Daily Archives: June 9, 2022

The ripple effects of Russia's audacious invasion of Ukraine will wipe out 15 years of economic gains by the end of 2023, a global banking trade group reported Wednesday.

The Institute of International Finance estimated the Russian economy will shrink by 15% this year and another 3% in 2023. Historically high oil and and natural gas prices have provided some protection from global sanctions, and the Russian central bank has raised interest rates and imposed capital controls to keep money from fleeing the country.

But the institute said the sanctions, partly by encouraging foreign companies to abandon Russia, are unraveling its economy, wiping out more than a decade of economic growth, and some of the most meaningful consequences have yet to be felt.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that sanctions have failed to deter Russia's military ambitions in his country. But sanctions have yet to reach the "top rung of the escalation ladder," the report says.

"Western allies could take additional steps in coming weeks and months to keep up pressure on the Russian government," the report says.

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President Joe Biden plans to visit European allies Germany and Spain in late June as he tries to hold together the coalition opposing Russias invasion of Ukraine.The White House said Biden will attend a Group of Seven summit June 25 in the Bavarian Alps and a meeting of NATO countries June 28 in Madrid.

Russia has restored fresh-water supplyfrom southern Ukraine to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement, a significant step toward Moscow's goal of connecting territory it controlsto the peninsula it annexed in 2014.

Almost 30% of Poles favor allowing Ukrainians fleeing the war to settle in Poland permanently and another 64% supportproviding protection until they can return home, according to a University of Warsaw survey.

Slovakias government has approved a long-term plan to modernize and to increase the number of troops in its armed forces. The NATO member with a population of 5.5 million people should have 22,000 service members by 2035, up from 14,100 this year.

The U.N.'s goal of ending extreme poverty globally by 2030 is taking a major hit from the war inUkraine, which has contributed to a steep rise in food and energy prices, according to a report the organization released Wednesday.

The report by the U.N. Global Crisis Response Group says the war has exacerbated a global cost-of-living crisis unseen in at least a generation. With much of the world still dealing with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and climate change, the war has made conditions nearly untenable for millions of people not directly involved in it.

The wars impact on food security, energy and finance is systemic, severe and speeding up,U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

The U.N. is trying to arrange a deal that would allow grain exports from Ukraine through the Black Sea and unimpeded access to world markets for Russian food and fertilizers. Guterres said hundreds of millions of people in developing countries could face severe hunger without such an agreement.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of weaponizing food supplies by preventing Ukraine from exporting more than 22 million tons of grain.This is a cold, callous and calculated siege by Putin on some of the most vulnerable countries and people in the world, she said.

The Ukraine military claims it routed an elite Russian regiment in the Donbas region amid conflicting reports on the fate of the crucial city ofSievierodonetsk.The "invaders" were trying to cut through a strategically important highway in eastern Ukraine when paratroopers from Ukraine's80th Brigade halted the advance, the brigade said in a Facebook post.

"The enemy has not gotten through!Units of the 80th separate paratrooping brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to inflict losses on Russian occupants," the post claimed."This 'striped elite' retreated, leaving in the forest the bodies of their dead."

The Russians made their own claims of success, saying they have restored railways, roads and a canal to connect territory they control in southern Ukraine with the Crimean Peninsula, which they illegally annexed in 2014.

The focus of the war has turned to the eastern Donbas, whichincludes the Luhansk and Donetsk territories. Russia claims to control 97% of Luhansk.Sievierodonetsk is one of just two Luhansk cities not yet completely under Russian control. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai told the Associated Press thatmaybe we will have to retreat, but right now battles are ongoing in the city. Haidai suggested that positions across the river, in Lysychansk, could be easier to defend.

But in a social media post, Haidai wrote that "nobody is going to surrender Sievierodonetsk!"

A search of the bombed-out high-rises in the port city of Mariupol has yielded between 50 and 100 bodies in each, prompting workers to carry them to morgues and landfills in what a mayoral aide called anendless caravan of death.

Petro Andryushchenko said on the Telegram app that about two-fifths of the damaged buildings in the heavily shelled city have been searched.

Ukrainian authorities estimate at least 21,000 civilians were killed and hundreds of buildings destroyed during a weekslong Russian siege of Mariupol. Reports have surfaced of mass graves holding thousands of bodies.

Mariupol fell to the Russians in May, but not before several weeks of dogged resistance from fighters holed up in a sprawling steel mill that came to symbolizethe Ukrainian spirit of defiance against a larger foe.

