Russia asked China for military equipment to support its invasion of Ukraine, US officials said, sparking concern in the White House that Beijing could undercut Ukrainian forces’ defence efforts.
On Monday the US and China plan to hold their first high-level, in-person talks since Moscow’s invasion. An aide to US President Joe Biden warned Russian air strikes had shifted further west toward Ukraine’s border with Poland, but said there had been no change in the calculus around a no-fly zone.
A strike at a military range and training centre about 35km from Poland killed dozens on Sunday, and an estimated nine civilians died in air strikes on Mykolaiv. Tens of thousands tried to flee fighting in major cities through 10 humanitarian corridors opened by the Ukrainian government.
Tate Museum cuts ties with Russian billionaires
The London-based Tate cut links with Russian billionaires Viktor Vekselberg and Petr Aven after they were sanctioned by the US and European Union (EU), the Financial Times reported, citing the gallery.
Vekselberg was dropped as an honorary member of the Tate Foundation, while Aven stepped down from the Tate donor programmes known as the International Council and European Collection Circle.
Aven declined to comment to the newspaper.
In a letter sent to Tate on Thursday Vekselberg said he was prepared to step down, according to the report.
Akzo Nobel’s Russian operations could fold in weeks
Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel NV expects its Russian operations to collapse in weeks, CEO Thierry Vanlancker told the Financial Times.
Russian operations represent about 2% of the firm’s revenue and have been affected by supply chain interruptions and financial strains on customers in Russia, the newspaper reported.
UK facing inflation, recession over war, says report
The war in Ukraine risks a second spike in UK inflation this autumn and increases the likelihood of a recession, according to the Resolution Foundation.
Price growth could exceed 8%, four times the Bank of England’s target, the London-based group warned in a report. For poorer households, which spend more on food and energy, inflation could reach more than 10%. That would mean the typical family income could drop 4% in real terms in the coming financial year, about £1,000 pounds (about R19,700).
Gold falls for second day
Gold declined for a second day as investors weighed a likely US interest-rate increase and developments in the war in Ukraine.
Traders are bracing for higher borrowing costs which would weigh on non-interest bearing bullion. The US Federal Reserve is expected to begin tightening on Wednesday with a 25-basis-point move to curb inflation stoked by surging commodity costs amid supply chain disruptions due to the war.
Australia to sanction 33 Russian oligarchs
Australia announced fresh sanctions on 33 Russian oligarchs, prominent businesspeople and their immediate family members, said minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne.
Those targeted include Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, Alexey Miller, CEO of gas giant Gazprom, and Bank Rossiya chairman Dmitri Lebedev. The measures reinforce Australia’s commitment to sanction people of economic and strategic significance to Russia, Payne said.
Ukraine envoy calls China-Russia ties ‘toxic’
Ukraine’s ambassador to Japan said China’s response to any Russian request for military assistance was an important question.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg Television, Sergiy Korsunsky said China’s ties with Russia would have “toxic” consequences for its image and economy, and said he hoped China would be “smart enough” to understand that.
Power line restored at Chernobyl site
Ukraine said it restored a power line to the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Sunday, four days after grid electricity to the Russian-controlled site was lost, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
The outage forced radioactive waste management sites and other operations at the site of the 1986 reactor disaster to run on generators, raising concern about safety.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian regulators said repairs and maintenance of safety equipment at Chernobyl have halted as the 211 technical personnel and guards suffer from exhaustion after being stuck there since the day before Russian forces entered the site on February 24, according to the IAEA.
Russia asking China for military aid, says US official
The US official did not specify what kind of equipment Moscow had requested.
Russia sells far more arms to China than it buys, although Beijing’s rapid modernisation of its military has seen it producing more advanced weapons in recent years.
The official declined to say how the administration knows these details. White House spokespeople declined to comment.
It’s unclear if China would respond positively to any such request. Beijing has stopped short of condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine and repeatedly called for negotiations toward a cease-fire and a resolution of the conflict. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, China stayed officially neutral.
Beijing usually takes the view that such actions by other countries are their own affairs as long as it does not impinge on its own interests. Providing Russia with weapons specifically to use against Ukraine would risk that veneer of neutrality in a year when President Xi Jinping is eager for stability at home as he seeks an unprecedented third term.
