Ukrainian deputy defence minister says Russia aims to reach Luhansk borders by Sunday
Hungary has offered its territory as a possible route for Ukrainian grain exports due to disruption of usual routes via the Black Sea caused by Russia’s invasion, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has said.
Reuters reports that Szijjártó, who made the proposal at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, also said he expected no disruption in Russian gas supplies to Hungary.
Explosions have been reported in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa, a spokesperson for the regional administration said.
The explosions were heard after air raid sirens blared. No official information has been published yet.
From the Kyiv Independent:
⚡️ Explosions reported in Odesa.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 20, 2022
According to Suspilne news reporters, several explosions were heard in Odesa on June 20. No official information has been published yet.
Explosions can signify missile attacks or air defense systems shooting down missiles targeting the city.
A senior Ukrainian official has said that wheat farmers in Russian-occupied territory are being paid less than half what they were paid before the war – and in Russian roubles – raising fears that some crops will not be planted for next year’s harvest because it is uneconomical.
The claim, by Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai, came amid mounting concern over global wheat shortages because of the Russian war on Ukraine, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell calling Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain shipments “a real war crime”.
According to Haidai, Russian occupation authorities are offering farmers 8,000 roubles per ton of grain for the future sowing season, and Ukraine paid twice as much – 8.6 thousand UAH at current exchange rates.
Haidai said:
In fact, producers will be paid only 30% of the cost of grain. Specialists understand that it is impossible to carry out a sowing campaign for the 2023 harvest with these funds.
Pre-war, Ukraine was the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wheat globally and the absence of Ukrainian wheat from the market has pushed up prices around the world.
The latest issue threatening global grain supplies comes as Berlin plans to host a food security conference on Friday with US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, among those attending.
The gathering on Friday under the title “Uniting for Global Food Security” will address looming shortages caused by the war, the spokesman told a press conference in Berlin.
The German government spokesperson said:
The government is particularly committed in its presidency of the G7 to finding joint answers to the looming global hunger crisis triggered by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted that the conference would aim to “stabilise food supplies worldwide”.
The west has demanded Moscow stop blockading Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to allow vast stores of grain to be taken to world markets as fears rise of famines in vulnerable regions.
Moscow has denied responsibility for the food crisis and blames western sanctions for the disrupted deliveries that have pushed up cereal prices and fanned fears of famines in vulnerable regions.
Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of some goods to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Lithuania’s top envoy in Moscow to warn that unless the transit was swiftly restored, Russia would respond to protect its interests.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, described the situation as “more than serious”, telling reporters:
This decision is really unprecedented. It’s a violation of everything.
Lithuanian authorities have banned the transit of goods on an EU sanctions list across its territory, which includes the only rail route between mainland Russia and the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea. Banned goods include coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology.
Kaliningrad’s governor has estimated that the ban could affect up to half of all goods that are brought to the region by rail.
Russia’s foreign ministry demanded Vilnius reverse what it cast as an “openly hostile” move immediately. It said:
If cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, then Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests.
Lithuania said it was merely implementing EU sanctions. Its foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, told reporters:
It’s not Lithuania doing anything: it’s European sanctions that started working from 17 of June.
The Guardian journalist Luke Harding chronicles the defining moments in Vladimir Putin’s early presidency that helped turn Russia into a “mafia state” – from the clampdown on the independent media, to shocking assassinations and the emergence of pro-western democratic movements in neighbouring Georgia and Ukraine.
The editor of the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta is auctioning his Nobel peace prize medal, with the proceeds to go to helping children displaced by the war in Ukraine.
Dmitry Muratov led one of the last major independent media outlets critical of Vladimir Putin’s government after others either shut or had their websites blocked following the invasion of Ukraine. In March, it announced it was suspending operations for the duration of the war after it became a crime to report anything on the conflict that veered from the government line.
Muratov was awarded the Nobel peace prize medal last October. He later announced he would donate the $500,000 prize money to charity “to give the children refugees a chance for a future”. On Monday, to coincide with World Refugee Day, his 23-karat gold Nobel medal will go on sale in New York. All proceeds will go to Unicef, to help children who are refugees from Ukraine.
In a video released by Heritage Auctions, which is handling the sale, Muratov said it had to become “a beginning of a flash mob as an example to follow so people auction their valuable possessions to help Ukrainians”.
In an interview last month, Muratov said the sale was “an act of solidarity” with the 14 million Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion, which he called “a tragedy”.
“If we look at the number of refugees, we basically have world war three, not a local conflict,” he said. “This has been a mistake, and we need to end it.”
Novaya Gazeta was established in 1993 after the break-up of the Soviet Union and investigated corruption inside and outside Russia, as well as the long wars in Chechnya. Muratov dedicated his award to the memory of six of his paper’s journalists who were murdered for their work.
The pro-Russian Crimean leader, Sergei Aksyonov, has accused Ukraine of launching a missile strike on drilling platforms off the coast of the peninsula.
Three people were injured and a search is underway for seven other workers after the attack on the drilling platforms of Chernomorneftegaz, Aksyonov said in a post on Telegram.
Aksyonov said:
I am in contact with our colleagues from the defence ministry and the FSB (security agency), we are working on saving people.
He did not specify which platforms had been hit, but the oil and gas company operates several gas and oil fields in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
It has not been possible to independently verify these claims.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, is to be banned from Parliament’s estate in Westminster “until further notice” according to a message sent out by the Commons Speaker and the Lord Speaker this morning.
The ban, which also applies to all other accredited Russian diplomats and officials in the UK, has been operating informally since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February, but has now been confirmed in writing for the first time.
The note to parliamentarians from Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Lord McFall reads:
As the formally accredited representative of the Russian government, the ambassador will not be welcomed onto the parliamentary estate until further notice.
The email was accompanied by a Foreign Office guidance note for the 265 MPs and 154 peers recently banned by Moscow from entering Russia. It said:
We anticipate that if a sanctioned individual applied for a Russian visa it would be refused, and if they arrived at the border they would be prevented from entering Russia and deported at the earliest opportunity.
Travel is also not advised to areas under Russian “control or influence” including Belarus, Transnistria in Moldova, Crimea, along the Armenia/Azerbaijan border and the occupied Donbas region of Ukraine, the note added.
US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, is due to meet with Canada’s finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, in Toronto today where they will discuss the war in Ukraine and joint efforts to deal with the food and fuel price inflation it is causing.
The two finance ministers will discuss sanctions and other joint efforts to increase economic pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine, the US treasury said in a statement.
The statement continued:
They’ll also discuss joint efforts to mitigate the global consequences being felt because of Russia’s aggression, including the need to boost production of fossil fuels in the short term to address high gas and energy costs, and reiterate the importance of adopting clean energy technologies that break our dependence over the medium-term.
