Ukrainian lawmakers have outlined a resolution that would designate Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal over for his "aggressive" moves against the country, including launching an unprovoked invasion in February.
The draft resolution was prepared by parliamentary groups and committees and registered at the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) on May 19.
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The authors of the resolution linked Putin directly to "the aggressive war against Ukraine," including the ongoing invasion that he started on February 24, and the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of parts of Ukraine’s eastern regions in Luhansk and Donetsk in 2014.
The draft resolution, which now awaits the setting of a date for debate in parliament, says Putin is directly responsible for the aggression "in which millions of Ukrainians suffered damage to their health, in many cases death, lost movable and immovable property, and were forced to abandon their homes."
The resolution also mentions Putin’s open statements and activities "aimed at liquidating Ukraine's national culture, identity, and statehood."
"The goal of the resolution is to publicly confirm the crimes committed by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, against mankind’s security and international law, and call on international institutions to investigate mentioned illegal acts and bringing Putin to account," the document says.
Before launching the invasion, which he calls a "special military operation," Putin explicitly denied that Ukraine had ever had “real statehood” and said the country was an integral part of Russia’s “own history, culture, [and] spiritual space.”
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says almost 3,800 civilians have been killed in the 12 weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine. The government in Kyiv has said that about 3,000 of the country's soldiers have died in the fighting, though the United States estimates the number to be at least double that.
Ukraine has accused Russia of committing atrocities during its unprovoked invasion and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes. Russia denies targeting civilians and claims that evidence of atrocities presented by Ukraine was staged.
Earlier on May 19, prosecutors in Kyiv asked a court for a life sentence for the first Russian soldier to stand trial on accusations of committing a war crime in Ukraine.
Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, who went on trial on May 18, has already pleaded guilty in the shooting death of a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian, Oleksandr Shelypov, who was shot while riding his bicycle in the village of Chupakhivka in the northeastern region of Sumy.
KASIMOV, Russia -- Despite numerous protests by Orthodox activists and organizations, the first monument to Soyembike, the woman who ruled the Khanate of Kazan in the 16th century, has been unveiled in Russia.
The 3-meter-high monument was officially unveiled on June 10 in the town of Kasimov in the Ryazan region, some 250 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Soyembike is believed to have been buried in 1577 in Kasimov, the capital of the Qasim Khanate. The unveiling of the monument coincided with the 1,100th anniversary of the acceptance of Islam as a state religion by Volga Bulgaria, a state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries in what is now the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation. Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan Vasil Shaikhraziyev took part in the ceremony along with Ravil Gainutdin, the chairman of Russia's Spiritual Directorate of Muslims; Anna Roslyakova, the deputy prime minister of the Ryazan region; Tatar intellectuals; and Muslim leaders. Many Russian ultranationalist groups have protested against the monument for some time. A group of leaders and activists of several Orthodox organizations wrote an open letter to President Vladimir Putin, urging him to block the plan to raise the monument, calling Soyembike "a separatist" and comparing her with Hitler and Stepan Bandera, the leader of Ukrainian nationalists in the 1940s and 1950s. Tatar intellectuals and activists tried for years to raise a monument to Soyembike in Tatarstan's capital, Kazan, but Russia's federal authorities never approved the plan. In the end, the monument was erected in Kasimov, which is outside of Tatarstan.
Russian authorities have been cautious about any events related to Tatar history, which very often stir up old controversies about the conquest of the Khanate by Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1552. Many of the Khanate's Muslim inhabitants were killed or forcibly Christianized afterward.
KAZAN, Russia -- The Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia has labeled the All-Tatar Public Center (TIU), a leading nongovernmental organization involved in promoting and protecting Tatar history, culture, and language, as an extremist group amid Moscow's ongoing crackdown on NGOs.
The Supreme Court's press service told RFE/RL that the decision was made on June 10 at the request of the Prosecutor-General’s Office of Tatarstan. The Tatar Prosecutor-General's Office said earlier that it had requested the shuttering of the TIU because it felt statements by some Tatar activists at a 2019 public gathering contained "elements of extremism," while the TIU's charter has sentences that can be interpreted as calling for the separation of Tatarstan from Russia. TIU leader Farit Zakiyev, who is currently in Turkey, called the court ruling "expected," adding that "in current Russia, there is no way for independent nongovernmental organizations to survive." "The last independent Tatar organization was liquidated. We have nothing to do with extremism. Our goals have been known for decades -- Tatar as a state language, the State Tatar University, the preservation of statehood, the national identity of the people and of the nation," Zakiyev said. TIU Deputy Chairman Galishan Nuriakhmet and lawyer Aleksei Zlatkin told RFE/RL that the ruling will be appealed. The TIU has been functioning since 1989. In recent years, the organization has been under pressure from authorities in the wake of an ongoing crackdown on nongovernment organizations, independent media, and democratic institutions across Russia. In late October last year, the Justice Ministry suspended the TIU's operations, claiming that the organization carries out "extremist activities."
