#War #Ukraine #Developments
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– Ukraine strikes at Kherson –
Ukraine said it had attacked Russian military positions in the southern Kherson region, where the Kiev army is fighting to retake territory captured by Moscow early in the invasion.
“Our planes conducted a series of attacks on enemy bases…equipment and personnel and field depots around five different settlements in the Kherson region,” the defense ministry said.
– Donbass cities hold tight –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were “holding down” in the battered eastern city of Severodonetsk.
But Ukrainian forces have been making headway in the Zaporizhia and Kharkiv regions outside Donbass and “liberating our country,” he added.
– Death sentences anger UN and UK –
The UN warns unfair trials of prisoners constitute war crimes after pro-Russian separatists sentenced two captured British fighters and a Moroccan to death for joining Ukraine’s army.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled” by the verdicts, while Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called them “a blatant breach of the Geneva Convention”.
– Kyiv “no danger” –
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said there was no immediate threat of Russia marching on Kyiv, but the capital would not back down.
“There is no threat of an attack on Kyiv today,” Monastyrsky said. “There is no concentration of troops near the Belarusian border, but we understand that all possible scenarios are possible tomorrow,” he told AFP.
“Therefore, there is serious training” on a defensive line around the city.
– Africa urges Kyiv to clear mines –
Senegalese President and African Union leader Macky Sall called on Ukraine to clear the waters around its port in Odessa to facilitate much-needed grain exports.
Grain prices in Africa have skyrocketed due to the collapse in grain exports since the beginning of the war, sparking fears of famine and social unrest on the continent.
– Zelenskyj’s new EU call –
The Ukrainian president said his country should not be left in a “grey area” with its bid for EU membership, saying 70 percent of Europeans see the country as part of “the European family”.
– Russia is recovering… –
Russia’s central bank cut interest rates for the second time in two weeks and said its economy was recovering from sanctions faster than expected.
But it warned that the “external environment remains challenging” for the Russian economy.
– …while the Ukrainian economy is shrinking –
The war has shrunk Ukraine’s economy by 15.1 percent in the first three months of the year, the State Bureau of Statistics said.
The invasion devastated much of the economy, and the International Monetary Fund predicts that Ukraine’s gross domestic product will shrink by 35 percent in 2022.
– “Made in Russia” no means of sanction: Putin –
Russian President Vladimir Putin said local production of goods to circumvent Western sanctions is not a panacea and Russia is looking for new trading partners.
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