Tag: Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Zelenskyy meets Biden and US lawmakers with aid for Ukraine at risk of

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President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $110 billion US aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs is at serious risk of collapse in Congress

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His country’s future at stake, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used inspirational words, resolve and a nod to Christmas in appealing Tuesday to leaders in Congress for US aid for his fighters in the war with Russia.

But as he arrived next at the White House, additional American support was in grave doubt.

Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington came at a grim time, much changed from the hero’s welcome he received last year. President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $110 billion US aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs is at serious risk of collapse in Congress as Republicans are insisting on linking it to strict US-Mexico border security changes that Democrats decry.

“The fight we’re in is a fight for freedom,” Zelenskyy repeatedly said in the meetings, according to lawmakers.

Flanked by Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Zelenskyy entered a private meeting with senators with a public bipartisan show of support and to some applause. But more than an hour later few senators’ minds appeared changed.

Schumer called it a “very powerful” meeting but gave no update on stalled negotiations.

Next, Zelenskyy visited the House leaders, including privately with new Speaker Mike Johnson, whose hard-right Republicans have been the most resistant to any deal. Johnson insisted afterwards: “We do want to do the right thing here.”

The White House said the time was right for Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington as Biden pushes lawmakers to approve the aid package before the year-end holidays. A top spokesman said the US can’t let Ukraine aid lapse, especially as the Israel-Hamas war takes attention, and that the president was willing to make compromises with Republicans.

“This additional funding will absolutely help Ukraine claw back even more of their territory and kick the Russians right out of Ukraine,” said the White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on NBC.

However, prospects for a congressional deal on Ukraine funding seemed all but out of reach.

Zelenskyy impressed on the senators that Ukraine could win the war against Russia, telling them he was drafting men in their 30s and 40s in a show of strength for the battle. In his trademark olive drab, he stood before a portrait of George Washington, history hanging behind him.

To the House Democrats, he showcased his country’s embrace of the West by pointing to the Christmas season, telling them it was the first year Ukraine would celebrate on Dec. 25 rather than the day Russians mark the holiday.

McConnell said afterwards Zelenskyy was “inspirational and determined.”

But Republican senators exited the meeting unmoved from their position. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said the emergency funding wouldn’t gain GOP support unless it includes “real, meaningful border reform.”

Biden has expressed a willingness to engage with the Republicans as migrant crossings have hit record highs along the US-Mexico border, but Democrats in his own party oppose proposals for expedited deportations and strict asylum standards as a return to Trump-era hostility towards migrants.

With talks at a standstill, one chief Republican negotiator, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, said there was nothing Zelenskyy could say during his visit with the senators to sway the outcome.

“Hey, pay attention to us, but not your own country? No,” Lankford told reporters.

Ahead of Zelenskyy’s high-stakes meetings, the White House late Monday pointed to newly declassified intelligence that shows Ukraine has inflicted heavy losses on Russia in recent fighting along the Avdiivka-Novopavlivka axis — including 13,000 casualties and over 220 combat vehicle losses. The Ukrainian holdout in the country’s partly-occupied east has been the centre of some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.

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US intelligence officials have determined that the Russians think if they can achieve a military deadlock through the winter it will drain Western support for Ukraine and ultimately give Russia the advantage, despite the fact that Russians have sustained heavy losses and have been slowed by persistent shortages of trained personnel, munitions and equipment.

A US intelligence analysis recently declassified and sent to Congress shows the extent to which Ukraine has inflicted damages to Russia’s military.

Russia has lost 87% of the military personnel it had before the Ukraine war, including contracted and other ground forces, naval infantry and airborne troops, according to a person familiar with the analysis and granted anonymity to discuss it.

Additionally, of the 3,500 Russian tanks before the invasion, some 2,200 have been lost on the battlefield, the person said.

The result is forcing Russia to rely on Soviet-era weaponry and has set back efforts to modernize its ground forces, the person said the analysis shows.

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White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is clearly watching what happens in Congress — and we need Congress to act this month to support Ukraine.”

Republican resistance

It’s Zelenskyy’s third visit to Washington since the war broke out in February 2022, including a quick trip just a few months ago as aid was being considered. But his surprise arrival days before Christmas last December drew thunderous applause in Congress, his daring first wartime trip out of Ukraine.

At the time, lawmakers sported the blue-and-yellow colours of Ukraine, and Zelenskyy delivered a speech that drew on the parallels to World War II as he thanked Americans for their support.

But 2023 brought a new power centre of hard-right Republicans, many aligned with Donald Trump, the former president who is now the GOP front-runner in the 2024 race for the White House.

It’s not at all clear new Speaker Johnson, on the job since October when Republicans ousted their previous leader Kevin McCarthy, with McConnell can steer an aid package through the House’s right flank.

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Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Zelenskyy can shake up the stalemate by showing the stakes of potential Russian expansion toward NATO, and making his case on “moral clarity and why is Ukraine important.”

Zelenskyy kicked off the quick visit to Washington on Monday, warning in a speech at a defence university that Russia may be fighting in Ukraine but its “real target is freedom” in America and around the world.

Of the new $110 billion national security package, $61.4 billion would go toward Ukraine — with about half to the Defense Department to replenish weaponry it is supplying, and the other half for humanitarian assistance and to help the Ukrainian government function with emergency responders, public works and other operations.

The package includes another nearly $14 billion for Israel as it fights Hamas and $14 billion for US border security. Additional funds would go for national security needs in the Asia-Pacific region.

As Biden and Zelenskyy met, the US was preparing to announce another, relatively modest, million-dollar military aid package, according to US officials.

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The roughly $200 million in weapons and equipment will be taken from Pentagon stocks and include additional ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), high-speed anti-radiation missiles, anti-armour systems, artillery rounds, missiles, demolition munitions, 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition, generators and other equipment and spare parts, one official said.

Including that latest package, the US now has about $4.4 billion remaining in weapons it can provide from department stockpiles.

The US has already provided Ukraine $111 billion for its fight against Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Border security talks have focused on making it more difficult for migrants to claim asylum and releasing fewer of them temporarily into the US while they await proceedings to determine if they can remain permanently.

Republicans have also proposed allowing the president to shut parts of the border when crossings reach high numbers, as they have for the past two years. One White House idea would expand the ability to conduct expedited deportations, drawing alarm from immigrant advocates.

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As border talks drag, Biden’s budget director said last week that the US will run out of funding to send weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year.

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Horror in Hroza: Counting cost of a missile attack on soldier’s wake

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At least 52 people are known to have died in the attack, with rumours spreading that a traitor is among the 250 survivors.

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The cafe Hroza in the Kharkiv region had been closed throughout the war in Ukraine but reopened especially for a dead soldier’s wake, and almost every household in the village sent someone to mourn its native son.

When the gathering to honour Andrii Kozyr was struck by a precision missile that Ukrainian officials said was fired by Russia, almost every household in Hroza in eastern Ukraine lost someone.