The families of two British soldiers held captive and possibly facing executionat the hands of Russian separatists in Ukraine say the men are not mercenaries and should be treated as prisoners of war.

Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 24, had brief court appearances this week in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. They could face the death penalty if convicted on charges ofcommission of crime by a group, violent seizure of power or retention of power by force, mercenarism and training for terrorist activity.Both families say they are working with the British and Ukraine governments in hopes of winning release.

Denis Pushilin, president of the Donetsk People's Republic,told Russian TV the crimes they committed were monstrous."

"Aiden is a much-loved man and very much missed," his family statement said. "We hope that he will be released very soon."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday that his nation was willing to provide security for a shipping corridor for Ukrainian agricultural products. An estimated 22 million tons of grains are sitting in silos in Ukraine, aggravating food shortages across much of the developing world.

Russia says commercial shipping could resume in the Black Sea if Ukraine removes mines from the area near the port of Odesa and pledged not to use any cleared corridor to attack Ukraine. Kyiv has voiced doubt about that promise.Ukrainian Grain Union chief Serhiy Ivashchenko said Wednesday it was the Russians whomined the area and that it would take 3 to 4 months to remove sea mines.

Turkey doesnt have enough power in the Black Sea to guarantee security of cargo and Ukrainian ports, he said.

Russia's relationship with Japan continues to deteriorate because of the war in Ukraine. A dayafter Japan agreed to increased military cooperation with NATO, Russia said it would suspend a dealthat allowed Japanese boats to fish in waters neardisputed islands in exchange for payment.

The fishing agreement in place since 1998 permits Japanese fishingaround the Russian-held Kurils, which Japan also claims and calls the Northern Territories. Japan has joined the U.S., theEuropean Union and others in imposing sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, and the deal's suspension appears to be retribution for that and the closer military ties with NATO.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said it was regrettable that Russia one-sidedly announced it is suspending the cooperation in this manner.

WNBA star Brittney Griner remains locked in a Russian prison, her case tangled up with that of lesser-known AmericanPaul Whelan. He hasbeen held in Russiasince his December 2018 arreston espionage charges he and the U.S. government say are false. Whelan wasleft out of a prisoner exchange in Aprilthat brought home yet another detainee, Marine veteran Trevor Reed. That has escalated pressure on the Biden administration to avoid another one-for-one swap that does not include Whelan in favor of Griner, an Olympic gold medalist whose case has drawn global attention.

It's still very raw, Whelan's sister, Elizabeth Whelan, said of her brother being excluded from the Reed deal. And to think we might have to go through that again if Brittney is brought home first is just terrible.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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War will cost Russia 15 years of economic gains; UN says 'global cost-of-living crisis' worsening: Live updates - USA TODAY

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NATO is to blame for provoking the special military operation, as Vladimir Putin called his invasion of Ukraine. Washington helped Kyiv build secret biological weapons labs. Ukraine is defended by Nazis and the world supports Moscows efforts to liberate the country from a fascist regime.

These false narratives and conspiracy theories designed to bolster support for Putins war are to be expected inside Russia and from pro-Kremlin trolls online.

But while the threat from fake news is global, Bulgaria has becomeground zero for how such disinformation continues to proliferate largely unchecked inside the European Union.

A steady flow of pro-Russian views floods Bulgarias debate about the war. The Kremlins talking points are echoed by politicians, mainstream media, and pundits alike. As a result, the invasion has split public opinion, fuelling fears that democratic values are under threat in the EUs poorest country.

Bulgaria has been a target of systematic disinformation campaigns for years and those efforts are paying off now, said Goran Georgiev an analyst with the Sofia-based Center for Study of Democracy. Some Bulgarians unequivocally believe conspiracy theories and have lost trust in traditional media.

It is a concern not just to democracy campaigners but also to Bulgarias new government, formed last year under Kiril Petkov, whose campaign focused on cleaning up politics and fighting corruption.

To western European eyes, the examples of cascading conspiracy stories and the penetration of pro-Putin views are shocking. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, Petkov had to sack his own defense minister who kept referring to the illegal invasion as a special operation, adopting Putins favored euphemism.

Popular public figures and media in Bulgaria disseminate pro-Russian stories from elsewhere, too. Take the case of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where a small band of Ukrainian soldiers held out against the Russian siege for weeks until they eventually surrendered.

