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At least 20 people died, 90 others were wounded and 50 vehicles caught fire as Russian missiles hit the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday, according to Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.

"There are dead and wounded," Serhiy Borzov, the governor of the Vinnytsia region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 

The Russian government has not responded yet.

Water supply will resume this month in the Russian-held Ukrainian city of Mariupol, state news agency TASS reported, quoting Russian-designated mayor Konstantin Ivaschenko.

Ivaschenko, whose appointment to the post has not been recognized by Ukraine, also told TASS in an interview that authorities plan to resume operation of the city's passenger port that links to Russia's Rostov-on-Don and Black Sea cities.

(With input from Reuters)

Mykolaiv Mayor Alexander Senkevich urged residents via Telegram to take shelter after powerful explosions were heard in the southern Ukrainian city near the Black Sea on Thursday morning.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said via Telegram that Russian shelling of residences in the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Region killed one person and injured five others on Thursday morning. 

The forces of Russia and the "Luhansk People's Republic" (LPR) have entered Siversk in the Donetsk region and placed it under operational control, Russia's TASS news agency reported on Thursday, citing LPR sources.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the situation.

Ukraine and Russia have made some progress in negotiations on grain exports that also involved Turkish and UN representatives in Istanbul, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged on Wednesday.

"The Ukrainian delegation informed me that there is some progress. We will agree on the details with the UN secretary-general in the coming days," Zelenskyy was quoted as saying by his press service.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also hailed the progress as "a major step forward to ensure the export of Ukrainian food products through the Black Sea."

(With input from Xinhua)

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday that it has severed diplomatic relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in response to its decision to recognize the independence of territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

In a statement, the Ukrainian office denounced the DPRK's decision as an attempt by Pyongyang to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and severed ties with the DPRK in response..

The move makes the DPRK the third country after Russia and Syria to recognize the two breakaway entities.

DPRK's official media outlet KCNA confirmed on Thursday the country's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui sent letters to her counterparts in both territories on Wednesday, recognizing their independence.

"In the letters, she ... expressed the will to develop the state-to-state relations with those countries in the idea of independence, peace and friendship," KCNA said.

(Cover: A view shows the embassy of Donetsk in Moscow, Russia, July 12, 2022. /Reuters.)

Talks between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and UN officials on resuming Black Sea exports of Ukraine grain resulted in an agreement to form a coordination center in order to ensure the safety of routes, the Turkish defense minister said on Wednesday.

In a statement, Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said an agreement would be signed next week when all parties meet again, adding the parties had agreed on joint controls for checking grains at harbors.

Turkey would also set up a coordination centre with Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations for grain exports, he said.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said a "critical step forward" had been made toward reviving Ukrainian grain exports but cautioned that "more technical work will now be needed to materialize today's progress".

"Today is an important and substantive step, a step on the way to a comprehensive agreement". Ukraine and Russia had shown they could talk, but "for peace we still have a long way to go," Guterres told reporters in New York.

(With input from Reuters)

The U.S. announced an additional $1.7 billion in aid to Ukraine, according to a statement on Tuesday.

Both Ukraine and Russia are keeping silent about how many of their soldiers have been killed in the war. Estimates put the figure at tens of thousands of men and women. 

A month ago, an advisor to Ukraine's president reported that every day up to 200 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed in combat. One of them is Andriy Verkhoglyad, a 27-year old soldier who was buried by his family last week. 

On June 27, while deployed in Svitlodarsk in the Donetsk province, Andriy got ambushed by Russians and suffered fatal injuries, his brother told CGTN. "When he was trying to keep the enemy from taking a strategic position, Andriy got killed together with his colleagues and subordinates. My brother paid with his life to keep this position."

Andriy was the pride of all Novohrad-Volynskyi, a small town west of Kyiv. In just six years, the young man worked his way up from group commander to major. Hundreds came bearing flowers to bid him farewell for the last time and to pay their condolences to Andriy's mother, who was weeping in the arms of her daughter.

"He was the bravest man of Ukraine," said the former high school teacher of the deceased, with tears in her eyes. "We will remember him forever."

The Russian artillery is much stronger than that of Ukraine, reports Timur - a childhood friend and brother in arms of the deceased. He too was stationed at the front line.

"Being a soldier, I expected the combat to be tough but what is happening at the front line is much worse than I thought. It's simply unreal," the 28-year old soldier said after the funeral ceremony.

Ukraine estimates the casualties on the Russian side to be higher than those suffered by Ukraine, counting so far more than 37,000 killed Russian soldiers. Moscow has previously reported far fewer casualties among its soldiers.

• Ukraine claims to have killed at least 52 Russians in a long-range rocket strike in the Russian held town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region, territory it says it is planning to retake in a counter-offensive using up to 1 million troops. However, a Russian-installed official said seven were dead and around 60 wounded, but added many more were still trapped under the rubble. READ MORE BELOW

• However, Kyiv expects a renewed Russian assault after widespread shelling by Russian forces killed more than 30 people in just three days. The bombardment is seen as a precursor to Moscow sending ground troops deeper into Donetsk province in a bid to seize the two main cities still under Ukrainian control, and ultimately, the whole of the wider Donbas region.

• Europe's dependence on Russian energy continues to preoccupy its leaders as the largest pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany was shut down for 10 days of annual maintenance. Governments, markets and companies are worried the shutdown might be extended because of the conflict. 

• Ukrainian forces have killed at least six people in the Russian held town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region. Kyiv said the operation was aimed at destroying an ammunition depot there. 

• The death toll from a weekend shelling of an apartment building in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar has risen to 33. At least nine people have been rescued so far, with more than 65 percent of the rubble, weighing around 170 tonnes, cleared by Monday evening.

• On a visit to Kyiv, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Ukraine conflict "may last longer than we all hoped or expected," but that did not mean acting passively, promising his hosts more long-range artillery and an aid package worth $201 million.

• Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko are discussing possible joint measures against neighboring Lithuania over what Moscow calls a trade blockade on the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Vilnius has restricted the transit of goods sanctioned by the European Union (EU) into the Russian region sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, infuriating Moscow. 

• The White House says Iran is planning to supply hundreds of drones with combat weapon capabilities to Russia for use in Ukraine. National security advisor Jake Sullivan said the information supported views that Moscow was facing challenges sustaining its weaponry after significant losses in Ukraine.

• Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov says he will hand over his entire media empire, including 10 television channels, to the government. The 55-year-old billionaire said that his decision was "driven" by a new law aimed at "preventing threats to national security associated with excessive influence" of oligarchs.

• Kyiv has condemned a decree from President Vladimir Putin that makes it easier to give Russian citizenship to Ukrainians. Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba described the "worthless" decree as "another encroachment on the sovereignty" of Ukraine and proof of "Putin's aggressive appetites."

• The EU has frozen Russian assets worth $13.8 billion since the start of the conflict, according to its Justice Commissioner. Didier Reynders called the figure "quite huge" and said the majority of it had been seized in just five EU states. 

• The global price of oil could surge by 40 percent to around $140 per barrel if a planned price cap on Russian oil is not taken on board, a senior U.S. Treasury official has warned. 

The fight to retake Kherson

Ukraine says a long-range rocket strike against Russian forces has killed more than 50 troops in the southern region of Kherson, as Kyiv kickstarts efforts to retake the territory in a counter-offensive set to employ hundreds of thousands of troops.

Ukrainian government officials have spoken of efforts to rally up to 1 million troops to take back the region, while Russia has accused Ukraine of shelling its own people.

According to the Ukrainian armed forces, the strike hit an ammunition dump in the Kherson town of Nova Kakhovka and killed 52 Russians, as well as destroying military hardware. 

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However, a Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version, saying at least seven people had been killed in the attack, and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

"There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses," Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russia-installed Kakhovka District military-civilian administration, told Russian news agency TASS.

He was also cited as saying that warehouses, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and a church had been hit.

The strike follows Washington supplying Ukraine with HIMARS mobile artillery systems which Kyiv says its forces are starting to use with ever greater efficacy.

The separatists said the HIMARS missiles had been used in the strike, with the large explosion resulting from the rockets hitting warehouses containing saltpeter, a chemical compound which can be used to make fertilizer or gunpowder.

The Kherson area Ukraine is targeting is one that Russian forces seized at the start of the conflict's escalation on February 24 and, due to its arable lands, access to the Black Sea and proximity to the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula, it is considered to be of key strategic importance.

Russia has so far tried to introduce the ruble in the region and is offering Russian passports to locals who will take them. There are also plans to hold a referendum on Kherson becoming part of Russia but a date has not yet been set.

Ukraine's deputy prime minister on Sunday urged civilians in Kherson to urgently evacuate as Ukraine's armed forces were preparing a counter-attack there.

"It's clear there will be fighting, there will be artillery shelling... and we therefore urge (people) to evacuate urgently," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on national television.

She said she could not say exactly when the counter-offensive would happen.

"I know for sure that there should not be women and children there, and that they should not become human shields," she said.

The death toll under a collapsed apartment block in the Donetsk region town of Chasiv Yar climbed to 35 on Tuesday, with rescue work still not over four days after the building was hit by Russian rocket fire, emergency services said.

Over 320 tonnes of rubble had been cleared and nine people rescued from under the ruins, the regional emergency services directorate wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

A fresh round of talks between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations over grain exports from Ukraine will take place on Wednesday in Istanbul, Interfax news agency reported, citing the Russian foreign ministry.

European Union ministers approved a 1 billion-euro loan to Ukraine on Tuesday as part of a new exceptional macro-financial assistance package, Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission's executive vice president and commissioner for trade, said via Twitter.

At least 12 people were wounded in shelling of Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, the regional governor said on Tuesday.

At least seven people were killed in an attack by Ukrainian armed forces on Monday in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region, TASS News Agency reported on Tuesday. 

"There are already seven dead for sure and about 60 wounded," TASS quoted Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Kakhovka District military-civilian administration in the Kherson region.  

"There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses," Leontyev added.

Explosions were heard in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Tuesday, according to Al-Jazeera.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Ukraine has summoned the Canadian ambassador over Ottawa's decision to send back to Germany gas turbines needed to maintain the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.  

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to summon Canada's envoy to our country due to an absolutely unacceptable exception to the sanctions regime against Russia," Zelenskyy said in his daily address on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed on Monday that he has held talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the need to unblock Ukrainian ports and resume grain exports.

"We appreciate (Turkish) support. Discussed the importance of unblocking (Ukrainian) ports and resuming grain exports. We must also prevent Russia from taking our grain from (Russian controlled regions)," Zelenskyy tweeted.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday discussed developments in Syria, Russia-Ukraine situation and establishment of safe corridors for grain export via Black Sea, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree on simplified obtaining of Russian citizenship for permanently residing in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Ukraine, according to the RIA news agency. 

While Russia continues to attack Ukraine, Kyiv advances what it calls the 'derussification' of its country. Not only are Russian monuments and street signs being demolished, but its language is increasingly frowned upon. 

"When Russia's full-scale aggression started, I understood that I cannot speak Russian anymore," Kyiv resident Natalia Lashchonova told CGTN. "I decided to switch to the Ukrainian language."

The 56-year-old accountant is one of numerous Russian-speakers in Ukraine who are determined to completely change the way they used to speak. 

"It was hard to start talking in Ukrainian, because I have never studied it before," Lashchonova added. Instead of saying 'Privetstvuju', she now greets people with 'Vitayu'. 

Since February, the number of Ukrainian language courses has grown rapidly. Volunteers are helping the country's Russian speakers to transition to Ukrainian, free of charge.

"In total there are not hundreds of these schools - there are thousands across the country," says Sofia Denysiuk, founder of 'Jedyni' - one of the largest Ukrainian language course providers. 

But Moscow's aggression has not only led to a linguistic transition. More and more places in Ukraine forbid visitors from speaking Russian. One of them is the cultural center 'Ukrainskyj prostir Inteligentsiia' which say it is derussified.

"That's the only rule of this place: to not speak the Russian language," manager Dmytro Medzhul told CGTN. "Because Russian is the language of occupiers and aggressors."

Like many other Ukrainian cities, Kyiv has been changing hundreds of street names that were established during the Soviet-era. Furthermore, 60 Russian monuments and memorial plaques are set to be demolished. 

Most recently, Ukraine banned loud Russian music in public places such as buses. It's a law that has been upsetting parts of the population.

"I think it is inappropriate to ban Russian music now," Kyiv resident Dmytro Ivanov told CGTN. "It doesn't help the country in any way to live better and it doesn't bring us closer to victory. Therefore, I don't think that this ban is relevant right now.”

Some of these bans might one day be revoked but what will certainly remain is an increased use of the Ukrainian language. 

TOP HEADLINES

• Three people were killed and 28 wounded as Russian forces opened fire with artillery, rocket launchers and tanks around Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv. Russian military officials said the attacks had targeted deployment points of Ukrainian troops and foreign "mercenaries" in the area. 

• At least 18 people were killed in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar over the weekend after a Russian missile strike hit an apartment building, with Ukrainian rescuers still hoping to find survivors under the rubble on Monday. The strike is part of a wider wave of Russian bombardments in the country's east in a bid to take control of all of the Donbas. READ MORE BELOW

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of purposely targeting civilians in the Chasiv Yar missile strike, promising that "punishment is inevitable for every Russian murderer."

• Gas has stopped flowing through the biggest single pipeline carrying Russian supplies to Germany, part of planned annual maintenance that will see flows stop for 10 days. However, governments, markets and companies are worried that Moscow may extend the shutdown amid the conflict, meaning many European countries could struggle to fill vital winter stockpiles. 

• The French government is preparing for a total cut-off of Russian gas supplies, which it sees as the most likely scenario. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said in her policy speech: "We must consider all concrete scenarios, even the most difficult ones."

• In response to Moscow's push east, Ukrainian forces have unleashed an artillery barrage into residential districts of the separatist controlled city of Donetsk, according to pro-Russian authorities in occupied Ukraine.

• Ukraine's deputy prime minister has urged civilians in the Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson to leave the area as Ukrainian armed forces prepare a counter-attack there after recapturing the village of Ivanivka.

• The governor of Russia's Kaliningrad exclave has proposed a total ban on the movement of goods between the three EU Baltic states and Russia, in reaction to what Russian officials have called a "blockade" of its territory by neighboring Lithuania. 

• Meanwhile, Lithuania has moved to expand its block on certain items traveling to through its territory to Kaliningrad, as new EU trade restrictions against Moscow take effect. Additional goods barred include concrete, wood, alcohol and alcohol-based industrial chemicals.

IN DETAIL

Death toll climbs in apartment block attack amid wave of bombardments

Ukrainian rescue workers were still trying to pull survivors from the rubble in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar on Monday, after the death toll from a Russian strike on an apartment building on Saturday night rose to 18 people.

The attack on the five-storey residential block just south of Sloviansk also left two dozen people trapped in the rubble, emergency service said. Rescuers said they were in voice contact with two people under the wreckage.

The rocket attack was part of Russia's push to capture all of Donetsk province, which makes up part of the industrial Donbas region in the east along with Luhansk province. Moscow took full control of the latter region earlier this month.

On Sunday, dazed survivors of the Chasiv Yar attack retrieved personal belongings and told stories of their escape. 

"I was thrown into the bathroom, it was all chaos, I was in shock, all covered in blood," said one woman.

"By the time I left the bathroom, the room was full up of rubble, three floors fell down. I never found the kittens under the rubble."

Ukraine's general staff said on Monday that Russian forces had launched a wave of bombardments in the east as they seek to take control of all of the Donbas, a region partly controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

On Monday, TASS news agency cited separatist officials as saying Russian and Russian-backed forces had taken control of three villages in Donetsk province.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow had carried out 34 air strikes since Saturday, while his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Moscow should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism for the apartment attack in Chasiv Yar. 

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk also warned civilians in the Russian-occupied Kherson region in the south to urgently evacuate as Kyiv's forces were preparing a counter-attack there.

"I know for sure that there should not be women and children there, and that they should not become human shields," she said on national television.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited Ukraine's Kyiv on Monday, Ukrinform has reported.

He also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit.

France's energy-intensive companies are speeding up contingency plans and converting their gas boilers to run on oil as they seek to avoid disruption in the event any further reduction in Russian gas supplies leads to power outages.

Gathered over the weekend at a business and economics conference in southern France, several top executives said they were preparing for possible blackouts.

"What we've done is we've converted our boilers, so they're capable of running on gas or oil, and we can even switch to coal if we need to," said Florent Menegaux, the boss of Michelin, one of the world's leading tyre-makers.

"The aim is to avoid having to shut down a plant in case we face a shortage," he added, saying that while a gas shortage in Europe was likely, oil would still be available as an alternative.

Russia in June reduced flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, its main route for shipping gas into western Europe, to 40 percent of capacity. Politicians and industry are concerned there will be further supply constraints linked to Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Across Europe, industry has been resorting to more polluting fuel than gas as it gives precedence to tackling the cost to the economy of business disruption and surging energy prices, rather than longer-term targets to switch to zero carbon fuel.

Automaker Stellantis is weighing options to produce its own energy in case of an energy crunch, Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said at a French factory last month.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the top corporate executives attending the conference it would be irresponsible not to prepare for shortages.

France, relies on nuclear power for around 70 percent of its electricity, meaning it is far less directly dependent on Russian gas than neighboring Germany.

However, the state-controlled electricity producer EDF is struggling to meet France's needs because of outages at its ageing power plants, increasing the strain on the rest of the energy sector.

It has also sought to reduce the impact of a surge in energy prices by capping retail gas and power prices until the end of the year, which has helped to keep French inflation among the lowest in Europe.

(Cover via CFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko discussed the transit to Kaliningrad during a telephone conversation on Monday, according to the Kremlin.

Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Monday, killing at least five people and injuring 31 others, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said via Telegram.

He added that the missiles struck a shopping center and several residential buildings in the city.

There has been no response as yet from the Russian side.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Times that Ukraine is massing a million-strong fighting force equipped with Western weapons to recover its southern territory from Russia.

Reznikov said President Zelenskyy had ordered Ukraine's military to "retake occupied coastal areas which are vital to the country's economy."

Ukraine's Energy Ministry said on Sunday they were "deeply disappointed" by Canada's decision to hand back a repaired turbine used for the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline to Germany.

The death toll after Russian Uragan rockets hit a five-story apartment block in Ukraine's Donetsk region jumped to 15, news agency AFP reported on Sunday, citing the rescuer.

Russian missiles hit a 5-story building in the city of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine's Donetsk Regional Military Administration Head Pavlo Kyrylenko revealed via Telegram on Sunday.

With at least three dozen people trapped under the rubble, the rescue operation is ongoing, but six dead and five injured have been extricated, Kyrylenko said.

There has been no response as yet from the Russian side.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday dismissed Kyiv's ambassador to Germany in addition to several other top foreign envoys, the presidential website said.

In a decree that gave no reason for the move, he announced the sacking of Ukraine's ambassadors to Germany, India, Czech, Norway and Hungary.

It was not immediately clear if the envoys would be handed new jobs.

(With input from Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with French Senate President Gerard Larcher and the delegation of the upper house of the French Parliament on Saturday, according to Zelenskyy's official Telegram channel.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine appreciated the attention and support of French senators and France's assistance to Ukrainian army.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the U.S. would provide more than $368 million in additional humanitarian support for Ukraine while pledging continuing aid to Ukraine. 

Blinken made the remark at a press conference in Indonesia, where he attended the G20 foreign ministers' meeting.

(With input from Reuters)

The area where Chernobayevka airport is located in Ukraine’s Kherson region has been hit by Russian missiles, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency reported on Saturday.

Russia has not yet responded to the report.

U.S. President Joe Biden approved a new weapons package worth up to $400 million for Ukraine on Friday, including four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) with ammunition.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the additional HIMARS would bring the total number of units delivered to 12.

