Live blog: African leaders head to Ukraine, Russia on peace mission

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

A group of African leaders are expected to arrive in Poland on their mediation mission in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a statement by Uganda’s president.

President Yoweri Museveni said six African presidents from Comoros, Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, Congo- Brazzaville, and Zambia are scheduled to arrive in Poland on Thursday to take the train trip to Kiev to mediate in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“From Poland, they will go to Russia to meet with the Russians. I wish the mission success,” Museveni said in his statement.

The African leaders want to persuade Ukraine and Russia into talks that could end the conflict.

Last week, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the phone and briefed him about the “African leaders’ peace mission.”

“President Putin has welcomed the initiative by African heads of state and expressed his desire to receive the peace mission,” a statement from Ramaphosa’s office said.

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1849 GMT — Lithuania joins over $116M air defence purchase for Ukraine

Together with six Western countries, Lithuania will purchase air defence capabilities for Ukraine worth $116.7 million (€107.5 million), the country's Defence Ministry said.

The move came as part of the 2nd phase of International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) procurements, a joint funding mechanism comprising the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland as well as Lithuania.

Lithuania's Defence Ministry said the drones bought in the first phase will arrive in Ukraine this summer.

The IFU mechanism was established in March to ensure the continued supply of military support to Ukraine.

1821 GMT — Captured Ukrainian soldiers face trial in Russia

More than 20 Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner during fighting in Ukraine have gone on trial in southern Russia.

The captured soldiers were members of the Azov battalion, an elite Ukrainian armed forces unit that fought Russian troops in the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol.

Russian authorities have designated the Azov battalion as a terrorist group. The defendants are facing charges of involvement in a terrorist organization and taking part in action to overthrow the Russia-backed authorities in the Donetsk region.

They face sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

1700 GMT — Russia steps up aerial strikes on Ukraine, killing at least six

Russian forces have fired cruise missiles at the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa and shelled the eastern Donetsk region, killing at least six people and damaging dozens of homes, regional Ukrainian officials said.

In Odessa, three food warehouse employees were killed in a strike that also damaged homes, shops and cafes in the city's downtown, the regional administration said on Facebook. An additional 13 people were injured.

In eastern Ukraine, Donetsk province Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram that at least three people died after shelling destroyed seven homes and damaged dozens more in the cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka.

Ten towns and villages along the front line in Donetsk were struck as Kiev's troops slowly advance, according to Ukraine's presidential office.

1243 GMT — NATO's Stoltenberg: Still early days in Ukraine's counteroffensive

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said alliance members must ensure Ukraine keeps getting enough arms to pursue its counter-offensive against Russia, as Kiev sustains losses in its long-awaited push.

"We do not know if this will be a turning point in the war (...) The more gains Ukraine makes, the stronger their hand will be at the negotiating table," Stoltenberg told a news conference.

"The most obvious thing is to ensure they have the weapons, the supplies, the maintenance to continue to conduct the offensive," Stoltenberg said.

1240 GMT — Russian 'goodwill' on Black Sea grain deal is 'not endless'

Russia's "goodwill" cannot last indefinitely when it comes to renewing the Black Sea grain deal, the Kremlin has said, a day after President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was considering withdrawing from the accord.

Moscow agreed reluctantly to extend the deal, known by diplomats as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, until July 17 on condition that it also received help with its own food and fertiliser exports.

"The extension of the grain deal was a goodwill gesture. Russia has repeatedly made such gestures...," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a regular news briefing.

"But unfortunately, in the absence of reciprocity, the lack of desire on the part of the collective West to fulfil part of the agreements concerning Russia, this manifestation of goodwill and political will cannot be endless," he said.

"That is why our exit from the deal after its expiry is being considered. But there is no decision yet," Peskov added.

1225 GMT — Russian parliament backs army recruitment of criminals for Ukraine conflict

The lower house of Russia's parliament has given its initial backing to legislation that will allow the Defence Ministry to sign contracts with suspected or convicted criminals to fight in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.

More than 15 months into what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, Moscow - whose forces have suffered heavy losses - is trying to recruit more soldiers for what is Europe's largest land conflict since World War Two.

1213 GMT — Belarusian president claims Ukraine's Zelenskyy had contacted him for talks

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that, at the request of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Minsk and Kiev held contacts to discuss establishing diplomatic communications, but disagreements arose when the US learned about it.

