned equipment and supplies”.
- Leaders of seven European Nato members pledged support for applications by Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. “My message on Swedish and Finnish membership is that I strongly welcome that. It’s an historic decision. It will strengthen them, it will strengthen us,” Stoltenberg told reporters after a meeting at The Hague on Tuesday.
Léonie Chao-Fong will be taking over the live blog now for the next few hours. I will be back later.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.
Updated
Granting Ukraine candidate status for the European Union is the correct call, the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, said this morning, adding that a decision may come by the end of June.
“In my opinion, the candidate status must be granted as soon as possible, it is a correct solution from a moral, economic and security perspective,” Reuters reports he said after talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Updated
Russia’s ministry of defence has issued its daily operational briefing. The claims have not been independently verified. They claim that in the last 24 hours, Russian forces have:
- destroyed an ammunition depot for weapons transferred by Nato, including 155-mm M777 howitzers
- destroyed aviation equipment of the Ukrainian air force at the Voznesensk military airfield
- destroyed weapons and military equipment sent from the US and European countries at several railway stations
- killed more than 300 members of the Ukrainian armed forces
- shot down a Ukrainian Su-25
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, with the divide deepening between voters who want a swift end to the conflict and those who want Russia punished.
The survey in nine EU member states – Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden – plus the UK found support for Ukraine remained high, but that preoccupations have shifted to the conflict’s wider impacts.
“Europeans had surprised Putin – and themselves – by their unity so far, but the big stresses are coming now,” said Mark Leonard, a co-author of a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) on changing attitudes to Russia’s invasion.
Governments’ ability to retain public support for potentially harmful policies would be crucial, Leonard said, warning that the gulf between the “peace” and “justice” camps could be “as damaging as that between creditors and debtors during the euro crisis”.
The survey found that despite strong support across Europe for Ukraine’s bid to join the EU and the west’s policy of severing ties with Moscow, many voters in Europe want the war to end as soon as possible – even if that means Ukraine losing territory.
Read more of Jon Henley’s report here: ‘Justice’ for Ukraine overshadowed by cost of living concerns, polling shows
The Russian foreign ministry is pushing a message from press secretary Maria Zakharova on social media this morning, in which she accuses the US and UK of encouraging Ukraine to recruit foreign mercenaries. She writes:
The Kyiv regime continues to recruit foreign mercenaries as the Ukrainian armed forces lose fighters. They have recruited more than 6,500 ‘soldiers of fortune’. By early June, there was a two-fold decrease in the number of foreign mercenaries.
Still, efforts to recruit mercenaries and ‘volunteers’ continue unabated, mostly targeting Afghan refugees and what is left of the Isis fighters in Syria. These people have probably found new and fertile ground for their hateful ideology. Private military contractors from the United States and Great Britain have been helping select these fighters and send them to Ukraine. However, there has been no talk of sanctioning them in any way.
The west has a two-fold agenda: to help Volodymyr Zelenskiy, while also getting rid of its own extremists and radicals. What faulty logic. These fighters will return home having acquired extensive combat experience.
Updated
The headquarters of the territorial defence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have issued their operational update for today. They claim to now have control of 237 settlements in the region. They say that 18 of those settlements were shelled by Ukrainian forces in the last 24 hours, resulting in two deaths and eight injuries among civilians. The claims have not been independently verified.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is on a visit to Romania, where he has visited French and allied troops at a Nato base in Romania. He will travel to neighbouring Moldova later today.
Diplomatic sources have suggested to Reuters that tomorrow he may possibly head to Kyiv tomorrow on a visit with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, according to what diplomatic sources have told Reuters. The visit would come a day before the European Commission makes a recommendation on Ukraine’s status as an EU candidate.
Last night Macron told French troops in Romania: “We will do everything to stop Russia’s war forces, to help the Ukrainians and their army and continue to negotiate. But for the foreseeable future, we will need to protect, dissuade and be present.”
Updated
Dmitry Medvedev, a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin who is currently deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, has posted this morning to Telegram a message which gives some insight into the current state of senior level Russian thinking about the situation in Ukraine.
