Summary
We will be pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for the next few hours.
Before we return, here is a comprehensive rundown of where things currently stand.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said President Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet with to discuss how to end the war. “The president of the Russian Federation decides it all,” he said in a video address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskiy said. “I cannot accept any kind of meeting with anyone coming from the Russian Federation but the president.”
- A veteran Russian diplomat in Geneva has resigned over his country’s invasion of Ukraine, in a rare political protest from within the Russian foreign policy establishment. Boris Bondarev, a counsellor at the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, wrote in a public statement: “Never have I been so ashamed of my country.” He confirmed he had submitted his letter of resignation.
- A court in Kyiv has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian civilian, in the first verdict in a trial related to war crimes carried out by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old sergeant, was found guilty of killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in the Sumy region during the first days of the invasion.
- Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said there were about 13,000 cases of Russian alleged war crimes being investigated as of Monday. Another 48 Russian soldiers are due to face war crimes trials, she said, adding that Ukrainian officials have a list of about 600 suspects thought to have engaged in war crimes.
- Twenty countries announced new security assistance packages and agreed to send more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a harpoon launcher and missiles to protect its coast, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Monday. The new security packages included “donating critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defence systems and tanks and other armoured vehicles”, he said. Denmark pledged to send Harpoon anti-ship missiles that could be used to push the Russian navy away from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, allowing exports of grain and other agricultural products to resume.
- “Low-level” discussions are reportedly underway on whether some US troops should be based in Ukraine and how the US may need to adjust its training of Ukrainian forces, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged the west to intensify its economic sanctions against Russia as he said business leaders in Davos needed to decide whether “brute force” should rule the world. In a keynote video address to the World Economic Forum, Zelenskiy called for a full oil embargo, the severing of Russian banks from the global financial system, the complete isolation of the Russian IT sector and a ban on trade with Russia.
- The European Union will likely agree an embargo on Russian oil imports “within days” and may require capping global oil prices, Germany’s economy minister said on Monday. “We will reach a breakthrough within days,” Robert Habeck told German broadcaster ZDF, adding that the European Commission and the United States were working on a proposal to no longer pay “any price” for oil, but to cap global prices.
- Zelenskiy gave an insight into the level of losses being sustained by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas, saying between 50 to 100 Ukrainians could be dying every day. While Ukraine and its allies have made much of Russian losses since the war began, the issue of Ukrainian casualties has been something of a black hole.
- Nearly 90 people were killed in a Russian airstrike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Zelenskiy. Ukrainian authorities said eight people were killed in the strike, which took place last Tuesday. Zelenskiy’s figure would give the Desna attack Ukraine’s biggest military death toll in a single strike of the war so far.
- The Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol are to be put on trial, the head of the separatist Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, told Russian state media. It was not clear what charges the soldiers would face.
- The war in Ukraine could cause a recession in weaker economies, the head of the IMF has warned. Kristalina Georgieva predicted that 2022 would be a tough year and declined to rule out a global recession if conditions worsened markedly.
- New satellite images reportedly show Russian theft of Ukrainian grain, according to a series of images released by Maxar Technologies, seemingly backing up claims from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy that food had been gradually stolen from the country, CNN has reported. In the photos, taken from 19 and 21 May, two bulk carrier ships with Russian flags can be seen loading grain from the grain silos they are docked by.
- Starbucks is leaving the Russian market, bringing an end to nearly 15 years of business in the country for the Seattle-based coffee company. Starbucks currently has 130 stores in Russia and the company employs nearly 2,000 people in the country. McDonalds has also removed the “golden arches” from Moscow as the company prepares to leave Russia for good.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet with to discuss how to end the war.
In a video address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskiy said:
The president of the Russian Federation decides it all.
If we are talking about ending this war without him personally, that decision cannot be taken.
I cannot accept any kind of meeting with anyone coming from the Russian Federation but the president.
And only in the case when there is one issue on the (table): stopping the war. There are no other grounds for any other kind of meeting.”
Zelenskiy added that arranging any talks with Russia was becoming more difficult in light of what he said was evidence of Russian actions against civilians under occupation.
Moscow to focus on further developing ties with China, Lavrov says
Russia’s foreign minister has said Moscow will focus on developing relations with China, though would consider offers from the west to re-establish ties.
Sergei Lavrov, in a question and answer session at an event in Moscow, said western countries had espoused “russophobia” since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia was working to replace goods imported from western countries, he said, and in future, would rely only on “reliable” countries not beholden to the west.
If they (the west) want to offer something in terms of resuming relations, then we will seriously consider whether we will need it or not,” Lavrov said, according to a transcript on the foreign ministry’s website.
Lavrov set down grievances with western countries that he said were determined to change the rules of international relations to Russia’s detriment.
We must cease being dependent in any way on supplies of absolutely everything from the West for ensuring the development of critically important sectors for security, the economy or our homeland’s social sphere,” he said.
Lavrov said Moscow’s goal now is to further develop ties with China.
Now that the west has taken a ‘dictator’s position’, our economic ties with China will grow even faster.
In addition to direct revenue for the state budget, this is a chance to develop (Russia’s) far east and eastern Siberia.”
China, he said, had information and communications technologies “that are in no way inferior to the west. A great deal here will ensure mutual benefits.”
Lavrov said Russia would count on “only ourselves and on countries which have proved themselves reliable and do not ‘dance to some other piper’s music’. If western countries change their minds and propose some form of cooperation, we can then decide.”
EU likely to agree an embargo on Russian oil imports 'within days', Germany says
The European Union will likely agree an embargo on Russian oil imports “within days,” Germany’s economy minister said on Monday, but making a dent in Russia’s war chest may require capping global oil prices.
“We will reach a breakthrough within days,” Robert Habeck told German broadcaster ZDF when asked about an EU oil embargo in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He warned, however, that an embargo would not automatically weaken the Kremlin. Rising global oil prices after the United States announced an embargo on Russian oil enabled it to rake in more income while selling lower volumes.
Therefore, the European Commission and United States were working on a proposal to no longer pay “any price” for oil, but to cap global prices, he said.
“It is obviously an unusual measure, but these are unusual times,” he said. “This path only works if many countries get on board... and that’s proving to be the sticking point.”
Bundeswirtschaftsminister Robert #Habeck geht davon aus, dass sich die EU „innerhalb von wenigen Tagen“ auf ein Öl-Embargo gegen Russland einigen wird. Bei Gas sei das aber komplizierter, so der Grünen-Politiker in #Davos. pic.twitter.com/KptLYSOqNj
— ZDF heute journal (@heutejournal) May 23, 2022
The United States is still “a ways away” from any possible decision on whether to re-introduce US troops into Ukraine, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Monday, though acknowledged low-level planning underway.
President Joe Biden decided to withdraw American troops from Ukraine before Russia’s 24 February invasion in order to avoid a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary.
But changing circumstances including a reopening of the US embassy have raised questions about whether US troops may be required to return to help ensure security of diplomats in a country at war.
At a news conference, Milley acknowledged some degree of staff planning ahead of a potential decision to send US troops back into Ukraine. That planning hasn’t made it to his level for review or to the level of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin where ultimately, it would be up to Biden.
At the end of the day, any reintroduction of US forces into Ukraine would require a presidential decision. So we’re a ways away from anything like that.
We’re still developing courses of action, and none of that’s been presented yet to the Secretary.”
Milley did not specify whether he was referring to low-level planning for US troops to potentially secure a US diplomatic presence in Ukraine or potentially for other activities as well.
Russia’s Roscosmos space agency director general, Dmitry Rogozin, has said the Kuril Islands, a subject of territorial dispute with Japan, could be renamed after Russian ships and events of the early 20th century’s Russo-Japanese war, according to a Reuters report.
The territorial dispute over the isles – which Russia says are part of its Kuril chain and which Japan calls its northern territories – has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from reaching a peace treaty formally ending second world war hostilities.
Rogozin proposed to change the name of one of the islands to Varyag in honour of a cruiser whose sinking started the Russo-Japanese war in 1904. He also proposed that the Habomai Islands could be called the archipelago of Russian hero sailors.
“Always, when states added territories they would give them their own names (... ) Why don’t these islands have Russian names?” Rogozin said on state-owned radio broadcaster Sputnik.
“This would be much more logical than the names with which we now have been calling these islands and which destroy the Russian language.”
