Latest updates from Ukraine: Zelenskyy says Moscow ‘stole our peace’

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Here are the updates from Friday, June 24:

12 hours (17:41 GMT)

12 hours (17:39 GMT)

13 hours (16:35 GMT)

16 hours (14:13 GMT)

Zelenskyy suggested to music enthusiasts at the Glastonbury Festival that they “spread the word about Russia’s war” over their country.

Addressing the crowd about the great British musical spectacle via a video from The Libertines, Zelenskyy said: “We in Ukraine would also like to live life as before and enjoy freedom and this glorious summer, but we can’t do it because the most horrible thing happened: Russia stole our peace.

16 hours (14:03 GMT)

16 hours (14:01 GMT)

16 hours (13:59 GMT)

18 hours (12:07 GMT)

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces would surround the besieged city of Lysychansk and mount attacks on its sister city of Severodonetsk to identify full control.

The region’s governor said Ukrainian troops “should be withdrawn” from Severodonetsk and were ordered to take up new positions.

Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk declined to comment on the governor’s comments, telling reporters at a briefing in Kyiv that the data was “closed” to the public.

18 hours (11:53 GMT)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the G7 foreign ministers agreed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused the existing global food crisis and that Moscow is to blame for the case.

Hayashi made the comment after a G7 foreign ministers’ assembly, in which he participated remotely.

Japan intends to help Ukraine’s grain exports and plans to increase food aid to respond to the crisis, Hayashi said.

18 hours (11:33 GMT)

Industry Minister Jozef Sikela said Fuel Shipments from Russia to the Czech Republic are solid but need to be monitored.

Sikela said Prague may rule out that shipments will simply be reduced or stopped altogether in the future.

7 p. m. (10:49 GMT)

Russia’s Finance Ministry said it sent a coupon payment of 8. 5 billion rubles ($159 million) in a dollar-denominated Eurobond factor to the National Payment Deposit, as the prospect of a sovereign default gets closer and closer.

“The public securities control obligations of the Russian Federation have been fulfilled through the Ministry of Finance,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Eurobond matures in 2028. Similar coupons were issued on Thursday on bonds maturing in 2027 and 2047.

Russia has struggled to pay its $40 billion in foreign bonds since it overcame sanctions after sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24.

7 p. m. (10:39 GMT)

Oleksiy Babchenko, head of Hirske Municipality, said Russian forces had “completely occupied” the district in the Luhansk region.

“Unfortunately, starting with Array. . . the whole Hirske district is occupied,” Babchenko said on a TV show.

“There are some insignificant battles that are being positioned on the periphery, but the enemy has entered,” he added.

20 hours (09:36 GMT)

The UN leader said the world is facing a “catastrophe” due to the world’s growing food shortages.

Guterres said the war in Ukraine has added to disruption from climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and inequality to produce an “unprecedented global hunger crisis” that is already affecting millions of people.

“There is a genuine threat that famines will be declared in 2022,” he said in a video message to officials from dozens of rich and emerging countries gathered in Berlin.

21:00 (09:17 GMT)

Germany’s Economy Ministry plans to convert parts of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into a connection for a liquefied herbal fuel terminal on the Baltic Sea coast, Der Spiegel magazine reports.

The ministry plans to expropriate the component of the pipeline network located on German territory and isolate it from the rest of the pipeline, Spiegel added.

21:00 (09:07 GMT)

The deputy head of the Russian-installed authority in the Kherson region said a senior management official was killed in an obvious murder.

Dmitry Savluchenko, head of the Department of Families, Youth and Sports of the Kherson military-civil administration, was killed in a bomb blast, the deputy chief told Reuters news agency.

Russia’s TASS news firm said two cars had caught fire in a courtyard in Kherson, the regional capital where the blast took place, and that the windows of a four-story space had been broken.

Kherson is located just northwest of the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula and was occupied the first week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February.

21 hours (08:28 GMT)

Moscow’s Foreign Ministry blamed Washington for Lithuania’s ban on sanctioned goods crossing the Russian mainland into the Kaliningrad enclave.

In a statement, the ministry also said it was “impossible” to hold expert-level consultations with Washington on a number of bilateral issues that needed to be taken into position in the near future.

The ministry did not specify what issues it was referring to or when the talks would take place.

22 hours (08:11 GMT)

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly denies Moscow-backed separatist regions in Ukraine.

“If the right to self-determination is implemented in the world, there will be more than six hundred nations out of the 193 states that are recently members of the UN. Of course, it would be chaos,” Tokayev said.

Learn here.

22 hours (07:39 GMT)

Germany plans to grant billions of dollars in tax breaks to energy consumers over the next two years, reports the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which cites an article from the Ministry of Finance.

The aid would amount to about $3. 3 billion a year in 2023 and 2024, Sueddeutsche reported.