EU discussing sanctions on Chelsea’s Abramovich
The EU is discussing sanctioning the owner of Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich, along with more than a dozen other prominent Russians, according to documents seen by Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter.
The list — which needs to be approved by EU governments and could change before that happens —also includes Tigran Khudaverdyan, executive director and deputy CEO of Yandex NV, a Russian internet search engine, and Victor Rashnikov, who owns Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel PJSC, one of Russia’s biggest steelmakers.
Diplomats aim to finalise the sanctions package, which includes limits on trade in luxury goods and steel, as early as Monday.
Latvia calls for US troops in Baltics
Latvian President Egils Levits called for a permanent US troop presence in the Baltics, calling it a test of American leadership.
Nato has four multinational battalion-size units in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on a rotating basis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week the US hasn’t decided whether to permanently base troops in the Baltics.
EL-Erian says war effect will push US inflation
Allianz SE’s Mohamed El-Erian said on CBS’s Face the Nation that the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion is likely to include a further pickup in US inflation, estimating the rate will peak at “very close or above 10%” before retreating.
El-Erian also is president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and a Bloomberg contributor.
IMF head says Russian default no longer ‘improbable event’
A Russian sovereign default is no longer improbable, though it is unlikely to trigger a global financial crisis, said International Monetary Fund IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva.
“In terms of servicing debt obligations, I can say that no longer we think of a Russian default as an improbable event,” Georgieva said on CBS’s Face the Nation programme.
No change to calculus on no-fly zone, Sullivan says
The US hasn’t changed its calculus about a no-fly zone, despite the Russian strike on a military training facility near the Polish border or efforts to try to destroy supply lines, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“What we will do is increase and intensify our efforts to supply the Ukrainian defenders with the weapons and security assistance they need to defend themselves,” he said, adding the US is coordinating with allies about additional spending on military assistance.
Russia said on Saturday it considers convoys of Western military aid “legitimate targets.”
US journalist killed in shooting near Kyiv
An American journalist and filmmaker was shot and killed on Sunday while covering the war in Ukraine. He may be the first foreign journalist killed in the conflict, according to multiple media and government reports. Brent Renaud, an award-winning filmmaker who covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was shot in Irpin, north of the capital of Kyiv.
Senior US and China officials to meet on Monday
Talks in Rome, Italy will be the first high-level, in-person talks since the war started.
The Biden administration is seeking to enlist China to use its influence on its ally Russia to end the crisis. So far Beijing has declined to condemn Moscow for its actions, even as it calls for negotiations to sustain a cease-fire.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with China’s top diplomat and Politburo member Yang Jiechi in an effort to “maintain open lines of communication”, according to a statement. The impact on regional and global security from the war will be on the agenda, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
US warns China on aid to sanctions-hit Russia
Sullivan said on CNN the US has warned China against helping Russia evade sanctions and is watching the extent to which it provides “material support or economic support” to Russia.
“We will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions,” Sullivan said.
Large-scale sanctions evasion or providing support that allows Russia to “backfill” will have “consequences,” he said, without elaborating.
UK to streamline Ukrainian refugee intake after criticism
In-person visa applications will be scrapped in favour of online ones. Local authorities will receive £10,000 pounds (about R197,000) per refugee to cover costs, while households that commit to hosting Ukrainians for at least six months will get £350 (about R6,880) a month, cabinet member Michael Gove told BBC TV.
The government is also considering using the assets of sanctioned Russians to help meet the cost of supporting Ukrainian refugees in the UK.
Lviv mayor calls on US peers to help
The mayor of Lviv in far western Ukraine addressed US mayors on Sunday, urging them to push for more aid to Ukraine and a no-fly zone.
“If you continue influencing your government, if you continue providing assistance, it will accelerate our victory,” mayor Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi told the National League of Cities’ conference in Washington. He said the world is witnessing a contest between autocracy and democracy.
Sadovyi called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a move US policymakers have ruled out because it would put Nato forces in direct confrontation with Russia. His remarks were followed by a standing ovation among city leaders from across the US.
Russian negotiator says talks could lead to documents
The respective delegations have made some progress in talks to stop the war, according to Leonid Slutsky, a senior Russian lawmaker and one of his country’s negotiators, the Interfax news agency reported.
“According to my personal expectations, this progress can elevate in coming days into a mutual position of both delegations and signing of documents,” Slutsky said.
