Category Archives: Ukraine

Today, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, and Moldovan authorities brought together European and international partners to discuss the changing situation at the borders following the outbreak of Russias unjustified invasion of Ukraine.

In the aftermath, more than 6 million Ukrainian nationals have entered the EU since Russias unprovoked invasion in February. Countries neighbouring Ukraine are particularly affected by the those fleeing the war and crossing the border.

We are bringing together relevant authorities of the EU, Ukraine and Moldova to discuss challenges posed by the war and the strengthening of border management amid the unprecedented security crisis, said Frontex Deputy Executive Director Lars Gerdes.

Together we protect Europe, shoulder to shoulder, on the spot, he added.

Opening the conference, Moldova's Minister of Internal Affairs, Ana Revenco, underlined the need to consolidate the extended border of the European Union and anticipate threats to security: We have to build a trustworthy, resilient and sustainable ecosystem together to respond to the current challenges. Cooperation between the judiciary and law enforcement is key to protect people in need and ensure security.

Deputy Director-General of the European Commssion, Olivier Onidi, added: This conference is very timely, a few days after the EU formally recognised Ukraine and Moldova as candidate countries for the European Union.

Amid the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ukraine, EU Member States and institutions are doing their utmost to quickly and efficiently support refugees, but also the affected neighbouring countries.

Organised in Chisinau, Moldova, the conference gathered representatives from law enforcement and border authorities of the Member States, EU institutions, and international organisations. Representatives of Ukraine also took part in the event, including General Serhii Deineko, Head of Border Guard Service of Ukraine, who told the audience how the Ukrainian border guards were helping defend the country.

During the event, the participants shared lessons learned from their respective operational responses to the war in Ukraine, including how to protect fundamental rights of those fleeing the war, as well as discussed the impact of the war on cross-border crime. Majority of the people fleeing Ukraine are women and children. This poses an increased risk of trafficking in human beings and the participants gathered during the event spoke about measures undertaken by EU and national authorities to counter this and other types of cross-border crime.

The measures undertaken by European Member States and institutions include operational support by Frontex, the introduction of the temporary protection mechanism by the European Commission and relocations of asylum seekers from Moldova to EU Member States.

Frontex launched its first operation in Moldova in March this year, following the signing of a status agreement between the EU and Moldovan authorities. The agency currently has 59 standing corps officers deployed to Moldova, who have helped the national authorities process the flow of refugees from Ukraine. Frontex has also deployed officers to other countries neighbouring Ukraine to support them with responding to the crisis.

See the original post:

Frontex and Moldova host international conference on Ukraine and border security - Ukraine - ReliefWeb

For some Florida Guardsmen, leaving the troops they were training with in Yavoriv, Ukraine, was of one of the toughest moments of their military careers.

"Walking over to the Ukrainians and telling them we were leaving was painful," Army Col. Blake Glass, commander of the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Florida National Guard, said. "We are personally invested; these are our friends and partners."

But as Army Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, saw during a recent visit here the Soldiers of the 53rd IBCT found renewed purpose after reuniting with their Ukrainian partners in Germany.

"Training with them again is a great way for us to stay involved," Glass said.

The 53rd IBCT deployed about 150 Soldiers last November for what they thought would be a longer rotation training with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

For four months, the Florida Guardsmen worked alongside AFU members to build defense capacity. But in February, as an unprovoked Russian invasion loomed, the soldiers were ordered to evacuate.

Among the last U.S. service members to leave, the soldiers of the 53rd IBCT shared hugs and sorrowful goodbyes with their Ukrainian counterparts.

Now, the 53rd IBCT known as Task Force Gator is assisting Ukraine troops who have come to Grafenwoehr, Germany, to train. Many of whom have since returned to the fight.

Grafenwoehr is the largest overseas U.S. military installation and home to 7th Army Training Command. There, the 53rd IBCT is working to provide continued logistics and training support as part of Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.

"You are here to provide the support and training they need to continue fighting for their independence and their country's sovereignty," Hokanson told a formation of Task Force Gator soldiers. "I can't thank you enough for providing that enduring support."

