Saturday, June 10, 2023
The deputy head of the Russian Security Council has warned that if NATO troops take part on Ukraine's side in the conflict with Russia, Moscow may carry out strikes on European countries.
Commenting on remarks by former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who said some countries of the alliance may individually send troops to Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev questioned if anyone is going to ask the opinion of the population of these countries on such a move.
"Well, have you asked the population of these countries (to send troops to Ukraine)? Which of them wants war with Russia? Do they really want hypersonic strikes on Europe?" Medvedev said.
Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012, also asked what is the opinion of the United States as “it would affect them too.”
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1643 GMT - Macron urges Iran to immediately stop backing Russia in Ukraine: Elysee
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi to "immediately end" Tehran's support for Russia's offensive on Ukraine by supplying Moscow with drones, the Elysee said.
Macron in a telephone call underlined the serious "security and humanitarian consequences" of Iran's drone deliveries "and urged Tehran to immediately end the support it thus gives to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine", the Elysee said.
1500 GMT - Ukraine to receive $20M in humanitarian aid from UK
The UK has announced it will contribute $20.1 million (£16 million) to meet broad needs in Ukraine, particularly those affected by the collapse of the Kakhovka dam.
In response to escalating demands, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement that the amount would assist civilians, including 32,000 people directly affected by flooding, as well as those on the front lines and displaced populations.
Additionally, the UK is supplying rescue boats, community water filters, water pumps, and waders, the statement said, and added that the equipment is slated to arrive in Ukraine "next week."
1455 GMT - Russian envoy: US not looking for diplomatic settlement in Ukraine
Russia’s ambassador to the US has claimed that Washington is "unwilling" to look for ways to a diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
In a statement on Telegram, Anatoly Antonov claimed the US does not do anything to bring Ukraine to the negotiating table.
"The US continues to pump up its wards with new batches of deadly weapons. The allocation of such impressive financial resources for these purposes indicates one thing: Washington does not intend to look for ways to a diplomatic settlement of the conflict," he said.
1430 GMT - Counteroffensive actions taking place - Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that counteroffensive action was underway against Russian forces, while declining to give any details.
"Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine: at which stage I will not talk in detail," Zelenskyy said at a joint press conference in Kiev with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Zelenskyy also responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin's claims that Kiev's long-expected counteroffensive was already failing.
"It's interesting what Putin said about our counteroffensive. It is important that Russia always feels this: that they do not have long left, in my opinion," Zelenskyy said.
1413 GMT – Russia still dissatisfied with Black Sea grain deal after UN talks
Russia is still not satisfied with how the Black Sea grain deal is being implemented, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin has said after meeting senior United Nations trade officials a day earlier, the TASS news agency reported.
Russia has threatened to walk away from the grain deal on July 17 if demands to improve its own food and fertilizer exports are not met. The deal, struck in July last year, facilitates the "safe navigation" of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers - including ammonia - for export to global markets.
"We cannot be satisfied with how this memorandum is being implemented," Vershinin was quoted as saying. "Barriers to our exports remain."
Russia agreed to a two-month extension of the deal last month but has said the initiative will cease unless an agreement aimed at overcoming obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports is fulfilled.
1443 GMT – Russia says it repels Ukraine's offensive in east and south
The Russian Defence Ministry has said that Ukraine's forces have continued "unsuccessful" attempts in the past 24 hours to launch attacks south of Donetsk and in Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as in the area of the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had certainly begun their expected counteroffensive in intense fighting in Ukraine, but that every attempted advance had failed, at a heavy cost in casualties.
1230 GMT - Three civilians killed in Russian drone attack on Odessa – Kiev
Three civilians have been killed during a Russian drone attack on the Black Sea city of Odessa after drone debris fell on an apartment block starting a fire, the Ukrainian military said.
Air defences in Odessa region shot down eight "Shahed" drones and two missiles in the latest in a spate of overnight air strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, a spokesperson for the southern military command said.
"As a result of the air fight, debris from one of the drones fell onto a high-rise apartment, causing a fire," the military official, Natalia Humeniuk, said in a statement.
