«Смерть» депутата Ковальова на окупованій Херсонщині, попередньо, є «фейком» – джерело в правоохоронних органах

У монобільшості не можуть ані підвердити, ані спростувати повідомлення про «загибель» колишнього однопартійця

Дії Росії в Україні ніколи не були «захистом життів» – Блінкен

Ентоні Блінкен зазначає, що повномасштабне вторгнення Росії сталося після багатьох років жорстокості Кремля щодо народу України.

Swimmer Wins Bronze Medal While Father Fights in Ukraine

Elite swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk doesn’t know if his father was able to see him winning a medal for Ukraine at the swimming world championships.

Romanchuk’s father is fighting in the east of Ukraine, where pockets of resistance are still denying Russia full military control of the region almost four months after it unleashed its invasion.

“He’s in a hot spot and it’s a hard time,” Romanchuk said after taking bronze in the men’s 800-meter freestyle race on Tuesday.

Romanchuk doesn’t dare talk to his dad out of fear his father’s location could be tracked through the call.

“It’s not possible for them to join the network because the Russians can search everything,” Romanchuk said. “But every morning he sends me (a message) that he is OK.”

The 25-year-old Romanchuk – who intends to race the men’s 1500, then the 10K and 5K races in open water at the worlds – almost never made it to Budapest.

“My mind was to go to the war to defend my home,” said Romanchuk, who spent 10 days agonizing with his wife and family over the best course of action after Russia invaded his country on February 24.

“We decided that I cannot do anything with the gun. For me, it’s better to continue training, to do everything that I do best,” said Romanchuk, who won bronze in the 800 and silver in the 1500 at the Tokyo Olympics last year. “With my swimming, I can tell all the world about the situation in Ukraine.”

As training facilities were destroyed by the war, Romanchuk was invited by German swimmer Florian Wellbrock, who finished second behind American Bobby Finke in the 800, to join him in Germany to train.

Romanchuk and Wellbrock embraced after finishing 1-2 in qualifying for Tuesday’s race. But Finke’s strong finish prevented a repeat in the final. Romanchuk finished 0.69 seconds behind Finke.

Romanchuk said he was both “proud and disappointed” of his third place. He said his medal proves “that Ukrainians will fight to the end, it doesn’t matter what the situation.”

Swimmers from Russia and its ally Belarus have been excluded from the championships. Romanchuk said he doesn’t know how he would have reacted if they hadn’t been.

“My reaction could be maybe aggressive, I don’t know,” said Romanchuk, who referred to Olympic backstroke champion Evgeny Rylov appearing at a pro-war rally in Moscow. “Inside of me, I was ready to go and to kill him,” he said of Rylov. “But before he was a good friend. Before. But everything changed.”

Romanchuk spoke of the destruction Russia has caused in his country, the people killed, the lives shattered.

It makes it hard for him to focus on swimming.

“Especially in the beginning when I moved to Germany to join the group. It was hard because mentally you are in the war and you are sleeping just three or four hours because you are always reading the news,” Romanchuk said. “It was so hard in the beginning, but then you understand that all you can do is to swim, to train, to represent your country.”

For the freshly minted medalist, it’s a time to feel proud.

“I’m so proud of all the people in Ukraine. This is all I can say. I’m proud of the people, of the government, the president. I’m so proud of them,” Romanchuk said. “And I’m really happy to be Ukrainian.”

У результаті обстрілів віськовими РФ на Харківщині 15 людей загинули, 16 – поранені

Москва, попри численні свідчення і докази, заявляє, що не обстрілює цивільних в Україні. Воєнних злочинів за собою РФ також не визнає

Ukraine City is Focus of Intense Fighting: ‘Everything is Engulfed in Fire’

Ukraine reported heavy strikes Tuesday in the Sievierodonetsk region as Russian forces push to gain full control of the eastern city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that the military situation in the eastern region of Luhansk “is really the toughest area right now. The occupiers are also putting serious pressure on the Donetsk direction.”

He said Russia has stepped up efforts to evict Ukrainian troops from key areas.

A spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said at a daily briefing that fighting in Sievierodonetsk was fierce, with Russia conducting airstrikes and shelling on Ukrainian positions.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, told The Associated Press in written comments, “It’s just hell there. Everything is engulfed in fire. The shelling doesn’t stop even for an hour.”