A Russian court has issued an arrest warrant for Violetta Grudina, the former leader of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's team in the northwestern city of Murmansk, as authorities continue to crack down on those close to the Kremlin critic.
Grudina, who is currently outside of Russia, wrote on Telegram on June 10 that it is unclear what the exact charges against her are, adding that they likely include creating an extremist group, violating coronavirus restrictions, and spreading false information about Russia's armed forces. In late-December, Russian authorities added Grudina to the registry of wanted people. In January, Grudina told RFE/RL that she fled Russia for an unspecified country. Last month, a court in Moscow issued arrest warrants for several close associates of Navalny including the former director of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Ivan Zhdanov, former FBK lawyers Lyubov Sobol and Vyacheslav Gimadi, and the former coordinator of Navalny's regional network, Leonid Volkov, on charges of creating an extremist group. Russia's Criminal Code envisages a penalty of up to 12 years in prison for people convicted of such charges. There were already outstanding arrest warrants for the four activists, who are also currently living outside of Russia, on different charges that they and their supporters have called politically motivated. The FBK and other groups associated with Navalny, as well as his political movement, were declared "extremist organizations" by Russian authorities in June 2021 and disbanded. Several of the Kremlin critic's associates were subsequently charged with establishing an extremist group. Many of them have fled the country amid pressure from the Russian authorities.
Britain has again condemned the death sentences handed to two Britons by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk, while a United Nations spokesman and the German government have also issued strong reactions to the sentence.
Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner along with Moroccan Saaudun Brahim were sentenced to death on June 9 for "mercenary activities." All three say they were serving in the Ukrainian military when they were captured by pro-Russian separatists while fighting Russian forces.
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Aslin's family said he and Pinner were living in Ukraine when the war broke out in February and "as members of Ukrainian armed forces, should be treated with respect just like any other prisoners of war." British Foreign Minister Liz Truss on June 10 called the sentencing of Aslin and Pinner an "egregious breach" of the Geneva Conventions. Britain’s priority is to work with the Ukrainian government to secure the soldiers' release as quickly as possible, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said. Johnson's office said he was "appalled" by the death sentences. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned what he called a "sham trial against prisoners of war," and Ukraine's Prosecutor-General's Office said it was probing the case. The United Nations warned that unfair trials of prisoners of war amounted to war crimes. A UN official, speaking in Geneva on June 10, expressed concern about the sentences, saying that trials under circumstances such as the one the men faced were tantamount to war crimes under the Geneva Conventions. "According to the chief command of Ukraine, all the men were part of the Ukrainian armed forces -- and if that is the case, they should not be considered as mercenaries," he told reporters. Germany blasted Russia over the “shocking” death sentences, saying they show "once more Russia's complete disregard for international humanitarian law." Germany's Foreign Ministry pointed out on Twitter that combatants are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the three men committed crimes on the territory of what the separatists’ leaders call the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Russia's Foreign Ministry said Britain should appeal to the self-proclaimed DPR authorities about the soldiers. Britain does not recognize the DPR. Among United Nations member states, only Russia recognizes the entire Ukrainian province of Donetsk as the Donetsk People’s Republic. The territory is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.
BISHKEK -- Marat Kazakpaev, a well-known Kyrgyz political analyst who was arrested in April last year on high treason charges has died.
Physicians at Bishkek city hospital No. 1 told RFE/RL that the 56-year-old died on June 10 in the medical facility, where he had been transferred from a detention center a day earlier. According to Akylbek Musaev, the hospital’s chief physician, Kazakpaev was in a coma when he was brought to the facility and died of a stroke. Kazakpaev's wife, Anar Kazakpaeva, accused the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) of ignoring her husband's complaints about his health problems and not providing him with timely medical treatment, saying the authorities carry full responsibility for his death. Kyrgyz opposition organizations and political parties have demanded a thorough investigation into Kazakpaev's death. Th UKMK issued a statement saying that Kazakpaev was "properly" treated in its infirmary between April 27 and May 19 due to his health problems, adding that, since then, the political analyst's lawyers had not asked for the transfer of their client to a regular medical institution. According to the UKMK, Kazakpaev regularly participated in all sessions of his trial, which started in early March behind closed doors. Kazakpaev and another person identified only by his initials, M.T., were arrested in April last year. The UKMK said at the time that all materials in the case were classified and did not give any details except that the two men could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Depleted food stocks caused by the dwindling exports of grain and other food commodities from Ukraine and Russia could leave between 11 million and 19 million more people suffering from chronic hunger over the next year, the United Nations' food agency said on June 10.
