Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– US, EU ready new sanctions –
The United States, European Union and G7 are set to toughen sanctions on Russia following allegations of war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
The US will ban all new investment in Russia, a Washington source says. The White House says it will also add sanctions on government officials and “their family members”, among other measures.
The EU is set to ban Russian ships from European ports and halt Russian coal imports, but European Council president Charles Michel says the bloc would also have to act “sooner or later” on Russian oil and gas, the country’s top exports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tells Ireland’s parliament he “cannot tolerate any indecisiveness” on the issue “after everything we have gone through”.
– Dollar debt paid in rubles –
Russia says it had made payments on dollar-denominated foreign debt in rubles, adding to fears the country is headed for a sovereign default.
The finance ministry says it was forced to make the $649.2-million payment in rubles after an intermediary bank refused to execute the payment.
It did not say whether the payment was accepted.
– ‘Not far short of genocide’: Johnson –
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the alleged massacre in Bucha “doesn’t look far short of genocide to me” and that Britain will also step up sanctions on Russia.
US President Joe Biden has branded Putin a war criminal.
– Pope slams ‘horrendous cruelties’ –
Pope Francis says during his weekly audience the “recent news about the war in Ukraine, instead of bringing relief and hope, instead attests to new atrocities, such as the Bucha massacre.”
– Two killed at aid station –
Russian strikes kill at least two people and wound five others near an aid distribution point on the town of Vugledar in the eastern Donetsk region which is bracing for a major Russian offensive.
The industrial city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine also comes under sustained artillery and rocket fire, AFP journalists report.
Severodonetsk is the easternmost city held by Ukrainian forces.
– ‘Act immediately’ –
Zelensky challenges the United Nations to “act immediately” or “dissolve yourself altogether” during an address in which he shows harrowing footage of dead bodies — including children — he says were victims of Russian atrocities.
Likening Russia’s actions in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities to violence carried out by “terrorists” such as the Islamic State group, Zelensky calls on the Security Council to expel Russia “so it cannot block decisions about its own aggression, its own war.”
– Russian yachts seized –
Dutch authorities impound 14 yachts on order from Russian customers in Dutch shipyards, saying it needs to check whether the customers are on the sanctions list.
– Bid to ‘torpedo’ talks: Russia –
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the images of bodies in Bucha, which the Kremlin claims are fakes, are a “provocation” aimed at scuppering talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
– 600,000 ‘evacuated’ to Russia –
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says over 600,000 people have been taken voluntarily to Russia since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, denying Kyiv’s claim of mass deportations.
“And we’re not talking about any kind of coercion or abduction, as our Western partners like to present this, but rather the voluntary decision by these people…” he tells the Security Council.
– Cluster munitions –
UN undersecretary-general for political and peace-building affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, tells the Security Council of “credible” claims Russia has used indiscriminate cluster munitions two dozen times in populated parts of Ukraine.
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