He didn’t elaborate on what documents may emerge. There have been a number of ideas put forward on the potential grounds for a cease-fire, even as Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine expands westward.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Mykailo Podolyak, said on Telegram that Russia has advanced from making ultimatums to listening carefully.
“There is a dialogue,” he said.
Biden aide warns Russia on Nato encroachment
Even inadvertent Russian fire into Nato territory would trigger a response by the military alliance, said White House National Security Adviser Sullivan.
In the past few days Russia s has bombed targets increasingly close to Ukraine’s border with Nato member Poland.
“All I will say is if Russia attacks, fires upon, takes a shot at Nato territory, the Nato alliance would respond to that,” Sullivan told CBS’s Face the Nation when asked about how the alliance would view an “errant shot” on a member country.
Ukraine continues mass evacuations
Ukraine opened 10mhumanitarian corridors on Sunday, some to evacuate people from dangerous locations around Kyiv and six in Ukraine’s east, including a route into besieged Mariupol. Evacuation from Velyka Dymerka to Brovary in the Kyiv region was successfully completed, officials said.
Almost 125,000 people have been moved to safety via the humanitarian corridors, President Zelenskyy said in video statement.
“Mariupol is key task today. Our humanitarian convoy is two hours from Mariupol, only 80km,” he said.
A convoy with 100,000 tonnes of food, water and medication is on the way to Mariupol.
Russia says half of foreign reserves frozen
Russia has lost access to almost half its foreign exchange reserves, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
The US, EU and UK have imposed sanctions on Russia’s central bank over the Ukraine invasion.
“The total volume of our reserves is about $640bn (about R9.6trillion) and there are about $300bn (about R4.5trillion) in such condition that we can’t use them now,” Siluanov told state television in an interview that aired on Sunday.
“We see what pressure Western countries put on China to limit our access to reserves in yuan”, he said.
Second mayor in Ukraine’s southeast said to be kidnapped
The mayor of the town of Dniprorudne in the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevhen Maveyev, was kidnapped by Russian forces early on Sunday, according to a Facebook post by the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional administration, Oleksandr Starukh.
On Twitter EU High Representative Josep Borrell condemned the abductions.
Czechs ask EU for help with refugee crisis
The Czech Republic asked the EU for financial and material help as the country’s capacity for accepting Ukrainian refugees is at its limit, said Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
“We have here more than 200,000 refugees and more are to come,” Fiala said.
The nation of 10.7 million people asked European authorities to provide mobile humanitarian centers that could accommodate tens of thousand of people.
Russia looks to install leaders after abducting Melitopol mayor
Russia is seeking to install a new leader and a “committee of chosen ones” in the southeastern city of Melitopol after abducting its mayor, Ivan Federov, on Friday.
Local lawmaker Halyna Danylchenko posted a video saying the committee would take charge. Other local officials, including the city’s current elected council, have refused to collaborate with Russian forces and residents have protested the occupation, chanting “Melitopol is Ukraine”.
Ukraine has said that Moscow plans a sham “referendum” in the occupied southern city of Kherson in a bid to show residents want to break away from Ukraine. Western intelligence warned before the war that Moscow would try to install puppet administrations if it invaded.
Anti-war protesters detained across Russia
About 100 people were detained on Sunday at anti-war protests in 17 cities around Russia, according to monitoring group OVD-Info. The largest number was in Yekaterinburg, where 24 people were seized by police.
Jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny called on Russians to come out against the war in the main squares of dozens cities. The protests are considered illegal by Russian authorities, who have detained more than 13,000 people nationwide since the attack began. Most arrests have taken place in Moscow and St Petersburg, where demonstrations were planned later on Sunday.
Ukraine warns potential collaborators
Ukraine’s government will criminally prosecute those who collaborate with Russian occupiers by participating with sham local authorities, said President Zelenskyy’s chief of staff.
“Any initiatives in the occupied cities in the south of Ukraine, in Kherson, Kakhovka, Henichesk, aimed at holding ‘referendums,’ fictitious sessions of local councils, distributing passports, are absolutely useless,” Mykailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
Poland says close to 1.7million have crossed border (10:04 a.m.)
