Ukraine updates: Russian officials should be investigated -Wagner

An Iraqi citizen fighting with Russia’s Wagner mercenary force was killed in Ukraine in early April, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has told Reuters.

This is the first confirmed case of a Middle East native dying in the conflict.

Abbas Abuthar Witwit died on April 7, a day after arriving at a Wagner hospital in the Russian-controlled, eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, the RIA FAN news site earlier reported.

In video published by Russia’s news agency RIA FAN, a man identified as Witwit’s father is shown receiving awards posthumously given to his son, and saying that he had supported his decision to enlist in Wagner as a “volunteer”.

“Abbas always pursued his freedom and wanted to be a man who defends his freedom and himself, and he told me he found his freedom in Russia,” he is shown saying.

After 10 months of warfare, ground assaults have largely come to a halt and the guns have mostly fallen silent in the city of Bakhmut.

Instead of continuing the attritional ground battle for Bakhmut, Russia and Ukraine turned to a largely psychological war in the air.

Read more here.

The European Union is looking to broaden sanctions against Russia to target people involved in the abduction of children from Ukraine, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said.

“The 11th package of sanctions we are working on includes the option to go after those responsible for child abductions,” Rutte said at a joint news conference with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in The Hague.

“That’s something we are working on. The other point of focus is sanction circumvention. Making it possible to go after the people responsible,” he said.

The International Criminal Court in March said children had been taken from orphanages and children’s homes to Russia, with many alleged to have been given up for adoption there. Moscow has repeatedly denied these accusations.

The administration of US President Joe Biden does not know who is responsible for a drone attack on an apartment building in Moscow on Tuesday, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby has said.

“And it’s not like we’re going to go out and investigate this,” he added. “That would not be appropriate for us to do.”

Ukraine has denied responsibility.

Kirby has said that “where and when, or even if” peace talks between Russia and Ukraine resume will be decided by Kyiv.

“[Zelenskyy] has to be ready to sit down and talk. And the conditions have to be amenable to him,” the US White House national security spokesman said.

He added that Washington would not put pressure on the ally to resume negotiations.

“Shouldn’t the Russians be at the table? Yeah, eventually, if there’s gonna be a negotiated peace. But again, President Zelenskyy gets to determine that and the Russians have shown no inclination of being interested in a negotiated settlement,” he said.

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby has said that while the United States does not have a say in Ukraine’s military decisions, it had been “clear” in saying that the 39th drawdown of equipment announced on Wednesday should not be used to strike Russian territory.

“We certainly have been clear publicly that we do not support attacks inside Russia. And we do not enable and we do not encourage attacks inside Russia,” Kirby said.

While Ukrainians “decide what they’re going to do with the equipment that has been provided to them … we certainly don’t want to see attacks inside Russia that … are conducted using our supplied equipment”, Kirby said, adding that the US had Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s flat assurance that he would not use the F-16 to strike Russian territory.

The US defence department has announced an additional $300m aid package to help Ukraine “continue to defend its sovereign territory,” it said in a statement.

“It includes key capabilities to support Ukraine’s air defenders as they bravely protect Ukraine’s soldiers, civilians, and critical infrastructure amid Russia’s continuing air strikes killing civilians across Ukraine,” the statement said.

This included additional munitions for Patriot air defence systems, which are seen as critical as Ukraine tries to protect civilians and key infrastructure.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the West to offer Ukraine “tangible and credible” security guarantees as it battles Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine “is today protecting Europe”, Macron said at the GLOBSEC Bratislava Global Security Forum.

“We have to build something between the security provided to Israel and full-fledged membership,” he said, adding that Ukraine must be helped with “all means” possible.

Moscow has said Germany’s decision to reduce Russia’s diplomatic presence on its soil was an “ill-thought out” move and vowed a response.

“There should be no doubt in Berlin that these ill-thought out provocative actions will not remain without our proper reaction,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

NATO will not allow Russia to decide when Ukraine can join the Western alliance, Norway has said as it hosted NATO foreign ministers.

