STOCKHOLM, May 4 (Reuters) – Sweden has received assurances from the United States that it would receive support during the period a potential application to join NATO is processed by the 30 nations in the alliance, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in Washington on Wednesday.
Sweden and neighbour Finland stayed out of NATO during the Cold War, but Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine have led the countries to rethink their security policies, with NATO membership looking increasingly likely.
Both countries are concerned they would be vulnerable during an application process, which could take up to a year to be approved by all NATO’s members.
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“Naturally, I’m not going to go into any details, but I feel very sure that now we have an American assurance,” Linde told Swedish TV from Washington after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“However, not concrete security guarantees, those you can only get if you are a full member of NATO,” she added.
Linde declined to say what assurances she had received from Blinken.
“They would mean that Russia can be clear that if they direct any kind of negative activities against Sweden, which they have threatened, it would not be something that the U.S. would just allow to happen … without a response,” she said.
A U.S. State Department statement issued after the meeting said Blinken had reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to NATO’s policy of welcoming new members, but it made no mention of security assurances.
Sweden’s defence minister said last month that an application could trigger a number of responses from Russia, including cyber attacks and hybrid measures – such as propaganda campaigns – to undermine Sweden’s security.
Moscow has warned it could deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in the European exclave of Kaliningrad if Sweden and Finland become NATO members. read more
Linde, who will now travel to Canada to discuss security matters with its government, said the United States was strongly supportive of Swedish and Finnish membership in NATO, which would increase stability in the Baltic and Arctic regions.
Both Sweden and Finland are expected to make a decision about whether to apply to join NATO this month. read more
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Reporting by Simon Johnson
Editing by Bill Berkrot and Jacqueline Wong
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses the media during a news conference following a special German cabinet meeting at the government’s guest house Schloss Meseberg in Meseberg, Gransee, Germany May 4, 2022. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
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BERLIN, May 4 (Reuters) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Ukraine on Wednesday to help unblock an embarrassing diplomatic impasse, after the German president was stopped from visiting Kyiv amid disquiet over his past support of rapprochement with Russia.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany has called Scholz an “offended liver sausage” for refusing to visit the country before President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is welcomed there.
“It is a problem for the German government and for the German people that the president was asked not to come,” Scholz told reporters following talks with his cabinet.
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“Ukraine must also play its part,” he said, without elaborating how.
The row has put an awkward twist on relations at a time when Germany’s opposition to Russia’s invasion is crucial to Ukraine, given its weight in the European Union and the bloc’s deliberations on sanctions against Moscow.
Steinmeier had planned to visit the Ukrainian capital in April but the trip was cancelled, causing a scandal in Germany where policymakers have been scrambling to reverse a long-standing “Wandel durch Handel” – change through trade – approach to dealing with Russia.
Steinmeier, a fellow member of Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), was long considered a proponent of reconciliation with Moscow but he has since conceded that he made mistakes.
German media had previously reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy refused to welcome Steinmeier in Kyiv over his years-long support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia to Germany, which was cancelled days before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Highlighting the government’s delay in sending someone to Ukraine, Germany’s main opposition leader, Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), visited the war-torn country on Tuesday.
Scholz said he was in touch with his political rival regarding the trip, during which Merz toured the bombed-out town of Irpin before heading to nearby Kyiv for talks with Zelenskiy.
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Reporting by Rachel More; Editing by Miranda Murray and Hugh Lawson
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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a meeting of the Council of Legislators at the Federal Assembly in Saint Petersburg, Russia April 27, 2022. Sputnik/Alexei Danichev/Kremlin via REUTERS
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Putin begins Russia’s bite-back over Ukraine sanctions
Gives wide powers to cut raw material, produce exports
Forbids transactions with sanctioned entities
Retaliatory moves could wreak chaos across markets
Who will be on sanctions lists will now be key
LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin put the West on notice on Tuesday that he could terminate exports and deals, the Kremlin’s toughest response yet to the sanctions burden imposed by the United States and allies over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, signed a broad decree on Tuesday which forbade the export of products and raw materials to people and entities on a sanctions list that he instructed the government to draw up within 10 days.
The decree, which came into force with its publication, gives Moscow the power to sow chaos across markets as it could at any moment halt exports or tear up contracts with an entity or individual it has sanctioned.
