UKRAINE WRAP | Russia destroys bridge over Ukrainian river, cutting escape route

June 12 2022 - 22:00

WATCH | UN warns of global food crisis, famine as war in Ukraine drags on

June 12 2022 - 21:00

WATCH | Shelled Ukrainian grain warehouse left in charred ruins

June 12 2022 - 20:00

Russia destroys bridge over Ukrainian river, cutting escape route

Russian forces have blown up a bridge linking the embattled Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk to another city across the river, cutting off a possible evacuation route for civilians, local officials said on Sunday.

Sievierodonetsk has become the epicentre of the battle for control over Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas. Parts of the city have been pulverised in some of the bloodiest fighting since the Kremlin unleashed its invasion on Feb. 24.

Ukrainian and Russian forces were still fighting street-by-street there on Sunday, the governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Gaidai, said.

Russian forces have taken most of the city but Ukrainian troops remain in control of an industrial area and chemical plant where hundreds of civilians are sheltering.But the Russians had destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River linking Sievierodonetsk with its twin city of Lysychansk, Gaidai said.

That leaves just one of three bridges still standing, and reduces the number of routes that could be used to evacuate civilians or for Ukrainian troops to withdraw to positions on the western side of the river.

Reuters

June 12 2022 - 19:00

Former British soldier killed fighting for Ukraine

A former British soldier has been killed fighting for Ukraine in the city of Sievierodonetsk, his family said on social media.

Jordan Gatley left the British army in March, his family said, and after careful consideration went to Ukraine to help in the fight against the Russian invasion.

The family said it had received the news on Friday that he had been shot and killed.

The eastern city is the epicentre of intense fighting to control the country's Donbas region.

"He loved his job and we are so proud of him," his family said in a Facebook post. "He truly was a hero and will forever be in our hearts."

Britain's Foreign Office said: "We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Ukraine."

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a written request for comment. 

Reuters

June 12 2022 - 18:00

WATCH | Ukrainian teenager helps army with drone

June 12 2022 - 17:00

NATO chief Stoltenberg says Turkey's security concerns are legitimate

Security concerns raised by Turkey in its opposition to Finland's and Sweden's NATO membership applications are legitimate, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday during a visit to Finland.

"These are legitimate concerns. This is about terrorism, it's about weapons exports," Stoltenberg told a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto while visiting him at his summer residence in Naantali, Finland.

Sweden and Finland applied to join the Western defence alliance last month, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But they have faced opposition from Turkey, which has accused them of supporting and harbouring Kurdish militants and other groups it deems terrorists.

Stoltenberg said Turkey was a key ally for the alliance due to its strategic location on the Black Sea between Europe and the Middle East, and cited the support it has provided to Ukraine since Russia sent troops into its neighbour on Feb. 24.

Moscow calls its actions a "special military operation"."We have to remember and understand that no NATO ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkiye," Stoltenberg said, using the Turkish pronunciation of the country's name, as preferred by Turkey and its President Tayyip Erdogan.

Stoltenberg and Niinisto said talks with Turkey would continue but gave no indication of progress in the negotiations.

"The summit in Madrid was never a deadline," Stoltenberg said, referring to a NATO meeting in Madrid at the end of June. 

Reuters

June 12 2022 - 16:00

Russia says it destroyed depot containing Western weapons in Ukraine

Russian forces fired cruise missiles to destroy a large depot containing U.S. and European weapons in western Ukraine's Ternopil region, Interfax reported on Sunday, as street fighting raged in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk.

The governor of the Ternopil region said a rocket attack on the city of Chortkiv fired from the Black Sea had partly destroyed a military facility, injuring 22 people.

A local official said there were no weapons stored there.

Reuters could not independently confirm the differing accounts

Reuters

June 12 2022 - 15:00

Tasty name but no Big Mac: Russia opens rebranded McDonald's restaurants

It might look and smell like McDonald's but now it's Vkusno & tochka. The golden arches are gone, the Filet-O-Fish is simply a fish burger.

The Big Mac has left Russia.

A new era for Russia's fast-food and economic scene dawned on Sunday, as McDonald's restaurants flung open their doors in Moscow under new Russian ownership and with the new name, which translates as "Tasty and that's it".