Moscow's war in Ukraine has sent prices surging for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly one-third of global wheat supplies. Russia is also a leading exporter of fertilizer while Ukraine is a major supplier of corn and sunflower oil. The impact of the war "could lead to anywhere between 11 to 19 million more hungry people -- that's chronic hunger for 2022/23," said Boubaker Ben Belhassen of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) on June 10. The preliminary estimate was based on reduced exports of food commodities from Ukraine and Russia, Ben Belhassen told reporters. "The countries that are being affected most are in the Near East/North African region given their heavy reliance on imports -- especially of wheat -- from these countries, but also of vegetable oil, sunflower oil," he said. Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia, were also being "highly impacted," he added.
MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has impounded property belonging to one of Russia's best-known TV journalists and Kremlin critics, Aleksandr Nevzorov, who was recently granted Ukrainian citizenship after being labeled a "foreign agent" and whose arrest was ordered in absentia in Russia last month.
The Basmanny district court said on June 10 that the decision to impound Nevzorov’s house on the shores of the Gulf of Finland was made on May 18 to secure compensation for any possible fines he will be ordered to pay if convicted in a case launched against him on a charge of discrediting Russia's armed forces. Nevzorov, who is currently outside of Russia in an unspecified country, wrote on Telegram that the most precious things he left in his house were his horse, his dog, and his books. "In comparison with the ugliness, destruction, and mass killings committed by [Russian President Vladimir Putin's system] in Ukraine, it is nothing. My losses are pretty painful. But I knew what I could face and was ready for everything. To fight against fascism and count on its mercy would be stupid," Nevzorov wrote.
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Last week, Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said in a post on Telegram that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had signed a decree granting Ukrainian citizenship to Nevzorov and his wife Lidia "for transcendental services" to Ukraine. Earlier in May, a court in Moscow ordered that Nevzorov be detained for two months should he return to Russia. In March, the Investigative Committee launched a probe against Nevzorov over statements he made on Instagram and YouTube that criticized the armed forces for a deadly assault on a nursing home in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. In the days after launching his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, President Vladimir Putin signed into law legislation that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing "deliberately false information" about Russian military operations as the Kremlin seeks to control the narrative about its war in Ukraine. The law envisages sentences of up to 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an offense, while the penalty for the distribution of "deliberately false information" about the Russian military that leads to "serious consequences" is 15 years in prison. It also makes it illegal "to make calls against the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia" or "for discrediting such use" with a possible penalty of up to three years in prison. The same provision applies to calls for sanctions against Russia. Nevzorov, who continues to harshly criticize Putin and his government over the Moscow-launched war in Ukraine on his YouTube channel, has rejected the charges, saying he has a right to express his own opinion.
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Russian artillery has once again targeted the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Shells hit a playground and damaged an apartment building and several cars on June 8. At least two people were injured.
MOSCOW -- Officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained the former prefect of Moscow’s Northern Administrative Precinct, Oleg Mitvol, as he tried to leave Russia on a flight from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.
The central district court in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk said on June 10 that it ruled to place Mitvol, who once served as deputy director of Russia’s environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor in pretrial detention at least until July 24 on a charge of "fraud on an especially large scale." Hours before the court's announcement, local media reports said FSB officers detained Mitvol on June 8. Mitvol's aide told the Interfax news agency that Mitvol was detained at a Moscow airport while he and his family about to head to Turkey for a vacation. She added that the court's ruling to place Mitvol in pretrial detention will be appealed. The reports cited sources as saying that Mitvol, who is currently the chairman of the board of directors of the Krasnoyarsk Engineering and Construction Innovations group, is suspected of illegally appropriating 900 million rubles ($15.3 million) allocated by the federal government for the construction of subway in Krasnoyarsk.
Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti says his country will formally apply to become a member of the European Union by the end of 2022 despite concerns over tensions with neighboring Serbia, also an EU aspirant.