The pro-Kremlin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda carried a version of events that portrayed the Ukrainian troops as Nazis. The article was then translated and reprinted in the Bulgarian tabloid Trud, a popular paper sympathetic to Moscow. It asserted the surrendering Ukrainian soldiers were found covered with tattoos of swastikas and quotes by Hitler and offered this as proof that Putin was justified in invading Ukraine parrotingdebunked claims that Ukraines military are made up of fascists.

The story itself was bad enough. But the article came to the attention of Bulgarian journalist and television host Martin Karbovski, who shared it with his 530,000 followers on Facebook. In a nation of 7 million people, he is one of the most popular personalities on the social platform.

In April, one of Petkovs coalition government partners nominated Karbovski for a role with Bulgarias media regulator overseeing public broadcasters and media pluralism. Karbovskis candidacy sparked outrage among the journalistic community in Bulgaria and within hours he withdrew his bid.

Karbovski portrayed himself asultimatelynot wanting tobecomea civil servant, accepting a job from those in power who had been his enemies.

According to Bozhidar Bozhanov, Bulgaria's minister of e-government, the problem is hard to fix. Bulgaria had a systemic weakness to Russian propaganda long before the start of the war, he said.

"The Kremlin uses troll factories, anonymous sites, and local media which they control in one way or another, Bozhanov told POLITICO. Like in other Eastern European countries, we can't simply shut several Russia-controlled media outlets and solve the disinformation problem.

The government's repeated efforts to force Facebook and other social media companies to take more steps to scrub Russian propaganda from their platforms have also largely fallen on deaf ears, Bozhanov told POLITICO.

Poland and Hungary have also struggled to deal with pro-Russia propaganda. But why is Bulgaria apparently so vulnerable? The answer is partly cultural.

Historical ties between Bulgaria and Russia run deep. Many Bulgarians speak Russian and therefore find it easy to access the Kremlin version of events. Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow was seen as an ally by many.

During the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish war, Russia defeated the Turks and brought an end to Ottoman rule in Bulgaria. Ever since, there has been a strain of thinking in Bulgaria that sees Russia as a liberator.

Media freedom in the country has been undermined for years. Bulgaria ended on the 91st place in the most recent Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, coming from the 112th place last year, and the NGO still describes the state of media freedom in the country as "fragile and unstable. The few remaining independent publications are struggling to survive.

Only 10 percent of Bulgarians think that media in their country is independent but many are apparently still willing to believe what they read. One of the big problems in Bulgarian society is the lack of critical thinking, said Velislava Popova, editor in chief of the news site Dnevnik.bg. Bulgarians are more likely to trust false news and manipulations because we dont know to distinguish disinformation.

During the pandemic, conspiracy theorists sowed falsehoods around the world and found a particularly receptive audience in Bulgaria, where vaccine hesitancy rates were high.

Revival, an extreme nationalist party, capitalized on the COVID-19 conspiracies during last autumns election and transformed itself from a marginal voice to a political force represented in parliament. Now, the party is turning its attention to the war.

It has organized peace rallies where Kremlin views on the war were aired and Russian flags waved. Footage of Revivals events has been picked up by Russian media and presented as evidence of Bulgarian support for the invasion of Ukraine.

Revival's party leader Kostadin Kostadinov has around 270,000 followers on Facebook and he dominates political debate on the network. Facebook is still the most popular social media in Bulgaria, which is important because, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021, close to 70 percent of Bulgarians get their news from social media.

In March a petition was launched calling for more transparency about how Facebook moderates its content content.We noticed an interesting trend profiles which said nothing wrong were blocked while those which were aggressive and supporting the war in Ukraine could not even be removed, said Martin Ossikovski, lecturer in media history at New Bulgarian University, behind the petition.

One possible explanation, Ossikovski said, is that Russian trolls are targeting specific profiles, reporting them in scores for allegedly breaking the social medias rules, and Facebook algorithms are automatically blocking them.

Facebook said it is fighting propaganda in consultation with authorities in Bulgaria. We are taking extensive steps to fight the spread of misinformation on our services in the region and are continuing to consult with outside experts and public administrations including in Bulgaria, a spokesperson for Facebooks parent company Meta said.

We're removing content that violates our policies, and working with third-party fact checkers in the region to debunk false claims. When they rate something as false, we move this content lower in Feed so fewer people see it. Were also giving people more information to decide what to read, trust, and share by adding warning labels on content rated false.

