Daily Archives: May 27, 2022

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Moscow pressed the West on Thursday to lift sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis that has been worsened by Kyivs inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products while under attack.

Britain immediately accused Russia of trying to hold the world to ransom, insisting there would be no sanctions relief, and a top U.S. diplomat blasted the sheer barbarity, sadistic cruelty and lawlessness of the invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that Moscow is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertilizer on the condition that politically motivated restrictions imposed by the West are lifted, according to a Kremlin readout of the call.

Ukraine is one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but the war and a Russian blockade of its ports have halted much of that flow, endangering world food supplies. Many of those ports are now also heavily mined.

Russia also is a significant grain exporter, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the West must cancel the unlawful decisions that hamper chartering ships and exporting grain. His comments appeared to be an effort to lump the blockade of Ukrainian exports with what Russia says are its difficulties in moving its own goods.

Western officials have dismissed those claims. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted last week that food, fertilizer and seeds are exempt from sanctions imposed by the U.S. and many others and that Washington is working to ensure countries know the flow of those goods should not be affected.

With the war grinding into its fourth month, world leaders have ramped up calls for solutions. World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said about 25 million tons of Ukrainian grain is in storage and another 25 million tons could be harvested next month.

European countries have tried to ease the crisis by moving grain out of the country by rail but trains can carry only a small fraction of what Ukraine produces, and ships are needed for the bulk of the exports.

At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry proposed corridors to allow foreign ships to leave ports along the Black Sea, as well as Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.

Mikhail Mizintsev, who heads Russias National Defense Control Center, said 70 foreign vessels from 16 countries were in six ports on the Black Sea, including Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv. He did not specify how many might be ready to carry food.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country was ready to agree on safe corridors in principle, but it was not sure it could trust Russia to allow safe passage and not send its military vessels sneaking into the harbor to attack Odesa.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Putin was trying to hold the world to ransom by demanding some sanctions be lifted before allowing Ukrainian grain shipments to resume.

Hes essentially weaponized hunger and lack of food among the poorest people around the world, Truss said on a visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. What we cannot have is any lifting of sanctions, any appeasement, which will simply make Putin stronger in the longer term.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for imposing even tougher sanctions on Russia, including for the European Union to ban Russian oil and gas.

Pressuring Russia is literally a matter of saving lives, he said in his nightly video address. And every day of delay, weakness, various disputes or proposals to appease the aggressor at the expense of the victim is new Ukrainians killed. And these are new threats to everyone on our continent.

Putin said its impossible, utterly unrealistic in the modern world to isolate Russia. Speaking via video to members of the Eurasian Economic Forum, which is comprised of several ex-Soviet nations, he said those who try would primarily hurt themselves, citing broken food supply chains.

Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, urged its members to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself against Putins revanchist delusions.

If Russia achieved success in Ukraine, there would be more horrific reports from filtration camps, more forcibly displaced people, more summary executions, more torture, more rape, and more looting, Carpenter said in Vienna.

On the battlefield, Russian forces pressed their offensive in several parts of the eastern Donbas region, Ukraines military said. That industrial heartland of coal mines and factories is now the focus of fighting after Russia suffered a series of setbacks and shifted to more limited goals.

The enemy is storming the position of our troops simultaneously in several directions, said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar. We have an extremely difficult and long stage of fighting ahead of us.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, also came under renewed shelling on Thursday. Zelenskyy said at least nine people were killed and 19 wounded. Among those killed were a five-month-old baby and its father, and the mother was in serious condition.

Military officials said Russian forces continued to try to gain a foothold in the area of Sievierodonetsk, the only part of the Luhansk region in the Donbas under Ukrainian government control.

A senior U.S. defense official said Russia is making incremental progress in the Donbas, with fighting centered on towns and villages as Russian and Ukrainian forces trade control over scraps of land. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. military assessment, said those smaller artillery duels could be prolonged.

Russia has 110 battalion tactical groups, each with 800 to 1,000 troops, committed to Ukraine, amounting to 80% of Moscows total force, the official said, adding that it has lost 1,000 tanks and three dozen fighter jets and other fixed-wing aircraft.

Zelenskyy pleaded with the West to send multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine as soon as possible to give it a fighting chance against the Russian offensive in the Donbas.

