Peace will be on Moscow’s terms, says former presidentA senior Russian security official said that peace in Ukraine when it came would be on Moscow’s terms as Russian forces struck targets across the country with missiles even as their ground offensive stuttered.
More than two weeks have passed since Russia’s last major territorial gain – capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk – and Ukraine’s general army staff said on Tuesday that Moscow’s forces were busy shoring up their positions in recently seized territory and mounting limited but unsuccessful ground assaults, albeit in numerous different locations.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president who is now deputy head of its security council, struck a defiant tone though, signalling that Moscow was ready to do whatever it took in order to prevail, Reuters reported.
“Russia will achieve all its goals. There will be peace – on our terms,” Medvedev said.
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Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, on Tuesday accepted a human rights award on behalf of the people of Ukraine in recognition of their fight against Russia’s invasion of their country.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation recognised the Ukrainian people with its Dissident Human Rights Award. Zelenska, who is visiting Washington this week, accepted the award in person.
“It is an honour to be here and accept this award in the name of every Ukrainian man and woman fighting Russian aggression today,” she said, speaking through a translator.
Olena Zelenska, spouse of Ukrainian’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/APFlows of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline spiked for the second time on Tuesday, data from its website showed, with flows of 23,681 kwh/h between 3pm and 5pm German time, Reuters reported.
Hourly flows through the pipeline, the main source of natural gas fuelling Europe’s largest economy, have been at zero since 11 July, when the pipeline’s 10 days of annual maintenance began.
A similar spike took place two hours before, when flows leapt from zero to 27,137 kwh/h for the hour from 12pm UK time. Flows stood at 29 million kwh/h before the shutdown, about 40% of the pipeline’s full capacity.
Nominations – the volume of gas requested – remained at zero despite the two surges, the pipeline’s data feed showed.
Pipes at the landfall facilities of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany. Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/ReutersA panel of retired military leaders from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands will advise a pro-Ukraine campaign on the procurement of protective gear for Ukrainian defence forces, a Canada-based non-profit group said.
The panel of four includes former commander of US forces in Afghanistan David Petraeus, former Nato commander Wesley Clark as well as former Dutch defence chief Dick Lodewijk Berlijn, according to the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC).
The panel, expected to grow in size, is chaired by retired Canadian chief of defence staff Rick Hillier, Reuters reported.
It would focus on helping supply Ukraine’s territorial defence force with protective gear, such as helmets, body armour, ballistic goggles, and medical kits, the UWC said in a statement.
“If we can help get them [Ukrainian defence forces] the equipment from the west … we can help them win this war,” Hillier said at a news conference.
The US Department of Justice is seeking broader authority from Congress to seize Russian oligarchs’ assets as a means to put pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior prosecutor said on Tuesday.
In testimony to the US Senate committee on the judiciary, Andrew Adams, who leads the department’s KleptoCapture taskforce, said Congress should let prosecutors seek forfeitures of assets used to evade US sanctions, not just proceeds of sanctions evasions.
Adams also said statutes of limitations for some financial crimes, such as money laundering, should be doubled to 10 years to give prosecutors “time to follow the money”, Reuters reported.
Adams’ testimony comes as Congress considers legislation to allow proceeds from seized assets to help the people of Ukraine.
Peace will be on Moscow’s terms, says former presidentA senior Russian security official said that peace in Ukraine when it came would be on Moscow’s terms as Russian forces struck targets across the country with missiles even as their ground offensive stuttered.
More than two weeks have passed since Russia’s last major territorial gain – capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk – and Ukraine’s general army staff said on Tuesday that Moscow’s forces were busy shoring up their positions in recently seized territory and mounting limited but unsuccessful ground assaults, albeit in numerous different locations.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president who is now deputy head of its security council, struck a defiant tone though, signalling that Moscow was ready to do whatever it took in order to prevail, Reuters reported.
“Russia will achieve all its goals. There will be peace – on our terms,” Medvedev said.
Ukraine’s parliament has confirmed the removal of Ivan Bakanov and Iryna Venediktova from their posts. There was confusion when on Sunday night Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had dismissed them, but on Monday a presidential aide said they were suspended. The Verkhovna Rada has confirmed their exits today.
David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian lawmaker, said on Telegram:
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has voted for the termination of powers of Iryna Venediktova as prosecutor general of Ukraine. Venediktova will remain part of the team. Her experience will serve the state at a new place, which needs to be reinforced with competent managers and employees. We are waiting for news about personnel appointments on the diplomatic front, and thank you for your work.
The Ukrinform website reports that a total of 265 members of parliament voted in favour of Bakanov’s dismissal as chief of Ukraine’s security services.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has issued a statement today detailing what it alleges are crimes committed by Ukrainian forces which will be investigated by the Russian Investigative Committee. They allege, without providing evidence, that:
Units of the armed forces of Ukraine are deployed on the territory of civilian facilities, and in residential buildings, artillery and MLRS positions are equipped, while the evacuation of local residents from nearby houses was deliberately not carried out.
In Kalinovka, Bakhmut district of the DPR, neo-Nazis placed artillery and MLRS on the territory of the granary, from which they systematically fire at the positions of the Russian Armed Forces, provoking return fire.
In Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Kherson regions, servicemen of the armed forces of Ukraine, together with militants of nationalist battalions, purposefully set fire to fields with grain crops using helicopters and artillery.
Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states to recognise the DPR as a legitimate authority in occupied Donetsk.
Here is a selection of some of the latest photographs sent to us over the newswires from the scene of a rocket attack on a residential building in Kramatorsk, Ukraine.
A woman salvages what she can from her damaged apartment, after a rocket hit her five-storey residential building in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/APMykola Zavodovskyi, right, and Tetiana Zavodovska, injured from a rocket attack that hit a five-storey building. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/APDebris lies on the floor near the damaged building. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
Larry Elliott
A total shutdown of Russian gas supply would reduce GDP in the most vulnerable EU countries by as much as 6% and send them plunging into recession, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
Amid speculation that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will keep the Nord Stream 1 pipeline closed when routine annual maintenance ends later this week, the IMF said Europe lacked a comprehensive plan to cope with shortages, further increases in energy prices and the impact on growth.
The Washington-based fund identified Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic as the three EU countries likely to suffer most, but said Italy, Germany and Austria would also suffer significant effects.
Read more of the report from our economics editor Larry Elliott here: Russian gas shutoff would send some EU countries into recession, IMF warns
Russia expects grain talks to continue, says Kremlin spokesmanKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Russia expects talks on safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea to continue in the near future, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported.
TASS cited Peskov as saying that Russia was willing to do its best to ensure that Ukrainian grain can reach global markets.
Peter Beaumont
A 16-year-old Ukrainian boy has described how he was held hostage by Russian soldiers for 90 days as he heard other prisoners being tortured in a nearby cell.
Vladislav Buryak, who was separated from his family on 8 April at a checkpoint while attempting to flee the city of Melitopol, was released after a months-long negotiation between his father, Oleg – a local Ukrainian official – and Russian soldiers, who wanted to exchange Vladislav for an individual of interest to the Russian military.
Vladislav’s vivid account of his time in captivity is a depiction of violent interrogations involving brutal beatings, and confirms other reports of Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces mistreating detainees.
In an interview with the Guardian, Vladislav described his long ordeal and how he was taken from a convoy of vehicles.