"He (Zelenskyy) offers me: 'Let's talk,'" Lukashenko said in an interview with Russia TV channel Rossiya-1, adding that Ukraine's intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov also took part in the contacts between the two countries that were held in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

However, Lukashenko did not say when it took place.

The negotiations were going well, but “some kind of friction” emerged after the US “found out” about them, Lukashenko claimed, adding that the Ukrainian side offered to hold another round of talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, which he refused.

1205 GMT — Kremlin says it will not rename 'special military operation' in Ukraine

The Kremlin has said it was not considering changing the status of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Observers have previously speculated that Russia might designate the conflict either as a full-fledged war or as an "anti-terrorist operation".

1028 GMT — Ukraine reports small advances in 'extremely fierce' fighting

Ukraine has reported incremental advances in its counteroffensive against Russian forces in what it said was "extremely fierce" fighting, with Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar saying the Ukrainian actions had had "partial" success.

In the past day, Ukrainian troops had advanced 200-500 metres (220-550 yards) in various areas near the small eastern city of Bakhmut, and 300-350 metres in the direction of the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, she said.

"Our troops are moving in the face of extremely fierce fighting, and air and artillery superiority of the enemy," Maliar said.

She reported continuing fighting near the village of Makarivka in the direction of the southern port city of Berdyansk, and said battles were raging in the areas of Novodanylivka and Novopokrovsk in the Mariupol direction.

0906 GMT — France's Macron to discuss Ukraine with Saudi Crown Prince this week

French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss the war in Ukraine and other matters when he meets Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, the French presidency said.

The planned talks between Macron and the Saudi crown prince come just a month after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a summit of the Arab League in Saudi Arabia to canvas support, during a meeting at which Mohammed bin Salman expressed his readiness to mediate in the war between Moscow and Kiev.

0856 GMT — Six killed Tuesday after Russian shelling hit car in Ukraine: prosecutors

Ukraine has announced that Russian shelling of a car in northeast Ukraine, near the border with Russia, a day earlier had left six people dead.

"On June 13, Russia struck an UAZ (truck) on the Seredyna-Buda territory," Ukraine's general prosecutor's office said, referring to a border village in the Sumy region.

"As a result of the strike, six people died," including four forestry workers.

0854 GMT — Senior commander of Chechen forces in Ukraine wounded - Russian defence ministry

A senior commander of Russia's Chechen forces fighting in Ukraine has been wounded, Russia's Defence Ministry television channel Zvezda reported on Wednesday, citing the press service of the State Duma lower house of parliament.

Adam Delimkhanov, who is a member of the State Duma as well as commander of the Chechen division of the Russian national guard, is widely seen as the Caucasian region's second most senior official, behind Ramzan Kadyrov.

0620 GMT — Medvedev suggests Russia free to destroy enemies' undersea cables

Russia's former president and current Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev has said there were no longer any "moral limits" to stop Moscow from destroying its enemies' undersea communication cables, given what he said was Western complicity in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts.

Medvedev made the comments on his official channel on the Telegram messaging application.

US media reports have suggested that Washington was aware of a Ukrainian plot to blow up the gas pipelines. Kiev has denied it destroyed them.

Unexplained explosions ruptured both Nord Stream 1 and the newly built Nord Stream 2 pipelines, carrying gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, last September.

0549 GMT — Belarus starts taking delivery of Russian nuclear weapons

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said his country has started taking delivery of Russian tactical nuclear weapons, some of which he said were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The deployment is Moscow's first move of such warheads - shorter-range less powerful nuclear weapons that could potentially be used on the battlefield - outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

"We have missiles and bombs that we have received from Russia," Lukashenko said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 Russian state TV channel which was posted on the Belarusian Belta state news agency's Telegram channel.

"The bombs are three times more powerful than those (dropped on) Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he said, speaking on a road in a forest cleari ng with military vehicles parked nearby and some kind of military storage facility visible in the background.

0511 GMT — Ukraine forces shell Nova Kakhovka: Russia-backed officials

Ukraine forces have shelled a residential area in the city of Nova Kakhovka, injuring one person, the city's Russia-backed administration has said.