“It is for Ukraine and NATO allies to decide when Ukraine becomes a NATO member, it’s not up to Moscow to decide,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt told reporters on the eve of a two-day meeting with her NATO counterparts.

The alliance has not acceded to Ukraine’s request for fast-track membership. Last week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine would not be able to join while the war with Russia raged but said that would be different when the conflict was over.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has had a phone call with Pope Francis to discuss topics including the war in Ukraine, the Brazilian government has said in a statement.

Lula thanked the pope for his peace efforts but lamented that the conflict had escalated. Brazil and the Vatican both put forward proposals for a negotiated agreement to end the conflict.

The statement added that Lula invited Francis to visit Brazil, noting the Roman Catholic leader replied he would consider the invitation. The two are set to meet in person in Vatican in June or July.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has urged the European Union to grant her country EU candidate status, arguing it would help European security, boost the bloc’s regional influence and help democracy in Georgia.

Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine applied in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but the EU granted that status only to Ukraine and Moldova.

“European candidate status is not only about essential democratic recommendations but also about the future European security architecture,” Zourabichvili told the European Parliament. “It is about long-term stability.”

“Europe understands the importance of this region for the new world that is emerging,” she said, adding that her country would act as a “pro-European force in the region”.

The UN has proposed that Kyiv, Moscow and Ankara start preparatory work for the transit of Russian ammonia through Ukraine, Reuters has reported, citing a source close to the talks.

The UN wants parallel talks to be held on widening the Black Sea deal that was agreed last July to include more Ukrainian ports and other cargoes, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Ukraine and Turkey have agreed to the new proposal, intended to improve operations in the Black Sea grain export corridor, but Russia has not yet responded, they added.

The United Nations did not immediately comment on the Reuters report.

The German government’s spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit has told Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle that Ukraine has the right to attack Russian territory when it qualifies as “self defence”.

But he said that he does not think German weapons should be used for the attacks.

Russian shelling in the Vovchansk region of Ukraine’s Kharkiv has killed a 60-year-old man, according to the region’s military administration.

In a statement on Telegram, the administration also said that a 52-year-old woman has been hospitalised due to shrapnel wounds.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast, says Russian shelling in the region has injured a child.

“A 3-year-old girl was injured by the shelling. The girl’s head was injured by shards of glass,” he said in a statement on Telegram and added that she has been hospitalised in Kherson.

Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office said that a 30-year-old man and a child of an unspecified age were also injured after the villages of Stanislav and Bilozerka in Kherson were shelled by Russia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says there is “clear progress” from Moldova’s efforts to become a member of the European Union.

“It is amazing to see that despite all the pressure, Moldova is advancing rapidly and with great quality,” von der Leyen said at a joint news conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

Moldova, which borders Ukraine, applied for EU membership last March, after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Moldova’s President Maia Sandu says the European Political Community summit hosted by her country sends a European message of commitment to peace and condemnation of Russia’s invasion.

At a joint news conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Sandu said Moldova belonged inside the European Union and stressed that the summit on Thursday was important for Chisinau and Europe.

When Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group mercenary company, bristled at Russia’s top brass, he did not mince his words.

“Scum”, “damn it” and “go to hell” were among the most quotable phrases from the video rant filled with homophobic slurs and prison slang that was released on Prigozhin’s Telegram channel on May 5.

But the problem with Prigozhin’s profanities – as well as the corrupting influence of “fenya” (jail jargon) and the overtly romanticised lifestyle of career criminals on Russia’s politics, culture and daily life – lies much deeper.

It was Prigozhin’s boss, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who started peppering his speech with salty phrases and fenya idioms at the dawn of his rule 23 years ago.

Read more.

Ukraine’s state border guard service says Russian troops have blown up a road in Ukraine’s Chernihiv Oblast that connects it to Russia’s Bryansk.