In other developments:

In the northwestern town of Kotelva, two Russian soldiers accused of war crimes pleaded guilty to shelling civilian infrastructure with a multiple rocket launcher. Alexander Ivanov and Alexander Bobykin could face up to 12 years in prison; the defense asked for eight, saying they were following orders. Bobykin said, I regret the actions our troops committed.

In the ravaged port city of Mariupol, Russia began broadcasting state television news, about a week after the Russian military declared it had completely liberated the city.

A leader of Russia-backed separatists suggested there might be more Ukrainian fighters hiding in Mariupols sprawling Azovstal steelworks, which for weeks stood as the citys last bastion of resistance. The Russian military says 2,439 fighters surrendered from the plant last week. The separatist leader, Denis Pushilin, said more may have been hiding or lost or lagged behind, adding there are already those that have been found and captured.

Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Russian ally Belarus, said he was sending troops to the border with Ukraine, raising the possibility that he may agree to wider participation in the war. Belarus allowed Russian troops to invade Ukraine from its soil but has not taken part in ground operations.

The Pentagon said one American military officer has gone back to Ukraine as the U.S. reopens its embassy in Kyiv. But Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the colonel is there for diplomatic work, and no other U.S. troops are going into Ukraine at this point.

___

Becatoros reported from Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Andre Rosa in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Read the rest here:

Russia slams sanctions, seeks to blame West for food crisis - The Associated Press

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense on Thursday posted aerial video of what it said was Russian rockets hitting Ukrainian positions in the eastern part of the country as the 3-month-old war rages on.

The ministry said the video shows a series of rocket blasts hitting targets near Novomykhailivka, in the Donetsk region, triggering shockwaves and large plumes of smoke.

"This is what largest and most horrific war of the 21st century looks like," the Ministry of Defense said.

The ministry added that "Ukraine is ready to strike back" but can only do so it gets NATO-style multiple launch rocket systems "immediately."

Russian forces continued to press their offensive in several parts of the eastern Donbas region, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian military. That industrial heartland of coal mines and factories is now the focus of fighting after Russia suffered a series of setbacks and shifted to more limited goals.

Regional governors said at least four civilians were killed and seven others injured in shelling Thursday in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, while three were killed by attacks in and around the eastern city of Lysychansk, which is a key focus of fighting.

Military officials said Russian forces continued to try to gain a foothold in the area of Sievierodonetsk, which is the only part of the Luhansk region in the Donbas under Ukrainian government control.

In the ravaged port city of Mariupol, Russia began broadcasting state television news, even as a leader of the Russia-backed separatists suggested there might be more Ukrainian fighters hiding in its sprawling Azovstal steelworks that was the focus of weeks of bombardment.

The Russian military declared Azovstal and Mariupol on the whole "completely liberated" on May 20 and reported that 2,439 fighters who had been holed up at the plant had surrendered.

The leader, Denis Pushilin, said some of the fighters may have been hiding, lost or lagged behind those who came out, adding that "there are already those that have been found" and captured.

Follow this link:

Ukraine aerial video shows massive Russian shelling: "What the largest and most horrific war of the 21st century looks like" - CBS News

A man clears debris at a damaged residential building in Kyiv in February, just after Russia started its invasion. DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A man clears debris at a damaged residential building in Kyiv in February, just after Russia started its invasion.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has already destroyed billions of dollars' worth of infrastructure, blocked exports from key Black Sea ports, and displaced more than 12 million people.

The World Bank predicts the war will cause Ukraine's economy to shrink by 45% this year. And as Russian forces now focus on the Donbass region, the war shows no signs of letting up.

But Ukrainian and Western leaders are already talking about what it would take to rebuild Ukraine, if and when the war ends.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a rollcall of devastation in a videoconference in late April: 1,500 educational facilities destroyed or damaged, along with 350 medical facilities, 1,500 miles of roads and 300 bridges. In all, Zelenskyy estimated 32 million square meters of living space had been impacted so far.

"It's not just statistics. This is Mariupol, this is Volnovakha, this is Okhtyrka, this is Chernihiv, this is Borodyanka dozens and dozens of our cities, towns and villages," Zelenskyy said.

It's estimated the cost of rebuilding the country could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Residents of Irpin flee heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces enter the city in March. Chris McGrath/Getty Images hide caption

Residents of Irpin flee heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces enter the city in March.

When it comes to addressing this, one comparison that many leaders are making is the Marshall Plan when the United States distributed more than $13 billion in economic aid after WWII (or more than $150 billion in today's dollars) to rehabilitate the economies of 17 European nations.