(With input from Reuters)

The West's plan to isolate Russia at the G20 Summit over Russia's military operation in Ukraine did not work out, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

"The G7's plan to boycott Russia at the G20 has failed," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on messaging app Telegram. 

The situation on the world food markets will be tense due to "erroneous actions" of some countries in the energy sector, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting with cabinet ministers on Friday.

He said Russia's domestic market must be provided with all basic food products and meanwhile the country must fulfill all its obligations to its permanent partners in the supply of agricultural products despite difficulties.

The assets of Ukrainian companies allegedly owned by Russian energy companies Gazprom, Rosneft and Rosatom, were seized by Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine said on Friday in a Telegram post. 

The asset is worth nearly $62 million, it said without disclosing the names of the companies.

The Canadian Foreign Ministry on Friday imposed sanctions on 29 Russian individuals and 15 entities. 

"Canada is imposing sanctions against 29 state-sponsored disinformation and propaganda agents and 15 entities controlled or owned by the Russian government and involved in disinformation efforts," the ministry said in a statement.

The media outlets include TASS, RT and Sputnik.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox church were also included in the sanctions list.

Canada has also banned the import of certain gold imports from Russia which will be effective immediately.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy revealed on Friday via the Telegram app that he had inspected the frontlines in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has banned British diplomats, including the ambassador, from accessing its building, TASS reported on Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Russia is ready to negotiate on grain with Ukraine and Turkey.

The Russian diplomat made the remarks while attending the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Indonesia. 

On Thursday, Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 ministerial meeting. 

Cavusoglu later said they discussed "war in Ukraine, food security and Syria."

Recently, several Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have said that Turkey is maintaining communication and negotiations with all parties on the Black Sea food security corridor and wish to achieve substantial results as soon as possible.

Since Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine in late February, the international community's concern about the disruption of the food supply chain and a potential global food crisis has increased as conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, two major global grain exporters, continue. 

(With input from Reuters)

In a speech to parliamentary leaders on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to alleged statements from the West about defeating Russia on the battlefield.

"Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say, let them try," Putin said. "We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after announcing his resignation as Conservative leader on Thursday, held phone talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Johnson promised Zelenskyy that he will continue to work with partners to end the grain blockade in the coming weeks, a spokesperson for Johnson said.

Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to Johnson for the "decisive and uncompromising" support for Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian president's office.

Oleksandr Goncharenko, mayor of Kramatorsk, wrote on Facebook on Thursday that casualties are feared after a missile strike on the central part of the city in northern Donetsk region, adding that the consequences of the strike are being investigated.

A Russian cargo ship, Zhibek Zholy, which was suspected of carrying stolen Ukrainian grain, left the Turkish northwest port of Karasu late on Wednesday, Reuters reported citing the Refinitiv ship tracking data.

Russian pressure is intensifying to the north of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military said on Wednesday, with heavy shelling on the city of Sloviansk and other nearby areas, where residents are being told to leave.  

More than 7.1 million people are thought to be displaced within Ukraine, most of them from the east.

A glass factory was turned into a bomb shelter in the city of Lysychansk in the Luhansk Region, where residents shelter.

Russia and separatist proxies were already in control of the southern part of Donetsk province when they effectively completed the seizure of the neighboring Luhansk region on Sunday with the capture of the city of Lysychansk, much of which now lies in ruins, Reuters reports.

Moscow says ejecting the Ukrainian military out of both regions is central to its “special military operation” to ensure its own security, in more than four months of what the West calls an unprovoked war.

For more, check out our exclusive content on CGTN Now and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The China Report.

The UK signed the instrument of ratification to fast-track NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, Foreign secretary Liz Truss said on Wednesday on social media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with visiting Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on Wednesday.

TOP HEADLINES

• Ukraine has so far thwarted an attempted Russian advance into the north of its Donetsk region, but the city of Sloviansk and other civilian areas there were being heavily shelled, Ukrainian officials said.

• Ukrainian officials have called on civilians to urgently evacuate the city of Sloviansk as Russian troops press towards it in their campaign to secure the Donbas region. Sloviansk has been subjected to "massive" Russian bombardment in recent days. READ MORE BELOW

• More than 8.79 million people have crossed the border from Ukraine since the conflict started in late February, the UN refugee agency said. On its website, the agency said 8.793 million people had made the crossing since February 24.

• Ukraine has 11 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas in underground storage versus a government target of 19 bcm, the head of its gas transmission system operator said. "This winter will probably be the most difficult in our history," Sergiy Makogon, chief executive of the transmission system operator, told a news briefing.

• Ukraine expects a grain harvest of at least 50 million tonnes this year, which is "not bad given all the difficulties," the country's first deputy agriculture minister said. Ukraine, a major global grain grower and exporter, harvested a record 86 million tonnes of grain in 2021.

• Moscow admitted Turkey was conducting checks on a Russian ship in the Black Sea that Ukraine says is carrying stolen Ukrainian wheat. "The (Zhibek Zholy) ship is currently in the roadstead of the Karasu port and is going through standard procedures, including sanitary control," a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry, Alexei Zaitsev, said at a briefing. 

• Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev suggests the world could be headed for nuclear war if the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating allegations of war crimes in Ukraine, punishes Moscow for its suspected crimes. "The idea to punish a country that has the largest nuclear arsenal is absurd in and of itself," Medvedev said on messaging app Telegram. "And potentially creates a threat to the existence of mankind."

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the publication of a call between President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin was a breach of "diplomatic etiquette". 

• Norway's foreign ministry said it had found a "solution" to allow Russian cargo, which was blocked due to sanctions, to reach the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, easing a dispute with Moscow.

• Russia's parliament is introducing harsh prison terms for cooperating with foreigners and calls to undermine national security. In a bill harking back to the Soviet era, establishing and maintaining "confidential" cooperation with a foreigner or international organization and helping them act against Russia's interests will be punishable by up to eight years in prison.

• Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said the Baltic state will reinstate compulsory military service following growing tension with neighboring Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine. "The current military system of Latvia has reached its limit. Meanwhile we have no reason to think that Russia will change its behavior," Pabriks told reporters.

IN DETAIL

Sloviansk: Not 'a day without shelling'

Ukrainian officials have called on civilians to urgently evacuate the city of Sloviansk as Russian troops press towards it in their campaign to secure the Donbas region.

Sloviansk has been subjected to "massive" Russian bombardment in recent days, with at least two people killed and seven others wounded in an attack on a marketplace.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, which includes Sloviansk, told Ukrainian media his "main advice is evacuate!"

"This week there hasn't been a day without shelling," he said, adding that the city was now within range of Russian multiple-rocket launchers.

"The enemy is shelling chaotically, the attacks are aimed at destroying the local population," he said.

"So, once again, the main advice is to evacuate."

AFP journalists on the ground in Sloviansk saw rockets slam into the marketplace and surrounding streets, with firefighters scrambling to put out the resulting fires.

Kyrylenko also reported shelling across "the entire frontline" in the eastern Donbas region, where Russia has refocused its efforts since abandoning its initial aim of capturing Kyiv, following tough Ukrainian resistance.

Donbas is mainly comprised of Luhansk, which Russian forces have almost entirely captured, and Donetsk to its southwest - the current focus of Moscow's attack.

The fall of Lysychansk in the region on Sunday, a week after the Ukrainian army also retreated from the neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk, has freed up Russian troops to advance on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

A Russian court on Wednesday ordered a 30-day suspension of the activity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which takes oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea via one of the world's largest pipelines, Russia Today reported.

Russia's armed forces destroyed two advanced U.S.-made HIMARS rocket systems and their ammo depots in eastern Ukraine, the Russian defense ministry said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday ordered to cancel the ban on the movement of conscripts across the country without permits, RBC-Ukraine reported.

The European Union will soon present an emergency plan to address Russia's gas supply reductions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on her Twitter account on Wednesday.

The EU would convene a conference focusing on Ukraine's reconstruction with the Group of Seven after summer, she added.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday, and he is expected to have a series of meetings designed to reiterate Ireland's solidarity with Ukraine.

The Irish State has given 20 million euros ($20.5 million) in humanitarian support and assistance to the country besides health equipment and medical donations worth more than 4.5 million euros.

The West must be aware of its responsibility in the death of civilians in Donbas region and other parts of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference on Wednesday after meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart in Hanoi.

Air raid sirens sounded over Ukraine early Wednesday morning, Ukraine 24 has reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is promising to retake areas captured by Russia, after Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops on "achieving victory" in the Luhansk region.

Now, Putin is turning to the Donbas region, CNN reports.

Experts predict the city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region will become a hotspot for fighting.

The mayor has urged residents to seek shelter as the city faces shelling.

For more, check out our exclusive content on CGTN Now and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The China Report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted on Tuesday that he had discussed security issues with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Zelenskyy said he thanked Johnson for the recent decision to provide Ukraine with 1 billion pounds (about $1.2 billion) in security aid and a new military support package of 100 million pounds (about $120 million).

The UK government said Johnson updated Zelenskyy on the latest British military equipment, including 10 self-propelled artillery systems and loitering munitions, which would be arriving in Ukraine in the coming days and weeks.

(With input from Xinhua)

At least one person was killed and three others wounded after Russian forces struck a market in the city of Sloviansk in east Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast on Tuesday, police said.

Forces of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic  (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) are moving towards Donetsk after the "liberation" of Luhansk from Ukraine, RIA quoted Russian-backed DPR leader Denis Pushilin as saying on Tuesday.

"This is truly a historic moment," Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after NATO's 30 allies signed an accession protocol for Finland and Sweden on Tuesday to allow them to join.

These two countries will also now have the status of invitees and will participate in the alliance's discussions.  

The process to ratify Sweden and Finland as the newest members of NATO was formally launched on Tuesday, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

"This is a good day for Finland and Sweden and a good day for NATO," Stoltenberg told reporters in a joint press statement with the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers.

British authorities have imposed a ban on the import of iron, steel, arms and related materiel from Belarus, and expanded restrictions on potash fertilizers, according to a notice published Tuesday on the website of the UK government.

Finland and Sweden formally signed the NATO accession protocol on Tuesday, a necessary step toward advancing their membership in the alliance.

The protocol must now be ratified by all 30 allied parliaments, which will allow both countries to officially become members of NATO.

The signing took place at a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who presided over the event, said it was a "historic" moment for the alliance. 

"This is a good day for Finland and Sweden and a good day for NATO. With 32 nations around the table we will be even stronger and our people will be even safer as we face the biggest security crisis in decades," Stoltenberg said in his address. 

The breakthrough came after Turkey lifted its veto over the two Nordic countries' bid to join NATO last week, as the three nations agreed to protect each other's security. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned last week that Ankara could still block the process if Finland and Sweden fail to fully meet its demand to extradite "terrorism" suspects with links to outlawed Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled religious leader accused of a failed 2016 coup in Turkey. 

Finland and Sweden are also expected to lift their restrictions on selling weapons to Turkey.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the Russian Defense Ministry plans to take steps to ensure national security in response to the launch of the two countries' NATO accession process, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti. 

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia does not have problems with Finland and Sweden. "With Sweden and Finland, we don't have the problems that we have with Ukraine. They want to join NATO; go ahead," he said. 

But Putin condemned what he described as NATO's "imperial ambitions," accusing the alliance of seeking to assert its "supremacy" through the Ukraine conflict. 

Finland and Sweden, both neutral and militarily non-aligned countries in tradition, have dramatically changed their policy and moved closer to NATO since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February. Finland's accession to NATO would extend the bloc's land border with Russia by over 1,300 kilometers. 

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(Cover: Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (L), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde hold a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, July 5, 2022. /CFP)

A government has been formed in the Russia-controlled Kherson region, Russia's TASS news agency reported citing the region's administration.

The government of the Kherson region was headed by the official of the Kaliningrad region, Sergey Eliseev.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Monday announced a package of long-term British support for Ukraine, pledging both immediate humanitarian assistance as well as access to British financial and economic expertise.

TOP HEADLINES

• Russian forces will focus on trying to seize all of the Donetsk region, having forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the last major city in the neighboring region of Luhansk, according to the governor of Luhansk. "In terms of the military, it is bad to leave positions, but there is nothing critical (in the loss of Lysychansk). We need to win the war, not the battle for Lysychansk," Serhiy Gaidai said.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to regain lost territory in eastern Ukraine with the help of long-range Western weapons. He said Ukraine would hit back with artillery such as the U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers.

• Ahead of a meeting of countries and organizations in Switzerland to hash out a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild Ukraine, Zelenskyy warned of the "colossal" work ahead.

• In Sloviansk, west of Lysychansk, in the Donetsk region, Mayor Vadym Lyakh wrote on Facebook that on Sunday fierce shelling had killed at least six people, including a 10-year-old girl.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin will not congratulate his counterpart Joe Biden on U.S. Independence Day because of Washington's "unfriendly" actions towards Moscow, the Kremlin said. "Congratulations this year can hardly be considered appropriate," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. "The United States's unfriendly policies are the reason."

• Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station have celebrated Russia's capture of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, posted pictures of cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergei Korsakov smiling as they held up flags of Russia's proxies in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic.

• The head of Germany's energy regulator warned that $15.64 billion worth of credit lines provided by the government to buy gas for storage facilities may not be enough, in a WirtschaftsWoche magazine interview. Bundesnetzagentur head Klaus Mueller said the supply squeeze may push up prices even higher and prevent Germany from filling up its gas storage ahead of the winter.

• While Russia is claiming its advance in Luhansk is a significant moment in the war, it has come at a high cost to Russia's military, said Neil Melvin of the London-based think tank RUSI. "Ukraine's position was never that they could defend all of this. What they've been trying to do is to slow down the Russian assault and cause maximum damage, while they build up for a counteroffensive," he said.

• The French government has said it will suspend expulsions of foreign students fleeing war in Ukraine, a sensitive issue that has seen European countries accused of racist double standards. "We have introduced a moratorium for students until September," a government source told AFP.

IN DETAIL

Russian forces in Ukraine will focus on trying to seize all of the Donetsk region, having forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the last major city under their control in the neighboring Luhansk region, the governor of Luhansk said on Monday.

After abandoning an assault on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, during the early weeks of the war, Russia concentrated its military operation on the industrial Donbas heartland that comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where Moscow-backed separatist proxies have been fighting Ukraine since 2014.

Russia said it had established full control over the Luhansk region after Ukrainian forces pulled out of the bombed-out city of Lysychansk.

"In terms of the military, it is bad to leave positions, but there is nothing critical (in the loss of Lysychansk). We need to win the war, not the battle for Lysychansk," Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Reuters in an interview.

"It hurts a lot, but it's not losing the war."

He said the withdrawal from Lysychansk had been "centralized," indicating that it had been planned and orderly, but that Ukrainian forces had risked being surrounded.

"Still, for them (Russian forces) goal number one is the Donetsk region. Sloviansk and Bakhmut will come under attack - Bakhmut has already started being shelled very hard," he said.

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Gaidai said that he expected the city of Sloviansk and the town of Bakhmut, in particular, to come under attack as Russia tries to take full control of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow said the capture of Lysychansk less than a week after taking neighboring Sievierdonetsk meant it had "liberated" Luhansk, a major Kremlin goal.

Moscow said it would give the captured territory to the self-proclaimed Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic, whose independence it recognized on the eve of the war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday night, vowed to regain the lost territory with the help of long-range Western weapons.

Zelenskyy said Russia was concentrating its firepower on the Donbas front, but Ukraine would hit back with long-range weapons such as the U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers.

"The fact that we protect the lives of our soldiers, our people, plays an equally important role. We will rebuild the walls, we will win back the land, and people must be protected above all else," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

The EU had already proposed to the Ukrainian government a platform to steer reconstruction, which would map investment needs, coordinate action and channel resources, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference on Monday.

Von der Leyen added that she and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, together with international partners, would organize a high-level conference on Ukraine's reconstruction after the summer.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow would respond in kind to Bulgaria's expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats.

The Russian ambassador to Bulgaria, an EU and NATO member state and once a close ally of Russia, said last week she would ask Moscow to close its embassy in Sofia over the expulsions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the international Ukraine Recovery Conference at the Congress Center in Lugano, Switzerland, via video link on Monday.

"The reconstruction of Ukraine is the common task of the whole democratic world" and "the most important contribution to peace in the world," Zelenskyy said. 

The foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland held talks with NATO on Monday on formally starting the process to join the military alliance.

The negotiations, led by Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde and Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto, were made possible after existing NATO member Turkey last week dropped objections. 

The Ukrainian flag has been raised again on Snake Island in the Black Sea, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said on Monday, after Russian troops withdrew from the strategic outpost last week.

"The territory (Snake Island) has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine," Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine's southern military command, told a news conference.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the operation to “liberate the Luhansk People's Republic” was successfully carried out, TASS reported on Monday.

Putin said the troops involved in the “liberation of the Luhansk People's Republic” should rest and increase their capabilities, and "East" and "West" groups of troops must carry out their tasks according to the previous plan, according to the report.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday night vowed to regain lost territory with the help of long-range Western weapons. 

Turkey has halted a Russian-flagged cargo ship off its Black Sea coast and is investigating a Ukrainian claim that it is carrying stolen grain, a senior Turkish official said on Monday.

Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey said on Sunday the Zhibek Zholy ship was detained by Turkish customs authorities. Ukraine previously asked Turkey to detain the vessel, according to an official and documents viewed by Reuters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Mongolia on Tuesday, RIA reported on Monday, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The ministry stated that the ministers will discuss issues on the bilateral agenda, including the development of cooperation in trade, the economy, transport and infrastructure.

President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach visited Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

According to a presidential office statement on Sunday, "Zelenskyy thanked Thomas Bach for the decision to allocate a new support package for Ukrainian Olympians."

The parties also discussed the restoration of sports infrastructure in Ukraine during a meeting, the statement said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday acknowledged that Kyiv's forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk in the eastern Donbas region, but vowed to regain control over the area with the help of long-range Western weapons.

Earlier, Ukraine's military command confirmed that its forces had been forced to retreat from the city after Russia claimed control.

"The continuation of the defense of the city would lead to fatal consequences. In order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw," it said in a statement on social media.

In a nightly video address, Zelenskyy also said that the Ukrainian forces are now gradually pressing in Kharkiv, Kherson and the sea.

(With input from Reuters)

Australia will provide 34 additional armored vehicles to Ukraine and prohibit Russian gold imports, said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Albanese said Australia would impose sanctions and travel bans on 16 more Russian ministers and oligarchs, bringing the total number of Russian individuals sanctioned by Australia to 843.

Albanese said Australia would give Ukraine 20 Bushmasters and other technical equipment such as drones Ukraine requested as part of a new aid package worth AU$100 million ($68 million).

The extra aid announced brings total Australian assistance to Ukraine to about $390 million as Albanese affirmed that his country will support Ukraine for "as long as it takes."

(With input from agencies)

Turkish customs authorities have detained a Russian cargo ship carrying grain which Ukraine says is stolen, Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey said on Sunday.

"We have full cooperation. The ship is currently standing at the entrance to the port, it has been detained by the customs authorities of Turkey," Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said on Ukrainian national television.

Bodnar said that the ship's fate would be decided by a meeting of investigators on Monday.

Russia has not responded to the claims yet. 

Russian diplomats and employees of Russian diplomatic departments who were declared persona non grata are leaving Bulgaria, the Russian Embassy in the country said Sunday.

The mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk Vadym Liakh said "many" people were dead after the city was hit by powerful shelling on Sunday, Reuters reported.

The mayor said 15 fires broke out in the city after the mass shelling.