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The Russian government has 10 days to draw up lists of those it will sanction beyond the Western politicians it has already.
Putin explicitly framed the decree as a response to what he cast as the illegal actions of the United States and its allies meant to deprive “the Russian Federation, citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities of property rights or the restricting their property rights”.
The decree sets out “retaliatory special economic measures in connection with the unfriendly actions of some foreign states and international organizations”.
Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine prompted the United States and its allies to impose the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia and Moscow’s business elite, steps Putin casts as a declaration of economic war.
The West’s attempt to economically isolate Russia – one of the world’s biggest producers of natural resources – has propelled the global economy into uncharted waters with soaring prices and warnings of food shortages.
Putin, 69, has repeatedly warned that Moscow will respond in kind, though until Tuesday the Kremlin’s toughest economic response had been to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria and demand a new payment scheme for European buyers of gas.
Tuesday’s decree forbids the export of products and raw materials to people and entities that the Kremlin has sanctioned. It forbids any transactions with such people or entities – even under current contracts.
Putin tasked the government with drawing up the list of foreign individuals and companies to be sanctioned, as well as defining “additional criteria” for a number of transactions that could be subject to restrictions.
“This is a framework decree,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a non-resident scholar at Carnegie Moscow Center and founder of the R.Politik political analysis firm.
“Now all the specific lists should be developed by the government. That’s the main thing and we need to wait for.”
Since the West imposed sanctions on Russia, the $1.8 trillion economy has been heading for its biggest contraction since the years following the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union, amid soaring inflation.
A significant transfer of Russian assets has begun as the Russian state gains even more influence over the economy, many major Western investors – such as energy giants BP (BP.L) and Shell (SHEL.L) – exit, and oligarchs try to restructure their business empires.
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Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Heinrich
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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China February 4, 2022. Sputnik/Aleksey Druzhinin/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo
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WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) – Two months after warning that Beijing appeared poised to help Russia in its fight against Ukraine, senior U.S. officials say they have not detected overt Chinese military and economic support, a welcome development in the tense U.S.-China relationship.
U.S. officials told Reuters in recent days they remain wary about China’s long-standing support for Russia in general, but that the military and economic support that they worried about has not come to pass, at least for now. The relief comes at a pivotal time.
President Joe Biden is preparing for a trip to Asia later this month dominated by how to deal with the rise of China and his administration is soon to release his first national security strategy about the emergence of China as a great power. read more
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As well as steering clear of directly backing Russia’s war effort, China has avoided entering new contracts between its state oil refiners and Russia, despite steep discounts. read more In March its state-run Sinopec Group suspended talks about a major petrochemical investment and a gas marketing venture in Russia. read more
Last month, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations hailed China’s abstentions on U.N. votes to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “win,” underscoring how Beijing’s enforced balancing act between Russia and the West may be the best outcome for Washington. read more
Still, China has refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine and has criticized the sweeping Western sanctions on Moscow, while saying it is not deliberately helping circumvent them. read more
Trade volume between Russia and China also jumped in the first quarter, and the two declared a “no limits” partnership in February.
On Monday, Beijing’s Washington embassy issued a 30-page newsletter accusing the United States of spreading “falsehoods” to discredit China over Ukraine, including through a March press leak saying Russia had sought Chinese military help. The embassy noted that U.S. officials had since said they had seen no evidence of China providing such support.
China-Russia trade
Biden himself has not spoken of China helping Russia since telling reporters in Brussels March 24 that in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he “made sure he understood the consequences.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week China is dealing with the “significant reputational risk” of being Russia’s ally and that “for now we’re not seeing significant support from China for Russia’s military actions.”
Biden is to visit Tokyo and Seoul in what will be his first trip to Asia as president – one that won’t include a stop in China. He’ll meet with Indian and Australian leaders too, during a ‘Quad’ meeting in Tokyo.
China has made Russia a key part of its foreign policy strategy to counter the West. Biden aides were worried Xi was planning to provide direct support to Russian President Vladimir Putin as his campaign in Ukraine faced fierce setbacks, one U.S. official said.
They were heartened this has not happened so far, but Washington and its allies are continuing to closely monitor the level of assistance, the official said.
Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said stark warnings by the U.S. and European Union have paid off so far.