To break down what rebuilding Ukraine could cost, how it could be done, and what lessons could be learned from the Marshall plan, NPR spoke to Yuriy Gorodnichenko and Barry Eichengreen, both economists at UC Berkeley.

Gorodnichenko is a Ukrainian economist who recently co-authored a blueprint for the reconstruction of Ukraine, published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Eichengreen is an economic historian who has researched Europe's postwar development.

An ongoing study from the Kyiv School of Economics calculates that every week, Ukraine suffers about $4.5 billion worth of damage to civilian infrastructure, and the country's total economic losses could rise to around $600 billion.

"All of us see images of total destruction in Ukraine. You look at big cities like Kharkiv, Mariupol, and barely any building is not damaged," Gorodnichenko said. "But it's not just residential. You see the critical infrastructure is being destroyed: bridges, roads, refineries, steel mills and railroads."

Gorodnichenko said that economists use several methods to put a number on the damage, despite the fog of war.

"One way to look at this is to do an inventory of damaged bridges, buildings and so on and calculate the cost of replacement. That would be easily somewhere between $100- and $200 billion," Gorodnichenko said.

"We can also look at other measures and similar efforts that were done in the past. For example, what was the cost of reconstructing Iraq or Afghanistan? If you look at the size of these countries, the level of damage, and scale it to the Ukrainian case, you come to somewhere between $500 billion, maybe $1 trillion."

Although Russia's invasion has caused massive damage, some experts also see reconstruction as a once-in-a-generation chance to modernize Ukraine.

Gorodnichenko believes the country's newly rebuilt cities should be carbon-neutral and dense, with much needed upgrades to housing and public transport.

He said that when Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it had spent decades integrated into the Soviet economy, and much of its infrastructure still dated back to that time.

"When you look at energy consumption per unit of GDP, it was one of the highest in the world," Gorodnichenko said. "So that was very bad for the climate, for the economy. Over the years, Ukraine was increasingly more and more efficient, but it was a slow process."

Ukraine's aged, inefficient infrastructure contributed towards pollution and climate change, but it also made the country heavily dependent on Russian oil and natural gas.

"We should really rebuild Ukraine up to modern standards," Gorodnichenko said. "And this is going to be good not only in terms of climate change ... but it also makes Ukraine less vulnerable to future blackmail from Russia ... So you can kill two birds with one stone."

The European Union (E.U.) pledged about 9 billion euros to Ukraine last week in the form of loans. It also committed to setting up a "Rebuilding Ukraine" international platform that would allow countries to donate towards a reconstruction plan "drawn up and implemented by Ukraine, with administrative capacity support and technical assistance by the E.U."

The U.S. and several other nations have announced they support a comprehensive plan for supporting and rebuilding Ukraine. The U.S. Senate passed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine last week, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at a speech in Brussels that, "Eventually, Ukraine will need massive support and private investment for reconstruction and recovery, akin to the task of rebuilding in Europe after 1945."

"What's clear is that the bilateral and multilateral support announced so far will not be sufficient to address Ukraine's needs, even in the short term," Yellen said.

In addition to support from allied nations, Gorodnichenko said Russian assets seized as a result of sanctions could be used to foot the bill. Yellen, however, said last week that, "While we're beginning to look at this, it would not be legal now in the United States for the government to seize those assets."

A woman and two children leave Ukraine after crossing the Slovak-Ukrainian border in February. PETER LAZAR/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A woman and two children leave Ukraine after crossing the Slovak-Ukrainian border in February.

Gorodnichenko said the international community could also use historical precedent to find ways to make Russia pay for Ukraine's reconstruction, even if it didn't agree to pay reparations. He said that after WWII, American officials froze Nazi assets in the U.S., and then used those to compensate victims of war crimes.

He also pointed to Iraq, which paid about $50 billion in reparations to Kuwait over 30 years in the form of taxes on its oil to compensate for the damage caused by its invasion in 1990. Gorodnichenko suggested "effectively a tax on Russian energy, and a fraction of that tax is going to flow to Ukraine to pay for the reconstruction."

Both Gorodnichenko and Eichengreen worry, however, that the E.U.'s aid seems to be mostly in the form of loans.

"A country that is destroyed by a big war is not going to have the capacity to repay loans anytime soon," Gorodnichenko said, adding that 90% of the Marshall Plan's aid was given in the form of grants.

