Russia-Ukraine war latest: fierce fighting in Sievierodonetsk; UK ‘deeply concerned’ by death sentences for Britons in Donetsk – live | World news

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly compared his current actions in Ukraine to Peter the Great’s conquest of the Baltic coast during his 18th-century war against Sweden.

After visiting an exhibition in Moscow dedicated to the 350th birthday of tsar Peter the Great on Thursday, Putin told a group of young entrepreneurs that “you get the impression that by fighting Sweden he was grabbing something. He wasn’t taking anything, he was taking it back”, according to a report from Agence France-Presse.

In televised comments, Putin compared Peter’s campaign with Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

Apparently, it also fell to us to return [what is Russia’s] and strengthen [the country]. And if we proceed from the fact that these basic values form the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in solving the tasks that we face.

When Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg and declared it the Russian capital “none of the countries in Europe recognised this territory as belonging to Russia,” Putin added.

Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from them. He did not take anything from them, he returned (what was Russia’s),”

Everyone considered it to be part of Sweden. But from time immemorial, Slavs had lived there alongside Finno-Ugric peoples.

It is our responsibility also to take back and strengthen.

Yes, there have been times in our country’s history when we have been forced to retreat, but only to regain our strength and move forward.”

The defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) made Russia the leading power in the Baltic Sea and an important player in European affairs.

But with Russia’s ties with the west currently shattered by the Ukraine invasion, Moscow authorities are downplaying Peter’s affinity for Europe and focusing on his role in expanding Russian territories.

Prior to Putin’s visit to the exhibition, state television aired a documentary praising Peter the Great as a tough military leader, greatly expanding territory at the expense of Sweden and the Ottoman Empire.

More than three centuries after he sought to bring Russia closer to Europe, Russians on Thursday marked the 350th birthday of tsar Peter the Great with the country deeply isolated over the Ukraine conflict.

Peter I reigned first as tsar and then as emperor from 1682 until his death in 1725.

Ukraine is “holding on” to key frontline cities in Donbas, according to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Providing a quick update as to the situation in Donbas during his latest national address, Zelenskiy said:

The frontline situation today is without significant changes. Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk and other cities in Donbas, which the occupiers now consider key targets, are holding on.

We have a certain positive in the Zaporizhzhia region, where we manage to thwart the plans of the occupiers. We are gradually moving forward in the Kharkiv region, liberating our land. We are keeping defence in the Mykolaiv direction.”

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday reported “positive” news from the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, where he said Ukraine’s forces were managing to thwart Russian troops. In a video address, Zelenskiy also said Ukrainian forces were gradually advancing in the Kharkiv region, east of Kyiv, “liberating our land.”
• Senegalese President and African Union Chair Macky Sall on Thursday urged Ukraine to demine waters around its Odessa port to ease much needed grain exports from the war-torn country. “If wheat exports do not resume from Ukraine, Africa “will be in a situation of very serious famine that could destabilise the continent,” Sall told French media outlets.
• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Friday that he had a phone conversation with French president Emmanuel Macron in which “special attention was paid to Ukraine’s path to the EU.” Zelenskiy added that other topics discussed included increased defense support for Ukraine, security guarantees and “the situation on the front.”
• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree that imposes personal sanctions against 35 high-ranking Russian officials, including Russian president Vladimir Putin. Other individuals include Russia’s presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, among others.
• Ukrainian troops announced on Thursday that they have advanced in fierce street fighting in Sievierodonetsk but continued to stress that the only way to fully overcome enemy forces is more weaponry to counter Russia’s advanced firepower. “They (the Russians) are dying like flies … fierce fighting continues inside Sievierodonetsk,” Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said in an online post.
• Ukraine’s interior minister said Thursday there is currently no imminent threat of the Russian military advancing into Kyiv, but reaffirmed that the capital would continue to stand guard. “There is no danger of an attack on Kyiv today,” interior minister Denys Monastyrsky said. “There is no concentration of troops near the Belarusian border, but we understand that any scenarios are possible tomorrow,” he told Agence France-Presse.
• The war with Russia caused Ukraine’s economy to contract by 15.1% in the first three months of this year, the state statistics agency calculated on Thursday. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting a contraction in Ukraine’s gross domestic product of 35% across the whole of 2022, and Ukrainian finance minister Sergiy Marchenko told AFP in mid-May that he was anticipating a decline of as much as 45-50 %.
• Russian president Vladimir Putin said that domestically manufacturing goods to circumvent Western sanctions over Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine was not a cure-all solution, adding that Russia is now seeking out new trade partners. “We are not trying to completely replace imports,” Putin said, adding that Russia “must collaborate with those it is possible to collaborate with.”