In the message, Medvedev questions a Ukrainian request that it receive energy imports this winter with an option to delay payment for two years. Medvedev says:
Just a question. Who said that in two years Ukraine will even exist on the world map?
Updated
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti is reporting this morning the claim that thousands of applications for Russian citizenship are being made in the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine. Kherson is to the north of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
RIA Novosti quotes Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-imposed military-civilian administration in the region saying:
There is a lot of excitement. More and more people want to obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation. Residents of the Kherson region today are en masse in queues to submit documents for obtaining Russian citizenship just because Russia can protect, Russia can feed and provide socially for a person in the country, in which a person is the highest social value of the state.
Stremousov claims in the report that more than ten thousand applications for Russian citizenship have already been submitted. The first passports were issued on 11 June.
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has posted to Telegram to say that overnight there was one air raid warning in his region, which is in western Ukraine.
He claimed Ukrainian forces shot down a missile over the region, which injured six people including a one-year-old boy when the wreckage fell. He said 26 residential buildings were damaged.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Energoatom, which oversees the nuclear power facilities in Ukraine, has reported this morning that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is operating normally. It lies in an area currently occupied by Russian forces, and has been a source of some dispute between Ukraine and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which had wanted to visit and inspect it, a move Ukraine was trying to prevent.
Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Kursk, has posted to Telegram to say that this morning there was fire from Ukraine at the Krupets checkpoint in Rylsky district within Russia. The Kursk region borders Sumy region in the north-east of Ukraine. Starovoyt says there were no casualties, and that border guards returned fire. The claims have not been independently verified.
- This is Martin Belam taking over the blog from Samantha Lock. You can get me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
British intelligence appears to have confirmed Ukraine’s claims that several hundred Ukrainian civilians are sheltering in underground bunkers in Azot Chemical Plant in Sievierodonetsk.
Russian forces now control the majority of the Ukrainian city, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest report.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 June 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 15, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/WxbRo1tEgH
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/RX2bHMeIEc
Temporary silos to be built along Ukraine border, Biden says
US President Joe Biden said temporary silos will be built along the border with Ukraine, including in Poland, in a bid to help export more grain from the war-torn country.
Biden told a union convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters:
I’m working closely with our European partners to get 20 million tons of grain locked in Ukraine out onto the market to help bring down food prices.
It can’t get out through the Black Sea because it’ll get blown out of the water ...
So we’re going to build silos, temporary silos, on the borders of Ukraine, including in Poland.”
Biden said the United States is working on a plan to get grain out of Ukraine by rail, but noted that Ukrainian railway track gauges are different to those in Europe, so the grain has to be transferred to different trains at the border.
He said the grain could be transferred from those Ukrainian railway cars into the new silos, and then on to Europe freight cars to “get it out to the ocean and get it across the world.”
“But it’s taking time,” he added.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blockade of its Black Sea ports, grain shipments have stalled and more than 20m tonnes are stuck in silos. Sea mines laid by Russia has also meant some 84 foreign ships are still stuck in Ukrainian ports - many of which have grain cargoes onboard.
Around 500 civilians trapped in Azot plant attempt to flee
Some 500 civilians believed to be trapped alongside soldiers inside Azot, a chemical factory in Sievierodonetsk, are preparing to flee the city through a possible humanitarian corridor this morning.
Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk region, said about 500 civilians, 40 of them children, were sheltering from heavy Russian attacks in the Azot chemical plant in the city.
Shelling on Azot was so strong that “people can no longer stand it in the shelters, their psychological state is on edge,” Haidai added.
Late on Tuesday, Russia appeared to offer the chance for civilians to evacuate through a humanitarian corridor.
Col Gen Mikhail Mizintsev appeared to promise that civilians would be let out if Ukrainian fighters “lay down arms” from 8am Moscow time (5am GMT), Interfax news agency reported.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the reported humanitarian corridor. It has previously accused Russia of violating ceasefire agreements.
Russia tells Sievierodonetsk defenders to surrender
Russia has told Ukrainian forces holed up in a chemical plant in the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk to lay down their arms by early Wednesday.