Eichengreen said the E.U. had demonstrated it did have the resources to dedicate more funding to Ukraine in the form of grants. He pointed to 2020, when the E.U. borrowed 750 billion euros to establish a recovery fund for the coronavirus pandemic.

"They could do that again if they thought this was a priority," Eichengreen said.

Eichengreen said it wasn't a simple one-to-one comparison, but a lot could still be applied from the Marshall Project to rebuilding Ukraine.

He argues that the international community needs to learn the right lessons from history, rather than simply seeing the Marshall Plan as one giant cash transfer.

Mariupol was devastated by Russian attacks. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Mariupol was devastated by Russian attacks.

The Marshall Plan succeeded, he said, because it didn't just transfer money. There was a significant exchange of knowledge as European officials, engineers, and workers traveled to the U.S. to understand the latest construction and manufacturing techniques.

Eichengreen said that similarly, Ukraine would need to reverse its skilled brain drain and encourage refugees to return to the country, as well as source engineers from around the world for a massive undertaking.

And Marshall Plan funds actually took a few years to arrive in Europe following WWII. Gorodnichenko said the period from 1945 to 1948 was very painful for Europeans.

"This is why these conversations about the reconstruction of Ukraine should be happening now, so that by the day when the war is over, there is a facility or program or administration already set ready to go," he said. "We should learn from our mistakes and make sure that there is no unnecessary suffering in Ukraine."

See the original post here:

Here's how much it could cost to rebuild Ukraine and who would pay for it - NPR

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents of parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.

Putins decree applying to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could allow Russia to strengthen its hold on territory that lies between eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists occupy some areas, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

The Russian army is engaged in an intense battle for Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. In a sign that the Kremlin is trying to bolster its stretched military machine, Russian lawmakers agreed to scrap the age limit of 40 for those signing their first voluntary military contracts.

A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits would be allowed to operate precision weapons or serve in engineering or medical positions. The chair of the Russian parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand skills.

Russian officials say only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they acknowledge that some conscripts were put into the fighting by mistake in the early stages of the war.

Three months into Russias invasion, Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday and met with some soldiers wounded in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement.

It was his first known visit with soldiers fighting in Ukraine since he launched the war on Feb. 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited wounded soldiers, civilians and children including at times when Russian troops were fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv.

A reporter for the state-run Russia1 TV channel posted a video clip on Telegram showing Putin in a white medical coat talking to a man in hospital attire, presumably a soldier.

The man, filmed from behind standing up and with no visible wounds, tells Putin that he has a son. The president, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, responds: He will be proud of his father, before shaking the mans hand.

Zelenskyy reiterated Wednesday that he would be willing to negotiate with Putin directly but said Moscow needs to retreat to the positions it held before the invasion and must show its ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make, Zelenskyy told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link.

He also said Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas. Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, Zelenskyy said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy strongly rebuffed those in the West who suggest Ukraine cede control of areas occupied by Russian troops for the sake of reaching a peace agreement.

Those great geopoliticians who suggest this are disregarding the interests of ordinary Ukrainians the millions of those who actually live on the territory that they propose exchanging for an illusion of peace, he said. We always have to think of the people and remember that values are not just words.

Zelenskyy compared those who argue for giving Russia a piece of Ukraine to those who in 1938 agreed to cede territory to Hitler in hopes of preventing World War II.

Russia already had a program to expedite the naturalization of people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern Ukraine provinces that make up the Donbas and where the Moscow-backed separatists hold large areas as self-declared independent republics.

During a visit to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin indicated they could become part of our Russian family.

A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region would become part of Russia. An official in Zaporizhzhia said Wednesday that the regions pro-Kremlin administration would seek that as well.

Melitopol, the Zaporizhzhia regions second-largest city, plans to start issuing Russian passports in the near future, said the Russia-installed acting mayor, Galina Danilchenko.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the Davos forum in person, called for friendly countries particularly the United States to provide Ukraine with multiple launch rocket systems so it could try to recapture lost territory.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba said.

Zelenskyy said his army was facing the fiercest attack possible in the east by Russian forces, which in some places have many more weapons and soldiers. He pleaded for even more military assistance from the West, without exception, without restrictions. Enough to win.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, accused Russia of targeting shelters where civilians were hiding in the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The situation is serious, Haidai said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemys possession.

Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk are the largest remaining towns held by Ukraine in Luhansk. The region is more than 90% controlled by Russia, Haidai said, adding that a key supply route for Kyivs troops was coming under pressure despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Haidai said the road between Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest was constantly being shelled and that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams were approaching.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said four civilians were injured when two rockets hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage.

