Ukraine-Russia – live: RAF scrambles fighter jets to respond to Russian aircraft flying near Nato airspace
Britain’s RAF scrambled fighter jets last night after a Russian navy aircraft was seen flying near Nato airspace in Estonia, officials said.
“This evening, RAF Typhoons from 140 EAW in Estonia were scrambled to intercept a Russian Navy Tu-134 and 2x Su-27 ‘FLANKER’ Bs flying close to @NATO airspace,” the air force said on Twitter, sharing photos of the two planes flying in close proximity.
The Russian aircraft “failed to comply with international norms by not liaising with regional airspace control”, the RAF said.
This comes as diplomats from dozens of countries are meeting in London today to drum up funds to rebuild Ukraine, a mammoth task whose cost is estimated by the World Bank at more than $400bn (£313bn).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will announce a new package of US assistance at the Ukraine Recovery Conference and he will be joined by Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen among international representatives at the gathering, which hopes to get big businesses to back Ukraine.
Key Points
RAF scrambles jets to respond to Russian aircraft flying 'close to Nato airspace'
Major business investment to rebuild Ukraine at London conference on table today
Control of Crimea peninsula a top political priority for Putin, says UK MoD
Russia attacks Ukrainian cities in overnight air strikes
One dead in Russian shelling of rescuer workers in Ukraine’s Kherson
Four of Putin’s attack helicopters downed in last week, Kyiv says
Germany confirms new ambassador to Russia after downgrading diplomatic ties
11:03 , Reuters
Germany has confirmed the appointment of Alexander Graf Lambsdorff as its new ambassador to Russia, weeks after the two countries announced a downgrading of diplomatic ties after relations collapsed in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Graf Lambsdorff, a 56-year-old diplomat and member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the ruling coalition, will take up his post in the summer after Russia gave the green light for the move.
He replaces Geza Andreas von Geyr, who has represented Germany in Russia since September 2019 and is now set to become Germany’s ambassador to Nato in Brussels.
Germany last month said it would shut down four out of five Russian consulates by revoking their licences, a tit-for-tat move after Moscow’s decision to limit the number of German officials in Russia.
Mr Graf Lambsdorff has sharply criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and backed Germany shoring up Ukraine’s armed forces with military aid. He is a descendent of a political and aristocratic family that traces its roots to Baltic Germans living in the Russian tsarist empire.
US pledges £1bn to help Ukraine rebuild
10:35 , Andy Gregory
The United States will provide more than $1.3bn (£1bn) in additional aid to Ukraine to help the country recover and rebuild its energy grid, secretary of state Antony Blinken has told the conference in London.
Of that amount, $520m will go towards helping Kyiv overhaul its battered energy grid, while $657m will be used to help modernise its border crossings, ports, rail lines and other critical infrastructure, Mr Blinken said.
Some $100m will be used to help digitise Ukraine’s customs and other systems “to boost speed and to cut corruption”, and another $35m to help Ukrainian businesses through financing and insurance.
“Recovery is about laying the foundation for Ukraine to thrive as a secure, independent country, fully intergrated with Europe, connected to markets around the world,” Mr Blinken told delegates.
EU has ‘special responsibility’ to Ukraine, says Ursula von der Leyen
10:16 , Andy Gregory
The European Union has a “special responsibility” towards Ukraine in the long term, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.
“This is for Ukraine’s immediate needs. But let’s talk about the future. I believe the European Union has a special responsibility,” Ms von der Leyen said.
Von der Leyen has ‘no doubt’ that Ukraine will join EU
10:14 , Andy Gregory
Addressing the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she had “no doubt” that Ukraine would join the EU, adding: “We can never match their sacrifice, but we can and we do stand united.”
Praising the progress and speed of reform in the country, Ms von der Leyen said she hoped Ukraine would become a “country that attracts foreign investment, a country that is master of its future, a country that is a member of the European Union”.
“Together we gather here to tell Ukrainians that their dream is also our dream,” she told the conference. “Ukrainians tell us, when they imagine their future, they see Europe’s flag flying over their cities. I have no doubt that Ukraine will be part of our union.”
“Ukraine has accelerated its reform agenda with impressive speed and resolve,” she said.
Ukraine could be ‘largest source of economic growth in Europe for decades’, claims Zelensky
09:49 , Andy Gregory
Volodymyr Zelensky, who is pushing for Ukraine to join Nato and the European Union, urged Western leaders to have the “courage” to acknowledge that his country is already a key part of their economic and defence alliances.
He told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London: “We are only waiting for the courage of the alliance leaders to recognise this reality, politically.”
Mr Zelensky highlighted Ukraine’s importance in global food supply and its potential to become a major green energy power.
He said the country could be “the largest source of economic, industrial and technological growth in Europe for decades and decades”.
We must move towards real reconstruction projects, Zelensky says
09:48 , Andy Gregory
Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London that it was necessary to move towards real projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
“We must move from agreement to real projects,” the Ukrainian president said. “There is a Ukrainian delegation that will present concrete things and we propose to do them together during my tour,” he said.
