Zelensky scolds officials shirking their duties during war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Wednesday that he is cracking down on officials he suspects are eschewing their duties in the war with Russia.

Mr Zelensky and Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi visited troops in the eastern Donetsk region, who have maintained a strong front amid fierce Russian ground and air assaults in recent months.

The president vowed to speak to officials back in Kyiv “who must be here and in other areas near the front line - in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions.”

“I was surprised to learn that some relevant officials have not been here for six months or more,” he said. “There will be a serious conversation, and I will draw appropriate conclusions regarding them.”

Mr Zelensky has made frequent visits to the front-line regions during the war in a show of solidarity.

In the last 24 hours, the Russian military shelled 20 Donetsk region settlements, killing one person and injuring at least nine, according to regional head Vadym Filashkin.

About 250 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Donetsk region since Tuesday, officials said.

03:34 PM BST

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03:13 PM BST

Biden ‘to allow Pentagon contractors to deploy to Ukraine’

The United States is moving toward lifting a long-held ban on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine, four US officials have said.

The move would mark a significant shift in the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy, as Washington looks for ways to speed up the maintenance and repairs of weapons systems being used by the Ukrainian military to help them fend-off Russia’s invasion.

The policy is still being drafted by US officials and has not yet received final sign-off from President Joe Biden, officials said.

“We have not made any decisions and any discussion of this is premature,” said one administration official.

“The president is absolutely firm that he will not be sending US troops to Ukraine.”

If it’s approved, the change would likely come into play this year, officials said, allowing the Pentagon to provide contracts to American companies for work inside Ukraine for the first time since Russia invaded in 2022.

Over the last two years, the White House has fervently insisted that all Americans, particularly US troops, stay far away from the Ukrainian frontlines.

02:28 PM BST

China firmly opposes EU sanctions over Russian links

China firmly opposes the European Union’s inclusion of some Chinese firms in its latest package of sanctions on Russia, its commerce ministry said on Wednesday.

The move, marking the 14th penalty imposed on Moscow, has a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations, the ministry said.

It also urged the bloc to “unconditionally” stop sanctioning Chinese firms.

02:10 PM BST

EU bolsters Belarus sanctions to curb Russia evasion

EU countries on Wednesday agreed to new sanctions targeting Belarus in a bid to curb Russia’s evasion of the penalties.

“This package will strengthen our measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including combating circumvention of sanctions,” announced Belgium, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

Officials have accused Belarus, Russia’s closest ally which acted as a staging post for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, of acting as a backdoor to get sanctioned products from the EU into Russia.

Bringing the sanctions on Minsk more in line with those on Moscow is seen as vital for stemming the flow to Russia of banned goods, such as microchips, that can be used on the battlefield in Ukraine.

“Belarus must no longer serve as a route to circumvent our sanctions against Russia. With this package we increase the pressure on both countries and make our sanctions against Russia even more effective,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.

01:42 PM BST

Russia is working on ‘big treaty’ with Iran

Moscow is looking to strengthen ties with Tehran as the Kremlin works on a “big treaty” with Iran, according to a top Russian foreign office official.

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, speaking at a news conference earlier today, referenced a comprehensive bilateral cooperation agreement that is being negotiated between the two countries.

No further details have been shared.

In January, Russia’s foreign ministry said that a new interstate treaty reflecting the “unprecedented upswing” in Russia-Iran ties was in the final stages of being agreed.

01:37 PM BST

‘Punish them with 20 lashes’: Kremlin official says disobedient Russians should be whipped

A senior Russian official has called for the public flogging of disobedient Russians in Moscow’s Red Square.

State Duma deputy Andrey Svintsov said that any citizen who speaks out against the Kremlin should be punished “officially”.

“Those who repent should publicly apologise and publicly receive 20 lashes with a whip in Red Square,” he argued in a live TV debate.

“It’s mandatory, whipping them is mandatory,” he said. “We have to bring back physical punishment.”

01:29 PM BST

Ukraine accuses Russia of increasing chemical weapon attacks on battlefield

Kyiv said it recorded 715 cases of Moscow’s forces deploying chemical weapons on the battlefield in May, 271 more times than the previous month, the Ukrainian military’s Support Forces said.