Theres no place to live in left. Everything is smashed, Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother of two who lived in one of the terraced houses, said.

An earlier strike about a month ago blew out the windows, which were replaced with plastic sheeting. Kurbonova thinks that probably saved their lives since there was no glass flying around.

In other developments, Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol was functional again following a nearly three-month siege that ended with the surrender last week of the last Ukrainian fighters holed up in a giant steel plant. Russia now has full control of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the separatists in Donetsk planned to set up a tribunal to put the fighters on trial and that Moscow welcomes the action.

___

Elena Becatoros in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and Jamey Keaten in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

See the original post here:

Russia takes steps to bolster army, tighten grip on Ukraine - The Associated Press

Officials in Ukraine have admitted that Russia has the upper hand in fighting in the countrys east, as Ukrainian forces fell back from some of their positions in the Donbas region.

Amid reports that Lyman, the site of an important railway junction, had largely been taken by Russian forces, Ukraines general staff reported that Russian forces were also advancing on Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said just 5% of the region now remained in Ukrainian hands down from about 10% little more than a week ago and that Ukrainian forces were retreating in some areas.

It is clear that our boys are slowly retreating to more fortified positions we need to hold back this horde, Haidai said. Hinting at further withdrawals, he said it was possible that troops would leave one settlement, maybe two. We need to win the war, not the battle.

Separately, a senior Ukrainian military official conceded at a briefing on Thursday that Russia had the upper hand in fighting in Luhansk. Russia has the advantage, but we are doing everything we can, Gen Oleksiy Gromov said.

Haidai said police in Lysychansk were burying the bodies of civilians in mass graves, with about 150 people having been buried in such a grave in one district.

If confirmed, Russias continuing advances in Lyman, which has been contested for a month, would make it easier for Russian forces to isolate the key city of Sievierodonetsk, which has been under relentless shelling for days.

According to accounts posted on social media, Lymans Ukrainian defenders had pulled back to the southern outskirts, although fighting was continuing, in particular around the railway sidings in the city.

Outside Sievierodonetsk, now the focal point of Moscows renewed offensive in Donbas, Haidai said fighting was very difficult.

Predicting the coming week will be decisive, Haidai said the city was being subjected to a colossal amount of shelling by Russian troops attempting to batter it into submission.

After failing to seize Ukraines capital, Kyiv, or its second city, Kharkiv, in its three-month war, Russia is trying to take full control of Donbas, comprising two eastern provinces that Russia claims on behalf of separatists.

Moscow has poured thousands of troops into the region, attacking from three sides in an attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces holding out in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.

Their fall would leave the whole of Luhansk province under Russian control, a main aim of the Kremlins war.

Meanwhile the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, issued a bitter rebuke to the west for not doing enough to help Kyiv win the war.

Calling for help without limits, specifically shipments of heavy weaponry, he also criticised recent suggestions that a negotiated peace deal could include territorial concessions.

Zelenskiy has said Russian troops heavily outnumber Ukrainian forces in some parts of the east, and Kyiv has been trying unsuccessfully to arrange a prisoner swap with Moscow.

The heavy attrition on Ukrainian defenders in the east where between 50 and 100 soldiers are dying every day, according to Zelenskiy has also led to claims by Russia of large numbers of prisoners being taken.

Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russia-backed self-proclaimed peoples republics of Luhansk and Donetsk number about 8,000, the Luhansk official, Rodion Miroshnik, was quoted by Tass news agency as saying.

There are a lot of prisoners, Miroshnik said. Now the total number is somewhere in the region of 8,000. Thats a lot, and literally hundreds are being added every day. His claims could not be verified.

As Russia seeks to solidify its grip on the territory it has seized, Vladimir Putin signed a decree simplifying the process for residents of newly captured districts to acquire Russian citizenship and passports.

The Russian parliament scrapped the upper age limit for contractual service in the military on Wednesday, highlighting the need to replace lost troops.

In a late-night video address, Zelenskiy said of the changes to the Russian enlistment rules: [They] no longer have enough young men, but they still have the will to fight. It will still take time to crush this will.

Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter every weekday morning at 7am BST

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told the World Economic Forum in Davos his country badly needed multiple-launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower in the battle for Donbas.

