UKRAINE WRAP | Russia must not be humiliated despite Putin's 'historic' mistake - Macron

June 4 2022 - 17:00

Sweden, Finland joining NATO would be tough for Russia, top U.S. general says

Finland and Sweden joining NATO would put Russia in a difficult military position in the Baltic Sea, top U.S. General Mark Milley said on Saturday during a visit to Stockholm ahead of a military exercise.

The two Nordic neighbours, which both have long borders on the Baltic Sea, applied last month to join the military alliance amid security concerns after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, although they face objections from Turkey.

Their joining would mean the Baltic Sea's coastline would, bar short strips around Russian cities Kaliningrad and St Petersburg, be encircled by NATO members.

"So from a Russian perspective that will be very problematic for them, militarily speaking, and it would be very advantageous to NATO," said Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The Baltic (Sea is) very strategically important, it's one of the great seaways of the world," Milley added.

He was speaking at a joint news conference with his Swedish counterpart, the Swedish prime minister and the Swedish defence minister ahead of an annual NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea that Sweden and Finland take part in.

-Reuters

June 4 2022 - 16:00

Kyiv Warns of Food Crisis Amid Port Blockade

Ukraine warned that alternative routes for grain exports would not suffice to avert a global food crisis as Russia continues to blockade the Black Sea ports.

Ukraine said its forces had reclaimed territory in a major city in the Luhansk region where Russia has recently made advances, as President Vladimir Putin’s invasion moves past the 100-day mark.

The war has prompted a major rewrite of the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy, according to people familiar with the matter.

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June 4 2022 - 15:00

Ukraine says no point in talks until Russian troops pushed back

Ukraine said on Saturday there was no point in negotiating with Russia until Moscow's forces are pushed back as far as possible towards Ukraine's borders.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak made the comment when asked about an offer from French President Emmanuel Macron to mediate talks between Kyiv and Moscow to end the war in Ukraine that passed the 100 day mark on Friday.

"Until we receive weapons in their full amount, until we strengthen our positions, until we push them (Russia's forces) back as far as possible to the borders of Ukraine, there is no point in holding negotiations," Podolyak said on television.

Macron, who has sought to maintain dialogue with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion, said the West should not humiliate Russia, so that it can keep the doors open for a solution to be reached through diplomacy.

Ukraine, which says that Russia has already occupied about 20% of its territory, is now receiving more powerful weapons from the West.

"Our armed forces are ready to use (the new weapons)...and then I think we can initiate a new round of talks from a strengthened position," David Arakhamia, Ukrainian lawmaker and a member of the negotiation team, said on Friday.

Among other things, the United States will give Ukraine precision HIMARS rocket systems allowing it to hit Russian positions from a longer-range.

-Reuters

June 4 2022 - 14:00

Russian governor says Ukraine hits border village, one man injured

The governor of Russia's western Bryansk region said on Saturday that one man was slightly injured by shrapnel and two houses were set on fire after Ukraine's forces carried out strikes on a village.

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor, said the man was treated in a local hospital.Ukraine's officials were not immediately available to comment.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for sporadic attacks on its border regions, including Bryansk, since the start of what Moscow calls a "special military operation" on Feb. 24.

-Reuters

June 4 2022 - 13:00

Ukraine wants to bolster military position before resuming talks with Russia -official

Ukraine wants to strengthen its positions on the ground with the help of new weapons deliveries from the West before it resumes peace talks with Russia, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said.

"Our armed forces are ready to use (the new weapons)...and then I think we can initiate a new round of talks from a strengthened position," he told Ukraine national television on Friday.

Ukraine said it had recaptured a chunk of the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk in the Luhansk region, the focus of a Russian offensive to take the eastern Donbas region.

-Reuters

June 4 2022 - 12:00

Russia must not be humiliated despite Putin's 'historic' mistake - Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said it is vital that Russia is not humiliated so that when the fighting stops in Ukraine a diplomatic solution can be found, adding that he believed Paris would play a mediating role to end the conflict.

Macron has sought to maintain a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February.

His stance has been repeatedly criticised by some eastern and Baltic partners in Europe, as they see it as undermining efforts to pressure Putin to the negotiating table.

"We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means," Macron said in an interview to regional newspapers published on Saturday.

"I am convinced that it is France's role to be a mediating power."Macron has spoken with Putin regularly since the invasion as part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and begin a credible negotiation between Kyiv and Moscow.