Sunak praises Ukraine’s ‘spirit of ingenuity and innovation'
09:45 , Andy Gregory
Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, Rishi Sunak highlighted Ukraine’s technological expertise, saying IT experts and the military have developed a mobile app to track the Shahed drones being used by Russia.
The prime minister said that, when he visited Kyiv in November, he saw the people’s spirit of “ingenuity and innovation”, adding: “In a converted office block I met tech experts – civilian and military – who were working together to find new ways to bolster the country’s defences.
“They were networking mobile phones so that people across Ukraine could download an app which would allow their phone to pick up the sound of the Shahed drones and feed back the location so that Ukrainian air defence could track them and shoot them down.”
Ukraine represents investment opportunity, says Sunak
09:28 , Andy Gregory
Ukraine represents an investment opportunity, with its resistance to the Russian invasion demonstrating its people’s capacity for innovation, Rishi Sunak said as he opened the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.
“Before this terrible war, Ukraine’s economy was becoming a huge investment opportunity,” the prime minister told delegates.
“It was the breadbasket of Europe, exporting millions of tonnes of food and grain each month, a top-five exporter of iron ore and steel, a leader in energy – pushing forward renewables, hydrogen and electric vehicles – and a start-up nation which helped spark names like PayPal, WhatsApp and Revolut, with a thriving tech sector which actually had a record year in 2022.
“The truth is, that opportunity is still there today – in fact the war has only proved how much Ukraine has to offer.”
Watch live: Rishi Sunak opens Ukraine Recovery Conference in London
08:56 , Andy Gregory
FSB claims to detain Russian resident for sending money to Ukraine’s military
08:47 , Andy Gregory
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claims to have detained a resident of Russia’s eastern Khabarovsk region for treason for attempting to send money to the Ukrainian military.
State news agency Tass quoted the FSB as saying that the detainee had attempted to send money to Ukraine for drones, thermal imaging cameras, munitions and medical supplies “by way of cryptocurrency instruments”.
Another state news agency published FSB footage purporting to show a man being detained by two officers on a country road, and a subsequent search of his house.
Tass separately claimed the FSB had arrested a group of “saboteurs” in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol who were preparing an assassination attempt against officials. It did not say how many people had been detained, or who their alleged targets were.
Russia claims to bring down three drones near Moscow
08:19 , Andy Gregory
Russian air defences downed three drones in the Moscow region on Wednesday, its defence ministry has claimed, in what it called an attempted Ukrainian attack.
The ministry claimed that Russian defences had used electronic jamming to cause the drones to lose control and crash, without causing any casualties or damage.
Regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said two of the drones were intercepted as they approached military warehouses. The state-owned Tass news agency said they were aimed at the Taman Division of Russia’s Ground Forces which is based in Kalininets, some 37 miles from the Kremlin.
Separately, the governor of Russian-annexed Crimea reported unspecified damage to the railway network in the eastern town of Feodosia, without stating the cause. He said train traffic had been suspended but would be restored within two hours.
“I ask everyone to remain calm and trust only verified sources of information,” Sergei Aksyonov, the governor, said.
RAF scrambles jets to respond to Russian aircraft flying 'close to Nato airspace'
07:21 , Arpan Rai
The Royal Air Force (RAF) scrambled its fighter jets in Estonia after a Russian Navy airplane was seen flying near Nato airspace, officials said today.
“This evening [Tuesday], RAF Typhoons from 140 EAW in Estonia were scrambled to intercept a Russian Navy Tu-134 and 2x Su-27 ‘FLANKER’ Bs flying close to @NATO airspace,” the air force said on Twitter, sharing photos of the two planes flying alongside in the Estonian skies.
The RAF warplane is seen alongside the intercepted Russian navy airplane.
“The Russian aircraft failed to comply with international norms by not liaising with regional airspace control agencies,” the RAF added.
Control of Crimea peninsula a top political priority for Putin, says UK MoD
07:08 , Arpan Rai
Russia continues to see maintaining control of the Crimean peninsula as its “top political priority”, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.
This comes in the wake of Russia’s continuing effort to “expend significant effort building defensive lines deep in rear areas, especially on the approaches to occupied Crimea in the recent weeks, alongside heavy fighting in southern Ukraine.
“This includes an extensive zone of defences of 9km in length, 3.5km north of the town Armyansk, on the narrow bridge of land connecting Crimea to the Kherson region,” the ministry said.
It added that these elaborate defences highlight the “Russian command’s assessment that Ukrainian forces are capable of directly assaulting Crimea”.
Comment: People say Ukraine will never recover. They’re wrong
07:00 , Eleanor Noyce
As Ukraine’s armed forces fight to reclaim territory from Russian invaders, the recovery conference in London this week might feel at best premature and at worst misplaced.
As the disaster of the Nova Kakhovka dam horrifyingly illustrates, the destruction of Ukraine is gearing up and adding daily to the toll of human suffering. Yet history also tells us that a durable peace is much likelier where planning for recovery begins early – before the guns fall silent and a political settlement is reached.
