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Russia has begun issuing passports to Ukrainians in Melitopol and Kherson
Russian authorities in the occupied areas of Melitopol and Kherson have begun handing out Russian passports, the Tass news agency reported on Telegram.
Tass then showed footage later on Saturday of Russian passports being presented to 23 residents in Kherson city in southern Ukraine.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree in May that simplified the application process for a Russian passport for residents of the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in response at the time:
The illegal issuing of passports … is a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as norms and principles of international humanitarian law.
The US president, Joe Biden, has said his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “didn’t want to hear” warnings about the Russian invasion.
Speaking at a fundraising reception in Los Angeles on Friday, Biden said “there was no doubt” Vladimir Putin was planning to “go in”.
Nothing like this has happened since World War Two,” he told donors. “I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating.
“But I knew we had data to sustain [Putin] was going to go in, off the border. There was no doubt … and Zelenskiy didn’t want to hear it.”
Full report by Tom Ambrose:
Russia and China have opened a new cross-border bridge connecting the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to the Chinese city of Heihe across the Amur river:
Captured South Korean fighter to be tried in self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic
A captured South Korean national who fought alongside Ukraine’s army will be put on trial in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Interfax news agency has reported, citing the separatist official Natalia Nikonorova.
“A verdict is being prepared now on a mercenary from South Korea. He is their citizen who fought for the armed forces of Ukraine,” Interfax quoted her as saying on Saturday, according to Reuters.
She did not reveal the name of the fighter.
The statement comes after two Britons and a Moroccan national captured while fighting for Ukraine were sentenced to death by a court in the DPR on Thursday. The UK government has said the men are entitled to combatant immunity as prisoners of war. The British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, called it a “sham judgment”.
Summary
It’s past 3pm in Ukraine. Here’s summary of the day’s most significant developments before my colleague Clea Skopeliti takes over for a while.
- The family of a British man sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces has asked for safe release or exchange. Shaun Pinner, 48, from Watford, is one of three men captured while fighting with the Ukrainian army in Mariupol and sentenced to death by pro-Russia officials.
- Russian authorities in the occupied areas of Melitopol and Kherson have begun handing out Russian passports, the Tass news agency reported. Vladimir Putin signed a decree in May that simplified the application process for a Russian passport for residents of the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
- Ukraine is in control of Azot factory in Sievierodonetsk, the governor of the Luhansk region said after a Russia-backed separatist claimed that between 300 and 400 Ukrainian fighters were trapped there. About 800 people, including children, are hiding beneath a chemical factory in the key eastern Ukrainian city, now 80% held by Russian troops.
- Ukraine is ‘taking all necessary measures’ to save three foreign nationals sentenced to death, the Ukrainian lawmaker Fedir Venislavskyi said.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told a summit in Singapore that the world faced an “acute and severe food crisis and famine”. Ukraine is unable to export enough food because of Russia’s blockade.
- Ursula von der Leyen is to meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday. The president of the European Commission said they would discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction and progress towards EU membership.
- Russian air defence forces have shot down three Ukrainian war planes, according to the country’s defence ministry. It said the military had shot down two MiG-29 planes in the Mikolayiv region and one Su-25 fighter jet in the Kharkiv region.
- Ukraine’s president ‘didn’t want to hear’ warnings of Russian invasion, Joe Biden said at a fundraising reception in Los Angeles on Friday.
- Ukraine’s prosecutor general has learned of the death of 24 more children in Mariupol, the south-eastern port captured by Russian forces in May, the office said on Saturday. More than 287 children have died since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, and more than 492 have been injured.
- Intense fighting continues in Sievierodonetsk, according to UK intelligence. The UK MoD also says Russia is resorting to inefficient weapon systems that risk “significant collateral damage and civilian casualties” because it is running short of more precise modern missiles.
The family of a British man sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces ask for safe release or exchange
According to PA Media, a statement issued by the Foreign Office on behalf of the family of Shaun Pinner said:
Firstly, our whole family is devastated and saddened at the outcome of the illegal show trial by the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic. As a Ukrainian resident for over four years and contracted serving marine in the 36th Brigade, of which he is very proud, Shaun should be accorded all the rights of a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Convention and including full independent legal representation.
Pinner, 48, from Watford, is one of three men captured while fighting with the Ukrainian army in Mariupol and sentenced to death by pro-Russia officials.
Requesting privacy at this “difficult time”, the family’s statement also said:
“We sincerely hope that all parties will co-operate urgently to ensure the safe release or exchange of Shaun. Our family including his son and Ukrainian wife love and miss him so much and our hearts go out to all the families involved in this awful situation.”
Up to 300,000 tonnes of grain may have been stored in warehouses destroyed by Russian shelling last week, Ukraine’s agriculture minister said on Saturday according to Reuters.
Speaking on national television, Taras Vysotskyi said records showed that at the start of the war warehouses at one of Ukraine’s largest agriculture terminals in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv held 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes of grain, predominately wheat and corn.
The news comes after the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore earlier Saturday that the world faced an “acute and severe food crisis and famine”.
Russia has begun issuing passports to Ukrainians in Melitopol and Kherson
Russian authorities in the occupied areas of Melitopol and Kherson have begun handing out Russian passports, the Tass news agency reported on Telegram.