“The Russians blew up a road in the Chernihiv region at the junction of the borders of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia,” the border service said in a statement on Telegram.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt says that Sweden should become a member of NATO before the military alliance’s Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

“There is absolutely no reason for holding back Sweden from joining NATO,” he said, speaking at the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Oslo, Norway.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said that “the time is now” for Stockholm to become a NATO member.

Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify Sweden’s membership.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov says Ukraine has shelled two border settlements, but no casualties have been reported.

“In Shebekino, fragments of artillery shells damaged one car and a section of the roadway. There are breakages in the power lines. Operational and emergency services are on the scene,” Gladkov said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram.

“In the village of Grafovka, in Krasnoyaruzhsky District, shell fragments hit the facade and shattered windows in the administrative building and a grocery store,” he added.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says Kyiv has received $1.25bn from the United States as a part of the World Bank’s PEACE project.

“The funds will be used to support the state budget, especially for social and humanitarian spending,” he said in a tweet.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the World Bank started a Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) Project for Ukraine. So far, Ukraine has received $14.5bn from the project, according to Ukraine’s finance ministry,

Ukraine has received $1.25 bn from 🇺🇸 under the @WorldBank PEACE project. The funds will be used to support the state budget, especially for social & humanitarian spending. Grateful to 🇺🇸 & the World Bank. We appreciate the help of our partners in the fight against the aggressor.

— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) May 30, 2023

Russia’s Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says he had asked prosecutors to investigate “crimes” committed by senior Russian defence officials before and during Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.

Earlier, Prigozhin blamed Tuesday’s drone attack on Moscow on “out-of-touch officials” living in the city’s affluent suburb of Rublyovka.

NATO countries have kicked off arctic military exercises with a pledge to defend their newest member, Finland, which is hosting its first joint training since becoming part of the Western alliance in April.

Nearly 1,000 allied forces from Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States – as well as NATO applicant Sweden – joined approximately 6,500 Finnish troops and some 1,000 vehicles for exercises this week, which marks Finland’s biggest modern-time land-force drill above the Arctic Circle.

Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a statement that Russian-installed officials in the Luhansk region were threatening to withhold the wages of workers who refused to open accounts at Russian banks.

Luhansk has been under the Kremlin’s occupation since 2014.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko says the city’s Havanskyi bridge, built across the harbour, will reopen after rocket fragments from Russian drones fell on the bridge and damaged parts of its road surface.

“Road services have already finished asphalting the damaged part of the road surface and lighting networks, which were also partially damaged,” he said in a statement on Telegram and added the bridge will open on Wednesday evening.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials said Russian drone attacks had intensified in Kyiv and targeted the capital city’s central districts.

Ukraine’s air defence forces said their air defence systems destroyed most Russian drones targeted at Kyiv.

The German government has ordered the closure of four out of five Russian consulates.

Berlin said the German diplomatic presence in Russia will also be reduced and announced the closure of its consulates in Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

Last month, according to Russian state media reports, Moscow expelled more than 20 German diplomats following the “mass” removal of Russian embassy staff from Germany and accused Berlin of destroying ties.

Ukraine’s agriculture ministry has warned that European Union bans on its grain exports will help Russian President Vladimir Putin in his plan to divide Europe.

“Continuation of restrictions means putting additional weapons in Putin’s hands against unity in Europe,” the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said.

“Current restrictions must be cancelled.”

Several EU nations, including Ukraine’s staunch ally Poland, imposed bans on Ukrainian grain earlier this year, in an effort to protect EU farmers.

On Tuesday, the 27-member bloc’s agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski called for the current ban to be extended at least until the end of October.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov says Russia will begin evacuating hundreds of children from the border region given the “worsening situation”.

“The situation in the border village of Shebekino is worsening,” he said in a message on Telegram.

“We are starting to evacuate children from the Shebekino and the Grayvoron districts,” he said.