In the eastern town of Soledar, Ukraines salt manufacturing hub, the ground shook moments after Natalia Timofeyenko climbed out of her bunker on Wednesday.

I go outside just to see people. I know that there is shelling out there but I go, the 47-year-old said after a blast smashed apart a chunk of a salt mine where she worked with most of her friends and neighbours.

Agencies contributed to this report

More here:

Russian forces have upper hand in Donbas fighting, Ukrainian officials say - The Guardian

Ukraines president and foreign minister have pleaded with the west to send more weapons to their military in the face of Russias intensifying assault on the eastern Donbas region. We need the help of our partners above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Dmytro Kuleba told the World Economic Forum in Davos that Nato was doing virtually nothing to help Ukraine.

Russias deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraines Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20m tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country. Kuleba, poured scorn on Moscows claim and accused Russia of trying to blackmail the world.

Zelenskiy rejected the notion that his country should cede territory to make peace with Russia. Symptomatic editorials began to appear in some western media stating that Ukraine must allegedly accept so-called difficult compromises by giving up territory in exchange for peace, he said in his latest nightly address. Those who advise Ukraine to give up territory fail to see the ordinary people, he said, who actually live in the territory they propose to exchange for the illusion of peace. Oleksiy Arestovych, a presidential adviser, added: No one is going to trade a gram of our sovereignty or a millimetre of our territory. Our children are dying, soldiers are being blown apart by shells, and they tell us to sacrifice territory. Get lost. Its never going to happen.

There are about 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics, Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik was quoted by Tass news agency as saying.

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed breakaway Donetsk Peoples Republic, has said they cannot yet be 100% sure they have flushed every last Ukrainian fighter out of the Azovstal steel plant.

The deputy prime minister of the Russian-appointed Crimean government, Georgy Muradov, has said The Sea of Azov is forever lost to Ukraine. He is reported to have said Ports in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions will never again be Ukrainian. I am sure that after the reunification of our regions with Russia, the Sea of Azov will again, as it was before, become exclusively an inland sea of the Russian Federation.

Russias Ministry of Defence claims that as a result of their operations in the last 24 hours, more than 350 Ukrainian fighters were killed and 96 units of weapons and military equipment were disabled.

Russian forces shelled more than 40 other towns in Donbas on Wednesday, Ukraines military said, threatening to shut off the last main escape route for civilians trapped in the path of their invasion.

Russias failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russias more elite units, according to Britains Ministry of Defence in its latest intelligence update on the war.

Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled. The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said the area was now without gas supplies and had limited water and electricity after the last gas supply station was hit.

Ukraines governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synyehubov, has said fighting is most intense in the Izyum region. He claimed The Russians are trying to improve the tactical situation in the area of the city of Izyum and resume the offensive on Slovyansk.

Police in Lysychansk are collecting bodies of people killed in order to bury them in mass graves, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said. Some 150 people have been buried in a mass grave in one Lysychansk district, he added, Reuters reports.

Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, said that for the first time since Lviv started accepting displaced people from elsewhere in Ukraine, there was not a single person who registered for temporary accommodation yesterday.

Russian lawmakers have voted to approve a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers. Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims. Zelenskiy responded: (They) no longer have enough young men, but they still have the will to fight.

A senior United Nations official is due to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss reviving fertiliser exports, Russias UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, stressing that the talks were not linked to a resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments, Reuters reported.

Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors have released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes including murder and torture in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.

Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas said it would be much more dangerous giving in to Putin than provoking him during a speech in Stockholm and warned: All these seemingly small concessions to the aggressor lead to big wars. We have done this mistake already three times: Georgia, Crimea and Donbas.

Russias foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said an Italian peace plan for Ukraine was a fantasy. Zakharova said at her weekly briefing: You cant supply Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans for a peaceful resolution of the situation with the other.

Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, has told the World Economic Forum in Davos that he believes Russia still hopes to take control of the Ukrainian capital. He said everyone in the world understands it is not a special operation, but that it is a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has told the World Economic Forum that Russias invasion of Ukraine was a thunderbolt, and that Russian president Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to win or to dictate peace terms.

Read more here:

Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 92 of the invasion - The Guardian

Last Saturday, Joe Biden signed a bill that provides $40.1 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, including $24.6 billion for military programs and $15.5 billion for nonmilitary ones. By Washingtons standards, the legislation moved through Congress in the blink of an eye. Congress received the funding request from the White House on April 28, and just three weeks later after easily passing the House (368 to 57) and the Senate (86 to 11) the bill was ready for Bidens signature.

