UN official: Ukraine war ‘creating human trafficking crisis’The “unprecedented” displacement of millions of Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion is “turning into a human trafficking crisis”, according to Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence.
Patten told the UN security council in New York on Monday that western allies already supporting Ukraine’s resistance militarily also needed a “coherent and coordinated response” to address the emergency:
Women and children fleeing the conflict are being targeted for trafficking and exploitation – in some cases facing further exposure to rape and other risks while seeking refuge.
The lack of consistent vetting of accommodation offers and transportation arrangements is a serious concern, as well as the limited capacity of protection services to address the velocity and volume of displacement.
There are also concerns regarding the multiplicity of volunteers, with limited vetting, and little or no training or experience.
Pramila Patten addresses the UN security council by video link on Monday Photograph: Mike Segar/ReutersAmong incidents recorded, she said, according to CNN, were a male volunteer waking a 19-year-old woman refugee in a sleeping hall in Poland at 2am and offering her a lift to France; and another male wearing a volunteer vest who was reported for approaching only single women among refugees arriving at a train station in Poland.
Patten, who has recently visited Ukraine, said:
The prevalence of sexual violence in conflicts throughout history teaches us that reinforcing prevention, protection, and service-delivery is critical from the onset of any armed conflict.
US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces against Ukrainians:
It is on Russia to stop rape, violence, and atrocities from within its ranks. It is on Russia to end this unconscionable, unprovoked war on the people of Ukraine, and we call on the Russian federation to do just that.
European Council President Charles Michel has also responded to reports of Russian forces using violence as a weapon of war.
We hear reports of Russian forces wielding sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Sexual violence is a war crime. A crime against humanity. A tactic of torture, terror, and repression. Shameful acts in a shameful war.
These crimes must be exposed to the light of day and prosecuted without impunity.”
Michel said he will be hosting a UN ‘Women in Conflicts’ conference on 9 June in Brussels.
We hear reports of Russian forces wielding sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Sexual violence is a war crime. A crime against humanity.
A tactic of torture, terror, and repression.
Shameful acts in a shameful war.@UN #UNSC pic.twitter.com/ncKPq564Yx
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) June 6, 2022 EU blames Russia for looming global food crisisEuropean Council President Charles Michel has accused Russia of using food supplies as “a stealth missile against developing countries” and blamed the Kremlin for the looming global food crisis, prompting Moscow’s UN ambassador to walk out of a Security Council meeting.
Michel addressed Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia directly at the council meeting on Monday, saying he saw millions of tons of grain and wheat stuck in containers and ships at the Ukrainian port of Odessa a few weeks ago.
That was “because of Russian warships in the Black Sea,” and Moscow’s attacks on transport infrastructure and grain storage facilities, and its tanks, bombs and mines that are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting, he said.
The Kremlin is using food supplies as a stealth missile against developing countries.
This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions. Russia is solely responsible for this food crisis.
Michel also accused Russian forces of stealing grain from areas it has occupied “while shifting the blame of others,” calling this “cowardly” and “propaganda, pure and simple.”
It is Russia’s tanks, bombs and mines that are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting.
The Kremlin is also targeting grain storages and stealing grain from areas it has occupied while shifting the blame on others. This is cowardly. This is propaganda.”
The Kremlin is using food supplies as a stealth missile against developing countries.
This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions.
Russia is solely responsible for this food crisis.
Despite its campaign of lies.@UN #UNSC pic.twitter.com/luL28xXUWB
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) June 6, 2022 Nebenzia walked out during Michel’s briefing, giving Russia’s seat to another diplomat.
Michel gave strong backing to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ efforts to get a package agreement that would allow grain exports from Ukraine and ensure that Russian food and fertiliser have unrestricted access to global markets.
Ukraine and Russia together produce almost a third of the world’s wheat and barley and half of its sunflower oil, while Russia and its ally Belarus are the world’s number two and three producers of potash, a key ingredient of fertiliser.
Guterres warned last month that global hunger levels “are at a new high,” with the number of people facing severe food insecurity doubling in just two years from 135 million before the Covid-19 pandemic to 276 million today. He said more than 500,000 people are living in famine conditions — an increase of more than 500% since 2016.
I’m handing over control of the Ukraine blog now to my colleagues in Australia. Thanks for joining me.
As fierce fighting rages in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and around the city of Sievierodonetsk, I’ll leave you with this altogether more tranquil image from Kyiv tonight, showing the moon rising behind St Sophia’s cathedral.
Nighttime at St Sophia’s cathedral, Kyiv, Ukraine, on 6 June 2022. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesVolodymyr Zelenskiy also had kind words for the beleaguered Boris Johnson in his Monday night address, thanking the UK for providing precisely the weapons Kyiv says it needs to fight Russia, Reuters reports.