Most cases were of CS gas, a form of tear gas commonly used by riot police and banned during wartime under the Chemical Weapons Convention, said the Support Forces.

Less lethal than other chemical weapons, exposure to it can cause intense eye pain and stinging and burning to the skin. Russia in recent months have been accused of making widespread use of it.

The Support Forces claimed that from February 2023 to May 2024, a total of 2,698 cases of Russian chemical weapons usage had been recorded, leading to 1,385 incidents of Ukrainian soldiers requiring medical attention.

01:09 PM BST

Zelensky cracks down on officials who shirk their duties amid war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled Wednesday that he is getting tough on officials he suspects are shirking their duties in the war with Russia.

Mr Zelensky and Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi visited troops in the eastern Donetsk region, who have weathered fierce Russian ground and air assaults in recent months.

The president added that back in Kyiv he would speak to “officials who must be here and in other areas near the front line — in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions.”

“I was surprised to learn that some relevant officials have not been here for six months or more,” he said. “There will be a serious conversation, and I will draw appropriate conclusions regarding them.”

Mr Zelensky has frequently visited front-line regions during the war.

12:50 PM BST

Bank of Italy signals potentially illegal transfers from Italian accounts to Russia in 2023

The Bank of Italy reported potentially illegal bank transfers last year from Italian accounts to Russia, channelled through other countries in order to avoid Western sanctions, the central bank said in a document published on Wednesday.

Western powers imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which have since been gradually tightened.

“The results (of the yearly investigation) led to the identification of some unusual flows,” the 2023 report by the central bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit said.

It did not give further details of the suspected transfers nor on the countries involved to send them to Russia.

12:32 PM BST

ICC arrest warrants for top Russian military figures ‘absurd’, Kremlin says

The International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov are “absurd”, the Kremlin has said.

Speaking to reporters today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We do not recognise the jurisdiction of this court. We are not members of the relevant statutes.”

He added: “Accordingly, we do not recognise these orders. Moreover, we consider it quite absurd, like the last two warrants that concerned the head of state and our children’s ombudsman.”

Yesterday, the ICC Issued arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defence minister, and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov for alleged war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It brought to eight the number of arrest warrants issued against senior Russian suspects since the invasion. They include Vladimir Putin, who faces charges over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

12:12 PM BST

EU’s Borrell condemns move by Russia to block European media

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemned Russia’s move to ban access inside Russia to 81 media outlets from the European Union.

“The EU condemns the totally unfounded decision by the Russian authorities to block access to over eighty European media in Russia,” said Borrell in a statement on Wednesday.

“This decision further restricts access to free and independent information and expands the already severe media censorship in Russia,” he added.

On Tuesday, Russia announced a ban on 81 different media outlets from the European Union, including Agence France-Presse and Politico, in retaliation for a similar EU ban on several Russian media outlets.

11:58 AM BST

‘No evidence’ behind Gershkovich charges, US embassy says

We reported earlier that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appeared briefly in a Russian court on Wednesday morning at the start of his behind-closed-doors spying trial in Russia (see post at11:38 am).

Now, the US embassy in Russia has said that Moscow has failed to provide any evidence to support espionage charges against Mr Gershkovich.

“Russian authorities have failed to provide any evidence supporting the charges against him, failed to justify his continued detention, and failed to explain why Evan’s work as a journalist constitutes a crime,” the embassy said.

Mr Gershkovich, 32, was detained while on a reporting trip to Ekaterinburg in the Urals mountains in March 2023.

The reporter, ho has already spent nearly 15 months behind bars in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo jail, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Russian courts convict more than 99 per cent of the defendants who come before them.

11:48 AM BST

Russia does not rule out military response to Ukrainian attack on Crimean beachgoers

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow did not rule out a military response to a Ukrainian missile attack on Crimean beachgoers with US-supplied Atacms missiles.

Russia said on Sunday that the United States was responsible for the Ukrainian attack on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with five US-supplied missiles.

The attack killed four people, including two children, and injured 151 more. 