The cafe was obliterated. Entire families perished in an instant. In all, 52 people died out of a population of 300. Many villagers now suspect that a local may have tipped off Russian forces.

Soldier’s wife, mother and son killed in attack

On Friday, a day after the strike, an earth mover extended the graveyard to make room for them all. Among the dead were a couple who left behind four children; the village leader and three generations of the soldier’s family, including his wife, mother and son, who also fought for Ukraine and had requested leave to attend the funeral held shortly before the wake.

It could be months before DNA identifies most of the remains. For now, the names are scrawled on cardboard or white plastic squares, and string marks the boundaries of the fresh graves.

Only six people in the cafe survived, and the town is trying to fathom why and how the wake was targeted.

Like much of the region east of the regional capital of Kharkiv, Hroza was under Russian occupation for six months, until September 2022, when Ukrainian troops liberated the area.

Locals say it is strictly a civilian area. There has never been any military base, whether Russian or Ukrainian. They said only civilians or family came to the funeral and wake, and residents were the only people who would have known where and when it was taking place.

Ukrainian officials said the weapon was a precision Iskander-style missile, which is said to have an accuracy of five to seven metres.

Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesperson for the regional prosecutor, said investigators are looking into whether someone from the area transmitted the cafe’s coordinates to the Russians — a betrayal to everyone now grieving in Hroza.

‘The children are gone. That’s all, they’re gone’

Many share that suspicion, describing a strike timed to kill the maximum number of people. The date of the funeral was set a few weeks ago, and the time was shared throughout the village late last week.

Valerii and Liubov Kozyr lost their daughter and son-in-law in the attack, along with their son-in-law’s parents, who had been childhood friends of theirs. That makes them the sole guardians of three of their four grandchildren, ages 10 to 19. They said the 19-year-old had been taken to Russia during the occupation and was trapped there.

Their daughter, Olha, married Anatolii Panteleiev when she was just 16, and the two had been married for two decades and lived next door to her parents. Their son-in-law was friends with Andrii Kozyr, and though they shared a last name, he wasn’t related to the dead soldier.

The couple’s red Niva was still parked in the driveway Friday, but their home was empty. And the morning ritual of a cup of coffee shared among generations was shattered. In the hallway was a portrait of Olha, taken two years ago in the cafe where she would later die.

When Liubov heard the explosion, she ran outside and looked toward the source of the sound.

“The children are gone. That’s all, they’re gone,” she told her husband. Valerii rode his bicycle to the cafe but refused to let his wife accompany him. What he saw was unbearable, he said.

That night, house after house along the village’s main street was empty and unlit.

Not all bodies could be identified. Valerii went to the cemetery nonetheless to reserve a space, marking “Panteleiev family: 4 people” on a cardboard sign.

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The pair gathered in a courtyard Friday with a friend who had lost two siblings in the missile strike, the men crying and cursing the war. Then, they recalled each person they knew who was killed in the strike. The list was long.

Further down the street, 15-year-old Ksiusha Mukhovata skipped class to go with her older brother to give a DNA sample. Their parents were at the wake, along with their paternal grandmother.

The desk where their father had been teaching online since the bombing of his school was still scattered with his papers. Ksiusha’s grandmother, Tetiana Lukashova, said she still had the feeling that the darkened homes would spring to life, as though everything had just been frozen in time.

“I hardly even cried,” the 15-year-old girl said of her first night without her parents. “We looked at photos on the laptop. Tried to get some sleep.”

She sat on the floor surrounded by photographs documenting decades of her family’s history and of the village. From time to time, she took out a new photo and pointed to the smiling faces of people who were somehow related to her family: “This one died” or “She was there too.”

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When the explosion happened, Ksiusha was attending an online class at school. She immediately messaged her best friend, Alina, because she was surprised that her parents hadn’t called her, as she was home alone.

At first, her 23-year-old brother went to the site of the attack. She followed him with Alina, whose mother and sister died in the blast, and whose grandmother is in critical condition. Ksiusha walked among the crowd, trying to focus her attention on the faces of those who were alive.

When evening came, Ksiusha went to sleep in her brother’s room. To reach her own, she would have to walk through the room where her parents slept.

“I don’t want to sleep there,” she said.

After the missile strike, the Kharkiv region declared a period of mourning and ordered flags flown at half-staff.

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Asked about the strike on Hroza, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesn’t target civilians, despite ample evidence to the contrary over the course of the war.

“The strikes target military infrastructure and troop locations,” Peskov said.

Liubov Kozyr is still trying to figure out what the future could hold for her and her husband. They expected their daughter and son-in-law would be there through their old age, along with his parents, who had been friends and now were family.

For now, “I’m holding onto pills,” she said. “I take them, calm down a bit. I scream, scream, and then calm down.”

In Kharkiv, another family was torn apart by Russian airstrikes. A ten-year-old boy and his grandmother were killed there on Friday and thirty others were injured.

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Ukraine war: Russia’s Medvedev promises new conquests

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All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.

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Ukraine: Medvedev promises more conquests a year on from the annexation of territories

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed that Russia will capture more territory in Ukraine, a year after the claimed annexation of four Ukrainian regions, presented by Vladimir Putin as the fulfilment of the imperial project of ‘New Russia’.

“The special military operation (in Ukraine) will continue until the complete destruction of the Nazi regime in Kiev and the liberation of originally Russian territories from the hands of the enemy,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

“Victory will be ours. And more new regions will join Russia,” the second in command of the Russian Security Council added.

Also on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin also promised “regeneration and socio-economic development” of the annexed regions in Ukraine, in a speech broadcast by the Kremlin.

“By defending our fellow citizens in Donbass and ‘New Russia’, we are defending Russia itself and fighting for our homeland, our sovereignty, for our spiritual values ​​and our unity,” Putin said.

At the end of September 2022, after the organisation of so-called ‘referendums’ deemed fictitious by Kiev and the West, Vladimir Putin approved the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east, as well as those of Zaporizhia and Kherson in the south.

These annexations have triggered condemnation from Ukraine and its Western supporters, who consider them to be “illegal”.

30 September was declared as a “reunification day” by Vladimir Putin.

However, Russia only partially controls these regions and faces a counter-offensive from Ukraine, which seeks to retake them.

In Ukraine, a move to attract defence industrialists to produce weapons on its territory

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has inaugurated an international forum in Kyiv, dedicated to the defence industry, in the hope of attracting manufacturers capable of producing weapons in Ukraine and “building an arsenal” against Russia .

Since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine has been very dependent on Western arms deliveries for its war effort.

Ukraine has therefore brought together 252 defence sector companies from some 30 countries in Kyiv on Friday for the forum, with the aim of convincing them to establish themselves in the war-torn country.

“We are interested in localising the production of equipment necessary for our defence and advanced defence systems used by our soldiers,” Zelenskyy said in his introductory speech on Saturday.