From Bakhmut to Mariupol entire cityscapes have been devastated. But history also tells us that a durable peace is much likelier where planning for recovery begins early, writes Patrick Watt, chief executive of Christian Aid:
People say Ukraine will never recover. This is how we prove them wrong | Patrick Watt
Major business investment to rebuild Ukraine at London conference on table today
06:55 , Arpan Rai
Diplomats from dozens of countries are meeting in London today to drum up funds to rebuild Ukraine, a mammoth task whose cost is estimated by the World Bank at more than $400bn (£313bn) — a figure rising daily alongside the human toll of the 16-month war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will announce a new package of US assistance at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which is both a fundraising forum and a message to Russia that Ukraine’s allies are in it for the long haul.
He will be joined by Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen among international representatives at the gathering, which hopes to get big businesses to back Ukraine.
The scale of the need is vast. Many say Ukraine needs the equivalent of the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after the Second World War. Its infrastructure had been decimated by Russian attacks even before the collapse of the Kakhovka dam this month after an explosion flooded some 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of land and displaced thousands of people.
Read more here:
Allies seek big-business investment to rebuild Ukraine at London conference
Ukraine’s ‘main blow’ yet to come, says deputy defence minister
06:38 , Arpan Rai
Ukrainian troops are moving forward on the battlefield and facing resistance from Russian troops, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar, as she warned the main strike is still pending.
“We will advance gradually, with difficulties, facing the furious resistance of the enemy. We must understand that the tasks that are set before the military are carried out by them, and gradual movement is taking place in all directions where the offensive began,” she said on Telegram last night.
“But, of course, the main blow is yet to come.”
UK’s landmark financial support package for Ukraine expected this week
06:10 , Arpan Rai
Rishi Sunak will pledge to stand with Ukraine “as long as it takes” as he announces $3bn (£2.35bn) in bank loan guarantees to bolster Kyiv’s rebuild.
Opening a major conference in London focused on Ukraine’s recovery after Russia’s invasion, Mr Sunak will hail the country’s “defiance” as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops use a counter-offensive to push back the Kremlin’s forces.
He will announce a financial package that includes World Bank loan guarantees worth three billion US dollars over three years.
Downing Street said the guarantees amount to the first bilateral package of multi-year fiscal assistance to be set out by a G7 country.
Read more here:
Sunak to pledge £2.35 billion in loan guarantees at Ukraine Recovery Conference
Ukrainian refugees helped push German population up 1.3% last year
06:00 , Eleanor Noyce
Large numbers of refugees from Ukraine fleeing Russia‘s war fueled a 1.3% rise in Germany’s population last year, helping push up the number of inhabitants in the European Union‘s most populous country to more than 84.4 million, official statistics showed Tuesday.
Germany’s population expanded by 1.12 million in 2022, the Federal Statistical Office said. That compared with an increase of just 0.1%, or 82,000 people, the previous year.
All of Germany’s 16 states saw their populations increase. The largest proportional increases were in the country’s two biggest cities, Berlin and Hamburg, which both saw rises of 2.1%.
At the end of last year, Germany was home to 12.3 million people with only foreign citizenship, the statistics office said. Of those, 1.34 million Turkish citizens — a substantial minority in the country for decades — made up the biggest single group.
Read more:
Ukrainian refugees helped push German population up 1.3% last year
Pentagon says accounting error bills extra $6.2bn for Ukraine military aid
05:23 , Arpan Rai
The Pentagon said it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2bn (£4.8bn) over the past two years — about double early estimates — resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting error found that the military services used replacement costs rather than the book value of equipment that was pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine. She said final calculations show there was an error of $3.6bn in the current fiscal year and $2.6bn (£2bn) in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last September.
As a result, the department now has additional money in its coffers to use to support Ukraine as it pursues its counteroffensive against Russia. And it come as the fiscal year is wrapping up and congressional funding was beginning to dwindle.
Read more here:
Pentagon accounting error provides extra $6.2 billion for Ukraine military aid
Ukraine’s Zelensky: Our forces are destroying the enemy in east, south
05:00 , Eleanor Noyce
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine‘s forces were destroying Russian forces in the two main theatres of the conflict, the east and south of the country.
“At this time, our soldiers in the south and east are actively destroying the enemy, physically cleansing Ukraine,” Zelensky said in his nightly video message.
“A defence against terror means destroying terrorists. And it is a guarantee that the state of evil will never have the opportunity to bring evil to Ukraine.”
Referring to a conference to take place in London on post-war recovery, Zelensky said rebuilding Ukraine was “a vehicle and a guarantee of security” and a means of “protecting against any repetition of Russian aggression.”
Ukrainian forces ‘gnawing our way meter by meter’, says minister
04:43 , Arpan Rai
Ukrainian forces have pushed Russian troops on a defensive in the battlefield as they recapture territory “metre by metre”, the war-hit country’s deputy defence minister said.
“We are moving forward gradually, with small steps but very confidently. And you can even cite an allegory that “we are gnawing away every meter by meter of land from the enemy,” Hanna Maliar said on Telegram last night.
In an update from the battlefield, the deputy defence minister said that the offensive continues in several directions.