Assistance begins with providing immediate support to AFU members fresh off the frontlines: addressing medical issues, and providing clean beds and linens, boots and clothing. A Florida Guard chaplain and mental health counselor are also available to provide support to AFU members who have experienced trauma and lost family members and friends.

A larger part of U.S. support enhances AFU lethality by increasing its soldiers' familiarity with the weapons being delivered to Ukraine.

The Florida Guard and the 7th ATC, among others, have trained about 1,000 AFU members on weapon systems, including artillery such as the 155mm Howitzer, Glass said.

"We know when Ukrainian soldiers come through here they have a responsibility to train and get back as soon as they can," Glass said. "We want to take care of every one of their needs to ensure they can do just that."

Hokanson met with AFU members as a multi-component, multinational mix of personnel had just returned from live-fire training and were reorganizing for the next iteration of drills.

"I was impressed with the urgency of their training," Hokanson said. "It is highly focused. The Ukrainians are adept, capable and motivated."

He noted a potential challenge for Ukrainian soldiers: reading dials, instrument panels and digital screens featuring English text. While some AFU soldiers know the language, others do not. But that hasn't been a roadblock, Glass said.

"The help and training we're providing are a direct correlation to the success they're having," he said. "They have our numbers on speed dial. We can hear the guns firing while we're working through issues with them on the phone."

Many states' National Guards have built a close connection with Ukraine through the Defense Department's National Guard State Partnership Program. This Florida Guard unit is the eleventh National Guard element to rotate through JMTG-U since it was established in 2015. Soon, another unit will replace them.

"The National Guard and its State Partnership Program has been instrumental by providing that connective tissue throughout Europe to build and enable partner capacity, readiness and interoperability," said Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, commanding general of the 7th ATC.

The National Guard has been building security partnerships for almost 30 years through the SPP, and the program now includes 93 nations around the globe. The SPP's value cannot be overstated, Hokanson said.

Germany was Hokanson's second stop on a five-nation trip to recognize and strengthen National Guard relationships with NATO allies and European partners.

"When Russia invaded, Ukraine's military leaders reached out to people they trusted people they had known for years and those were members of the National Guard," he said. "Ukrainians' first text messages were, 'We're being invaded.' Their second messages said, Here's what we need. '"

Link:

Hokanson Visits Guardsmen Training With Ukraine Troops > US Department of Defense > Defense Department News - Department of Defense

In July 1942, things were bleak for the allies.

In the Pacific, the Japanese were ascendant and had captured Singapore, Malaya, and the Philippines. In Europe, the Nazis controlled much of the continent. And in Africa, the First Battle of Alamein was concluding with German General Rommel having pursued the retreating British Eighth Army across the Egyptian frontier.

Winston Churchill described this period as follows in his history of World War II: "The battle swayed back and forth until the end of the month, by which time both sides had fought themselves to a standstillI was politically at my weakest and without a gleam of military success."

Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might be excused for possessing such feelings of melancholy this week.

While the large-scale missile strikes over the weekend have been painful, much of his attention will remain on eastern Ukraine.

Since late April, the Russians have concentrated a majority of their combat power, including ground forces, artillery and air power, on the capture of the Donbas region. It has been a bitterly fought campaign on the Ukrainian eastern front. And while historical analogies are always fraught with danger, what we have witnessed has been neither World War I stalemate, nor a first Gulf War manoeuvre.

It has resembled, instead, the battles around the French town of Caen in the immediate wake of the Normandy landings. British and Canadian troops slugged their way through strongly contested German positions in the weeks after D-Day.

So too have we seen a slugfest on the ground in eastern Ukraine. The plucky Ukrainians, fighting against a larger Russian force with a significant advantage in artillery and air power, have slowly given ground in the Luhansk Pocket.

Centred on the city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukrainian defenders have been fighting the Russiansand wearingthem down as much as possible.

The Russians, using large forces of mercenaries and proxy forces, have only managed to advance in single digits of kilometres each week.