“Today, everything that can burn is on fire,” Haidai said. He reported heavy fighting at the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk, where Ukrainian fighters and about 500 civilians are taking shelter.

Russian forces control about 95% of the Luhansk region, AP reported, with Ukraine forces holding just the Azot chemical plant in Sievierodonetsk.

Haidai also said Russian forces had brought “catastrophic destruction” to Lysychansk, an industrial city just across a river from Sievierodonetsk.

Zelenskyy acknowledged difficulties trying to defend the country’s eastern region but said Russian forces would continue to be met with Ukrainian resistance.

In Lviv, Ukraine, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland met Tuesday with Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova to announce the creation of a team focused on war crimes accountability, the Justice Department said.

“The United States is sending an unmistakable message. There is no place to hide. We will, we and our partners, will pursue every avenue available to make sure that those who are responsible for these atrocities are held accountable,” Garland told reporters.

The War Crimes Accountability Team will assist Ukraine with criminal prosecution, evidence collection and forensics of human rights abuse, war crimes and other atrocities, the department said, adding that the team’s lead counselor is Eli Rosenbaum, a Justice Department official who once led the effort to track down Nazi war criminals.

“America — and the world — has seen the many horrific images and read the heart-wrenching accounts of brutality and death that have resulted from Russia’s unjust invasion of Ukraine,” Garland said in a statement.

The team also will focus on potential war crimes over which the United States has jurisdiction, including killing and wounding U.S. journalists, the department said.

“In addition, the Justice Department will provide additional personnel to expand its work with Ukraine and other partners to counter Russian illicit finance and sanctions evasion. Among other things, the Department will provide Ukraine an expert Justice Department prosecutor to advise on fighting kleptocracy, corruption, and money laundering,” the DOJ statement said.

Also, Ukraine is set to become an official candidate for European Union membership on Thursday, ministers and diplomats said on Tuesday.

Last week, the European Commission recommended the action. After several days of internal EU discussion, none of the 27 member states have voiced opposition to the plan, three diplomats told Reuters.

“We are working towards the point where we tell (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that Ukraine belongs to Europe, that we will also defend the values that Ukraine defends,” Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister, said, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that the United Nations and its humanitarian partners delivered on Monday “12 trucks of critical supplies to help nearly 64,000 people in the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.” He said the cities are close to the front lines of the government-controlled Donetska Oblast.

The humanitarian convoy that reached the two cities carried hygiene supplies, water purification tablets and food assistance, he said.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Donbas Native Writes War Songs From Trenches

Pavlo Vyshebaba joined the military on the first day of the Russian invasion, having no combat experience at all. Then the well-known Ukrainian eco-activist headed straight to his native Donbas region. During brief calm moments on the front line, he wrote about what he was seeing and feeling. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.

Словенія підтримує надання Україні статусу кандидата у члени ЄС

Рішення щодо надання статусу кандидата у члени ЄС для України лідери Євросоюзу ухвалюватимуть на черговому саміті в Брюсселі 23–24 червня

У Росії оштрафували українку за розмову про вбивства мирних жителів російськими військовими

Російський суд вирішив, що українка своїми діями «навмисно підірвала авторитет, імідж та довіру» до армії Росії

Macron Holds Postelection Talks with French Party Leaders 

President Emmanuel Macron held talks Tuesday with France’s main party leaders in a bid to show he is open to dialogue after his centrist alliance failed to win an absolute majority in parliamentary elections. 

The meetings at the Elysee presidential palace come after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne formally offered her resignation Tuesday, in line with the tradition after parliamentary elections. Macron immediately rejected the offer and maintained the current government. 

Macron’s Together! alliance won 245 seats in Sunday’s parliamentary elections — 44 seats short of a majority in the National Assembly, France’s most powerful house of parliament. 

The leftist Nupes coalition won 131 seats to become the main opposition force. The far-right National Rally got 89 seats in the 577-member chamber, up from its previous eight. 

Macron held successive meetings with opposition members, including the president of The Republicans, Christian Jacob, the head of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen. 

Macron also met with representatives of his own party and allied movements. Other meetings were scheduled Wednesday. 

Talks were aiming at finding “potential constructive solutions” to the situation, according to Macron’s office. 

