By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday stated he’s convening a gathering of senior officers from Finland, Sweden and Turkey to attempt to overcome Ankara’s objections to the 2 Nordic international locations becoming a member of the alliance.
Stoltenberg instructed reporters that the talks can be held in Brussels “in a few days with senior officials,” however offered no additional particulars.
“I’m confident that we will find a way forward,” he stated.
Roused by safety issues over Russia’s conflict on Ukraine, Finland and Sweden utilized to affix NATO final month. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is obstructing their path. He has stated they’re not doing sufficient to battle Kurdish extremism.
Asked how lengthy it would take to finish the standoff, Stoltenberg stated his aim is earlier than the NATO summit.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Erdogan and their NATO counterparts are assembly in Madrid from June 28-30.
“We want to make sure that all allies have their security concerns taken into account, and that includes Turkey,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Report: China bars Russian airways with overseas planes
— US sending medium-range rocket programs to Ukraine
— Italy imports extra Russian oil regardless of impending embargo
— High costs, Asian markets might blunt EU ban on Russian oil
— Sanctioned Russian oligarch’s megayacht hides in a UAE creek
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Follow AP’s protection of the conflict in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Dutch authorities on Wednesday introduced what it’s calling the most important increase in its army spending for the reason that finish of the Cold War as conflict rages in Ukraine.
Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren stated “threats in the world and the war in Ukraine show that peace and security cannot be taken for granted.”
Ollongren unveiled 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) a yr in elevated army spending.
The extra cash will fund army {hardware} purchases in coming years together with six new F-35 fighter jets and a doubling of the army’s fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones from 4 to eight.
The Defense Ministry stated the funding means the Netherlands will meet the NATO agreed protection spending of two% of its gross home product in 2024 and 2025.
It additionally goals to ease shortages in army provides and gear. That will allow army personnel to “work with the best equipment and train a lot without constant shortages of spare parts, transport and ammunition,” the ministry stated.
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday stated worldwide sanctions are affecting Russia’s capacity to export its personal grain amid fears of a world meals scarcity.
Speaking throughout a go to to Saudi Arabia, Lavrov stated Russian grain exports might not be straight beneath sanctions, however the ships carrying the grain face additional hurdles.
“Although the West very loudly reminds that grain was not subject to sanctions, for some reason they shyly keep silent that ships that carry Russian grain did fall under the sanctions,” he stated.
“They are not accepted in foreign ports, in European ports, and they are not insured. And, in principle, all the logistical and financial chains related to the supply of grain to world markets, they were under the sanctions of our Western colleagues.”
Russia has additionally been accused of stopping Ukraine from exporting its grain harvest and of looting Ukrainian grain provides for Russian use.
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BERLIN — Germany’s overseas minister says the West should give Ukraine long-term assist, and is defending the time it’s taking to ship weapons programs to Kyiv.
Annalena Baerbock instructed the German parliament that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “fundamentally changed” his technique after failing to take Ukraine shortly. She stated that “he is now counting on having more staying power than we who support Ukraine.”
Baerbock stated Wednesday that “we need staying power in supporting Ukraine.”
The minister fended off criticism of perceived delays in fulfilling guarantees to ship weapons, telling lawmakers that “the stuff has to arrive and above all the soldiers must be able to use it.” Her feedback got here hours after Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated Germany will ship trendy air-defense missiles. Baerbock stated these had been initially speculated to go to a different nation, which she didn’t determine.
She stated that “we need these medium- and long-term signals that we haven’t given up on Ukraine in three months, but that we are defending it durably as we can without participating in this war ourselves.”
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STOCKHOLM— United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there’s “progress” in talks to permit the export of grain saved in Ukrainian ports and guarantee Russian meals and fertilizer have unrestricted entry to international markets.
“I think that there is progress, but we are not yet” there, Guterres stated Wednesday, including “these are very complex things,” as a result of “everything is interlinked.”
Russia’s conflict on Ukraine has closed the nation’s Black Sea ports, halting meals exports to many creating international locations.
Guterres reiterated that the world ought to have entry to the Russian manufacturing of fertilizers and meals “that is also essential for global markets in the present situation.”
Guterres spoke in Stockholm the place he met with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson forward of a local weather and setting convention Thursday and Friday.
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MOSCOW — A number one Russian scientist has urged Moscow to not shut itself off from scientific cooperation with “unfriendly” international locations such because the United States.
Alexander Sergeev, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a state-backed physique linking analysis institutes and labs throughout the nation, stated ties between scientists in Russia and overseas “certainly must continue,” in feedback reported by the Interfax information company Wednesday.
The Russian authorities has drawn up an official listing of “unfriendly” international locations, together with these which have issued sanctions in opposition to Russia such because the U.S., Britain, Japan and European Union members like France and Germany.
“We should not in any case, on our own initiative, perhaps following the slogans of various hotheads, break off relationships with our colleagues in ‘unfriendly countries,’” Sergeev stated.