“Everything happens there according to the plan established by the military. There are certain advances in all directions where our military is moving. But the enemy will not give up the occupied positions just like that, and that is why fierce battles and a very powerful duel continue,” Ms Maliar said.
She added that the “enemy mines the fields”, including in the Zaporizhzhia region where “the enemy mines even settlements where people live, without warning them”.
Ukrainian forces ‘destroying the enemy’ in east and south, says Zelensky
04:03 , Arpan Rai
Ukrainian forces were destroying Russian forces in the two main theatres of the conflict, the east and south of the country, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“At this time, our soldiers in the south and east are actively destroying the enemy, physically cleansing Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video message.
“A defence against terror means destroying terrorists. And it is a guarantee that the state of evil will never have the opportunity to bring evil to Ukraine.”
The war-time president also said rebuilding Ukraine was “a vehicle and a guarantee of security” and a means of “protecting against any repetition of Russian aggression”, as he referred to a conference on post-war recovery expected to take place in London.
Cutting army size ‘beggars belief’, former armed forces chief tells MPs
04:00 , Eleanor Noyce
Reducing the size of the army “beggars belief” and the lack of “properly functioning” reserve forces is a “national embarrassment”, a former head of the UK armed forces has said.
Lord Nick Houghton, who was chief of the defence staff between 2013 and 2016, criticised the decision to cut regular troop numbers during an appearance before the House of Commons Defence Committee on Tuesday.
He said: “It beggars belief to me that we have a reduced size of army.
“We have witnessed the first real formalised warfare above the threshold of war in Ukraine and Russia and within weeks both sides have sort of run out of troops.”
Christopher McKeon reports:
Cutting army size ‘beggars belief’, former armed forces chief tells MPs
Russian Navy to get two new nuclear submarines by end of year
03:44 , Arpan Rai
The Russian Navy will receive two new nuclear submarines by the end of this year, a top official told Russia’s state news agency TASS.
The strategic nuclear-powered submarine missile cruiser Emperor Alexander III and the multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine Krasnoyarsk will be operational by the end of 2023, said Alexei Rakhmanov, head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation.
Cyprus president declares 'zero tolerance' policy on evasion of Russia sanctions
03:00 , Eleanor Noyce
The president of Cyprus on Tuesday affirmed a “zero tolerance” policy toward any Cypriot citizen or company helping to evade international sanctions imposed on Russia following last year’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Nikos Christodoulides underscored his administration’s mission to safeguard Cyprus’ name as a “credible business and financial center” after the U.S. and the U.K. recently included a handful of Cypriot nationals and Cyprus-registered companies on a list of “enablers” helping Russian oligarchs skirt sanctions.
Christodoulides told a news conference on his administration’s first 100 days in office that the issue affords Cyprus an opportunity to rebrand itself as a financial node connecting “East and West, the European market with the Middle East, Asia and Africa.”
Read more:
Cyprus president declares 'zero tolerance' policy on evasion of Russia sanctions
Ukraine repatriates three POWs from Russia via Hungary - Kyiv
02:00 , Eleanor Noyce
Kyiv repatriated three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary after a group of POWs was transferred there from Russia without coordination with Kyiv, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Hungary, which under Prime Minister Viktor Orban has forged strong political and economic ties with Moscow, said on 9 June that Budapest had received a group of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia.
“The Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest managed to bring back three Ukrainian prisoners of war from Hungary,” Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on his Facebook page.
Nikolenko said they were already back on Ukrainian soil and were receiving the support they needed.
He said Ukrainian diplomats and other relevant Ukrainian authorities were working to try to bring back the remaining prisoners of war.
Ukraine said on Monday that Hungary has been ignoring its requests for contact with the prisoners of war. It has cast the transfer of the POWs to Hungary as a publicity stunt by Orban.
Hungarian and international media quoted Orban’s chief-of-staff Gergely Gulyas as saying the soldiers arrived in Hungary of “their own free will” and that Kyiv was informed after their transfer.
EU leaders set to call on China to help stop Ukraine war - EU official
01:00 , Eleanor Noyce
EU leaders are set to call on China next week to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine, engage in global challenges, such as climate change, and rebalance its economic relations with the European Union, a senior EU official said on Tuesday.
EU leaders meet for a summit in Brussels on 29-30 June, with China and economic security among the main topics. The call to China is set out in draft conclusions prepared ahead of the summit, which could still change.
The official said the draft conclusions were in line with the Group of Seven (G7) declaration from May, but with more specific EU-China issues, such as rebalancing the economic relationship and the need for reciprocity.
“I think it’s important that we set the notion of de-risking in stone and diversification,” the official said, referring to an EU policy to reduce its economic reliance on China.
The official said leaders were likely to focus their discussions on the role of China towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and economic ties. Western leaders have urged China to use its influence over Russia to stop the conflict.
Earlier on Tuesday, the European Commission presented a new economic security strategy, advocating stronger control of exports and outflows of technology. The Commission did not name China, but the country was clearly a focus of its thoughts.
The official said some EU member states were currently quite cautious on the proposal, given that granting of export licences and security are national competences.