A total of 1.675million people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine since February 24, including 79,800 on Saturday and another 16,800 early on Sunday, border authorities said. President Andrzej Duda said as many as 2.5million may end up fleeing to Poland, where most refugees are being supported by volunteers.
Russian missiles strike military range near Poland
Russia is targeting additional sites in far western Ukraine, close to the border of Nato member Poland, a likely provocation for the US and Nato allies.
Dozens of missiles hit the Yaroviv military training centre in the Lviv region, regional officials said, killing at least 35 people and wounding 134, Lviv region governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram. The facility is within an hour’s drive of the Polish border. The US has regularly sent military instructors there since 2015 and it has hosted Nato drills, the Associated Press reported.
The bombing follows strikes on other targets in western Ukraine a day earlier. About 10 cruise missiles were directed at airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, to the north and south of Lviv, respectively, officials said.
Nato chief rejects ‘absurd’ Russian claims
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that the suffering in Ukraine is likely to get worse in the short term.
“The coming days are likely to bring even greater hardship,” the Nato chief said.
He rejected “absurd claims” by Russia about chemical and biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine, and warned Moscow against attacking Ukraine with weapons of mass destruction “under this web of lies” .
In Germany, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht is fleshing out plans to quickly raise the army’s combat readiness. Germany can no longer afford “overambitious dream projects”, she said in an opinion piece for Die Welt. The focus will be “on proven, mature products that are available on the market.”
Gazprom says transit via Ukraine continues
Russian natural gas supplies to Europe are continuing as usual, Tass reported on Sunday, citing Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov.
The gas export monopoly is shipping gas via Ukraine and paying transit fees to the country, even after the Russian invasion began over two weeks ago.
Air Serbia to reduce Moscow flights after criticism
Serbia’s flagship carrier will scale back flights to Moscow following criticism that it ramped up its schedule after other European airlines halted service.
The Balkan country hasn’t joined international sanctions on Russia, although it backed UN resolutions condemning the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Announcing the move on Sunday, President Aleksandar Vucic cited unspecified “harangues” against Serbia and allegations that Air Serbia was profiting by offering Russia travellers a rare loophole to fly into Western Europe via Belgrade.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Russia may be seeking China’s help, talks on tap
Image: REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko
Russia asked China for military equipment to support its invasion of Ukraine, US officials said, sparking concern in the White House that Beijing could undercut Ukrainian forces’ defence efforts.
On Monday the US and China plan to hold their first high-level, in-person talks since Moscow’s invasion. An aide to US President Joe Biden warned Russian air strikes had shifted further west toward Ukraine’s border with Poland, but said there had been no change in the calculus around a no-fly zone.
A strike at a military range and training centre about 35km from Poland killed dozens on Sunday, and an estimated nine civilians died in air strikes on Mykolaiv. Tens of thousands tried to flee fighting in major cities through 10 humanitarian corridors opened by the Ukrainian government.
Tate Museum cuts ties with Russian billionaires
The London-based Tate cut links with Russian billionaires Viktor Vekselberg and Petr Aven after they were sanctioned by the US and European Union (EU), the Financial Times reported, citing the gallery.
Vekselberg was dropped as an honorary member of the Tate Foundation, while Aven stepped down from the Tate donor programmes known as the International Council and European Collection Circle.
Aven declined to comment to the newspaper.
In a letter sent to Tate on Thursday Vekselberg said he was prepared to step down, according to the report.
Akzo Nobel’s Russian operations could fold in weeks
Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel NV expects its Russian operations to collapse in weeks, CEO Thierry Vanlancker told the Financial Times.
Russian operations represent about 2% of the firm’s revenue and have been affected by supply chain interruptions and financial strains on customers in Russia, the newspaper reported.
UK facing inflation, recession over war, says report
The war in Ukraine risks a second spike in UK inflation this autumn and increases the likelihood of a recession, according to the Resolution Foundation.
Price growth could exceed 8%, four times the Bank of England’s target, the London-based group warned in a report. For poorer households, which spend more on food and energy, inflation could reach more than 10%. That would mean the typical family income could drop 4% in real terms in the coming financial year, about £1,000 pounds (about R19,700).
Gold falls for second day
Gold declined for a second day as investors weighed a likely US interest-rate increase and developments in the war in Ukraine.
