Ukraine war briefing: Kremlin says it has ‘immunity' to US sanctions as Trump deadline looms
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he had approved key principles for large-scale weapons agreements with the United States. 'These are large-scale agreements, which I discussed with President [Donald] Trump, and I hope very much that we will be able to implement them all,' Zelenskyy said in his evening video address to the nation, adding that it would strengthen both countries. He provided no specifics.
Ukraine's domestic security agency has detained an air force officer on charges of having spied for Russia by leaking the location of prized F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets, officials said on Wednesday. The unidentified officer, a flight instructor holding the rank of major, stands accused of helping Russia carry out airstrikes by providing coordinates and suggesting strike tactics, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement.
More than 200 Kremlin critics including former political prisoners voiced outrage on Wednesday at the visit of a high-ranking Moscow delegation to Switzerland, accusing Europe of hosting 'war criminals' despite the invasion of Ukraine. Opponents of Russia's leader Vladimir Putin fear that, more than three years into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, some western powers and institutions are at risk of normalising relations with Moscow.
The delegation, led by Valentina Matvienko, speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, arrived in Geneva on Sunday for the three-day gathering of global parliamentarians. Matvienko and two other Russian participants attending are under EU and international sanctions. 'While Geneva hosts war criminals Matvienko, Tolstoi, and Slutsky, Russian troops continue to launch missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. Civilians, children, and women are dying,' the signatories said.
Trump said on Wednesday that he would impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional trade tax beginning on Friday, because he says India's purchasing of Russian oil is extending the war in Ukraine. He added that India has 'always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE.'
There has been a significant rise in child casualties in Ukraine in recent months as Russia indiscriminately targets heavily populated civilian areas, with 222 children killed or injured between March and May this year and 2,889 in total since the start of the invasion. Given the delay in verifying deaths, the UN says the true number is likely to be much higher.
Moldova's pro-European president Maia Sandu on Wednesday accused Russia of seeking to meddle in the September national elections, warning that Moscow was planning 'unprecedented' action to 'get its people into the next parliament'. Sandu, a vocal critic of Russia, in particular since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has repeatedly accused Moscow of political interference in the former Soviet republic that lies between war-torn Ukraine and EU and Nato member Romania.
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