But the rot may be too deeply set-in. According to Ossikovski, the Bulgarian academic, Facebooks content moderation subcontractors could be working with young, unqualified, inexperienced employees who dont really know much about media ethics and are likely to be influenced by pro-Russian propaganda themselves. Even when posts that spread Moscows lies are reported to these moderators, they dont actually see them as problematic.

Theres one thing that could change all this: the war itself. Despite the profusion of propaganda, there are signs Bulgarian public opinion has shifted since the invasion began. Putins approval rating in Bulgaria was 32 percent in February, according to a poll of 1,000 people. By April, it had fallen to 25 percent.

Once Russia started shelling Ukrainian cities, said Georgiev, people instinctively started doubting the lies.

Mark Scott contributed reporting.

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Welcome to Bulgaria, where the Ukraine war is NATOs fault - POLITICO Europe

BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) Workers pulled scores of bodies from smashed buildings in an endless caravan of death inside the devastated city of Mariupol, authorities said Wednesday, while fears of a global food crisis escalated over Ukraines inability to export millions of tons of grain through its blockaded ports.

At the same time, Ukrainian and Russian forces battled fiercely for control of Sievierodonestk, a city that has emerged as central to Moscows grinding campaign to capture Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas.

As the fighting dragged on, the human cost of the war continued to mount. In many of Mariupols buildings, workers are finding 50 to 100 bodies each, according to a mayoral aide in the Russian-held port city in the south.

Petro Andryushchenko said on the Telegram app that the bodies are being taken in an endless caravan of death to a morgue, landfills and other places. At least 21,000 Mariupol civilians were killed during the weeks-long Russian siege, Ukrainian authorities have estimated.

The consequences of the war are being felt far beyond Eastern Europe because shipments of Ukrainian grain are bottled up inside the country, driving up the price of food.

Ukraine, long known as the bread basket of Europe, is one of the worlds biggest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but much of that flow has been halted by the war and a Russian blockade of Ukraines Black Sea coast. An estimated 22 million tons of grain remains in Ukraine. The failure to ship it out is endangering the food supply in many developing countries, especially in Africa.

Russia expressed support Wednesday for a U.N. plan to create a safe corridor at sea that would allow Ukraine to resume grain shipments. The plan, among other things, calls for Ukraine to remove mines from the waters near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

But Russia is insisting that it be allowed to check incoming vessels for weapons. And Ukraine has expressed fear that clearing the mines could enable Russia to attack the coast. Ukrainian officials said the Kremlins assurances that it wouldnt do that cannot be trusted.

European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday accused the Kremlin of weaponizing food supplies and surrounding their actions with a web of lies, Soviet-style.

While Russia, which is also a major supplier of grain to the rest of the world, has blamed the looming food crisis on Western sanctions against Moscow, the European Union heatedly denied that and said the blame rests with Russia itself for waging war against Ukraine.

These are Russian ships and Russian missiles that are blocking the export of crops and grain, Michel said. Russian tanks, bombs and mines are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting.

The West has exempted grain and other food from its sanctions against Russia, but the U.S. and the EU have imposed sweeping punitive measures against Russian ships. Moscow argues that those restrictions make it impossible to use its ships to export grain, and also make other shipping companies reluctant to carry its product.

Turkey has sought to play a role in negotiating an end to the war and in brokering the resumption of grain shipments. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met on Wednesday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Ukraine was not invited to the talks.

Meanwhile, Moscows troops continued their painstaking, inch-by-inch campaign for the Donbas region with heavy fighting in and around Sievierodonetsk, which had a prewar population of 100,000. It is one of the last cities yet to be taken by the Russians in Luhansk, one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Sievierodonetsk the epicenter of the battle for the Donbas and perhaps one of the most difficult battles of the war.

He said the Ukrainian army is defending its positions and inflicting real losses on the Russian forces.

In many ways, it is there that the fate of our Donbas is being decided, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, which was recorded in the street outside his office in Kyiv.

An adviser to Zelenskyys office said Russian forces have changed their tactics in the battle, retreating from the city while pounding it with artillery and airstrikes.

As a result, Oleksiy Arestovych said, the city center is deserted, and the artillery hits an empty place.

They are hitting hard without any particular success, he said in his daily online interview.

Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai acknowledged the difficulties of battling Russian forces, saying, Maybe we will have to retreat, but right now battles are ongoing in the city.