Tetiana Ihnatchenko, spokesperson for the Donetsk Oblast Administration, told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne News on Sunday that at least six people were killed and another 15 were wounded in the Russian shelling of Sloviansk.

The Ukrainian city Lysychansk is not under "full control" of Russian forces as the country had claimed, an advisor of Ukrainian Defense Ministry Yuri Sak told the BBC on Sunday.

He did admit that the situation in the city has been "very tense" for quite some time.

Commenting on the situation in Donbas in general, Sak told the BBC that "the game is not over."

Germany is discussing security guarantees for Ukraine with its allies, German Chancellor Scholz told broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

"We are discussing with close friends the question of the security guarantees we can give. This is an ongoing process. It is clear that it will not be the same as if someone were a member of NATO," Scholz said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the Kyiv region, Ukraine Now reported on Sunday.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on the "liberation of Luhansk People's Republic" after claiming to have taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, TASS reported on Sunday.

"Russian troops and units of the Luhansk People's Republic are fighting inside Lysychansk, completely defeating the encircled enemy," the ministry said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has yet to respond to the Russian claims, Reuters added.

The Russian defense ministry on Sunday claimed Kyiv launched "a deliberate strike with Tochka-U missiles with cluster munitions and Tu-143 drones on residential areas of Belgorod and Kursk overnight," TASS reported.

The Russian defense ministry also claimed it had encircled the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk.

There is no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claimed via Telegram on Sunday that the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk has been "liberated from Ukrainian forces."

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov announced via Telegram on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have destroyed one of the four Russian military bases in the city, adding that more than 30 strikes were carried out exclusively on the base.

Fedorov also noted that a large flow of evacuees from Melitopol is expected.

There has been no response yet from the Russian side. 

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov of Belgorod Region posted on Telegram on Sunday that three people were killed and four others injured after "a series of loud noises were heard in Belgorod and a private residential building was on fire," adding that at least 39 residences were partially destroyed.

Rescuers later found two bodies in the debris, bringing the total death toll to five, according to the local emergency services.

The cause of the incident is still being investigated.

The professional association of European postal operators PostEurop on Saturday froze the membership of the operators in Russia and Belarus, according to a message circulated by the organization. 

The press service of the Russian Post in Moscow assured to Russian media that this does not affect the work of the Russian post, saying the PostEurop association is only engaged in the exchange of experience and has no effect on postal communication between countries. 

Pro-Russia forces have entered the city center of Ukraine's Lysychansk, which is completely surrounded, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Saturday on his Telegram channel, hinting that a full-scale attack on the city will begin soon.

The forces of the "Luhansk People's Republic (LPR)" and Russia have occupied all the strategically important heights around Lysychansk, encircling Ukrainian groups remaining in the city, Andrey Marochko, an LPR officer told TASS News Agency on Saturday. 

Assistant Minister of the Interior of the "LPR" Vitaly Kiselev told TASS that pro-Russia forces would take full control of Lysychansk in the next couple of days.

However, Ruslan Muzychuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's National Guard, told Ukrainian TV that while fierce fighting is currently taking place near Lysychansk, the city itself is not encircled and remains controlled by Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine is actively working on increasing logistics via western borders to solve the issue of unblocking the export of grain crops, said Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food on Saturday.

"For this month, we expect about two million tons of grain export, which has already moved through new logistics routes: Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. And we have the potential to increase. More than 20 companies are planning or have started building transshipment facilities in these zones," according to a statement from the ministry.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he held a phone talk with Josep Borrell, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, and agreed on the need for the seventh EU sanctions package on Russia.

In a tweet on Saturday, Kuleba said, "we are working on it."

He said they also discussed further steps after Ukraine became an EU candidate country and coordinated positions ahead of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting.

Ukraine claimed that it had destroyed a Grad missile launcher, Pantsir missile system and another anti-aircraft missile on the Snake Island, the spokesperson for the Odesa regional administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, said Saturday on his Telegram channel.

The Russian military has taken over control of the village of Zolotarivka, where only Bilohorivka is left for the complete encirclement of Lysychansk, RIA News Agency reported on Saturday.

Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov inspected Russian troops at the "special military operation" frontline, paying special attention to automated combat control systems, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced $820 million in additional security assistance for Ukraine on Friday, including new surface-to-air missile systems and counter-artillery radars.

Powerful explosions were heard in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, and in the southern city of Mykolaiv on Saturday morning, Ukraine 24 reported.

Air raid sirens were sounded in both regions.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday.

Store said that his country has started to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine and will continue to do so.

He added that Norway will pledge 1 billion euros to support Ukraine over the next two years.

The European Union proposed to allocate one billion euros of financial support to Ukraine, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday.

The German government has initiated the ratification process of the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO in Germany, the cabinet announced, TASS News Agency reported on Friday.

Ukraine has requested Turkey to detain and arrest the Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy carrying a cargo of Ukrainian grain taken from the port of Berdyansk, according to a Ukrainian official and a document seen by Reuters.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry official, citing information received from the country's maritime administration, said the 7,146 dwt Zhibek Zholy had loaded the first cargo of some 4,500 tonnes of grain from Berdyansk, which the official alleged belonged to Ukraine.

Both lines of Nord Stream will be stopped for scheduled maintenance from July 11 to 21, the operator Nord Stream AG said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have discussed the situation in the global food market in a phone conversation, the Kremlin said on Friday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech to the Ukrainian Parliament via video on Friday.

She said Ukraine now has clear European perspective, affirming the EU will stand on the Ukraine's side on its long way to EU membership. 

Australia has imposed sanctions against several Russian officials, including Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, TASS reported on Friday.

Russian missiles hit a high-rise building and a recreation center in Ukraine's Odesa region, killing at least 19 people and wounding 38, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday.

"The death toll is 19 people," wrote Sergiy Kruk, head of the Ukrainian emergency services, on Facebook. Thirty-eight people were wounded, including six children, he added.

The Kremlin denied targeting civilians: "I would like to remind you of the president's words that the Russian Armed Forces do not work with civilian targets," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official at the Ukrainian presidency, earlier put the death toll at 18, including two children.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned British ambassador in Moscow Deborah Bronnert in connection with the "boorish statements" by her country's leadership about Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, TASS reported.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Thursday that Canada is working on finalizing a deal to provide Ukraine with 39 armored combat support vehicles (ACSVs). 

In addition, the Ukrainians will get an additional six high-resolution cameras for use on their highly effective, Turkish-built Bayraktar drones.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has announced that it will sever diplomatic relations with Syria, though consular ties will remain, in response to the recognition of eastern Ukraine's two separatist republics' independence, RIA reported on Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said Washington will announce the provision of $800 million of additional weapons aid to Ukraine in the coming days.

"We are going to support Ukraine as long as it takes," Biden said at a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday met with visiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Kremlin, RIA reported.

The two presidents discussed the situation in Ukraine, gas prices and the recovery of the world economy, as Putin stressed that Russia has not blocked Ukrainian grain exports or stopped Ukraine from demining ports, and has no restrictions on Russia's fertilizer and grain exports.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Thursday that the protocol on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will be signed on July 5.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the total number of Ukrainian soldiers that have been captured or have surrendered is more than 6,000, according to TASS News Agency.

The ministry also confirmed that the largest prisoner exchange since the conflict began took place on Wednesday, with 144 people released respectively from each side.

Ukraine made no immediate comment on the report.

Ukraine can now export electricity to the EU market, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet on Thursday.

"Very glad to announce that as of today, Ukraine can export electricity to the EU market. It will provide an additional source of electricity for the EU. And much-needed revenues to Ukraine. So we both benefit," she wrote.

The State Duma, Russia's Federal Assembly, on Thursday adopted a law for taking mirror measures in response to discrimination against Russian media in other countries, RIA news agency reported.

The legislation gives the prosecutor general and his deputies the right "in the event of unfriendly actions of a foreign state against Russian media abroad to promptly take a decision to ban or restrict the activities of media outlets of this country in Russia."

Swedish defense ministry has said the country will send more anti-tank weapons and machine guns to Ukraine. 

The arms package, which also includes equipment for mine clearing, is valued at around 500 million Swedish crowns ($49 million), the ministry said.

Russian withdrawal of troops from Snake Island shows that Russia does not want to hinder the UN's efforts to organize a corridor for transport of agricultural products from Ukraine, RIA news agency quoted the Russian defense ministry as saying on Thursday.

The withdrawal has also been confirmed by the Ukrainian military command.

A ship carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain left Ukraine's Black Sea port of Berdyansk, the head of Zaporozhye's military-civilian administration, Yevgeny Balitsky, said on Thursday.

"After several months of inactivity, the first merchant ship left the Berdyansk commercial seaport. Seven thousand tonnes of grain went to friendly countries," Balitsky wrote on his Telegram channel without mentioning where the vessel was headed to.

All significant routes to and from the Ukrainian city of Lysychansk have been taken under control by the troops from Russia and the "Luhansk People's Republic (LPR)," RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing Rodion Miroshnik, LPR's representative to Russia.

The official also claimed they have gained the full control of Lysychansk oil refinery, the second-largest oil refinery in the country.

Kyiv did not immediately respond to the claims.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said there was no terrorist attack in Kremenchuk after Ukraine accused Russia of targeting a shopping mall in the city with some 1,000 people inside.

Russian troops do not target civilian targets, Putin told reporters in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, where he attended a Caspian Summit.

Commenting on the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, the Russian president said the special military operation is proceeding according to plan and there is no need to adjust its completion to any deadline.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would respond in kind if NATO set up infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the military alliance.

"If military contingents and military infrastructure were deployed there, we would be obliged to respond symmetrically and raise the same threats for those territories where threats have arisen for us," Putin was quoted on Wednesday by Russian news agencies as saying.

The comment came a day after Turkey lifted its veto over Finland and Sweden's bid to join NATO.

Putin previously said that Russia has "no problem" if Finland and Sweden join NATO.  "There is nothing that could bother us about Sweden and Finland joining NATO. If Finland and Sweden wish to, they can join. That's up to them. They can join whatever they want."

(With input from agencies)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday announced the end of diplomatic ties between Kyiv and Damascus after Syria recognized the independence of eastern Ukraine's two separatist republics.

Britain pledged another 1 billion pounds ($1.2 billion) in military aid to Ukraine Wednesday, including air-defense systems and drones.

Ukraine has received a $1.3 billion grant from the United States as part of a $7.5-billion state budget funding package, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal announced on social media.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addressed global food security issues during a telephone conversation with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday.

Lavrov talked about the situation in Ukraine, with a particular focus on current issues related to the supply of agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Russian diplomat reaffirmed Moscow's commitment to continuing further work aimed at reducing the threats of the food crisis in coordination with the United Nations.

Russia released 144 Ukrainian soldiers in a broad exchange deal, Ukraine said, marking the largest prisoner exchange between the two nations since the start of their military conflict on February 24.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Wednesday in a statement on Telegram that the group included 59 soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine, including 43 from the Azov regiment that fought for Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant.

Most of the released Ukrainians have severe injuries, it said.

(With input from Xinhua)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with visiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday, local media Ukraine 24 reported.

Syria has officially recognized the independence and sovereignty of the "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic," state news agency SANA reported Wednesday. 

Madrid is back into partial lockdown. Only this time, it isn't because of the pandemic. It's because NATO is in town. Madrid is playing host on the 40th anniversary of Spain's accession to the alliance.

In the city center, the famous tourist attractions of The Prado Museum and the Reine Sofia gallery are closed to the public as they are being used for the summit.

Residents and visitors to the Spanish capital are being warned to expect major disruption and the possibility of increased security checks.

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Luis Lopez Blanco, an inspector for summit operational intelligence, said Spanish police had prepared for this event for some time.

"We have been working for months in the analysis, gathering of different information with the main goal of preventing, reacting and if necessary, neutralizing any kind of threat that can occur. The threats can be very different and in different scenarios, from a jihadist attack, violent radical extremism, the cyber sector and also from misinformation."

From Bavaria to Madrid

Many world leaders coming to Madrid attended the recent G7 meeting in Bavaria, where Russia's assault on Ukraine also dominated the agenda. Now they are dealing with the same conflict in another forum - a NATO summit described as the most significant in decades.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to speak to NATO leaders via video link. Much attention will be on Sweden and Finland, who look set for fast-track NATO membership after Turkey lifted a veto on them joining. 

Another significant development has already been announced, with the alliance set to beef up its rapid response force to 300,000 troops.

On Tuesday, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the Madrid summit would set out the organization's strategic direction for the next decade and beyond.

"The Madrid Summit will be a pivotal summit," he said. "We will agree to a new strategic concept, the Madrid Strategic concept, that will be the blueprint for NATO in a more dangerous and unpredictable world. We will agree on a fundamental shift in terms of defense with more high readiness forces, with more forward defense, with more prepositioned equipment.'

NATO getting back to its roots

The move to expand its military presence in eastern Europe has some echoes of the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949.

Then, the U.S and Canada, plus ten western European states, signed the Washington treaty, which created NATO to counter the former Soviet Union's influence in eastern Europe.

More than seven decades later, the alliance finds itself dealing with what it views as a similar threat.

Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, according to a declaration released by the organization on Wednesday. 

The decision came after Turkey inked a deal to lift its veto on the two Nordic countries joining NATO. 

The organization also endorsed a new Strategic Concept, reaffirmed responsibility of ensuring its collective defense, the declaration said. 

On Ukraine, NATO has decided on a strengthened package of support, accelerating delivery of non-lethal defense equipment and modernizing its defense sector. 

(Cover: Leaders pose for the family photo during the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain on June 29, 2022. /CFP)

The Russian foreign ministry summoned the chargé d'affaires of Norway on Wednesday after Norwegian authorities refused to allow Russian ships transit through Svalbard.

Norway's unfriendly actions towards Russia will inevitably lead to retaliatory measures, the ministry said.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic ocean.

Ukraine needs support with both weapons and finance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday.

In a speech to NATO leaders, Zelenskyy said his country needs 5 billion dollars a month to cover its defense and protection needs.

Britain has sanctioned 13 more Russian individuals or entities, according to a statement released on the UK government's official website on Wednesday. 

Amongst those sanctioned is Vladimir Potanin, "Russia's second richest man," the government said.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced U.S. reinforcements of NATO forces in Europe, saying the alliance is needed more today "than it ever has been."

NATO will be "strengthened in all directions across every domain – land, air and sea," he said at a summit of the transatlantic alliance being held in Madrid, Spain.

Biden confirmed that the U.S. will raise the number of destroyers in Spain to six from four and Washington will send two additional F-35 squadrons to Britain and establish the 5th Army headquarters in Poland.

(With input from agencies)

(Cover: U.S. President Joe Biden attends a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at Moncloa Palace ahead of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, June 28, 2022. /Reuters)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has arrived in Ukrainian capital Kyiv for a visit, local media reported on Wednesday.

The Kherson region in southern Ukraine has begun preparations for a referendum on joining Russia, TASS reported on Wednesday, citing the deputy head of the Russian-installed civil-military administration Kirill Stremousov.

The euro exchange rate on the Moscow Exchange fell below 53 rubles for the first time since April 2015 on Wednesday, TASS news agency reported.”

Eight consecutive explosions were heard near Ukraine's southeastern city of Mykolayiv on Wednesday, Al-Jazeera reported.

Turkey signed a memorandum with Finland and Sweden on Tuesday supporting the invitation for the Nordic countries to become members of NATO, the Finnish presidency said.

A trilateral agreement signed in Madrid "confirms that Turkey will at the Madrid Summit this week support the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO," Finnish president Sauli Niinisto said in a statement. 

A four-way meeting of Turkish, Finnish, Swedish and NATO officials has officially begun in Madrid, TRT reported on Tuesday.

The United States has issued a new round of Russia-related sanctions that prohibit imported Russian gold as well as target Russia's state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec and multiple banks, including the Bank of Moscow, the Treasury Department said on its website on Tuesday.

The United States will announce new long-term military deployments across Europe at the NATO summit in Madrid, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.

It's lunchtime at the Inmaculada school in Spain's western city of Salamanca, the new home for Ukrainian orphans flown in by the Spanish air force.

The school, which had been closed in recent years due to lack of use, has now been reopened to welcome its new students from the east of Ukraine.

The surroundings are peaceful and there is ample space to play and learn - a far cry from where the children have come in the Donbas region.

Soon after the Ukraine-Russia conflict began, the Madrina Foundation in Spain heard that 85 orphans were trapped in the village of Nikolievka by nearby fighting.

The foundation contacted the Ukrainian government and with the help of the Spanish Air Force pulled off a remarkable feat.

Escaping the conflict

The children traveled alongside Madrina Foundation members for 24 hours on a bus, trying to avoid the areas of conflict, to reach Krakow. From there they were taken to a military base in Madrid.

It's an incredible story of survival and courage that brought them to Salamanca.

The children were accompanied by 13 teachers and helpers from Ukraine. Now in Spain, volunteers aid their daily activities.

The Ukrainian children all have special needs and require a dedicated team who know their individual requirements.

They appear to have adapted well to their new surroundings.

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CGTN Europe spoke to Borja Rosales, a volunteer with the Madrina Foundation.

"You have seen the grounds, space to run around, football pitch, fantastic weather," he said. "So they are really happy. It's amazing how well and how happy they are, to be honest."

The children traveled with the head of their orphanage, Elena Syrina, who has dedicated her life to their care.

Syrina has made their assimilation easier by replicating their school timetable, teaching in their local language, and cooking familiar food.

This group of orphans are so close to their teachers, that they call them "mother" and "father."

Elena wants her children to be safe but still hopes the move to Spain is a temporary measure.

"We really love our country Ukraine and we really hope that we can return soon but we just don't know when or how that will happen," she said.

Sadly, for this brave group of children and their teachers, a return to their homeland does not feel like it will happen anytime soon.

The Parliament of Lithuania has made new legal amendments banning the import of gas from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe on Tuesday, his first trip abroad since February 24.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is now delivering an opening speech as he chairs a NATO Summit in Madrid, held from June 28 to 30.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Finland will provide an additional 70 million euros to Ukraine in humanitarian aid.

Finland's long-term development cooperation in Ukraine focuses on education, rule of law, energy and climate resilience, the ministry said. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Western nations of dragging out the Ukraine conflict, at a press conference following a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Caspian states on Tuesday.

"The more weapons are pumped into Ukraine, the longer this conflict will last," said Lavrov.

Lavrov said the strengthening of NATO on the eastern flank is a continuation of an unacceptable trend towards bringing the alliance closer to the borders of Russia.

When asked about the recent attack on a shopping center, in which Ukraine said dozens of people were killed, Lavrov said that Russian forces attacked hangars with American weapons in Ukraine's Kremenchuk, causing the shopping center to catch fire. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Dushanbe on Tuesday, marking his first trip abroad since February 24.

He will meet Tajik President Emomali Rahmon later.

TOP HEADLINES

• A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in central Ukraine killed at least 18 people and injured another 59, in what G7 leaders branded "a war crime" at a meeting in Germany where they looked to step up sanctions on Moscow. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia's defense ministry said it fired missiles against a weapons depot in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, with the subsequent explosion of ammunition triggering a fire in a nearby shopping mall.

• Russia will likely be an even greater threat to European security after the war in Ukraine than it was before, said British army chief Patrick Sanders.

• NATO allies will boost high readiness forces to "well over 300,000" troops as they strengthen their defenses in response to Russia's offensive in Ukraine, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday. 

• G7 leaders have agreed to work on a price cap for Russian oil, a U.S. official said, as part of efforts to cut the Kremlin's revenues. G7 leaders will "task ministers to work urgently towards developing, consulting with third countries and the private sector in an effort to develop a price cap around oil," the senior official told reporters.

• G7 leaders will pledge about $5 billion to help resolve food supply problems spreading worldwide, in large part due to Russia's attack on major agricultural supplier Ukraine, a U.S. official said.