Updated
A recording of Russian diplomat to the United Nations in Geneva, Boris Bondarev, has emerged after the official resigned from his position.
Bondarev said he had handed in his resignation before sending a scathing letter to foreign colleagues inveighing against the “aggressive war unleashed” by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Ukraine. Bondarev, 41, confirmed his resignation in a letter posted on his Facebook page.
“For 20 years of my diplomatic career, I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on 24 February of this year,” he wrote, alluding to the date of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
Today so far
It is just after 1am in Kyiv. Here are the updates going into Tuesday morning:
- Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, commended Boris Bondarev’s decision to resign and encouraged other Russian officials to do the same.
- The war in Ukraine has impacted the global economy and could lead to recessions in vulnerable countries, according to the head of International Monetary Fund.
- After months of providing shelter to residents, the subway system in Kharkiv will begin operating again this week.
- McDonalds has removed the “golden arches” from Moscow as the company prepares to leave Russia for good.
- Satellite images reportedly show Russian-flagged ships stealing grain from Ukraine, as officials warn of a food crisis that could be felt around the world.
New satellite images reportedly show Russian theft of Ukrainian grain, CNN reports, backing up claims from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy that food had been gradually stolen from the country.
The images, which were produced by Maxar Technologies, are from 19 and 21 May. In them, two bulk carrier ships with Russian flags can be seen loading grain from the grain silos they are docked by.
From CNN:
It’s difficult to know for certain whether the ship is being loaded with stolen Ukrainian grain, but Russia-annexed Crimea produces little grain itself, unlike the agriculturally rich Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia immediately to the north. Ukrainian officials and industry sources have told CNN that Russian forces in occupied areas have emptied several silos and trucked the grain south.
Earlier this month, the Matros Pozynich carried out a similar mission: loading up with grain and setting sail out of the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean. It was initially bound for Egypt with its cargo, but it was turned away from Alexandria after a warning from Ukrainian officials, according to the country’s government. It was also barred entry to Beirut, eventually docking in Latakia, in Syria, where Russia has for years been propping up the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, Russia has stopped Ukrainian exports from the ports, creating the potential for a global food crisis. With Ukraine a top exporter of wheat and other food products, supply is already becoming strained.
“The world community must help Ukraine unblock seaports, otherwise the energy crisis will be followed by a food crisis and many more countries will face it,” Zelenskiy said over the weekend.
Updated
McDonald’s world-famous golden arches are coming down in Moscow, Reuters reports, as the fast food chain begins its departure from Russia.
After more than three decades, the company is selling the restaurants to a local licensee and they will operate under a different name.
From Reuters:
McDonald’s had in March decided to close its restaurants in the country, including the Pushkin Square location in central Moscow that had been a symbol of flourishing American capitalism in the dying embers of the Soviet Union.
The departure of McDonald’s is one of the most high-profile so far in opposition to what Russia calls its special operation in neighboring Ukraine.”
McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Moscow in 1990, a move largely seen as a signal just one year before the Soviet Union collapsed. But in March, the company announced that, because of the invasion of Ukraine and the “humanitarian crisis” it caused, its outlets there would close.
“This is a complicated issue that’s without precedent and with profound consequences,” said McDonald’s chief executive, Chris Kempczinski, in a statement to staff, reported by the BBC.
The departure comes at a high cost, and the company will write off a $1.4bn charge while also covering pay for the 62,000 employees now out of work, until the newly branded restaurants reopen.
“Some might argue that providing access to food and continuing to employ tens of thousands of ordinary citizens is surely the right thing to do,” Kempczinski said. “But it is impossible to ignore the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. And it is impossible to imagine the Golden Arches representing the same hope and promise that led us to enter the Russian market 32 years ago.”
Updated
The mayor of Kharkiv has announced that the city will resume subway service this week after the underground system was used for months to shelter civilians, CNN reports.
“All lines will be launched,” the mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said in a televised address, noting that the trains won’t go as often as they did before the invasion. “The subway depot was damaged during the bombing and shelling, so the intervals will be longer.”
Weary Kharkiv residents, after months living underground in the metro, are transported to student dorms. City subway system set to restart this week. #Ukraine #gettyimages #gettyimagesnews pic.twitter.com/zRkLlm2rHJ
— John Moore (@jbmoorephoto) May 22, 2022
Residents in the county’s second-largest city fled to the tracks as Russia attacked in February, but officials said those who sought refuge have now been relocated. Still, if needed, Terekhov said, “people can use the subway as a bomb shelter, especially subway underpasses”.
Updated
The award-winning Ukrainian film-maker Sergei Loznitsa said he plans to make a documentary about the war in his country.
Loznitsa, who lives in Lithuania, is currently showing his latest film, The Natural History of Destruction, at the Cannes film festival.
The filmmaker told Reuters today:
I haven’t yet been back in Ukraine since the war started but of course I intend to go there, and I intend to make a film, about those atrocities that are taking place at the moment.
Loznitsa also defended his position that Russian film-makers should not be boycotted in response to the war in Ukraine:
Culture in general, by definition, opposes war – it is something that is absolutely against any war.
And I’m now handing over the blog to my Guardian US colleague Gabrielle Canon. She will have more updates coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
A Ukrainian court has demanded the arrest in absentia of the country’s former president Viktor Yanukovych on charges of treason.
The accusations center on a 2010 pact signed by Yanukovych that extended Russia’s lease on naval facilities in Crimea.
That agreement, widely known in Ukraine as the Kharkiv pact, allowed Russia to keep its Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, Reuters reports.
Yanukovych has already received a 13-year jail sentence in absentia for treason, in connection to a letter he sent to Vladimir Putin in 2014. The letter asked the Russian leader to use his country’s army and police forces to restore order in Ukraine. Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014 following mass protests.
Updated
The foreign minister of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, praised the joint declaration signed by his country and Britain today to reaffirm their support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
“A great meeting with a true friend Liz Truss,” Landsbergis said of his discussion with the British foreign secretary.
“Full agreement on the need to help Ukraine to achieve a complete victory. Covered the food crisis caused by Russian blockade of Odessa and the need to boost the security of Nato’s eastern flank, [including] forward defence in the Baltics.”
A great meeting with a true friend Liz Truss. Full agreement on the need to help Ukraine to achieve a complete victory. Covered the food crisis caused by Russian blockade of Odessa and the need to boost the security of NATO’s Eastern flank, incl forward defence in the Baltics. pic.twitter.com/zSLcB89r7i
— Gabrielius Landsbergis (@GLandsbergis) May 23, 2022
In a statement released earlier today, Truss said of the declaration:
The UK and Lithuania are two countries which believe in freedom and sovereignty, and who stand up to authoritarian regimes in Europe and across the world.
We stand together with Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal, barbaric war.
Updated
War in Ukraine could cause recession in weaker economies, IMF boss warns
The Guardian’s Larry Elliott and Graeme Wearden in Davos report:
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the war in Ukraine has darkened the outlook for the global economy and could result in recession for more vulnerable countries.
Kristalina Georgieva predicted that 2022 would be a tough year and declined to rule out a global recession if conditions worsened markedly.
Asked in a session on the world economy at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, whether the IMF was forecasting a global recession, Georgieva replied: “Not at this point. It doesn’t mean one is out of the question.”
The IMF managing director said her organisation had recently downgraded the growth prospects for 143 of its member states, which represent 80% of global output.
“Since then the horizon has darkened,” she said, pointing out that the impact of the war in Ukraine was being amplified by a tightening of financial conditions, a rising US dollar and a slowdown in China. “2022 is going to be a tough year.”
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Starbucks is leaving the Russian market, bringing an end to nearly 15 years of business in the country for the Seattle-based coffee company.
Starbucks currently has 130 stores in Russia, according to Reuters, and the company employs nearly 2,000 people in the country.
Despite exiting the market, Starbucks said it would continue to support its Russian employees by paying them for six months.
The move comes amid a wave of announcements from western companies that they are leaving the Russian market by selling off assets or transferring them to local managers in response to the war in Ukraine.
McDonald’s said last week that it would sell its restaurants in Russia to its local licensee and have them rebranded under a new name, but the company will retain its trademarks.
Updated
The former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, has applauded Boris Bondarev over his decision to resign as a counsellor at the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
“Bravo Boris Bondarev! I know that many other Russian officials share your views. Hope they will now have the courage to follow your lead,” McFaul said on Twitter.