We may never know just how many Russians and Ukrainians have been killed in action or wounded. But, given Ukrainian casualty figures of 100-200 killed per day, we should expect it to be in the thousands.

The Ukrainian high command, while its soldiers fight and die in the east, have had to make hard decisions about the continued defence of Sievierodonetsk. There has been significant political pressure to stay in the city. At the same time, the Ukrainians needed their forces to stay long enough to cause enough destruction to Russian first echelon forces and reserves.

All along, the Ukrainians would have had a worst-case plan to eventually cede ground to preserve their combat forces. This is a very delicate balancing act at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. It demands superior decision making and courage from senior leaders. It can go very wrong for the defending force if the decision to withdraw is made too late.

This week, the Ukrainian High Command made the decision to withdraw its forces from Sievierodonetsk to previously prepared defensive positions further to the west. Ceding ground in the east by Ukraine is a tactical realignment.

It is not the same as"'Ukraine is losing the war", as some have cast the events of the last few weeks. It is simply part of war's nature, as humans seek to impose their will on each other. War has many twists and turns.

While the Ukrainians have been fighting in the south, east and north of Kharkiv, they have also been redeveloping their logistic system around the NATO model, and re-arming with long range fires. This will stand them in good stead for the fighting ahead. But it is an ongoing challenge.

If the Russians can close off the Luhansk pocket, it remains to be seen whether they have the reserves and logistic support to maintain their offensive momentum. They, like the Ukrainians, have been slogging it out here for some time combat exhaustion will start to tell. However, in using proxy forces and the Wagner Group mercenaries in Luhansk, the Russians may have been able to preserve other regular forces for subsequent offensives.

There are other challenges that the Russians will have to address in the short term. The Ukrainians in the east will be defending along a much shorter defensive line. And, Ukrainian advances in the south around Kherson will pose a dilemma about priorities for the Russians.

Even before the massive missile attacks over the weekend, it has been a grim week for Ukraine. But even the best military organisations sometimes have bad weeks in war. This is entirely normal. Remember, after Dunkirk came the liberation of Europe. And after the First Battle of Alamein came the Second Battle of Alamein, which was the beginning of the end of the Nazis in north Africa.

George Washington lost many of his battles, and gave up territory, but kept his Continental Army alive to eventually win the war (with the help of his French allies).

So too must the Ukrainians cede ground at times to win this war. Despite their enormous courage, the Ukrainians must not be drawn into an attritional fight with a Russian Army that prefers to fight this way.

This week's events have shown again that losing territory is bad for a country at war, but losing your army is fatal.

The Ukrainians have had a terrible week. But it is not the same as them losing the war.

Mick Ryan is a strategist and recently retired Australian Army major general. He served in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, and as a strategist on the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff. His first book, War Transformed, is about 21st century warfare.

Read the original post:

Ukraine's 'tactical realignment' in the east isn't a sign it's losing the war against Russia - ABC News

Press play to listen to this article

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.

This article is part ofPOLITICO Pro

The one-stop-shop solution for policy professionals fusing the depth of POLITICO journalism with the power of technology

Exclusive, breaking scoops and insights

Customized policy intelligence platform

A high-level public affairs network

See the article here:

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

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.

USA TODAY ON TELEGRAM: Join our Russia-Ukraine war channel to receive updates straight to your phone

Latest developments:

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

Go here to read the rest:

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

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.

___

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

See the article here:

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.

View original post here:

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

Nearly 600 people detained in torture chambers in Kherson, says Ukraine

Ukraine has accused the Russian army of abducting residents in the Kherson region in the south of the country and keeping them in torture chambers.

Tamila Tacheva, the Ukrainian presidencys permanent representative in Crimea, said in a briefing:

According to our information, about 600 people are detained in specially equipped basements, in torture chambers, in the Kherson region.

About 300 people are in the basement in Kherson city and the rest are in other settlements of the region, Tacheva said, according to Ukrainian state news agency, Ukrinform.

