UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine pleads for more weapons as defiant Russia warns West

July 8 2022 —  20:59

Ukraine pleads for more weapons as defiant Russia warns West

 Ukraine urged its allies on Friday to send more weapons as its forces dug in to slow Russia's military advance through the eastern Donbas region, while a belligerent Moscow warned Western nations of consequences for their reprisals over its invasion.

Signalling that the Kremlin was in no mood for compromise, President Vladimir Putin said continued use of sanctions against Russia risked causing "catastrophic" energy price rises

Putin's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov clashed with his Western counterparts at a Group of 20 meeting, where they urged Russia to allow Kyiv to ship blockaded Ukrainian grain out to an increasingly hungry world.

Meanwhile, Moscow's envoy to London offered little prospect of a pull-back from parts of Ukraine under Russian control.

Ambassador Andrei Kelin told Reuters that Russian troops would capture the rest of Donbas and were unlikely to withdraw from land across the southern coast.

Ukraine would eventually have to strike a peace deal or "continue slipping down this hill" to ruin, he said.

On the Donbas frontlines, Ukrainian officials reported Russian shelling of towns and villages ahead of an anticipated push for more territory.

A Ukrainian infantry unit on the road to the town of Siversk, whose members spoke to Reuters, had set up positions on the edge of a deep earth bunker covered with logs and sandbags and defended by machine guns.'

Reuters 

July 8 2022 — 19:39

West seeks to unblock Ukraine's grain ports as Russia digs in

Ukraine's allies on Friday urged Russia to allow Kyiv to ship blockaded grain out to an increasingly hungry world, as a belligerent Moscow warned Western nations against attempts to enact reprisals over an invasion now well into its fifth month.

Signalling that the Kremlin was in no mood for compromise, President Vladimir Putin said continued use of sanctions against Russia risked causing "catastrophic" energy price rises, and his top diplomat clashed with his Western counterparts at a G20 meeting.

As Ukraine called on allies to step up deliveries of high-precision weapons to slow Russia's advance, Moscow's envoy to London offered little prospect of a pull-back from parts of Ukraine under Russian control.

Ambassador Andrei Kelin told Reuters that Russian troops would capture the rest of the eastern Donbas region and were unlikely to withdraw from land across the southern coast.

Ukraine would eventually have to strike a peace deal or "continue slipping down this hill" to ruin, he said.

On the Donbas frontlines, Ukrainian officials reported Russian shelling of towns and villages ahead of an anticipated push for more territory.

'SCORCHED EARTH TACTICS'

On Thursday, Putin had indicated that current prospects of finding a solution to the conflict were dim, saying Russia's campaign in Ukraine had barely got started.

Ambassador Kelin's remarks gave an insight into Russia's potential endgame - a forced partition that would leave its former Soviet neighbour shorn of more than a fifth of its post-Soviet territory.

"We are going to liberate all of the Donbas," Kelin said."

Of course it is difficult to predict the withdrawal of our forces from the southern part of Ukraine because we have already experience that after withdrawal, provocations start."

An escalation of the war was possible, he added.

Reuters 

July 8 2022 — 16:16

Putin warns West: sanctions risk price catastrophe for energy consumers

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that continued use of sanctions against Russia could lead to catastrophic price rises on energy markets, hitting households across Europe with much higher prices for energy.

"Yes, we know that the Europeans are trying to replace Russian energy resources," Putin said at a televised meeting with senior officials. "However, we expect the result of such actions to be an increase in gas prices on the spot market and an increase in the cost of energy resources for end consumers.

"All this once again shows that sanctions restrictions on Russia cause much more damage to those countries that impose them. Further use of sanctions may lead to even more severe, without exaggeration, even catastrophic consequences on the global energy market."

– Reuters

July 8 2022 — 16:15

Moscow city councillor gets seven years' jail for anti-war comment

A Moscow district councillor was jailed for seven years on Friday for criticising Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in what a Kremlin-critical lawyer said was the first case of anyone going to prison under a new law on "fake information".