Bravo Boris Bondarev! I know that many other Russian officials share your views. Hope they will now have the courage to follow your lead.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) May 23, 2022
A Russian diplomat resigns: ‘Never have I been so ashamed of my country.’ https://t.co/ebgWkrEVrX
Bondarev, a 20-year veteran of the Russian foreign ministry, said he was “ashamed” of his country after witnessing the atrocities carried out in Ukraine over the past few months.
“Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy,” Bondarev said in a public statement. “It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred. It serves interests of few, the very few people thus contributing to further isolation and degradation of my country. Russia no longer has allies, and there is no one to blame but its reckless and ill-conceived policy.”
Updated
Summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- A veteran Russian diplomat in Geneva has resigned over his country’s invasion of Ukraine, in a rare political protest from within the Russian foreign policy establishment. Boris Bondarev, a counsellor at the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, wrote in a public statement: “Never have I been so ashamed of my country.” He confirmed he had submitted his letter of resignation.
- A court in Kyiv has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian civilian, in the first verdict in a trial related to war crimes carried out by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old sergeant, was found guilty of killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in the Sumy region during the first days of the invasion.
- Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said there were about 13,000 cases of Russian alleged war crimes being investigated as of Monday. Another 48 Russian soldiers are due to face war crimes trials, she said, adding that Ukrainian officials have a list of about 600 suspects thought to have engaged in war crimes.
- The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, said 20 countries announced new security assistance packages for Ukraine during a meeting with allies aimed at coordinating arms for Kyiv. The new security packages included “donating critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defence systems and tanks and other armoured vehicles”, he said.
-
Ukrainian forces will continue to fight even if they are surrounded by Russian forces in the Donbas region, western officials said. They said while Russians would eventually succeed in encircling the “Severodonetsk pocket”, that did not necessarily spell defeat for the Ukrainians, adding: “The Ukrainians don’t want to give up any territory. They want to make the Russians fight for every bit of it.”
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the west to intensify its economic sanctions against Russia as he said business leaders in Davos needed to decide whether “brute force” should rule the world. In a keynote video address to the World Economic Forum, Zelenskiy called for a full oil embargo, the severing of Russian banks from the global financial system, the complete isolation of the Russian IT sector and a ban on trade with Russia.
- Zelenskiy gave an insight into the level of losses being sustained by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas, saying between 50 to 100 Ukrainians could be dying every day. While Ukraine and its allies have made much of Russian losses since the war began, the issue of Ukrainian casualties has been something of a black hole.
- Nearly 90 people were killed in a Russian airstrike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Zelenskiy. Ukrainian authorities said eight people were killed in the strike, which took place last Tuesday. Zelenskiy’s figure would give the Desna attack Ukraine’s biggest military death toll in a single strike of the war so far.
- The Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol are to be put on trial, the head of the separatist Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, told Russian state media. It was not clear what charges the soldiers would face.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today as I hand the blog over to my colleague, Joan Greve. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
Updated
Lithuania will withdraw its ambassador to Russia from 1 June, according to a presidential decree.
No replacement has been named, Reuters reports.
On 4 April the Lithuanian foreign ministry said it was expelling the Russian ambassador after Ukraine accused Russian forces of killing civilians in the town of Bucha.
Russia’s ambassador to Lithuania “will have to leave the country”, the Lithuanian foreign ministry said in a statement at the time.
It said it intended to lower the level of diplomatic representation between the two countries.
Updated
Ukrainian forces will continue to fight even if they are surrounded by Russian forces in the Donbas region, western officials said.
Russian troops have focused their efforts on cutting off the Ukrainians who have been dug in around the strategically important city of Severodonetsk.
Western officials said that while Russians would eventually succeed in encircling the “Severodonetsk pocket”, that did not necessarily spell defeat for the Ukrainians.
One official said that even if no more aid was able to get through, the Ukrainians had shown they were willing to carry on fighting, inflicting further damage on the Russian military machine.
They said:
I think this largely comes down to political will. The Ukrainians don’t want to give up any territory. They want to make the Russians fight for very bit of it.
By continuing to fight, these Ukrainian troops would fulfil an important military function by “degrading the Russian capability to advance and creating time for the Ukrainian forces to continue to improve their defences elsewhere”, the official said.
They added:
From a loss of life position escaping might be desirable. but from a military point of view and a political point of view the Ukrainians will intend to fight.
We would expect them to fight for every bit of territory they can.
Updated
US says 20 countries announce new security assistance packages for Ukraine
Twenty countries announced new security assistance packages for Ukraine during a meeting with allies aimed at coordinating arms for Kyiv, the US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, said.
Among the countries that announced new packages were Italy, Denmark, Greece, Norway and Poland, Austin said at a news conference at the conclusion of the virtual meeting.
The new security packages included “donating critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defence systems and tanks and other armoured vehicles”, he said.
Denmark agreed to provide a harpoon launcher and missiles to “help Ukraine defend its coast”, he said.
The Czech Republic agreed to send “substantial support” to Kyiv including “a recent donation of attack helicopters, tanks and rocket systems,” he added.
Other countries came forward “with new commitments for training Ukraine’s forces and sustaining its military systems”, he said.
Austin said:
Everyone here understands the stakes of this war.
Updated
48 more Russian soldiers to face war crimes trials, says Ukraine’s prosecutor general
Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said there were about 13,000 cases of Russian alleged war crimes being investigated as of Monday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Venediktova said 48 more Russian soldiers would face war crimes trials, after a Kyiv court sentenced Vadim Shishimarin to life in prison for the killing of a 62-year-old unarmed civilian, Oleksandr Shelipov.
Venediktova said:
We have already initiated close to 13,000 cases which are connected only to war crimes. In this category, suspicions were reported [about] 49 individuals, which we started to prosecute [for] war crimes.
Ukrainian officials have a list of about 600 suspects thought to have engaged in war crimes, she said, while two cases involving three individuals were already being held by courts.
Venediktova said the scale of complaints against Russia suggested a systemic tolerance or encouragement of war crimes against Ukrainians, adding:
All evidence indicates that the Russian military and political elite has unconditionally reverted to the brutal war tactics of violence.
Civilian populations and civilian objects – including hospitals, educational facilities, and residential buildings – are internationally targeted in a widespread and systematic manner.
She said violations by Russian forces that her team had documented amounted to “unspeakable deliberate cruelty and violence against civilians”, adding:
This is particularly apparent in territories that were on the frontlines of war, which practically became a slaughterhouse.
She said 4,600 civilians were known to have died as a result of the war, including 232 children, and the real number was likely to be higher.
Updated
The US is considering sending special operations forces to Ukraine to guard its embassy in Kyiv, according to US officials.
The Biden administration is in the early stages of discussions about sending forces into the Ukrainian capital and a proposal has not been presented to the president for a decision, CNN reports.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that US military and diplomatic officials were weighing up plans to send troops to Kyiv to guard the newly reopened embassy there.
Currently, the embassy and its limited number of personnel are being protected by US state department diplomatic security officials. US marines typically guard embassies but there has been a general agreement that they may not be suited to the uncertain security situation in Ukraine, officials told CNN.
The US does not believe Russia would overtly attack its embassy but there is concern that it could inadvertently target the compound and the situation could dramatically escalate, officials said.
A Russian diplomat who resigned over the war in Ukraine said he does not believe his feelings are shared by many of his former colleagues in the foreign ministry.
Boris Bondarev, Russia’s counsellor to the UN in Geneva, wrote in a statement that he has “never been so ashamed” of his country and criticised the Russian foreign ministry for its increasing “level of lies and unprofessionalism”.
The statement was published by the UN rights watchdog, UN Watch. Bondarev later explained to the BBC why he had chosen to defect:
The reason is that I strongly disagree and disapprove of what my government is doing and has been doing at least since February, and I don’t want to be associated with that any longer.
He said it was a case of when, not if, he was going to quit. “I don’t see any alternative.”
He said he did not believe that his feelings were widespread in the foreign ministry, but he hoped his decision to leave “may be one little brick into the bigger wall which would eventually be built”, adding:
I think most people, the majority of them, are following the propaganda and what their superiors tell them.
When you work in the ministry you work in a hierarchy, so you must obey what your superior tells you. And for many years any critical approach has been erased from the ministry mostly.
Asked if he believed he would be considered a traitor, he replied:
I think they are already considering me as such.