• Ukraine has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over Russian strikes on civilian targets, the UN body said, scheduling the event for Tuesday at 1900 GMT. The missile strike on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk "is the main focus" of the meeting, said a spokesman for the Albanian mission, which holds the rotating Security Council presidency.

• Russian hacker group Killnet said it was continuing a major cyber attack on Lithuania in retaliation for Vilnius's decision to cease the transit of some goods under European Union sanctions to Russia's Kaliningrad exclave.

• Moody's ratings agency has confirmed that Russia defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in a century, after bond holders did not receive $100 million in interest payments. READ MORE BELOW

• Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar, which has President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law as one of its directors, offered three of its drones to the Ukrainian army.

IN DETAIL

Russian denies targeting a busy mall in Kremenchuk

A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in central Ukraine killed at least 18 people in what G7 leaders branded "a war crime" at a meeting in Germany where they looked to step up sanctions on Moscow.

The leaders vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible would be held to account for the strike in the city of Kremenchuk, carried out during the shopping mall's busiest hours.

"Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime," they said in a statement condemning the "abominable attack."

Ukraine accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling it "one of the most brazen terrorist acts in European history" in his evening broadcast posted on Telegram.

"A peaceful town, an ordinary shopping center – women, children, ordinary civilians inside," said Zelenskyy, who earlier shared a video of the mall engulfed in flames with dozens of rescuers and a fire truck outside.

Dmytro Lunin, Governor of the Poltava region where Kremenchuk is located, said 18 people were killed in the attack. According to the emergency services, another 59 were wounded.

In a statement posted on its Telegram channel, Moscow's defense ministry said "In Kremenchuk, Russian forces struck a weapons depot storing arms received from the United States and Europe with high-precision air-based weapons. 

"As a result of the precision strike, Western-made weapons and ammunition concentrated in the warehouse... were hit," it continued. "The detonation of stored ammunition for Western weapons caused a fire in a non-functioning shopping center located next to the depot."

Moscow insists it has the funds to honor the country's debt

Russia said two of its debt payments were blocked from reaching creditors, pushing the country closer to its first foreign default in a century due to sanctions over the Ukraine offensive.

The announcement came on the 124th day of Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, with Western sanctions so far failing to force the Kremlin to change its course.

The Western economic penalties have largely severed the country from the international financial system, making it difficult for Moscow to service its debt.

The Russian authorities insist they have the funds to honor the country's debt, calling the predicament a "farce" and accusing the West of seeking to drive Moscow into a default artificially.

"There are no grounds to call this situation a default," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters after a key payment deadline expired on Sunday.

"These claims about default, they are absolutely wrong," he said, adding that Russia settled the debt in May.

Russia lost the last avenue to service its foreign-currency loans after the United States removed an exemption last month that allowed U.S. investors to receive Moscow's payments.

A 30-day grace period expired on Sunday night for the payment of $100 million in interest payments, most of which had to be paid in foreign currency.

Ukraine said on Tuesday it had exchanged with Moscow the remains of 46 killed soldiers, including 21 soldiers who died in the fighting in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.  

Ukrainian officials said the exchange took place in the region of Zaporizhzhia, without providing the exact date.  

There has been no confirmation from Russia.

The G7 nations said they would continue to impose severe and immediate economic costs on Russia over its military operation against Ukraine, according to a communique issued by the group on Tuesday.

A missile attack hit a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday, killing 20 and injuring at least 59, the country's Ukrinform news agency reported Tuesday, citing Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office.

He said the search continues for more people. 

Ukraine on Monday accused Russia of targeting the shopping mall with more than 1,000 people inside.

But Russia's defense ministry on Tuesday denied the missiles strike on the shopping mall, saying it had struck a weapons depot and a subsequent explosion of ammunition had triggered a fire in the nearby mall.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a visit to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, on Wednesday, the Kremlin said.

Putin is making his first known trip abroad since February 24, when Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine. He will return to Moscow on Wednesday evening, the Kremlin said.

Putin is expected to meet Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe on Tuesday.

(With input from Reuters)

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires on Tuesday to inform him about the termination of the activities of the Swedish International Development Agency and the Swedish Institute in Russia. 

Leaders of the G7 countries have pledged an additional $4.5 billion "to ensure global food security," amounting to a total of over $14 billion in 2022, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

The G7 leaders urged countries and companies with large food stockpiles to help ease shortages.

The leaders also said they would continue to ensure that their sanctions packages are not targeting food and allow for the free flow of agricultural products, including from Russia, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Russia has expanded its sanctions list with the addition of 25 U.S. citizens, including the wife and daughter of President Joe Biden, RIA news agency reported on Tuesday. 

G7 leaders have agreed to study placing price caps on imports of Russian oil and gas to try to limit Moscow's ability to fund its military operation in Ukraine, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing G7 officials.

Also, the European Union will explore, along with international partners, ways to curb energy prices, including the feasibility of introducing temporary import price caps, according to a section of the final G7 communique seen by Reuters. 

(With input from Reuters)

The Russian Aerospace forces have attacked hangars housing weapons from the U.S. and the EU in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk with high-precision weapons and the detonation of ammunition caused a fire in a nearby non-working shopping center, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

At least 16 people have been killed and scores injured after a Russian missile hit a crowded shopping center in Kremenchuk on Monday, the Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that during a phone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg he stressed the importance of putting in place a powerful missile defense system for Ukraine to prevent Russian attacks.

Stoltenberg reaffirmed NATO’s support for Ukraine after the call. "At our NATO Summit we will step up support for our close partner Ukraine, now and for the longer term," he tweeted.

G7 leaders will pledge up to $5 billion to improve global food security, DPA news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a senior White House official.

There has been no official confirmation from the G7. 

U.S. President Joe Biden plans to announce the extension of U.S. military presence in Poland and changes to U.S. deployments in several Baltic countries during the NATO summit in Europe, NBC reported on Tuesday.

The changes could affect countries such as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The White House has not responded yet.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday announced new sanctions against 74 people and businesses in Russia and Belarus.

The sanctions include 46 entities linked to the Russian defense sector and 15 Ukrainians who "support the Russian occupation of the country."

The Canadian government has also sanctioned 13 people linked to government and defense, and two entities in Belarus.

At least 18 people were killed and 59 others wounded in a missile strike on a mall in Kremenchuk in central Ukraine, the head of Ukraine's emergency services said on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said in a Telegram message on Monday that more than 1,000 civilians were at the mall when the missile hit and accused Russia of the attack. 

The mall is roughly the size of two football fields and the strike occurred at around 4 p.m. local time.

Photos from the scene showed heavy smoke billowing from the building, which is engulfed by fire. 

The Ukrainian Air Force Command said the mall had been hit by at least one Kh-22 missile fired by Tu-22 M3 bombers operating in the Kursk region of Russia, near the Ukrainian border. 

Russia has not yet officially commented on the strike. Russian First Deputy Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky retweeted a post about Zelenskyy's claim. 

Calling the attack an apparent new Bucha-style Ukrainian provocation, Polyansky said there are too many striking discrepancies already. "Exactly what Kiev regime needs to keep focus of attention on Ukraine before NATO summit," he said. 

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday, with the Kremenchuk attack being "the main focus," the UN body said.

Canada on Monday announced more measures in response to Russia's military operation in Ukraine, including additional sanctions and a ban on the export of technologies that could help improve Russia's defense manufacturing capability.

The new sanctions would target six individuals and 46 entities linked to the Russian defense sectors, 15 Ukrainians supporting Russia, and 13 individuals and two entities in Belarus, according to a statement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office.

(With input from Reuters)

U.S. Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv this weekend, making a surprise visit to the country, U.S. media has reported.

Russian Foreign Ministry declared eight Greek diplomats personae non gratae and demanded them to leave Russia in eight days.

A missile hit a crowded shopping center in Kremenchuk, Ukraine's central Poltava region, on Monday, local media reported, citing the city's mayor.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that more than 1,000 people were in the shopping center at the time of the attack. He gave no details of casualties but said: "It is impossible to even imagine the number of victims."

Russia will host the Caspian Economic Forum in October, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Monday, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin would hold separate bilateral meetings with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after the completion of the summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Indonesia's invitation to take part in the G20 summit, and the format of participation is still being specified, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed on Monday. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Kyiv on Monday.

The G7 countries have promised Ukraine 28 billion euros worth of financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic aid, following talks with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 summit, according to a statement issued by the group. 

The G7 has committed to help Ukraine cover its short-term budgetary funding shortfalls, including a $7.5 billion commitment from the United States from the recently passed second supplemental, said the White House on Monday.

Following the briefing from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, the G7 leaders issued a statement in which they pledged to continue coordinating efforts to meet Ukraine's urgent need for military equipment.

"We are determined to reduce Russia's revenues, including from gold," added the statement.

The British government has announced plans to introduce new trade sanctions against Russia this week and next month, according to a joint statement by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, published on Monday on the website of the British government.

Russia imposed sanctions on 43 Canadian citizens on Monday, including federal and regional officials, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged G7 leaders gathered in Germany on Monday to do their utmost to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict by the end of this year, a source told AFP.

The Kremlin rejected "unlawful" claims on Monday that it had defaulted on its foreign debt, instead claiming that Russia made its bond payments due in May.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu arrived in Ukraine on Monday, according to the UNIAN news outlet.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to control the process of import substitution very strictly, Lukashenko said at a meeting with the governor of Russia's Samara region Dmitry Azarov.

Ukraine has terminated two agreements with Russia in the field of nuclear safety, the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine said in a statement on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Germany on Monday in a video call with G7 leaders. 

Zelenskyy told G7 leaders that he wanted Russia-Ukraine conflict to end before the winter sets in, two European Union diplomats told news agencies.

The three-day gathering kicked off Sunday in the Bavarian Alps against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The United States on Monday announced new G7 sanctions targeting Russia's defense industry.

"G7 leaders will align and expand targeted sanctions to further restrict Russia's access" to Western technology that can support the Russian arms industry, the White House said in a statement.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday he would take a decision nearer to the time on whether to attend the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Indonesia in November if Russian President Vladimir Putin also attends.

Scholz, speaking to German television from the G7 summit he is hosting in the Bavarian Alps, said it was important not to "torpedo" the G20 summit. 

Japan has imposed new sanctions against Russia including a freeze on the assets of 70 more Russian citizens and organizations and a ban on exports to 90 defense-related entities, according to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday that she's against excluding Russian President Vladimir Putin from the upcoming G20 summit this November in Indonesia.

Speaking to German broadcaster ZDF on the sidelines of the G7 summit, von der Leyen said she thinks it's better if Putin attends the meeting.

"I think it's better - if he does come - to tell him to his face what we think. And then he should also take a stand," she said.

The U.S. plans to announce as soon as this week that it has purchased an advanced, medium-to-long range surface-to-air missile defense system for Ukraine, CNN reported citing sources.

There is no confirmation from the White House so far.

Two Russian missiles struck near the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy on Sunday, killing one person and wounding five others, the regional authorities said.

"Today, the enemy launched missile attacks on the Cherkasy region. There are 2 strikes near the regional center. One dead and five wounded. Infrastructure damaged," said Governor Ihor Taburets on the Telegram app.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to provide more support for Ukraine, Johnson's office said on Sunday as the leaders met on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit.

"They agreed this is a critical moment for the course of the conflict, and there is an opportunity to turn the tide in the war," a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.  

The Russian forces hit training centers of the Ukrainian troops in the Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Lviv regions with high-precision weapons, the Russian defense ministry said on Sunday. 

And more than 720 Ukrainian nationalists and 12 tanks were destroyed as a result of air strikes, missile forces and artillery, the ministry added.

Ihor Zhovkva, diplomatic advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Saturday that Ukraine recognizes that NATO membership is "not feasible in the short term" but wants the alliance to reaffirm its partnership.

President of the European Council Charles Michel said on Sunday that the EU is ready for more detailed discussions on a possible Russian gold import ban.

His remarks came after U.S. and British leaders said the G7 would ban Russian gold imports.

At least one person was killed following a missile strike in Kyiv's central Shevchenkivskiy district on Sunday morning, Ukrainian media Ukrayinska Pravda reported, citing Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko.  

The strike partially destroyed a nine-storey apartment building and caused a fire, the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.

"There are people under the rubble," Klitschko said, adding that several people had already been hospitalized.

"They (the rescuers) have pulled out a seven-year-old girl. She is alive. Now they're trying to rescue her mother."

The head of Ukraine's police force Ihor Klymenko said in a separate comment that at least five people were wounded when the missile hit a building in central Kyiv, Reuters reported.

Life had been returning to normal in Kyiv after fierce resistance held off Russian advances in the early phase of the conflict, although air raid sirens regularly sound across the city.

There had been no major strikes on Kyiv since early June.

The key eastern battlefield city of Sievierodonetsk fell to pro-Russian forces on Saturday after Ukrainian troops retreated, saying there was no longer anything to defend in the ruined city after months of fierce fighting.

Calling for both sides to negotiate a peace deal to ensure global food supplies, Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday said he will urge his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to start a dialogue during a peace-building mission to both countries next week. 

(With input from agencies)

The Group of Seven (G7) countries will announce a ban on Russian gold imports, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a tweet on Sunday. Earlier, the British government confirmed that Russian gold would no longer be allowed to enter the UK, Canada, the U.S. and Japan.

"Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia," Biden said as G7 leaders gathered in Germany.

Reuters quoted a senior U.S. administration official saying the ban would be announced on Tuesday.

"Today, the U.S. and the UK are announcing that G7 leaders will ban imports of Russian gold. The official announcement will come on Tuesday," the official said.

Russia is the world's second-largest producer of gold, accounting for 10 percent of the global output, according to the latest data from the World Gold Council. Gold exports are a major source of revenue for the country, worth $15.45 billion last year.

The move would add to a series of widespread sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia since the Ukraine crisis began on February 24. The sanctions are targeted at crushing the Russian economy, including bans or curbs on oil and gas imports from Russia.

EU agreed earlier this month to cut 90 percent of oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022, cutting off another vital source of funding for Russia.

As missiles struck the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, hitting an apartment block and a kindergarten, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the G7 must respond with more weapons and tougher sanctions on Russia.

The first session of the G7 summit will focus on the global economy and concerns over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has driven up energy and food prices globally, according to Al Jazeera.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected troops involved in the "special military operation" in Ukraine, the ministry said on Sunday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated on Sunday that four G7 powers – Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States – will ban Russian gold exports.

Britain and the U.S. would announce their decision on Sunday, followed by an official announcement on Tuesday, a senior U.S. administration official said on Sunday.

The U.S. Treasury Department will issue a determination to prohibit the import of new gold into the U.S. on Tuesday. The move is aimed at further isolating Russia from the global economy by preventing its participation in the gold market, according to Reuters.

During the summit, the G7 leaders are expected to seek to show a united front on supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary and cranking up pressure on the Kremlin - although they will want to avoid sanctions that could stoke inflation and exacerbate the cost-of-living crisis affecting their own people.

Western sanctions on Russia have not directly targeted commercial gold shipments, but many banks, shippers and refiners stopped dealing with Russian metal after the conflict in Ukraine began.

Banning the import of Russian gold would be the latest of several rafts of sanctions targeting Moscow since its conflict with Ukraine erupted on February 24, which UN estimated has killed over thousands.

(With input from agencies)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson approved an additional $525 million loan guarantee for Ukraine on Saturday, bringing total UK economic and humanitarian support to over $1.84 billion.

Russia will supply Belarus with Iskander-M missile systems, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a televised meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday.

Delivery will take place within a few months, he added.

The Iskander-M is a mobile guided missile system with a range of up to 500 km (300 miles). The missiles can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

(With input from Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko discussed the situation related to the supply of fertilizers to the world market during talks in St. Petersburg on Saturday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday signaled no progress on Sweden's bid to join NATO in a phone call with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, urging Stockholm to take "concrete actions" to meet Ankara's concerns.

According to his office, Erdogan reiterated that "Sweden should take steps regarding such fundamental matters as combatting terrorism" and said Ankara "wanted to see binding commitments on these issues together with concrete and clear action."

The mayor of Severodonetsk said on Saturday that the city was fully under Russian control after weeks of fighting and bombardment, RBC Ukraine reported.

"The city is now under the full occupation of Russia. They are trying to establish their own order, as far as I know they have appointed some kind of commandant," Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on national television. Severodonetsk is a southeastern town in Ukraine. 

TOP HEADLINES

• Ukrainian forces have been ordered to retreat from the key battleground city of Sievierodonetsk after weeks of fierce street fighting, a move seen by Russia as a significant victory in its fight to take control of Donbas, the country's industrial heartland. 

• Sievierodonetsk's twin city Lysychansk is now set to become the next main focus of fighting, with a Russian-backed separatist leader saying it would take just a week and a half to secure full control of the last Ukrainian-held city in Luhansk. 

• Luhansk's governor said Russia had continued to launch artillery and air strikes on the cities, hitting a chemical plant where hundreds of civilians were trapped, while also attempting to enter and blockade Lysychansk.

• South of Sievierodonetsk, Ukrainian soldiers have also retreated from the towns of Hirske and Zolote in the face of intense Russian assaults, but had some success in the southern Kherson region, according to Kyiv. The country's foreign minister said that retreating did not mean losing the war.

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he fears Ukraine could be pressured or even "coerced" to accept a "bad peace" deal with Russia due to the economic consequences of the conflict in Europe.

• Ukraine's northern border region of Chernihiv came under "massive bombardment" from Belarus, the Ukrainian army said on Saturday, as fears grow the Russian ally could fully join the conflict and launch an assault from the north, forcing Kyiv to redirect troops from fierce fighting along the eastern Donbas frontline.

• EU leaders have agreed to grant "candidate status" to Ukraine and neighboring Moldova, in a show of support amid the conflict. Russia said the decision amounted to the EU "enslaving" its surrounding countries in an attempt to "contain Russia" geopolitically.

• The G7 rich countries are expected to put on a show of united, long-term support for Ukraine at a summit starting on Sunday, even as the conflict's growing impact on the world economy tests their resolve.

• The first trial of a Russian soldier charged with raping a Ukrainian woman during the conflict has got underway, commencing what prosecutors say could be dozens of such cases.

• It would take Ukraine a decade to build infrastructure capable of replacing its Black Sea ports, which are currently blockaded, preventing grain exports around the world, according to Ukraine's deputy agriculture minister. Germany has accused Russia of taking the world hostage with its "grain war".

IN DETAIL

What the fall of Sievierodonetsk means for Ukraine

It has taken Russia weeks of intense fighting, many casualties, and relentless shelling before the Ukrainian soldiers holding out in the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk received orders to retreat.

"Remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense," Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the wider region, said on Ukrainian television on Friday.

An estimated 90 percent of the industrial city's buildings damaged, the majority of its some 100,000 residents having fled, and with limited immediate strategic value beyond a sprawling chemicals plant, it may not seem like such a big prize.

However, Sievierodonetsk's capture, if and when officially confirmed, will be thought of by Russia as evidence that its change in strategy from its early and unsuccessful attempts at "lightning warfare" to a much slower offensive reliant on long-range shelling rather than close-quarters combat, is working.

Sievierodonetsk would be the biggest Ukrainian city Russia has captured since it took control of Mariupol last month.

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"Our military has changed tactics," said one Russian government official.

"They know how to do it now. Yes it's slow, but the strategy works and it means far less casualties," said the official.

Konrad Muzyka, a Poland-based military analyst, said the tactical change meant Moscow could commit fewer troops to offensives amid unconfirmed suggestions that Russia is experiencing manpower issues.

"Whatever they did, it is working for them," said Muzyka.