Why haven't China and the U.S. agreed to restore military contacts?
Wednesday 21 June 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up a closely watched visit to Beijing during which he and President Xi Jinping pledged to stabilize plunging U.S-China ties. But China refused the biggest U.S. request: restoring military-to-military contacts.
Blinken said he raised the issue of military communications “repeatedly” but was rebuffed by the Chinese. “It is absolutely vital that we have these kinds of communications,” he said, adding that it was something the United States will “keep working on.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden have called often over the past few months for China to reestablish military communication channels with the U.S.
China has attributed its refusal to restart military communications to sanctions imposed by Washington, a possible reference to sanctions on its defense minister, Li Shangfu. They were part of a broad package of measures against Russia, predating its invasion of Ukraine, imposed in 2018 over Li’s involvement in China’s purchase of combat aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles from Moscow.
Read more:
Why haven't China and the U.S. agreed to restore military contacts?
Watch: Dom Joly recalls childhood in war-torn Lebanon as he visits Ukraine
Tuesday 20 June 2023 23:00 , Martha Mchardy
What nuclear weapons does Russia have?
Tuesday 20 June 2023 22:00 , Martha Mchardy
The Russian president reportedly has access to the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world.
As of 2023, Russia has about 5,977 nuclear warheads, an estimated 1,500 awaiting dismantling, 2,565 deployed strategic warheads and 466 Intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Ukraine also inherited a large number of nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but the country decided to fully de-nuclearise under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
A brief history of Putin’s love for nuclear weapons
Tuesday 20 June 2023 21:30 , Martha Mchardy
President Joe Biden has said the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is “real”, days after denouncing Russia’s deployment of such weapons in Belarus.
Biden called Putin‘s announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus “absolutely irresponsible”.
“When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy,” Biden told a group of donors in California on Monday.
William Mata reports:
A brief history of Putin’s love for nuclear weapons
Disaster response to destruction of Kakhovka dam ‘disappointing and inadequate,’ says son of Warren Buffet
Tuesday 20 June 2023 21:00 , Martha Mchardy
The son of one of the United States’ richest men criticised the international disaster response to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine this month as “disappointing” and inadequate, as he visited the nearby city of Kherson.
Howard Buffett, a businessman and philanthropist made the comments today, two weeks after Kherson and dozens of other settlements were hit by catastrophic flooding when the dam was destroyed on June 6.
Buffett, whose foundation has committed $450 million to Ukraine, was in Kherson taking part in the distribution of aid.
“It’s disappointing. It’s hard to understand, to be honest with you. There are certain organisations that are set up to really respond to emergencies. They do it all over the world and they’ve done it for years,” he said.
Buffett said the international disaster response needed to be stepped up, describing houses that had collapsed in the flooding, others where water was being pumped out of them and others that were still completely submerged.
“There’s just not a lot of activity here. People really need it, they really need the water. It’s a mess,” he said.
“There’s a lot of help needed here. I’ve been really surprised that the international community has not responded with a much broader and stronger help.”
His comments echoed president Volodymyr Zelensky who expressed shock on June 7 at what he said was the failure of the United Nations and the Red Cross to offer rapid help.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of deliberately sabotaging the dam, which has been in Russian hands since shortly after the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Western countries say they are still gathering evidence but believe Ukraine would have had no reason to inflict such a catastrophe on itself.
Buffett has travelled to Ukraine several times during the war. His foundation has delivered farm equipment, combines and tractors and has helped with demining in the Kherson region, he said.
Russian-backed officials: woman killed in Ukraine drone attack on town of Nova Kakhovka
Tuesday 20 June 2023 20:45 , Eleanor Noyce
Ukrainian forces struck the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka in southern Kherson region with drones on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding four, the local Russian-appointed authorities said.
The morning attack on public service faciliies, reported on the Telegram social platform, was carried out by loitering munitions, also known as kamikaze drones.
Reuters could not independently verify the report.
The officials said the injured were rushed to hospital, while a woman died later from her injuries.
One dead in Russian shelling of rescuer workers in Ukraine's Kherson - Kyiv
Tuesday 20 June 2023 20:31 , Eleanor Noyce
At least one emergency worker was killed and several others were wounded in Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday, the head of the president’s office said.
Russian forces fired at rescuer workers who were clearing mud from flood-hit Kherson and seven people were wounded, the official, Andriy Yermak, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a separate post that eight of the rescuers were wounded. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Ukraine downs Russian drones but some get through due to gaps in air protection
Tuesday 20 June 2023 20:30 , Martha Mchardy
Ukrainian air defences downed 32 of 35 Shahed exploding drones launched by Russia early Tuesday, most of them in the Kyiv region, officials said, in a bombardment that exposed gaps in the country’s air protection.
Russian forces mostly targeted the region around the Ukrainian capital in a nighttime drone attack lasting around three hours, officials said, but Ukrainian air defences in the area shot down about two dozen of them.
The attack was part of a wider bombardment of Ukrainian regions that extended as far as the Lviv region in the west of the country, near Poland.