Bondarev also spoke to Reuters about his decision to leave the post, saying he had started to think about leaving “a few years ago but the scale of this disaster drove me to do it”.
He said:
I went to the mission like any other Monday morning and I forwarded my resignation letter and I walked out.
He said had raised his concerns about the Russian invasion of Ukraine with senior embassy staff several times, and was “told to keep my mouth shut in order to avoid ramifications”.
Updated
Today so far...
It is 6.30pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
-
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the west to intensify its economic sanctions against Russia as he said business leaders in Davos needed to decide whether “brute force” should rule the world. In a keynote video address to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Zelenskiy called for a full oil embargo, the severing of Russian banks from the global financial system, the complete isolation of the Russian IT sector and a ban on trade with Russia.
- Zelenskiy gave an insight into the level of losses being sustained by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas, saying between 50 to 100 Ukrainians could be dying every day. While Ukraine and its allies have made much of Russian losses since the war began, the issue of Ukrainian casualties has been something of a black hole.
- Nearly 90 people were killed in a Russian airstrike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Zelenskiy. Ukrainian authorities said eight people were killed in the strike, which took place last Tuesday. Zelenskiy’s figure would give the Desna attack Ukraine’s biggest military death toll in a single strike of the war so far.
-
The Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol are to be put on trial, the head of the separatist Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, told Russian state media. It was not clear what charges the soldiers would face.
- A court in Kyiv has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian civilian, in the first verdict in a trial related to war crimes carried out by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old sergeant, was found guilty of killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in Sumy region during the first days of the invasion. The judge said although Shishimarin cooperated with the investigation and expressed remorse, the court could not accept his claim he had not meant to kill Shelipov when he fired at him.
- A Russian diplomat has resigned from his position in the United Nations, saying he has “never been so ashamed” of his country and condemning Vladimir Putin for his “aggressive war” against Ukraine. Boris Bondarev, a counsellor of the Russian mission to the UN office in Geneva, criticised those who conceived of the war for “enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity”. He later confirmed he has left his post.
- The Belarusian president and close ally of Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko, said he was concerned about what he called moves by the west to “dismember” Ukraine. During a televised meeting with the Russian president, Lukashenko also accused Poland of seeking to seize the western part of Ukraine. He provided no evidence to support either of his claims.
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Britain and Lithuania have signed a joint declaration that will look to build on bilateral defence and trade ties, the UK Foreign Office said. The declaration will build on the defence cooperation the two countries share as Nato allies and will increase resistance to threats, including from Russia and China, the UK government said.
Good afternoon from London. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong with you as we unpack all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
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Belarusian president and close ally of Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko, said he was concerned about what he called moves by the West to “dismember” Ukraine.
During a televised meeting with Putin, Lukashenko also accused Poland of seeking to seize the Western part of Ukraine. He provided no evidence to support either of his claims.
Lukashenko said:
What worries us is that they are ready, the Poles and Nato, to come out, to help take western Ukraine like it was before 1939.
Russia has previously suggested that Poland wants to establish control over historical Polish lands in Ukraine, a claim that Warsaw denies as disinformation, Reuters reports.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow was looking at an Italian peace plan proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in comments carried by Russian news agencies and reported by AFP, Rudenko said:
We have received it recently and are studying it.
He said discussions had not taken place between Russia and Italy, adding that Russia would comment at a later stage.
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UK signs joint declaration with Lithuania to deepen defence ties
Britain and Lithuania have signed a joint declaration that will look to build on bilateral defence and trade ties, the UK Foreign Office said.
In a statement, the British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said:
The UK and Lithuania are two countries which believe in freedom and sovereignty, and who stand up to authoritarian regimes in Europe and across the world.
We stand together with Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal, barbaric war.
Lithuania shares a border with Belarus, whose president, Alexander Lukashenko, has forged a close relationship with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
The declaration will build on the defence cooperation the two countries share as Nato allies and will increase resistance to threats, including from Russia and China, the British government said.
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Germany is to relax visa requirements for skilled workers from Russia, just as the country’s domestic intelligence agency warned of a heightened risk that Russian nationals working for German firms could be recruited for industrial espionage.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is streamlining the visa application process by exempting Russian workers with specialised expertise in areas such as IT and communication technology from case-by-case assessments through the federal employment department.
The so-called “global approval for access to the labour market”, which applies only to Russian employees of German companies who are earning at least €43,992 a year, will last until 30 September.
Between the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the beginning of May, Germany issued more than 600 visas for Russian skilled workers, which allow for a longer stay in Germany than the 90-day so-called Schengen visa.
The German foreign office told the news agency dpa it had issued about 350 work visas via its Moscow embassy in April, in addition to a further 190 working visas issued by the general consulate in St Petersburg. Most of those in receipt of such visas were already working for German firms, dpa said.
Germany is already home to about 235,000 Russian passport holders, more than any other country in the European Union.
Only last week, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution issued a special warning that Russian nationals who were about to move to Germany, and those already working in the country, faced an increased risk of being blackmailed or otherwise put under pressure to collect information of use to a Russian economy increasingly cut off from global knowledge networks.
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In a keynote video address to the World Economic Forum, the Ukrainian president has called for “maximum sanctions” against Russia, including a full oil embargo, exclusion of its banks from global systems, an ‘abandonment’ of its IT sector, and a complete cessation of trade. Here is a clip from Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s presentation:
Ukrainians have been out in some cities enthusiastically buying commemorative stamps again. Here are some of the latest pictures from Lviv that we have been sent over the newswires.
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Boris Bondarev, a counsellor of the Russian mission to the UN office in Geneva, has confirmed to Reuters that he has left his post on account of the war on Ukraine. [see 12.58]
He has told the news agency:
I went to the mission like any other Monday morning and I forwarded my resignation letter and I walked out. I started to imagine this a few years ago but the scale of this disaster drove me to do it.
He told Reuters that he had raised his concerns about the invasion of Ukraine with senior embassy staff several times. “I was told to keep my mouth shut in order to avoid ramifications,” he said.
There has been no official comment yet from Russia on Bondarev’s departure.
Belarus’s army has begun checking its weaponry and logistics equipment to make sure they are combat-ready, its ministry of defence said, Reuters reports.
In a statement, it said the army was carrying out checks on equipment in long-term storage. “The inspection will determine the condition of the equipment and its readiness to carry out its tasks,” it said.
Russian troops were stationed in Belarus, which is to the north of Ukraine, for military exercises prior to using it as a launchpad for incursions towards Kyiv at the beginning of the 2022 invasion.
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Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia and Estonia will call for the confiscation of Russian assets frozen by the EU to fund the rebuilding of Ukraine, in a joint letter by the four countries seen by Reuters.
The letter, which will be presented to EU finance ministers tomorrow, reads:
A substantial part of costs of rebuilding Ukraine, including compensation for victims of the Russian military aggression, must be covered by Russia.
It also calls for the EU to start preparing new sanctions against Russia, adding:
Ultimately, if Russia does not stop the military aggression against Ukraine, there should be no economic ties remaining between EU and Russia at all – ensuring that none of our financial resources, products or services contributes to Russia’s war machine.
The four countries call for legal ways to be identified to “maximise” the use of assets frozen by the EU to cover “the costs of Ukraine’s continued efforts to withstand the Russian aggression, and for the post-war reconstruction of the country”.
Last week, the European Commission said it would check if it was possible to seize frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine under national and EU laws. EU officials have warned that the confiscation of assets could be legally difficult.
The letter continues:
In cases where legal ways to confiscate the assets will not be identified, it should be used as leverage and released only once Russia compensates Ukraine for all the damages done.
Lithuania has called for a naval coalition “of the willing” to lift the Russian Black Sea blockade on Ukrainian grain exports.
The Lithuanian foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, proposed the plan during talks with the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, on Monday in London.
“Time is very, very short. We are closing in on a new harvest and there is no other practical way of exporting the grain except through the Black Sea port of Odesa,” he told the Guardian.
There is no way of storing this grain and no other adequate alternative route. It is imperative that we show vulnerable countries we are prepared to take the steps that are needed to feed the world.
Landsbergis proposed that a naval escort operation – not run by Nato – could protect the grain ships as they headed through the Black Sea and past Russian warships. He suggested that, apart from Britain, countries that were affected by the potential loss of grain such as Egypt could provide the necessary protection.