Johnson, the Ukraine president said, had shown “complete understanding” of his country’s needs, a reaction to the British government’s decision Monday – made in coordination with the US – to supply Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems that can strike targets up to 80km (50 miles) away.
Zelenskiy said:
I am grateful to prime minister Boris Johnson for the complete understanding of our demands and preparedness to provide Ukraine with exactly the weapons that it so needs to protect the lives of our people.
Ukrainian forces facing a fierce Russian military onslaught in Donbas region are “standing strong”, the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in his Monday night video address.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/ReutersZelenskiy said his troops are not giving up positions in Sievierodonetsk, a city where some of the war’s biggest ground battles have been taking place, and which he earlier called “a dead city”.
“Our heroes do not give up positions in Sievierodonetsk. In the city, fierce street fighting continues,” Zelenskiy said, according to Reuters.
Referring to the broader industrial Donbas region where Sievierodonetsk is located, Zelenskiy said: “And the Ukrainian Donbas stands, stands strong”.
US: Russia ‘pilfering Ukraine’s grain to sell for profit’Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said on Monday there were credible reports that Russia was “pilfering” Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for its own profit.
Antony Blinken. Photograph: Alex Brandon/APAccording to Reuters, Blinken said the alleged theft was part of broader Russian actions during its war in Ukraine that have hit the invaded country’s ability to export its wheat crop and worsened a global food security crisis.
He was speaking during a virtual roundtable hosted by the state department with philanthropies, non-governmental organizations and private sector entities, the agency said:
There are credible reports… that Russia is pilfering Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for its own profit. Now, Russia is hoarding its food exports as well.
[The war] is having a devastating impact on global food security because Ukraine is one of the breadbaskets of the world.
Earlier today Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there could be as many as 75m tonnes of grain stuck in Ukraine by autumn, and that his government has been discussing with the UK and Turkey the idea of a third country’s navy guaranteeing the passage of grain exports through the Russia-dominated Black Sea.
Meanwhile, European Council president Charles Michel accused Russia of using food supplies as “a stealth missile against developing countries”, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Michel blamed the Kremlin for a looming global food crisis, prompting Moscow’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia to walk out.
He said he saw millions of tons of grain and wheat stuck in containers and ships at the Ukrainian port of Odessa a few weeks ago. He said it was “because of Russian warships in the Black Sea,” Moscow’s attacks on transport infrastructure and grain storage facilities, and the invasion preventing planting and harvesting:
This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilizing entire regions.
Russia is solely responsible for this looming food crisis. Russia alone.
Read more:
Zelenskiy: Russia wants Zaporizhzhia; peace talks ‘at level zero’The Associated Press has more details from Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s news conference earlier today, during which he said peace talks with Russia were at “level zero”.
Ukraine’s president also said he believed Russian troops intended to capture Zaporizhzhia, a large city in the south east of the country, which would allow its military to advance closer to central areas, the agency reported.
The city, which has a population of about 720,000, is capital of the region that shares its name, one of the biggest industrial hubs in that part of the country. Russia already occupies vast swathes of the region, and has previously captured Kherson and Mariupol, other large cities in Ukraine’s south.
Zelenskiy said Russia’s advances created “the most threatening situation”, but that his country’s forces were digging in for the fight:
The enemy wants to… occupy the city of Zaporizhzhia. There are more of them, they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on this direction.
Earlier in the briefing, Zelenskiy admitted that Russian forces also had the numerical advantage in the battle for the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but insisted that Ukraine’s military was “holding on” in a “difficult” situation.
Sievierodonetsk and its sister city of Lysychansk “are dead cities today”, he said, adding that the Ukrainian command would “make decisions according to the situation”.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 civilians are still in Sievierodonetsk, which has been shelled for weeks by Russian artillery, Zelenskiy said.
Isobel Koshiw, a Guardian correspondent in Ukraine, reported in April on preparations in Zaporizhzhia for the impending battle. Read her story here:
UN official: Ukraine war ‘creating human trafficking crisis’The “unprecedented” displacement of millions of Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion is “turning into a human trafficking crisis”, according to Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence.
Patten told the UN security council in New York on Monday that western allies already supporting Ukraine’s resistance militarily also needed a “coherent and coordinated response” to address the emergency:
Women and children fleeing the conflict are being targeted for trafficking and exploitation – in some cases facing further exposure to rape and other risks while seeking refuge.
The lack of consistent vetting of accommodation offers and transportation arrangements is a serious concern, as well as the limited capacity of protection services to address the velocity and volume of displacement.
There are also concerns regarding the multiplicity of volunteers, with limited vetting, and little or no training or experience.