Everything the Russian army has artillery, mortars, tanks, aviation all of that, theyre using in Sievierodonetsk in order to wipe the city off the face of the Earth and capture it completely, he said.

The city of Lysychansk, like Sievierodonetsk, is also wedged between Russian forces in Luhansk province. Valentyna Tsonkan, an elderly resident of Lysychansk, described the moment when her house came under attack.

I was lying on my bed. The shrapnel hit the wall and went through my shoulder, she said as she received treatment for her wounds.

Russias continuing encroachment could open up the possibility of a negotiated settlement between the two nations more than three months into the war, analysts said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has the option of declaring his objectives met at more or less any time in order to consolidate Russias territorial gains, said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the London think tank Chatham House. At that point, Giles said, Western leaders may pressure Ukraine to accept their losses in order to bring an end to the fighting.

Zelenskyy said Russia is unwilling to negotiate because it still feels strong.

Speaking by video link to U.S. corporate leaders, he called for even tougher sanctions to weaken Russia economically, including getting it off the global financial system completely.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is willing to negotiate to find a way out. But a settlement cannot come at the expense of our independence.

Meanwhile, to the north, Russian shelling of the Kharkiv region killed five people and wounded 12 over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian authorities said.

The Russian military said it used high-precision missiles to hit an armor repair plant near Kharkiv. There was no confirmation from Ukraine of such a plant being hit.

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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists Oleksandr Stashevskyi, John Leicester and David Keyton in Kyiv, Ukraine; Andrew Katell in New York; and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.

___

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

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As war in Ukraine drags on, fears of global food crisis grow - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON As a new generation of western-made arms travels to Ukraines front-line forces, donor nations are assessing the risk of revealing sensitive technology to Russias military if the equipment is captured.

Such considerations have become more prevalent as Soviet-age stocks used in the fight dwindle and Ukrainian leaders request weapons with longer ranges and better combat punch, according to British defense officials, who spoke on condition of not being named due to the sensitivity of the subject.

The British government is a key driving force in coordinating international military aid to Ukraine.

Any weaponry that includes seeker and guidance components for targeting, as well as encryption algorithms, could give clues to Russian forces about how these arms work and, potentially, how to defend against them, said a British Embassy official here.

Technology trophies routinely change hands in modern war, and there have been reports of Ukrainian forces turning the tables and gleaning insight from Russian equipment seized on the battlefield. Whats new is that capture risk calculations are becoming more deeply embedded in new donation decisions, as a generational shift in the quality of the weapons flowing into Ukraine gets underway.

Nothing is limitless, said another British Embassy official, referring to Soviet-era equipment being ground up in the war. The amount of weapons being expended on a daily basis just to hold back Russia on the eastern flank in the Donbas is substantial.

Earlier this month, U.S. and U.K. leaders announced the transfer of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems, or MLRS, to Ukraine. The weapons are considered crucial in defeating long-range artillery pieces used by the Russians to slice deeper into the Donbas.

Given the American and British weapons ranges of 70-80 km, the systems are considered far enough away from the frontline to mitigate immediate capture risks. But losing sophisticated, shorter-range weapons like the British Brimstone missile, which features onboard target recognition technology, would be more worrisome, according to officials.

Photos of a Brimstone purportedly captured intact by Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine first appeared on Twitter in mid-May.

Meanwhile, Western defense leaders are expected to meet in Brussels next week to coordinate new arms donations to Ukraine. A naval version of the Brimstone missile, which manufacturer MBDA has marketed for some time, is being considered by the British to fill a crucial gap in Ukraines coastal defenses.

That mission has taken on global significance because Russian ships are blocking Ukraines ports, leaving 22 million tons of grain meant for export languishing in silos near the coast, according to the U.S. State Department. Russian ships have reportedly left the area with stolen grain by the hundreds of thousands of tons, agency spokesman Ned Price told ABC News.

At the last donor conference on May 23, the Danes agreed to supply Ukraine with U.S.-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles. But more is needed to beef up Ukraines anti-ship capabilities to be able to punch through the Russian blockade, said the second British official.

Especially when there has there been so much concern, even at the UN level, about the grain crisis, the official said. Thats significant, and its something we cant let go of and need to focus on more.

Sebastian Sprenger is Europe editor for Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multinational investments in defense and global security. He previously served as managing editor for Defense News.

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The race to arm Ukraine highlights West's worry of losing tech secrets - DefenseNews.com

Biden to send longer-range rockets to Ukraine to combat Russian forces

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in "Donbas remains extremely difficult" as Russian forces continue to attack Ukraine.