What we have seen now is just the beginning. The worst is yet to come in the next five to seven weeks when the first harvest arrives and there is no place to put it, so that means people in northern Africa, the Middle East and south-east Asia will be paying exorbitant prices for wheat, corn and the other commodities they need to put food on their table.
He said Ukraine needed to export 80m tonnes of wheat alone this year and the only option was through Odesa, the last Black Sea port held by Ukraine.
His plan, under gestation for weeks, would require de-mining parts of the Black Sea to ensure safe passage, as well as the agreement of Turkey, which guards the entrance to the Black Sea.
“This would be a non-military humanitarian mission and is not comparable with a no-fly zone,” he said.
In this endeavour military ships or planes or both would be used to ensure that the grain supplies can leave Odesa safely and reach the Bosphorus without Russian interference. We would need a coalition of the willing – countries with significant naval power to protect the shipping lanes, and countries that are affected by this.
Nato as an alliance should not take a role, he said.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned of “a hurricane of hunger” if Ukrainian grain is not exported. The world’s 41 least-developed nations import a third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia. Soaring food prices have already driven inflation levels in Egypt to the highest level since mid-2019.
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Nearly 90 people were killed in a Russian air strike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The attack, which took place last Tuesday, left 87 people dead, Zelenskiy said during his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Zelenskiy said:
Today we completed work at Desna. In Desna under the rubble there were 87 casualties. 87 corpses.
It has not been able to independently verify this figure.
Last week, Ukrainian authorities said eight people were killed in the strike. Zelenskiy’s figure would make the Desna attack Ukraine’s biggest military death toll in a single strike of the war so far, Reuters reports.
On the day of the attack, a Russian military spokesperson said high-precision, long-range missiles had hit Ukrainian reserves forces at a training centre near Desna and at one other site.
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Senior Russian diplomat at UN defects over war in Ukraine – reports
A Russian diplomat has resigned from his position in the United Nations, saying he has “never been so ashamed” of his country and condemning Vladimir Putin for his “aggressive war” against Ukraine, according to reports.
Boris Bondarev, a counsellor of the Russian mission to the UN office in Geneva, criticised the Russian foreign ministry – where he has worked for 20 years – for its increasing “level of lies and unprofessionalism”, the rights watchdog UN Watch reports.
In a statement shared by the organisation’s director, Hillel Neuer, Bondarev said:
For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year. The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine, and in fact against the entire Western world, is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia, with a bold letter Z crossing our all hopes and prospects for a prosperous free society in our country.
Those who conceived this war want only one thing – to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity. To achieve that they are willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes. Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have already died just for this.
BREAKING: 🇷🇺 Russia’s Counsellor to the United Nations in Geneva has resigned.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 23, 2022
Boris Bondarev: “Never have I been so ashamed of my country.”
UN Watch is now calling on all other Russian diplomats at the United Nations—and worldwide—to follow his moral example and resign.
🧵: pic.twitter.com/ZuKqq0gJO8
He said the work of the foreign ministry had become “simply catastrophic” in recent years, adding:
Instead of unbiased information, impartial analysis and sober forecasting, there are propaganda cliches in the spirit of Soviet newspapers of the 1930s. A system has been built that deceives itself.
He was particularly critical of the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who he said had gone from a “professional and educated intellectual” to becoming “a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world... with nuclear weapons”.
Bondarev added:
Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred. It serves interests of few, the very few people thus contributing to further isolation and degradation of my country. Russia no longer has allies, and there is no one to blame but its reckless and ill-conceived policy.
He concluded by saying that he could no longer continue working for the foreign ministry and “shared in this bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy”.
Neuer said Bondarev was a “hero”, adding:
We are now calling on all other Russian diplomats at the United Nations—and worldwide—to follow his moral example and resign.
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US president Joe Biden said Russia must “pay a long-term price” for its “barbarism” in Ukraine in terms of sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.
Biden was speaking to reporters earlier today during a visit to Tokyo, where he met with the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida. The pair agreed to monitor Chinese naval activity and joint Chinese-Russia exercises.
Asked if Washington was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, he replied: “Yes.” He added: “That’s the commitment we made.”
Biden added:
We agreed with the One China policy, we signed on to it … but the idea that it can be taken by force is just not appropriate, it would dislocate the entire region and would be another action similar to Ukraine.
He directly linked the fates of Ukraine and Taiwan, saying western sanctions on Russia must exact a “long-term price” because otherwise:
What signal does that send to China about the cost of attempting to take Taiwan by force?
Updated
More than 6.5m people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on 24 February, the UN refugee agency said.
A total of 6,538,998 refugees have left Ukraine, with the majority of them entering Poland.
Updated
A court in Kyiv has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian civilian, in the first verdict in a trial related to war crimes carried out by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine.
Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old sergeant, was found guilty of killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in Sumy region during the first days of the invasion.
The verdict was delivered on Monday by the judge, Serhii Ahafonov, at a packed courtroom, with dozens of Ukrainian and foreign television cameras crammed into the small room.
The judge said although Shishimarin cooperated with the investigation and expressed remorse, the court could not accept his claim he had not meant to kill Shelipov when he fired at him.
Shishimarin, wearing a grey-and-blue hoodie, listened with his head bowed to the judge deliver his long verdict from inside the glass box for defendants. He was given a translation of the judge’s words from Ukrainian to Russian by a court-appointed translator.
It is the first in a number of war crimes cases that Ukraine prosecutors want to try as quickly as possible. Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, has said she is preparing more than 40 cases related to war crimes that could come to trial soon, and Ukrainian authorities say they have registered more than 10,000 war crimes across the country.
Trying cases so quickly, while the conflict is still ongoing, is extremely unusual and may violate elements of the Geneva conventions, legal experts say. However, Ukraine has made swift justice a priority, partly as a warning to Russian troops still occupying parts of the country that they may face justice for any crimes they commit.
Prosecutors said Shishimarin was in a car with other Russian soldiers, one of whom ordered him to shoot Shelipov, as he had been a witness to them shooting at a car and then stealing it.
Here’s a bit more detail from the Kremlin’s briefing earlier today. Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, blamed the west for triggering a global food crisis by imposing the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia over the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Peskov told reporters:
Russia has always been a rather reliable grain exporter.
We are not the source of the problem. The source of the problem that leads to world hunger are those who imposed sanctions against us, and the sanctions themselves.
Together, Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies. Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil, while Russia and Belarus account for more than 40% of global exports of the crop nutrient potash.
Thirty-six countries count on Russia and Ukraine for more than half their wheat imports, according to the United Nations, including some of the world’s poorest nations such as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Last week, the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said he was in intense contact with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the US and the EU in an effort to restore grain exports from Ukraine.
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Shaun Walker is at the Kyiv court where 21-year-old tank commander Vadim Shishimarin has been sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial since Russia’s invasion.
Vadim Shishimarin sentenced to life in prison in Kyiv just now. He looks like a child. Wonder if the people who ordered him into Ukraine will ever be standing in the dock… pic.twitter.com/EZaRxMUGxU
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) May 23, 2022
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Russian soldier sentenced to life in prison in war crimes trial
A Russian soldier has been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial held in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.
Vadim Shishimarin, 21, pleaded guilty to killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in the north-east Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on 28 February.
The judge, Serhiy Agafonov, said Shishimarin, carrying out a “criminal order” by a soldier of higher rank, had fired several shots at the victim’s head from an automatic weapon.
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong taking over from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. As always, feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag. You can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Today so far …
- A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s 24 February invasion. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander, had pleaded guilty to killing the 62-year-old man in the north-eastern Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on 28 February after being ordered to shoot at him from a car.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko has said that Moscow would be prepared to go back to peace negotiations when the leadership in Kyiv demonstrates “a constructive response”.
- Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region. “The war must end with the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” said Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last night that 50 to 100 Ukrainians were dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties. The heaviest fighting is focused around the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbas. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said in a local television interview that Russia was using “scorched-earth” tactics in the region.
- Donetsk’s self-proclaimed separatist leader Denis Pushilin has said that “the prisoners from Azovstal are being held on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Organising an international tribunal on the republic’s territory is also planned.”
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia was concerned by the trial of Shishimarin in Kyiv, adding that it could not defend his interests in person.
- Peskov also warned that Russian soldiers would have to be alert to “terrorist attacks” after the Russian-appointed mayor of the occupied city of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine was injured in an explosion on Sunday.
- Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for “maximum sanctions” against Russia in an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos. He proposed a full oil embargo and cutting off all of Russia’s banks from the international monetary system.
- Zelenskiy suggested the rebuilding could be partly funded by finding Russian assets hidden overseas, freezing them, and allocating them to a special fund to help those hurt by the war.
- Russia’s death toll from its war on Ukraine is akin to the losses suffered in its war in Afghanistan, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In the first three months since Russia invaded Ukraine, it is likely to have suffered a similar death toll to that experienced by the Soviet Union during its nine year war in Afghanistan, the MoD claimed.
- Russia is “concentrating its efforts” on assaults on the eastern Ukrainian city of Siverodonetsk and the nearby town of Toshkivka, the Ukrainian military has said in its latest operational report.
- Zelenskiy has extended Ukraine’s martial law for three months through to 23 August. Ukraine’s parliament also banned the symbols “Z” and “V”, used by Russia’s military to promote its war in Ukraine, but agreed to Zelenskiy’s call to allow their use for educational or historic purposes.
- The World Health Organization mission in Ukraine has said it has “verified 30 additional attacks on healthcare” in the country. It says: “As of 23 May, 248 attacks on health care have been verified in Ukraine. These attacks caused 75 deaths and 59 injuries.”
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Zelenskiy calls for 'maximum sanctions' against Russia at Davos
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for “maximum sanctions” against Russia in an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Saying that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in February 2022 if it had been dealt a more severe economic blow after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Zelenskiy proposed:
- A full oil embargo.
- That all Russian banks be barred from global systems with no exemptions.
- Cutting ties with Russia’s IT industry.
- No trade with Russia.
Any company that leaves Russia is welcome to move to the Ukraine market, says Zelenskiy, saying companies would benefit by truly supporting freedom.
On the massive challenge of rebuilding Ukraine, Zelenskiy said:
We offer the world the chance to set a precedent for what happens if you try to destroy a neighbour. I invite you to take part in this rebuilding.
He suggested the rebuilding could be partly funded by finding Russian assets hidden overseas, freezing them, and allocating them to a special fund to help those hurt by the war.
Zelenskiy quoted George Marshall, who gave his name to the post-second world war rebuilding plan for Europe, who said he didn’t oppose any country, but opposed “hunger, poverty, despair, chaos”.
Updated
Graeme Wearden is in Davos covering Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s address to the World Economic Forum:
WEF founder Klaus Schwab introduces Zelenskiy, saying we have all seen his courageous leadership, and want to hear what lies ahead for Ukraine, and how we can assist.
Zelenskiy begins by saying it is a great honour to take part in this year’s Davos – whose theme is history at a turning point.
This year, the phrase word ‘turning point’ is more than rhetoric – this is the moment when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world, says Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy says Ukraine has fought longer than expected, but says it wouldn’t have needed to have endured the war, with so many casualties, if tough sanctions had been imposed last autumn.
If there had been full unity back in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, would they have launched February’s invasion? Again, Zelenskiy thinks not.
Follow it live here: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses WEF – business live
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been giving his usual daily brief to reporters, which Reuters are carrying some lines from. Peskov has said:
- Russian soldiers would have to be alert to “terrorist attacks” after the Russian-appointed mayor of the occupied city of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine was injured in an explosion on Sunday.
- The west had triggered a global food crisis by imposing the severest sanctions in modern history on Russia over the war in Ukraine. “Russia has always been a rather reliable grain exporter,” Peskov said. “We are not the source of the problem.”
- Russia was concerned by the trial of a Russian serviceman in Kyiv charged with war crimes, adding that it could not defend his interests in person.
- Peskov again said that pumping weapons into Ukraine would not boost security or stability in Europe.
Updated
Here is that quote from Donetsk’s separatist leader Denis Pushilin about the fate of Ukrainian soldiers who were under siege in Azovstal. Interfax quote him saying:
The prisoners from Azovstal are being held on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Organising an international tribunal on the republic’s territory is also planned.
A Just Giving page has been has been set up by a Guardian reporter to raise funds for the safe evacuation to Switzerland of an eight-year- old boy who was left as the only child in his ruined village in north east Ukraine. He lived for 87 days below ground.
The cause is urgent with Tymofiy and his family in need of help getting to Zurich – and even then their future is full of uncertainty. Here is the page.
Tymofiy Seidov and his mother, aunt, grandmother and grandfather spent three months in a dark crowded 40x5-metre basement below the ruins of a kindergarten.
Tymofiy spent much of his time drawing monsters and tanks, and also some remembered sunny days, while at a little table, dimly illuminated from above by a tiny LED light.
When offered the chance to escape, he had begged to stay as he was terrified of the Russian shells that have rained down on his village since 24 February.
His mum persuaded him that they needed to leave on Sunday 22 May. Here is the latest story on the evacuation.
The family are now in western Ukraine but need help moving on.
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A reminder that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will shortly be addressing the World Economic Forum from Davos. My colleague Graeme Wearden is there, and will be covering it live on our business blog. I’ll bring you the key lines here as well.
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There is a little bit more from Interfax, reporting the words of Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko, saying that Moscow would be prepared to go back to peace negotiations when the leadership in Kyiv demonstrates “a constructive response”.
He is also quoted as saying that Russia is not ruling out the possibility of a prisoner exchange involving those Ukrainian fighters who surrendered from the Azovstal plant.
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Azovstal PoWs to be tried by tribunal in separatist Donetsk – reports
There is a quick snap going across the newswires via the Interfax news agency, which states that the leader of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk has said that all prisoners of war from the Azovstal steel plant will be tried by a tribunal in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
More to follow …
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Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s Luhansk governor, has given an update on the situation in Severodonetsk. He has posted to Telegram:
The Russians damaged five high-rises and shopping areas of the central market. An elderly man was wounded. On 22 May, 11 enemy attacks were repelled, 6 tanks, 10 units of armoured combat vehicles and 6 units of motor vehicles were destroyed. Air defence units shot down 1 UAV Orlan-10 and an enemy Su-25 “Frogfoot”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
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Daniel Boffey writes for us from Irpin in Ukraine about a couple who fled the city with 19 dogs:
The image of a windswept young woman holding tight to the leads of nine dogs under an ominously dark sky spread far and wide at the time of the Battle of Kyiv.
The apparent bravery of the woman, who was attempting an audacious evacuation across a broken bridge targeted by Russian fire, and the vulnerability of the animals, some of whom were strapped into dog wheelchairs, epitomised to many the cruelty of the war being waged by Vladimir Putin and the dignity of the Ukrainian response.
The full story of the trials of Anastasiya Tykha, 20, a veterinary student in the final year of her degree, and her husband Arthur Lee, 26, is perhaps even more striking than the photograph, which the couple discovered had gone viral when Tykha saw herself on the television news and listened to the presenter report that she was dead.
Read more of Daniel Boffey’s report here: ‘We had too much to do to be scared’ – the couple who fled Irpin with 19 dogs
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The World Health Organization mission in Ukraine has tweeted to say that it has “verified 30 additional attacks on healthcare” in the country. It says:
As of 23 May, 248 attacks on health care have been verified in Ukraine. These attacks took place between 24 February and 19 May & caused 75 deaths and 59 injuries. Health care should never be a target.
.@WHO has verified 30 additional attacks on health care in #Ukraine.
— WHO Ukraine (@WHOUkraine) May 23, 2022
As of 23 May, 248 attacks on health care have been verified in Ukraine. These attacks took place between 24 February and 19 May & caused 75 deaths and 59 injuries.
Health care should never be a target. pic.twitter.com/7WvoAK3EdL
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A statue of Peter the Great in Deptford, south London, that Vladimir Putin’s government gifted to the UK has been damaged in an attempted robbery, leaving a diplomatically awkward repair bill of thousands of pounds.
Millennium Quay, the owners of the Thames-side housing estatethat surrounds the statue, suggested the Russian embassy could pick up the tab. The embassy has not responded to requests for comment.
The Deptford statue by Mihail Chemiakin, one of Putin’s favourite artists, commemorates the young tsar’s 1698 trip to Deptford to study English shipbuilding.
Joel Coleman, Millennium Quay’s property manager, said: “We can get it restored if we can find out who owns it. In the last resort I’ll call the Russians. As it was a gift from the Russian people, we can see if the Russian embassy will pay for it.”