23 hours (07:20 GMT)

Gazprom, the Russian fuel producer, said its fuel source for Europe via Ukraine via the Sudzha access point was estimated at 42. 1 million cubic meters (mcm) on Friday compared to 42. 6 mcm on Thursday.

A request for a fuel source through some other main access point, Sokhranovka, was rejected through Ukraine, Gazprom said.

23 hours (06:57 GMT)

German consumers may see their energy prices double or triple, which in some cases are already 30 to 80 percent higher due to last fall’s value increases, the head of grid regulator Bundesnetzagentur told ARD.

The regulator has other scenarios, Mueller said, and most of them “are not pleasant and mean very little fuel at the end of winter or already very difficult conditions in the fall or winter. “

Germany on Thursday activated the 3-stage timing of its fuel contingency plan, which goes into effect when the government sees a major threat of long-term shortages of fuel supplies.

23 hours (06:42 GMT)

“Companies would have to impede production, lay off their workers, supply chains would collapse, other people would go into debt to pay their heating bills, other people would become more impoverished,” Robert Habeck told Der Spiegel magazine, claiming that he is a component of Russian industry. President Vladimir Putin’s strategy to divide the country.

It is “the most productive breeding ground for populism, which aims to undermine our liberal democracy from within,” Habeck said, adding that Putin’s plans will not be realized.

Habeck hinted at the possibility of additional relief for businesses and others affected by fuel shortages, but warned that it would not be possible to absorb all the effects, Der Spiegel reported.

24 June 2022 – 05:51 GMT

Ukrainian troops “will have to be withdrawn” from the city of Severodonetsk, a battlefield basically occupied by the Russians, Luhansk’s governor said on television on Friday.

“Staying in damaged positions for several months just to stay there doesn’t make sense,” Serhiy Haidai said.

He did say whether the troops would withdraw immediately or how soon the withdrawal would take place.

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that some Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from Lysychansk to be surrounded. If Russia takes Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, it will have the Luhansk region, which is one of the two regions that make up Donbass.

24 June 2022 – 05:18 GMT

Russian forces took the village of Mykolaivka, about 25 kilometers south of the key city of Lysychansk, Luhansk’s governor said.

Serhiy Haidai’s Ukrainian forces on Thursday repelled a Russian attack on Lysychansk and the nearby village of Borivske.

He said the Russian army fired on Severodonetsk with “all available weapons,” as well as the nearby villages of Bila Hora, Vovchoyarivka, Synetskyi and Pavlohrad.

“The enemy’s offensive near Borivske effectively stopped. In addition, our foot soldiers repelled the offensive towards the southern outskirts of Lysychansk. However. . . the Russians controlled to capture Mykolaivka,” Haidai said.

24 June 2022 – 04:55 GMT

Most likely, the Russian Air Force is suffering to maintain its offensive in Ukraine with enough crews, the UK Defense Ministry said, mentioning recent Ukrainian reports about a pilot captured at the controls of a Russian plane who confessed to being an army contractor for Wagner’s personal army.

“Ukrainian forces announced that the pilot of a Russian Su-25 FROGFOOT ground attack aircraft shot down on June 17 was captured a short time later,” the Defense Ministry said in its most recent intelligence report.

“The pilot confessed to being a former prime minister of the Russian Air Force, who had taken on a task as a contractor for Wagner’s army and had carried out several missions in the conflict,” he said, adding that this indicated a lack of sufficient crews in the Russian Air Force.

“This is probably due to a combination of Russia’s inadequate number of well-trained workers and their combat losses,” the ministry said.

Read about the UK government’s response: https://t. co/eIX58Cf3Y2

?? ?? #StandWithUkraine pic. twitter. com/Xtg5lc4TvO

— Ministry of Defence ?? (@DefenceHQ) 24 June 2022

24 June 2022 – 04:13 GMT

Germany is exploring all functions to increase domestic production of herbal fuel, adding hydraulic fracturing, the lead executive of German energy supplier E. ON said, when Berlin activated the “alarm phase” of its emergency fuel plan in reaction to dwindling Russian supplies.

“We will have to search now without taboos for all the answers that will help us in our situation,” Leonhard Birnbaum said in an interview with the WirtschaftsWoche podcast.

Birnbaum said a modest build-up in domestic production would be the solution to the source’s current situation, but a small fundamental detail that could help.

24 June 2022 – 04:06 GMT

Most likely, the Ukrainian government is preparing situations to prepare for the final loss of Luhansk’s two key cities, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, but this outcome would constitute a turning point in the war, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said on Thursday that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from some spaces near Lysychansk to be surrounded, which ISW said indicated arrangements on Kyiv’s behalf for the loss of territory. But ISW said the capture of Severodonetsk would not be decisive. victory for Russia.