Macron has not publicly commented on the elections’ results yet. 

With the most seats at the National Assembly, his government still has the ability to rule, but only by bargaining with legislators. To prevent potential deadlock, Macron’s party and allies may try to negotiate on a case-by-case basis with lawmakers from the center-left and from the conservative party. 

Macron was reelected in April on an agenda including measures to boost purchasing power, tax cuts and raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65. 

After her meeting with Macron, Le Pen said that he “listens,” but “does he hear? We’ll see.” 

She said she told him her party’s MPs will be part of the opposition but don’t want to do “systematic obstruction.” 

“If measures are being proposed that go in the right direction … we will vote for them. If they go in the wrong direction, we will amend them. If they are not amended as we want, then we will oppose them,” she said. 

On his way out of the Elysee, Jacob said The Republicans, who hold 61 seats, won’t enter into any “pact or coalition” with Macron’s centrists. However, he opened the door to voting in favor of some measures if they are in line with his party’s platform. 

He notably mentioned pension changes, since the conservatives are, like Macron, in favor of raising the retirement age. 

The Socialist leader, Olivier Faure, told reporters “it’s possible to move forward” but “we won’t approve policies which would be contrary to commitments we made to the French.” 

Faure advocated for a measure proposed by the leftist coalition to bring the monthly minimum salary from about 1,300 euros to 1,500 euros. 

Macron will also soon need to handle another issue: a government reshuffle. Three ministers — out of the 15 who were running for reelection — have lost their seats and won’t be able to stay in the government under the rules he set. 

While keeping him busy at home, the situation at parliament is not expected to destabilize Macron’s international agenda. The French president holds substantial powers over foreign policy, European affairs and defense. 

Macron is to travel to Brussels for a European summit scheduled on Thursday and Friday. He will then head to a G-7 meeting in Germany next week, followed by a NATO summit in Spain and a brief visit to Portugal. 

 

Якщо Росія нападе на Литву, буде Третя світова війна – литовський депутат Європарламенту

«Знаючи хто сидить у Кремлі, все можливо з таким керівництвом, яке розлючене і психологічно неврівноважене»

Africa Won’t Give Ukraine What It’s Asking For, Analysts Say

Analysts say the African Union (AU) is unlikely to offer Ukraine much support against Russia despite a passionate address Monday by Ukraine’s president.  Many African nations have historical ties to Russia and have refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine.

In his speech to the African Union Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of holding Africa hostage by not allowing Ukrainian grain exports to reach the continent unless Western sanctions are lifted.  

Zelenskyy, speaking via videolink, also reminded AU leaders about Africa’s history of being colonized and said the continent should never support any attempt by one nation to colonize another. 

Abdi Rashid, chief Horn of Africa analyst for Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based research group, said that while many Africans have expressed support toward Russia because of the former Soviet Union’s backing of liberation movements against colonial powers and apartheid, Russia has changed.

“And I think Africans probably have not come to grips with the reality of modern Russia,” he said. “So, we need to modernize our views of Russia and understand that today’s Russia is essentially an imperial power, which is weakened and which wants to get back the kind of clout and supremacy it had.”

After the address, Moussa Fakit Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, tweeted that the African Union “reiterates its position of the urgent need for dialogue to end the conflict [in Ukraine] to allow peace to return to the region and to restore global stability.”

Hassan Khannenje, director of the Horn International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the response by the African Union was short of what Zelenskyy expected. 

Taking sides with Ukraine, Khannenje argues, would be seen very negatively by China, which has close relations with Moscow. He said Africa’s geopolitical calculations and relative power in the international system doesn’t allow it to make a decisive turn toward one of the two warring parties. 

“Because remember, there’s a question of Taiwan, which of course, the West supports Taiwan,” he said. “And so, in an event of a conflict, if you’re going to side with Ukraine today, it’s going to send a message — that in situations of conflict with Taiwan you’re going to take the side of the West – [for] which China might decide to turn off the taps of investment for you, because you’re not a reliable partner.”