The emergency services said 27 people, including three children, were wounded, but that the fire had been rapidly put out and 12 people were rescued from the building.
1036 GMT – German Chancellor Scholz says he plans to speak to Putin soon
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he planned to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone soon to urge him to withdraw Russia's troops from Ukraine.
Addressing a convention of the German Protestant church in Nuremberg, Scholz said he had spoken to Putin by telephone in the past.
"I plan to do it again soon," he said.
"It's not reasonable to force Ukraine to approve and accept the raid that Putin has perpetrated and that parts of Ukraine become Russian just like that," Scholz added, saying he would work to ensure that NATO does not get drawn into the war.
0948 GMT – Canadian PM Trudeau visits Kiev in show of support
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kiev in a gesture of support as Ukraine braces for a major counter-offensive against Russian forces and grapples with regular air strikes.
Trudeau said Canada would take part in a multinational effort to train Ukrainian fighter pilots and announced $375 million (C$500 million) worth of military aid for Kiev.
NATO member Canada, which has one of the world's largest Ukrainian diasporas, has supplied military and financial assistance to Ukraine during the full-scale offensive launched by Russia in February 2022.
Trudeau's trip to Kiev followed a night of Russian missile and drone attacks on targets outside the capital, including Odessa, Poltava region and Kharkiv.
0138 GMT — UN says Ukraine faces 'hugely worse' situation after dam rupture
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is "hugely worse" than before the Kakhovka dam collapsed, the UN's top aid official has warned.
Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths said an "extraordinary" 700,000 people are in need of drinking water and warned that the ravages of flooding in one of the world’s most important breadbaskets will almost inevitably lead to lower grain exports, higher food prices around the world, and less to eat for millions in need.
"This is a viral problem," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"But the truth is this is only the beginning of seeing the consequences of this act."
Griffiths said the United Nations, working mainly through Ukrainian aid groups, has reached 30,000 people in flooded areas under Ukrainian control. He said that so far, Russia has not given access to areas it controls for the UN to help flood victims.
Griffiths said he met with Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, on Wednesday to ask Russian authorities "for access for our teams in Ukraine to go across the front lines to give aid, to provide support for … Ukrainians in those areas."
"We're providing them with details as we speak, to enable Moscow to meet what we hope will be a positive decision on this," he said. "I hope that will come through."
0119 GMT — New Zealand state broadcaster corrects 'pro-Russian' stories
New Zealand's state broadcaster has launched an investigation after stories about the Russian offensive in Ukraine were edited to reflect what it called "a pro-Russian view".
Radio New Zealand has corrected at least two stories originally written by Reuters news agency, which it said had been "edited inappropriately" when it re-published them online.
One story was changed to include a reference to Ukraine's "pro-Western government" suppressing ethnic Russians, while another described the 2014 Maidan revolution that toppled pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych as a "coup".
"RNZ is investigating how a story on the Ukraine conflict on its website was changed to reflect a pro-Russian view," the broadcaster said in a news bulletin evening after the first story was discovered.
"The version published by RNZ included a false account of the events. The story has since been corrected."
The broadcaster later discovered that at least one other story had been changed.
"RNZ is concerned and takes this matter extremely seriously," it said in a statement.
2334 GMT — Reservoir levels supplying cooling water to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continue to fall — UN watchdog
The level of the reservoir that supplies cooling water to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continued to fall after the collapse of a major dam, the UN's nuclear watchdog said.
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] present at the facility said the height of the reservoir is continuing to drop at a rate of around 5 centimetres per hour and had reached 11.62 metres down from nearly 17 meters before the dam was damaged Tuesday.
“It remains unclear at what height the Kakhovka reservoir will stabilise and whether it will do so before it reaches a level where the pumps can no longer be operated,” IAEA’s Director-General Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
“Even if there is no short-term threat, the dam disaster is causing major new difficulties for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant at a time when the nuclear safety and security situation is already extremely fragile and potentially dangerous during the military conflict,” he said.
Grossi will travel to Kiev and to the Zaporizhzhia plant next week to present details of the IAEA's new assistance package.
For our live updates from Friday (June 9), click here.