“Today, the first 300 children will be taken to Voronezh,” he added.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, has again criticised the Russian military and political elite following the drone attack on Moscow.

In an expletive-drenched statement posted on the messaging app Telegram by his press service on Tuesday, Prigozhin blamed the assault on out-of-touch officials living in Moscow’s affluent suburb of Rublyovka.

“You, the Defence Ministry, have done nothing to launch an offensive,” Prigozhin said. “How dare you allow the drones to reach Moscow?”

A Kremlin spokesperson told reporters that Russia’s air defence was working perfectly, but there was room for improvement.

Read the full story here.

Russia’s interior ministry has put two former Ukrainian defence ministers on its wanted list and accused them of “genocide” in Donbas, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Ukraine’s former Chief of the General Staff has also been added to the list.

Russia has claimed all of Donbas, which comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said Ukrainian shelling in the border region had intensified and left four people injured.

In a statement on the messaging app Telegram, he said two people were also hospitalised due to the artillery strike on the Belgorod town of Shebekino.

The Kremlin said it was “concerned” about Ukrainian shelling of the Belgorod region, which has repeatedly come under attacks from Kyiv’s forces in recent weeks.

Ukrainian officials have not yet publicly commented on the recent attacks in Russia’s Belgorod.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow’s air defences were working perfectly but there was room for improvement.

“Work will continue on improving Moscow’s air defences,” he said.

Peskov also said the Kremlin would like to see “at least some condemnation of the drone attack on Moscow, but this has not been the case.”

“The Russian Federation understands what the West is trying to provoke it, but we will calmly think about how to deal with it,” he said according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

The United States is encouraging Ukraine to launch cross-border “terrorist” attacks, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the US, says on Telegram.

He made the allegation after Moscow was hit by a series of drone strikes on Tuesday.

“What are these attempts to hide behind the phrase they are ‘gathering information’?” Antonov said, adding, “This is an encouragement for Ukrainian terrorists.”

The White House has denied his claims and said Washington is still gathering information about the incident in Moscow.

Dmitry Medvedev, a top Russian official and former president, has cast the United Kingdom as Moscow’s “eternal enemy” and warned British officials aiding Ukraine militarily, saying any of them would be considered “a legitimate military target”.

His comments come after the UK’s foreign secretary James Cleverly told reporters in Estonia that Ukraine “has a right” to project force “beyond its own borders” as part of its self-defence.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Cleverly has stated that Ukraine “has the legitimate right to … project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.” According to him, legitimate military targets beyond Ukraine’s border are part of its…

— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) May 31, 2023

UK’s defence ministry says Russia has had “little success” in neutralising Ukraine’s improved air defence and destroying Kyiv’s counterattack forces.

“Since the start of May 2023, Russia has increasingly ceded the initiative in the conflict and is reacting to Ukrainian action rather than actively progressing towards its own war aims,” the ministry said in a tweet.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 31 May 2023.

Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/wQzgpFMEfU

🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/2GmVBRftKQ

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 31, 2023

Russian officials say Ukrainian drones have targeted two oil refineries, which are about 65-80km (40-50 miles) east of Russia’s biggest oil export terminals.

The governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, said a drone struck the Afipsky oil refinery causing a fire which was later extinguished. He blamed Ukraine for the attacks.

Another drone crashed into the Ilsky refinery, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

Ukraine has not commented on Russia’s claims. Kyiv has never claimed responsibility for attacks within Russia during the war, saying its fight is purely defensive.

Russian-installed officials in Luhansk – which the Kremlin annexed – say Ukrainian shelling in the region has killed at least five people and injured 19.

In a statement on Telegram, they said four missiles launched by the Ukrainian army struck the village of Karpaty.

Kyiv has denied these claims.

The governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, says Russian shelling in the region has killed one person and injured six.

In a statement on Telegram, he added that the attacks had also damaged houses, a library, two medical facilities and an agricultural enterprise.