"Another thing is we don't know what's going on with the Ukrainians; their manpower, losses and so on. From their point of view officially, everything is rosy. But it certainly is not this way."

The fall of Sievierodonetsk would mean only one other major settlement in Ukraine's Luhansk region remained in Ukrainian control – the nearby twin city of Lysychansk, which lies across the Siverskyi Donets River and on high ground, making it harder to overwhelm.

Luhansk is one of two regions that make up the wider Donbas area, the capture of which Moscow has made the main aim of its assault in Ukraine.

Russia still faces serious obstacles in its campaign to control the area: Ukraine still holds almost half of the Donetsk region, the other region it is targeting, including the heavily fortified cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

The mayor of Ukraine's Severodonetsk said Ukrainian troops had "almost left" the strategic frontline city after holding out for weeks against advancing Russian forces.

Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk did not confirm whether a complete withdrawal was underway. However, on Friday, regional authorities said Ukraine was set to pull back its troops there.

"Unfortunately, they have almost left the city," Stryuk said on national television.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that he had discussed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the application of Finland and Sweden for membership into the alliance, as negotiations will continue next week.

"Good call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of our valued ally Turkey to discuss Finland and Sweden's NATO applications. We agreed to continue the talks in Brussels and Madrid next week," Stoltenberg posted on his official Twitter account.

U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems are already working and hitting targets in Ukraine, the country's top general said on Saturday.

"Artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine skillfully hit certain targets - military targets of the enemy on our Ukrainian territory," Chief of Ukraine's General Staff Valeriy Zaluzhnyi wrote on the Telegram app.

Russia has begun the production of serial intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) "Sarmat," Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said Saturday in an interview with the Rossiya-24.

He added that the state corporation is preparing for the second launch of the "Sarmat" intercontinental ballistic missile, and work is proceeding according to schedule.

The Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center claimed missiles fired from Belarus hit toward Chernihiv border region on Friday night, Ukraine 24 reported, saying "this is the first case of an air strike on Ukraine from Belarus."

There is no word yet from Belarus or Russia on such claims.

Ukrainian forces have been ordered to withdraw from the key battleground city of Sievierodonetsk after weeks of fierce street fighting, as there was very little left to defend in the bombed-out eastern city, Ukrainian officials said.

Photos from Kharkiv, Ukraine on Friday show a region destroyed. Specialized teams worked to defuse a bomb that was left undetonated in an apartment building since March.  

A yoga practitioner posed in a handstand this week near an upright missile in Freedom Square of Kharkiv earlier in the week.  

Russia’s military operation continues in the country.  Officials from the embattled city of Sievierodonetsk said Friday most of its infrastructure has been completely destroyed.

Reuters reports that the latest Russian advances appeared to bring the Kremlin closer to taking full control of Luhansk, one of Moscow’s stated objectives, and set the stage for Sievierodonetsk’s twin city of Lysychansk to become the next main focus of fighting.

For more, check out our exclusive content on CGTN Now and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The China Report.

An emergency services official said on Friday that Ukraine will need at least a decade to clear all the mines and explosives from its land and territorial waters once its conflict with Russia is over. 

Ukraine has managed to clear 620 square kilometres of land that were littered with thousands of explosive devices, including 2,000 bombs dropped from the air, but nearly 300,000 square kilometres are still seen as "contaminated", the official said.

That is an area roughly half the size of Ukraine's territory, and about as large as Italy.

"Up to 10 years, that's the optimistic figure. Because we don't know what's happening on the territories where active combat is ongoing right now," Oleksandr Khorunzhiy, spokesperson for Ukraine's State Emergency Service, said.

(With input from Reuters)

The leaders of the EU's 27 member countries have unanimously approved Ukraine and Moldova's candidate status to join the European Union. It's something Ukraine has been pushing for since it became independent in the 1990's. 

The news has provided a huge boost to morale after recent losses on the battlefield.

There are EU and Ukrainian flags fluttering side by side in the wind, in Kyiv's European Square. This emblematic location in the old town has changed names many times over the years. 

It was Stalin Square, followed by Adolf Hitler Square and then Lenin Square before finally getting its present name shortly after Ukraine became independent in the 1990s.  

It's an indication of just how long Ukrainians have waited to be part of the European family.

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Finally on Thursday night, European leaders gave their formal consent for this troubled country to gain candidate status to join the EU. 

Making the announcement at the press conference, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke of the significance of the vote.

"Let me stress that I'm deeply convinced that our decision that we have taken today strengthens us all," she said. "It strengthens Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia" – the latter also having been granted candidacy if it fulfils certain conditions – "in the face of Russian aggression, and it strengthens the European Union because it shows once again to the world that the European Union is united and strong in the face of external threats."

After addressing the EU summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy then posted a video looking to the future.

"Ukraine is not a sphere of influence, a transit territory between the west and Russia, not a border between orcs and elves," Zelenskiy said in a televised broadcast. "Ukraine is a future equal partner for at least 27 EU countries." 

He also spoke of just how long it's taken to get this far.

It was in Maidan square when in 2014 the real push for EU membership began. It was the pro EU protests in 2014 which led to the Maidan Revolution overthrowing the Russian-backed president Victor Yanokovich who fled to Moscow.

Later that year Russian President Vladimir Putin took over Crimea and helped Ukrainian separatists seize parts of the Donbas region.

Now Ukrainians fear he is trying to take the rest in what's become the largest and bloodiest land conflict since World War II.

Reaction in Kyiv

In achieving candidate status, Ukraine has signaled that its future is with Europe rather than Russia's sphere of influence. And on the streets of Kyiv the news was greeted with relief. 

"I am very, very happy, I've been waiting for this. I want to stay alive long enough to see my grandchildren citizens of the EU," factory worker Vera said in Maidan square. 

Travel agent, Vitaliy, hoped that EU candidate status would help with their current struggle. "Putin go away," he said, "we are together with Europe and maybe we will win in one or two months. We are united with Europe."

Full EU membership, though, remains many years away. The government here acknowledges that there is much to do, with legislation needed to reform the economy, strengthen the rule of law and the judiciary and step up the fight against corruption

This is just the first step on a long road towards EU membership. But for a country torn by conflict, it is, at least, a step in the right direction.

A district south of Lysychansk in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region was "fully occupied" by Russian forces as of Friday morning, a local Ukrainian official said on television.

"Unfortunately, as of today... the entire Hirske district is occupied," Hirske's municipal head Oleksiy Babchenko said on a television broadcast. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku following their meeting on Friday.

Lavrov said Russia does not believe it is threatened by the EU's decision to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and Russia has no illusions that the EU will change its anti-Russian course any time soon. 

The EU's behavior shows that it does not want to honor its agreement with Russia to create a common space, Lavrov said, adding that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs countries was suspended at the initiative of the United States and France.

Germany is heading for a gas shortage if Russian gas supplies remain as low as they are now, and certain industries would have to be shut down if there is not enough come winter, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told Der Spiegel magazine on Friday.

"Companies would have to stop production, lay off their workers, supply chains would collapse, people would go into debt to pay their heating bills, that people would become poorer," Habeck said.

Ukrainian troops repelled a Russian attack on the southern outskirts of Lysychansk, the region's governor said on Friday.

Serhiy Gaidai wrote on the Telegram that Russia had, however, taken control of the village of Mykolaivka, located near a key highway to Lysychansk, which has been the focus of heavy fighting.

But Ukrainian troops will have to be withdrawn from the battleground city of Severodonetsk, Gaidai said on television, adding that "remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense."

The United States will provide an additional $450 million in security assistance to Ukraine, including more long-range rocket systems, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the package would be valued at up to $450 million and include four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 18 coastal and riverine patrol boats and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

European Union (EU) leaders have accepted Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for membership of the bloc, European Council President Charles Michel said on Thursday.

"Agreement. #EUCO has just decided EU candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova. A historic moment," Michel announced on Twitter. EUCO is short for the European Council, which is currently being attended by EU leaders in Brussels.

The heads of state and government of the EU member states approved the European Commission's recommendation at the start of their two-day summit in Brussels from Thursday to Friday.

Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after the conflict with Russia began in the end of February.

The country handed its application on February 28. Moldova applied for EU membership on March 3.

Georgia applied for the EU membership on the same day with Moldova, but the European Commission said earlier last week that Georgia's application would be re-examined at a later stage when further reforms will have been made.

The EU candidate countries would need to meet accession conditions to be able to join the bloc, including on issues relating to justice, anti-corruption mechanisms and rule of law, among others, according to EU's criteria.

Michel also said that the EU leaders had also "decided to recognize the European perspective of Georgia," adding that the council was "ready to grant candidate status once the outstanding priorities are addressed."

"A historic moment in EU-Georgia relations: Georgia's future lies within the EU," he wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the decision as "a unique and historical moment in Ukraine-EU," as he thanked EU leaders for their support.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warned on Thursday the ripple effect of the Russia-Ukraine conflict threatens to exacerbate the food crisis in Ethiopia.

In an operational update report, the WFP said Ukraine and Russia account for over three-quarters of WFP's wheat stockpile, further putting pressure on its operations across the globe including Ethiopia.

The WFP report also said Ethiopia is a large importer of wheat from both Ukraine and Russia, with the supply interruption related to the Ukraine crisis threatening to exacerbate the east African country's food insecurity.

"The crisis in Ukraine also threatens to push the cost of wheat and fertilizer beyond the means of millions of Ethiopian farmers, threatening this year's harvest," the WFP report further revealed.

According to official data, Ethiopia registered a record high of 43.9 percent food inflation in May, with a combination of conflict and drought contributing to increasing food prices in the country.

The UN agency also warned there is a looming malnutrition crisis in Ethiopia due to a severe lack of funding for its operations.

According to the WFP, between January to April, WFP managed to only reach 40 percent of the 1.4 million acutely malnourished women and children in northern Ethiopia with nutrition treatment due to the severe lack of funding.

The UN agency is aiming to reach more than 11 million vulnerable people in Ethiopia over the next six months but is grappling with a 470 million U.S. dollars funding gap.

Russia informed the French Ambassador to Russia on Friday that one of France's diplomatic staffers was no longer welcome in Russia, a spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"We regret this unjustified decision", the Ministry added when asked to confirm.

U.S. sportswear giant Nike is making a full exit from Russia, three months after suspending its operations there, the company said in an emailed statement on Thursday.

U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems have arrived in Ukraine, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Caspian Sea Littoral States Summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on June 29, TASS reported on Thursday, citing Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Established by Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, the summit is a platform to discuss the utilization and development of Caspian Sea resources.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has arrived in Russia and will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution supporting EU candidacy for Ukraine and Moldova.

With 529 votes to 45 and 14 abstentions, the parliament adopted a resolution calling on the heads of state or government – who hold their summit Thursday and Friday – to grant EU candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova "without delay."

EU leaders are widely expected to endorse the two countries as candidate members to join the European Union during the two-day summit. 

"We are waiting for the green light, Ukraine has earned candidate status," said Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, on Telegram. He added that Ukraine's goal is "full membership in the EU."

In a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stressed the need for greater cooperation and coordination between the two countries to deal with the U.S.' economic sanctions, al-Mayadeen news website reported on Thursday. 

Raisi said provocations from the U.S. and NATO were the cause of the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, according to the report.

The UK announced new sanctions against Russia on Thursday, a notice published on the government's website said.

The new sanctions prohibit the export of a range of goods and technology to Russia, including jet fuel and the sterling or EU-denominated banknotes.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a joint press conference following bilateral talks in Tehran on Thursday.

Lavrov said that Moscow fully supports revival of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

Amir-Abdollahian said all U.S. sanctions should be removed for revival of Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact and blamed U.S. for the stalled talks. 

Germany entered Phase 2 of its three-stage emergency gas plan on Thursday due to reduced supply from Russia and high prices but is not yet triggering a clause that lets utilities pass on soaring gas costs to customers, the Economy Ministry said.

The Phase 2 "alarm stage" kicks in when the government sees a high risk of long-term gas shortages.

European Council President Charles Michel said he believes that Thursday's summit of EU heads of state will grant the status of candidates for membership to Ukraine and Moldova, RIA reported.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss held a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Thursday.

Truss said Turkey is a key strategic partner of the UK, and the UK aims to work more closely with Turkey in the field of energy.

The crisis around grain trapped in Ukraine must be resolved in the next month, Truss said, adding that Turkey has played leading role in opening a grain export corridor from Ukraine.

The Czech government has approved the decision of the foreign ministry to extend the ban on the issuance of visas and residence permits to citizens of Russia and Belarus until the end of March 2023, the CTK news agency reported.

Russian forces have captured the settlements of Loskutivka and Rai-Oleksandrivka south of Ukrainian cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Thursday.

Ukrainian forces continue the defense of Severodonetsk and the nearby settlements of Zolote and Vovchoyrovka, he said.

Earlier, Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian president, said fighting for the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk was "entering a sort of fearsome climax."

(With input from Reuters)

The temperature of relations between Japan and Russia has dropped to zero, the deputy of the upper house of the Japanese parliament, Muneo Suzuki told Russia's RIA news agency in an interview published on Thursday. 

"I am very upset and disappointed with the situation that has now developed. Now, due to the actions of the Japanese government, relations temperature has dropped to zero. I think this is very serious," he said.

The Japanese lawmaker has publicly criticized sanctions against Russia by Kishida's administration illogical and said they were inspired by the West.

Leaders at the upcoming G7 summit in Germany will announce new measures aimed at pressuring Russia as Ukraine conflict continues, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

"We will roll out a concrete set of proposals to increase pressure on Russia," the official said.

U.S. President Joe Biden leaves Saturday to meet with other G7 leaders in southern Germany. He will then head to Madrid for a summit where NATO is expected to announce planslaos to expand its forces in eastern Europe and Washington will lay out steps to strengthen European security.

(With input from agencies)

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday establishing temporary procedures to fulfil its foreign debt obligations, Interfax news agency reported, as lenders keep a close eye on a potential default.

The agency said Putin had ordered Russia's government to choose banks within 10 days to handle payments on Eurobonds under a new scheme.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military situation in Luhansk was challenging.  

• His advisor Oleskiy Arestovych said Russian forces could cut off Lysychansk, and the fiercely-contested city of Sievierodonetsk across the Siverskyi Donets river, from Ukrainian-held territory. 

• Ukraine's second biggest city Kharkiv came under Russian attack overnight, Arestovych said. 

• Russian and Turkish delegations have agreed to continue consultations on safe vessel departures and grain exports from Ukrainian ports, the Russian defense ministry said. 

• Ukraine said its grain exports in the first 22 days of June fell 48 percent from a year earlier to 907,000 tonnes.  

• The Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia's Rostov region, bordering Ukraine, suspended operations after what may have been a drone strike, regional governor Vasily Golubev said. 

• Britain said there were no restrictions on Russians working in the UK after a Russian lawmaker said members of their delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe had been denied visas. 

• Seven Russian missiles hit the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Wednesday, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said. 

• Moscow's response to Lithuania's ban on the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad will not be exclusively diplomatic but practical, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said. 

• Russian reduction of gas flows to Europe are "very rogue moves," a senior European Commission said, saying plans to step up coal use in the bloc would be temporary and climate goals remained intact. 
 

'Shocking' civilian casualties 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said medical data and patient accounts to its staff in Ukraine show a shocking lack of effort to spare and protect civilians caught up in hostilities.

The medical charity, which set up a hospital train in Ukraine following Russia's invasion in February, said the patients and injuries it saw painted a grim picture.

"The war in Ukraine is being conducted with an outrageous lack of care to distinguish and protect civilians," MSF said in a statement, pointing out that more than 40 percent of the wounded on the train were elderly people and children.

They came in with blast wounds, traumatic amputations, shrapnel, and gunshot wounds, it said.

"This points to a lack of respect for civilian protection, which is a serious violation of international humanitarian law."  

Between March 31 and June 6, MSF said it had medically evacuated 653 patients by train from war-affected areas in eastern Ukraine to hospitals in safer parts of the country.

During the 20- to 30-hour journey, many patients shared their experiences with the staff.

"Most patients we talked to when designating who is responsible for their injuries pointed at Russian and Russian-backed military forces," MSF said.

"Although we cannot specifically point to an intention to target civilians, the decision to use heavy weaponry en masse on densely populated areas means that civilians are inescapably, and are therefore knowingly, being killed and wounded," he said.

MSF found that blast injuries caused 73 percent of the war-related trauma cases it handled, with 20 percent caused by shrapnel or gunshots and the rest by other violent incidents.

More than 10 percent of the war trauma patients had lost at least one limb, with the youngest such patient just six years old.

Sievierodonetsk 'hell'

Ukraine said Wednesday that the eastern industrial city of Sievierodonetsk was "hell" as Russian forces moved to encircle two key cities in the Donbas, where Moscow has concentrated its military efforts.

"For four months, all our positions have been under fire from everything -- and I just want to emphasise this -- from all the weapons that the Russian army has," the Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaiday said in a statement on social media.

"It's just hell out there," he added, referring to Sievierodonetsk, which has been heavily shelled for weeks by Russian forces who are trying to gain complete control of the city.

"Our boys are holding their positions and will continue to hold on as long as necessary," he added.

Russian forces in recent days have made territorial gains south of Sievierodonetsk and moved closer to its sister city of Lysychansk, separated by the river Donets.

Gaiday said Russian forces were "trying to encircle the city" of Lysychansk, but Ukrainian troops still controlled the city.

"Lysychansk is being heavily shelled with heavy caliber weapons," he added, describing "colossal destruction."

Gaiday said that people were steadily being evacuated from Lysychansk and that "we are slowly taking people out."

However, in Sievierodonetsk, hundreds of civilians seeking refuge in the Azot chemical plant were unable to leave due to the scale of the fighting, he said.

"Evacuation is possible if there is an agreement at the highest level if there will be a ceasefire and a clearly defined route," Gaiday said.

A Turkish ship with wheat cargo on Wednesday left Ukraine's Mariupol port after Turkey and Russia agreed to continue consultations on safe vessel departures and grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

The conflict in Ukraine has drawn foreign fighters into the armies of both sides. 

Within days of Russia launching its so-called Special Military Operation, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy appealed for volunteers from abroad to help defend Ukraine.

The response was swift with hundreds of people from signed up to the newly created International Legion.

There are no official figures for the size of the Legion, though around 55 nations are represented from Brazil to South Korea and Australia. UK and U.S. nationals are the largest contingents, a spokesman told CGTN. 

Russia has said it considers these fighters to be soldiers of fortune and mercenaries.

READ MORE

Ukraine's grain silos are bursting

What is Kaliningrad

Ukraine awaits fresh storm

Two British citizens and a Moroccan fighter have been sentenced to death, convicted by Russian-backed separatists of acting as mercenaries. These three were not part of the Foreign Legion and have been in Ukraine for a number of years. They are now awaiting their appeal.

There is also growing concern over the fate of two captured American soldiers who are part of Ukraine's International Foreign Legion. They were paraded on Russian television, with Russia insisting they they also do not qualify for Geneva-Convention protections given to prisoners of war.

No surrender

In an exclusive interview, the spokesperson for the International Legion, Damien Magrou, said the soldiers could not be considered as mercenaries.

"Its absolutely untrue. Legionnaires are serving members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and are receiving the exact same pay as Ukrainian soldiers as opposed to some of the private military contractors that Russia has been using and the Syrians [reported recruited to fight for Russia]," Magrou told CGTN.

He explained that under international law a mercenary is someone who is not part of the local army and earns considerably more than local soldiers.

In the interview, Magrou said he hoped that the actions of the pro-Russian courts were simply a bargaining tool to bring about some high profile prisoner swaps.

But Moscow has suggested that the death sentence could also act as a deterrent to foreign fighters.