“There has been consistent messaging that if China does so it will face severe consequences. It appears that so far, the Chinese have not. It is feasible that the Chinese planned to provide military assistance and changed their minds,” she said.
However U.S. officials remain concerned about China’s refusal to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine and what they say is its continued parroting of Russian disinformation over its intervention there.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on April 21 that Beijing had “repeatedly drawn false equivalencies between Russia’s war of aggression and Ukraine’s self-defensive actions.”
She added: “Let’s be clear, China’s already doing things that do not help this situation.”
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Reporting By Steve Holland, David Brunnstrom and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons and Richard Pullin
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Civilians trying to leave Mariupol after weeks of siege
Moscow steps up assault in Ukraine’s south, eastern Donbas
KYIV/LVIV, May 2 (Reuters) – The European Union was preparing sanctions on Russian oil sales over its invasion of Ukraine after a major shift on Monday by Germany, Russia’s biggest energy customer, that could deprive Moscow of a large revenue stream within days.
The European Commission is expected to propose a sixth package of EU sanctions this week against Russia over its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, including a possible embargo on buying Russian oil.
Kyiv says Russia’s energy exports to Europe, so far largely exempt from international sanctions, are funding the Kremlin war effort with millions of euros every day.
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“This package should include clear steps to block Russia’s revenues from energy resources,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
Germany said on Monday it was prepared to back an immediate EU embargo on Russian oil.
“We have managed to reach a situation where Germany is able to bear an oil embargo,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said. read more
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has been more cautious than other Western leaders in backing Ukraine, has been under growing pressure to take a firmer line.
Scholz vowed sanctions will not be lifted until Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a peace deal with Ukraine that Kyiv can support, he said in an interview with ZDF public television. read more
Weaning Europe off Russian oil is likely to be easier than reducing dependence on Russian natural gas. Moscow has demanded European customers pay for gas in roubles, which the EU rejects. Last week, Moscow cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.
EU ministers meeting on Monday warned that complying in full with Moscow’s demand for gas payments in roubles would breach existing EU sanctions.
Ambassadors from EU countries will discuss the proposed oil sanctions when they meet on Wednesday.
The first civilians to be evacuated from a giant steel plant in Mariupol arrived on Monday in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia after an overnight bus journey across the front-line.
Ukraine says hundreds of civilians have been trapped inside the Azovstal plant along with the city’s last Ukrainian defenders. Dozens were able to leave on Sunday in an evacuation organised by the United Nations, the first to escape since Putin ordered the plant barricaded last week.
Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, 39, a deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, told Reuters from inside the plant that fighters could hear voices of women, children and elderly people trapped below ground, and lacked the equipment to dig them out. read more
“We were planning to tear up the bunkers, the entrance to which is blocked, but all night into Monday naval artillery and barrel artillery were firing. All day today aviation has been working, dropping bombs,” Palamar said by Zoom.
Efforts to organise the evacuation of civilians from other parts of the city, now held by the Russians, ran into delays. Ukraine says 100,000 people are still in the ruined city, enduring desperate conditions after months of Russian siege.
“Our house is completely destroyed. We had a two-story building, it’s not there anymore. It burned to the ground,” said Natalya Tsyntomirska, a Mariupol native who reached Zaporizhzhia on Monday in a funeral service van.
Zelenskiy said the evacuation effort was continuing and he expected more movement of people through humanitarian corridors on Tuesday from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Vasylivka.
For its part, Kyiv hopes a massive influx of Western military aid will allow it to repel that assault and then turn the tide with a counter-attack.
Russian forces shelled the city of Kharkiv five times on Monday, injuring five people, according to regional governor Oleh Sinehubov. Further south, Izyum remained a battleground, with most of the houses in the city destroyed, he said.
After being forced to abandon an assault on Kyiv at the end of March, Russia launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine focused on the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, parts of which were already held by Russian-backed separatists before the invasion. Russian troops are now trying to encircle a large Ukrainian force there, attacking from three directions with massive bombardment along the front.
Ukraine’s military said on Monday Russian forces were trying to take over the frontline Luhansk province town of Rubizhne and prepare an assault on nearby Sievierodonetsk.
The heaviest clashes were taking place around Popasna, farther south. Shelling was so intense it was not possible to collect bodies, said regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai.