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MOSCOW — A Kremlin spokesman says Moscow “negatively” views U.S. plans to provide extra weapons to Ukraine.
The Biden administration introduced on Tuesday that it’ll ship Ukraine a small variety of high-tech, medium-range rocket programs. Ukrainian leaders have begged for rocket launchers as they wrestle to stall Russian progress within the Donbas area.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated throughout his each day convention calls with journalists on Wednesday that Moscow doesn’t belief Kyiv’s assurances that the multiple-launch rocket programs equipped by the U.S. is not going to be used to assault Russia.
U.S. officers say the help package deal anticipated to be unveiled Wednesday tries to strike a stability between the will to assist Ukraine battle ferocious Russian artillery barrages whereas not offering arms that might permit Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia and set off an escalation within the conflict.
Peskov nonetheless accused the U.S. of “intentionally and diligently pouring gas into the fireplace.
“The U.S. sticks to the line of fighting with Russia until the last Ukrainian (left standing),” he stated.
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WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s prime minister says the European Union member nation will function an “economic hub” for neighboring Ukraine, serving to it export grain and different merchandise whereas Russia blocks Ukraine’s export routes, mainly its ports.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke Wednesday within the Ukrainian city of Borodyanka, close to Kyiv. Morawiecki was within the closely broken settlement to inaugurate a collection of container homes for homeless residents that was funded by Poland.
Morawiecki stated Poland is engaged on increasing its infrastructure and capability to facilitate the export of tens of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain and different agriculture merchandise. Poland is receiving EU funds for the aim, Morawiecki stated.
He harassed that North Africa’s international locations rely closely on Ukraine grain and will face issues feeding their populations with out it.
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LISBON, Portugal — Portugal has despatched 146 Marines to affix a NATO power stationed in Lithuania as a part of efforts to bolster the alliance’s japanese flank within the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The deployment consists of divers specializing in deactivating mines and different explosive gadgets.
Portugal’s protection ministry stated the goal of the mission is to “support high levels of readiness and discourage direct or indirect threats” in opposition to NATO members, particularly within the Baltic Sea area.
The detachment which departed Wednesday is to stay in Lithuania for 3 months.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Polling stations are open in Denmark for voters to determine whether or not to desert their nation’s 30-year-old opt-out from the European Union’s frequent protection coverage.
The referendum on Wednesday is the most recent instance of European international locations looking for nearer protection hyperlinks with allies in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It follows Sweden and Finland’s historic bids to affix NATO.
Some 4.2 million Danish voters are eligible to forged ballots within the referendum. The “yes” aspect – in favor of eliminating the 1992 opt-out – has been forward in current months. Polls confirmed it with round 40% assist and the “no” aspect with 30%.
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KYIV, Ukraine — A regional governor in southern Ukraine says Russian troops are retreating and blowing up bridges to hinder a doable Ukrainian advance.
Mykolayiv area governor Vitaliy Kim claimed Wednesday on the Telegram messaging app that Russia was on the defensive.
“They are afraid of a breakthrough by the (Ukrainian Armed Forces), but we are not afraid and we support our troops,” he wrote.
Kim didn’t specify precisely the place the retreat he described was occurring. The elements of the Mykolayiv area which have been held by Russian forces in current days are near the massive Russia-occupied metropolis of Kherson.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in his nightly handle Tuesday that Ukrainian fighters had seen “some success in the Kherson direction.”
Russia is concentrating most of its army energy on making an attempt to seize all of japanese Ukraine’s Donbas area.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union’s asylum company says the variety of individuals from former Soviet international locations looking for worldwide safety in Europe has skyrocketed since Russia launched its conflict in Ukraine.
The company stated Wednesday that about 14,000 Ukrainians sought asylum in March, a determine some 30 occasions larger than earlier than the conflict that began Feb. 24.
The quantity is on high of the estimated 3 million Ukrainians who’ve utilized for emergency safety beneath an EU program that gives shelter, entry to jobs, medical remedy and training to conflict refugees.
The largest will increase in asylum-seekers had been recorded amongst residents from Belarus, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. But the EU company says it’s not clear whether or not these individuals got here from their house international locations or had been residing in Ukraine when the conflict began.
The variety of Russians looking for asylum within the EU additionally rose to 1,400 in March, the very best degree since 2018.
Asylum is normally granted to individuals at risk of struggling severe hurt on account of their race, faith, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a social group, and to these fleeing conflict, torture and degrading remedy.
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BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says his nation will provide Ukraine with trendy anti-aircraft missiles and radar programs, stepping up arms deliveries amid criticism that Germany isn’t doing sufficient to assist Kyiv.
Scholz instructed German lawmakers on Wednesday that the federal government has determined to supply Ukraine with IRIS-T missiles developed by Germany along with different NATO nations.
He stated Germany may even provide Ukraine with radar programs to assist find enemy artillery.
The bulletins come amid claims at house and overseas that Germany has been sluggish to supply Ukraine with the weapons it must defend itself in opposition to Russia.