Magrou said he had seen little evidence of this: "I'll tell you why... I've heard so many legionnaires tell me that if they have one bullet left in their gun that will be to take their own lives. They would rather not end in Russian captivity.”

A missing An-30 aircraft carrying five people in Russia's far eastern Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was found 70 kilometers from the Olenyok settlement, TASS reported on Wednesday, citing the Ministry of Emergency Situations. 

Three of the people aboard were injured and two were unharmed, according to the report. 

According to preliminary data cited by TASS, the aircraft made a hard landing and was carrying 6.3 tonnes of cargo.

Russian and Turkish delegations have agreed to continue consultations on safe vessel departures and grain exports from Ukrainian ports, RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Russia's Defense Ministry. 

Britain has refused to issue visas to members of a Russian delegation looking to participate in the regular session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a Russian senator.

The dollar's exchange rate on the Moscow Exchange fell below 53 rubles for the first time since June 2015, TASS news agency reported Wednesday.

Oil prices plunged more than 5 percent Wednesday as traders grow increasingly worried that demand for the commodity will take a hit from a possible recession caused by a sharp hike in interest rates aimed at reining in inflation.

West Texas Intermediate lost 5.09 percent to $103.92 a barrel, while Brent was off 4.70 percent at $109.26.

Editor's note: Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Russian authorities on June 21 warned Lithuania that the country would face "serious" consequences after cutting off shipments of key goods to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea. This highlights an ongoing situation that could potentially escalate into another theater in the de facto conflict between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia.

For its part, Lithuania claims that it is merely following European Union's sanctions on goods to Russia such as coal, metals, construction materials and heavy machinery – roughly half of the rail shipments to Kalinigrad. But just because someone has the authority to exercise power in a provocative way does not mean it must be done. 

In fact, Lithuanian officials have made it clear that its security guarantee by NATO under Article 5 – its collective defense clause – is one of the primary motivators behind this latest move. Basically, any attack on Lithuania by Russia would be met with retaliation from all NATO members – that is, 30 member states including the United States. It is essentially goading Russia to attack in order to create a casus belli for more powerful countries, like the U.S.

There is even reason to believe that what is essentially a blockade on Kaliningrad, which has a population of about half a million people, was orchestrated in conjunction with Washington. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis in May met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington, where the latter "stressed the importance of coordinated global action to address threats to food security caused by the Kremlin's unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine," according to the readout from the U.S. Department of State.

One can safely assume that plans to blockade Kaliningrad were drawn up during this meeting. Landsbergis also called for a permanent U.S. troop presence in his country in an interview with MSNBC during his trip in the country. It goes to show how the malign influence of the U.S. in Europe is circumventing basic reason and creating unnecessary and extraordinarily hostile provocations. 

It begs the question of what the end game scenario is for Lithuania in the blockade of Kaliningrad. By blocking up to half of the goods that enter the exclave, Lithuania is destroying the local economy and opening itself up to serious retaliation – perhaps even militarily. As a member of NATO, Lithuania is essentially inviting other member countries into this situation. This would essentially mean a full-blown European, if not global, war. 

Logic is totally absent from this calculation. A military reaction from Russia in Lithuania would be totally devastating for Vilnius, and escalation of that into a full-scale world war would obviously benefit no one. It would pit the two largest nuclear powers against each other, setting the stage for a terminal conflict for our species. Lithuania's actions are thus extremely irresponsible. 

It is to be hoped that responsible actors on the European side will intervene in the situation to cool tensions. For now, the current situation is clearly unacceptable to Moscow, and Lithuania is remaining stern in its position. 

Perhaps the fact that a small country is potentially pulling the entire West into a conflict with Russia is a chance for reflection on the major policies dictating this situation, namely the EU sanctions and the framework of NATO. The former is seriously hurting average people within the EU while the latter is largely to blame for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. 

It also offers an opportunity for Europeans to reflect on the influence America has on the bloc. The U.S. continues to push Europe toward an aggressive foreign policy stance that is objectively diminishing the bloc's collective security and making member states, particularly those most adamantly following U.S. policy, unbearable and unaffordable. By any account, strict adherence to Washington's foreign policy doctrine is not netting benefits for Europe.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on Twitter to discover the latest commentaries on CGTN Opinion Section.)

Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad said that Russia and Syria are working on organizing tourism between the countries as part of bilateral economic cooperation, TASS reported on Wednesday.

The euro's exchange rate has fallen to 57 rubles for the first time since May 2015, trading data showed on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday held a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, discussing developments regarding the upcoming Madrid Summit and France's defense contributions to Europe's Eastern flank.

The EU has reached a "total consensus" on making Ukraine a candidate, AFP reported on Tuesday, citing a French minister.

U.S. citizen Stephen Zabielski has died in Ukraine, ABC News reported on Tuesday, citing the State Department. 

"We can confirm the death of U.S. citizen Stephen Zabielski in Ukraine," a State Department spokesperson was quoted as saying. "We have been in touch with the family and have provided all possible consular assistance. Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have nothing further."

You might have guessed by its name - Kaliningrad is a Russian city and region. But it's separated from the majority of its nation by the Baltic states and Belarus.

It's in the news this week because Lithuania, the Russian enclave's direct northeastern neighbor, has banned the transit of some goods through its territory from the 'mainland' to Kaliningrad - and Russia has threatened retaliation. 

Origins

The region was historically part of Prussia, and later Germany. Known as Königsberg, or 'King's Mountain,' it centered around a Hanseatic port city which was later the home of the Teutonic Knights - a powerful ruling elite in the days before Germany was unified. 

But all that changed in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. 

When the German states came together to form one country in the 1870's, it included Prussia - the northern part of which is now Poland  - along with Konigsberg and what is now Kaliningrad oblast. It remained that way for nearly 50 years.

Konigsberg was first part of an enclave in 1918, when the Versailles Treaty following the First World War split Germany by creating a sliver of Poland stretching to the coast, and putting a strip of land between the Danzig (Gdansk) region and the rest of the nation. Konigsberg was the easternmost city in that key region. 

As students of history might recall, this 'splitting' of Germany was one of the parts of the Versailles Treaty which angered many Germans and arguably led to the rise of Nazism and the Second World War. 

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After 1945

At the end of the 1939-45 conflict, the USSR and its 'Red Army' had reached the Baltic coastline - and its leader Stalin didn't want to give up such a strategically important port. 

The Potsdam Agreement, which arranged the borders and states of Europe after 1945, gave Kaliningrad to the USSR. But then important decisions were made. 

Firstly, the city and region were renamed Kaliningrad - after Mikhail Kalinin, an influential Bolshevik who rose to become an ally of Stalin and held important (if essentially powerless) positions in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. 

Secondly, it was decided the oblast would become part of the SFSR (Russia) rather than one of the Baltic Soviets which were also parts of the USSR. 

That decision had long-reaching ramifications for the region and Europe right up until today. 

Modern Kaliningrad 

Although a small region, modern day Kaliningrad remains a strategically important region for Russia. 

It gives Russia a link to the EU - both its borders are shared with EU member states - and a year-round Baltic port for trade. 

Kaliningrad is the only Russian Baltic port which doesn't freeze over in the winter. For trade with Europe, and from Russia's western regions, having the port all year is invaluable. Without it, goods would have to be delivered to southern Russian ports like Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, before an even longer journey by ship to reach the Atlantic. 

The climate and location makes it a military asset, too. The Russian navy's Baltic Fleet is based in Kaliningrad. 

And it's a tourist hotspot, both literally and metaphorically. 

The region averages 23 degrees celsius in summer, and with its history and its access to the sea it's a popular destination for Russian sunseekers. 

That's not to say others don't visit; in 2018 the city hosted several games of the FIFA World Cup, and the region is home to several spa towns like Svetlogorsk. 

Although it's a small region, home to around half a million people, Kaliningrad is popular with those who are born there… Perhaps its most famous son is the philosopher Immanuel Kant - he never actually left the city limits in his 79 years, though his work traveled much further. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a tweet on Tuesday that he had a phone conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and invited Orban to visit Ukraine.

They also agreed to develop their cooperation in the energy sector, Zelenskyy added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday held a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, discussing the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and other regional issues.

The British government is determined to impose further sanctions on Russia, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told parliament on Tuesday as she promised more support for Ukraine.

Truss added that she would travel to Turkey on Wednesday to discuss options for helping get grain out of the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

Russian forces said they have destroyed hangars near Odesa with high-precision missiles in retaliation to a Ukrainian attack on oil platforms in the Black Sea, RIA reported Tuesday. 

Officials in Crimea said three people were injured and seven others are missing after the Ukrainian strike on oil drilling platforms.

Ukraine announced on Tuesday that Russian forces have captured the frontline village of Toshkivka near the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

"As of today, according to our information, Toshkivka is controlled entirely by the Russians," Roman Vlasenko, the head of the Severodonetsk district, told Ukrainian television, adding that the battle for Donbas is "now in full swing."

(With input from AFP)

Russia's Sarmat ballistic missile will be deployed for duty by year-end, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with graduates of higher military educational institutions on Tuesday.

Russia will continue to develop and strengthen the Armed Forces, taking into account potential military threats and risks, Putin added.

Ukraine has made no attempts to resume negotiations with Russia since the visit to Kyiv by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, according to RIA.

There has been no response yet from the Ukrainian side.

Germany will send weapons to Ukraine for as long as required, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday in a speech to the industry association- the Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI).

In the speech, Scholz also underscored that Germany stood resolutely at the side of Lithuania and other eastern allies.

Germany pledged in May to supply Kyiv with seven self-propelled howitzers, adding to five such artillery systems the Netherlands has promised.

Ukraine confirmed on Tuesday that German self-propelled howitzers have arrived in the first delivery of heavy weapons promised by Berlin. 

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office, also posted a list of other weapons promised by Germany, including 30 Gepard tanks and three MARS II multiple rocket launchers, as well as 500 shoulder-fired Stinger missiles.

(WIth input from Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will give a video address to the NATO summit scheduled for June 29-30 in Madrid, his office said on Tuesday.

The dollar exchange rate on the Moscow Exchange fell below 55 rubles for the first time since June 2015, trading data showed on Tuesday.

At 0719 GMT, the ruble was 1.1 percent stronger against the dollar at 55.01. It earlier touched 54.83 per dollar, its strongest mark in seven years.

Against the euro, the currency gained 1.8 percent to trade at 57.80, nearing a multi-year high.

The ruble, which has become the world's best-performing currency this year, is steered by Russia's high proceeds from commodity exports, a sharp drop in imports and a ban on households withdrawing foreign currency savings.

(With input from Reuters)

The South Korean government on Tuesday approved an additional $30 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, including medical and food supplies but no weapons, Yonhap reported, citing a presidential official.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Tuesday that his country is committed to joining NATO, but must solve its territorial problems with Russia before that.

He made the statement while attending an economic conference in Qatar.

Military signalmen have connected and reconfigured the broadcasting of Russian TV channels on the last of seven TV towers in the Ukraine's Kherson region, the Russian defense ministry said.

The connection reportedly makes it possible to cover the entire region with a broadcasting network of 24 Russian TV channels.

There is currently no response from Ukrainian side yet.

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of newspaper Novaya Gazeta, on Monday auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize gold medal for a whopping $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by the conflict in Ukraine.

The full purchase price of the medal of Muratov will benefit UNICEF's humanitarian response for Ukraine's displaced children, Heritage Auctions, which conducted the auction, said in a statement.

(With input from agencies)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke over the phone on Monday, and they discussed initiatives aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, said the Turkish Presidency in a statement.

Erdogan said that Turkey maintains joint efforts to ensure the export of Ukrainian grains via Black Sea, which would be "effective in terms of averting a global food crisis."

Tonnes of Ukrainian grains remain blocked due to the conflict, causing global shortages and price hikes. 

Three people were injured and seven more are missing after Ukraine forces fired on Black Sea drilling platforms off the coast of Crimea on Monday, Crimean Governor Sergei Aksionov said.  

"Unfortunately, we can confirm that there are three injured and seven missing, we guarantee that the search will continue," Aksionov said on his Telegram account.

Negotiations on applications by Finland and Sweden to join NATO and Turkey’s concerns will continue beyond a key NATO summit in Madrid on June 29, according to Turkish Presidential Spokesman

"The Madrid NATO summit is not the deadline, so our negotiations will continue," Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told journalists on Monday.

Kalin's comments, following a meeting in Brussels, came after Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin admitted the Nordic bids could stall if an agreement with Turkey is not reached before next week’s summit.

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May ending decades of military non-alignment in the wake of Russia launching a special military operation in Ukraine in late February.

Turkey previously said it would block their membership and accused the two Nordic countries of harboring the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'Party (PKK), which is designated as a "terrorist" group by Ankara and its Western allies, as well as other Kurdish groups in Syria.

Any NATO membership deal must be unanimously approved by all 30 members of the military alliance.

Last week, Ankara said It was willing to delay Sweden and Finland's membership of NATO for more than a year unless it received adequate assurances that the two countries were willing to address support for the Kurdish groups.

(With input from agencies)

A number of European countries could turn back to coal for power generation as less Russian gas gets delivered, threatening a winter crisis if stores are not refilled.

Germany, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands have all signaled that coal-fired power plants could help see the continent through a crisis that has sent gas prices surging and added to the challenge facing policymakers battling inflation.

These are some of the main countries signaling a return to coal.

Italy

Italy's Eni said it was told by Russia's Gazprom that it would receive only part of its request for gas supplies on Monday, pushing the country closer to declaring a state of alert that will trigger gas-saving measures.

Italy's technical committee for gas is expected to meet on Tuesday, and the government has warned it could declare a heightened state of alert on gas this week if Russia continues to curb supplies.

The move would trigger measures to reduce consumption, including rationing gas for selected industrial users, ramping up the production at coal power plants and asking for more gas imports from other suppliers under existing contracts.

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Germany

Germany, which has also experienced lower Russian flows, announced on Sunday its latest plan to boost gas storage levels and said it could restart coal-fired power plants that it had aimed to phase out.

"That is painful, but it is a sheer necessity in this situation to reduce gas consumption," said Economy Minister Robert Habeck, a member of the Green party that has pushed for a faster exit from coal, which produces more greenhouse gases.

"But if we don't do it, then we run the risk that the storage facilities will not be full enough at the end of the year towards the winter season. And then we are blackmailable on a political level," he said.

Germany's economy ministry said bringing back coal-fired power plants could add up to 10 gigawatts of capacity in case gas supplies hit critical levels. A law related to the move goes to the upper house of parliament on July 8.

Alongside a shift back to coal, the latest German measures include an auction system starting in coming weeks to encourage industry to consume less gas, and financial help for Germany's gas market operator, via state lender KfW to fill gas storage facilities faster.

Russian gas flows to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the main route supplying Europe's biggest economy, were still running at about 40 percent of capacity on Monday, even though they had edged up from the start of last week.

Austria

Austria's government agreed with utility Verbund on Sunday to convert a gas-fired power plant to use coal should the country face an energy emergency. OMV said on Monday that Austria was set to receive half the usual amount of gas for a second day.

The Netherlands

On Monday, the Dutch energy minister announced that that coal-fired energy plants in the Netherlands would be allowed to increase production to ease the country's reliance on Russian gas. 

The Netherlands had limited production to 35 percent of capacity at its coal-fired plants to limit emissions, but minister Rob Jetten removed the cap in light of decisions by Gazprom to cut supplies to Europe.

And Russia's response...

Russia on Monday repeated its earlier criticism that Europe had only itself to blame after the West imposed sanctions in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a gas transit route to Europe as well as a major wheat exporter.

Russia's state-controlled Gazprom cut capacity last week along Nord Stream 1, a major pipeline supplying Germany and others, citing the delayed return of equipment being serviced by Germany's Siemens Energy in Canada.

"We have gas, it is ready to be delivered, but the Europeans must give back the equipment, which should be repaired under their obligations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday published a draft defense budget that assumes $450 million to support Ukraine in intelligence and security.

Finland decided to open its borders to tourists, including Russians, from June 30, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Monday.

The Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, on Monday ratified "The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence," also known as the Istanbul Convention, with 259-4 votes. 

Twenty-five lawmakers abstained their votes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday said almost half of Ukraine's economy is not functioning.

Ukrainian grain exports fell by 55.5 percent in the first 20 days of June compared with the same period in 2021 to 777,000 tonnes, the country’s agriculture ministry data showed on Monday.

The volumes included 689,000 tonnes of corn, 63,000 tonnes of wheat and 21,000 tonnes of barley, the data showed.

Ukraine exported up to 6 million tonnes of grain a month before Russia launched a "special military operation" on February 24.

Volumes have since fallen to about 1.7 million tonnes as Ukraine, which used to export most of its goods through seaports, has been forced to transport grain by train via its western border or via its small Danube river ports.

The governor of Ukraine's Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said via Telegram on Monday that Ukrainian forces had lost control of Metolkine village near Severodonetsk.

"Battles are taking place in many villages around Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. Unfortunately, we do not currently control Metolkine near the regional center," Haidai said.

Evacuations from the city of Lysychansk by military administration staff, police, rescuers and volunteers are ongoing, he added. 

Russia's blockade of the export of millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain is a "war crime," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

"This is a real war crime, so I cannot imagine that this will last much longer," he told reporters on arriving at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

Russia has previously called the West’s rhetoric on Russia’s Ukrainian grain blockade unacceptable and blamed Western sanctions for food shortages. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Tehran at the end of this week, the Tehran Times reported on Monday.

The Ukrainian government is working on a mechanism for issuing visas to Russians, with possible options including through visa centers in a third country, the UNIAN news agency reported on Sunday, citing Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleg Nemchinov.

The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has adopted a law on the termination of an agreement with Russia on scientific and technical cooperation, TASS reported on Sunday, citing a representative of the parliament.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its Kalibr missiles had attacked a Ukrainian command post in the Dnipro region, killing more than 50 "generals and officers," RIA reported on Sunday.

There has been no response yet from Ukraine. 

Militants trapped on the Azot chemical plant in Ukraine's Severodonetsk are signaling that they are ready to continue negotiations, said Rodion Miroshnik, Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) representative to Russia. 

He also said that the terms of surrender for the militants from the Azot chemical plant would not improve by delaying the negotiations.

Germany will take emergency measures to ensure it meets its energy needs after the drop in supply of Russian gas, including increased use of coal, the government said Sunday.

"To reduce gas consumption, less gas must be used to generate electricity. Coal-fired power plants will have to be used more instead," the economy ministry said in a statement.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu signed a law banning news programs from Russia, which will come into force next week after publication, RIA reported on Sunday, citing the head of the Council on Television and Radio Liliana Vitsu.

In addition to news, the law “on the protection of the information space” prohibits the display of analytical programs and military films from Russia, according to the report.

Air raid sirens sounded in several Ukrainian regions on Sunday, including Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Zaporizhzhia, as residents are being advised to take shelter, Ukraine 24 TV has reported.

The broadcaster said explosions were also heard in the early hours in the Ukrainian capital region.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine could last for years, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German newspaper Bild in an interview published on Saturday, while reaffirming the alliance's support for Kyiv.

"We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine," Stoltenberg said. "Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices."

Stoltenberg also reiterated that although NATO will support Ukraine in its self-defense, it will not send its soldiers into direct conflict.

He told the newspaper that NATO members will announce that Russia is no longer a partner for the alliance but a threat to its security, as well as to "peace and stability", at the Madrid summit later this month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that he visited Odesa region. 

Russian gas giant Gazprom announced Saturday that it will stop gas delivery via both strings of the Turkish Stream pipeline from June 21 to June 28 due to scheduled annual maintenance.

The suspension was agreed in advance by all interested parties, Gazprom said in a statement.

The Turkish Stream pipeline via the Black seabed consists of two strings, with one supplying gas to Turkish consumers and the other delivering energy to countries in southern and southeastern Europe.