”I don’t even want to speak about what’s happening with the people living in Popasna, Rubizhne and Novotoshkivske right now. These cities simply don’t exist anymore. They have completely destroyed them.”
Russia has also been striking targets far from the front line with missiles. A 14-year-old boy was killed and a 17-year-old girl was wounded in a missile strike in the southern port of Odesa when a missile hit a dormitory, Zelenskiy said. read more
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Reporting by Kate Abnett in Brussels, Hamuda Hassan and Jorge Silva in Dobropillia, Ukraine, Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Reuters journalists; Writing by Peter Graff and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Nick Macfie, Tomasz Janowski, Cynthia Osterman and Lincoln Feast.
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The European Union flags flutter ahead of the gas talks between the EU, Russia and Ukraine at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium September 19, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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BRUSSELS, May 2 (Reuters) – The European Commission may spare Hungary and Slovakia from an embargo on buying Russian oil, now under preparation, wary of the two countries’ dependence on Russian crude, two EU officials said on Monday.
The Commission is expected to finalise on Tuesday work on the next, and sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, which would include a ban on buying Russian oil. Exports of oil are a major source of Moscow’s revenue.
Hungary, heavily dependent on Russian oil, has repeatedly said it would not sign up to sanctions involving energy. Slovakia is also among the EU countries most reliant on Russian fossil fuels.
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To keep the 27-nation bloc united, the Commission might offer Slovakia and Hungary “an exemption or a long transition period”, one of the officials said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, thanked Slovakia for its support of Kyiv, in what seems a sign of understanding of Slovakia’s position.
“Ukraine will always remember what our Slovak friends did for us. Warm welcome for Ukrainians fleeing the war, humanitarian aid, arms supplies, support for granting Ukraine EU candidate status and allowing tariff-free exports to the EU,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter. “We are lucky to have Slovakia as a neighbor.”
The oil embargo is likely to be phased in anyway, most likely taking full effect from the start of next year, officials said.
Europe is the destination for nearly half of Russia’s crude and petroleum product exports – providing Moscow with a huge source of revenue that countries including Latvia and Poland say must be cut, to stop funding its military action in Ukraine.
EU countries have paid Russia nearly 20 billion euros since Feb. 24, when it invaded Ukraine in what Moscow calls a “special military operation”, according to research organisation the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
Overall, the EU is dependent on Russia for 26% of its oil imports.
Slovakia and Hungary, both on the southern route of the Druzhba pipeline bringing Russian oil to Europe, are especially dependent, receiving respectively 96% and 58% of their crude oil and oil products imports from Russia last year, according to the International Energy Agency.
Germany, the top buyer of Russian oil in the EU, has in recent days said it could manage an oil embargo, having initially resisted for fear of the economic cost.
At 555,000 barrels per day, Germany imported 35% of its crude oil from Russia in 2021, but has in recent weeks reduced that to 12%, the German economy ministry said in an update on energy security on Sunday.
“An oil embargo with a sufficient transitional period would now be manageable in Germany, subject to rising prices,” it said.
The EU sanctions package is to be presented to ambassadors of EU governments on Wednesday.
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Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Kate Abnett; Editing by Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan and Leslie Adler
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BRUSSELS, May 2 (Reuters) – Energy ministers from European Union countries hold emergency talks on Monday, as the bloc strives for a united response to Moscow’s demand that European buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles or face their supply being cut off.
Russia halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland last week after they refused to meet its demand to effectively pay in roubles.
Those countries already planned to stop using Russian gas this year and say they can cope with the stoppage, but it has raised fears that other EU countries, including Europe’s gas-reliant economic powerhouse Germany, could be next.
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Civilians evacuated from Ukraine’s Mariupol, Russia renews shelling
Ukrainian evacuee recounts terror in the bunkers of Azovstal
Jill Biden to meet with Ukrainian refugees in Romania and Slovakia
How military technology reaches Russia in breach of U.S. export controls
It has also threatened to crack the EU’s united front against Russia amid disagreement on the right course of action.
With many European companies facing gas payment deadlines later this month, EU states have a pressing need to clarify whether companies can keep buying the fuel without breaching the EU’s sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow has said foreign gas buyers must deposit euros or dollars into an account at the privately owned Russian bank Gazprombank, which would convert them into roubles.
