Ukraine-Russia war latest: International court issues arrest warrants for Russian military officials
The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) says Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov are suspected of directing attacks against civilians in Ukraine
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A top international court has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s former defence minister and a leading general over attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) said Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defence minister, and General Valery Gerasimov are suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine.
Judges had found there were "reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023", the ICC said.
Ukraine's presidential chief of staff applauded the ICC's move, saying it was "an important decision". Russia, which is not a member of the court, has denied targeting civilians.
It comes as Ukraine is set to begin accession talks with the European Union as Kyiv officials arrive in Luxembourg to meet with some of the bloc’s ministers.
The meeting will signal the start of the membership process, which will take years.
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Ukraine urges ‘strong’ decision from Nato at Washington summit
Ukraine wants to see a “strong” decision taken at the Nato summit in Washington next month as Kyiv tries to advance its strategic goal of joining the military alliance, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s foreign policy adviser told Reuters.
Ihor Zhovkva, who spoke in an interview before travelling to Luxembourg for a European Union meeting that will formally launch accession talks for Ukraine, said that Kyiv wanted the Nato summit to end with concrete results.
“I think this summit deserves to have a strong decision, including on Ukraine. Because, I mean, if you’re having a lack of strong decisions on Ukraine, the summit will be useless,” he said in Kyiv late on Monday.
He did not specify what he thought such a decision would entail.
Mr Zelensky, who lobbied unsuccessfully for a political invitation to join the alliance at its summit in Vilnius last summer, has said that this year’s summit should resolve the matter of inviting Kyiv to join.
While Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg and Washington have both said they do not expect the alliance’s 32 members at the July 9-11 summit to invite wartime Kyiv to join, Mr Stoltenberg has said he hopes to show Ukraine is moving closer to membership.
Nigel Farage hits back at Boris Johnson as he defends Ukraine comments
Nigel Farage hits back at Boris Johnson as he defends Ukraine comments
Nigel Farage has hit back at Boris Johnson after the former prime minister accused the Reform UK leader of a “morally repugnant” repetition of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine. The Reform Leader addressed crowds in Maidstone, Kent, whilst on the campaign trail on Monday (24 June), saying that he would “never, ever defend” Putin and that he had been “more far-sighted” in predicting a war in Ukraine. Mr Farage, who has been criticised for saying the West “provoked” the war in Ukraine, then went on to unveil a blown up poster of the i newspaper’s front page from 10 May 2016, with the headline “Boris blames EU for war in Ukraine”.
Ukraine starts EU accession talks
Ukraine will start accession talks to the European Union today more than a decade after hundreds of thousands of protesters called for the country to join the bloc.
Ukrainian officials will meet with EU ministers later today in Luxembourg to officially begin the process of joining, though it will take years for the country to eventually become a member.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock highlighted the meeting as an “important signal”.
“[Vladimir] Putin wanted to annex Ukraine. Instead [the country] is now closer to the EU than ever before,” she said.
A decade ago, hundreds of thousands of pro-western demonstrators flocked to Ukraine’s capital to call for the country to join the bloc, in what became known as the “Maidan Revolution”, after the Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovich pulled out of a closer association agreement with the EU.
He was later ousted after months of protests, before which Putin illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula and launched a war in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky replaces top military commander after public rebuke
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has replaced a top military commander after a well-known soldier accused him of having “killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general”.
In his nightly video message, Mr Zelensky announced that Lt Gen Yuriy Sodol had been replaced by Brig Gen Andriy Hnatov.
He did not elaborate on why the replacement had been made, but Gen Sodol’s removal came shortly after Bohdan Krotevych, the leader of Ukraine’s highly-regarded Azov regiment, accused the general of causing significant military setbacks and major losses in personnel.
Writing on his Telegram channel on 23 June, Mr Krotevych said that he had written a letter to Ukraine’s state bureau of investigation (SBI) calling for an “an investigation into one military general who, in my opinion, killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general”.
Here are some of the latest photos from Ukraine
Good morning.