Read more here: Peter the Great statue, Vladimir Putin’s gift to Londoners, damaged in attempted robbery
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Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has posted to Telegram to say that there will be a free evacuation train again at 4.30pm local time today to take people from Pokrovsk in Donetsk in the east of the country, out to Lviv in the west via Dnipro.
On Sky News in the UK, the former chief of the general staff of the British army, Gen Lord Richard Dannatt, has said that Vladimir Putin has not achieved very much so far in this war. While, he said, “Mariupol was always going to fall at some point”, he added:
The significance from the Ukrainian’s point of view was just how long the fighters within the steelworks managed to hold out and hold on, because that dragged in such large numbers of Russian troops who otherwise might have been deployed elsewhere.
[Putin] feels obviously very strongly he’s got to achieve something. And that something is, in his view, the complete control of the Donbas region. Elsewhere they’ve done really poorly. I think the Russians, according to reports, are making some small gains but frankly, small gains isn’t going to win this campaign for them.
The Ukrainians are still retaining the very well-prepared defensive positions that they’ve occupied for the last six, seven, eight years. With Ukrainian standing on the defence, it’s the Russians who have to throw their combat power against well-prepared Ukrainian positions. And that largely explains why the Russians are taking so many casualties.
On the blockade of Odesa, he said:
This is one of those major issues that doesn’t just affect the Ukrainian people. It affects all of us worldwide. From a military point of view it is a very interesting one to watch. Ukrainians will be desperate to hold on to Odesa, but they can’t use it as a port at the present moment. For defensive reasons they’ve heavily mined it. They are determined to prevent the Russians capturing Odessa and pushing up through to Transnistria in Moldova.
Updated
Maksym Kozytskyi, Ukraine’s governor of Lviv, has given his daily update on the situation there. He reports that more people returned to Ukraine than fled over the border in the last 24 hours, with 32,000 leaving and 44,000 coming back.
He reported there were two air alerts overnight, one for a suspected missile strike from the Black Sea, and another because “there was a danger from the territory of Belarus”.
Updated
Whoever is running the Russian foreign ministry social media accounts this morning has gone on a bit of a retweeting spree, distributing some inflammatory claims about the situation in Ukraine from Russian diplomats over the last twelve hours.
One message is from Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, who says in a response to a message from Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba thanking Polish people for their help:
The Polish dream to have Ukrainian neighbours as cheap labor and control and exploit their land as they did in 1918-1939 has come closer.
They have also promoted a video clip from another diplomat, Alexander Alimov, which purports to show what he claims is the “Nazi Aidar battalion” mistreating civilians in the self-proclaimed republic in Luhansk.
The ministry has also shared a message from a third diplomat, Mikhail Ulyanov, challenging US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s statement about potential food shortages caused by the blockading of the export of Ukraine’s grain. Ulyanov says:
Russia expects a record-breaking harvest of wheat in 2022. We stand ready to offer to export 25m tons of grain … what the US is going to offer?
Updated
My colleague Graeme Wearden has launched our business blog for the day, which is coming from Davos. Ukraine will be high on the agenda, with a special address by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy scheduled for 11.15am local time (10.15am BST), and a discussion with Vitaliy and Wladimir Klitschko to follow that. I’ll pick up the key lines on this blog, but Graeme will have the full Davos coverage over here: Davos Day One – Ukrainian MPs call for more support as WEF begins
The RIA news agency reports that Russia’s defence ministry says its forces destroyed a Ukrainian unit of US-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery weapon.
The claim has not been independently verified.
- This is Martin Belam taking over the blog for the next few hours. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Summary so far
Before I hand you over to my colleague Martin Belam, here are the latest lines from Ukraine this morning:
- Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region. “The war must end with the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” said Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
- The comments came as Russia said it was willing to resume peace negotiations, its lead negotiator said on Sunday, but the initiative to continue them was with Kyiv. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky claimed in an interview with Belarusian TV that “Russia has never refused talks”. “Freezing talks was entirely Ukraine’s initiative,” he said, adding that the “ball is completely in their court”.
- Polish president Andrzej Duda became the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament in person since the invasion began, backing Ukraine’s stance on territorial concessions and warning the international community that ceding any territory to Russia would be a “huge blow” to the entire west. “After Bucha, Borodianka, Mariupol, there cannot be business as usual with Russia,” he said.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 50 to 100 Ukrainians were dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties. The heaviest fighting is focused around the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbas. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said in a local television interview that Russia was using “scorched-earth” tactics in the region.
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Russia’s death toll from its war on Ukraine is akin to the losses suffered in its war in Afghanistan, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In the first three months since Russia invaded Ukraine, it is likely to have suffered a similar death toll to that experienced by the Soviet Union during its nine year war in Afghanistan, the MoD claimed. A combination of “poor low-level tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility” and a command approach “prepared to reinforce failure and repeat mistakes” has led to the high casualty rate, British intelligence added.
- Russia is “concentrating its efforts” on assaults on the eastern Ukrainian city of Siverodonetsk and the nearby town of Toshkivka, the Ukrainian military has said in its latest operational report.
- Ukraine is set to top the agenda at the four-day World Economic Forum in Davos, which kicks off on Monday with a video address from Zelenskiy. This year Russia’s “house” at the event was transformed by Ukrainian artists into a “Russian war crimes house”, portraying images of misery and devastation.
- Zelenskiy has extended Ukraine’s martial law for three months through to 23 August. Ukraine’s parliament also banned the symbols “Z” and “V”, used by Russia’s military to promote its war in Ukraine, but agreed to Zelenskiy’s call to allow their use for educational or historic purposes.
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A verdict in the conflict’s first war crimes trial is due today with a panel of judges in Kyiv determining the fate of 21-year-old Russian sergeant Vadim Shishimarin.
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New Zealand will deploy a further 30 defence force troops to the UK, to help train 230 Ukrainian soldiers in using a howitzer gun. The government will also provide 40 gun sights and a small quantity of ammunition for training purposes.
For a more comprehensive rundown please see our earlier summary.
Updated
Verdict expected in conflict’s first war crimes trial
A verdict in the conflict’s first war crimes trial is due today with a panel of judges in Kyiv determining the fate of Russian sergeant Vadim Shishimarin.
The shaven-headed 21-year-old from Siberia has admitted to killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian in the early stages of the invasion, but earlier told the court he was pressured into an act for which he was “truly sorry”.
“I was nervous about what was going on. I didn’t want to kill,” he said from the glass defence box, wearing a grey and blue hoodie, as the trial concluded on Friday.
Shysimarin added: “I’m truly and sincerely sorry. I didn’t want that to happen, I didn’t want to be there, but it happened. I would like to apologise once again. And I will accept all the measures of punishment that I will be offered.”
Shishimarin’s lawyer has argued for an acquittal, saying his client was carrying out what he perceived to be a direct order that he initially disobeyed.
Prosecutors, who have asked for a life sentence, said he was “well aware” he was executing a “criminal order”.
Updated
New Zealand to send army personnel to UK to train Ukrainian soldiers
New Zealand will deploy another 30 defence force troops to the UK, to help train 230 Ukrainian soldiers in using a howitzer gun.
The prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday the soldiers would be training their Ukrainian counterparts in operating a L119 105mm light field gun.
The deployment was another way New Zealand could support Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion, Ardern said.
We have been clear throughout Russia’s assault on Ukraine, that such a blatant attack on innocent lives and the sovereignty of another country is wrong, and our response has not only included the condemnation of Russia, but practical support for Ukraine.”
The prime minister said the troops will be in the UK until the end of July and train 230 Ukrainians.
This new support comes in addition to the extensive assistance we have already provided to Ukraine, which encompasses the military, humanitarian, legal, and other aspects of the conflict.
There are very few armed forces that could provide this training right now, which is why New Zealand has been specifically called upon.”
The government will also provide 40 gun sights and a small quantity of ammunition for training purposes.
“The 30 NZDF personnel will in no way enter the Ukraine for this training,” Ardern added.
Updated
Johnson pens emotive letter to the children of Ukraine
British prime minister Boris Johnson has penned an emotive letter to the children of Ukraine, commending them for holding their heads high in the “toughest of times” and reassuring them they are not alone, according to a report from PA Media.
The prime minister said he was “very sad” to see youngsters absent from the streets and parks of Kyiv when he visited the Ukrainian capital last month, adding: “I cannot imagine how difficult this year must have been for you.”