The objective, according to him, is to “build a modern and powerful arsenal”, at a time when Russia is also striving to increase its military production capabilities.

Zelenskyy promised attendees that, if they joined the so-called ‘Alliance of Defence Industries, they would receive the perks of a ‘special economic regime’.

According to the leader, a “special defence fund” will also be created for military production, financed in particular by “the profits from the sale of confiscated Russian assets”.

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The subject of relocating defence industries to Ukraine was raised during Zelenskyy’s recent visit to the United States.

There, it was reported that Kyv and Washington would begin “negotiations” on the topic “in the near future”.

Ukraine has claimed to have advanced in a successful operation in the direction of Bakhmut.

Kyiv’s State Border Guard Service released a video in which one of its fighters said their units, together with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, conducted a successful advance and “captured a strategically important place on Donetsk region’s map.”

The video was shared on Friday, but no information was provided when the operation took place. 

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Russia claims airstrike successes

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday released its weekly briefing claiming the Russian army carried out nine group strikes by long-range precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles from 24 to 29 September.

“The strikes hit ammunition depots, military-technical hardware of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, saboteurs’ training sites, and accommodation points for Ukrainian servicemen and foreign mercenaries,” said Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman, Igor Konashenkov.

“As a result of the strikes, the control centre of the International Legion formation, two large arsenals with weapons and ammunition were destroyed, and the supply of foreign-made weapons and logistical support for Ukrainian troops operating in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia directions were disrupted,” he added.

Wagner commander takes charge of volunteers

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered one of the top commanders of the Wagner military contractor to take charge of volunteer units fighting in Ukraine, a statement that signalled the Kremlin’s effort to keep using the mercenaries after the death of their chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In remarks released by Russian State TV on Friday, Putin told Andrei Troshev, who was one of Wagner’s senior officers, that his task is to “deal with forming volunteer units that could perform various combat tasks, primarily in the zone of the special military operation,” a term the Kremlin uses for its military campaign in Ukraine.

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The meeting appeared to reflect the Kremlin’s desire to redeploy some Wagner mercenaries to the front line in Ukraine following their brief mutiny in June and Prigozhin’s suspicious plane crash death on 23 August. The private army that once counted tens of thousands of troops is a precious asset the Kremlin wants to exploit.

Troshev is a retired military officer who has played a leading role in Wagner since its creation in 2014 and has faced European Union sanctions over his role in Syria as the group’s executive director.

Wagner mercenaries have played a key role in Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, spearheading the capture of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in May after months of fierce fighting. Kyiv’s troops are now seeking to reclaim it as part of their counteroffensive.

Zelenskyy pays respects Babi Yar massacre victims

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid his respects to the victims of Babi Yar massacre in Kyiv on Friday as the country marked the 82nd anniversary of one of the most infamous mass slaughters of World War II.

Babi Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is where nearly 34,000 Jews were killed within 48 hours in 1941 when the city was under Nazi occupation.

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The killing was carried out by SS troops along with local collaborators.

Zelenskyy placed candles during a service at a memorial in the Ukrainian capital before thanking members of the Jewish community for hosting the event.

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Poland stops sending arms as Ukraine strikes Crimea air base

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All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine hits Crimea air base

The Ukrainian army claimed on Thursday to have struck a Russian military airfield near the Crimean town of Saky, in yet another attack by Kyiv on this Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow and used as a base for its invasion of Ukraine.

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“Ukrainian defence forces carried out a combined strike against a military airfield of the occupiers near the town of Saky” on Wednesday night, the army’s communications centre said on Telegram, without giving further details.

A source in the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said it was a joint operation by the SBU and naval forces using drones and Ukrainian-made Neptune cruise missiles.

The strike comes just a day after Crimea’s Russian-installed authorities announced that they had foiled Ukrainian missile and drone strikes targeting Sevastopol and the area around its major port, a crucial facility for the Russian navy.

According to Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvojaev, Ukrainian forces had targeted the city with missiles and two neighbouring towns, Kacha and Verkhnessadovoye, with drones.

On September 13, a strike damaged two ships and injured 24 people at a shipyard in Sevastopol. In August, a particularly massive attack involving 42 drones targeted the peninsula, following a commando operation by Ukrainian forces.

The Ukrainian army has also repeatedly targeted Russian ships sailing in the Black Sea or docked in Crimea and in Russian ports along the coast.

Tough times loom for Ukraine, cautions Kyiv

Ukrainian officials have warned the country faces “difficult months ahead”. 

“Difficult months await us: Russia will continue to attack Ukrainian energy and essential installations,” said the deputy head of the presidential administration Oleksiy Kuleba on Telegram. 

With winter coming, Ukrainian authorities fear Moscow will relaunch its campaign of strikes aimed at plunging the civilian population into the cold and dark, as it did last winter. 

Russian missiles rain down on Ukrainian cities

Several cities and towns in Ukraine were hit by Russian rockets overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, killing two in Kherson and injuring others in Kyiv. 

Residential areas in the southern city of Kherson were reportedly bombed, with two men aged 29 and 41 killed in a strike on an apartment building. Four others were hospitalised, including one in a serious condition. 

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Seven people in the capital Kyiv were injured by falling debris from downed Russian missiles, including a 9-year-old girl, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Several people were also injured in the town of Cherkasy, after a hotel was hit in a Russian attack. 

The eastern city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border, was also bombed, along with the northwestern Lviv region. 

Though Moscow denies attacking Ukrainian civilians, experts told Euronews in June there was a deliberate strategy behind its bombing campaign. 

Poland to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine

Warsaw announced Wednesday evening it would no longer send arms to Kyiv, amid a growing rift between the two countries over grain. 

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“We are no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on television. 

“We are mainly focusing on modernising and rapidly arming the Polish army, so that it becomes one of the most powerful land armies in Europe,” he said. 

Morawiecki specified that a military hub in Rzeszow, through which Western equipment destined for Ukraine passes, was still operating normally.

The PM did not detail when Poland, one of the largest arms suppliers to Ukraine, would cut off supplies or if the move was linked to their spat about grain. 

With elections looming at home, Warsaw has imposed a ban on Ukrainian grain to protect its own farmers, who have complained they cannot compete with its cheaper imports. 

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Speaking at the UN on Tuesday,  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a barbed comment about Poland’s move, saying “certain countries” were “feigning solidarity” with Kyiv “by indirectly supporting Russia”.

This, in turn, drew a sharp response from the Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs who said it was “false” and “unjustified considering Poland has supported Ukraine since the first days of the war”.

Zelenskyy in Washington to ensure continued US support

Aware that some in the US are becoming weary of providing support, Ukraine’s number one will visit the White House on Thursday.

Zelenskyy is likely to want five things from Washington, his richest and most powerful ally, as his country’s counteroffensive continues.

Read more below. 

Zelenskyy rails against ‘criminal’ Russia at UN

Ukraine’s leader challenged Russia during an exceptional session of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, denouncing Moscow’s “aggression”. 