Alexei Gorinov, a member of the Krasnoselsky district council, told a council meeting on March 15, where a children's drawing contest was discussed, that Russia was waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.

"What kind of children's drawing contest can we talk about for Children's Day ... when we have children dying every day?" he says in a recording of the meeting posted on YouTube.

He was arrested under article 207.3 of the criminal code, passed shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 to outlaw "deliberate dissemination of fake information about Russia's army", defined as information deviating from official reports.

Gorinov's supporters posted a picture on their Telegram channel of the councillor, handcuffed in a glass defendant's cage, holding up a placard reading: "Do you still need this war?" during the proceedings.

"They took away my spring, they took away my summer, and now they've taken away seven more years of my life," they quoted him as saying at Friday's sentencing.

Leonid Volkov, chief of staff for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said the sentence - confirmed on the court's own Telegram account - was meant to make an example of people using the word "war" to refer to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

– Reuters

July 8 2022 — 16:11

Ukraine seizes $71m of assets owned by Russian state companies

Ukraine has seized assets worth over 2.1-billion hryvnias ($71m) owned by Russian state oil company Rosneft, gas firm Gazprom and nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, Ukraine's state security service said on Friday.

The SBU said in a statement that Russia had used some of the profits from those assets to prepare its invasion of Ukraine and fund sabotage and intelligence activities.

Rosneft and Gazprom did not immediately reply to Reuters requests for comment. Rosatom declined to comment. The Kremlin did not immediately comment on SBU's statement.

Ukraine says it could cost $750bn to rebuild after the invasion and that rich Russians should help pay the bill.By the end of June it had seized assets in Ukraine worth 31-billion hryvnias from Russian individuals and companies it accuses of being complicit in the war. Earlier seizures targeted Russian oil company Tatneft and Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, among others.

The SBU said it was working with the police under the guidance of prosecutors to identify companies controlled by Russia.It said attempts had been made to transfer the seized assets owned by Rosneft, Gazprom and Rosatom to other owners but they had been blocked. 

— Reuters

July 8 2022 — 16:09

Blinken challenged G20 to hold Russia accountable - senior US official

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday told a meeting of G20 foreign ministers that if the grouping is to remain relevant, it must hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine, a senior US State Department official said. Blinken challenged the member countries to hold Russia accountable and stressed the need to move a global food plan forward, the official said, adding that Russia was trying to undermine multilateral institutions that the US was seeking to strengthen. – Reuters

July 8 2022 — 16:07

Germany ratifies Nato membership for Finland, Sweden

Germany on Friday ratified Finland's and Sweden's accession to NATO, three days after the 30 members signed off on the most significant expansion of the alliance on Tuesday. The parliament in Berlin as well as the Bundesrat grouping the federal states endorsed the accession protocols for both Nordic countries.

"This creates more security - for all Nato members and for Europe," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Twitter.

The documents need to be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the Nato defence clause that states that an attack on one member is an attack against all.

Ratification is likely to take up to a year but in the meantime Helsinki and Stockholm can already participate in Nato meetings and have greater access to intelligence.

Moscow has repeatedly warned both countries against joining Nato. On March 12, the Russian foreign ministry said "there will be serious military and political consequences".

– Reuters

July 8 2022 — 16:05

Berlin to again deploy troops in Bosnia 10 years after withdrawal

Germany will deploy troops with the EU's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia for the first time in a decade as concerns mount about instability from the Ukraine war spilling over to the Western Balkans, the parliament in Berlin decided on Friday. Bosnia lies hundreds of miles from the fighting, but faces an increasingly assertive Bosnian Serb separatist movement that analysts say has at least tacit support from Moscow.

Only days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU decided to almost double the size of its EUFOR peacekeeping force to 1,100 from 600 troops by sending in reserves to stave off potential instability.