Kurti told reporters on June 10 after a meeting in Pristina with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that his country aspires "to the status of EU candidate" and plans to submit its application before 2023. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February, officials from Kosovo have stressed their desire for closer ties with the West -- including EU and NATO membership -- to enhance the country's economic and military security. "Europe is our destiny. Europe is our future," Kurti said. Noting tensions with Serbia, Scholz warned that the two neighbors have to "find a political solution with a comprehensive, sustainable agreement that also contributes to regional stability." Serbia has yet to recognize Kosovo as a country even though it broke free of the former Yugoslavia to declare its independence in 2008. Most EU countries recognize Kosovo, though Russia and China, allies of Serbia, do not. The 27-member bloc has tried to broker a dialogue between the two Balkan neighbors for over a decade, but so far the efforts have failed to achieve a normalization of ties. Scholz said that the integration of Western Balkan countries into the EU remains a priority for his government. Scholz, speaking at a joint news conference after his talks with Kurti in Kosovo's capital, said Germany will hold a meeting later this year in Berlin to assess the progress made by the six candidates toward meeting EU membership criteria. Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has added to calls to bring not only Kosovo but also Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina closer to the EU through full membership or some alternative. EU leaders stopped short of offering a concrete timetable for membership to the six Western Balkans candidates at a summit in Slovenia in October, only reiterating the bloc's "commitment to the enlargement process." The EU statement was met with disappointment by Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo. Asked about whether any progress had been made in convincing skeptical countries about the contentious issue of the visa liberalization process for Kosovo, Scholz said: "We are committed to visa liberalization as soon as possible, as the conditions are met and we talk about this with our partners so that they too agree as we have agreed." For the visa regime to be lifted, all EU member states must vote in favor, but countries such as France, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands have opposed the measure because of what they perceive as a lack of progress on the Kosovar authorities' side in tackling corruption and organized crime. Scholz also urged Kosovo and Serbia to speed up their dialogue, saying the war in Ukraine has made resolving the differences between Kosovo and Serbia even more important. "It is important for Kosovo that the EU-mediated dialogue with Serbia be moved forward. In times like this, the value of security and freedom becomes clearer to us...it is an even greater and more important reason that Kosovo and Serbia, through an inclusive and sustainable agreement, find a political solution that would contribute to regional stability," said Scholz. Scholz is on a two-day trip to the Balkans. From Pristina, he traveled to Belgrade.
A group of Russian lawmakers have submitted a new bill that would further restrict citizens' right to hold peaceful demonstrations and protest rallies.
The bill amending the law on mass gatherings, registered with the State Duma late on June 9, envisages banning rallies near official buildings and vital infrastructure, at universities, hospitals, and religious and pilgrimage sites. It also would forbid them "where a ban will be justified by historic, cultural, or other objective attributes of the region." The bill also fully bans the organization of protest actions by groups or individuals labeled as "foreign agents." During the coronavirus pandemic, authorities across Russia refused to allow protest rallies citing COVID-19 restrictions. Many organizers and participants of rallies against the arrest of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny were subsequently charged and found guilty of violating sanitary regulations, with most handed suspended parole-like sentences or prison terms. The draft bill comes after several rallies were held in Moscow and other cities to protest against Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
ASHGABAT -- Residents of Ashgabat say tap water supplies have been rationed in the city in recent days with President Serdar Berdymukhammedov suggesting the creation of a system to bring supplies of desalinated water directly to the Turkmen capital from the Caspian Sea.
RFE/RL correspondents reported that the flow of water was fully switched off in Ashgabat during the day on June 9 and only resumed for a short while after 6 p.m. local time. It was subsequently switched off again overnight and supplies resumed for a few hours during the day on June 10. City authorities have neither informed residents of the outages nor provided any explanation about the situation. In recent years, issues with the drinking water have become a major problem in the extremely isolated Central Asian nation, with tap-water rations commonplace in remote regions during the summer. The rationing of tap water began last summer in Ashgabat. On June 8, Berdymukhammedov suggested the creation of a system to desalinate water from the Caspian Sea and directly deliver it via pipeline to Ashgabat. In remote regions, where average summer temperatures sometimes exceed 50 degrees Celsius, the situation is even more acute. In some regions, drinking water is only available for about one hour in the morning and less than two hours in the evening.
The European Commission is set to back EU candidate status for Ukraine next week despite objections from Denmark and the Netherlands, Bloomberg reported on June 10, citing unnamed sources.
The news agency said that according to people familiar with the matter, the recommendation, which needs to be debated and adopted by the college of EU commissioners, would come with conditions linked to the rule of law and anti-corruption legislation. The EC's approval would need the agreement of members states, which Bloomberg said could be an issue with Denmark, which has issued a diplomatic note warning that Ukraine does not sufficiently fulfil criteria related to the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and respect for and protection of minorities. The Netherlands has also voiced objections, the agency reported. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the European Union to offer his nation membership in the bloc through a shortened procedure saying it would be a “powerful response” to Russia’s unprovoked invasion. The bloc’s leaders are set to discuss the matter in Brussels on June 23-24. The 27-member EU hasn’t expanded its membership in nearly a decade due to weak support from key countries amid slow economic growth.
Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the war against Ukraine to Peter the Great’s conquest during the 18th century as the Russian leader on June 9 paid tribute to the tsar on the 350th anniversary of his birth.
Putin spoke of his country's need to “take back" territory and "defend itself" after visiting an exhibition in Moscow dedicated to the tsar and drew parallels between Peter the Great's founding of St. Petersburg in 1703 and modern-day Russia's ambitions.
When Peter founded the new capital, “no European country recognized it as Russia. Everybody recognized it as Sweden,” Putin said. “What was (Peter) doing? Taking back and reinforcing. That’s what he did. And it looks like it fell on us to take back and reinforce, as well.” In televised comments on day 106 of his war in Ukraine, he added: "If we proceed from the fact that these basic values form the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in solving the tasks that we face." Putin also appeared to support the further territorial expansion of Russia, saying it is “impossible to build a fence around a country like Russia. And we do not intend to build that fence.” A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the comments and what he called any attempt to legalize the theft of land. "The West must draw a clear red line so the Kremlin understands the price of each next bloody step...We will brutally liberate our territories," Mykhailo Podolyak said. Putin has sought to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine by asserting that Ukraine has no real national identity or tradition of statehood, while Moscow says it acted to disarm and "denazify" Ukraine. In July 2021, the Kremlin published a long essay by Putin in which he argued that Russia and Ukraine were one nation, artificially divided.
High-jump champion Maria Lasitskene of Russia has written an open letter criticizing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for recommending a ban on Russian athletes at international events.
Shortly after the start of the war, the IOC recommended international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes. Most international federations followed the recommendation, and as a result Lasitskene is likely to miss the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, next month.
The 29-year-old, who c, has been among the few Russians allowed to compete in international events despite the suspension of the country's athletics federation due to a long-running doping scandal. Lasitskene, who is also a three-time world champion, argued in the letter, distributed on June 9, that IOC President Thomas Bach should lift the ban, saying that keeping Russians out of sports did not stop the war, “but on the contrary, it gave birth to a new one, around and inside the sports, which is impossible to contain.” She lashed out at Bach, saying she has no doubt that he lacks the courage and dignity to lift the sanctions against Russian athletes because it would mean admitting that the IOC Charter was violated. At the same time Lasitskene expressed sympathy for her Ukrainian competitors, who she said “are experiencing what no one human being should ever have to feel.”
Ukraine tried to push back Russian troops in the east and south on June 10 as France offered to help ensure access to the port of Odesa to ease fears of a global grain crisis. Fierce fighting continued in the eastern Donbas region, where President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Ukrainian forces were "holding on" despite Moscow concentrating its firepower there.
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The fiercest fighting remains around the eastern industrial city of Syevyerodonetsk, a battle that Zelenskiy has said is pivotal for the fate of the Donbas region. Ukrainian forces now control roughly one-third of the key city despite Russia throwing overwhelming numbers of troops and equipment into the battle, officials said. Pro-Russian rebels said they had surrounded the Azot chemical plant in Syevyerodonetsk, trapping a small group of Ukrainian forces there. Rodion Miroshnik, an official in what the separatists call the Luhansk People's Republic, said on Telegram that all escape routes had been cut off. Miroshnik acknowledged the possibility that civilians might still be sheltering at the besieged site. Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said Russia is looking for weak points in Ukrainian defenses near the Siverskiy Donets river. He told national television on June 10 that Russian forces had not abandoned attempts to launch storming operations in the area. Some areas of the Zaporizhzhya region have been placed under an extended curfew due to “active hostilities in the region and the real threat to life and security,” authorities said. The curfew will run from 10 p.m. on June 11 to 5 a.m. on June 13 in the Vasylivka, Berdyansk, Melitopol, and Pologi districts. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its evening report on June 10 that Russian troops launched air strikes on several towns in the Donetsk region using Su-25 aircraft, Ka-52 helicopters, and Mi-8 helicopters. The General Staff said Russian units were preparing to resume an offensive on the eastern city of Slovyansk, firing artillery at several towns. None of the reports on fighting could be independently verified.
Zelenskiy's senior aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said that, because of Russia's lopsided advantage in heavy artillery, Ukraine was losing between 100 and 200 soldiers daily on the front line. The figure advanced by Podolyak was higher than a previous estimate by Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, who on June 9 said Ukraine was losing 100 soldiers a day, and 500 more were wounded. The discrepancy in figures appears to indicate the difficulty of obtaining accurate battlefield information. Podolyak told the BBC that Ukraine needed hundreds of Western artillery systems to level the playing field with Russia in the Donbas.