11:38 AM BST

Shaven-headed US journalist Evan Gershkovich appears in Russian court

Evan Gershkovich has appeared briefly in a Russian court with a freshly-shaven head at the start of his behind-closed-doors spying trial in Russia, a charge that the US journalist denies.

Flanked by a Russian officer, Mr Gershkovich appeared to be in good spirits as he stood standing in a glass box, wearing a checkered shirt with his hands tucked casually into his pockets.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was first arrested and detained in March 2023 after Russia claimed he had been “gathering secret information” on orders from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Mr Gershkovich, 32, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted and he has spent more than a year in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said he is open to the idea of a prisoner exchange involving Mr Gershkovich and that contacts with the United States have taken place, but they must remain secret.

The US has accused Russia of conducting “hostage diplomacy“. It has designated Mr Gershkovich and another detained American, former US marine Paul Whelan, as “wrongfully detained” and says it is committed to bringing them home.

The trial is due to take place behind closed doors - something Russia says is normal in espionage cases.

11:08 AM BST

Zelensky visits troops in Donetsk region

Volodymyr Zelensky has visited troops in the eastern frontline Donetsk region today with his top military leadership.

In a statement on Telegram, Mr Zelenskyy said he held a detailed meeting on security with military leaders and addressed many issues.

“There will be a separate conversation in Kyiv, particularly with officials who must be here and in other areas near the frontline - in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions. Solutions that simply cannot be seen from Kyiv,” he said.

Mr Zelenskyy said he was “surprised” to learn that some relevant officials have not been in the region “for six months or more”.

“There will be a serious conversation, and I will draw appropriate conclusions regarding them,” he added.

10:50 AM BST

Ukraine receives experimental US ‘Hawkeye’ artillery system

Kyiv’s forces are now experimenting with the new 2-CT Hawkeye self-propelled howitzer, an American-made 105mm gun secretly provided to Ukraine in April.

Mike Evans, programme director for the mobile artillery system, said: “This system is destined to become one of the first soft recoil systems in combat. It’s going into combat to test on live targets.”

The howitzer’s design attracted the interest of the US Army owing to its high mobility and capability to produce fast rates of fire.

In Ukraine, self-propelled artillery units have proven their worth as slower, towed howitzers are easier pickings for Russian aerial attacks.

10:26 AM BST

Russia returns Azov steelwork troops in prisoner swap

As we reported earlier (see post at 9:47 am), Russia and Ukraine each handed back 90 prisoners of war on Tuesday, including Ukrainian soldiers who had defended the Azovstal steel mill.

The Azov brigade is one of Ukraine’s most famed units, after it held off Russian soldiers for weeks from its base inside the Azovstal steel works before surrendering in May 2022.

The unit has been described as “heroes” and the UK Ministry of Defence said that their resistance had severely dented Russia’s war plans.

Russia has accused the brigade of harbouring neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology.

09:47 AM BST

Pictured: Ukrainian POWs return to home soil

As we reported earlier, Ukrainians soldiers have returned from Russian captivity to home soil  as part of a prisoner exchange (see post at 8:47 am).

Ukraine and Russia each returned 90 prisoners of war, one among several periodic swaps in more than two years of conflict, according to published reports.

09:37 AM BST

NATO appoints Dutch PM Rutte as next boss

Nato has appointed Mark Rutte as its next secretary-general.

The outgoing leader of the Netherlands will take charge of the world’s biggest security organisation at a critical time for European security.

Mr Rutte’s appointment was sealed by Nato ambassadors during a meeting at the 32-nation alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.

President Joe Biden and his counterparts will formally welcome him to their table at a summit in Washington in July.

The outgoing Dutch premier will take over from the current secretary general, Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg, on 1 October.

Congratulating his appointment, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “confident” Mr Rutte would continue Mr Stoltenberg’s “outstanding work in keeping NATO strong and united”.

09:24 AM BST

Ukraine begins ‘historic’ membership talks with EU

Ukraine began official membership talks with the EU on Tuesday.

The move marks a major milestone in Kyiv’s bid to join the union amid its ongoing war against Moscow.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called it a “historic moment” and said Ukraine is “committed to fulfilling every requirement” to become a member.