When your president showed me around Kyiv last month, the absence of children and young people on the streets and in the parks made me feel very sad.
Since the invasion many of you have been forced to flee your homes. You have left behind family, friends, pets, toys and all that is familiar, seeking refuge in underground stations, distant cities, even other countries. I cannot imagine how difficult this year must have been for you.
Many of you have seen or experienced things no child should have to witness.
Yet, every day Ukrainian children are teaching all of us what it means to be strong and dignified, to hold your head high in even the toughest of times. I can think of no better role model for children and adults everywhere.”
Earlier, Johnson resolved to “redouble efforts” to provide vital food and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and ensure the country is able to export to the rest of the world.
In a call to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, Johnson said that Britons are “1000%” behind the people of Ukraine.
Russia's death toll akin to war in Afghanistan, UK MoD says
In the first three months since Russia invaded Ukraine, it has likely suffered a similar death toll to that experienced by the Soviet Union during its nine year war in Afghanistan, the UK ministry of defence has claimed.
A combination of “poor low-level tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility” and a command approach which is “prepared to reinforce failure and repeat mistakes” has led to the high casualty rate, British intelligence said in its latest report released this morning.
Casualties are continuing to rise in the Donbas offensive, the report added.
The Russian public has, in the past, proven sensitive to casualties suffered during wars of choice. As casualties suffered in Ukraine continue to rise they will become more apparent, and public dissatisfaction with the war and a willingness to voice it may grow.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 23 May 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 23, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/mpZMMMUOI9
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/wTIofOVxC0
Updated
Russia is increasing assault on Siverodonetsk, Ukraine says
Russia is “concentrating its efforts” on assaults on the eastern Ukrainian city of Siverodonetsk and the nearby town of Toshkivka, the Ukrainian military has said.
Russian forces are also preparing to resume an offensive in the Slovyansk direction after its troops were repelled following a failed operation in the area of Dovhenke, Ukraine’s latest operational report reads.
In the Kharkiv region, Russian forces have set up checkpoints and fortifications on access roads near the settlements of Velykyi Burluk, Kapitolivka, Mykhailivka, Levkivka, Zabavne and Kupyansk, Oleksandr Shtupun, spokesman for the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said.
Meanwhile, in the Donetsk direction, Russian forces are reportedly attempting to break through the defences of Ukrainian troops and reach the administrative borders of Luhansk oblast.
Russia is focusing its main efforts on “maintaining occupied frontiers, conducting reconnaissance and engineering activities of positions”, Ukraine’s military claims adding its forced thwarted 11 Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk over the past 24 hours.
Updated
Zelenskiy to address World Economic Forum in Davos
The conflict in Ukraine is making its mark at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Kyiv will continues its diplomatic counteroffensive by targeting the world’s business and political elite gathering in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos during a four-day meeting of global business leaders.
Talks will begin on Monday with a video address by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
This is the world’s most influential economic platform where Ukraine has something to say,” the Ukrainian president said in an earlier address.
Zelenskiy will also mark the opening of Ukraine House Davos, a forum for Kyiv and its international backers.
“Ukraine House Davos will host dialogue on security, sanctions, humanitarian aid, rebuilding and revitalising Ukraine, and more,” an official statement reads.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg are among the leaders due to address the meeting.
In March, Davos organisers cut ties with Russian firms and officials, and announced that anyone under international sanctions would not be welcome at the event.
The main street in the town in Switzerland has been turned into a Russian War Crimes House by Ukrainian artists hoping to get their message across to world leaders, Reuters reports.
Visitors are confronted by images such as a badly burned man in Kharkiv after Russian shelling and a film made up of thousands of pictures of dead civilians and bombed houses.
President of the @UWCongress, @PaulMGrod, and founder of @saintjavelin, @ItsBorys, head to #Davos2022 to engage the foremost political, business, and cultural leaders and garner support for the #UniteWithUkraine campaign. Read more here:https://t.co/eQJlD0PEon
— Unite With Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@UniteWithUKR) May 21, 2022
“The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos this year will be the most timely and consequential annual meeting since the creation of the forum over 50 years ago,’’ WEF founder Klaus Schwab told reporters ahead of the meeting.
“The return of war, epidemics and the climate crisis, all those disruptive forces have derailed the global recovery,” Schwab said. “Those issues must be confronted in Davos; the global food crisis, in particular, needs our immediate attention.”
Up to 100 Ukrainians dying every day in east, Zelenskiy says
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said 50 to 100 Ukrainians are dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties.
The heaviest fighting is focused around the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbas.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said in a local television interview that Russia was using “scorched-earth” tactics in the region and that Sievierodonetsk had been attacked from “four separate directions” though Russian forces had not succeeded in breaking into the city.
Ukraine has been somewhat opaque about the scale of its combat losses
— Emma Graham-Harrison (@_EmmaGH) May 22, 2022
The fact that Zelenskiy is being open about casualty rates equivalent to 3,000 Ukrainians giving their lives in a month is a sign of how brutal the fight is https://t.co/VxeeMIXkzQ
Russian airstrikes hit Ukrainian forces in the Mykolaiv and Donbas regions, targeting command centres, troops, and ammunition depots, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.
Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, spokesperson for the defence ministry, said air-launched missiles hit three command points and four ammunition depots in the Donbas.
A British intelligence report released on Sunday claimed the city of Sievierodonetsk in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region is one of Russia’s “immediate tactical priorities” as its forces deploy terminator tanks to the area.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while before my colleagues in London take the reins a little later in the day.
On today’s agenda, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will continue his diplomatic counteroffensive by targeting the world’s business and political elite gathering in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos. Zelenskiy will kick off the four-day World Economic Forum of global business leaders with a video address.
Zelenskiy has also claimed that up to 100 Ukrainians are dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties.
Here is everything you might have missed:
- Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region. “The war must end with the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” said Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
- The comments came as Russia said it was willing to resume peace negotiations, its lead negotiator said Sunday, but the initiative to continue them was with Kyiv. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky claimed in an interview with Belarusian TV that “Russia has never refused talks”. “Freezing talks was entirely Ukraine’s initiative,” he said, adding that the “ball is completely in their court”.
- Polish president Andrzej Duda became the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament in person since the invasion began, backing Ukraine’s stance on territorial concessions and warning the international community that ceding any territory to Russia would be a “huge blow” to the entire west. “After Bucha, Borodianka, Mariupol, there cannot be business as usual with Russia,” he said.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 50 to 100 Ukrainians were dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties. The heaviest fighting is focused around the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbas. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said in a local television interview that Russia was using “scorched-earth” tactics in the region.
- Ukraine is set to top the agenda at the four-day World Economic Forum in Davos, which kicks off on Monday with a video address from Zelenskiy. This year Russia’s “house” at the event was transformed by Ukrainian artists into a “Russian war crimes house”, portraying images of misery and devastation.
- The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, spoke with Zelenskiy on Sunday evening about Russia’s blockade of Odesa, Ukraine’s largest shipping port. The blockade of Ukraine’s ports has been a growing concern for world leaders as many continue to warn about global food security, in particular for developing countries.
- The Moscow-installed mayor of Enerhodar, a southern city of Ukraine and the location of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, has been wounded in an explosion. Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that Andrey Shevchik was in intensive care.
- A bid by Ukraine to join the European Union would not be finalised for “15 or 20 years”, France’s Europe minister said. “We have to be honest. If you say Ukraine is going to join the EU in six months, or a year or two, you’re lying,” Clément Beaune said. “It’s probably in 15 or 20 years. It takes a long time.”
- Zelenskiy has extended Ukraine’s martial law for three months through to 23 August. Ukraine’s parliament also banned the symbols “Z” and “V”, used by Russia’s military to promote its war in Ukraine, but agreed to Zelenskiy’s call to allow their use for educational or historic purposes.
- Olena Zelenska has given a rare interview with Zelenskiy, only their second public appearance together since Russia launched its invasion. She recounts the “anxiety and stupor” she felt on 24 February, and says that even though she has barely seen her husband since, “no one, not even the war, could take him away” from her.
- Technicians linked to the Syrian military’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been deployed to Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe. Intelligence officers say more than 50 specialists have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials from president Vladimir Putin’s military.
- YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a “liberation mission”.
As usual, please feel free to reach out to me with any feedback or tips via email or Twitter.