The administration also said that shelling of the nearby village of Plodovoye disrupted power supply there.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. Ukraine and Russia deny targeting civilians in their military operations.

0351 GMT — Ukraine military reports deadly Russian missile attack on Odessa

Russian missiles have struck civilian buildings in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa overnight, killing at least three people and wounding 13, Ukraine's military has said.

Russia launched four cruise missiles on the city, the South command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said. The military said earlier that two missiles were destroyed before hitting their targets.

"As a result of air combat and blast waves, a business centre, an educational institution, a residential complex, food establishments and shops in the city centre were damaged," the South command said on the Telegram messaging app.

The three people killed were working at a retail chain's warehouse when a missile hit, setting it ablaze, the military added. Seven people were wounded there.

"Sifting through the debris continues," the military said. "There may be people under."

0250 GMT — US military aid to Ukraine pushes Washington deeper in conflict - Russia

The new $325 million US military aid package for Ukraine pushes Washington deeper into the "abyss" of the conflict, Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, has said.

The package, which includes munitions for air defence systems, ammunition and vehicles, comes as Ukraine is shaping its long-expected counter-offensive. In the past week, Ukrainian forces lost some tanks and armoured vehicles provided by western allies while making small initial territorial gains.

"Apparently, the strategists from the United States somehow do not understand that no amount of weapons, whatever involvement of mercenaries, will be able to turn the tide in the course of (Russia's) special military operation," Antonov was quoted as saying in a post on the embassy's Telegram messaging channel.

0208 GMT — Russia urges 'transparent' investigation into Nord Stream blasts

A "transparent and objective" international investigation in the blasts at the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines is needed, a high-ranking Russian diplomat to the United States has said.

Commenting on reports that the US reportedly warned Ukraine not to attack the pipelines under the Baltic Sea, Andrey Ledenev, minister-counsellor at the embassy, said the role of the United States in the blasts should also be "clarified".

"It would be useful to think about the reasons for the stubborn unwillingness of the collective West to launch a transparent and objective international investigation under the auspices of the UN Security Council in the terrorist attacks in the Baltic Sea," Ledenev was quoted as saying in a post on the embassy's Telegram messaging channel.

0202 GMT — Putin threatens to seize more of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that he could order his troops to try to seize more land in Ukraine to protect bordering Russian territory.

In some of his most detailed remarks about the conflict in months, the Russian leader also asserted that Ukrainian forces had suffered “catastrophic” losses in a new counteroffensive and he said he was not contemplating a new troop mobilisation, as many Russians have feared.

But he did not rule out another troop call-up later. And he reiterated Russia’s claim that Ukraine was responsible for blowing up a Dnieper River dam that caused vast flooding on both sides of the front line last week in the country's south.

2032 GMT — US backs concerns as lawmakers seek to punish S. Africa over Russia

The White House has said it shared concerns over South Africa's relationship with Russia after lawmakers called for the longtime US partner's expulsion from a major trade pact.

Four senior members of the US Congress across party lines asked whether South Africa should remain in the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, which offers duty-free access into the world's largest economy for sub-Saharan African countries that meet democratic criteria.

"We share Congress's concern about South Africa's potential security partnership with Russia," Judd Devermont, the top White House official on sub-Saharan Africa, told reporters when asked about the lawmakers' letter.

He stopped short of discussing South Africa's future in the trade pact, saying only, "The law is very clear on what we'll follow, and that won't change for South Africa."

Molly Phee, the top State Department official on sub-Saharan Africa, said the United States had "respect" for South Africa's "longstanding policy of nonalignment."

"It's our expectation that the South African government will adhere to that policy when dealing with this terrible conflict in Europe," she said, referring to Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

2002 GMT — Zelenskyy hails 'forward movement' of troops in Ukraine regions

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed advances by Ukraine's troops near the long-besieged city of Bakhmut in the east and on the war's southern front.

"Thanks to everyone who is now fighting, who protects and advances our positions," Zelenskyy said in his fresh video address.

"For example, the Bakhmut sector... there is forward movement in various areas."

He also praised units on the "Tavria" southern front, saying that in "conditions of aviation and artillery superiority of the occupiers, there is movement forward. Thank you, soldiers! Thank you for every step and every metre freed from Russian evil."

For our live updates from Tuesday (June 13), click here.