The European Commission has told countries that complying with Russia’s scheme could breach EU sanctions, while also suggesting countries could make sanctions-compliant payments if they declare the payment complete once it has been made in euros and before its conversion into roubles.
After Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Slovakia and others last week urged clearer advice, Brussels is drafting extra guidance.
Russia on Friday said it saw no problem with its decree, which considers the buyer’s obligation fulfilled only after the hard currency has been converted to roubles.
While Bulgaria and Poland refused to engage with Moscow’s scheme, Germany has echoed the Commission’s workaround to allow companies to pay, and Hungary has said buyers can engage with Russia’s mechanism. read more
Payments in roubles can help to shelter Russia’s economy from the impact of sanctions, while the fuel revenues can help to finance what it calls a special military operation.
EU countries have paid more than 45 billion euros ($47.43 billion) to Russia for gas and oil since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, research organisation the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found.
Russia supplies 40% of EU gas and 26% of its oil imports, a dependency that means Germany and others have so far resisted calls for an abrupt halt to Russian fuel imports for fear of economic damage.
The EU is edging towards a ban on imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, diplomats said, after talks between the Commission and EU countries at the weekend ahead of meetings this week.
Ambassadors will discuss at a meeting on Wednesday a sixth package of EU sanctions against Moscow being drafted by the Commission.
Ministers on Monday will also discuss the need to urgently secure non-Russian gas supplies and fill storage, as countries brace for supply shocks.
Dependency on Russian gas varies between countries, but analysts have said an immediate total cut-off of Russian gas would plunge countries, including Germany, into recession and require emergency measures such as factory closures to cope.
Austria, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia also had reservations over the weekend about the idea of an oil embargo, diplomats said.
The Commission will later this month unveil plans to end Europe’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels by 2027, including by expanding renewable energy and renovating buildings to consume less.
($1 = 0.9488 euros)
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Editing by John Chalmers and Barbara Lewis
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May 1 (Reuters) – One person was injured in a fire on a Russian defence ministry facility in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, Belgorod region governor said on Sunday.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a local resident suffered minor injuries and his life was not in danger. He also said that seven homes had been damaged as a result of the incident.
There were no comments from the defence ministry and it was not immediately clear what caused the fire. Reuters was unable to independently verify the statements.
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Images posted to social media showed a large funnel of smoke rising above the ground. Reuters could not verify the reports.
Separately, the governor of the Kursk region which also shares a border with Ukraine said that a railway bridge had been damaged on a line used by freight trains.
Speaking in a video posted on his Telegram channel, governor Roman Starovoit called the incident an act of sabotage.
Russia last month accused Ukraine of a helicopter attack on a fuel depot in Belgorod, for which Kyiv denied responsibility, as well as shelling villages and firing missiles at an ammunition depot.
Other Russian regions that share a border with Ukraine have also reported cross-border shelling incidents since Moscow sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a “special military operation”.
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Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Angus MacSwan
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April 30 (Reuters) – A Russian missile strike on Saturday knocked out the newly-constructed runway at the main airport in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, a strategic Black Sea port, military and civilian officials said.
“The Odesa airport runway was destroyed. We will, of course, rebuild it. But Odesa will never forget Russia’s behaviour towards it,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a late night address.
Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko said Russia had used a Bastion missile, launched from Crimea.
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“Thank God no one was hurt. Anti-sabotage measures are being carried out in the region,” he said in a video posted online.
Odesa mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said it had taken 10 years to design and build the new runway, which was formally opened last July.
“Thanks to the new runway we were expecting a colossal influx of tourists from all over the world. Instead, we got a rocket strike,” he said on Facebook.
“But Odesa is not a city which surrenders to difficulties. We will absolutely restore the runway after our victory and even more tourists will come to us.”
Russia’s military has not yet confirmed the strike.
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Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Chris Reese
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Moscow steps up assault in Ukraine’s south, eastern Donbas
Women, children and elderly evacuated from Mariupol steel plant
Odesa airport, Luhansk and Donetsk hit with missiles
Officials offer conflicting views on peace negotiations
DOBROPILLIA, Ukraine/KYIV, April 30 (Reuters) – Russia carried out missile strikes across southern and eastern Ukraine on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, and some women and children were evacuated from a steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol after being holed up there for over a week.