The pipeline began operation in January 2020 with a total capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters annually.

Earlier this week, Gazprom said it would significantly reduce gas delivery to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to no more than 67 million cubic meters per day, citing the failure of Siemens, the manufacturer of the gas turbine engines, to provide the overhaul service in time. 

Russia is sending a large number of reserve troops to Sievierodonetsk from other battle zones to try to gain full control of the frontline eastern city, the governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region said on Saturday.

"Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, they will throw in all the reserves they have because there are so many of them there already, they're at critical mass," Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said on national television.

He said Russian forces already controlled most but not all of Sievierodonetsk.

(With input from Reuters)

Five civilians were killed and 12 injured in a Ukrainian bombardment of the eastern city of Donetsk, local authorities said on Saturday.

"As a result of the bombardment by Ukrainian forces, five people were killed, and 12 others were wounded in the Donetsk People's Republic," the local authorities said in a statement on Telegram.

All the miners trapped in a coal mine in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine were raised to the surface with no casualties, the ministry of coal and energy of "The Donetsk People's Republic" said on Saturday on its Telegram channel.

Earlier, local authorities reported that the power to the mine was cut off
as a result of shelling, and 77 miners were trapped underground.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine on Saturday, according to the president's office.

Zelenskyy held a meeting with local officials and discussed the situation in the Mykolaiv region, including the restoration of water supply and agricultural development.

It is important Britain continues to show it is supporting Ukraine for the long haul, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday, warning of a risk of "Ukraine fatigue". 

David Arakhamia, Ukraine’s chief negotiator with Russia, said that Ukraine may resume talks with Russia at the end of August, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency reported on Saturday.

Russian gas producer Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was seen down to 41.4 million cubic meters (mcm) on Saturday from 41.9 mcm on Friday.

An application to supply gas via another major entry point, Sokhranovka, was rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said.

Russian state television showed video on Friday of two U.S. military veterans who went missing last week while fighting in Ukraine, confirming that the men were captured and raising fears about their fates, The Associated Press has reported.

There has been no confirmation from either the Russian or U.S. government.

Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh, both from Alabama, are believed to be the first Americans captured by Russian forces since the conflict began on February 24.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that he has been briefed on the situation, according to CNN. "We don't know where they are, but I want to reiterate: Americans should not be going to Ukraine now," Biden said at the White House.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had no objections to Ukraine joining the European Union following the European Commission's decision to back Kiev's bid to become a member. 

"We have nothing against it. It is not a military bloc. It's the right of any country to join economic unions," Putin said when asked about the prospects of Ukraine joining the EU.

Russia has railed against Ukraine's attempts to join the NATO military alliance for years, with the issue becoming a major stand-off between Moscow and the West. 

(With input from agencies)

The European Commission has recommended that Ukraine be given European Union candidate status, a historic shift brought about by Russia's offensive in the country. Kyiv will now have to continue with major reforms in order to become part of the 27-member bloc.

Wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU's executive branch, announced the decision.

"The Commission recommends to the Council, first that Ukraine is given a European perspective and second that Ukraine is given candidate status," Von der Leyen said. "This is, of course, on the understanding that the country will carry out a number of further important reforms."

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The move represents a potentially historic shift in European politics. But questions remain as to how strong the appetite is among EU member states for expanding the bloc. Ukraine's membership bid got a boost when the leaders of France, Italy and Germany - the biggest EU economies - visited Kyiv on Thursday to express their support.

The EU commission president praised Kyiv's efforts at reform in recent years but said the decision would ultimately be merit-based, citing areas like tackling corruption and guaranteeing the rule of law, where Ukraine needs to make progress.

Von der Leyen acknowledged that some reforms would be difficult at the moment due to the ongoing conflict. There is no fixed timetable for the EU accession process, which can take more than a decade or may never happen at all.

The commission also recommended candidate status for Moldova, which like Ukraine, applied to join the EU shortly after Russia started its military campaign in Ukraine in February.

"In the recent past, Moldova has taken a decisive step towards reforms with a clear mandate from its citizens," said Von der Leyen. "It is on a real pro-reform, anti-corruption and European path for the first time since independence. 

"Of course, Moldova still has a long way to go. Its economy and public administration in particular require major improvements, but provided that the country's leaders stay on course, we believe that the country has the potential to live up to the requirements."

However, for now, the commission did not recommend candidate status for Georgia. The candidacies still require the approval of all 27 EU nations, who will convene in Brussels next week for a leaders summit.

Who can join?

The Treaty on the European Union states that any European country may apply for membership if it respects the democratic values of the EU and is committed to promoting them. The "Copenhagen Criteria," agreed in 1993, specifies that EU countries need to have:

• stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.

• a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces in the EU.

• the ability to take on and implement effectively the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union.

Membership requires the approval of all EU member states through the European Council.

What does being a candidate country mean?

After a country is granted candidate status by EU member states, the candidate country submits its position on the various requirements for membership and the EU adopts a common position before formal negotiations begin. 

These negotiations take place in inter-governmental conferences between member states and the candidate country. They relate to the conditions under which the country will be admitted to the EU and focus on the adoption and implementation of the EU's body of law. 

There is no fixed timescale for how long this will take. Currently, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are negotiating their EU membership.

What does the process for obtaining full membership involve?

All EU member states have to sign off on the candidate country's progress in the different policy areas required for EU membership. Following this, the candidate country and the EU countries and institutions sign and ratify the accession treaty. 

At this point, the candidate country becomes an acceding country and is granted certain privileges. Then, on the date specified in the accession treaty, the acceding country becomes a full-fledged EU member.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Ukraine and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

"It is good to be in Kyiv again," Johnson tweeted Friday while posting a photo of him and Zelenskyy.

Ukraine has received a loan of one billion Canadian dollars ($770 million) on concessional terms, the first funds it has obtained through an International Monetary Fund administration account, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.

Some Ukrainian fighters from the Azot plant in Severodonetsk began to surrender, "Lugansk People's Republic" ('LPR') military officer Andrey Marochko said on Friday.

He added that the number and units have not yet been announced for the safety of Ukrainian soldiers.

There is currently no response from the Ukrainian side.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, saying that Russia's economy had weathered the Western sanctions imposed after Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Putin accused the United States of treating other countries as "colonies", and said gloomy forecasts for the Russian economy had not been fulfilled. 

Putin said that direct losses of the EU from the sanctions will exceed $400 billion in a year, and these costs will fall on the people. He also said inflation in some eurozone countries is already above 20 percent. 

Ukraine will introduce a visa system for Russian citizens starting from July 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin postponed his speech at the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) due to a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. 

Russia on Friday said that close to 2,000 foreign mercenaries have been killed in Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It added that 6,956 "mercenaries and weapons specialists" from 64 countries had arrived in Ukraine since the start of the conflict and that "1,956 have already been destroyed".

Another 1,779 have left Ukraine, the statement said.

Norway will introduce another package of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on the import of oil transported by sea and other measures, the government said in a statement on Friday.

The European Commission on Friday recommended granting Ukraine and Moldova official status as EU candidate countries.

"We recommend giving Ukraine the candidate status, on the understanding that the country will carry out a number of important reforms. Ukraine has clearly shown commitment to live up to European values and standards," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference.

"We also recommend granting Moldova the candidate status, on the understanding that the country will carry out reforms," she said.

The two countries still need the backing of all 27 EU member states before being granted candidate status.

Georgia, which has also applied for EU membership, must "come together politically to design a clear path towards structural reform and the EU," Von der Leyen said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the recommendation. "It's the 1st step on the EU membership path that’ll certainly bring our Victory closer. Grateful to @vonderleyen & each EC member for a historic decision. I expect the positive result from #EUCO next week," he tweeted.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu also tweeted gratitude, saying the decision gave a strong signal of support for the country and its citizens. "We're committed to working hard & count on @EUCouncil’s support," the president tweeted. 

Annual inflation in the eurozone accelerated to 8.1 percent in May 2022, up from 7.4 percent in April, according to a report by the European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, released on Friday.

Slovak gas importer SPP was informed by Russia that its deliveries of gas would be reduced by half on Friday, its chief executive was quoted as saying by Slovak news website Dennik N.

"Cutting the deliveries by half does not hurt us at the moment. We are working with a real risk that they will be cut completely," SPP boss Richard Prokypcak was cited as saying.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that Russian forces have destroyed the headquarters of the "Azov" battalion in Pesochin in Ukraine's Kharkiv region with high precision missiles. 

Ukraine is yet to comment on the development.

Italy's Eni said it will receive only 50 percent of the gas requested from Russia's Gazprom on Friday, reducing supplies for the third consecutive day.

"Gazprom has announced that it will supply only 50 percent of what is requested (with actual delivered volumes almost unchanged with respect to the amounts delivered yesterday)," reducing supplies for the third day running, Eni said in a statement. 

France no longer receives Russian pipeline gas, AFP reported on Friday, citing the French natural gas transmission system operator GRTgaz.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was open to talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of efforts to strike a deal to get grain out of the Ukrainian port of Odesa but that he saw little chance of an agreement.

"We have to talk with Russia on food security and it (discussions) can be justified by liaising directly with the UN secretary general to get grains out of Odesa," Macron told BFM TV on his way back from Ukraine.

"But I don't believe a lot in this path, because I already had talks a few weeks ago with President Putin, but he didn't want to accept a UN resolution on this subject."

There is currently no response from Russian side yet.

The evacuation of 568 civilians sheltering underneath the Azot chemical plant in Ukraine's Severodonetsk is currently impossible due to shelling and heavy fighting, Reuters reported on Friday, citing the governor of Luhansk region. 

The UN on Friday said the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine is "extremely alarming" and continues to deteriorate, and the situation is "particularly worrying in and around Severodonetsk".

"The humanitarian situation across Ukraine -- particularly in the eastern Donbas -- is extremely alarming and continues to deteriorate rapidly," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a statement.

Ukrainian missiles hit a Russian tugboat in the Black Sea on Friday, according to Maksym Marchenko, governor of Ukraine's Odesa region.

A Russian military plane has crashed in Russia’s Belgorod region, TASS reported on Friday, adding that the pilot ejected and is alive. 

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that oil refining in Russia in 2022 could drop to 250-260 million tonnes and that oil throughput could fall by 10 percent. 

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said the country's total volume of budget expenditures will grow by 3 trillion rubles ($53 billion) in 2022, Reuters reported on Friday.

A missile strike in southern Ukraine's Mykolaiv region on Friday morning killed at least one person and injured six others, including a child, the governor of the Mykolaiv region, Vitaliy Kim, said on Telegram.

A rescue operation is underway, Kim added.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that all four European Union leaders present in Kyiv supported the idea of granting "immediate" EU candidate status to Ukraine.

Macron made the remarks at a news conference after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

France will deliver six additional CAESAR long-range guns to Ukraine, Macron said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several Asia Pacific leaders will join a NATO summit in Madrid, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed Thursday at a news conference after a meeting of defense ministers.

Ministers discussed a comprehensive assistance package to support Ukraine in the long-term and NATO Allies are prepared to continue to provide substantial, unprecedented support to Ukraine, said the NATO chief at a press briefing with the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin in Brussels. 

 Stoltenberg added NATO will increase its forces on the eastern flank of the alliance.

Most of Gazprom's European clients have switched to paying for their gas in rubles, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). This accounts for about 90-95% of supplied volumes.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to take part in G7 summit.

Italian energy company Eni said on Thursday that Gazprom is supplying 65 percent of the gas that has been requested, AFP reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine on Thursday. 

Russia on Thursday imposed a travel ban on 121 Australian citizens, including Australian Deputy Defense Ministers and Navy and Air Force commanders, according to the website of Russian Foreign Ministry.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, could be suspended due to problems over the repair of its turbines in Canada, Russia's ambassador to the European Union told the state news agency RIA Novosti on Thursday.

The head of "Luhansk People's Republic" announced the reopening of humanitarian corridors for civilians from the Azot plant, news agency Interfax reported on Thursday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the city of Irpin near Kyiv on Thursday, AFP reported.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis arrived on Thursday in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv along with the leaders of Germany, France and Italy, news agency TASS reported citing the German Cabinet.

Air raid alarms were sounded in Kyiv on Thursday after French, Italian and German leaders arrived in the Ukrainian capital, a CMG reporter reported.

Local media Ukraine 24 reported that air raid alarms were heard across the whole country.

It is impossible to legally exclude Russia from the World Trade Organization (WTO), Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin.

He added that the possibility of Russia's withdrawal from the organization was not discussed.

Around 10,000 civilians are trapped in Ukraine's eastern city of Severodonetsk, the local governor said Wednesday.

"Out of 100,000 residents, around 10,000 remain," Sergiy Gaiday, the governor of the Lugansk region, said on Telegram. He said Kyiv's army is "holding back the enemy as much as possible."

French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna tweeted.

French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Ukraine on Thursday. France's Ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins published a photo on his Twitter account showing the three leaders on a train en route to Kyiv.

It is the first time that the leaders of the three European Union (EU) countries have visited Kyiv since February 24, as they are due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the visit comes as Kyiv is pushing for membership of the EU.

Russia and the United States must discuss the extension of the START nuclear arms reduction treaty, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the RIA news agency in an interview on Thursday.

The issue is important for global security and Russia's military operation in Ukraine is no reason to avoid its discussion, Peskov added.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. is providing Ukraine with an additional $1 billion in security assistance including anti-ship systems, artillery rockets and howitzers rounds, following a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"The United States is providing another $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, including additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems," Biden said in a statement after the call.

The president also announced an additional $225 million in humanitarian assistance, which he said will "help people inside Ukraine, including by supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items."

Zelenskyy said later on Wednesday in his evening address that he was "grateful" for the new American arms package, according to Al Jazeera.

"The United States announced new strengthening of our defense, a new $1 billion support package," Zelenskyy said. "I am grateful for this support, it is especially important for our defence in (the eastern region of) Donbas."

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Wednesday accused Western countries of "fighting a proxy war with Russia," telling reporters: "I would like to say to the Western countries supplying weaponry to Ukraine – the blood of civilians is on your hands."

(With input from agencies)

(Cover: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) change of command ceremony at USCG Headquarters in Washington, DC, June 1, 2022. /CFP)

Two U.S. citizens who traveled to Ukraine as volunteer fighters against Russian forces have been missing for a week and are feared captured, family members said on Wednesday.

Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and Andy Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, were last in contact with their families on June 8 and did not return from a mission around the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine.

Reports that the two men have been taken prisoners of war by Russia are unconfirmed, the families and a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa via phone on Wednesday, the Kremlin has said. 

The Biden administration is planning a new $650 million aid package to Ukraine that would include vehicle-mounted Harpoon anti-ship missiles, according to a Bloomberg reporter.

Reuters quotes sources as saying that the White House is expected to announce around $1 billion aid in artillery, anti-ship missiles and other weaponry for Ukraine.

There is no official confirmation so far.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has said it will cut Nord Stream gas deliveries by a further third.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about Sweden and Finland's NATO membership on Wednesday.

Erdogan reiterated that steps should be taken to address Turkey's legitimate concerns about Sweden and Finland's NATO entry.

Russian oil and gas multinational Gazprom told its Italian counterpart Eni that it would cut gas supply to the Rome-based company by around 15 percent from Wednesday, the Italian firm said.

"Eni confirms that Gazprom has announced a limited reduction in gas supplies for today, amounting to around 15 percent. The reasons for the decrease have not been notified at the moment. Eni is constantly monitoring the situation," a company spokesperson told AFP.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that Ukraine would have to hold talks with Russia at some point to try to end the conflict between the two countries.

"The Ukrainian president and his officials will have to negotiate with Russia," Macron said during a visit to Romania and Moldova.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the defense alliance are committed to "providing heavy weapons and long-range systems for Ukraine to prevail."

He made the remarks on Wednesday ahead of a NATO defense ministers meeting that will take place on Wednesday and Thursday at the organization's headquarters in Brussels.

As for Sweden and Finland's applications to join NATO, the chief said the applications are "historic", and security concerns of all NATO allies will be taken into account. 

Stoltenberg said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is invited to NATO summit in Madrid later this month, and is looking forward to his address.

The Russian Armed Forces said its missiles destroyed an ammunition depot near Lviv in western Ukraine used for weapons transferred to Ukraine by NATO countries, including M777 howitzers, the Russian defense ministry said on Wednesday.

There was no progress in the talks between Russia and Ukraine after the transfer of the draft agreements by Moscow. "Everything stalled,” said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov on Tuesday, who was quoted by TASS news agency.  

The Russian official revealed that a draft project was handed over to Ukraine on April 15 and no reaction was received ever since.  

There’s no comment from the Ukrainian side for now on the current situation of the peace talks.  

The Russia-Ukraine negotiations have been ongoing since February 28 with the latest face-to-face round in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29. 

Both sides announced stagnation of the talks in May.  

Ushakov, however, said that Moscow does not reject a possible direct contact between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart but this requires thorough preparations.

The European Union is looking to Israel to help reduce its energy dependence on Russia, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"We want to boost our energy cooperation with Israel," the head of the EU executive said in a joint press briefing with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

The EU, Israel and Egypt are set to sign a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, von der Leyen added, according to which Israel will export natural gas in a pipeline to Egypt, where it will be turned into liquefied natural gas (LNG) then delivered to EU member states.

(With input from Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that he had discussed defense cooperation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"Further defense cooperation was discussed," Zelenskyy tweeted after the talks.

Russian President Putin likely still wants to capture much if not all of Ukraine but has narrowed his tactical objectives, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said on Tuesday.

Smoke could be seen rising from the city of Sieverodonetsk during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops at the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on Tuesday, as an aerial view shows destroyed houses after strike in the eastern region.

The cities of Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk, which are separated by a river, have been targeted for weeks.Ukraine says more than 500 civilians are trapped inside Azot, a chemical factory where its forces have resisted weeks of Russian bombardment and assault. 

The civilians, including children, have been hiding from from shelling in the plant since the beginning of the conflict in Sievierodonetsk. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had offered Ukrainian fighters sheltering in the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk the chance to surrender on Wednesday morning and that civilians would be let out through a “humanitarian corridor.”

Ukraine said its forces were holding out inside Sievierodonetsk and trying to evacuate civilians, after Russia destroyed the last bridge to the devastated eastern city in a potential turning point in one of the war’s bloodiest battles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a meeting with Accounts Chamber Chairman Alexei Kudrin on Tuesday at the Kremlin in Moscow, while European countries consider  providing temporary granaries to Ukraine, which faces a shortage of silos for new grain crop currently being harvested.

A Russian serviceman could be seen near a welcoming sign for the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has been painted in Russian flag colors this week.Kyiv has said it is losing 100-200 soldiers each day, with hundreds more wounded. 

In an overnight address, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called the battle for the eastern Donbas region one of the most brutal in European history.Russia gave no figure on its losses, but Western countries say the Russian military casualties are large as Moscow has committed the bulk of its firepower to delivering one of President Putin’s stated objectives: forcing Kyiv to give up the full territory of the two eastern provinces.

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The United States has pledged a further round of weapons for Ukraine this month, the 11th such drawdown of equipment from the U.S. Department of Defense since August 2021.

It’s part of an effort to assist Ukrainian soldiers struggling to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region and comes off the back of billions of dollars of aid already sent by Washington.

CGTN’s Benji Hyer reports. 

For more, check out our exclusive content on CGTN Now and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The China Report.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday imposed entry bans on 29 British journalists and 20 defense-related individuals.

The U.S. Treasury Department has extended a sanctions carve-out allowing U.S. financial institutions to process transactions related to Russian energy sales for nearly six months, as the U.S. seeks to minimize further disruption in global energy markets, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The exemption, which had been set to expire on June 24, will remain in place until December 5.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Russia will open a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday to evacuate civilians from the Azot chemical plant in Ukraine's Severodonetsk, according to Russia's state news agency RIA.