Berlin will provide up to 50 troops for EUFOR, marking a return to the force in Bosnia that Germany left at the end of 2012. Some of the troops are meant to staff two so-called liaison and observation teams, groups that are spread out in the country and that function as sensors for the EUFOR command, while others will work at the headquarters in Sarajevo. Nato and senior EU officials have warned that instability from the war in Ukraine could spread to the Western Balkans.

EUFOR's current mandate runs out in November, and it is up to the UN Security Council to decide on an extension for another year. But concerns are growing that Moscow might use its veto to thwart an agreement. EUFOR replaced Nato peacekeeping troops in Bosnia in 2004.The European troops are meant to stabilise the country after Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks waged a war for territory in the 1990s in which 100,000 people died.

— Reuters

July 8 2022 — 16:03

Japan says world needs unity, one voice saying Russia must pay high price

Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, speaking at a G20 meeting on Friday, stressed that unity and one voice were needed to make clear Russia must pay high price for its actions in Ukraine, a senior Japanese official said. Russia's blaming of the current economic crisis on sanctions is completely wrong, Yukiko Okano, a senior Japan foreign ministry official, told reporters, relaying remarks by Hayashi. — Reuters

July 8 2022 — 14:39

Lavrov not present in afternoon G20 meeting: EU foreign policy chief

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was not present for much of the afternoon session of a G20 meeting in Bali on Friday and left the room after giving his remarks, the EU's foreign policy chief said. Josep Borrell told reporters Lavrov spoke and did not wait to hear other remarks, in conduct that was "not very respectful". Lavrov had earlier chided Western countries for what he described as "frenzied criticism" of Russia. – Reuters

July 8 2022 — 14:30

How Boris Johnson helped Ukraine with its weapons shopping

Ninety minutes after resigning as British prime minister on Thursday, Boris Johnson called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He told the Ukrainian leader his people had the UK's unwavering support in its fight against Russia, and said Britain would continue to supply vital defensive aid for as long as needed. "You're a hero, Volodymyr," he said, according to an aide who listened to the call. "In this country, everybody loves you."

In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine, Britain has become an important go-between for Zelenskyy, officials in Britain and the United States told Reuters. Part broker, part delivery service, supporting Ukraine has been a crucial part of Johnson's premiership. Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba described him as a "true friend of Ukraine" in comments sent to Reuters by his ministry.

Whoever runs Britain in coming months will face important decisions about how to pursue the policy. Johnson told Zelenskyy he still had "a few weeks" to keep the support going, according to the aide. But Britain's leadership will be at a point of transition as Russia is steadily gaining ground in what Moscow calls a "special operation."

July 8 2022 — 14:07

Putin orders talks on unified regional air defence with Kyrgyzstan

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the defence and foreign ministries to begin talks with Kyrgyzstan on a common regional air defence system, according to the text of the order posted on a government website. The countries do not have a common border. — Reuters

July 8 2022 — 13:28

Dirty coal is keeping SA's inflation in cheque: S&P

SA’s reliance on coal to generate most of its power makes it an environmental pariah but it’s also helping keep inflation in check, according to S&P Global Ratings. 

While energy prices have soared as European nations scramble to find alternatives to Russian gas supplies after its invasion of Ukraine, power utility Eskom has been left relatively unscathed as it sources coal. 

“One of the reasons that SA’s inflation is more manageable than in other countries is as Eskom is largely a coal-fired generator and the coal is locally sourced, mostly under long-term contracts,” Omega Collocott, S&P director of corporate ratings for the country said.

July 8 2022 — 12:34

Russian envoy: UK has made little effort to free men sentenced to death in eastern Ukraine

Russia's ambassador to Britain said he was surprised London has not made more of an effort to secure the release of two British citizens sentenced to death for fighting in eastern Ukraine.

While fighting with the Ukrainian army, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were captured by Russian-backed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a territory recognised only by Russia and Syria.After a hasty court hearing — decried as a Stalin-era show trial in a pop-up courtroom — a separatist court sentenced the pair to death, saying they were mercenaries and were trying to violently seize power.