Pramila Patten addresses the UN security council by video link on Monday Photograph: Mike Segar/ReutersAmong incidents recorded, she said, according to CNN, were a male volunteer waking a 19-year-old woman refugee in a sleeping hall in Poland at 2am and offering her a lift to France; and another male wearing a volunteer vest who was reported for approaching only single women among refugees arriving at a train station in Poland.
Patten, who has recently visited Ukraine, said:
The prevalence of sexual violence in conflicts throughout history teaches us that reinforcing prevention, protection, and service-delivery is critical from the onset of any armed conflict.
US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces against Ukrainians:
It is on Russia to stop rape, violence, and atrocities from within its ranks. It is on Russia to end this unconscionable, unprovoked war on the people of Ukraine, and we call on the Russian federation to do just that.
Several dozen more US politicians and media and corporate executives were added to Russia’s list of sanctioned individuals on Monday, according to Reuters.
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen. Photograph: ReutersThe US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, the energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, and the trade representative, Katherine Tai, are among those now banned from Russia for what the country’s foreign ministry concedes is retaliation for “constantly expanding US sanctions against Russian political and public figures, as well as representatives of domestic business”.
Also included in the new list of 61 are Edward Bastian, the chief executive of Delta Air Lines, the White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, and Jeffrey Sprecher, the chair of the New York stock exchange.
Joe Biden was on a list of 963 individuals sanctioned by Russia last month in a largely symbolic gesture.
That list blocked the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and the CIA head, William Burns, from entering Russia.
It also imposed “lifetime” bans on former US senators John McCain, Harry Reid and Orrin Hatch, who are all dead.
Hello, it’s Richard Luscombe in the US, and I’ll be guiding you through the next few hours.
The Associated Press is reporting that Russia has begun handing over bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion.
The Guardian reported last week that, outside of the steelworks, the number of bodies in the city was overwhelming, with estimates ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 dead.
The AP says dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out plant’s now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the Kyiv region, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokesperson for the Azov battalion.
The volunteer battalion was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for nearly three months before surrendering last month under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, sea and air.
It is unclear how many bodies remain at the plant.
Read more:
SummaryIt is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Russian officials in occupied Mariupol have shut down the southern port city for quarantine over a possible cholera outbreak, according to Ukrainian authorities. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said the Russian-occupied city is bracing itself for an epidemic as dead bodies and litter are piling up in the city. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, admitted that Russian forces have the numerical advantage in the battle for the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, but insisted that Ukraine’s forces had “every chance” of fighting back. Zelenskiy said Sievierodonetsk and its sister city of Lysychansk “are dead cities today”. The mayor of Sievierodonetsk, Oleksandr Stryuk, said Ukraine had “focused enough forces and resources there to beat back attacks” by Russia but neither side is preparing to withdraw. President Zelenskiy visited the frontline close to the fiercest fighting between his country’s troops and Russian forces in the east, where a regional official said the situation had worsened for Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the beleaguered city of Lysychansk on Sunday, just a few kilometres south of Sievierodonetsk, the main battlefield in the east, where Russia has concentrated its forces. The Ukrainian navy said it has pushed back a fleet of Russian warships more than 100km from its Black Sea coast. The group of Russian vessels were “forced to change tactics” after carrying out a naval blockade on Ukraine’s coast for weeks, the navy command of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook. It has not been possible to independently verify this information. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would respond to western deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine by pushing back Kyiv’s forces further from Russia’s borders. Lavrov’s remarks come after Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said the UK will send long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine, in the hope they can disrupt the concentrated Russian artillery that has been pounding cities in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine needs 60 multiple rocket launchers – many more than the handful promised so far by the UK and US – to have a chance of defeating Russia, according to an aide to the country’s presidency. Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to the president’s chief of staff, told the Guardian that while he believed the rocket launchers were “a gamechanger weapon”, not enough had been committed to turn the tide in the war. The Kremlin has described a move by three eastern European countries to block Sergei Lavrov from flying to Serbia as a “hostile action”. Lavrov was due to hold talks in Belgrade today with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, but was forced to cancel his visit after the countries around Serbia – Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro – closed their airspace to his aircraft.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has urged countries not to trust Vladimir Putin’s promises not to use trade routes to attack the southern port city of Odesa. Putin has said Ukraine could use the ports of Mykolayiv and Odesa for food exports, and that Russia would not use the mine clearance situation to launch “some attacks from the sea”. Kuleba said Putin’s words were “empty”.
US authorities have charged the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich with exporting two planes of US origin to Russia without a licence. Prosecutors say both planes – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream G650ER – were flown in March to Russia, in violation of US sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today. My colleague Richard Luscombe will be here shortly to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. I’ll be back tomorrow.