Ukraine applied to become an EU member in February 2022, just days after Russia invaded, and was granted candidate status in June the same year.

09:12 AM BST

Zelensky sacks commander ‘who killed more Ukrainians than any Russian general’

Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked a top commander accused of “killing more Ukrainians than any Russian general.”

The Ukrainian president said he was replacing Lt-Gen Yurii Sodol as the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces, in his nightly address to the nation late on Monday.

The dismissal came after Bohdan Krotevych, chief of staff of the Azov brigade, called for an investigation into the commander’s poor leadership in a withering letter to Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation.

“I wrote a letter to the SBI calling for an investigation into one military general who, in my opinion, killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general,” Mr Krotevych later wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Mr Zelensky did not outline why he had decided to replace the spurned military leader.

Read the full story here 

08:59 AM BST

Trump handed plan to end US military aid to Ukraine unless peace talks held with Moscow

Two key advisers to Donald Trump have presented him with a plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, if he wins the November 5 presidential election.

The proposal involves telling Ukraine it will only get more US weapons if it enters peace talks.

Retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s National Security Council during his presidency, said Moscow would be warned that any refusal to negotiate would lead to increased US support for Ukraine.

“I’m not claiming he agreed with it or agreed with every word of it, but we were pleased to get the feedback we did,” Mr Fleitz said.

The proposal would mark a big shift in the US stance on the war and would face opposition from European allies and within Trump’s own Republican Party.

08:47 AM BST

Ukraine brings back 90 POWs from Russian captivity

Ukraine returned 90 soldiers of the Ukrainian Defense Forces from Russian captivity on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The Ukrainian president said that among them were troops who defended Mariupol, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, as well as soldiers from the National Guard and the Navy.

“We remember all our people in Russian captivity. We continue our work for the release of everyone. We seek the truth about everyone who may be held by the enemy,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on X.

08:34 AM BST

Missile explodes mid-air after North Korea launch

A suspected hypersonic missile launched by North Korea exploded in flight on Wednesday, South Korea’s military has said.

The missile was launched from near the capital, Pyongyang, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said.

Japan’s defence ministry said the missile flew to an altitude of around 62 miles and range of more than 200km.

Senior officials of South Korea, the US and Japan held a phone call and condemned the launch as a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region and beyond.

US Indo-Pacific command also issued a condemnation and called on Pyongyang to refrain from further unlawful and destabilising acts.

“While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel, or territory, or to our allies, we continue to monitor the situation,” it said in a statement.

08:22 AM BST

North Korean troops will be ‘cannon fodder’ in Ukraine, says Pentagon

North Korean troops would become “cannon fodder” if they join Russian forces on the battlefield in Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said.

“If I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choices...we’ve seen the kinds of casualties that Russian forces [have],” said Mr Ryder.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin made a rare state visit to Pyongyang to sign a new military pact with his growing ally, Kim Jong-un.

North Korea is already a major weapons supplier to Moscow which is facing depleted weapons stocks and a defence industry hampered by Western sanctions.

08:10 AM BST

‘Ukrainian shelling’ destroys radiation control post in Zaporizhzhia

Ukrainian shelling destroyed a radiation control post in Velyka Znamyanka in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russia’s management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine reports.

“Specialists carried out a number of compensatory measures to control the radiation situation in the area,” the management said.

Radiation levels, the management added, do not exceed safe levels.

Russian troops seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in the early days of Moscow’s invasion on Ukraine in 2022.

Moscow and Kyiv have since routinely accused each other of endangering safety around it.

08:00 AM BST

Russian attack damages civilian infrastructure in Odesa

A Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa struck civilian infrastructure in the early hours of Wednesday, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.

The attack damaged an administrative building in the industrial sector, but Mr Kiper said there were no casualties in the attack.

Earlier this week, a Russian missile strike damaged a storage facility in the city, injuring three people.

Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian forces in the war, with many attacks aimed at the city’s port facilities.

The Ukrainian port city has frequently targeted by Russian forces in the war.

Russia denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.

07:45 AM BST

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