Traders are bracing for higher borrowing costs which would weigh on non-interest bearing bullion. The US Federal Reserve is expected to begin tightening on Wednesday with a 25-basis-point move to curb inflation stoked by surging commodity costs amid supply chain disruptions due to the war.
Australia to sanction 33 Russian oligarchs
Australia announced fresh sanctions on 33 Russian oligarchs, prominent businesspeople and their immediate family members, said minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne.
Those targeted include Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, Alexey Miller, CEO of gas giant Gazprom, and Bank Rossiya chairman Dmitri Lebedev. The measures reinforce Australia’s commitment to sanction people of economic and strategic significance to Russia, Payne said.
Ukraine envoy calls China-Russia ties ‘toxic’
Ukraine’s ambassador to Japan said China’s response to any Russian request for military assistance was an important question.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg Television, Sergiy Korsunsky said China’s ties with Russia would have “toxic” consequences for its image and economy, and said he hoped China would be “smart enough” to understand that.
Power line restored at Chernobyl site
Ukraine said it restored a power line to the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Sunday, four days after grid electricity to the Russian-controlled site was lost, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
The outage forced radioactive waste management sites and other operations at the site of the 1986 reactor disaster to run on generators, raising concern about safety.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian regulators said repairs and maintenance of safety equipment at Chernobyl have halted as the 211 technical personnel and guards suffer from exhaustion after being stuck there since the day before Russian forces entered the site on February 24, according to the IAEA.
Russia asking China for military aid, says US official
The US official did not specify what kind of equipment Moscow had requested.
Russia sells far more arms to China than it buys, although Beijing’s rapid modernisation of its military has seen it producing more advanced weapons in recent years.
The official declined to say how the administration knows these details. White House spokespeople declined to comment.
It’s unclear if China would respond positively to any such request. Beijing has stopped short of condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine and repeatedly called for negotiations toward a cease-fire and a resolution of the conflict. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, China stayed officially neutral.
Beijing usually takes the view that such actions by other countries are their own affairs as long as it does not impinge on its own interests. Providing Russia with weapons specifically to use against Ukraine would risk that veneer of neutrality in a year when President Xi Jinping is eager for stability at home as he seeks an unprecedented third term.
EU discussing sanctions on Chelsea’s Abramovich
The EU is discussing sanctioning the owner of Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich, along with more than a dozen other prominent Russians, according to documents seen by Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter.
The list — which needs to be approved by EU governments and could change before that happens —also includes Tigran Khudaverdyan, executive director and deputy CEO of Yandex NV, a Russian internet search engine, and Victor Rashnikov, who owns Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel PJSC, one of Russia’s biggest steelmakers.
Diplomats aim to finalise the sanctions package, which includes limits on trade in luxury goods and steel, as early as Monday.
Latvia calls for US troops in Baltics
Latvian President Egils Levits called for a permanent US troop presence in the Baltics, calling it a test of American leadership.
Nato has four multinational battalion-size units in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on a rotating basis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week the US hasn’t decided whether to permanently base troops in the Baltics.
EL-Erian says war effect will push US inflation
Allianz SE’s Mohamed El-Erian said on CBS’s Face the Nation that the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion is likely to include a further pickup in US inflation, estimating the rate will peak at “very close or above 10%” before retreating.
El-Erian also is president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and a Bloomberg contributor.
IMF head says Russian default no longer ‘improbable event’
A Russian sovereign default is no longer improbable, though it is unlikely to trigger a global financial crisis, said International Monetary Fund IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva.
“In terms of servicing debt obligations, I can say that no longer we think of a Russian default as an improbable event,” Georgieva said on CBS’s Face the Nation programme.
No change to calculus on no-fly zone, Sullivan says
The US hasn’t changed its calculus about a no-fly zone, despite the Russian strike on a military training facility near the Polish border or efforts to try to destroy supply lines, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“What we will do is increase and intensify our efforts to supply the Ukrainian defenders with the weapons and security assistance they need to defend themselves,” he said, adding the US is coordinating with allies about additional spending on military assistance.
Russia said on Saturday it considers convoys of Western military aid “legitimate targets.”
US journalist killed in shooting near Kyiv
An American journalist and filmmaker was shot and killed on Sunday while covering the war in Ukraine. He may be the first foreign journalist killed in the conflict, according to multiple media and government reports. Brent Renaud, an award-winning filmmaker who covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was shot in Irpin, north of the capital of Kyiv.