Cody Godwin, USA TODAY

U.S. authorities moved Monday to seize a $350 million Boeing jet believed to be one of the worlds most expensive private airplanes from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

A federal magistrate judge signed a warrant authorizing the seizure of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that authorities said was worth less than $100 million before a lavish customization. The warrant also authorized seizure of a $60 million Gulfstream jet.

An FBI agent wrote in an affidavit that the planesare subject to seizure because they hadbeen moved between March 4 and March 15 without licenses being obtained, in violation of sanctions placed against Russia.According to the affidavit, Abramovich controlled the Gulfstream through a series of shell companies. The plane is believed to have been in Moscow since March 15.

The Boeing is believed to be in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, following a roundtrip March 4 flight from Dubai to Moscow, the affidavit said.

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Russias Foreign Ministry said it's sanctioning 61 U.S. nationals in response to the ever-expanding U.S. sanctions against Russian political and public figures, as well as representatives of domestic business. Those on the list include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Mass burials and lack of access to drinking water have led toa "critical" risk of cholera in Russian-occupied Mariupol, Deputy Health Minister Ihor Kuzin said.

Russias ambassador in Rome was summoned to the Italian foreign ministry after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov derided Italian counterpart LuigiDi Maios peace plan. The plan calls for incremental cease-fires and humanitarian corridors; Lavrov also insinuated that Di Maio was out for self-promotion to gain votes.

Russias foreign ministry has called U.S. news media to a meeting to warn that their accreditations and visas could be withdrawn if the U.S. does not rescind measures limiting Russian journalists in America.

Ukraine has added another general to the list of high-ranking Russian officers it has killed in the war.

Russian state media and the Ukraine military confirmed Monday the death ofMaj. Gen. Roman Kutuzov during fighting in the Donbas region, the BBC reported. The Russian defense ministry has not commented.

Reporter Alexander Sladkov of state-owned Rossiya 1 said on the Telegram social media app thatKutuzov had been commanding troops from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic."The general had led soldiers into attack, as if there are not enough colonels," Sladkov wrote.

Ukraine has targeted Russia's top officers and says it haskilled 12, although some of those claims have been disputed. Westernintelligence officials have confirmed the death of at least seven senior commanders, the BBC said.

While the fate of the Ukrainian prisoners taken from the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol remains uncertain, some information is emerging about the fighters killed defending the sprawling plant thatbecame a symbol of resistance against the Russian invasion.

Dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out mills ruins have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.

Ukraine said over the weekend the warring sides had exchanged the bodies of 320 military dead -- 160 each -- andAzov Regiment spokeswoman Anna Holovko said all the Ukrainian remains were from the Azovstal ruins.It's not known how many bodiesremain at the plant.

Some Western politicians and the media are pushing Ukraine to end the war with a result not beneficial for Ukraine, but his nation won't be swayed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.

"I do not have any negotiations on any plans," he said of peace talks. "Such negotiations are currently at zero."

Still, Zelenskyy said he believes Ukraine should work "with all European countries, world powers" to end the conflict on positive terms. But heremained defiant as Russian troops blew up bridges and shelled apartments in Sievierodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk, the last two major cities of the Luhansk province still held by Ukraine. If captured, Russian would take control of the contested area.

"Fatigue is growing, people want a result for themselves," he said in a speech to his countrymen."You and I need a resultfor us."

Sexual violence in Ukraineremains prevalent and underreported, with women and girls the primary victims, theU.N. envoy on those abuses during conflicttold the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

Pramila Patten said attempts at preventing rape and other sexual attacks during conflicts fall short of protecting the most vulnerable women and children.

Patten said Ukraines prosecutor general informed her during a visit in May that a national hot line reported the following forms of conflict-related sexual violence between the start of the war Feb. 24 and April 12: rape, gang rape, pregnancy following rape, attempted rape, threats of rape, coercion to watch an act of sexual violence committed against a partner or a child, and forced nudity.

The Russiansare zeroing in onthe southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, calling their attack on the region of 1.6 million people "the most threatening situation there.

CapturingZaporizhzhia, pop. 722,000, and its surroundings may allow theinvading forces to advance closer to the center of the country. Russia has alreadyseized the large cities of Kherson and Mariupol in the south and is engaged in ferocious battle for Sievierodonetsk in the east.