Dan Sabbagh
Ukraine needs 60 multiple rocket launchers – many more than the handful promised so far by the UK and US – to have a chance of defeating Russia, according to an aide to the country’s presidency.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to the president’s chief of staff, told the Guardian that while he believed the rocket launchers were “a gamechanger weapon”, not enough had been committed to turn the tide in the war.
“The fewer we get, the worse our situation will be. Our troops will continue to die and we will continue to lose ground,” particularly if countries with dozens of systems only “decide to donate four or five”, Arestovych said.
On Monday Britain said it would donate a handful of M270 tracked rocket launchers, carrying missiles with a range of about 50 miles, a few days after the US said it would donate four similar truck-based high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars).
Ukrainian service members fire a M777 howitzer at a point on the frontline in Donetsk on Monday. Photograph: EPAArestovych said Ukraine needed many more multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), which have a range far greater than anything in the country’s existing arsenal. He said:
If we get 60 of these systems then the Russians will lose all ability to advance anywhere, they will be stopped dead in their tracks. If we get 40 they will advance, albeit very slowly with heavy casualties; with 20 they will continue to advance with higher casualties than now.
The US army has 363 Himars and 225 M270 rocket launchers, and the US Marines have a further 47, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, while the UK has 35 of its version of the M270s – indicating there could be capacity to supply more to Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly said it will intensify its offensive in Ukraine if the longer-range rockets are delivered. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said on Monday:
The longer the range of weapons you supply, the farther away the line from where neo-Nazis [the Ukrainians] could threaten the Russian Federation will be pushed.
Read Dan Sabbagh’s full article: Ukraine needs many more rocket launchers from west, says adviser
Russian warships pushed back 100km, says Ukraine’s navyThe Ukrainian navy said it has pushed back a fleet of Russian warships more than 100km from its Black Sea coast.
The group of Russian vessels were “forced to change tactics” after carrying out a naval blockade on Ukraine’s coast for weeks, the navy command of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook.
The navy’s update said:
As a result of our active actions on the impact of the enemy’s naval forces, the Russian Black Sea Fleet ship grouping was thrown off Ukrainian shores for more than a hundred kilometres. In an attempt to regain control of the north-western part of the Black Sea, the opponent had to change tactics: deployed Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems in Crimea and in Kherson region; redeploy additional forces to Snake Island.
A group of about 30 Russian ships and submarines continue to block civilian navigation, it said, while the situation in the north-western Black Sea remained “difficult”.
The statement continued:
We have deprived the Russian Black Sea Fleet of complete control over the north-west part of the Black Sea, which has turned into the “grey zone”. Meanwhile, the enemy has adopted our tactics, and is trying to reclaim control of the north-west part of the Black Sea through coastal missile complexes and winged air missiles.
It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
US authorities have charged the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich with exporting two planes of US origin to Russia without a licence.
A federal court in New York signed a warrant today authorising the seizure of two planes owned by Abramovich, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream G650ER, according to court papers.
Prosecutors say both planes were flown in March to Russia, in violation of US sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Photograph: Andrew Winning/ReutersAbramovich has been sanctioned by the EU and Britain, but he has not been personally sanctioned by the US.
‘Epidemic’ of cholera has already begun in Mariupol, says officialRussian officials in occupied Mariupol have shut down the southern port city for quarantine over a possible cholera outbreak, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, told Ukrainian television that the city is bracing itself for an epidemic as dead bodies and litter are piling up in the city.
Andryushchenko, who left the city early on in the war, cited his sources still in the city, saying:
The word ‘cholera’ is increasingly heard in the city among local officials and their supervisors. As far as we can see the epidemic has more or less begun already.
He said they were aware of isolated cases in Mariupol, where most of the city’s infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian airstrikes.
The Kyiv Independent reports that Ukraine’s health ministry warned that mass burials and poor access to clean water were creating a risk of cholera in Mariupol.
The ministry began reporting suspected cases of cholera in the region on 1 June, the paper reports.
⚡️ Health Ministry: Risk of cholera in Mariupol.
Mass burials, poor access to clean water lead to a critical situation in Russian-occupied Mariupol, said Deputy Health Minister Ihor Kuzin. The ministry began monitoring suspected cases of cholera in the region on June 1.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 6, 2022 The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, shaking hands with a serviceman during his visit to the frontline positions of the army in Bakhmut and Lysychansk districts. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/AFP/Getty ImagesZelenskiy taking a selfie with Ukrainian servicemen during his visit to the frontline positions of the army in Bakhmut and Lysychansk districts. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/AFP/Getty Images