Below are some of the latest photos coming out of Ukraine.
Fresh Western munitions satiate Ukrainian forces 'shell hunger'
Ukrainian troops trying to hold their ground on the eastern front in Donetsk region may still be outnumbered by Russian forces, but the “shell hunger” that plagued them for months as ammunitions started to run out is now behind them.
One unit in Donetsk region, the focus of Russian troops’ slow advance along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front, fired its M-109 self-propelled howitzer as needed -- there were no further fears of running short of Western-supplied 155 mm shells.
“There was ‘shell hunger’. Ammunition was rationed quite severely. It had an impact on infantry, they (Russians) crept from all sides, it hurt the infantry men,” unit commander Vasyl, 46, told a Reuters TV reporter.
“Now, there is no more ‘shell hunger’ and we work well.”
Demand for 155 mm artillery rounds has soared since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with Kyiv’s Western allies running down their own stockpiles as they rushed shells to Ukraine where thousands of rounds were needed every day.
Now a fresh influx of ammunition has begun arriving at units like Vasyl’s after the U.S. Congress ended months of delays and approved a $61 billion (£48 bn) aid package.
Dagestan, in southern Russia, has a history of violence. Why does it keeps happening?
Over the years, Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus region, has been beset by extremist violence. This weekend, there was more bloodshed.
Officials say five gunmen in the regional capital of Makhachkala and the city of Derbent opened fire at Orthodox churches and two synagogues, as well as a police post, killing at least 20 people before being slain by authorities.
A look at the volatile region:
Where is Dagestan?
Dagestan, which sits in the North Caucasus between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, is known as one of Russia’s most diverse — but volatile — regions.
There are more than 30 recognised ethnic groups and 13 local languages granted special status alongside Russian.
It has been blighted by violence since the early 2000s, when militant insurgents taking part in separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya were pushed into the region as a result of pressure from Russian security forces and iron-fisted Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Dagestan, in southern Russia, has a history of violence. Why does it keeps happening?
Over the years, Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus region, has been beset by extremist violence
Volume of Western aid will not change Ukraine frontline situation until late July
The volume of Western military assistance reaching Ukraine will not be at a scale that can change the frontline dynamics till late July, Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Head Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview.
He noted that the US and European weapons deliveries, including artillery ammunition, are arriving in Ukraine at a faster pace than several months ago but Ukrainian forces need a high volume of weapons and “there is a question of volume.”
“No Armageddon will emerge [on the frontline]” but that the frontline situation will remain difficult for at least one month, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Russian forces are “attempting to make tactically and operationally significant gains before US military assistance arrives to Ukrainian forces at the frontline at scale, and that the initial arrival of Western-provided weaponry will take some time to have tactical to operational effect on the frontline”.
Washington ‘regrets’ loss of life in Crimea
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned US ambassador Lynne Tracy yesterday and told her Washington was "waging a hybrid war against Russia and has actually become a party to the conflict".
"Retaliatory measures will definitely follow," the ministry said.
Ms Tracy said Washington regretted any loss to civilian life, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters, adding that Washington provided weapons to Ukraine so it could defend its sovereign territory, including Crimea.
Pentagon spokesperson Major Charlie Dietz said that “Ukraine makes its own targeting decisions and conducts its own military operations.”
Russia vows retaliation against US over Crimea strike
The Kremlin pinned the blame on the United States for an attack on Crimea with US-supplied ATACMS missiles that killed at least four people and injured 151, and Moscow formally warned the U.S. ambassador that retaliation would follow.
“You should ask my colleagues in Europe, and above all in Washington, the press secretaries, why their governments are killing Russian children,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He has not acknowledged Russian strikes that have claimed the lives of more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians in Russia’s invasion since February 2022. The death toll also includes more than 500 children.
“Retaliatory measures will definitely follow,” he said.
At least two children were killed in the attack on Sevastopol on Sunday, according to Russian officials. People were shown running from a beach near Sevastopol and some of the injured being carried off on sun loungers. Kyiv did not comment on the attack but denies targeting civilians.
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