Ukraine says more than 500 civilians are trapped alongside soldiers inside Azot, a chemical factory where its forces have resisted weeks of Russian bombardment and assaults that have reduced much of Sievierodonetsk to ruins.
Col Gen Mikhail Mizintsev, the officer who was in charge of the devastating siege of Mariupol, said fighters should “stop their senseless resistance and lay down arms” from 8am Moscow time (5am GMT).
The Russian army has shifted the bulk of its military efforts to capturing Sievierodonetsk in its attempt to take full control of Luhansk and Donetsk, collectively known as Donbas. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk, told Ukrainian television on Tuesday that two more Russian battalion tactical groups had been moved into the area.
The fight for Sievierodonetsk is turning into one of the war’s bloodiest battles and is seen as a potential turning point in Russia’s advances in Donbas.
Summary and welcome
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you to deliver all the latest developments from Ukraine.
Russia has told Ukrainian forces holed up in a chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk to lay down their arms by Wednesday morning under the promise of a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians trapped in the embattled city.
Here are the major developments:
- Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the outcome of the battle for the Donbas region will determine the course of the war, adding that Ukraine’s forces are suffering “painful losses” in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. The battle for Luhansk’s Sievierodonetsk is now the biggest fight in Ukraine as its defenders try to repel a fierce Russian onslaught in the twin eastern cities.
- Russia has told Ukrainian forces holed up in Sievierodonetsk’s Azot chemical plant to lay down their arms by early Wednesday. Fighters should “stop their senseless resistance and lay down arms” from 8am Moscow time (5am GMT), Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia’s national defence management centre told the Interfax news agency.
- Russia said it would set up a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday for trapped civilians seeking to flee intense fighting in the devastated east Ukraine city of Sievierodonetsk. Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk region, said about 500 civilians, 40 of them children, were sheltering from heavy Russian attacks in the Azot chemical plant in the city.
- Zelenskiy repeated his call for the west to step up the provision of heavy weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said the country had received only 10% of what it asked for and there was no path to victory without the aid: “No matter how hard Ukraine tries, no matter how professional our army is, without the help of western partners we will not be able to win this war”. Zelenskiy added that Ukraine does not have enough anti-missile systems to shoot down Russian projectiles targeting its cities. “Our country does not have enough of them ... there can be no justification in delays in providing them.”
- Nato must build out “even higher readiness” and strengthen its weapons capabilities along its eastern border, the military alliance’s chief said on Tuesday ahead of a summit in Madrid at the end of the month. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance needed a “more robust and combat-ready forward presence and an even higher readiness and more pre-positioned equipment and supplies.”
- Leaders of seven European Nato members pledged support for applications by Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. “My message on Swedish and Finnish membership is that I strongly welcome that. It’s an historic decision. It will strengthen them, it will strengthen us,” Stoltenberg told reporters after a meeting at The Hague on Tuesday.
- US President Joe Biden said temporary silos will be built along the border with Ukraine, including in Poland, in a bid to help export more grain. Referring to the 20 million tons of grain locked in Ukraine, Biden told a union convention in Philadelphia: “It can’t get out through the Black Sea because it’ll get blown out of the water ... So we’re going to build silos, temporary silos, on the borders of Ukraine, including in Poland.”
- Worried allies of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny say he has been moved to “a strict-regime” penal colony. Olga Mikhailova, lawyer for the 46-year-old fierce critic of the Ukraine war, said officials told her that he was transferred from a detention facility in Pokrov, east of Moscow, to an unidentified colony with a much harsher regime elsewhere.
- Russia banned British journalists, including correspondents from the Guardian, and defence industry figures from entering the country, calling it a response to western sanctions and pressure on its state-run media outlets abroad.
- Pope Francis said Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine was “perhaps somehow provoked” as he recalled a conversation in the run-up to the war in which he was warned that Nato was “barking at the gates of Russia”.
- Vladimir Putin probably still wants to capture much if not all of Ukraine but has had to narrow his tactical objectives in war, the US under-secretary of defence has said. “I still think he has designs on a significant portion of Ukraine, if not the whole country. That said, I do not think he can achieve those objectives,” Colin Kahl said while speaking at an event hosted by the centre for new American security.