But whats in the bill? Who is the main beneficiary? And will it bring the conflict closer to an end?

While its difficult to tell how much of the $40.1 billion Ukraine aid bill will end up as direct aid to Ukraine, it is clear that private contractors will receive a significant amount to provide the weapons and military-related services whether theyre for Ukraine or another country impacted by the situation in Ukraine, as the bill puts it. In fact, the domestic arms industry may turn out to be the bills main financial winner.

The legislation, according to my estimates, will produce at least $17.3 billion in revenue for US military contractors more than the total amount of nonmilitary funding ($15.5 billion). This estimate a conservative one is based on the bills language, accompanying documents from the White House and House Appropriations Committee, and overall trends in military contracting.

Some of that $17.3 billion in projected private sector revenue is under the direct aid umbrella. For example, an estimated $1.5 billion of the $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (a bill provision that provides Ukraine with weapons, training, intelligence, logistical support, and salaries and stipends for enlisted personnel in Ukraines army) will be used to buy weapons from contractors.

On a fundamental level, this bill is a massive redistribution of wealth from the public coffers to the pockets of private military contractors. It allows the Biden administration to continue escalating the United States military involvement in the war as the administration appears increasingly disinterested in bringing it to an end through diplomacy. It does not provide nearly enough oversight to mitigate the inherent risks of dumping so many weapons into a country so quickly. It earmarks money for the Department of Defense to buy weapons for its own stockpiles. Moreover, the emergency funding for the US pandemic response that Biden originally requested was stripped from the bill.

Despite all of this, Democrats decided unanimously in both the House and Senate to approve the bill. All the opposing votes came from Republicans. Not even Bernie Sanders opposed the measure.

Until congressional progressives can mobilize sufficient pushback, the Biden administration will continue on a dangerous path of prioritizing military escalation over conflict resolution and investing in weapons instead of public well-being.

More here:

The Ukraine Aid Bill Is a Massive Windfall for US Military Contractors - Jacobin magazine

WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the Biden administration aims to lead the international bloc opposed to Russias invasion of Ukraine into a broader coalition to counter what it sees as a more serious, long-term threat to global order from China.

In a speech outlining the administrations China policy, Blinken laid out a three-pillar approach to competing with Beijing in a race to define the 21st centurys economic and military balance.

While the U.S. sees Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine as the most acute and immediate threat to international stability, Blinken said the administration believes China poses a greater danger.

Even as President Putins war continues, we will remain focused on the most serious long-term challenge to the international order and that is the one posed by the Peoples Republic of China, Blinken said.

China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it, he said. Beijings vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the worlds progress over the past 75 years.

Thus, Blinken laid out principles for the administration to marshal its resources, friends and allies to push back on increasing Chinese assertiveness around the world. Although he made clear that the U.S. does not seek to change Chinas political system, rather it wants to offer a tested alternative.

This is not about forcing countries to choose, its about giving them a choice, he said.

However, he also acknowledged that the U.S. has limited ability to directly influence Chinas intentions and ambitions and will instead focus on shaping the strategic environment around China.

We cant rely on Beijing to change its trajectory, Blinken said in the speech, delivered at George Washington University. So we will shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision for an open and inclusive international system.

Blinkens address was delivered overnight in China, and there was no immediate reaction to the speech from the Chinese embassy in Washington.

The speech followed President Joe Bidens just-concluded visits to South Korea and Japan, where China loomed large in discussions. Biden raised eyebrows during that trip when he said that the United States would act militarily to help Taiwan defend itself in the event of an invasion by China, which regards the island as a renegade province.

The administration scrambled to insist that Biden was not changing American policy, and Blinken restated that the U.S. has not changed its position. Blinken said Washington still holds to its One China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows for unofficial links with and arms sales to Taipei.

Our approach has been consistent across decades and administrations. The United States remains committed to our One China policy. We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, he said, adding that we do not support Taiwan independence.

Blinken said that while U.S. policy on Taiwan has remained consistent, Chinas had become increasingly belligerent.

He made the case that the global response to Putins invasion of Ukraine can serve as a template for dealing with Chinas efforts to mold a new and unpredictable world order to replace the rules and institutions that have guided relations between states since the end of World War II.

China, Blinken said, has benefited greatly from that international order but is now trying to subvert it under the leadership of President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party.