He also lamented at how Russia was “blocking” the UN body with its veto power. 

“Most countries in the world recognise the truth about this war,” said Zelenskyy, facing Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia.

“This is a criminal and unjustified aggression by Russia against our nation, which aims to seize the territory and resources of Ukraine,” he said, dressed in his usual khaki green fatigues.

He urged the UN to rescind Russia’s veto power at the Security Council, which it enjoys as one of the five permanent members, along with China, France, the UK and US. 

“The right of veto in the hands of the aggressor blocks the UN,” he said, claiming it “impossible to stop” the war because of Russia’s veto and its support from other countries in the UN. 

Differing attitudes towards the Ukraine war prevail in the Global South, with many states abstaining from UN resolutions condemning Moscow and instead calling for peace talks. 

Wednesday’s address was the first time since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022 that Zelenskyy spoke in person at the UN Security Council.

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Ukraine War: Putin set to meet Erdogan in Black Sea grain talks as Russia attacks Ukrainian port

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All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.

Russia attacks Ukrainian port ahead of Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday

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Two people have been hospitalised following Russian drone barrage on a port in Ukraine’s Odessa region on Sunday which lasted for more than 3 hours, officials say.

The attack on the Reni seaport comes a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the resumption of food shipments from Ukraine under a Black Sea grain agreement that Moscow broke off from in July.

Russian forces fired 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones along the Danube River in the early hours of Sunday, 22 of which were shot down by air defences, the Ukrainian air force said via Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, described the assault as part of a Russian drive “to provoke a food crisis and hunger in the world”.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that the attack was aimed at fuel storage facilities used to supply military equipment.

Russian premier Putin is set to meet with his Turkish counterpart on 4 September, with Erdogan hoping to persuade the Russian leader to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal that Moscow broke off from in July.

Held in Sochi on Russia’s southern coast, the crucial rendezvous comes after the Kremlin refused to renew the grain agreement some six weeks ago.

The deal – brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022 – had allowed nearly 33 million metric tons (36 million tons) of grain and other commodities to leave three Ukrainian ports safely despite Russia’s war.

However, Russia pulled out after claiming that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertiliser hadn’t been honoured.

Moscow complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade, even though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.

Since Putin withdrew from the initiative, Erdogan has repeatedly pledged to renew arrangements that helped avoid a food crisis in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other goods that developing nations rely on.

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The Turkish president has maintained close ties to Putin during the 18-month war in Ukraine. Turkey hasn’t joined Western sanctions against Russia following its invasion, emerging as a main trading partner and logistical hub for Russia’s overseas trade.

NATO member Turkey, however, has also supported Ukraine, sending arms, meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and backing Kyiv’s bid to join NATO.

Putin and Erdogan – both authoritarian leaders who have been in power for more than two decades – are said to have a close rapport, fostered in the wake of a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016 when Putin was the first major leader to offer his support.

The Sochi summit follows talks between the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers on Thursday, during which Russia handed over a list of actions that the West would have to take in order for Ukraine’s Black Sea exports to resume.

Erdogan has indicated sympathy with Putin’s position. In July, he said Putin had “certain expectations from Western countries” over the Black Sea deal and that it was “crucial for these countries to take action in this regard”.

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Medvedev: Russian army has recruited 280,000 soldiers since the start of the year

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that Moscow had recruited around 280,000 soldiers since the start of the year.

That’s an increase of 50,000 on the previous figures dating from the beginning of August.

“According to data from the Russian Defense Ministry, around 280,000 people have been accepted under contract into the ranks of the armed forces since January 1,” Medvedev said, quoted by the state news agency TASS.

The former head of state, who is currently deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, made his remarks during a visit to the island of Sakhalin.

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At the beginning of August he claimed that the army had recruited more than 230,000 people since 1 January, but there remains a question mark over the veracity of that number.

Since the spring, the Russian army has been carrying out a vast voluntary recruitment campaign, promising attractive salaries and benefits to potential soldiers.

In September 2022, the Russian authorities had to resort, faced with losses on the front, to a partial mobilisation, which made it possible to recruit at least 300,000 men but caused the flight of hundreds of thousands of Russians abroad.

22 Russian drones shot down in Odessa region – Ukraine

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Sunday it shot down 22 Russian drones in the Odessa region in the south of the country.

“On the night of September 3, 2023, the Russian occupiers launched several waves of +Shahed-136/131+ drone attacks from the south and southeast,” the Ukrainian Air Force wrote on Telegram, adding that 22 drones were destroyed out of an apparent total of 25 launched.

Since the agreement which allowed Ukraine to safely export its cereals via the Black Sea came to an end in July, Russia has increased attacks against the regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine.

The next month, the first cargo ship passing through the Black Sea reached Istanbul, Turkey, despite Russian obstruction.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that two new ships had passed through the “temporary grain corridor in the Black Sea” created by his country.

Recruitment drive in Russia as casualties mount

Russia has been appealing to citizens of neighbouring countries with recruitment adverts for individuals to fight in Ukraine.

Online adverts have been appearing in Armenia and Kazakhstan offering 495,000 roubles (approximately €4,760) in initial payments and salaries from 190,000 roubles (about €1,828).

Since at least May 2023, Russia has been approaching central Asian migrants to fight in Ukraine with promises of fast-track citizenship and salaries of up to €3,850.

In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Uzbek migrant builders have reportedly had their passports confiscated upon arrival and been coerced to join the Russian military.

There are at least six million migrants from Central Asia in Russia, which the Kremlin likely sees as potential recruits.

The recruitment drive likely comes at a time when Russia is hoping to avoid further unpopular domestic mobilisation measures in the run up to the 2024 Presidential elections. Using foreign nationals in the conflict allows the Kremlin to acquire additional personnel for its war effort in the face of mounting casualties.

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NATO chief says no timetable set for Ukraine’s membership

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NATO leaders said Tuesday that they would allow Ukraine to join the alliance “when allies agree and conditions are met,” hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the organisation’s failure to set a timetable for his country as “absurd.”

NATO leaders said Tuesday that they would allow Ukraine to join the alliance “when allies agree and conditions are met,” hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the organisation’s failure to set a timetable for his country as “absurd.”

“We reaffirmed Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters, referring to a key step in joining the alliance.

“This will change Ukraine’s membership path from a two-step path to a one-step path,” he said.

Although many NATO members have funnelled arms and ammunition to Zelenskyy’s forces, there is no consensus among the 31 allies for admitting Ukraine into NATO’s ranks. Instead, alliance leaders decided to remove obstacles on Ukraine’s membership path so that it can join more quickly once the war with Russia is over.

Zelenskyy pushed back sharply against the decision.

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” Zelenskyy tweeted as he headed to the annual NATO summit in Vilnius. 

“While at the same time, vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness to invite Ukraine to NATO or to make it a member of the Alliance.”