The ministry also said it had offered Ukrainian fighters sheltering in the Azot chemical plant the chance to surrender on Wednesday.

(With input from Reuters)

Russia's energy giant Gazprom said Tuesday it would be reducing the daily gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany due to the "repair" of compressor units by German company Siemens.

Gazprom restricted gas piping to 100 million cubic meters (mcm) per day, out of the pipeline's total capacity of 167mcm per day. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Artur Egiev, a former military district prosecutor, as the military prosecutor of the Strategic Missile Forces, according to a published decree.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that his country's military has enough ammunition and weapons but needs more long-range weapons.

"We have enough weapons. What we don't have enough of are the weapons that really hit the range that we need to reduce the advantage of the Russian Federation's equipment," Zelenskyy told an online press briefing organized by Danish publishing house Berlingske Media.

Sweden has taken important steps to meet Turkey's demands for approving Stockholm's NATO membership application, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday during a visit to Sweden. 

"I welcome that Sweden has already started to change its counter-terrorism legislation and that Sweden will ensure that the legal framework for arms export will reflect the future status as a NATO member with new commitments to allies," Stoltenberg said during a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

"These are two important steps to address concerns that Turkey has raised."

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on Monday met with visiting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at her country retreat in Harpsund.

An industrial zone where about 500 civilians are sheltering is under heavy artillery fire from Russian forces, the regional governor said on Monday.

Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine that includes Severodonetsk, said on Facebook that Russian forces controlled about 70 percent of the city and fighting there was fierce.

There has been no response yet from the Russian side.

Ukraine said on Monday that its forces had been pushed back from the center of the eastern city of Severodonetsk after weeks of fighting with Russia.

"The enemy, with support of artillery, carried out assault operations in the city of Severodonetsk, had partial success, pushed our units away from the city center," the Ukrainian military said on Facebook.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will talk about the impact of sanctions against Russia, the energy problem and the emerging global food crisis at the plenary session of the upcoming St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told TASS in an interview published on Monday.

This year’s SPIEF will take place on June 15-18.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday visited Finland and met with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

Security concerns raised by Turkey in its opposition to Finnish and Swedish NATO membership applications are legitimate, Stoltenberg told a press conference.

It was important to note that no other NATO ally had suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkey, and that therefore its concerns needed to be taken seriously, he said.

(With input from Reuters) 

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

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

More than 284,000 residents of the "Luhansk People's Republic" (LPR) have received Russian citizenship, and the number of those wishing to obtain it is growing daily, TASS reported on Saturday, citing the LPR’s governor Leonid Pasechnik.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Russians on Russia Day, stressing that "now it is important to be united," the RIA news agency reported Sunday.

"Deep feelings of patriotism are sacred for Russians," Putin said, according to the report.

Russian forces fired Kalibr cruise missiles to destroy a large depot with U.S. and European weapons in Ukraine's Ternopil region, Interfax reported on Sunday, citing the Russian defense ministry.

Russian forces have also shot down three Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jets near Donetsk and Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, Interfax quoted the Russian defense ministry as saying.

There's no immediate response from Ukraine.

A rocket attack on the Western Ukrainian city of Chortkiv has partly destroyed a military facility and injured 22 people, the governor of the Ternopil region said in an online briefing on Sunday.

Volodymyr Trush said four missiles had hit the city, 75 kilometers south of Ternopil, at 1846 GMT on Saturday.

Russia has not responded to this claim.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko congratulated his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Russia Day, saying that Russia has confidently defended its interests under complex geopolitical conditions and successfully implemented plans to ensure social and economic development, Sputnik reported on Saturday.

Ukraine remained in control of a chemical plant in eastern Ukraine's Severodonetsk where "hundreds of civilians are sheltering," Reuters reported on Sunday, citing the region’s governor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially enacted new laws governing non-compliance with decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), according to documents published on Russia's official legal information portal on Saturday.

ECHR rulings against Russia adopted after March 15, the date when Russia announced its exit from the Council of Europe, will not be implemented, according to the documents.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Kyiv this month with his French and Italian counterparts, Emmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi, German media outlet Bild has reported.

Scholz hopes to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before Germany hosts the G7 summit, which begins on June 26.

The German Bundesrat approved a 100-billion-euro ($107.2 billion) special defense fund to strengthen Germany's military by topping up the existing annual defense budget of around 50 billion euros over several years.

"The aim of the earmarked special fund is to maintain existing capabilities in the Bundeswehr and to be able to make the necessary investments in our defense and alliance capabilities," the German federal government said in a statement on Friday.

Purchasing Eurofighter jets and F-35 fighters will be included in the fund.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the special fund is "the right answer to the turning point in history."

In late February after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, the chancellor pledged 100 billion euros of the 2022 budget for the German armed forces.

He repeated his promise to reach the 2% of gross domestic product spending on defense in line with NATO demands, German media outlet DW reported. Germany's military expenditure ratio to GDP stands at 1.4 percent, according to the World Bank.

(Cover: A military exercise "Wettiner Heide" is held in Munster, Germany, May 10, 2022. /CFP)

Ukraine's state nuclear firm Energoatom said on Saturday it had helped restore an internet connection between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the servers of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which is "occupied" by Russian forces.

In a statement, Energoatom said the connection to the plant's servers was lost on May 30 but had been restored as of June 10, allowing the IAEA to resume monitoring data on the control of nuclear material at the plant.

A Czech citizen has died in Ukraine, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Saturday, confirming media reports about the first casualty among Czech volunteers fighting in the country.

"I can confirm that a Czech citizen has died in the Donetsk region of Ukraine," Lipavsky told reporters. "The body should be transported to Kharkiv region tomorrow."

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday held a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Von der Leyen told Zelenskyy that her executive will "by the end of next week" finalize its opinion on whether Ukraine should be a candidate country to join the EU.

"The discussions today will enable us to finalize our assessment by the end of next week," she said.

(With input from AFP)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday he discussed more heavy weapons deliveries and the seventh EU sanctions package on Russia in a phone call with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau. 

Ukraine remains in control of the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk where hundreds of civilians are sheltering, the region's governor said on Saturday.

"The information about the blockade of the Azot plant is a lie," Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region partially controlled by pro-Russian forces, said on Telegram.

Ukraine has said some 800 people were hiding in several bomb shelters underneath the Azot plant, including about 200 employees and 600 residents.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet on Saturday that she is in Kyiv and will take stock of the joint work needed for Ukraine's reconstruction and of the progress made by Ukraine on its European path with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday that the world would face "an acute and severe food crisis and famine," if his country could not export enough food due to the blockade.

Russia and Ukraine have conducted their 11th prisoner swap, Ukraine's Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaliy Oleksandrovich Kim said in a Telegram post on Friday, without giving exact numbers.

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Romania and Moldova next week to express France's solidarity with its European allies, the Elysee said on Friday. 

Macron will visit French troops in Romania on Tuesday and then go to Moldova on Wednesday.

An explosion occurred on Friday in the center of Donetsk, near the administration of the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces, according to RIA reports.

"The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR)" sent its first batch of grain, weighing 650 tons, to Russia by rail, several Russian media outlets reported on Friday.

British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace has visited Kyiv, holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding military and financial issues and sanctions, the president’s official account said on Friday.

Switzerland has approved a sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which was previously adopted by the EU, including an embargo on Russian oil supplies, RIA reported on Friday.

Ukrainian grain exports are now rising to nearly 2 million tonnes per month, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said on Friday.

"According to information from Ukraine, the export of grains is gradually rising and nearing two million tonnes per month currently," Wojciechowski said during a news conference with the Polish agriculture minister.

Russia is ready for a dialogue with Western countries but does not see a corresponding intention on their part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Friday. 

"We are still open to dialogue, but you need to dance tango together, but for now our Western partners are doing breakdancing alone," he was quoted as saying by Russian media.

The Bank of Russia has lowered the interest rate to 9.5 percent from the previous 11 percent, returning it to the pre-sanction level, RIA reported on Friday.

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana is confident that member candidates Sweden and Finland will join the alliance despite objections from Turkey, he told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Friday.

"We are confident that Sweden and Finland will join our ranks," Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said.

The Finnish Defense Ministry announced on Friday that it would deliver a fifth package of additional military assistance to Ukraine, without disclosing the content, method of delivery and delivery schedule.

The European Parliament supports Ukraine's bid to achieve candidate status to join the European Union, Roberta Metsola, the parliament's president, said on Friday at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit.

"The EU parliament stands firmly behind Ukraine's bid to receive EU candidate status," Metsola said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an official application to join the EU in late February. 

(With input from Reuters)

Sweden will look to make constructive progress in talks with Turkey on Ankara's objections over the Nordic country's application to join the NATO alliance, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Friday.

Japan will prohibit exports of 67 products, including trucks, dump trucks and bulldozers, to Russia, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Koichi Hagiuda announced on Friday, as part of the country’s new package of sanctions on Russia.

The ban will come into effect on June 17. 

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Joane has said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the NATO summit in Madrid "one way or another," European Pravda reported on Thursday.

The summit is set to take place in Madrid, Spain on June 28-29.

Zelenskyy has not confirmed whether he will attend. 

Finland's government said on Thursday that it plans to amend border legislation to allow the building of barriers on its eastern frontier with Russia.

Finland has submitted for NATO membership in May along with its neighbor Sweden.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a tweet on Thursday that he had a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, discussing further defense support for Ukraine and work on security guarantees.

"Special attention was paid to Ukraine's path to the EU, we are coordinating steps," Zelenskyy added.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed efforts to secure grain exports from Ukraine in a phone call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday.

During the call, Cavusoglu and Guterres also evaluated developments in Ukraine and humanitarian aid to Syria, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on Thursday imposing sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on Russian President Vladimir Putin and dozens of other top Russian officials, according to the president's official website.

The sanctioned officials included Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Tourists used to flock to the Ukrainian beach resort of Odesa to lie along its pristine Black Sea seaside. 

However, the white sands are now peppered with police officers and ominous man-sized mines because of Russia's assault on Ukraine.

Ukraine's military placed mines along the coast in case of a Russian amphibious assault after the conflict escalated in February, cordoning off the once popular beaches to ensure no one tampers with the weapons. 

Having once benefitted from a booming tourist trade – particularly from Russian patrons – Odesa's local economy has taken a huge hit as the southwestern Ukraine port city was shut down for business. 

Many of its long-time residents cannot imagine life in Odesa without access to the water. 

"We can't live without the sea. If not for the sea, there would probably be no Odesa," said 82-year-old resident Viktor Holchenko.

In early May, Russian forces attacked the city with missiles, leaving several buildings in Odesa in ruins. 

Now signs posted by Ukraine's military warn residents to keep away from the buried mines, with one sign outside a seaside restaurant reading "Danger! mines".

"They (the military) said not to go there (to the seaside)," said 18-year-old resident Kyrylo Zinchenko, who used to be a driver before Odesa's tourism dried up.

"Why would you go there? This is the summer we will have."

Nataliia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman of the southern military command, said she realized that the tourism business and recreational component was an important element, "but we also realize that if we don't hold the defense of our region, there will be no budget to fill." 

The local economy will take a broad hit, said tourism office owner Oleksandr Babich. "It is hotels, restaurants, souvenirs, all kinds of beach services. It is things related to the cultural sector... I don't know how the city economy will do without them."

Russia has never had, and will never have, a closed economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday during a meeting with young entrepreneurs, according to RIA reports. 

He added that Russian authorities will expand their support for non-commodity exports.

The battle for Sievierodonetsk, one of the fiercest fights of the Ukraine conflict yet, will "decide the fate" of the eastern Donbas region, according to Kyiv.

But on the ground, heavy artillery has forced Ukrainian troops to retreat to the suburbs, Russia has taken control of most of the strategic city – and local officials say there is little chance of evacuating thousands of civilians.

"We are defending our positions, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. It is a very hard battle," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday.

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He added that an outright Russian victory there would be a key step towards the Moscow's goal of conquering the entire eastern Donbas area, the linchpin of Ukraine's industry and vital to Kyiv if it is to rebuild its economy post-conflict.

However, Kyiv could retake the city "in two or three days" if the West provides it with "long-range" artillery weapons, said Sergei Gaidai, governor of Luhansk, one of the two regions of Donbas.

Washington and London have pledged to deliver multiple rocket launcher systems with a range of around 80 kilometers – slightly longer than Russia's systems – but it is not clear when the Ukrainians will be able to start using them.

In the meantime, Gaidai said Russian shelling was "constant" and street fighting continued in the few areas of the city still controlled by Kyiv forces.

The governor added that Russian forces were hitting their positions with heavy artillery, before sending in their troops to try to breach Ukrainian lines: "Our forces push them back, then the artillery fire starts again, and it goes on like that all the time."

Last week, Sievierodonetsk appeared to be on the verge of falling to the Russian army, but Ukrainian troops launched a counter-attack and managed to cling on to the city despite being outnumbered. 

However, Russian forces have continued to gain ground and fighting is taking a heavy toll on the civilian population, of which around 10,000 remain in the city.  

While many civilians have evacuated Sievierodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk, several thousand have remained in the area. 

Some 800 civilians took refuge and are now trapped in Sievierodonetsk's Azot chemical plant, according to the lawyer of a Ukrainian tycoon whose company owns the facility.

The Ukrainian presidency said on Wednesday that Russian forces shelled Azot at least twice, hitting an ammonium production facility.

Russia continues to deny that it is targeting civilians and says it is only attacking military targets.

Just across the river, Lysychansk is still under Ukrainian control, but is also coming under heavy shelling, Governor Gaidai said.

He accused Russian forces of "deliberately" targeting hospitals and humanitarian aid distribution centers.

Many of those still trapped in Sievierodonetsk's sister town are elderly, alongside their carers and those who cannot afford to move elsewhere.

"Every day there is shelling, every day something burns," said retiree Yuri Krassnikov, sitting among damaged buildings in his Lysychansk neighborhood as artillery rumbled on nearby.  

"There's no one to help me," he lamented.

For now there is little sign of respite on the Donbas frontline, as the Ukrainian defense ministry announced on Thursday that up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed and 500 wounded every day, many of them around the two Luhansk cities.

"Sievierodonetsk remains the epicenter," said the president. "That is where the fate of our Donbas is being decided now."

The EU has announced that it will provide an additional 205 million euros in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Russian Railways has announced that it will resume passenger railway links with Uzbekistan from June 23, RIA reported on Thursday.

TOP HEADLINES

• The battle for Sievierodonetsk is "very brutal" and will determine the fate of the whole Donbas region, President Volodmyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian forces took control of most of the strategic eastern city. READ MORE BELOW AND HERE: The Battle for Sievierodonetsk

• Ukrainian forces claimed to have pushed forward in intense street fighting in the Luhansk city, but said their only hope to take back more land was more Western artillery to offset Russia's firepower advantage.

• Russia now controls more than 98 percent of the Donbas region of Luhansk, according to its governor Serhiy Gaidai, with Sievierodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk the last cities still partly under Ukrainian control.

• In the south, Ukraine's defense ministry says it has captured new ground in a counter-attack in Kherson province, targeting the biggest swathe of territory Russia has taken since it launched its assault on Ukraine in February.

• Russia has said the West is risking a 'direct military clash' over cyber attacks, after its housing ministry website appeared to be hacked over the weekend with an internet search for the site leading to a "Glory to Ukraine" sign in Ukrainian.

• Two Britons and a Moroccan captured while fighting for Ukraine have been sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a Russian-backed separatist state in eastern Ukraine. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesperson said Britain is deeply concerned and will work to try to secure their release.

• Zelenskyy warned that millions of people could starve because of what he described as Russia's blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports, saying that the world was on the brink of a "terrible food crisis." READ MORE BELOW

• Turkey is trying to broker talks on opening up Ukraine's Black Sea ports to allow grain exports to leave the conflict-stricken country. On his visit to Ankara, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a UN-backed deal on the ports was possible with further talks, but added Ukraine would first have to remove mines from its waters.

• The consequences of the conflict on food security, energy and finance was "systemic, severe, and speeding up," according to UN chief Antonio Guterres, with 1.6 billion people likely to be affected.

• Polish President Andrzej Duda has allegedly hit out at the leaders of France and Germany over their phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it was like having talks with Adolf Hitler during World War II, according to the German tabloid Bild.

IN DETAIL

Russia closes in on Sievierodonetsk

As fierce fighting continues in Sievierodonetsk, one of the bloodiest battles of the conflict, Ukraine's Zelenskyy said the fight for the strategic Luhansk city would determine the fate of the entire Donbas region.

Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river are the last Ukrainian-controlled parts of Luhansk province, with Russia concentrating its offensive force there. 

Both sides say they have inflicted massive casualties in the area, which Moscow is determined to take as one of its principal objectives of "liberating" the whole of Donbas, which Russian-backed separatists have controlled around a third of since 2014.

"They don't spare their people, they're just sending men like cannon fodder," Ukraine's Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said of the fighting in Sievierodonetsk on Thursday. "They are shelling our military day and night."

Ukrainian fighters retreated to the city's outskirts on Wednesday but have vowed not to surrender, claiming to have pushed back against Russia's advance.

Kyiv's forces still hold the industrial zone and adjacent areas in Sievierodonetsk and the situation is "difficult but manageable," the city's mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said this morning.

But according to the commander of Ukraine's Svoboda National Guard battalion, the fight was being waged house to house and under heavy Russian artillery. 

"This is a very brutal battle, very tough, perhaps one of the most difficult throughout this war," President Zelenskyy said on Wednesday.

"Sievierodonetsk remains the epicentre of the encounter in Donbas... Largely, that is where the fate of our Donbas is being decided now," he added.

Grain scare 

Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain exporters, has accused Russia of creating a risk of global famine by blockading Ukraine's Black Sea and Azov Sea ports. However, Moscow accused Kyiv of holding up a deal, adding that Western sanctions were responsible for food shortages.

Turkey has been trying to broker negotiations to open up the ports, with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hosting his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday, saying that a UN-backed deal on the ports was possible with further talks. 

Lavrov said the Ukrainian ports could be opened, but Ukraine would have to de-mine them first.

However, Ukraine has rejected Russia's assurances as "empty words" and said Moscow's attacks on farmland and agricultural sites were exacerbating the crisis. 

Vitaliy Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv region, where Russian shelling destroyed the warehouses of one of Ukraine's largest agricultural commodities terminals over the weekend, said Moscow was trying to scare the world into meeting its terms. 

According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin says Western sanctions must be lifted for Russian grain to reach markets. 

Russian gas giant Gazprom is not expected to cut gas supplies to any more of its European customers, the Kremlin said on Thursday, adding that the scheme to make buyers pay for gas in rubles was functioning as intended.

Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov will visit Russia on Friday on his first official foreign trip, the Kremlin announced on Thursday.

Negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the signing of a declaration on deepening the strategic partnership are planned, according to the Kremlin. 

Moscow is ready to help conclude a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

“There is no doubt that final agreements will be reached on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Lavrov said, adding that Russia welcomes the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey.

Lavrov also said that he has invited the Armenian foreign minister to visit Russia.

A total of 10,000 civilians are still in Ukraine's Sievierodonetsk and evacuation is impossible, said the mayor of the city on Thursday, adding Ukrainian forces still control industrial neighborhoods and surrounding areas of the city.

The headquarters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces said that battles in Slavyansk have begun on Thursday, according to RIA news agency.

Authorities in Russia's Kursk region have extended the yellow level of terrorist danger until June 22, Kursk's Governor Roman Starovoit said Thursday on his Telegram channel.

He said law enforcement agencies and special services personnel in the region had been working in an enhanced mode for almost two months.