Russia Ukraine war live: G7 agrees to $50bn loan for Kyiv from Russian assets

Zelensky says China trying to undermine Ukraine peace summit

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The US and Ukraine have signed a security agreement at the G7 summit in Italy, as world leaders agreed to a $50bn loan to help Kyiv following the Russian invasion.

Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, described the pact as a “real marker” of the US commitment to Ukraine, “not just for this month and this year, but for the many years ahead”.

Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that the document is “unprecedented, as it should be for leaders who support Ukraine“.

The agreement will not commit US troops directly to Ukraine‘s defence against Russia‘s invasion. That is a red line drawn by the US president, who does not want to have America pulled into a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Moscow.

It comes as Russian drills to deploy tactical nuclear weapons for combat involved the special delivery of dummy nuclear warheads to forward storage points and an airfield where they were loaded on bombers, according to Russia‘s nuclear unit.

Meanwhile, drones struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast overnight damaging fuel tanks, the regional governor said.

Key Points

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Putin shows off in launch of Russian dummy nuclear warheads

Russian drills to deploy tactical nuclear weapons for combat involved the special delivery of dummy nuclear warheads to forward storage points and an airfield where they were loaded on bombers, according to Russia‘s nuclear unit.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the nuclear drills after what Russia said were threats from the West, including signals from Western officials that they would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western weapons.

Drills have taken place in the south of Russia, which borders Ukraine, and with the involvement of soldiers from the Leningrad military district in Russia‘s northwest, and have included mobile missile launchers, the air force and navy.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2024 06:00

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Drones strike Russian oil refinery

An oil refinery in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast has been struck by drones overnight, regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev said.

One of the drones hit the oil refinery damaging fuel tanks but caused no deaths, he added.

Russia has reported a rise in Ukrainian attacks on its territory since its forces opened a new front in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region last month.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar14 June 2024 05:41

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Russian journalist killed in shelling in Ukraine

Ukrainian shelling killed a Russian journalist covering the 27-month-old war in a village in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

Valery Kozhin, who worked for Russia’s NTV television channel, was one of a group of journalists hit in the strike, said Ivan Prikhodko, mayor of Horlivka, north of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk.

NTV had earlier reported that three of their staff, including Kozhin, had been wounded in the village of Holmivskyi and taken to hospital.

At least 16 journalists have died since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to Reuters.

Journalist Aleksey Ivliev and a Russian military officer who was accompanied him were seriously injured by a Ukrainian attack in Gorlovka in Donbas on Thursday while working for the Russian TV channel NTV. The Cameraman Valery Kozhin later died while in the hospital. pic.twitter.com/1m9o4GZgJy

— Donna Hylton 🇷🇺 🇸🇾 (@ReaderDon7) June 13, 2024

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar14 June 2024 05:30

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Two Indians killed fighting for Russian military in Ukraine

Two Indian men recruited by the Russian army have been killed in Ukraine, India’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2024 05:00

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UK imposes first sanctions targeting Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’

Britain has imposed its first sanctions targeting vessels in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “shadow fleet” that it said was used to circumvent Western sanctions on the trade in Russian oil.

The action, part of 50 new sanctions and co-ordinated with G7 partners, also targeted suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics to Russia’s military, including entities based in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, the government said.

“Today’s action includes the UK’s first sanctions targeting vessels in Putin’s shadow fleet, used by Russia to circumvent UK and G7 sanctions and continue unfettered trade in Russian oil,” a government statement said.

Britain also sanctioned Russia’s leading financial marketplace, the Moscow Exchange, saying it had obtained a benefit from or supported the Kremlin “by carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance.”

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar14 June 2024 04:30

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US reporter Evan Gershkovich, jailed in Russia on espionage charges, to stand trial, officials say

U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been jailed for over a year in Russia on espionage charges, will stand trial in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, authorities said Thursday.

An indictment of the Wall Street Journal reporter has been finalized and his case was filed to the Sverdlovsky Regional Court in the city about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) east of Moscow, according to Russia’s Prosecutor General’s office.

Gershkovich is accused of “gathering secret information” for the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a facility in the Sverdlovsk region that produces and repairs military equipment, the Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement, revealing for the first time the details of the accusations against him.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2024 04:00

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G7 leaders strike deal on $50bn funding for Ukraine

G7 leaders have reached a deal to use profits from frozen Russian assets to provide around $50bn (£39bn) worth of support to Ukraine.

It came after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected “important decisions” from the summit in Italy, with leaders from the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan seeking to shore up support for Kyiv as several of them face elections or political turmoil at home.

Also on Thursday, US president Joe Biden agreed to a sweeping bilateral security agreement that will see his country and Ukraine work together “to help deter and confront future aggression against the territorial integrity” of either state.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar14 June 2024 03:52

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Poland honors soldier who was fatally stabbed by migrant at border with Belarus

Sirens wailed and lawmakers in the Polish parliament observed a minute of silence on Wednesday to honor a young soldier who was fatally stabbed at the Polish-Belarusian border during a migration crisis that Poland says has been engineered by Russia and Belarus.

The soldier, Mateusz Sitek, was stabbed in the chest by a migrant who thrust a knife through a gap in a steel fence on May 28. He died of his wounds more than a week later, on June 6.

Sitek was laid to rest Wednesday in his home village of Nowy Lubiel in central Poland.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2024 03:00

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The enemy within: How corruption and inefficiency are sabotaging Ukraine’s war effort

The most senior Ukrainian official in charge of reconstruction has resigned, bitterly complaining that his position was deliberately undermined by the Zelensky government, writes Kim Sengupta – such instability could prove deeply damaging:

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2024 02:00

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NATO defense ministers thrash out new security aid and training support plan for Ukraine

NATO defense ministers gathered Thursday hoping to agree on a new plan to provide long-term security assistance and military training to Ukraine, after Hungary promised not to veto the scheme as long as it’s not forced to take part.

The ministers are meeting over two days at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the last high-level talks before a summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on July 9-11, where the military organization’s leaders are expected to announce financial support for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Western allies are trying to bolster their military support as Russian troops launch attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, taking advantage of a lengthy delay in U.S. military aid. European Union money was also held up by political infighting.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 June 2024 01:00