“Ukrainian troops have controlled for weeks to attract large numbers of Russian personnel, weapons and apparatus to the region and have likely degraded the overall functions of Russian forces while preventing Russian forces from focusing on more advantageous forward axles,” the Washington-based philosopher said.

“It is very likely that Russian offensive operations will stall in the coming weeks, whether Russian forces capture the Severodonetsk-Lysychansk region, it is most likely that Ukrainian forces will have the opportunity to launch cautious counteroffensives,” he added.

Latest: https://t. co/kIwBOB3Fpk pic. twitter. com/QOAwR4cYyJ

– ISW (@TheStudyofWar) June 23, 2022

24 June 2022 – 03:13 GMT

The Russian network of forces told Litgrid, its Lithuanian counterpart, that it had canceled the planned isolation operation of the network of forces from the Kaliningrad enclave, Litgrid said.

The check, which was due to begin on Saturday, would have consisted of disconnecting the Kaliningrad region from the non-unusual network of the Baltic states, Russia and Poland for 8 hours to check its ability to operate independently, Litgrid said. Three similar checks were conducted in 2019-2021, he said.

The Baltic states hope to disengage from the non-unusual network in 2025, forcing Kaliningrad, sandwiched between POLAND and Lithuania, NATO members, to function on its own.

The Lithuanian president told Reuters on Wednesday that his country is in a position for Russia to withdraw it from the network imminently, as punishment for preventing an EU-authorized shipment from travelling from mainland Russia to the enclave.

24 June 2022 – 03:03 GMT

The Russian embassy in Canada responded with disdain to the German ambassador’s comments on social media in Ottawa that Russia was power as a weapon.

“This is a complicated path that our country will have to travel,” Germany’s Sabine Sparwasser wrote on Twitter after Europe’s largest economy moved into phase two of its fuel contingency plans following Russia’s supply cuts. “Russia is power as an opposing weapon to Europe. “

The Russian embassy responded that Europe had been stuck with its ban on Russian energy.

“Europe has been cornered through its own policy of sanctions, declares its goal of isolating itself from Russian oil and gas, calls Russia an adversary, and needs to stifle the Russian economy while buying gas. At the same time, he claims that Russia uses power as a weapon. Do we miss Ambassador @s_sparwasser?” the embassy said in a tweet.

– Russia in Canada (@RussianEmbassyC) June 23, 2022

24 June 2022 – 02:16 GMT

The Kremlin spokesman said the Russian Defense Ministry thoroughly records any and all uses of weapons provided through the United States to Ukraine to ensure they are not used to attack internal Russia, state news channel RT reported.

“We conscientiously recorded all episodes of use of those weapons,” Peskov said. “So if any of those weapons succeed on the front lines and are not destroyed by our army, we will track how they are used. “

24 June 2022 – 01:48 GMT

U. S. Senator Marco Rubio on Thursday called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct a safety review of Russian airlines and alert Americans to the dangers of Russian-run aircraft continuing to operate in airspace.

Sanctions imposed across Europe, the United States and others have denied Russia access to new aircraft, spare parts and maintenance and forced the Russian aviation industry to reduce its flights.

“As long as Russian airlines conduct such operations, they pose a potential risk to foreign travelers as well as russians traveling within the country,” Rubio wrote.

24 June 2022 – 01:43 GMT

Russian forces are aiming to capture a deal near the city of Severodonetsk, Ukraine’s General Staff said.

After taking the villages of Loskutivka and Rai-Oleksandrivka near Lysychansk on Thursday, the Russians are in a position to take Syrotyne, on the outskirts of Severodonetsk, according to the Ukrainian army. Syrotyne is located near the colony of Metolkin, which Russian forces took earlier in the week.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai told The Associated Press that the Russians “burned everything” in their offensive to encircle Ukrainian fighters.

“The Russians are advancing without looking for ammunition or spare troops, and they are not lacking either,” Haidai said. “They have merit in heavy artillery and in the number of soldiers. “

24 June 2022 – 01:34 GMT

The UK is in a position to help with demining operations off Ukraine’s southern coast and plans to offer insurance to ships carrying millions of tonnes of grain stranded in the country, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

Turkey is looking to negotiate talks between the UN, Ukraine and Russia to create an imaginable safe maritime saloon in the Black Sea, but Moscow first needs some Western sanctions lifted to facilitate its grain and fertilizer exports.

“There are things to do. We are working with the Turks and other European friends and allies to see what we can do,” Johnson told Reuters in an interview on Thursday at a stopover in Rwanda for a Commonwealth summit.

The UK has also pledged £372 million ($456 million) in aid to countries most affected by emerging global food and fertiliser shortages, adding £130 million for the World Food Programme, it said in a statement.