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Ukraine also asked for humanitarian support to combat an outbreak of dysentery and cholera in the port city of Mariupol, which has been reduced to ruins. Mayor Vadym Boychenko told national television that sanitation systems were broken and corpses were rotting in the streets. "Unfortunately...these infection outbreaks will claim thousands more Mariupolites," Boychenko said. He called on the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to work on setting up a humanitarian corridor to allow remaining residents to leave the city, which is now under Russian control.
Britain's Ministry of Defense said earlier on June 10 in its daily intelligence bulletin that there was a risk of a major cholera outbreak in Mariupol. The bulletin said isolated cases of cholera have been reported in Mariupol since last month. British intelligence also assessed that Russia was struggling to provide basic public services to the inhabitants of the territories that it has occupied in Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia have conducted another prisoner swap, Mykolayiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. The exchange involved four Russian captives for five Ukrainians, including a village head who was "kidnapped" by Russian forces on March 10, he said. With concern over Ukrainian grain deliveries growing by the day, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron said France was ready to assist in an operation to allow safe access to Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa.
The port has been subject to a de facto blockade by Russia, and grain is waiting to be exported amid mounting fears of global food shortages, especially in developing countries. "We are at the disposal of the parties to put in place an operation which would allow access in complete safety to the port of Odesa, in other words for boats to pass through despite the fact that the sea is mined," said an adviser to Macron, who asked not to be named. Macron’s office announced that the French president will travel to Moldova and Romania next week to express France's solidarity with the two allies. Macron will visit French troops in Romania on June 14, and go to Moldova the next day.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree imposing sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and dozens of other top Russian officials.
The list of 35 sanctioned officials includes Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, and all members of Russia's government and Security Council, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The largely symbolic move, which was approved by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, bans those listed entry to Ukraine, revokes visas and permits, and blocks their financial assets.
Zelenskiy in the early phase of the war sought a meeting with Putin, an idea that never came close to fruition as the Kremlin said preparatory peace negotiations were necessary.
The peace talks are now frozen and Ukraine is lobbying the European Union to impose a seventh sanctions package on Russia.
"Given that Russia seems to aim to fight in Ukraine to the last Russian, sanctions pressure, of course, needs to be increased," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on June 8.
Russia's education minister said in response that Moscow will not be deterred.
"Today's decision by the Kyiv regime speaks to its inadequacy and inability to control the situation. It's a gesture of desperation, which cannot prevent the integration of Donbas and the liberated territories into a single educational space with Russia," Sergei Kravtsov told Interfax.
Volkswagen is offering compensation to employees who voluntarily quit their jobs at a plant in Russia, the German automaker has said as sanctions related to the war in Ukraine take hold.
The factory in Nizhny Novgorod belongs to the GAZ Group, whose co-owner, Oleg Deripaska, has been placed under sanctions by Western countries.
A temporary exemption initially allowed for continued operations at the factory, but it was not extended, according to a company statement.
Volkswagen said on June 9 payoffs were being offered to around 200 people working at the plant and its partnership with GAZ had now come to an end.
The offer to employees includes financial compensation and medical insurance lasting through the end of 2022.
The world's second-largest car manufacturer announced in March that production at the Nizhny Novgorod plant and another in Kaluga would be suspended until further notice because of Western sanctions. Vehicle exports to Russia were suspended immediately.
While Volkswagen owns its Kaluga plant, employing around 4,200 workers there, it does not own the Nizhny Novgorod plant but had a contractual agreement with GAZ Group to assemble several of its models there, according to the Volkswagen Group's website.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 9 that foreign companies that had left Russia will regret their decision.
"In today's conditions, when someone jumped off somewhere, left, chose to stop some activity here, they will regret it," he said at a meeting with young entrepreneurs in Moscow.
"They will regret it, not because we threaten anyone," Putin continued. "They will regret it because Russia is a country with great potential, really."
A Dutch lawyer for a Russian suspect on trial in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight in 2014 says prosecutors failed to prove a Russian-made missile brought down the jetliner.
The lawyer told judges on June 9 that there were "holes" in the prosecutors' case because they were too focused on proving Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine used a Russian-supplied Buk missile.
"To conclude, the prosecution failed to prove from tapped conversations, images, and witness statements that this was the missile that downed MH17," said Sabine ten Doesschate, who represents suspect Oleg Pulatov.