She added:

They are detained in inhuman conditions and are victims of torture.

Those being detained are mainly journalists and activists who organised pro-Ukrainian rallies in Kherson and its region after Russian troops occupied the territory, as well as prisoners of war, Tacheva said.

Some Ukrainians held in the Kherson region civilians but also detained combatants have been sent to jails in Crimea, she added.

It was not possible to independently verify these claims.

Updated at 12.01EDT

Thats all from me, Samantha Lock, for now. Please join me a little a later when we launch our new live blog covering all the latest developments from Ukraine.

Here is a comprehensive run-down of where things currently stand as of 3am.

Ukraine is launching a Book of Executioners, a system to collate evidence of war crimes Kyiv says were committed during Russias occupation, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they have registered more than 12,000 alleged war crimes involving more than 600 suspects since the Kremlin started its invasion on 24 February.

Next week, a special publication is to be launched - The Book of Executioners - an information system to collect confirmation of data about war criminals, criminals from the Russian army, Zelenskiy said in a video address.

Zelenskiy said this would be a key element in his longstanding pledge to bring to account Russian servicemen who have committed what Ukrainian authorities have described as murders, rape and looting.

These are concrete facts about concrete individuals guilty of concrete cruel crimes against Ukrainians, Zelenskiy said.

He cited the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where investigators found what they say is evidence of mass executions.

Moscows Chief Rabbi has reportedly fled Russia, after coming under pressure to support Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Journalist Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt tweeted late on Tuesday: Can finally share that my in-laws, Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and Rebbetzin Dara Goldschmidt, have been put under pressure by authorities to publicly support the special operation in Ukraine and refused.

More than 31,000 Russian servicemen have already died in Ukraine, president Zelenskiy has claimed, adding that the frontline situation has not changed significantly over the past 24 hours.

The hottest spots are the same. First of all, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, he said in his latest address.

More than 31,000 Russian servicemen have already died in Ukraine. Since February 24, Russia has been paying almost 300 lives a day for a completely pointless war against Ukraine. And still the day will come when the number of losses, even for Russia, will exceed the permissible limit.

Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also provided an update as to Ukraines application to join the EU.

In his latest address, he said he held a meeting on Tuesday on communication with the European Union and with individual EU member states on Ukraines application and candidate status.

Diplomatic activity in this direction does not stop even for a day. I hear daily reports, including on the preparation of procedural decisions in the European Union.

The team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our diplomats, the team of the government in general - all, absolutely all are working to achieve a significant historical decision already in June, which we all expect. For its part, Ukraine has done all, absolutely all the necessary work for this.

As they say in such cases: the ball is in the court of European structures, European countries.

A stalemate with Russia is not an option, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, reiterating a plea for foreign help in the war.

Ukraines fierce resistance of Russias invasion led to a stalemate in parts of the country, with Moscow re-focussing its forces in the east.

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday, he said:

Victory must be achieved on the battlefield.

We are inferior in terms of equipment and therefore we are not capable of advancing.

We are going to suffer more losses and people are my priority.

Asked what Ukraine would consider a victory, Zelenskiy said restoring the borders Ukraine controlled before Russias invasion on 24 February would be a serious temporary victory.

But he said the ultimate aim was the full de-occupation of our entire territory.

Asked about talks with Russia, which have been suspended since late March, Zelenskiy said he had not changed his position, adding that war should be ended at the negotiating table.

He said he was ready for direct talks with Vladimir Putin, adding that there was nobody else to talk to but the Russian president.

Its not long before 2am on Wednesday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

News continues to come in about Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by Russian invading forces in Mariupol.

Well have more coming up, so please stay tuned as the blogging passes from the Guardian US team over to our colleagues in Australia, where Samantha Lock will keep you abreast as things happen.

Heres where things stand:

Breaking news is coming through from Tass, the Russian state-owned news agency, declaring that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the southern port city of Mariupol after weeks taking a last stand have been transferred to Russia, Reuters reports.

More Ukrainian prisoners of war will be taken to Russia later on, Reuters is further reporting, with Tass citing a Russian law enforcement source.