Rather than using its power to reinforce and revitalize the laws, agreements, principles, and institutions that enabled its success, so other countries can benefit from them, too, Beijing is undermining it, Blinken said. Under President Xi, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.

Yet, Blinken also decried the rise in anti-Chinese and anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States, saying Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans have the same claim to the U.S. as any other immigrants or their descendants.

Investment in domestic U.S. infrastructure and technology along with stepping up diplomatic outreach to potentially vulnerable countries are other elements of the policy and are key to the U.S. approach, Blinken said.

In the latest manifestation of Chinas push to expand its reach that has drawn concern from the U.S. and other democracies, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday began an eight-nation tour of Pacific islands during which Beijing hopes to strike a sweeping agreement that covers everything from security to fisheries.

Wang opened his tour in the Solomon Islands, which last month signed a security cooperation pact with China that some fear could lead to a Chinese military presence there. The agreement was finalized shortly after the Biden administration announced it would open a U.S. embassy in the Solomons as part of its efforts to engage in the greater Indo-Pacific region.

The Biden administration has largely kept in place confrontational policies toward China adopted by its predecessor in response to Chinese actions in its western Xinjiang region, Hong Kong, Tibet and the South China Sea.

And, while the administration sees areas for working with Beijing, such as combatting climate change, it will not trade cooperation for compromising on its principles regarding human rights and rule of law, Blinken said.

Go here to see the original:

Blinken: US to leverage Russia-Ukraine bloc against China - The Associated Press

Rhee Keun, a former member of South Korean naval special forces who is also known as Ken Rhee, arrives at Incheon international airport, after returning from Ukraine where he served as a volunteer fighter, in Incheon, South Korea, May 27, 2022. Yonhap via REUTERS

Register

SEOUL, May 27 (Reuters) - A South Korean volunteer fighter returned home from Ukraine on Friday saying he had to recover from injuries and was ready to face a police investigation on suspicion of breaking the law by defying a government ban on travel to Ukraine.

Volunteers from around the world have flocked to Ukraine to help it fight Russian forces that invaded on Feb. 24. Russia calls its action in Ukraine a "special operation".

Rhee Keun, a former member of South Korean naval special forces who is also known as Ken Rhee, flew back to South Korea with media broadcasting his return live on television.

Register

"I haven't left the battlefield completely but came to recover from injuries. I want to go back ... because the war has not ended, there's still a lot to do," Rhee said at the airport.

Rhee said he was suffering from cruciate ligament injury in both legs. He was able to walk.

He said about 10 policemen had been waiting for him as he stepped off the plane and they had told him to quarantine for a week as a COVID-19 precaution, and he would then be summoned for questioning.

"I will cooperate in the investigation," he said.

A police spokesman was not immediately available for comment. A military spokesman confirmed that Rhee had served in navy special forces.

Rhee posted pictures and video of his experience in Ukraine on social media.

South Korea's foreign ministry filed a police complaint against him in mid-March, shortly after he went to Ukraine, on charges of violating a passport act.

South Korea banned its nationals from travelling to Ukraine in February for safety reasons. Under the law, those who defy a ban can be jailed for up to a year or fined 10 million won ($8,000).

Rhee said Ukraine had offered him citizenship and even land but he had declined.

"I don't think it's right to take citizenship to avoid a fine or trial," he said.

Register

Reporting by Joori Roh;Editing by Robert Birsel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

See the original post:

Injured South Korean fighter back from Ukraine faces investigation - Reuters

Western allies are considering allowing Russian oligarchs to buy their way out of sanctions. (Photo: AP/File)

Western allies are considering whether to allow Russian oligarchs to buy their way out of sanctions and use the money to rebuild Ukraine, according to government officials familiar with the matter.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland proposed the idea at a G-7 finance ministers' meeting in Germany last week.

Freeland raised the issue after oligarchs spoke to her about it, one official said. The Canadian minister knows some Russian oligarchs from her time as a journalist in Moscow.

READ | Ukraine should give up territory to reach peace deal with Russia, says former US secretary of state

The official said the Ukrainians were aware of the discussions. The official said it's also in the West's interests to have prominent oligarchs dissociate themselves with Russian President Vladimir Putin while at the same time providing funding for Ukraine.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal G-7 discussions.

READ | Russian soldier handed life sentence in first war crimes trial of Ukraine conflict

Go here to read the rest:

Russia-Ukraine war: West likely to allow Russian oligarchs to buy way out of sanctions - India Today