The unveiling of the rebranded outlets, more than three decades after the American burger giant first opened its doors in Moscow in a symbolic thaw between East and West, is once again a stark sign of a new world order.

The reopenings took place on Russia Day, a holiday celebrating national pride.

The fortunes of the chain, which McDonald's sold when it exited the country over the conflict in Ukraine, could provide a test of how successfully Russia's economy can become more self-sufficient and withstand Western sanctions.

Reuters

June 12 2022 - 14:00

Scores of Ukraine Azovstal fighters' bodies still in Mariupol, ex-commander says

The bodies of scores of Ukrainian fighters killed during the siege of the Azovstal steelworks in the southern city of Mariupol are still awaiting retrieval, the former commander of Ukraine's Azov National Guard regiment said on Sunday.

Maksym Zhorin said that under the terms of a recent exchange, around 220 bodies of those killed in Azovstal had already been sent to Kyiv but "just as many bodies still remain in Mariupol".

"Talks are continuing about further exchanges, to return home all the bodies. Absolutely all bodies must be returned and this is something we will work on," Zhorin added in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

He said a third of the dead were of the Azov battalion, while the others belonged to border patrol and naval officers as well as the police.Hundreds of fighters holed up in the steelworks were taken into Russian custody in mid-May but many were also killed during Russian attacks on the plant and the city of Mariupol.

Because the majority of the bodies were in a terrible state, "it will take a very long time to identify each person personally," Zhorin said.DNA testing and servicemen's uniforms and insignia would be used to help with the identification, he said.Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, has been reduced to a wasteland after months of siege and bombardment that Ukraine says has killed tens of thousands of people.

Reuters

June 12 2022 - 13:23

Ukraine says still controls Sievierodonetsk plant sheltering hundreds

Bitter fighting raged in Sievierodonetsk, but the region's governor said Ukraine remained in control of an industrial area and chemical plant in the eastern city where hundreds of civilians are sheltering from incessant Russian shelling.

A Russia-backed separatist group on Saturday claimed 300 to 400 Ukrainian fighters were also trapped at the Azot plant.

Governor Serhiy Gaidai earlier conceded Russian forces now controlled most of the small city in Luhansk province, and said Russian shelling of the plant had ignited a big fire after an oil leak. It was not known if the fire was still burning on Sunday.

June 12 2022 - 13:20

Tasty name but no Big Mac as rebranded McDonald's restaurants open in Russia

It might look and smell like McDonald's but now it's Vkusno & tochka. The golden arches are gone, the filet-of-fish is simply a fish burger. The Big Mac has left Russia.

A new era for Russia's fast-food and economic scene dawned on Sunday as McDonald's restaurants flung open their doors in Moscow under new Russian ownership and with the new name, which translates as "Tasty and that's it".

The rebranding of the outlets, three decades after the US burger giant first opened in Moscow in a symbolic thaw between East and West, is once again a stark sign of a new world order.

June 11 2022 - 08:30

Germany pledges medical aid to Ukraine

Germany will help Ukraine provide medical help for war victims by helping build trauma centres for the wounded, donating prosthetic limbs and deploying German doctors to the country, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Friday.

"Ukraine needs humanitarian aid just as urgently as it needs our military support," the minister said during a visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

The aid would include Germany helping to supply prostheses, deploying 200 doctors in Ukraine, setting up training on treating burns and connecting some hospitals in Ukraine to a telemedicine service, the ministry said in a statement.

June 11 2022 - 08:00

Ukraine hails British leadership as UK defence minister visits Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed British leadership and its assistance for Kyiv against Russia's invasion during talks on Friday with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace in the Ukrainian capital.

Wallace, visiting Kyiv two months after Prime Minister Boris Johnson, praised Zelenskiy for his own leadership during a war in which Britain has provided Ukraine with weapons and financial assistance and has imposed sanctions on Russia.

"I am grateful in general to Great Britain, the government and the prime minister," Zelenskiy, looking relaxed in a dark T-shirt, told Wallace at the presidential headquarters. "The war highlights who is our friend or friends – not just strategic friends, but real friends now. And I believe Great Britain is a friend."