That’s it from me, Maya Yang, today as I hand the blog over to my colleague in Australia, Samantha Lock, who will bring you the latest updates. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday reported “positive” news from the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, where he said Ukraine’s forces were managing to thwart Russian troops, Agence France-Presse reports.

In a video address, Zelenskiy also said Ukrainian forces were gradually advancing in the Kharkiv region, east of Kyiv, “liberating our land.”

Senegalese president and African Union chair Macky Sall on Thursday urged Ukraine to demine waters around its Odessa port to ease much needed grain exports from the war-torn country.

Agence France-Presse reports:

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions have disrupted grain deliveries from the two countries, fuelling fears of hunger around the world.

Cereal prices in Africa – the world’s poorest continent – have surged because of the slump in exports, sharpening the impact of conflict and climate change and sparking fears of social unrest.

If wheat exports do not resume from Ukraine, Africa “will be in a situation of very serious famine that could destabilise the continent”, Sall told French media outlets France 24 and RFI.

Russia and Ukraine produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply. But grain has remained stuck in Ukraine’s ports due to a Russian blockade, while Western sanctions on Moscow have disrupted exports from Russia.

Moscow has called for Ukraine to demine the waters surrounding the Ukrainian-controlled port of Odessa to allow out blocked grain, but Kyiv has refused for fear of a Russian attack.

Sall said Russia President Vladimir Putin, whom he met last week in Russia, had assured him this would not happen.

“I even told him: ‘The Ukrainians said that if they demine, you’ll enter the port.’ He says, no, he will not enter, and that’s a commitment he made,” the Senegalese leader said.

“There must now be work towards getting the demining done, the United Nations involved… so that we can start getting the Ukrainian wheat out,” he said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Friday that he had a phone conversation with French president Emmanuel Macron in which “special attention was paid to Ukraine’s path to the EU”.

“We are coordinating steps,” he said.

Zelenskiy added that other topics discussed included increased defense support for Ukraine, security guarantees and “the situation on the front”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree that imposes personal sanctions against 35 high-ranking Russian officials, including Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Other individuals include Russia’s presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, among others.

Ukrainian troops announced on Thursday that they have advanced in fierce street fighting in Sievierodonetsk but continued to stress that the only way to fully overcome enemy forces is more weaponry to counter Russia’s advanced firepower.

“They (the Russians) are dying like flies … fierce fighting continues inside Sievierodonetsk,” Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said in an online post. “The losses of the Russians far exceed ours.” Fighting was now taking place in the towns of Hirske and Popasnyanska, to the south of Sievierodonetsk, he added.

According to the commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda (Freedom) National Guard battalion, the fighting in Sievierodonetsk is being fought house to house as Ukrainian forces face heavy Russian artillery barrages that endanger forces from sides.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said its forces had won back some territory from Russian forces in a counter-offensive in the Kherson area of southern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s interior minister said Thursday there is currently no imminent threat of the Russian military advancing into Kyiv, but reaffirmed that the capital would continue to stand guard.

“There is no danger of an attack on Kyiv today,” interior minister Denys Monastyrsky said. “There is no concentration of troops near the Belarusian border, but we understand that any scenarios are possible tomorrow,” he told Agence France-Presse.

“Therefore, serious training is under way – preparation of the line of defence, training of troops who will remain” in Kyiv and around the city.

Monastyrsky added that Russian airstrikes could hit the capital anytime, saying, “Any place in Ukraine can be a target for rocket fire, including Kyiv.” Potential targets include Kyiv’s “government quarter” and “historic centre,” he said.

Russian forces initially focused on Kyiv when Russia first launched its invasion back in February, taking control of multiple towns surrounding the capital. However, the forces withdrew from the suburbs a month later and have instead focused on attempting to gain control in the country’s eastern and southern regions.

Monastyrsky also said that Ukraine would continue to prosecute captured Russian soldiers for alleged war crimes.

“These crimes have no statute of limitations. Whenever these monsters are found, they will be held accountable,” he said, adding that up to “288 people have been suspected so far”.

