Ukraine Russia war latest: War crimes warrant top Russian officials as arms chief Putin warns of consequences

Former Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, and military commander General Valery Gerasimov have been accused of “directing attacks on civilian objects”, “causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or destroying civilian objects”, and committing crimes. against humans from “inhumane acts”.

The statement from the ICC added that there are “substantial reasons to believe that the two suspects are responsible for the missile attacks carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electricity infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 to at least 9 March 2023”.

A shaven-headed Evan Gershkovich appeared briefly in front of reporters in a Russian court this morning at the start of a trial on espionage charges denied by US reporters.

The 32-year-old was seen standing in a glass box, with his shirt open and his arms folded.

A Wall Street Journal reporter has been accused by prosecutors of gathering classified information about a US Central Intelligence Agency order about a company that makes tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

He, the newspaper and the US government all denied the allegations and said he was only doing his job as a journalist accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry to work there.

The proceedings will take place behind closed doors, meaning the media is excluded and no friends, family members or US embassy staff are allowed to support Gershkovich. Such arrangements are common in spying or treason trials in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is open to the idea of ​​a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and contacts with the United States have taken place, but they must remain secret.

Donald Trump has been presented with a plan to end the war in Ukraine by two top advisers that would require Kyiv to sit down for peace talks with Russia or stop receiving US weapons.

That strategy, which can only be implemented if Republican presidential contender Joe Biden wins the White House in November, would instead see Moscow threaten to increase American support for Ukraine if it refuses to enter into negotiations.

“We told the Ukrainians, ‘You have to come to the table, and if you don’t come to the table, the support from the United States will dry up,'” Kellogg told the news outlet.

Russia and Ukraine each handed over 90 prisoners of war yesterday in the latest of several periodic swaps in the 28-month-old conflict, with the United Arab Emirates overseeing the exchange as a mediator.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said most of the released soldiers were privates and sergeants, and that the exchange was another step in the process of bringing all prisoners home.

“We will return everything else in the same way,” he said in his nightly video address. “We are looking for the truth about everyone – where they are, in what condition, what they need to return.”

He thanked the UAE for facilitating the exchange and promised to press ahead with his ongoing repatriation efforts.

The final exchange took place on May 31, when each side surrendered 75 prisoners of war, also with the UAE acting as mediator. It was the first exchange in almost four months.

The Russian defense ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging application, said: “As a result of the negotiations, 90 Russian prisoners of war who were at risk of death in captivity returned from Kyiv-held territory.”

It said Russian prisoners could return home “with the United Arab Emirates participating as an intermediary in a humanitarian capacity”.

The freed Russian prisoner was flown to Moscow, where he will undergo a medical examination, the ministry said.

Russia said the prisoners it brought home yesterday had been in danger of death in captivity.

Ukraine says the returnees include soldiers who defended the Azovstal steel plant during a three-month siege in 2022 and others taken prisoner when Russian forces briefly seized the Chornobyl nuclear power station.

The UAE said its role as an intermediary has been made possible by maintaining good contacts with both sides.

If the West underestimates the determination of Russia – a major nuclear power – it could have “tragic and fatal” consequences, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow’s arms control point.

Mr Ryabkov said the West underestimated Russia’s “readiness to stand up for itself and ensure its own interests under any circumstances”. “I don’t even want to consider that this underestimation could be tragic and fatal,” he said.

He said that Russia has the resources to send a signal to the West in the field of nuclear deterrence, but there is a danger that the West could do so.

“There is a danger, it cannot be underestimated, that the parties can make mistakes. We will try not to,” he said. “Our common task is to prevent the world and the multipolar world, in particular, from sliding into nuclear chaos,” Mr. Ryabkov said.

In a 2023 phone call with Russia’s Sergei Shoigu, US defense secretary Lloyd Austin pointed to risky behavior by a Russian fighter pilot that caused a US drone to crash in the Black Sea near Ukraine.

Continued Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions defending the strategically important eastern town of Chasiv Yar are disrupting troop rotation and delivering some supplies, soldiers in the area said.

For Ukrainian soldiers defending the eastern Donetsk region, Russian ground attacks and aerial barrages allow little respite after more than two years of war.

“We work, you can say, without rest,” said the platoon commander who, in line with brigade rules, is known only by his first name, Oleksandr. “So no two days are the same. You must always be ready to work day and night,” he said on Monday.

Russian forces are seeking to gain an advantage in troop numbers and weaponry before Ukrainian forces are overwhelmed by promised Western military aid that is already on the front lines, analysts say.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said it would take time for the effects of the new Western weapons to be felt on the front lines. Meanwhile, he said, “Russian forces are trying to gain tactical and operational gains” before they arrive.

Elsewhere, Kremlin forces protected civilian infrastructure with three airstrikes in the northern Kharkiv region on Tuesday, local officials said, although no one was injured.

Russia has pounded Kharkiv in recent months, apparently to draw some Ukrainian forces away from the defense of Donetsk while trying to create a buffer zone to prevent Ukrainian cross-border attacks. Russia launched 42 rockets against the Kharkiv region in the previous 24 hours, authorities said yesterday.

The US and Russian defense chiefs spoke by phone in a rare communication between the two powers, while Russia’s defense chief warned of the escalating danger.

Both sides gave different accounts of the conversation in which Russian defense chief Andrei Belousov warned Washington not to involve Ukraine.

The Pentagon said Mr. Austin and Mr. Belousov discussed the importance of open communication.

Mr. Austin initiated the conversation and it was the first call since March 2023, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters.

Russia’s defense ministry, however, said Mr Belousov had warned Mr Austin of the danger. “AR Belousov showed the danger of escalating the situation through the supply of American weapons to the armed forces of Ukraine,” the ministry’s statement on Telegram said.

It was the first phone call between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russia’s new defense minister Andrei Belousov, who replaced Sergei Shoigu in May.