Read the full story:
Ukraine downs Russian drones but some get through due to gaps in air protection
Blinken, Ukraine foreign minister discuss reforms for investment
Tuesday 20 June 2023 20:10 , Eleanor Noyce
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday discussed the need for Ukraine to continue to implement reforms to establish an environment for investment, the State Department said.
“They discussed the need for Ukraine to continue to implement reforms in order to establish an environment for investment and sustained economic growth,” the State Department said in a statement.
EU to train 30,000 members of Ukraine’s armed forces this year
Tuesday 20 June 2023 20:00 , Martha Mchardy
EU member states plan to train 30,000 members of Ukraine’s armed forces this year, including from territorial defence units, AFP reports.
“In 2023, the EU Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine plans to train 30,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel, including soldiers of the territorial defence forces,” the defence ministry in Kyiv said.
The EU made a pledge to train Ukraine’s armed forces in February this year.
Today in pictures
Tuesday 20 June 2023 19:30 , Martha Mchardy
UN complains Russia won't let aid workers into areas hit by dam collapse in southern Ukraine
Tuesday 20 June 2023 19:00 , Martha Mchardy
The United Nations has rebuked Moscow for allegedly denying its aid workers access to Russian-occupied areas affected by the recent Kakhova dam collapse in southern Ukraine, which stranded residents, threatened power supplies and caused an environmental calamity as the war approaches 16 months.
The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said in a statement late Sunday that the organization has engaged with Moscow and Kyiv, each of which occupies parts of the southern Kherson region where the dam and reservoir are located, to address the “devastating destruction” caused by the breach.
The Russian government “has so far declined our request to access the areas under its temporary military control,” Brown said.
Susie Blann reports:
UN complains Russia won't let aid workers into areas hit by dam collapse in southern Ukraine
Cleverly steps up demands for Putin’s allies to pay reparations to Ukraine
Tuesday 20 June 2023 18:30 , Martha Mchardy
Vladimir Putin and his allies should shoulder the burden of funding the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
Although there was a role for international allies and the private sector in rebuilding Ukraine’s economy, Mr Cleverly said a significant amount of the burden – “perhaps even the majority” – should fall on Russians involved in the invasion.
The UK is hosting a major conference on Ukraine’s recovery this week and Mr Cleverly discussed the situation with his US counterpart Antony Blinken in London on Tuesday.
David Hughes reports:
Cleverly steps up demands for Putin’s allies to pay reparations to Ukraine
Cyprus president declares 'zero tolerance' policy on evasion of Russia sanctions
Tuesday 20 June 2023 18:00 , Martha Mchardy
The president of Cyprus on Tuesday affirmed a “zero tolerance” policy toward any Cypriot citizen or company helping to evade international sanctions imposed on Russia following last year’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Nikos Christodoulides underscored his administration’s mission to safeguard Cyprus’ name as a “credible business and financial center” after the U.S. and the U.K. recently included a handful of Cypriot nationals and Cyprus-registered companies on a list of “enablers” helping Russian oligarchs skirt sanctions.
Christodoulides told a news conference on his administration’s first 100 days in office that the issue affords Cyprus an opportunity to rebrand itself as a financial node connecting “East and West, the European market with the Middle East, Asia and Africa.”
Read the full story:
Cyprus president declares 'zero tolerance' policy on evasion of Russia sanctions
Dom Joly recalls childhood in war-torn Lebanon as he visits Ukraine
Tuesday 20 June 2023 17:30 , Martha Mchardy
Dom Joly recalled his childhood in Beirut during Lebanon’s civil war as he travelled to southern Ukraine to meet families who have survived months of intense fighting on the front line of the war.
The Save the Children ambassador visited Mykolaiv and surrounding villages, which have been subjected to relentless shelling and missile attacks, forcing thousands to of families to flee their homes.
“I think what really interests me about it is because I grew up in that sort of situation,” the comedian and writer said.
“It must’ve really affected me.”
Holly Patrick reports:
Dom Joly recalls childhood in war-torn Lebanon as he visits Ukraine
Fighter for Ukraine is jailed for 16 years in Russia
Tuesday 20 June 2023 16:59 , Martha Mchardy
A former deputy commander of a Ukrainian militia unit was sentenced by a Russian court on Tuesday to 16 years in a penal colony for taking part in what Moscow considers an illegal armed group and receiving “terrorist” training, Russian media reported.
Denis Muryga was a senior member of Aidar, one of dozens of volunteer battalions that emerged in Ukraine after fighting broke out in 2014 with Russian-backed groups that declared breakaway “republics” in the east of the country.
The units, some with ultra-nationalist roots, were later absorbed into Ukraine’s armed forces.
Muryga was detained in spring 2022 on the Russia-Ukraine border. Russian military news outlet Zvezda published video of him listening with his head bowed to the sentence, which was slightly less than the 18 years prosecutors had demanded.
The Ukrainian military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Ukraine says it successfully deploys 1,000 km drone
Tuesday 20 June 2023 16:33 , Martha Mchardy
Ukraine has successfully used a domestically produced drone with a range of 1,000 km (620 miles), state arms producer Ukroboronprom said on Tuesday.
