Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images There is no book or small agreement on what President Joe Biden would do if Russia attacked a Ukrainian city with nuclear weapons, half a dozen current and former government officials, and several experts told NBC News. While US intelligence officials say there are no indications that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Biden government has been playing war scenarios in which Russia has for months. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the US response was likely to “depend heavily on how the Russians used such a weapon”. Some military and intelligence officials have said the United States is unlikely to retaliate against Russia with military action if there was only one use of regular nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Others said Biden would need to use conventional force in response. “Unless they use them in NATO, we are probably not going to respond militarily,” said two U.S. officials. Ukraine is not a NATO member. – NBC News
Germany slips behind China as a leading importer of Russian energy
China has overtaken Germany as the largest buyer of Russian energy exports since the start of the war in Ukraine, an independent research group has said. The Center for Energy and Clean Air Research said Russia had received about 93 billion euros ($ 97 billion) in revenue from the sale of oil, gas and coal since February 24, when it invaded Ukraine. About 61% of fossil fuels worth about 57 billion euros were exported to the European Union during the first 100 days of the conflict, the Helsinki-based group said. That included exports worth 12.1 billion euros to Germany, 7.8 billion euros each to Italy and the Netherlands and 4.4 billion euros to Poland, the group said. Germany, which was the largest importer of Russian fossil fuels during the first two months of the war, fell to second place behind China, which has bought about 12.6 billion euros worth of energy from Moscow. – Associated Press
The United Nations says at least 4,395 people have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war
People stand among newly built graves in a cemetery during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the settlement of Staryi Krym outside Mariupol, Ukraine, May 22, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters The United Nations has confirmed 4,395 civilian deaths and 5,390 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its former Soviet neighbor on February 24. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine was likely higher because the armed conflict could delay reports of deaths. The international body said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide range of impacts, including heavy artillery and multi-launcher bombardment, as well as missiles and air raids. – Amanda Macias
Russia claims to have destroyed US and European arms stores in Ukraine
Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed that it has destroyed a large amount of weapons in Ukraine supplied by the West. In a statement to the Telegram, the ministry said high-precision air-to-air missiles struck near the Udachne railway station in the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, one of the two self-proclaimed pro-Russian enclaves in the region. The missiles, Russia said, “destroyed a large number of weapons and military equipment delivered to a group of Ukrainian nationalists, including the United States and European countries.” Russia often refers to Ukrainian fighters as “nationalists” and other derogatory terms. CNBC could not immediately verify the information in the report, although Russia had previously targeted deliveries and weapons depots sent to Ukraine by its Western allies. – Holly Eliat
“Delicious and that’s it”: McDonald’s reopens in Russia with a new brand
Queue to enter the new fast food restaurant that came as a substitute for McDonald’s, in Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow. Sopa Pictures Lightrocket | Getty Images McDonald’s restaurants in Russia have reopened under a new name after the American fast food giant closed its doors to customers due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There were long queues in Moscow as 15 branches of the fast food chain – now renamed “Vkusno & tochka”, meaning “Tasty and Ending” – reopened in and around Moscow on Sunday. A woman takes a selfie outside the new fast food restaurant on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow. Sopa Pictures Lightrocket | Getty Images People visit the former US fast food chain McDonald’s during its reopening under the new name Vkusno & tochka, which translates as “Delicious and ending”. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images The chain now belongs to businessman Alexander Govor, who agreed to buy all 847 Russian McDonald’s stores after the chain merged with other international companies to boycott Russia after its invasion. Businessman Alexander Govor, who agreed to buy all 847 Russian McDonald’s stores, had previously served as a McDonald’s licensee in Russia. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Govor had served as a McDonald’s licensee in Russia before the purchase and had operated 25 restaurants in Siberia. The purchase agreement provided for the retention of employees for at least two years, on equivalent terms. – Holly Eliat
We must ensure that Ukraine “can not be attacked again,” says German Foreign Minister
Tobias Lindner, the State Department’s foreign minister, said Russia was destroying civilian infrastructure but had not “made much progress.” Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency | Getty Images There has been a “fundamental change” in Germany’s defense policy and the country is committed to strengthening its own capabilities by delivering weapons and military systems to Ukraine, said Tobias Lindner, the foreign ministry’s foreign minister. Germany has said it will send a ground defense system to Ukraine, and Lindner told CNBC’s Martin Sung that this is partly because the war is expected to last a long time. “The second reason is that we have to make sure that after the war, Ukraine can not be attacked again,” he said. “We have to make sure there is no incentive for eight years in the future [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to do it again “, he added. As for the current war in Ukraine, Lindner said it was too early to judge whether the situation had turned in Russia’s favor. He said Russian forces were destroying civilian infrastructure but were “not going that far”. In addition to short-term ammunition deliveries, other deliveries may be needed in a few months, he said. “We have to prepare for a war that may not end in a few weeks,” Lindner said. – Abigail Ng
Ukraine needs ‘heavy arms exchange’ to end war, official says
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelenskyy, said Ukraine needed more heavy weapons to help it fight Russia and “end the war.” – Holly Eliat
Russian forces now control majority in Sheverodonetsk, governor says
Russian forces control most of the war-torn city of Sheverodonetsk, according to the latest information from Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the eastern Luhansk province where the city is located. “The battles are so heavy that the fight can last a day, not for the road, but for a single floor [of a building]”, Said Haidai this morning on Facebook. A damaged building is pictured in Lysychansk as black smoke and dirt rise from the nearby town of Severodonetsk during a battle between Russian and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on June 9, 2022. Aris Messini Afp | Getty Images He said the Russians now controlled 70% of Sheverodonetsk and that “the mass evacuation and transport of human goods due to the bombings is impossible.” He said about 500 people, including about 40 children, were still being sheltered at the Azot chemical plant, an industrial zone heavily bombed by Russia. The housing of civilians in an industrial area is reminiscent of the hundreds of people hiding in the Azovstal steel plant complex in Mariupol for months before Russia took control of the projects after a long and bloody siege. – Holly Eliat
Sweden hopes for ‘fast forward’ to NATO membership, official says
Despite Turkey’s objections, Sweden hopes for a speedy settlement so that it can join NATO, said Jan-Olof Lind, Sweden’s deputy defense minister. “We hope for a speedy move forward so that we can begin our accession to NATO,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia. Sweden and Finland said they planned to apply to join the alliance in May. “We are confident that we will continue our NATO bidding process with Finland,” Lind said. “So the outstanding issues have to be resolved one way or another. We are looking forward to that.” – Abigail Ng
Russia has widely used banned cluster munitions, Amnesty International says
Part of the tail of a rocket – which appears to contain cluster bombs – fired by a BM-30 Smerch multi-missile launcher in Lysychansk on April 11, 2022. Anatoly Stepanov Afp | Getty Images Hundreds of civilians have been killed in Kharkov by indiscriminate Russian bombardment using widely banned cluster munitions and inherently inaccurate rockets, Amnesty International said on Monday. Amnesty said it had found evidence that Russian forces repeatedly used 9N210 / 9N235 cluster munitions as well as “scattered mines”, which are subject to international bans due to their indiscriminate effects. The new report of the international human rights organization documents how the Russian forces have caused …