NATO membership would afford Ukraine protection against a giant neighbour that annexed its Crimean Peninsula almost a decade ago and more recently seized vast swaths of land in the east and south. Joining NATO would also oblige Kyiv to reform its security institutions, improve governance and curb corruption – work that would also ease the country’s path into the European Union.

Asked about Zelenskyy’s concerns, Stoltenberg said the most important thing now is to ensure that his country wins the war, because “unless Ukraine prevails there is no membership to be discussed at all.”

The broadside from Zelenskyy could renew tensions at the summit shortly after it saw a burst of goodwill following an agreement by Turkey to advance Sweden’s bid to join NATO. Allies hope to resolve the seesawing negotiations and create a clear plan for the alliance and its support for Ukraine.

“We value our allies,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter, adding that “Ukraine also deserves respect.” He also said: “Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.”

Zelenskyy is expected to meet Wednesday with US President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders.

There have been sharp divisions within the alliance over Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, which was promised back in 2008 even though few steps were taken toward that goal.

In addition, the Baltic states – including Lithuania, which is hosting the summit – have pushed for a strong show of support and a clear pathway toward membership for Ukraine.

However, the United States and Germany urged caution. Biden said last week that Ukraine was not ready to join. Members of NATO, he told CNN, need to “meet all the qualifications, from democratization to a whole range of other issues,” a nod toward longstanding concerns about governance and corruption in Kyiv.

In addition, some fear that bringing Ukraine into NATO would serve more as a provocation to Russia than as a deterrence against aggression.

Concretely, NATO leaders decided to launch a series of multiyear programs to bring Ukraine’s Soviet-era military equipment and doctrines up to modern standards so the country can operate fully with the alliance.

On Wednesday, the leaders and Zelenskyy are set to launch a new, upgraded forum for their cooperation: a NATO-Ukraine Council, where all parties can convene crisis talks if their security is threatened.

To fast-track its future membership, the leaders agreed to do away with a membership action plan for Ukraine, a program often seen as mandatory for aspiring nations to undertake.

Known in NATO parlance as a MAP, the action plan involves a tailor-made package of advice, assistance and practical support for countries preparing to join NATO. Bosnia, for example, is currently taking part in one.

Pressed by reporters to say what kind of conditions are being placed on Ukraine joining, Stoltenberg said: “We want modern defence and security institutions.

He also said Kyiv’s hopes might hinge on strengthening its governance standards and fighting corruption.

The dispute over Ukraine stands in contrast to a hard-fought agreement to advance Sweden’s membership. The deal was reached after days of intensive meetings, and it’s poised to expand the alliance’s strength in Northern Europe.

“Rumors of the death of NATO’s unity were greatly exaggerated,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters triumphantly on Tuesday.

According to a joint statement issued when the deal was announced, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will ask Turkey’s parliament to approve Sweden joining NATO.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another holdout, is expected to take a similar step. Hungary’s foreign minister said Tuesday that his country’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership was now just a “technical matter.” Erdogan has not yet commented publicly.

The outcome is a victory as well for Biden, who has touted NATO’s expansion as an example of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired on Moscow.

Finland has already become the 31st member of the alliance, and Sweden is on deck to become the 32nd. Both Nordic countries were historically nonaligned until the war increased fears of Russian aggression.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that NATO’s expansion is “one of the reasons that led to the current situation.”

“It looks like the Europeans don’t understand their mistake,” Peskov said. He warned against putting Ukraine on a fast track for NATO membership.

“Potentially it’s very dangerous for the European security. It carries very big risks,” Peskov said.

Erdogan met with Biden on Tuesday evening but remained mum on the deal to advance Sweden’s membership in NATO.

Although Biden made a reference to “the agreement you reached yesterday,” Erdogan said nothing about it. It was a conspicuous omission from Erdogan, who has not commented on the issue publicly during the summit.

However, Erdogan appeared eager to develop his relationship with Biden. He said previous meetings were “mere warm-ups, but now we are initiating a new process.”

The Turkish president has been seeking advanced American fighter jets and a path toward membership in the European Union. The White House has expressed support for both, but publicly insisted that the issues were not related to Sweden’s membership in NATO.

The Biden administration has backed Turkey’s desire to buy 40 new F-16s as well as modernization kits from the US.

Biden is on a five-day trip to Europe, with the NATO summit as its centrepiece.

The president spent Monday in the United Kingdom, meeting at Windsor Castle with King Charles III and in London with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

He met Tuesday with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, emphasizing his commitment to transatlantic cooperation, before he joined the NATO gathering.

“Nothing happens here that doesn’t affect us,” Biden told Nauseda. The White House said Nauseda presented Biden with the Order of Vytautas the Great, the highest award a Lithuanian president can bestow. Biden is the first U.S. president to receive it.

After the summit ends Wednesday, Biden will travel to Helsinki. On Thursday, he will celebrate Finland’s recent entry into NATO and meet with Nordic leaders.

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Ukraine war: French missiles, NATO friction, nuclear attack fears

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France sends new missiles to Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that his country will deliver long-range “Scalp” missiles to Ukraine – and a French government source has confirmed the weapons have already been sent.

“The first missiles were delivered at the same time as our president announced it,” the source said on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Vilnius.

“We have decided to deliver new deep-strike missiles to Ukraine,” said Macron on his arrival at the event. 

“I think that what is important for us today is to send a message of support for Ukraine, of Nato’s unity”, he added.

The Kremlin called the move a “mistake” that will force Russia to take “countermeasures” in the conflict in Ukraine.

“From our point of view, this is a mistaken decision, with serious consequences for the Ukrainian side, because naturally it will force us to take countermeasures,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Meanwhile, Germany is to supply nearly €700 million worth of additional weapons to Ukraine, government sources said on Tuesday. 

Germany is one of the largest contributors of military aid to Ukraine. In May, Berlin announced it would deliver arms worth €2.7 billion. 

Russian drones strike grain facilities in Odesa

Russia launched 28 explosive drones at Ukraine during the night, targeting a port in the Odesa region, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday. 

“A grain terminal in a port in the Odesa region” was the target of the “powerful” attack, said regional governor Oleg Kiper, without giving the name of the site.

The Odesa region is home to three ports that are part of the international agreement that allows grain exports to leave Ukraine despite the Russian invasion of the country. 

The deal expires on 17 July.

“Two terminals, one of which was a grain terminal, caught fire as a result of falling shrapnel from downed drones”, said Kiper, adding the fires had been extinguished without causing any major damage or casualties.

Russia has ‘no red lines’ on nuclear attacks – Ukrainian minister

The catastrophic collapse of the Kakhovka dam has raised fears that Russia might stage an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to cause panic and quell Ukrainian advances on the frontline, Ukraine’s energy minister claimed on Monday.