There are more of them, they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on there, Zelenskyy said of Sievierodonetsk.

Zelenskyy also said in a news conference that he's talking tocountries like Turkey and the U.K. about establishing a secure corridor for Ukrainian ships totransport the 22-25 million tons of grain being blockaded by the Russians andprevent food shortages in Africa and Asia.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the front lines Sundayin the hotly contested Donbas,getting an up-close look at his military operation,awardingmedals for heroic efforts and leading moments of silence to honor fallen troops.

"I want to thank you for your great work, for your service, for protecting all of us, our state," Zelenskyy said at one gathering. "I am grateful to everyone. I want to wish you and your families good health. Take care of yourselves."

Zelenskyy's tour included Luhansk, whereGov. Serhiy Haidai said Monday that fierce fighting was continuing in the crucial city of Sievierodonetsk.

Our defenders managed to conduct counteroffensive and free nearly half of the city, but the situation has worsened again now," Haidai said. Our guys are defending the positions in the industrial zone on the outskirts of the city.

Zelenskyy journeys outside Kyiv area to meet with first responders

Ukraines President Zelenskyy visited areas partly controlled by Russia to meet with soldiers, police, and other military officials.

Ariana Triggs, USA TODAY

Serbia and Russia confirmed Monday that a planned visit by Russia's foreign minister will not take place after Serbia's neighbors Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro refused to allow Sergey Lavrov's plane to fly through their airspace en route to Serbia. While formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has maintained friendly ties with Russia and has refusedWestern sanctions against Moscow.

"The unthinkable has happened," Lavrov said. "What has happened is basically a deprivation of a sovereign state's right to conduct foreign policy.''

Army Gen. Mark Milley, marking the 78th anniversary of D-Day atthe American Cemetery in France overlooking Omaha Beach, said Ukrainians are experiencing the same horrors as the French citizens went throughin World War II.Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said large countries can't use their superior military might to invade smaller ones without consequences.

"The fight in Ukraine is about honoring these veterans of World War II, he said.Its about maintaining the so called global rules-based international order that was established by the dead who are buried here at this cemetery.

The United Kingdomwill provide Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems capable of striking targets 50 miles away with "pinpoint accuracy," Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced. Ukraine troops will be trained to use the system in Britain. The movehas been coordinated closely with the U.S. decision to provide a variant of the system.

The decision comes in response to requests from Ukrainian forces for longer-range precision weapons to defend themselves from Russian heavy artillery, which has been used to devastating effect in the eastern Donbas region.

"As Russias tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine," Wallace said in a statement. "These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which (Russian leader Vladimir) Putins forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities."

A Ukraine commander leading the effort to wrest the crucialcity of Sievierodonetsk from the Russian military says fierce street battles are underway and the city is being battered. Petro Kuzyk told Radio Svoboda that his forces must constantly maneuver to avoid being crushed. Each side gains and loses territory multiple times in a day, he said.

"The enemy prevails to a certain degree in cannon artillery, quantity of tanks, maybe, in personnel, and is actively using this advantage," he said. "They are constantly attacking, shelling, ruining houses and our fortifications."

Graduating students waltzed in front of the ruins of their high school in Kharkiv, reviving a tradition that has been put on hold because ofthe war. In Ukrainian schools, the graduating class traditionally dances a waltz in front of the entire school as students hear the bell being rung for the last time, Pravda Ukraine reports.

Olena Mosolova, a geography teacher whose daughter is also graduating this year, said that the last waltz was an opportunity to at least somehow recreate the atmosphere of the "last bell" for the students.

"We had imagined a different last bell for our kids, but it is what it is, and we want to have a celebration for the kids," she said.

The school was the site of heavy fighting in February between Russian forces and the Ukrainian military. Pravda reported that at one point 30 Russian soldiers occupied the school until they were driven out by Ukraine forces.

Russia has been concentrating its military might on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. ButRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at an online newsconference Monday that Russia will push deeper into Ukraine so longer-range missiles provided by the Westcan't reach its cities. Ukraine has sought thosemissile because Russia has severely damaged several cities by firing long-range missiles from a distance Ukraine weapons can't reach.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has already commented on the situation that will emerge with the arrival of new armaments," Lavrov said. "I can only add that the longer the range of armaments that you will supply, the further away we will move from our territory."

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Ukraine kills another Russian general; US moves to seize $350M plane from Russian oligarch: Live Ukraine updates - USA TODAY