24 June 2022 – 00:54 GMT

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it will lend 300 million euros ($316 million) to Moldova to help it cope with power supply disruptions aggravated by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Moldova, located between Ukraine and Romania, gets almost all of its fuel for industry and heating from Russian giant Gazprom, a contract that runs until 2026. Supplies have been the subject of complicated periodic price negotiations, which soared even before the invasion of Ukraine. and Moldova’s ability to pay its debts.

President Maia Sandu’s loan to the pro-Western government will be granted in two tranches: €200 million for disruption and another €100 million to build a strategic reserve in Ukraine or Romania.

24 June 2022 – 00:46 GMT

Germany could endure two and a half months of average winter if its natural fuel garage services were one hundred percent full, the head of the German network company said, adding that Europe’s largest economy needed more suppliers and needed to save fuel. .

“If the garage amenities in Germany were mathematically one hundred percent full. . . we could do without Russian fuel altogether. . . for only two and a half months, then the tanks in the garage would be empty,” Klaus Mueller said in ZDF’s Maybrit. Illner program.

Mueller said the fuel source scenario is tense but still stable.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said earlier that the relief at Russia’s fuel source was an economic attack by President Vladimir Putin.

24 June 2022 – 00:41 GMT

Canada’s Senate has approved Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s budget, approving a long list of measures mandating the seizure and sale of assets seized in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

24 June 2022 – 00:38 GMT

The United States welcomes Turkey’s involvement in negotiating a deal to get the grain out of Ukraine, said John Kirby, the national security spokesman.

The United States is working with allies and partners to get grain out of Ukraine, exports that have been thwarted by the Russian invasion, Kirthrough said.

“We welcome Turkey’s involvement in trying to negotiate some kind of arrangement to allow grain shipments,” he said.

24 June 2022 – 00:04 GMT

The United States will send another $450 million in military aid to Ukraine, adding more medium-range rocket systems, to slow Russia’s progress in the war, officials said.

The newest package includes 4 high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, which will double the number they have lately. The 4 were previously positioned in Europe, and those systems have already begun with Ukrainian troops using them, the Marine Corps lieutenant said. Colonel Anton Semelroth, Pentagon spokesman.

The first 4 HIMARS that the U. S. The U. S. has sent in the past have already gone to the battlefield in Ukraine and are in the hands of troops there.

According to the Pentagon, the aid also includes 18 tactical cars that are used to tow howitzers, so that weapons can be moved to the battlefield, as well as 18 coastal and river patrol boats, thousands of gadgets, grenade launchers and ammunition, and some other gadgets and spare parts.

23 June 2022 – 23:55 GMT

Zelenskyy promised to rest until Russia’s defeat and Ukraine’s full EU club is guaranteed.

“This is a victory,” Zelenskyy said smiling in a video posted on his Instagram channel, noting that Ukraine had been waiting for this moment for 30 years.

“We can defeat the enemy, rebuild Ukraine, enroll in the EU and then we can rest,” he said quietly.

“Or maybe we wouldn’t rest at all, our young people would be offended. But without a doubt, we will win. “

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said Kyiv would temporarily put into effect the plan needed for accession talks to begin.

Get ready for other reforms. ???? ??

– Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) June 23, 2022

23 June 2022 – 23:47 GMT

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was confident Ukraine and Moldova would act as temporarily as possible to put the mandatory reforms into effect.

“There can be no greater sign of hope for the citizens of Ukraine, MoldovaArray. . . in those difficult times,” he said on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels after both countries gained EU candidate status, adding that they had yet to do their homework.

“I am deeply convinced that the resolution we have taken strengthens us all. This strengthens Ukraine, Moldova. . . in the face of Russian aggression,” he said.

“And it strengthens the European Union because it shows the global vision that the European Union is united and in the face of external threats. “

23 June 2022 – 23:46 GMT

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said the EU’s resolution to give prestige to her country’s candidate is a historic day, adding: “We have a difficult road to go, which will require a lot of work and effort. “

In a Facebook post, the EU club would bring more well-being, more opportunities and more order to the small country, which lies between Ukraine and Romania.

23 June 2022 – 23:38 GMT

A triumphant Zelenskyy thanked the EU for bestowing prestige as a candidate on Ukraine, saying it is the beginning of Europe’s new history.

Listing and thanking each country in the bloc separately in a video speech, Zelenskyy said they had made “one of the most vital decisions for Ukraine in our state’s 30 years of independence. “

“I have said that Ukrainians believe in the European Union. Although we officially remained outside the European Union, our country probably had the most flags of a united Europe,” he said.

“They were in the hands of our other people during the revolutions. They have been in the hands of our other people in the trenches since 2014. I think the flag of the European Union will be in each and every ukrainian city that we have not but freed from the profession of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy added.

– Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 23, 2022

Read all Updates from June 23 here.

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