Ukraine has said it is working for all the prisoners to be returned while some Russian legislators say they should be put on trial.

More details will be forthcoming, no doubt, and well bring them to you as they emerge.

Previously, the Guardians Pjotr Sauer had reported, more than 900 Ukrainian troops who had been trapped at Mariupols besieged Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian forces held out for weeks, had been sent to a prison colony on Russian-controlled territory within Ukraine, Moscow has said, and their fate had been uncertain.

Now, it appears, they and more of their comrades, have been taken to Russia proper.

Its probably fair to say that, if that is confirmed, their fate is currently even more uncertain.

Surrender at the besieged steel works came in the middle of last month, after it became clear that any remaining troops would, in fairly short order, be obliterated by Russian forces, with hope of rescue or reinforcements expired.

Just a few days earlier in May, the last remaining civilians holed up at the steel works were evacuated, and my colleague Emma Graham-Harrison sent this dispatch.

What remains of Mariupol is now under Russian control, and there are reports of an epidemic of cholera among those remaining in the occupied city, with sewage and water supply problems and dead bodies rotting in the streets.

Updated at 18.21EDT

The World Bank said on Tuesday its board of executive directors approved $1.49 billion of additional financing for Ukraine to help pay wages for government and social workers, expanding the banks total pledged support for Kyiv to over $4 billion.

The World Bank said in a statement that the latest round of funding for Ukraine is supported by financing guarantees from Britain, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Latvia.

Ukraines economy is in tatters.

The project is also being supported by parallel financing from Italy and contributions from a new Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

The news came as the bank also warned that the global economy faces a protracted period of weak growth and high inflation reminiscent of the 1970s as the impact of a two-year pandemic is compounded by Russias invasion of Ukraine, my colleague Larry Elliott reported earlier.

In its half-yearly economic health check, the Washington-based Bank said echoes of the stagflation of four decades ago had forced it to cut its growth forecast for this year from 4.1% to 2.9%.

David Malpass, the Banks president, said: The war in Ukraine, lockdowns in China, supply chain disruptions and the risk of stagflation are hammering growth. For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid.

Read more of Larrys report here.

Rubizhne, on the outskirts of the embattled industrial hub of Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk area of the Donbas that invading Russian forces are trying to subdue, some new satellite images are emerging showing severe damage.

The US satellite firm Maxar Technologies has just tweeted these pictures.

The Kyiv Independent news outlet reminds us that there has been heavy fighting over Rubizhne for weeks.

Also this:

Fighters with the resisting Ukrainian forces and the invading Russians appear to be bogged down in some key parts of southern and south-eastern Ukraine, fighting old-school trench warfare amid the boom of artillery.

Footage is often hard to verify in terms of exact location and time of filming in this 100+ days of conflict, but the sight and sound in this clip is in some way timeless.

CNNs Matthew Chance just aired a dispatch from Kryvyi Rih in southern Ukraine, where he reported on forces dug in and grinding front lines as the bone-shaking artillery guns pound away at each side.

He indicated that from what he was witnessing, in an exclusive report, that the Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought themselves to a standstill right now.

That was despite messages coming out from the Ukrainian authorities that Ukraine was making progress. But officers on the ground were also expressing grim satisfaction that Russia had not toppled the country within days as they claimed Vladimir Putin must have envisioned.

Here was Chances recent online report about Russia striking the capital Kyiv again after a long hiatus.

Continued here:

Zelenskiy says stalemate with Russia is not an option as it happened - The Guardian

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.

USA TODAY ON TELEGRAM: Join our Russia-Ukraine war channel to receive updates straight to your phone

Latest developments:

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

Excerpt from:

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

After long eschewing marriage, Pyotr Kolyadin and Tatyana Neustroyeva wed in April in St. Petersburg, Russia. It's "sort of like an anchor that you throw forward and maybe somehow it will pull you out," Pyotr says. Tatyana Neustroyeva hide caption

After long eschewing marriage, Pyotr Kolyadin and Tatyana Neustroyeva wed in April in St. Petersburg, Russia. It's "sort of like an anchor that you throw forward and maybe somehow it will pull you out," Pyotr says.

