May 30 2022 - 13:36
Nato's support for Ukraine is unbreakable: Spain's PM Sanchez
Nato's support for Ukraine is unbreakable and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not achieve his objectives in the country his forces invaded on February 24, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.
The war in Ukraine and the applications by Finland and Sweden to join the defensive alliance that it has triggered are set to dominate a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Madrid on June 28-30 that Sanchez will host.
"Supporting Ukraine with determination is the only way to ensure that the Europe and the world we have built has a certain future," the prime minister told an event marking the 40th anniversary of Spain's Nato membership.
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said at the same event that the "cold blast of conflict" would overshadow the historic summit. Ukrainian forces were battling on Monday to hold onto the ruined city of Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk province, which has become the focus of Moscow's offensive as it tries to take control of the eastern Donbas region, one of Putin's war aims.
Finland and Sweden have formally applied to join Nato following Russia's invasion of its neighbour, reversing generations of military non-alignment. But Turkey has objected to the Nordic countries joining, holding up a deal that would allow for a historic enlargement of the alliance.
In Madrid on Monday, Stoltenberg said Nato was "ready to defend every inch of allied territory from any threat from any direction" and was providing critical support for Ukraine to uphold its "right to self-defence, enshrined in the UN charter".
"At the Madrid summit, we will chart the way ahead for the next decade, we will reset our deterrence and defence for a more dangerous world," the Nato chief said.
Reuters
UKRAINE WRAP | Russian forces 'moving deeper into Sievierodonetsk'
May 30 2022 - 21:10
Erdogan tells Zelenskyy he values project to create sea route for agriculture exports
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a call on Monday that he placed value on a project to create a safe sea route for exporting Ukrainian agricultural goods, his office said.
"Erdogan stated that he especially valued the project to create a secure sea route for exporting Ukrainian agricultural products," his office said in a statement and added he welcomed, in principle, the idea of making Istanbul a headquarters for an "observation mechanism" between Moscow, Kyiv and the United Nations.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 19:35
Russia's Gazprom to halt gas supplies to Dutch trader GasTerra on May 31
Russia's Gazprom Export on Monday said it will suspend gas supplies to Dutch gas trader GasTerra on May 31 over failure to pay for gas delivered in April under the rouble-for-gas payments scheme.
It added that the suspension of gas supplies will be enacted until the payments are settled in line with the Russia-proposed scheme.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 15:13
French journalist killed in shelling in Ukraine's Luhansk region - governor
Efforts to evacuate civilians in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine were suspended on Monday after an armoured transport was hit by shrapnel from a Russian shell, killing a French journalist, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said.
Gaidai wrote on the Telegram app that the shrapnel pierced the vehicle's armour, killing the accredited French journalist travelling inside.
Gaidai provided a photograph of a press accreditation identifying the journalist.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 13:36
Nato's support for Ukraine is unbreakable: Spain's PM Sanchez
Nato's support for Ukraine is unbreakable and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not achieve his objectives in the country his forces invaded on February 24, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.
The war in Ukraine and the applications by Finland and Sweden to join the defensive alliance that it has triggered are set to dominate a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Madrid on June 28-30 that Sanchez will host.
"Supporting Ukraine with determination is the only way to ensure that the Europe and the world we have built has a certain future," the prime minister told an event marking the 40th anniversary of Spain's Nato membership.
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said at the same event that the "cold blast of conflict" would overshadow the historic summit. Ukrainian forces were battling on Monday to hold onto the ruined city of Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk province, which has become the focus of Moscow's offensive as it tries to take control of the eastern Donbas region, one of Putin's war aims.
Finland and Sweden have formally applied to join Nato following Russia's invasion of its neighbour, reversing generations of military non-alignment. But Turkey has objected to the Nordic countries joining, holding up a deal that would allow for a historic enlargement of the alliance.
In Madrid on Monday, Stoltenberg said Nato was "ready to defend every inch of allied territory from any threat from any direction" and was providing critical support for Ukraine to uphold its "right to self-defence, enshrined in the UN charter".
"At the Madrid summit, we will chart the way ahead for the next decade, we will reset our deterrence and defence for a more dangerous world," the Nato chief said.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 13:24
Germany cuts red tape to issue visas for Russian government critics
Germany will make it faster and easier for critics of the Russian government to come and live in the country based on newly agreed criteria, an interior ministry spokesperson said.