"We had a formal request here in London and in Moscow about these two guys — that they exist — and a phrase like 'we put all responsibility on Russia for them'," Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin said in an interview with Reuters. "There was no demand for mediation, no demand for their release or anything like that. 'Let's talk about their fate and what can be done in this situation'. Nothing."

Responding to the suggestion that Moscow could easily put pressure on DPR officials to release the two men, Kelin said: "And so what? Has anyone from London asked us to do this? No."

Britain's foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters request to comment. 

— Reuters

July 8 2022 — 12:31

Russian forces unlikely to leave southern Ukraine, ambassador says

Russia will defeat Ukrainian forces in the whole of the eastern Donbas region and is unlikely to withdraw from a vast swathe of land across Ukraine's southern coast, Russia's ambassador to London told Reuters.

Since the Februrary 24 invasion, Russian forces have taken control of a big chunk of territory across Ukraine's southern flank above Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and is slowly pushing Ukrainian forces out of two Russian-backed rebel regions of east Ukraine which it has recognised as independent states.

When asked how the conflict might end, Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin said Ukraine forces would be pushed back from all of Donbas and that it was difficult to see Russian and Russian-backed forces withdrawing from the south of Ukraine.

"We are going to liberate all of the Donbas," Kelin told Reuters in an interview in his London residence where Winston Churchill used to discuss World War 2 strategy with Josef Stalin's ambassador. "Of course it is difficult to predict the withdrawal of our forces from the southern part of Ukraine because we have already experience that after withdrawal, provocations start and all the people are being shot and all that."

Sooner or later, Kelin said, Ukraine would have to decide: strike a peace deal with Russia or "continue slipping down this hill" to ruin.

— Reuters

July 8 2022 — 12:03

Russia says it will boost gas supply to Europe if Canada returns turbine

The Kremlin on Friday said it would increase gas supplies to Europe if a turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline currently being serviced in Canada was returned. Reuters reported on Thursday that Ukraine was opposed to Canada returning the turbine to Russia's Gazprom, arguing that it would violate sanctions imposed after Russia's deployment of its armed forces to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed claims that Russia was using oil and gas to exert political pressure. He said a maintenance shutdown of Nord Stream 1 planned for this month was a regular, scheduled event, and that no one was "inventing" any repairs. — Reuters

July 8 2022 — 11:59

Kremlin: Russia has used only a fraction of its potential in Ukraine

Russia has used only a small portion of its potential in its "special military operation" in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had barely started in Ukraine and dared the West to try to defeat it on the battlefield, while insisting that Moscow was still open to the idea of peace talks. "Russia's potential is so great that only a small portion of it is being used in the special operation," Peskov said on a conference call with reporters. — Reuters

July 8 2022 — 11:55

Ukraine foreign minister at G20 accuses Russia of playing 'hunger games'

Ukraine's foreign minister on Friday accused Russia of playing "hunger games" and said it has "no place at any international fora", during a virtual address to a G20 meeting of his counterparts in Bali. Dmytro Kuleba said the international community had no right to allow Russia to blackmail the world with high energy prices, hunger and security threats, according to a statement from his office. — Reuters

July 8 2022 — 11:53

Russia says it destroyed two British-supplied anti-ship missile systems

Russia's defence ministry said in a briefing on Friday that Russian forces had destroyed two British-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missile systems in Ukraine's Odesa region overnight. Reuters was unable to independently verify the claim. The US-designed missile systems are one of several weapons supplied to Ukraine by Nato countries since Russia sent its armed forces into the country on February 24. — Reuters

July 8 2022 — 11:02

Indian cement maker’s Russia coal deal bypasses Western sanctions

An Indian cement maker’s recent purchase of Russian coal using yuan involved India’s biggest private lender, HDFC Bank, according to an invoice seen by Reuters and a source, as more details emerge of the kind of trade that could blunt Western sanctions against Moscow.