According to him, negotiations are currently underway to bring back Ukrainian prisoners of war who are currently held by Russia or Moscow-backed separatists.

“It is vital to bring them back here today, to save the boys from imminent death,” he said.

“We are working to return the wounded first.”

The war with Russia caused Ukraine’s economy to contract by 15.1% in the first three months of this year, the state statistics agency calculated on Thursday.

Agence France-Presse reports:

The invasion by Russia on February 24 laid waste to large swathes of the Ukrainian economy, with a slew of companies forced to shut or dramatically recalibrate production.

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting a contraction in Ukraine’s gross domestic product of 35% across the whole of 2022, and Ukrainian finance minister Sergiy Marchenko told AFP in mid-May that he was anticipating a decline of as much as 45-50 %.

Inflation in the war-stricken country accelerated to 18% on a 12-month basis in May from 16.4% in April, the statistics agency said, with food prices continuing to soar.

The Ukrainian central bank has warned that headline inflation could rise as high as 20% by the end of 2022.

On June 2, the central bank sharply increased its key interest rate to 2% from 10% previously in a bid to curb inflation and protect the hryvnia, the national currency.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said that domestically manufacturing goods to circumvent Western sanctions over Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine was not a cure-all solution, adding that Russia is now seeking out new trade partners.

“The substitution of imports is not a panacea,” Putin told a group of young entrepreneurs. The group expressed concerns over a lack of imported goods in their attempts to develop vaccines.

“We are not trying to completely replace imports,” Putin said, adding that Russia “must collaborate with those it is possible to collaborate with”.

“But for critically important technologies, we have to have our own know-how,” he said. “We are developing them.”

After Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine in February, Western countries have imposed harsh sanctions on Russia that include import and export restrictions which have debilitated supply chains.

Russia’s pharmaceutical industry is heavily dependent on imports. Authorities announced in April that they had built three factories in Moscow to produce medicines to ease the blow of the import ban.

It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• The number of Russian soldiers killed since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine could now be as high as 20,000, according to the latest assessment by western officials. Previous estimates, given several weeks ago, were about 15,000. The official did not speculate on the number of Ukrainians. killed in the war.

• The Ukrainian defence ministry has claimed that its forces have won back some territory from Russian forces in a counter-offensive in the Kherson area of southern Ukraine. It said Russian forces had “suffered losses in manpower and equipment”, mined territory as they were pushed back, and erected barricades for the Ukrainian troops. The claims have not been independently verified.
  

• The Kremlin said no agreement has been reached with Turkey on exporting Ukrainian grain shipments across the Black Sea. Turkey has been pushing for an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to ease the global food crisis by negotiating safe passage for grain stuck in Black Sea ports, but its efforts have been met with resistance. Ukraine says Russia is imposing unreasonable conditions and the Kremlin says shipment is dependent on ending sanctions.

• Finland’s government is planning to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia, it said. The move to amend border legislation comes as the Finnish government rushes to strengthen border security amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Finland’s bid to join the Nato military alliance.

• Russia may be getting more revenue from its fossil fuel sales now than before its invasion of Ukraine, according to one US official. Increases in global oil prices have offset the impact of import bans, US energy security envoy, Amos Hochstein, told lawmakers during a senate hearing. Russia has been able to sell more cargoes to other buyers, including major energy consumers China and India, by offering it at a discount to oil from other origins, he said.

That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today. My colleague Maya Yang will be here shortly to continue to bring you all the latest news from the war in Ukraine. I’ll be back tomorow, thank you.

The number of Russian soldiers killed since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine could now be as high as 20,000, according to the latest assessment by western officials.

One western official said:

On Russian fatalities, our figure is between 15,000 and 20,000 dead. That is a change from our previous figure that we have been talking about in excess of 15,000 before.

The official, who does not want to be named, stressed that it was difficult to be more precise about the casualty figures. They did not speculate on the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war.

The official said both sides “face the same challenge”, adding:

They are 100 plus days into a bitter conflict with significant fatalities and casualties on both sides. They will of course be facing morale issues.

But the Ukrainians are fighting for their homeland and they are in largely well dug-in defensive positions so they have the advantage over Russians in that regard.

Russia may be getting more revenue from its fossil fuel sales now than before its invasion of Ukraine, according to one US official.

Increases in global oil prices have offset the impact of import bans, US energy security envoy, Amos Hochstein, told lawmakers during a senate hearing.