Herman Halushchenko said the dam’s destruction, while under Russian control in the Kherson region, warrants the level of alarm Ukraine’s leadership has raised in recent weeks, alleging Moscow might attack Europe’s largest nuclear plant. 

Halushchenko said he and Zelenskyy warned as early as October 2022 that the Russians could plant mines to blow up the Kakhovka dam.

“For many, many people it sounded ridiculous … and when it happened everybody understood that there are no red lines for them,” he said. “And of course, it’s all connected to the counter-offensive operation, and after Kakhovka, the one tool they still have is Zaporizhzhia.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alleged last week, citing intelligence reports, that Russian troops placed “objects resembling explosives” on top of several power units to “simulate” an attack. 

Drone and satellite images reportedly showed unidentified white objects on the roof of the plant’s fourth power unit, but Ukrainian leaders have so far been unable to provide further evidence.

Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute and satellite image expert, said the objects appeared to be placed on the unit’s turbine hall. If it turns out to be a bomb, it is unlikely to cause serious damage to the reactor, he added.

Zaporizhzhia was seized by Russia early on in the war in March 2022.  Since then, Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the plant amid fears of a nuclear accident.

Ukraine ‘de facto’ NATO member, says Zelenskyy

Ukraine is already in effect a member of NATO since most of the alliance stands with the war-torn nation, Zelenskyy said on Monday.

“The security reality here on NATO’s eastern flank depends on Ukraine. When we applied to join NATO, we were frank: Ukraine is de facto already in the alliance,” he said.

Zelenskyy also indicated that more military aid to Ukraine will be announced at  the NATO summit in Vilnius. 

“I am sure that there could be positive news regarding weapons for our men from Vilnius,” Zelenskyy said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has maintained that Ukraine will not be granted membership while it is still at war with Russia.  

Stoltenberg added that the Vilnius meeting will not issue a formal invitation to Ukraine, contrary to Zelenskyy’s nightly address. 

NATO’s summit will begin on Tuesday with fresh momentum after Turkey withdrew its objections to Sweden joining the alliance, a step toward the unity that Western leaders have been eager to demonstrate in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Prigozhin’s commanders met Putin after mutiny – Kremlin

Just five days after staging a short-lived rebellion, Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s commanders met with Vladimir Putin and pledged loyalty to the government, a senior government spokesman said Monday.

The three-hour meeting took place on 29 June and involved not only Prigozhin but commanders from his Wagner Group military contractor, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Putin gave an assessment of Wagner’s actions on the battlefield in Ukraine, where the mercenaries have fought alongside Russian troops, and of the revolt itself, said Peskov.

“The commanders themselves presented their version of what happened. They underscored that they are staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the commander-in-chief, and also said that they are ready to continue to fight for their homeland.”

The confirmation that Putin met face-to-face with Prigozhin, who led troops on a march to Moscow last month to demand a military leadership change, is an extraordinary turn. Though the Russian leader branded Prigozhin a traitor as the revolt unfolded and vowed harsh punishment, the criminal case against the mercenary chief on rebellion charges was later dropped.

Russian military recruiter ‘assassinated’

A Russian official in charge of military mobilisation in the city of Krasnodar has been shot dead, authorities said on Monday evening, in the middle of a recruitment campaign.

In a statement, investigators said the body of the 42-year-old man was found on Monday morning with “bullet wounds” in a street in the Russian city.

According to the same source, the man was the deputy head of the town hall responsible for “mobilisation operations” in the army in Krasnodar.

Investigators are working to establish the identity of the perpetrator and the motive for the crime, the Investigative Committee said.

The state news agency TASS, citing police sources, said that the victim’s name was Stanislav Rjitski.

The Russian army has seen its ranks decimated since the start of the invasion, and has lately been conducting a vast military recruitment campaign to replenish its capacity.

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“Attempts to create internal disorder will fail,” Putin tells nation

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In his address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned what he called the “criminal actions” of those who staged an “armed mutiny.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the nation on Monday for unity after an armed rebellion over the weekend was aborted less than 24 hours after it began. Earlier in the day, the mercenary chief defended his short-lived insurrection in a boastful statement.

In his first appearance since the rebellion ended, Putin also thanked most of the mercenaries for not letting the situation deteriorate into “bloodshed.” He said all necessary measures have been taken to protect the country and the people from the rebellion.

He blamed “Russia’s enemies” and said they “miscalculated.”

The Kremlin also tried to project stability on Monday when authorities released a video of Russia’s defence minister reviewing troops in Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary group, said he wasn’t seeking to stage a coup but was acting to prevent the destruction of Wagner, his private military company. “We started our march because of an injustice,” he said in an 11-minute statement, giving no details about where he was or what his plans were.

The feud between the Wagner Group leader and Russia’s military brass has festered throughout the war, erupting into a mutiny over the weekend when mercenaries left Ukraine to seize a military headquarters in a southern Russian city. They rolled seemingly unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow before turning around after less than 24 hours on Saturday.

The Kremlin said it had made a deal for Prigozhin to move to Belarus and receive amnesty, along with his soldiers. There was no confirmation of his whereabouts Monday, although a popular Russian news channel on Telegram reported he was at a hotel in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

Prigozhin taunted Russia’s military on Monday, calling his march a “master class” on how it should have carried out the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He also mocked the military for failing to protect Russia, pointing out security breaches that allowed Wagner to march 780 kilometres toward Moscow without facing resistance.

The bullish statement made no clearer what would ultimately happen to Prigozhin and his forces under the deal purportedly brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Prigozhin said only that Lukashenko “proposed finding solutions for the Wagner private military company to continue its work in a lawful jurisdiction.” That suggested Prigozhin might keep his military force, although it wasn’t immediately clear which jurisdiction he was referring to.

The independent Russian news outlet Vyorstka claimed that construction of a field camp for up to 8,000 Wagner troops was underway in an area of Belarus about 200 kilometres north of the border with Ukraine.

The report couldn’t be independently verified. The Belarusian military monitoring group Belaruski Hajun said Monday on Telegram that it had seen no activity in that district consistent with construction of a facility, and had no indications of Wagner convoys in or moving towards Belarus.

Though the mutiny was brief, it was not bloodless. Russian media reported that several military helicopters and a communications plane were shot down by Wagner forces, killing at least 15. Prigozhin expressed regret for attacking the aircraft but said they were bombing his convoys.

Russian media reported that a criminal case against Prigozhin hasn’t been closed, despite earlier Kremlin statements, and some Russian lawmakers called for his head.

Andrei Gurulev, a retired general and current lawmaker who has had rows with the mercenary leader, said Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin deserve “a bullet in the head.”

And Nikita Yurefev, a city council member in St. Petersburg, said he filed an official request with Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office and the Federal Security Service, or FSB, asking who would be punished for the rebellion, given that Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed in a Saturday morning address to punish those behind it.