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KYIV, Ukraine — A regional governor in japanese Ukraine says Russian forces management 70% of Sievierodonetsk, a metropolis that in current days grew to become the main focus of Moscow’s offensive.
Luhansk area governor Serhiy Haidai stated in a Telegram put up on Wednesday that some Ukrainian troops had been combating with the Russians within the metropolis whereas others had pulled again.
“The evacuation (of civilians) has been halted. There is no possibility to bring in humanitarian aid,” Haidai stated.
He stated the one different metropolis within the Luhansk area not taken by Russia or Moscow-backed separatists — Lysychansk — is “fully” beneath Ukrainian management.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s president says the nation is loosing between 60 and 100 troopers a day within the combating with Russian forces.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed American TV channel Newsmax that “the most difficult situation is in the east of Ukraine,” together with Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
“The situation is very difficult. We’re losing 60-100 soldiers per day as killed in action and something around 500 people as wounded in action. So we are holding our defensive perimeters,” Zelenskyy stated.
Ukraine has largely shunned disclosing its army losses for the reason that starting of the Russian invasion, however Zelenskyy beforehand stated the nation was shedding between 50 and 100 troopers a day.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has appealed for an finish to the grain cargo standoff in Ukraine, pleading for an all-out effort to forestall an vital commodity from “being used as a weapon of war.”
Francis made the enchantment on Wednesday on the finish of his common viewers.
The pope stated he was involved a Russian naval blockade was holding up tens of millions of tons of grain and depriving poor international locations of such a fundamental foodstuff that’s essential to feed tens of millions.
“I appeal for everyone to do everything possible to resolve this question and guarantee the universal human right of being nourished,” Francis stated.
He added: “Please don’t use grain, a basic food, as a weapon of war.”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin pressed the West to raise the sanctions imposed in opposition to Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, looking for to shift the blame for the rising world meals disaster.
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MOSCOW — Russian state fuel large Gazprom confirms that it has minimize fuel provides to Shell Energy Europe and Denmark’s Ørsted after the 2 corporations refused to pay for the deliveries in rubles.
Gazprom stated in an announcement on Wednesday morning that it hadn’t obtained funds from both firm for fuel equipped in April and subsequently was halting deliveries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this yr signed a decree saying overseas patrons wanted to pay in rubles for Russian fuel as of April 1.
Moscow provided clients receiving its pure fuel to ascertain an account in {dollars} or euros at Russia’s third-largest financial institution, Gazprombank, then a second account in rubles. The importer would pay the fuel invoice in euros or {dollars} and direct the financial institution to trade the cash for rubles.
Shell Energy Europe, Ørsted and Dutch fuel dealer GasTerra refused to pay in rubles, and Gazprom halted provides to the three corporations this week.
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BEIJING — China has barred Russia’s airways from flying foreign-owned jetliners into its airspace, Russian information outlet RBK reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin put the possession of the jetliners doubtful by permitting planes to be re-registered in Russia to keep away from their seizure beneath sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union, house to main aircraft-leasing corporations, banned the sale or lease of plane to Russian carriers in February. Putin responded by approving a legislation that allowed plans to register in Russia.
China’s air regulator requested all overseas carriers final month to replace their possession info and different particulars, RBK stated, citing two unidentified sources.
Russian airways that couldn’t present paperwork exhibiting their plane had been “de-registered abroad” had been barred from flying to China, RBK stated.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden stated in a visitor essay Tuesday night in The New York Times that he’s determined to supply the Ukrainians with extra superior rocket programs and munitions that can allow them to extra exactly strike key targets on the battlefield.
The expectation is that Ukraine might use the rockets within the japanese Donbas area, the place they may each intercept Russian artillery and take out Russian positions in cities the place combating is intense, similar to Sievierodonetsk.
That city 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of the Russian border is in an space that’s the final pocket beneath Ukrainian authorities management within the Luhansk area of the Donbas.
In his New York Times’ essay, Biden stated the U.S. is just not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike past its borders and doesn’t need to extend the conflict “just to inflict pain on Russia.”
U.S. officers acquainted with the choice didn’t element how a lot the help will price, however it is going to be the eleventh package deal accepted to this point and would be the first to faucet the $40 billion in help lately handed by Congress.
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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration introduced on Tuesday that it’ll ship Ukraine a small variety of high-tech, medium-range rocket programs.
That’s a essential weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been begging for as they wrestle to stall Russian progress within the Donbas area.
The U.S. plan tries to strike a stability between the will to assist Ukraine battle ferocious Russian artillery barrages whereas not offering arms that might permit Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia and set off an escalation within the conflict.
U.S. officers say the help package deal anticipated to be unveiled Wednesday would ship what the U.S. considers medium-range rockets — they often can journey about 45 miles (70 kilometers).
The expectation is that Ukraine might use the rockets within the japanese Donbas area, the place they may each intercept Russian artillery and take out Russian positions in cities the place combating is intense, similar to Sievierodonetsk.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”