When asked whether Moscow was making more money now off its crude oil and gas sales than a couple of months before the war started, Hochstein replied: “I can’t deny that.”

The global oil demand increase from consumers coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic was “far greater, stronger than anyone predicted”, he said.

At the same time, Russia has been able to sell more cargoes to other buyers, including major energy consumers China and India, by offering it at a discount to oil from other origins. Hochstein said that while those sales have been discounted, the global market price surge means Russia’s revenues are likely higher now.

Our Isobel Koshiw and Luke Harding speak to Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut as the city standing in way of the Russian advance is pounded by missiles:

Seven miles from Ukraine’s frontline, resting Ukrainian soldiers were smoking cigarettes on benches in the shade outside a military hospital.

The constant thud of artillery could be heard in the distance. The city of Bakhmut felt deserted. There was little sense of life from before the war – no children, cars, and barely any people. Windows were boarded up with only a handful of civilians on the streets. Almost the only activity had been brought here by the war.

The soldiers, weary and jaded, described a perilous fight to hold Ukraine’s east. First a relentless bombardment by Russian heavy equipment, quickly followed by advancing tanks and infantry soldiers – whose job it was to “clean up” any Ukrainian troops left standing.

For 13 weeks, Russian forces have been trying to capture the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. They have seized the city of Popasna, 18 miles (30km) east of Bakhmut, and have overrun most of Sievierodonetsk, 35 miles to the north-west. Bakhmut – known in Soviet times as Artemivsk – stands in the way of any further Russian advance.

Despite the scale of their enemy, the soldiers said they were still convinced that willpower and good would win out over evil.

The masses of weaponry the Russian side has and is prepared to throw at this war marks a difference with the proxy war fought in Ukraine’s east in 2014, said the soldiers. Back then Russia tried to disguise its involvement. Not this time.

Ukraine’s army has plenty of highly motivated fighters, they said, but their equipment and men are being pounded by the masses of Russian shells, rockets and missiles.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said between 60 and 100 Ukrainian soldiers were dying each day in the Donbas region and about 500 are injured. The Guardian was given access to Ukrainian soldiers on the condition it did not disclose their surnames and the location of Ukrainian positions.

Zelenskiy visited the frontline on Sunday and went to Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and the much-shelled city of Lysychansk.

On the road to Bakhmut, Ukrainian army vehicles including ammunition and fuel trucks were visible as well as a spectacular 2S7 howitzer mounted on a loader. The dark traces of a Smerch multiple-launch rocket system stained the sky.

Read the full story here: ‘All hell broke loose’: weary soldiers tell of frontline holdout in Ukraine city

Finland’s government is planning to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia, it said.

Finland shares a 1,300km (810-mile) length border with Russia, mostly marked with signs and plastic lines, Reuters reports. The move to amend border legislation comes as the Finnish government rushes to strengthen border security amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Finland’s bid to join the Nato military alliance.

The government’s proposed amendments include allowing the building of barriers such as fences, as well as new roads to facilitate border patrolling on the Finnish side.

The amendments also include enabling concentrating the reception of asylum applications only at specific points of entry. Under existing EU rules, migrants have the right to ask for asylum at any given entry point to an EU member country.

The Finnish government will “decide on border barriers to the critical zones on the eastern border, on the basis of the Finnish Border Guard’s assessment”, its minister of internal affairs, Krista Mikkonen, said in a statement.

The UK’s foreign secretary Liz Truss has condemned the “sham judgment” in the case of the Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner who were captured by Russian troops.

Truss tweeted:

They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.

My thoughts are with the families. We continue to do everything we can to support them.

Robert Jenrick, who is the MP for Aslin’s constituency of Newark, said the “disgusting, Soviet-era style show trial” served as a reminder of Vladimir Putin’s depravity.

The former housing secretary described the treatment of his constituent as an “egregious breach” breach of the Geneva Convention, tweeting:

Russia should be clear, they cannot treat British citizens like this and get away with it.

Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Aiden Aslin is not a mercenary. He has been living in Ukraine and serving in its armed forces before Russia’s illegal invasion and as a prisoner of war is entitled to protection under the Geneva Convention.

Jenrick added that the Russian ambassador should be summoned to the foreign office “to account for this most egregious breach of the Geneva Convention”, adding:

Aiden must be released as soon as practicable.