She also said it could not be proved that a smoke trail -- which prosecutors said was seen shortly after the missile was fired -- was in fact that belonging to a Buk missile.
Ten Doesschate made her closing arguments in a courthouse close to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam from which flight MH17 took off.
Pulatov is the only defendant represented by a lawyer at the trial. The other three suspects are Russians Sergei Dubinsky and Igor Girkin and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
Prosecutors have requested life sentences for the three Russians and one Ukrainian on trial in absentia on charges of playing a role in downing the jet, killing 298 people. The flight was en route to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down.
The defense will discuss "alternative scenarios" for the downing of MH17 on June 10, the final day of closing arguments. The court has said a verdict is expected in November at the earliest.
The trial has taken on a new significance as the war in Ukraine rages on and as the International Criminal Court and other investigators look into a slew of alleged war crimes.
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution saying China's treatment of mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking indigenous ethnic groups, such as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and others in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, amounts to "crimes against humanity" and holds a "serious risk of genocide."
The resolution, approved in a vote by the European Parliament on June 9, condemned "in the strongest possible terms" China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other indigenous peoples in the northwestern region.
Although it stops short of calling China's actions genocide outright, the resolution is the strongest yet adopted by the legislature and marks a tougher line toward Beijing by Brussels. The United States has already labelled China's actions in Xinjiang as "genocide" and "crimes against humanity."
The resolution says the Uyghur community in China "has been systematically oppressed by brutal measures, including mass deportation, political indoctrination, family separation, restrictions on religious freedom, cultural destruction and the extensive use of surveillance."
It also says there is "credible evidence about birth-prevention measures and the separation of Uyghur children from their families amount to crimes against humanity and represent a serious risk of genocide."
The document calls on the Chinese government to put an "immediate end" to the practice of arbitrary detention without charge, trial, or conviction for criminal offenses "targeted" against Uyghurs and other ethnic Turkic peoples, and to close all camps and detention centers and "immediately and unconditionally" release all of those detained under the practices.
As many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers in the western Chinese region, according to the U.S. State Department.
China denies that the facilities are internment camps but people who have fled the province say that thousands are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities known officially as reeducation camps.
The resolution, which is nonbinding, also criticizes UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet for her recent trip to China, where she visited Xinjiang, saying she "failed to clearly hold the Chinese government accountable for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs during her visit."
Dozens of rights groups called on June 8 for her resignation, charging that she "whitewashed" Beijing's "atrocities" during her trip to China.
Bachelet has said that during the trip she urged Beijing to review its counterterrorism policies to ensure they comply with international human rights standards.
She also said that her six-day trip was not an investigation into China's human rights policies but an opportunity to engage with the government.
The U.S. special envoy for Belarus, Julie Fisher, says Washington remains "committed" to working with Belarus wherever possible, even though relations have been badly strained amid a crackdown by the regime of authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashena against dissent since a disputed election in August 2020.
The U.S. envoy, who was approved by the Senate in 2020 as the first U.S. ambassador to Belarus since 2008, was unable to take up her post in Minsk because the Belarusian government denied her a visa in response to the harsh economic sanctions Washington imposed on Lukashenka and other members of his regime because of the election and subsequent crackdown on dissent.
In an interview with RFE/RL's Belarus Service published on June 9, Fisher, whose appointment ends this month, praised Belarusians for what she called their "resilience as they rejected...that fraudulent election."
"In the time since then, the United States has been committed and remains absolutely committed to ensuring a closer relationship between the United States of America and the people of Belarus," Fisher said.
Fisher lauded Belarusians for their creativity in the face of such a harsh crackdown and the ways in which "they have sought again to have their voices heard related to the war [launched by Russia against Ukraine]."
"The people of Belarus [should] fundamentally understand what opportunity could lie in the future when [the situation changes], what opportunity lies in the future when Belarus has good relations with its neighbors, what opportunity can exist when people don't face torture, repression, when NGOs can work freely, when journalists can report on what's happening inside Belarus," she said.
"There is so much opportunity in the future and I really look forward to seeing that day and I look forward to visiting a free Belarus," Fisher added.
Lukashenka allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory to stage its war against Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has slammed the death sentences that Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine say their top court handed down to two British nationals and a Moroccan for being "mercenaries" and fighting with the Ukrainian armed forces.
Truss said the men were prisoners of war and called the judgment a "sham" with "absolutely no legitimacy."
"I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine," Truss said on Twitter.
The separatist leadership in the Donetsk region said that Aslin, Pinner, and Moroccan student Saaudun Brahim were sentenced to death on June 9 after a two-day trial.