Ukroboronprom spokesperson Natalia Sad posted a selfie with a smiling Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Mykola Oleshchuk, commander for the air force, and Yurii Husev, head of Ukroboronprom on Facebook. She said the picture was taken “after successful use of our drone for 1000 km”.
She provided no other details nor say if use of the drone meant it had been tested or actually deployed in the conflict.
Ukraine’s military, government, and private companies are working to create an arsenal of cheap and easy-to-produce drones whch they hope could become a game changer in the war against Russia. It has already employed drones for both reconnaissance and attacks.
In autumn 2022 Ukroboronprom said it was finalizing work on a new drone that had a range of 1000 km and a warhead weighing 75 kg.
On Tuesday, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed into law legislation to exempt domestic drone producers from customs duties and value-added tax, lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian kickboxing champion killed while fighting Russian forces
Tuesday 20 June 2023 16:13 , Martha Mchardy
A Ukrainian kickboxing champion has been killed fighting Russian forces, a website that tallies athletes killed in the war reported.
Maksym Bordus, who was in his early twenties, was killed on June 11 in “fierce fighting against Russian invaders”, the Sport Angels website said.
“Every day he brought Ukraine’s victory closer with a weapon in his hands, but he himself will not see it,” the website said.
Bordus was killed by a Russian shell while on a combat mission in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia on 11 June.
A petition was posted on president Volodymyr Zelensky’s website calling for Bordus to be posthumously awarded the title of “Hero of Ukraine”.
Sport Angels said he had won dozens of tournaments and was the World Association of Kickboxing (WAKO) champion of Ukraine.
‘You break it, you bought it,’ foreign secretary warns Putin as new sanctions legislation put in place
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:47 , Martha Mchardy
Foreign secretary James Cleverly said the plan to maintain sanctions until Russian reparations were paid to Ukraine “follows that simple premise that you break it, you bought it”.
The Government has set out plans for new laws which will enable sanctions targeted at Russian oligarchs, members of Russian president Mr Putin’s inner circle and those involved in his war machine to remain in place until reparations are made.
The UK is putting in place new legislation which also creates a new route to allow sanctioned individuals to donate frozen funds to Ukrainian reconstruction.
“There is a very strong principle of natural justice, whereby a significant, perhaps even the majority, burden for the rebuilding should sit on the shoulders of those who have been responsible for funding or facilitated this brutal, full scale invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
Putin and his allies should shoulder burden of funding Ukraine reconstruction after war, says foreign secretary
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:37 , Martha Mchardy
Vladimir Putin and his allies should shoulder the burden of funding the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, foreign secretary James Cleverly said.
Although there was a role for international allies and the private sector in rebuilding Ukraine’s economy, Mr Cleverly said a significant amount of the burden - “perhaps even the majority” - should fall on Russians involved in the invasion.
The UK is hosting a major conference on Ukraine’s recovery this week and Mr Cleverly discussed the situation with his US counterpart Antony Blinken in London today.
Both Mr Cleverly and Mr Blinken spoke of the need for Kyiv to implement reforms so that it had a strong, prosperous democracy.
Mr Blinken said international allies would help Ukraine have “the strongest possible democracy which is actually necessary to achieve a thriving economy and for reconstruction”.
“If Ukraine is going to attract the investment it needs, not just from government, not just from the international financial institutions but from the private sector, it has to build the best possible environment to attract that investment,” he said during a visit to London.
Mr Blinken said he would announce a new “robust US assistance package” for Ukraine on Wednesday.
Major international conference to seek private-sector funds to rebuild Ukraine, says foreign secretary
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:31 , Martha Mchardy
UK foreign secretary James Cleverly said a major international conference this week would seek private-sector funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine.
Ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, the foreign secretary said firms needed assurances these investments were “safe” and the Kyiv administration also needed to implement reforms.
Speaking alongside US secretary of state Antony Blinken, he said: “This week is very much about encouraging the private sector to invest in Ukraine’s rebuilding and recovery.
“We recognise that means we need to demonstrate that those investments will be effective and that they will be safe.
“That means the ongoing assurance that the Ukrainians seek that they will not be reinvaded once they have successfully regained their territory, their further integration into the Euro-Atlantic institutions and European institutions that they understandably aspire to.
“But of course it also means supporting them as they perform the reform of their institutions that will facilitate the investment in their country.”
Ukraine wants to join Nato and benefit from the security guarantee that comes with membership of the alliance.
US and UK ‘stand shoulder to shoulder’ in defence of Ukraine, says foreign secretary
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:28 , Martha Mchardy
The US and the UK “stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of Ukraine”, UK foreign secretary James Cleverly said in a tweet.
Mr Cleverly met with US secretary of state Antony Blinken in London today.
The UK and the US stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of Ukraine.
Welcome to London, @SecBlinken 🇺🇸🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/tJYstCsNB5— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) June 20, 2023
Ukrainian refugees helped push German population up 1.3% last year
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:20 , Martha Mchardy
Large numbers of refugees from Ukraine fleeing Russia‘s war fueled a 1.3% rise in Germany’s population last year, helping push up the number of inhabitants in the European Union‘s most populous country to more than 84.4 million, official statistics showed Tuesday.