Tass then showed footage later on Saturday of Russian passports being presented to 23 residents in Kherson city in southern Ukraine.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree in May that simplified the application process for a Russian passport for residents of the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in response at the time:
The illegal issuing of passports … is a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as norms and principles of international humanitarian law.
The replacement for McDonald’s in Russia has unveiled its new logo, ahead of a grand reopening on Sunday.
The reopening at the same location in Moscow’s Pushkin Square where McDonald’s first opened in Russia in 1990 is timed to coincide with Russia Day, which marks the creation of the federation.
McDonald’s arrival in Moscow was seen at the time as a potent symbol of the opening up of the old Soviet economy to western companies, but now more than 1,000 of its former outlets will be part of a new chain, partly as a result of western sanctions on economic activity with Russia.
Read more from my colleague Martin Belam:
Ukraine in control of Azot factory in Sievierodonetsk, governor says
“Information about the blockade of the Azot plant is a complete lie spread by Russian propagandists,” Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region wrote on Telegram, after a Russia-backed separatist claimed that between 300 and 400 Ukrainian fighters were trapped there.
Our forces are holding an industrial zone of Sievierodonetsk and are destroying the Russian army in the town.
About 800 people, including children, are hiding beneath a chemical factory in the key eastern Ukrainian city, now 80% held by Russian troops.
Capturing Sievierodonetsk would give the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, control of all of Luhansk – the region that, with Donetsk, makes up Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas.
Ukraine’s defence minister has thanked the UK for its “ironclad support” after a “productive and frank discussion” with his British counterpart, Ben Wallace.
I was pleased to meet with our great friend @BWallaceMP. We had a productive and frank discussion today. Thank you for the UK’s ironclad support to 🇺🇦. We will never give up!
BTW Ben Wallace was presented with a symbolic NLAW t-shirt from #AviatsiyaHalychyny pic.twitter.com/9QiknKverS— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) June 11, 2022
Ukraine is ‘taking all necessary measures’ to save three foreign nationals sentenced to death
Speaking on national television, according to Reuters, the Ukrainian lawmaker Fedir Venislavskyi said:
Both the Defence Ministry and the Main Directorate of Intelligence, which deals with the exchange of prisoners, are taking all necessary measures to ensure these citizens of foreign states … are saved.
Two British men – Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48 – and a Moroccan national captured while fighting with the Ukrainian army in Mariupol were convicted of taking action towards violent seizure of power by a court in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk.
Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said she believed the separatists would act rationally “for they are well aware of the irreparable implications for them and for the Russians if they take any wrong steps against these three of our soldiers”, Reuters reports.
The former head of the British army has said the west lacks a coherent strategy in Ukraine.
Writing in The Telegraph, Gen Lord Richards said British ministers and senior officials must be properly trained and qualified in strategy skills, and must have the “moral courage robustly to speak truth unto power”.
Taking aim at the government’s approach, he wrote:
There is, at best, what might be termed incremental strategy with again no early and decisive synchronisation of ends, ways and means. It is a “let’s see how it goes” “strategy”, in other words not really strategy at all. There is still little idea in London, Washington or elsewhere how “we” want the war to pan out, or what sort of Russia we are seeking to shape, especially on the vital long-term issue of relations with China.
Summary
It’s approaching 1pm in Ukraine. Here’s where things stand:
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told a summit in Singapore that the world faced an “acute and severe food crisis and famine”. Ukraine is unable to export enough food because of Russia’s blockade.
- Ursula von der Leyen is to meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday. The president of the European Commission said they would discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction and progress towards EU membership.
- Russian air defence forces have shot down three Ukrainian war planes, according to the country’s defence ministry. It said the military had shot down two MiG-29 planes in the Mikolayiv region and one Su-25 fighter jet in the Kharkiv region.
- A Conservative MP has said the sentencing of two Britons to death for fighting against Russian forces is a “monstrous flouting of their human rights”, and criticised the human rights ombudsman in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk for not complying with international law.
- Ukraine’s president ‘didn’t want to hear’ warnings of Russian invasion, Joe Biden said at a fundraising reception in Los Angeles on Friday.
- Ukraine’s prosecutor general has learned of the death of 24 more children in Mariupol, the south-eastern port captured by Russian forces in May, the office said on Saturday. More than 287 children have died since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, and more than 492 have been injured.
- Intense fighting continues in Sievierodonetsk, according to UK intelligence. The UK MoD also says Russia is resorting to inefficient weapon systems that risk “significant collateral damage and civilian casualties” because it is running short of more precise modern missiles.
Former Ukrainian defence minister, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, has said “we shouldn’t overestimate the ability to fight against Russia”.
Speaking on CNN International on Saturday, Zagorodnyuk said:
We can win, Ukraine will win, however we need to complete those plans with ally countries and get those equipment we’ve been promised.
His comments follow reports that Ukraine is losing against Russia on the frontlines and is now reliant almost solely on weapons from the west to keep Russia at bay.
The international militarily community have to reassess the threats of Russian escalation, Zagorodnyuk said, explaining the current escalation from Russia comes as Ukraine exhausts equipment while awaiting weapons from western allies.
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