Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie said it was “unacceptable” for Canada’s Deputy Chief of Mission for Global Affairs, Jasmine Heinbecker, to attend Friday’s event, which was first reported by the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. “A Canadian representative should not have attended the event hosted at the Russian embassy and no Canadian representative will attend this kind of event again,” Jolie said. Jolie also reiterated Canada’s support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion. This is unacceptable. No Canadian representative should have attended the event hosted at the Russian Embassy and no Canadian representative will attend this type of event again. pic.twitter.com/iZ2zRn1gJj – Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) June 12, 2022
Russian forces destroy a bridge outside Sievierodonetsk
Russian forces destroyed a bridge connecting the war-torn city of Sievierodonetsk with the twin city of Lysychansk, cutting off a possible civilian evacuation route, according to local officials. Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk province, said on Sunday that the Russian army had destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi River that connected the two cities, leaving only one of the three bridges standing. He added that Russian bombings in Lysychansk had killed a woman and destroyed four houses and a shopping mall. If after another bombardment the bridge collapses, the city will be really cut off. “There will be no way we can leave Sievierodonetsk in one vehicle,” Gaidai said, noting the lack of a ceasefire agreement rather than agreed evacuation corridors. Officials added that about a third of the city remains under the control of Ukrainian forces and about two-thirds is in Russian hands. A Ukrainian soldier stands in front of a burning vehicle during an artillery duel between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the town of Lysychansk, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. Photo: Aris Messini / AFP / Getty Images Russia earned 93 billion euros ($ 98 billion) from fossil fuel exports during the first 100 days of the war in Ukraine, most of which were sent to the European Union with an average export price about 60% higher than last year, according to new research. A report by the Independent Energy and Clean Air Research Center (CREA) based in Finland shows that the EU accounted for 61% of Russia’s fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the war, worth about € 57 billion (€ 60 billion). dollars). The top importers were China with 12.6 billion euros, Germany (12.1 billion) and Italy (7.8 billion) according to the report, as shown by the French Agency. Russia’s fossil fuel revenues come first from the sale of crude oil ($ 46 billion), followed by pipeline gas, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal. Even as Russian exports plummeted in May, with countries and companies shunning supplies due to the invasion of Ukraine, global rising fossil fuel prices continued to fill the Kremlin’s coffers, with export earnings rising. reach record highs. Russia’s average export prices were about 60% higher than last year, according to CREA. Some countries have increased their purchases from Moscow, including China, India, the United Arab Emirates and France, the report added. CREA analyst Lauri Myllyvirta said: “As the EU considers tougher sanctions against Russia, France has increased its imports to become the largest LNG buyer in the world.” As most of these are spot markets rather than long-term contracts, France is consciously deciding to use Russian energy in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Myllyvirta added.
Amnesty accuses Russia of war crimes in Kharkov
Amnesty International has accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine, saying attacks in Kharkov – many using banned cluster bombs – had killed hundreds of civilians. The rights group said in a report on Ukraine’s second largest city published on Monday: Repeated bombings of residential neighborhoods in Kharkov are indiscriminate attacks that have killed and injured hundreds of civilians and are therefore war crimes. This applies to strikes carried out using dispersal (ammunition) as well as those carried out using other types of unguided rockets and unguided artillery missiles. “The continued use of such inaccurate explosive devices in civilian residential areas, knowing that they repeatedly cause heavy civilian casualties, may even amount to directing attacks on the civilian population.” Amnesty said it had uncovered evidence in Kharkov of the repeated use by Russia of 9N210 and 9N235 cluster munitions and landmines, all of which are banned under international conventions. Scattering bombs drop dozens of bombs or grenades into the air, scattering them indiscriminately in hundreds of square meters (yards). Scattered landmines combine “the worst possible characteristics of cluster munitions and anti-personnel landmines,” Amnesty said. Unguided artillery shells have a margin of error of more than 100 meters. Olexiy Pshenychnykh, 85, rests in his war-torn house east of Kharkiv in Vilkhivka, Ukraine. Photo: John Moore / Getty Images The report, entitled “Anyone Can Die at Any Time,” describes in detail how Russian forces began targeting civilian areas in Kharkov on the first day of the February 24 invasion. The “ruthless” bombing continued for two months, causing “major disaster” in the city of 1.5 million. “People were killed in their homes and on the streets, in playgrounds and in cemeteries, while queuing for humanitarian aid or shopping for food and medicine,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Adviser. “The repeated use of widely banned cluster munitions is shocking and a further sign of utter contempt for the lives of civilians. “The Russian forces responsible for these horrific attacks must be held accountable.” The Kharkiv Military Command told Amnesty International that 606 civilians had been killed and 1,248 wounded in the area since the conflict began. Russia and Ukraine are not parties to international conventions prohibiting cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines. However, Amnesty stressed, “international humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks and the use of weapons that are indiscriminate in nature. “Carrying out indiscriminate attacks that result in the death or injury of civilians or damage to political objects constitutes war crimes.” Kharkiv resident Tatiana, who has been living in a metro station for more than two months, is packing her belongings to move into her house. Photo: John Moore / Getty Images
Summary and welcome
Hello, Samantha Lock is with you again on the Guardian live blog as we cover all the latest developments from Ukraine. “Ukrainian defenders are fighting hard for ‘every measure’ of Sivierodonetsk – a key eastern city that has become the focus of the wider battle for control of the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the night, Russian forces destroyed a bridge to another city along the river, leaving the trapped civilians with only one way out. If you’re just waking up or going to find the latest information, here is a summary of key points you may have missed:
Russian forces have occupied most of Siyevirodonetsk, where heavy fighting continues after a fire broke out at the Azot chemical plant, home to hundreds of civilians. “The main tactical goal of the occupiers has not changed: they are pushing in Sievierodonetsk, fierce fighting is going on there – literally for every measure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video overnight speech, adding that the Russian military forces in the Donbas area. According to reports, Ukrainian troops are still in control of an industrial area.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says cruise missiles destroyed a large warehouse containing US and European weapons at Ternopil in western Ukraine on Sunday. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police recruiting center at Kisak, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more. . . The Ternopil regional governor said the attack destroyed a number of apartment buildings and injured 22 people, including seven women and a 12-year-old.
Russian forces destroyed a bridge connecting the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk with the twin city of Lysychansk, cutting off a possible civilian evacuation route, according to local officials. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk province, said on Sunday that the Russian army had destroyed a bridge over the Siverskyi River that connected the two cities.
Amnesty International has indicted Russia for war crimes in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv. Hundreds of civilians were killed by indiscriminate Russian bombardment using widely banned cluster munitions and inherently inaccurate rockets, the agency said in a new report released Monday. “Russian forces have launched a relentless campaign of indiscriminate bombardment of Kharkov. “They bombed residential neighborhoods almost daily, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians and wreaking havoc, often using widely banned cluster munitions.”
Concerns about security raised by Turkey in its opposition to Finland and Sweden’s NATO bids are legitimate, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “These are reasonable concerns. “This is terrorism, this is about arms exports,” Stoltenberg told a news conference in Finland on Sunday.
The bodies of many Ukrainian fighters killed during the siege of the Azovstal steel plant in the southern city of Mariupol are …