Germany’s population expanded by 1.12 million in 2022, the Federal Statistical Office said. That compared with an increase of just 0.1%, or 82,000 people, the previous year.
All of Germany’s 16 states saw their populations increase. The largest proportional increases were in the country’s two biggest cities, Berlin and Hamburg, which both saw rises of 2.1%.
Read the full story:
Ukrainian refugees helped push German population up 1.3% last year
UN has told Moscow its grain deal grievances cannot be solved, says Russia
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:19 , Martha Mchardy
The United Nations has confirmed that it cannot do anything to address some of Russia’s central grievances around the Black Sea grain deal, the state TASS news agency cited Russia’s Foreign Ministry as saying on Tuesday.
The international body is unable, in particular, to ensure the resumption of piped ammonia exports from Russia, the reconnection of its agricultural bank to the SWIFT payment system, or to ensure supplies of spare parts for agricultural machinery, the ministry was cited as saying.
One dead in Russian shelling of rescuer workers in Ukraine’s Kherson - Kyiv
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:18 , Martha Mchardy
At least one emergency worker was killed and several others were wounded in Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday, the head of the president’s office said.
Russian forces fired at rescuer workers who were clearing mud from flood-hit Kherson and seven people were wounded, the official, Andriy Yermak, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Interior minister Ihor Klymenko said in a separate post that eight of the rescuers were wounded. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Comedian Dom Joly calls for Ukrainian children to be supported
Tuesday 20 June 2023 15:00 , Martha Mchardy
Comedian Dom Joly has called for support for children who are being mentally and physically impacted in Ukraine, saying: “Whatever your views on conflicts... they are not to blame.”
The comic and Save The Children ambassador, who grew up in Beirut during Lebanon’s civil war, recently visited the city of Mykolaiv and surrounding villages which have been subjected to shelling and missile attacks.
Joly documented his time meeting families who are trying to rebuild their homes, school and communities after surviving months of intensive fighting in their hometowns.
He told the PA news agency: “Whatever your views on conflicts, who’s right, who’s wrong, what the political rightness is of the whole situation, kids certainly didn’t ask to be in that situation.
“They are not to blame and they’re not making any choices in that.
“And I think they’re also the most vulnerable.”
Having previously visited eastern Ukraine in 2018 with the charity, he admitted he “didn’t quite realise how challenging it would be” this time round.
Joly noted that he found the impact on mental health was a “massive issue” from just witnessing the children in these affected areas.
“We met kids that had been literally standing on train stations with shells landing around them, not knowing whether their mother had survived,” he recalled.
“But apart from anything else, the fact that you’ve had to leave your house, you leave all your friends, you move to a new area, you have no schooling.
“So just even the fact that kids spent a vast amount of time in shelters at the moment underground in Ukraine, they do most of their education online, so it’s very isolating.”
Today in pictures
Tuesday 20 June 2023 14:40 , Martha Mchardy
A brief history of Putin’s love for nuclear weapons
Tuesday 20 June 2023 14:20 , Martha Mchardy
President Joe Biden has said the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is “real”, days after denouncing Russia’s deployment of such weapons in Belarus.
Biden called Putin‘s announcement that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus “absolutely irresponsible”.
“When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado river drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy,” Biden told a group of donors in California on Monday.
William Mata reports:
A brief history of Putin’s love for nuclear weapons
Russia sees grain deal over by July 18 but more talks possible before then - RIA
Tuesday 20 June 2023 13:56 , Martha Mchardy
Russia considers that the Black Sea grain deal will be finished by July 18, but does not rule out fresh talks with the United Nations on the matter before than, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday.
RIA was citing Russia’s foreign ministry, which it also quoted as saying that Russia’s demand to restart the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline as part of the grain deal still stood though Moscow understood it would be impossible to restart it quickly after a blast this month.
Blinken: U.S. to set out a 'robust' assistance package for Ukraine
Tuesday 20 June 2023 13:55 , Martha Mchardy
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said he would set out a new assistance package for Ukraine on Wednesday, as he reiterated Washington’s commitment to support Kyiv during a visit to London.
“President Biden said ... that we would stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, and both of our countries are deeply committed to that,” Blinken told reporters in a press conference alongside British foreign minister James Cleverly.
“We will continue to deliver on that commitment, including through a new robust US assistance package that I’ll be able to announce tomorrow.”
Russian soldier gets $12,000 for destroying German tank in Ukraine
Tuesday 20 June 2023 13:11 , Martha Mchardy
A Russian soldier who destroyed a German Leopard tank in a battle in Ukraine has been given a one million rouble ($11,842) reward by a private foundation, Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday.
Scholz calls on China to raise pressure on Russia over Ukraine war
Tuesday 20 June 2023 12:53 , Martha Mchardy
German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday said he had called on China to use its influence over Russia more in regards to the war in Ukraine.
Speaking alongside China’s premier Li Qiang after bilateral talks in the German capital, Scholz also said China should not supply weapons to Russia and that the war in Ukraine should not become a frozen conflict.