Moscow has turned its focus toward Ukraine’s south and east after failing to capture the capital Kyiv in a nine-week assault that has flattened cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 5 million to flee abroad.
Its forces have captured the town of Kherson in the south, giving them a foothold just 100 km (62 miles) north of Russian-annexed Crimea, and have mostly occupied Mariupol, a strategic eastern port city on the Azov Sea.
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Russia declared victory in Mariupol on April 21 even as hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians took shelter in the Azovstal steel works. The United Nations has urged an evacuation deal, and on Saturday, a Ukrainian fighter inside said some 20 women and children had made it out.
“We are getting civilians out of the rubble with ropes – it’s the elderly, women and children,” said the fighter, Sviatoslav Palamar, referring to wreckage within the 4 square km plant.
Palamar said both Russia and Ukraine were respecting a local ceasefire, and that he hoped the evacuated civilians would be transferred to the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia to the northwest.
There was no Russian comment on the evacuations. Hundreds of Ukrainians remain inside, according to Ukrainian officials.
To the west in Odesa, which has so far been relatively unscathed in the war, a Russian missile strike launched from Crimea destroyed the runway at the main airport, said Maksym Marchenko, Odesda’s regional governor.
“Thank God no one was hurt. Anti-sabotage measures are being carried out in the region,” Marchenko said. Ukraine’s military said the airport could no longer be used.
There was no immediate comment on the strike from Moscow, whose forces have sporadically targeted Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city. Eight people were killed in a Russian strike on the city last week, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow’s assault in the south is aimed in part at linking the area with Crimea as it pushes for complete control over Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Parts of Donbas’ two provinces, Luhansk and Donetsk, were already controlled by Russian-backed separatists before Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.
Moscow calls its actions a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
Despite weeks of peace talks, both sides looked to be as far apart as ever on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said lifting Western sanctions on Moscow was part of the negotiations, but senior Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak denied this was the case. read more
People walk at a damaged area inside a burning plant, following Russian shelling amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 30, 2022. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Read More
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, insists sanctions need to be strengthened and cannot be negotiated upon. He warned on Friday that talks could collapse due to what he called Russia’s “playbook on murdering people”.
Ukraine accuses Russian troops of carrying out atrocities as they withdrew from areas near Kyiv in early April. Moscow denies the claims. Negotiators last met face-to-face on March 29, and have since spoken by video link.
The United States and its European allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia’s economy and provided Ukraine with weapons and humanitarian aid.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking a $33 billion aid package for Kyiv, including $20 billion for weapons, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday his country would continue “to give the Ukrainians the equipment they need to defend themselves.”
Lavrov said that if Washington and its partners in the U.S.-led NATO military alliance truly wanted to resolve the crisis, they should stop sending weapons to Kyiv. read more
In the town of Dobropillia in Donetsk, the shockwave from a strike on Saturday blew in the windows of an apartment building and left a large crater in the yard.
One resident, who gave only his first name of Andriy, said his partner was in a room facing the yard at the time of the attack and was knocked unconscious.
“Thank God the four children were in the kitchen,” he said, standing in the destroyed living room.
Residents sifted through their belongings to see what could be salvaged.
“At around 9:20 a.m. this happiness flew to our house,” another resident, Oleh, said sarcastically. “Everything is destroyed.”
Russia reported more Ukrainian strikes on its territory on Saturday.
Officials in Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, said air defences had prevented a Ukrainian aircraft from entering. The resulting shelling had hit parts of a Russian oil terminal, they said.
South of Bryansk in the Russia’s Kursk region, also on the Ukrainian border, several shells were fired from Ukraine toward a Russian checkpoint, Kursk Governor Roman Starovoit said. There were no casualties or damage, he added.
Ukraine has not directly claimed responsibility for a spate of such incidents on Russian territory. But it described a series of blasts in Russia’s south on Wednesday as payback and “karma” for Moscow’s invasion. read more
(This story has been refiled to change “Russian” to “Russia” in first line)
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Reporting by Hamuda Hassan and Jorge Silva in Dobropillia, Ukraine, and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Reuters journalists; Writing by Frances Kerry and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Catherine Evans, Hugh Lawson and Daniel Wallis
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