Ukraine War News
 |
| People take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on June 2. (Twitter @taniakovba via REUTERS) |
The United States “won’t let President [Vladimir] Putin impose his will on other nations,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday in Finland, where he delivered an address on Russia’s war in Ukraine. Blinken said the United States is committed to helping build up Ukraine’s military might and called for long-term investment.
Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Let me say directly to the Russian people: The United States is not your enemy,” he said from the Finnish capital, Helsinki, as he was wrapping up a Nordic tour. “We cannot choose your future for you, and we won’t try to do so.”
In Ukraine, the army’s commander said air defenses shot down more than 30 missiles and drones in a new round of Russian air attacks overnight. Air raid sirens blared around the country early Friday, from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to the Black Sea port of Odessa.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Key developments
Air raid warnings were activated early Friday, including in Kyiv, Odessa and the southern Kherson region. No casualties were immediately reported in Kyiv, and the mayor warned residents about debris on the roads. Russia has launched at least six attacks on the Ukrainian capital in the past six days, the city’s administration said. Ukraine’s army chief said air defenses destroyed 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones in the latest wave.
Blinken said Washington has worked to pursue stable relations with Moscow for decades, “because we believed that a peaceful, secure and prosperous Russia was in America’s interest.” He added that proposals to impose cease-fires or territorial concessions to end the war in Ukraine would only encourage future assaults. Helsinki is his last stop on a trip that included a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Norway.
U.S. officials say they expect Sweden to join NATO soon, after the admission of Finland into the military alliance in April. President Biden, speaking at the Air Force Academy, said he expects Sweden to become the newest member “as soon as possible,” while Blinken told reporters in Norway that Washington anticipates Sweden’s accession will happen by next month. Turkey and Hungary have held up Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused local officials of negligence after civilians who were locked out of a shelter in Kyiv were killed in a Russian attack. In his nightly address, he warned that the situation “should never happen again” and said it was the duty of local authorities to ensure shelters are available and accessible. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said investigations into the incident are underway. Three people died in the attack.
Battlefield updates:
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod said two women were killed in shelling on the region that borders Ukraine. Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov accused Ukrainian forces of shelling districts in Belgorod on Friday. The Post could not independently verify the claim. Border towns in western Russia have reported coming under shelling and rocket fire in recent days.
Two drones attacked fuel and energy facilities inside Russia’s Smolensk region, southwest of Moscow, the Smolensk governor, Vasily Anokhin, claimed early Friday. He said that long-range drones conducted the attack but did not cause casualties or large-scale damage.
As Ukraine prepares to launch a long-trumpeted counterattack, the first obstacle isn’t Russia’s defenses. It’s their own. Like Russia, Ukraine has laid thousands of mines along the front line, Post journalists report from Zaporizhzhia. To advance, Ukrainian troops must now push through these lines without tipping off Russians forces — by deploying sappers out to the fields to quietly remove the mines.
Global impact:
A senior Chinese diplomat called for weapons provision to the war in Ukraine to stop to prevent the conflict escalating, after concluding a tour of European capitals intended to position China as a potential mediator. Li Hui, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, acknowledged a “stalemated battlefield rife with uncertainty,” while underscoring China’s position that a political settlement could be reached. One of Moscow’s closest diplomatic partners, Beijing initially kept a safe distance from the war, but Chinese diplomats have recently shifted into promoting a vision for a negotiated cease-fire.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told The Post that NATO member nations must increase their military spending if the alliance is to deter Russia effectively beyond the war in Ukraine and manage other security threats. As questions grow about who will become the next NATO secretary general this year, officials in the alliance have suggested Wallace as one possible contender.
The Pentagon signed a contract to provide the Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, it disclosed Thursday, months after SpaceX owner Elon Musk threatened to terminate access unless the U.S. government paid for it. The Defense Department withheld virtually all details about the agreement, including how much it will cost U.S. taxpayers and when the contract was signed, The Washington Post reported.
Nintendo will wind down operations in Russia, according to the Japanese company. Nintendo halted shipments of products to Russia last year and put its online shop in Russia under maintenance after global sanctions restricted payments in rubles. “Following this, and as a result of the economic outlook, Nintendo of Europe has decided to wind down operations of its Russian subsidiary,” Nintendo said in a statement earlier this week.
From our correspondents
NATO nations look past Ukraine offensive to long-term deterrence pacts: NATO is divided between those who want to grant membership to Ukraine in the near term and those who are nervous that such a move could plunge the alliance into a direct conflict with Russia, Missy Ryan, Catherine Belton and Emily Rauhala report.
German-made Leopard tanks sit in a hangar in Tournais, Belgium, in January. (Yves Herman/Reuters)
NATO officials, many of whom who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal planning, described proposals for agreements with Ukraine “along the lines of those that have channeled billions of dollars a year in U.S. military aid to Israel,” they write.
Missy Ryan and Christian Shepherd contributed to this report.
Comments