Human rights activists, employees of NGOs and civil society groups with a connection to Germany and journalists and researchers who have taken a stance against the war in Ukraine are among those who qualify to stay in the longer term, said the spokesperson on Monday at a regular government news conference. The spokesperson added that there was no reliable way to predict how many people this measure would affect.
The move aims to remove some of the red tape involved in Germany's visa process and guarantee a longer stay than the 90 days allowed under the Schengen tourist visa.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 09:24
UK says Russia suffers devastating losses among lower-ranked officers
Russia appears to have suffered devastating losses amongst mid- and junior-ranking officers in its conflict with Ukraine, raising the prospect of weaker military effectiveness in future, Britain's defence ministry said on Monday. Brigade and battalion commanders were probably deploying to the most dangerous positions while junior officers have had to lead low-level tactical actions, the ministry said on Twitter in its latest Defence Intelligence update.
"With multiple credible reports of localised mutinies amongst Russia's forces in Ukraine, a lack of experienced and credible platoon and company commanders is likely to result [in] a further decrease in morale and continued poor discipline," it said.
The loss of younger officers was likely to exacerbate Russia's problems in modernising its military command and control, the ministry said. "More immediately, battalion tactical groups which are being reconstituted in Ukraine from survivors of multiple units are likely to be less effective due to a lack of junior leaders."
Russian forces intensified attacks on Monday to capture Sievierodonetsk, a key city in Ukraine's southeastern Donbas region which Moscow is targeting having failed to take the capital Kyiv early in the war.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 09:18
Russia's Gazprom continues shipping gas to Europe via Ukraine
Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Monday its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point stood at 44.6-million cubic metres, up from 44.1-million on Sunday. An application to supply gas via another major entry point, Sokhranovka, was rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 09:15
EU seeks elusive accord on Russian oil embargo
European Union officials are due to meet Monday morning to try to break an impasse over a proposed embargo on Russian oil imports amid continued resistance from Hungary. The EU failed to strike a deal Sunday despite a push to get an agreement before a two-day meeting of the bloc’s leaders starting Monday afternoon in Brussels. Hungary is so far refusing to back a compromise despite proposals aimed at ensuring its Russian oil supplies, according to people familiar with the talks.
Meanwhile, Russia is developing a way to pay its Eurobond debt that would sidestep western financial infrastructure, finance minister Anton Siluanov was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview. On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited front-line troops in the Kharkiv region in his first trip away from Kyiv since Russia’s invasion.
Bloomberg
May 30 2022 - 09:10
Russian forces moving deeper into Sievierodonetsk: Luhansk governor
Russian troops are moving into the city of Sievierodonetsk from the outskirts, Luhansk region governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Monday. Sievierodonetsk, the largest city that Kyiv still partly controls in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, has been the focus of Russia's attacks in eastern Ukraine.
"Unfortunately we have disappointing news, the enemy is moving into the city," Gaidai told national television. He said the neighbouring city of Lysychansk was still under Ukrainian control, while the main road into the two cities has been shelled, but not blocked.
Having failed to take the capital Kyiv in the early phase of the war, Russia is seeking to consolidate its grip on the Donbas, large parts of which are already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. Unlike in the previous stages of the war, which Moscow calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine and rid it of nationalists threatening Russian-speakers there, Russia has concentrated its firepower on a small area.
"They [the Russian army] use the same tactics over and over again. They shell for several hours — for three, four, five hours — in a row and then attack. Those who attack die. Then shelling and attack follow again, and so until they break through somewhere," Gaidai said.
Reuters
May 30 2022 - 08:38
Russia looks like it’s beating Ukraine again. Or is it?
Russian troops are making steady progress in Ukraine’s east on the back of more concentrated artillery and air power, now controlling almost all of the Luhansk region and threatening to encircle thousands of Ukraine’s most experienced troops.
That is sparking fears that Russia could be poised for a bigger breakthrough, and leading to increasingly panicked calls from Kyiv for even more powerful offensive weapons.
May 30 2022 - 05:30
Ukraine's Donbas 'unconditional priority' for Moscow, Russia's Lavrov says
The "liberation" of Ukraine's Donbas is an "unconditional priority" for Moscow, while other Ukrainian territories should decide their future on their own, RIA news agency cited Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Sunday.
"The liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, recognised by the Russian Federation as independent states, is an unconditional priority," Lavrov said in an interview with French TV channel TF1, according to RIA.
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