Even though African countries are struggling with high inflation and the effects of drought and lack of Ukrainian imports, China has made it clear it will provide support to the continent only if Africa pushes back against what Beijing calls Western interference in the war, especially the sanctions aimed at the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

«Ви можете розраховувати на Люксембург»: прем’єр-міністр країни відвідав Київ і область

«15% свого оборонного бюджету Люксембург виділив нашим захисникам і захисницям», заявив президент Зеленський

Russia Protests Transit Block to Kaliningrad

Russia has summoned the European Union’s envoy to Moscow to “strongly” protest new restrictions on goods shipments to its Kaliningrad exclave through EU member Lithuania while threatening the Baltic state with “retaliation.”

The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on Tuesday that EU Ambassador to Moscow Markus Ederer was informed of the “inadmissibility of such actions” and warned “retaliation will follow” if the restrictions aren’t removed immediately. It did not elaborate.

Kaliningrad is wedged between Lithuania and Poland, where the Pregolya River feeds into the Baltic Sea. It has about 500,000 inhabitants.

Lithuanian officials said they imposed the restrictions beginning on June 20 in an effort to shore up punitive measures that followed Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Ederer echoed that line after the meeting in Moscow, saying that “Lithuania is not taking unilateral measures, it is implementing EU sanctions.”

He added that there was no blockade of Kaliningrad as the transit of non-sanctioned goods to the enclave continues.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, dispatched one of President Vladimir Putin’s top allies to Kaliningrad, where he warned that “appropriate measures” will be taken by Moscow “in the near future.”

“Russia will certainly respond to such hostile actions,” Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said at a regional security meeting in Kaliningrad.

“Their consequences will have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania,” he warned.

Some information came from Reuters, AFP, and AP.

Australia Urged to Intervene in Long-Running Wikileaks Extradition Case

Lawyers for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange are urging the Australian government to do more to gain the release of the Queensland-born activist. Assange is to be extradited from Britain to the United States to face espionage charges, in a move approved by the British government late last week.

To his supporters, Julian Assange is a hero who, among other things, exposed U.S. wrongdoing in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. They insist his prosecution is politically motivated.

But officials in Washington have for years said the confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables Assange’s Wikileaks website released had violated U.S. espionage laws and put lives at risk.

The Australian-born activist is in a British prison awaiting extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on 18 criminal charges, including breaking spying laws.

Last Friday, British Interior Minister Priti Patel approved Assange’s extradition.

Assange’s legal team is urging the recently elected government in Canberra to demand Assange’s release from prison. It is reported that Australia is quietly lobbying for his release and has raised the case with senior United States officials.

Greg Barns is a member of Assange’s Australian-based legal team. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Canberra had intervened to bring home an Australian terrorism suspect from Guantanamo Bay and a Melbourne-based academic recently detained in Iran.

“There is precedent for Australia doing this. We saw most famously the David Hicks case back in, I think, 2004 when the [former Prime Minister John] Howard government used its good offices with the Bush administration to get David Hicks back to safety from Guantanamo Bay,” said Barns. “We saw it in Kylie Moore-Gilbert, for example. Simply because a case is before other jurisdictions does not mean that Australia cannot get involved.”

In a statement, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Assange’s case has “dragged on for too long and that it should be brought to a close.” She added that the Australian government could not “intervene in the legal matters of another country.”

Since it was founded in 2006, Wikileaks has released hundreds of thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables in what has been described as the largest security breach of its kind.

Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States since June 2019 and has indicated he plans to appeal Britain’s expulsion order.

 

В Україні заборонили вже 10 проросійських партій, на черзі є ще сім – Мін’юст

Поки що жодна із заборонених партій не оскаржила рішення суду

Рада скасувала «нульове розмитнення» для ввезення авто з-за кордону

Зміни мають набути чинності з 1 липня цього року

Nobel Prize Auction Nets $103.5 Million for Displaced Ukrainian Children

Dmitry Muratov, editor of one of Russia’s last independent newspapers, auctioned off his 2021 Nobel Peace Prize medal on Monday, bringing in a record-shattering $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Organizer Heritage Auctions did not identify the winning bidder of the auction, which took place on World Refugee Day.

The money is going to UNICEF’s humanitarian response for displaced Ukrainian children.

Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines for their work to preserve free speech in their countries.

The previous record price paid for a Nobel Prize medal was $4.76 million in 2014.