About a year ago, some friends asked Tatyana Neustroyeva and Pyotr Kolyadin that fateful couple question: Would they get married? In unison, they gave their replies: He said yes and she said no.

The two hadn't discussed it. At 40, they'd known each other half their lives and been together almost two years, living in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tatyana viewed marriage a bit of an archaic convention; Pyotr was into it, but wanted the time to be right.

Then, on Feb. 24, Russian troops invaded Ukraine. The couple felt they couldn't breathe, floating in a fog, with one clarity: They should get married, now.

"To me, we are facing a world apocalypse," Pyotr says, "and this is sort of like an anchor that you throw forward and maybe somehow it will pull you out. It's kind of an island of order in a world of chaos."

Soon, they began noticing on social media, on local news lots of other couples holding rushed, quick ceremonies. In St. Petersburg, articles noted long lines for fast-track registration. In Moscow, some 9,000 couples married in April in a 12-year record.

"The more people think that whatever is coming could seriously upend their life, the more likely they are to make relationship decisions," says William Hiebert, a marriage counselor in Illinois and general secretary of the International Family Therapy Association.

Hiebert points out other big disasters had spurred waves of weddings, such as the much-studied 1989 Hurricane Hugo, the 2011 tsunami in Japan and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Psychologists explain that when uncertainty meets fear in a way that's too big to grasp, people crave closure in this case by defining and sealing their love.

Tatyana and Pyotr got married on a Tuesday among six friends and, afterward, captured the memory at a photo booth. Tatyana Neustroyeva hide caption

Tatyana and Pyotr got married on a Tuesday among six friends and, afterward, captured the memory at a photo booth.

"It's sort of trying to grab time and put it to a standstill," Hiebert says, "an attempt to control what little you can control."

In fact, for Russian couples, the war in Ukraine became a marriage catalyst for reasons both psychological and practical.

After about two years of dating, Kirill Gorodnii and his now-wife Katya were looking for a shared apartment in Moscow when Russia invaded Ukraine, the birthplace of Kirill's father.

"The first day of the war, we were shocked," says Kirill, 27. "The second day of the war, we were scared. The third day of the war, we decided that we have to move elsewhere."

To this day, the Kremlin insists its attacks on Ukraine are a "special military operation," with new laws threatening a decade in prison for protests that call it a war. At one point, Kirill and Katya found themselves finally discussing marriage in case one of them got arrested.

"So the spouse can get visits," Kirill explains. It was a grim joke, he says, except not really a joke.

Other couples mention rumors that Russia's military could mobilize all men in a nationwide draft. Wives get more access than girlfriends to hospital visitation, military hotlines, financial support and to morgues, as Tatyana noted in passing.

Kirill and Katya joined tens of thousands of Russians who fled to neighboring Armenia and Georgia. Then, Katya's international employer shuttered its Russian office and offered her a new job in Dubai. Kirill could reside there only as her husband.

The two rushed to marry in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. On the way to register, by pure chance, they ran into some friends, who got recruited as witnesses. Six guests joined for dinner to toast their unexpected matrimony. Given the circumstances, Kirill says, it was a perfect wedding.

Tatyana and Pyotr, too, did not plan to invite anyone to their surprise wedding. But, as these things go, friends found out and the event, as Pyotr put it, began sprouting its usual accouterments of bouquets and champagne bottles.

On a city portal, the couple picked an available location for their Tuesday evening registration: incidentally, St. Petersburg's most historic, palatial marriage hall. They wed under its soaring ornate ceilings, surrounded by ancient marble and a handful of closest friends, Tatyana in white linen, Pyotr in jeans, giggling.

"I guess we're coping with the help of love," Tatyana says. Amid despair, disorder and discord, "at least we'll know that we are a family."

View post:

The Ukraine war is spurring more Russian couples to marry - NPR