Senior US and China officials to meet on Monday
Talks in Rome, Italy will be the first high-level, in-person talks since the war started.
The Biden administration is seeking to enlist China to use its influence on its ally Russia to end the crisis. So far Beijing has declined to condemn Moscow for its actions, even as it calls for negotiations to sustain a cease-fire.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with China’s top diplomat and Politburo member Yang Jiechi in an effort to “maintain open lines of communication”, according to a statement. The impact on regional and global security from the war will be on the agenda, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
US warns China on aid to sanctions-hit Russia
Sullivan said on CNN the US has warned China against helping Russia evade sanctions and is watching the extent to which it provides “material support or economic support” to Russia.
“We will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions,” Sullivan said.
Large-scale sanctions evasion or providing support that allows Russia to “backfill” will have “consequences,” he said, without elaborating.
UK to streamline Ukrainian refugee intake after criticism
In-person visa applications will be scrapped in favour of online ones. Local authorities will receive £10,000 pounds (about R197,000) per refugee to cover costs, while households that commit to hosting Ukrainians for at least six months will get £350 (about R6,880) a month, cabinet member Michael Gove told BBC TV.
The government is also considering using the assets of sanctioned Russians to help meet the cost of supporting Ukrainian refugees in the UK.
Lviv mayor calls on US peers to help
The mayor of Lviv in far western Ukraine addressed US mayors on Sunday, urging them to push for more aid to Ukraine and a no-fly zone.
“If you continue influencing your government, if you continue providing assistance, it will accelerate our victory,” mayor Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi told the National League of Cities’ conference in Washington. He said the world is witnessing a contest between autocracy and democracy.
Sadovyi called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a move US policymakers have ruled out because it would put Nato forces in direct confrontation with Russia. His remarks were followed by a standing ovation among city leaders from across the US.
Russian negotiator says talks could lead to documents
The respective delegations have made some progress in talks to stop the war, according to Leonid Slutsky, a senior Russian lawmaker and one of his country’s negotiators, the Interfax news agency reported.
“According to my personal expectations, this progress can elevate in coming days into a mutual position of both delegations and signing of documents,” Slutsky said.
He didn’t elaborate on what documents may emerge. There have been a number of ideas put forward on the potential grounds for a cease-fire, even as Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine expands westward.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Mykailo Podolyak, said on Telegram that Russia has advanced from making ultimatums to listening carefully.
“There is a dialogue,” he said.
Biden aide warns Russia on Nato encroachment
Even inadvertent Russian fire into Nato territory would trigger a response by the military alliance, said White House National Security Adviser Sullivan.
In the past few days Russia s has bombed targets increasingly close to Ukraine’s border with Nato member Poland.
“All I will say is if Russia attacks, fires upon, takes a shot at Nato territory, the Nato alliance would respond to that,” Sullivan told CBS’s Face the Nation when asked about how the alliance would view an “errant shot” on a member country.
Ukraine continues mass evacuations
Ukraine opened 10mhumanitarian corridors on Sunday, some to evacuate people from dangerous locations around Kyiv and six in Ukraine’s east, including a route into besieged Mariupol. Evacuation from Velyka Dymerka to Brovary in the Kyiv region was successfully completed, officials said.
Almost 125,000 people have been moved to safety via the humanitarian corridors, President Zelenskyy said in video statement.
“Mariupol is key task today. Our humanitarian convoy is two hours from Mariupol, only 80km,” he said.
A convoy with 100,000 tonnes of food, water and medication is on the way to Mariupol.
Russia says half of foreign reserves frozen
Russia has lost access to almost half its foreign exchange reserves, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
The US, EU and UK have imposed sanctions on Russia’s central bank over the Ukraine invasion.
“The total volume of our reserves is about $640bn (about R9.6trillion) and there are about $300bn (about R4.5trillion) in such condition that we can’t use them now,” Siluanov told state television in an interview that aired on Sunday.
“We see what pressure Western countries put on China to limit our access to reserves in yuan”, he said.
Second mayor in Ukraine’s southeast said to be kidnapped
The mayor of the town of Dniprorudne in the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevhen Maveyev, was kidnapped by Russian forces early on Sunday, according to a Facebook post by the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional administration, Oleksandr Starukh.