Muratov said after Monday’s auction that he hoped “there was going to be an enormous amount of solidarity, but I was not expecting this to be such a huge amount.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

Stoppage is country’s largest rail strike in decades

British rail workers launched their biggest strike in decades on Tuesday. 

Last-minute talks to avoid the stoppage failed Monday, with the rail management and the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union unable to resolve a dispute about pay and job security. 

Union leaders say pay has failed to keep pace with inflation. 

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned the strike would cause “mass disruption.” 

The union of more than 40,000 workers plans to strike on Thursday and Saturday as well. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

Спікер Ради пропонує Лубінця на посаду омбудсмена

Спікер вважає, що досвіду Лубінця на посаді голови комітету з питань прав людини, його професійних та людських якостей достатньо для виконання обов’язків омбудсмена

Two Detained Americans Endangered Russian Servicemen, Kremlin Says

Two Americans detained in Ukraine while fighting on the Ukrainian side of the war were mercenaries who endangered the lives of Russian servicemen and should face responsibility for their actions, the Kremlin said Monday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, interviewed by the U.S. television network NBC, also said U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, held in Russia for more than two months, was guilty of drug offenses and not a hostage.

Peskov’s comments were the first formal acknowledgment that the two men, identified in U.S. reports as Andy Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, and Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, were being held and under investigation.

“They are soldiers of fortune. They were involved in illegal activities on the territory of Ukraine. They were involved in firing at and [the] shelling of our military personnel. They were endangering their lives,” Peskov said.

“And they should be held responsible for those crimes they have committed. Those crimes have to be investigated. … The only thing that is clear is that they have committed crimes. They are not in the Ukrainian army. They are not subject to the Geneva Conventions.”

Family members said last week the two men went to Ukraine as volunteer fighters and had gone missing.

Russian media last week broadcast images of them captured while fighting for Ukraine.

Peskov would not reveal where the men were held.

Two Britons and a Moroccan have already been sentenced by a court under the jurisdiction of separatists in Donetsk on grounds that they were mercenaries and not subject to the Geneva Conventions governing prisoners of war.

Kyiv condemned the court ruling as having no authority and said the fighters were members of the Ukrainian armed forces, and thus subject to Geneva Conventions’ protections.

Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and its allies in the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

Griner’s prosecution

Peskov said Griner, who had come to promote basketball in Russia, was being prosecuted under laws forbidding the import of drugs.

“Russia is not the sole country in the world to have quite strict laws in that sense … it is prosecuted by law. We can do nothing about that,” Peskov told NBC.

He “strongly disagreed” with any notion that Griner, who arrived in Russia in February, was being held hostage.

“We cannot call her a hostage. Why should we call her a hostage?” he said. “She violated Russian law and now she is being prosecuted. It not about being a hostage.”

Russian customs officials say vape cartridges containing hashish oil were found in Griner’s luggage.

The U.S. State Department determined in May that Griner was wrongfully detained and assigned diplomats to work for her release. Her wife, Cherelle Griner, has said she is a political pawn.

Росія: авіакомпанія Azur Air майже вдвічі скорочує парк літаків через брак запчастин

Azur Air має намір використовувати 12 літаків із 22 наявних

Канада інвестуватиме у модернізацію ППО через загрози з боку Росії

Аніта Ананд назвала вторгнення Росії в Україну однією з причин, через яку зараз вирішено вкладати такі інвестиції в оборону Канади

У Грузії відбувся багатотисячний мітинг на підтримку євроінтеграції

Демонстранти з прапорами Грузії, України та ЄС зібралися на мітинг «Марш за Європу» у Тбілісі

Росія дуже нервово сприймає активність України – Зеленський

«Крок за кроком ідемо надважливим тижнем і щоденно робимо все, щоб ні в кого не було сумнівів, що Україна заслуговує на кандидатство»

In Poland and Far From Family, Woman Returns to Ukraine

According to United Nations estimates, since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, some 2.5 million Ukrainians have crossed the Polish border and gone back to Ukraine. Iryna Martynenko was among those who returned to her native city of Sumy, in the northeast. Olena Adamenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera and video editing by Mykhailo Zaika.

Обстріли в районі Лисичанська, бої за Сєвєродонецьк – Генштаб ЗСУ розповів про ситуацію на фронті

Триває сто сімнадцята доба війни РФ проти України