It was unclear what resources Prigozhin can draw on, and how much of his substantial wealth he can access. Police searching his St. Petersburg office amid the rebellion found 4 billion rubles (€44 million) in trucks outside the building, according to Russian media reports confirmed by the Wagner boss. He said the money was intended to pay his soldiers’ families.

Russian media reported that Wagner offices in several Russian cities had reopened on Monday and the company had resumed enlisting recruits.

In a return to at least superficial normality, Moscow’s mayor announced an end to the “counterterrorism regime” imposed on the capital Saturday, when troops and armoured vehicles set up checkpoints on the outskirts and authorities tore up roads leading into the city.

The Defence Ministry published a video of defence chief Sergei Shoigu in a helicopter and then meeting with officers at a military headquarters in Ukraine. It was unclear when the video was shot. It came as Russian media speculated that Shoigu and other military leaders have lost Putin’s confidence and could be replaced.

Before the uprising, Prigozhin had blasted Shoigu and General Staff Chief General Valery Gerasimov with expletive-ridden insults for months, accusing them of failing to provide his troops with enough ammunition during the fight for the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.

Prigozhin’s statement appeared to confirm analysts’ view that the revolt was a desperate move to save Wagner from being dismantled after an order that all private military companies sign contracts with the Defense Ministry by July 1.

Prigozhin said most of his fighters refused to come under the Defense Ministry’s command, and the force planned to hand over the military equipment it was using in Ukraine on June 30 after pulling out of Ukraine and gathering in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. He accused the Defense Ministry of attacking Wagner’s camp, prompting them to move sooner.

Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said on Twitter that Prigozhin’s mutiny “wasn’t a bid for power or an attempt to overtake the Kremlin,” but a desperate move amid his escalating rift with the military leadership.

While Prigozhin could get out of the crisis alive, he doesn’t have a political future in Russia under Putin, Stanovaya said.

It was unclear what the fissures opened by the 24-hour rebellion would mean for the war in Ukraine, where Western officials say Russia’s troops suffer low morale. Wagner’s forces were key to Russia’s only land victory in months, in Bakhmut.

The UK Ministry of Defence said Monday that Ukraine had “gained impetus” in its push around Bakhmut, making progress north and south of the town. Ukrainian forces claimed to have retaken Rivnopil, a village in southeast Ukraine that has seen heavy fighting.

US President Joe Biden and leaders of several of Ukraine’s European allies discussed the events in Russia over the weekend, but Western officials have been muted in their public comments.

Biden said Monday that the US and NATO were not involved in the short-lived insurrection. Speaking at the White House, Biden explained that he was cautious about speaking publicly because he wanted to give “Putin no excuse to blame this on the West and blame this on NATO.”

“We made clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to do with it,” he said.

Biden said the US was coordinating with allies to monitor the situation and maintain support for Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg concurred Monday that “the events over the weekend are an internal Russian matter.”

And Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said US Ambassador Lynne Tracy had contacted Russian representatives Saturday to stress that the US was not involved in the mutiny.

The events show the war is “cracking Russia’s political system,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

“The monster that Putin created with Wagner, the monster is biting him now,” Borrell said. “The monster is acting against his creator.”

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Ukraine war: Wagner pullout, Zaporizhzhia scare and ‘saboteurs’

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Here’s everything you need to know about the war in Ukraine for Monday 22 May 2023.

Russia’s mercenary group Wagner announced plans on Monday to leave Bakhmut by 1 June, less than two weeks after the leader of the group Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian army claimed victory over the eastern Ukrainian city on Saturday.

“In the western outskirts [of Bakhmout], the lines of defence are in place. So the Wagner group will leave Artiomovsk [the Soviet name of the Ukrainian city] between May 25 and June 1,” Prigozhin said on Monday in an audio recording released by Wagner’s press service. 

The group said it will now leave the city in the hands of the Russian troops.

Despite the claimed victory, the rift between the mercenary group a the Russian army’s leadership continues. Concluding his message, Prigozhin accused the army’s leaders of leaving his men without ammunition and remaining too far back from the battlefront. 

“If there are not enough units of the Ministry of Defence (to occupy Bakhmut), there are thousands of generals [to do it], you have to form a regiment of generals, give them all guns, and everything will be fine,” he said.

The claims follow months of bloody fighting in the city, which Ukraine claim hasn’t come to a close yet. Ukrainian authorities have not recognised the loss of Bakhmut, and claim that its troops still hold part of the city.

Ukraine hits back at Russia’s claims of victory over Bakhmut

Ukrainian officials acknowledge they now control only a small part of Bakhmut.

But, Ukraine says, their fighters’ presence has played a key role in their strategy of exhausting the Russian military. And they say their current positions in the areas surrounding Bakhmut will let them strike back inside the 400-year-old city.

“Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense does not lose its relevance,” said General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of ground forces for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “This gives us the opportunity to enter the city in case of a change in the situation. And it will definitely happen.”

The fog of war makes it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in Bakhmut. Russia’s defense ministry said Wagner mercenaries backed by Russian troops had seized the city, but Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Bakhmut was not being fully occupied.

In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. Holding a Russian flag before a group of at least nine masked fighters in body army who were toting heavy weapons, Prigozhin proclaimed: “This afternoon at 12:00, Bakhmut was completely taken.”

More important for Ukraine has been the high numbers of Russian casualties and sapping of the morale of enemy troops for the the small patch of the 1,500-kilometre front line as Ukraine gears up for a major counteroffensive in the 15-month-old war.

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant scare

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest atomic power station, spent hours operating on emergency diesel generators Monday after losing its external power supply for the seventh time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said.

“The nuclear safety situation at the plant (is) extremely vulnerable,” Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a tweet.

Hours later, national energy company Ukrenergo said on Telegram that it had restored the power line that feeds the plant.

But for Grossi, it was another reminder of what’s at stake at the Russian-occupied plant which has seen shelling close by.

“We must agree to protect (the) plant now; this situation cannot continue,” Grossi said, in his latest appeal for the area to be spared from the fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. IAEA staff are deployed at the plant, which is occupied by Russian troops.

The plant’s six nuclear reactors, which are protected by a reinforced shelter able to withstand an errant shell or rocket, have been shut down. But a disruption in the electrical supply could disable cooling systems that are essential for the reactors’ safety even when they are shut down. Emergency diesel generators, which officials say can keep the plant operational for 10 days, can be unreliable.

Fighting, especially artillery fire, around the plant has fueled fears of a disaster like the one at Chernobyl, in northern Ukraine, in 1986. Then, a reactor exploded and spewed deadly radiation, contaminating a vast area in the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe.

Russian missiles and drones target Dnipro

Ukraine said on Monday that it had countered an unprecedented Russian attack overnight targeting the city of Dnipro, in the center-east of the country, with missiles and explosive drones.

According to regional authorities, seven people were injured.

During this “night attack”, Russia launched “16 missiles of various types and 20 Shahed drones”, the Ukrainian military said in a statement posted on Facebook.

A total of four “Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles” and all 20 drones “were destroyed by anti-aircraft defense”, she said.