They were convicted of "mercenary activities and committing actions aimed at seizing power and overthrowing the constitutional order" in the region, which is controlled by the separatists and a current focal point of fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops.
Amnesty International's deputy director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia called it a "blatant violation of international humanitarian law on so many counts."
Denis Krivosheyev said the three were members of the Ukrainian regular forces and as prisoners of war are protected from prosecution for taking part in hostilities.
"The only exception is prosecution for alleged war crimes, in which case there must be sufficient admissible evidence, and fair trial standards must be ensured," Krivosheyev said in a statement. "Not only this is not the case in this scenario -- they were not tried by an independent, impartial, regularly constituted court but by Russian proxies."
Robert Jenrick, the member of parliament who represents the district where Aslin's family live, said the proceedings were akin to a "Soviet-era show trial."
Aslin and Pinner, who served in a Ukrainian military unit in the city of Mariupol, were captured by the separatists in April. Saaudun was taken prisoner in March near the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region.
Saadoun's father, Taher Saadoun, told the Moroccan online Arab-language newspaper Madar 21 that his son is not a mercenary and that he holds Ukrainian citizenship.
The lawyer the the men said they will appeal the decision.
Russian officials have said that since they consider the three mercenaries, they are not protected by international laws regarding prisoners of war.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, through his spokesman in London, expressed concern over the verdicts and sentences handed to the three men, as they are entitled to combatant immunity.
"We're obviously deeply concerned by this. We've said continually that prisoners of war shouldn't be exploited for political purposes," the spokesman told reporters after the verdict was handed down.
"Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity, and they should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities," the statement said.
"So we will continue to work with Ukrainian authorities to try and secure the release of any British national who was serving in the Ukrainian armed forces and who are being held as prisoners of war."
In April, Russian state television showed Pinner and Aslin pleading guilty after their capture and asking Johnson to assist in exchanging them and other captured Ukrainian soldiers for pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who is being held by Kyiv on high-treason charges.
Relatives of Pinner and Aslin said at the time that their televised statements were made under duress. They also said that the two men served in the Ukrainian armed forces on a contractual basis and therefore cannot be considered mercenaries.
Russian media reports say Pinner has lived in Mariupol with his Ukrainian wife since 2018.
Russia currently has a moratorium on using the death penalty but says that does not apply to the areas of Ukraine controlled by the separatists.
The Iranian Teachers' Unions Coordination Council has called for a new round of street protests to demand higher wages and the immediate release of detained teachers from previous demonstrations as unrest in Iran continues to spread. The council said in a statement on June 9 that teachers across Iran should hold a protest rally on June 17 after four teachers were arrested last month just ahead of demonstrations held in several cities on May Day, which coincided with Teachers' Day in Iran.
At the May Day demonstration, one of many in recent weeks, teachers protested against working conditions and demanded higher wages.
The teachers also called on the government to speed up the implementation of reforms that would see their salaries more accurately reflect their experience and performance.
"We declare in a loud and clear voice that the union protests will continue unless our colleagues are released immediately and unconditionally, and the demands of teachers are implemented," the June 9 statement said. The council said it recently wrote a letter to the International Labor Organization that calls for the expulsion of Iran from the organization, stating that since May 1, several union activists and teachers had been arrested on "baseless" charges such as taking actions "against national security." Iran has seen a string of protests in recent weeks against rising food prices and following a deadly building collapse, which demonstrators blamed on negligence and corruption.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed some of the unrest on "foreign enemies" who he says are seeking to overthrow the regime.
At least two people have been killed and several others injured after a three-story building in Iran collapsed, just 17 days after a similar accident took at least 43 lives. The ILNA news agency quoted the spokesman of the country's emergency organization as saying on June 9 that four of those rescued from the rubble of the building, which is located in the town of Nowsud in western Iran, were "in critical condition."
The official said the cause of the accident was not yet known, but investigators were looking into whether a gas leak was the cause. The accident comes after a tower block in the southwestern city of Abadan crumbled on May 23, killing at least 43 people. The collapse of the partially finished 10-story Metropol building has sparked angry protests in solidarity with the families of the dead. The protesters say government negligence and endemic corruption are behind the accident. So far, 13 people are reported to have been arrested for construction violations. In recent years there have been several cases of building collapse in Iran. Experts largely attribute the incidents to disregard for safety standards and corruption in urban management. In 2017, 20 people were killed, including 16 firefighters in a fire and then the collapse of the Plasco building in the capital city of Tehran.
A Ukrainian tank takes up a position on the front line during heavy fighting in the city of Syevyerodonetsk on June 8.
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