"I think, and I told him, that he is making a historic and fundamental mistake for his people, for himself and for history," Macron said.

France has supported Ukraine militarily and financially, but until now Macron has not been to Kyiv to offer symbolic political support like other EU leaders, something Ukraine has wanted him to do.

Macron said he had not ruled out going.Paris sends offensive weapons including Caesar howitzer canon taken from French army stocks. Macron said he had asked weapons manufacturers to accelerate production. 

-Reuters

June 4 2022 - 11:00

Russia blowing up bridges in Sievierodonetsk to thwart Ukrainian reinforcements -regional governor

Russian forces are blowing up bridges across the Seversky Donets river to prevent Ukraine bringing in military reinforcements and delivering aid to civilians in the town of Sievierodonetsk, the governor of the Luhansk region said on Saturday.

In a TV broadcast, Serhiy Gaidai said the Ukrainian military continued to hold its positions inside Sievierodonetsk and was pushing back Russian forces in several locations.

-Reuters

June 4 2022 - 10:00

Another ship sent to take metal to Russia arrives in Mariupol -TASS

A ship sent to load metal and ship it to Russia has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, the second vessel to arrive in the southeastern city since Russia completed its capture last month.

"The ship has arrived and is in the port," TASS cited a port authority representative as saying, adding that it was to be loaded with metal.

Earlier this week, a ship left Mariupol for Russia with a cargo of metal. Ukraine said the shipment from the port, whose capture gave Moscow an overland bridge linking mainland Russia and pro-Russian separatist territory to annexed Crimea, amounted to looting.

Russia seized full control of Mariupol earlier this month when more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters were taken into custody after being ordered to stand down at the besieged Azovstal steelworks.

Russia said in late May that the port had been de-mined and was open again to commercial vessels.

-Reuters

June 4 2022 - 09:20

Ukraine says its troops have pushed back Russian advance in eastern city

Ukraine said it had recaptured a chunk of the factory city of Sievierodonetsk, the focus of a Russian offensive to take the eastern Donbas region, and could hold it for up to two weeks as fighting raged on Saturday.

Sergiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, told national television on Friday that Ukrainian troops had retaken 20% of the territory they had lost in Sievierodonetsk.

It was “not realistic” that the city would fall in the next two weeks even though Russian reinforcements were being deployed, he said.

“As soon as we have enough Western long-range weapons, we will push their artillery away from our positions. And then, believe me, the Russian infantry, they will just run,” said Gaidai.

His claims of Ukrainian advances could not immediately be verified. Reuters reached Sievierodonetsk on Thursday and was able to verify that Ukrainians still held part of the city.

June 4 2022 - 09:00

What you need to know right now

Ukraine said it clawed back a chunk of the industrial centre of Sievierodonetsk, appearing to stymie a Russian drive to capture the ruined city, the focus of Moscow’s offensive to take the eastern Donbas region.

• Russia has reinforced its troops and used artillery to conduct "assault operations" in Sievierodonetsk, but Russian forces retreated after failed attempts to advance in the nearby town of Bakhmut, Ukraine's military said.

• In the southern region of Odesa region, a missile hit an agricultural storage unit, wounding two people, the regional administration's spokesman wrote on Telegram.

• Russia will continue its military operation in Ukraine until all its goals have been achieved, said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

• Prosecutors investigating war crimes cases in Ukraine are examining allegations of the forcible deportation of children to Russia since the invasion as they seek to build a genocide indictment, the country’s top prosecutor told Reuters.

• Two Reuters journalists were injured and a driver killed on Friday after the vehicle they were in came under fire while heading to Sievierodonetsk.

• Putin denied Russia was preventing Ukrainian ports from exporting grain, saying the best solution would be to ship it through Belarus if sanctions on that country were lifted.

• Turkey expects progress on a plan to unlock grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports when Russia's foreign minister visits next week, a senior Turkish official said.

• The EU blacklisted Russian military commanders who it said led troops involved in atrocities in Ukraine, calling them the "butchers" of Bucha and Mariupol.

• Russia accused Germany of throwing European security into imbalance by "remilitarizing", as Berlin shores up its military spending.

• Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was summoning the heads of U.S. media outlets in Moscow on Monday to notify them of tough measures in response to U.S. restrictions against Russian media.

-Reuters