The Ukrainian army, however, did not give details on the consequences of the 12 missiles that passed through its defences.

Earlier Monday morning, she said the Russians had launched “a massive missile and drone attack”, without saying where exactly and adding that “details will be released after clarification”.

Ukraine ensures that its anti-aircraft defense, reinforced by Western military aid, shoots down most drones and missiles.

Are Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ operating in Russia?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently been briefed on an ongoing incursion into Russian territory by “saboteurs” from Ukraine , an attack that aims to “divert attention” from Moscow’s claimed conquest of Bakhmut, his spokesperson has said. 

“The Ministry of Defense, the FSB and the border guards have informed the President (…), work is underway to drive out this sabotage group from Russian territory and to eliminate it,” Russian agencies told Dmitry Peskov.

According to the Kremlin official, Ukraine launched this attack on the Belgorod region, bordering Ukrainian territory, to “divert attention” from the situation in Bakhmut, the epicenter of Russian-Ukrainian fighting for months and a city that Moscow claimed to have conquered this weekend.

“We fully understand that the purpose of this act of sabotage is to divert attention from Bakhmut, to minimise the effect of the loss by the Ukrainian side” of this city, he said.

Kyiv says for its part that it still controls a few sites in Bakhmut, but above all that it is attacking the Russian flanks in the suburbs, in order to surround Moscow’s forces in the city.

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Zelenskyy’s globetrotting diplomacy leaves Putin looking isolated

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After a whirlwind week of diplomatic visits that has taken in the Vatican, Saudi Arabia, Europe’s capitals and Japan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s world tour has left his Russian counterpart looking increasingly isolated.

While the world awaits Ukraine’s spring battlefield offensive, leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has launched a diplomatic one. In the span of a week, he’s dashed to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France and Britain to shore up support for defending his country. Later on Saturday, he’s due at the G7 conference in Japan.

On Friday, he was in Saudi Arabia to meet with Arab leaders, some of whom are allies with Moscow, tweeting about his visit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, was in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk, chairing a meeting with local officials, sitting at a large table at a distance from the other attendees.

He has faced unprecedented international isolation, with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant hanging over his head and clouding the prospects of travelling to many destinations, including those viewed as Moscow’s allies.

With his invasion of Ukraine, “Putin took a gamble and lost really, really big time,” said Theresa Fallon, director of the Brussels-based Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies. “He is an international pariah, really.”

It was only 10 years ago when Putin stood proudly among his peers at the time, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Shinzo Abe, at a Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland. 

Russia has since been kicked out of the group, made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the US,  for illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.

Now it appears to be Ukraine’s turn in the spotlight.

There were conflicting messages from Kyiv about whether Zelenskyy would attend the G7 in Japan on Sunday. The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said on national television the president would be there, but the council later walked back those remarks, saying Zelenskyy would join via video link. The president’s office would not confirm either way for security reasons.

But whether in person or via video, it would be of great symbolic and geopolitical significance.

“It conveys the fact that the G7 continues to strongly support Ukraine,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “It’s a visible marker of the continued commitment of the most highly industrialised and highly developed countries in the world.”

It also comes at a time when the optics are just not in the Kremlin’s favour.

There’s uncertainty over whether Putin can travel to South Africa in August for a summit of the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Moscow has long showcased the alliance as an alternative to the West’s global dominance, but this year it is already proving awkward for the Kremlin. South Africa, the host of the summit, is a signatory to the ICC and is obligated to comply with the arrest warrant on war crimes charges.

South Africa has not announced that Putin will definitely come to the summit but has been planning for his possible arrival. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed an inter-ministerial committee, led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, to consider South Africa’s options with regard to its ICC commitment over Putin’s possible trip.

While it is highly unlikely the Russian president would be arrested there if he decides to go, the public debate about whether he can is in itself “an unwelcome development whose impact should not be underestimated,” according to Gould-Davies.

Then there are Moscow’s complicated relations with its own neighbours. Ten days ago, Putin projected the image of solidarity, with leaders of Armenia, Belarus and Central Asian states standing beside him at a Victory Day military parade on Red Square.

This week, however, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan flocked to China and met with leader Xi Jinping at a summit that highlighted the erosion of Russia’s influence in the region as Beijing seeks to make economic inroads into Central Asia.

Xi is using the opportunity “of a weakened Russia, a distracted Russia, almost a pariah-state Russia to increase (China’s) influence in the region,” Fallon said.

Putin’s effort this month to shore up more friends in the South Caucasus by scrapping visa requirements for Georgian nationals and lifting a four-year ban on direct flights to the country also didn’t appear to go as smoothly as the Kremlin may have hoped.

The first flight that landed Friday in Georgia was met with protests, and the country’s pro-Western president has decried the move as a provocation.

Zelenskyy’s ongoing world tour can be seen as a success on many levels.

Invitations from other world leaders is a sign they think Ukraine is “going to come out of the war in good shape,” said Phillips P. O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Otherwise, “it simply wouldn’t be happening,” he said. “No one would want to be around a leader they think is going to be defeated and a country that’s going to collapse.”

By contrast, the ICC warrant might make it harder for leaders even to visit Putin in Moscow because “it’s not a good look to visit an indicted war criminal,” Gould-Davies said.

European leaders promised him an arsenal of missiles, tanks and drones, and even though no commitment has been made on fighter jets – something Kyiv has wanted for months – a conversation about finding ways to do it has begun.

His appearance Friday at the Arab League summit in Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian port on the Red Sea, highlighted Kyiv’s effort to spread its plight for support far and wide, including in some countries whose sympathies are with Russia.

In addition to Zelenskyy, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also welcomed Syrian President Bashar Assad at the summit after a 12-year suspension – something analysts say aligns with Moscow’s interests.

Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute who focuses on Russia’s policy in the Middle East, called it “another testament to the fact that Russia is not isolated globally for its invasion of Ukraine, that the Middle East is one part of the world where Russia is able to find avenues to avoid global isolation – both ideological isolation but also economic isolation.”

She added that Zelenskyy and his government deserve credit for “in recognizing that they need to reach out more to improve their diplomatic efforts in this part of the world and other parts of the world where the Russian narrative resonates.”

Kyiv could expect that “this is the beginning of a larger shift in perception that could eventually translate into potential support,” Borshchevskaya said.

Similarly, the Ukrainian president’s participation in the G7 summit is “a message to the rest of the world, to Russia and beyond, and the so-called Global South,” Gould-Davies believes.

There is a concern in the West over the extent to which some major developing economies – Brazil, South Africa and, to a degree, India – “are not criticising, not condemning Russia and indeed in various ways are helping to mitigate the impact of sanctions on Russia,” he said.

“Collectively, economically, they matter. So there is, I think, this need felt for a renewed diplomatic campaign to bring some of these most important states into the kind of the Western way of looking at these things,” Gould-Davies said.

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