On Twitter EU High Representative Josep Borrell condemned the abductions.
Czechs ask EU for help with refugee crisis
The Czech Republic asked the EU for financial and material help as the country’s capacity for accepting Ukrainian refugees is at its limit, said Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
“We have here more than 200,000 refugees and more are to come,” Fiala said.
The nation of 10.7 million people asked European authorities to provide mobile humanitarian centers that could accommodate tens of thousand of people.
Russia looks to install leaders after abducting Melitopol mayor
Russia is seeking to install a new leader and a “committee of chosen ones” in the southeastern city of Melitopol after abducting its mayor, Ivan Federov, on Friday.
Local lawmaker Halyna Danylchenko posted a video saying the committee would take charge. Other local officials, including the city’s current elected council, have refused to collaborate with Russian forces and residents have protested the occupation, chanting “Melitopol is Ukraine”.
Ukraine has said that Moscow plans a sham “referendum” in the occupied southern city of Kherson in a bid to show residents want to break away from Ukraine. Western intelligence warned before the war that Moscow would try to install puppet administrations if it invaded.
Anti-war protesters detained across Russia
About 100 people were detained on Sunday at anti-war protests in 17 cities around Russia, according to monitoring group OVD-Info. The largest number was in Yekaterinburg, where 24 people were seized by police.
Jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny called on Russians to come out against the war in the main squares of dozens cities. The protests are considered illegal by Russian authorities, who have detained more than 13,000 people nationwide since the attack began. Most arrests have taken place in Moscow and St Petersburg, where demonstrations were planned later on Sunday.
Ukraine warns potential collaborators
Ukraine’s government will criminally prosecute those who collaborate with Russian occupiers by participating with sham local authorities, said President Zelenskyy’s chief of staff.
“Any initiatives in the occupied cities in the south of Ukraine, in Kherson, Kakhovka, Henichesk, aimed at holding ‘referendums,’ fictitious sessions of local councils, distributing passports, are absolutely useless,” Mykailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
Poland says close to 1.7million have crossed border (10:04 a.m.)
A total of 1.675million people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine since February 24, including 79,800 on Saturday and another 16,800 early on Sunday, border authorities said. President Andrzej Duda said as many as 2.5million may end up fleeing to Poland, where most refugees are being supported by volunteers.
Russian missiles strike military range near Poland
Russia is targeting additional sites in far western Ukraine, close to the border of Nato member Poland, a likely provocation for the US and Nato allies.
Dozens of missiles hit the Yaroviv military training centre in the Lviv region, regional officials said, killing at least 35 people and wounding 134, Lviv region governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram. The facility is within an hour’s drive of the Polish border. The US has regularly sent military instructors there since 2015 and it has hosted Nato drills, the Associated Press reported.
The bombing follows strikes on other targets in western Ukraine a day earlier. About 10 cruise missiles were directed at airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk, to the north and south of Lviv, respectively, officials said.
Nato chief rejects ‘absurd’ Russian claims
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that the suffering in Ukraine is likely to get worse in the short term.
“The coming days are likely to bring even greater hardship,” the Nato chief said.
He rejected “absurd claims” by Russia about chemical and biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine, and warned Moscow against attacking Ukraine with weapons of mass destruction “under this web of lies” .
In Germany, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht is fleshing out plans to quickly raise the army’s combat readiness. Germany can no longer afford “overambitious dream projects”, she said in an opinion piece for Die Welt. The focus will be “on proven, mature products that are available on the market.”
Gazprom says transit via Ukraine continues
Russian natural gas supplies to Europe are continuing as usual, Tass reported on Sunday, citing Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov.
The gas export monopoly is shipping gas via Ukraine and paying transit fees to the country, even after the Russian invasion began over two weeks ago.
Air Serbia to reduce Moscow flights after criticism
Serbia’s flagship carrier will scale back flights to Moscow following criticism that it ramped up its schedule after other European airlines halted service.
The Balkan country hasn’t joined international sanctions on Russia, although it backed UN resolutions condemning the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Announcing the move on Sunday, President Aleksandar Vucic cited unspecified “harangues” against Serbia and allegations that Air Serbia was profiting by offering Russia travellers a rare loophole to fly into Western Europe via Belgrade.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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