There is no suggestion that the purchase, the particulars of which have not previously been reported, in any way breaches sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. But the document shows one way in which Russia could continue to sell commodities abroad without settling in US dollars despite restrictions aimed at freezing it out of financial markets.

July 8 2022 — 10:58

G20 host calls for end to Ukraine war as Russia dismisses criticism

G20 host Indonesia urged foreign ministers of the group on Friday to help end the war in Ukraine, as Russia's top diplomat accused the West of scuppering a chance to tackle global economic issues with "frenzied" criticism of the conflict.

The G20 ministers' meeting in Bali has been overshadowed by the war and its impact on the global economy, with top officials from Western countries and Japan stressing it would not be a "business as usual" event. Shouts of "When will you stop the war?" and "Why don't you stop the war?" were heard as Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov shook hands with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi as he arrived for the meeting.

Retno had called on the G20 to "find a way forward" to address global challenges and said the repercussions of the war, including rising energy and food prices, would hit low-income countries the hardest.

"It is our responsibility to end the war sooner than later and settle our differences at the negotiating table, not at the battlefield," Retno said at the opening of talks.

– Reuters

July 8 2022 — 09:42

US asks Russia to recognise fighters held in Ukraine as combatants: Ifax

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday the United States had asked that US fighters detained in Ukraine be recognised as combatants, the Interfax news agency reported. – Reuters

July 8 2022 — 09:18

Russian parliament's upper house bars access to British diplomats: media

The Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia's parliament, on Friday barred British diplomats, including the ambassador, from accessing its building, Russian news agencies reported. – Reuters

July 8 2022 — 09:12

Russia's Lavrov dismisses West's 'frenzied' criticism at G20

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday dismissed the what he cast as the West's "frenzied" criticism of the war in Ukraine at a G20 meeting, scolding Russia's rivals for scuppering a chance to tackle global economic issues.

Host Indonesia urged the G20 to help end the war in Ukraine at the meeting, which put some of the staunchest critics of Russia's invasion in the same room as Moscow's top diplomat.

"Aggressors', 'invaders', 'occupiers' — we heard a lot of things today," Lavrov told reporters. He said the West's discussion "strayed almost immediately, as soon as they took the floor, to the frenzied criticism of the Russian Federation in connection with the situation in Ukraine".

"During the discussion, Western partners avoided following the mandate of the G20, from dealing with issues of the world economy," Lavrov said.

Russia says its "special military operation" is intended to degrade the Ukrainian military, root out people it calls dangerous nationalists, and prevent the US from using Ukraine to threaten Russia. Ukraine and its Western backers say Russia is engaged in an imperial-style land grab. They say Russia has no justification for the war.

Russia says the West's attempt to isolate Moscow with the severest sanctions in modern times is akin to a declaration of economic war and that Russia will from now on turn towards China, India and other powers outside the West. Lavrov said that if the West wanted Ukraine to defeat Russia then there was nothing to talk about with the West, which he said was preventing Kyiv from seeking a peace deal.

Shouts of "When will you stop the war?" and "Why don't you stop the war?" were heard as Lavrov shook hands with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi at the start of the meeting. Russian state television said an attempt to boycott Russia at the G20 had failed spectacularly and offended Indonesia.

– Reuters

July 8 2022 — 09:11

Lavrov: Russia ready to negotiate on grain with Ukraine and Turkey

Russia is ready to negotiate with Ukraine and Turkey about grain but it is unclear when such talks might take place, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. – Reuters

July 8 2022 — 07:46

UK says Russia concentrating for attack on Ukraine's city of Siversk

Russia is likely concentrating equipment on front line in the direction of Siversk, about 8km west of the current Russian front line, Britain's defence ministry said on Friday.

Russian forces are likely pausing to replenish before undertaking new offensive operations in the Donetsk Oblast, the Ministry of Defence said in a Twitter update. The ministry said that there is a realistic possibility that Russia's immediate tactical objective will be Siversk, as its forces attempt to advance towards its most likely operational goal of the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk urban area. 

- Reuters