The international criminal court on Tuesday sent a 42-member team to Ukraine to probe alleged war crimes since the Russian invasion in what it called the largest such deployment in its history.
The US will create a new unit to research, document and publicize alleged war crimes by Russia in Ukraine. The Conflict Observatory will “capture, analyze, and make widely available evidence of Russia-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” the US state department said.
Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have stagnateofficials said on Tuesday, with both sides trading blame and Moscow indicating a return to talks may be difficult. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed no peace deal can be made if negotiators try to “transfer the dialogue” to focus on what the west had to say instead of the immediate situation in Ukraine. That ruled out chances for progress in talks, he added. “We always say that we are ready for negotiations … but we were given no other choice,” Lavrov said.
The fate of more than 260 Ukrainian soldiers who have ended weeks of resistance at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol remains unclear, after the fighters surrendered and were transferred to Russian-controlled territory. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said they would be swapped in a prisoner exchange, but some Russian officials said they could be tried or even executed.
Eight people have died and 12 were wounded after Russia launched a missile strike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service. The regional governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said Russia launched four missiles at around 5am local time on Tuesday. Two of the missiles hit buildings in the village, he said.
A village in Russia’s western province of Kursk bordering Ukraine came under Ukrainian firethe regional governor said, but there were no injuries.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, promised his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that French arms deliveries to Kyiv would intensify in the coming days, the lysée said. Zelenskiy said he had a “long and meaningful” conversation with Macron where they discussed “the course of hostilities, the operation to rescue the military from Azovstal and the vision of the prospects of the negotiation process”.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Russian forces may have suffered “impressive losses” since their invasion of Ukraine. He told reporters: ,If it is true that Russia has lost 15% of their troops since the beginning of the war, this is a world record of the losses of an army invading a country.” Borrell also said all EU member states will support Finland and Sweden in joining Nato.
Finland and Sweden announced they will submit their bids to join Nato together, despite Turkey’s threat to block the military alliance’s expansion. Finland’s parliament overwhelmingly approved a government proposal to join Nato, a day after Sweden confirmed its intention to join the alliance. The Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, said he was sure both countries would overcome Turkish opposition to their historic membership bids.
Niinistö and Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, will meet the US president, Joe Biden, on Thursday, the White House said. The leaders are expected to discuss Finland and Sweden’s Nato applications, European security and support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, it said.
Lavrov, has said that Finland and Sweden joining Nato would probably make “not much difference”. The two Nordic countries ,have been participating in Nato military exercises for many years,” Lavrov said.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said that Europe risked paying the most expensive energy prices in the world by abandoning Russian energy supplies. Speaking at a meeting with domestic oil managers and government officials, Putin said it was impossible for some European countries to quickly ditch Russian oil.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave a surprise address to open the Cannes Film Festival in France. Over video, Zelensky said that “it’s necessary for cinema not to be silent”
Russian TV aired an interview with military analyst Mikhail Khodarenok, who said Russia’s situation “will clearly get worse”in a rare diversion from the Kremlin’s official line. Russia has tried to hide the scale of its losses and setbacks in Ukraine, aggressively censoring and prosecuting any who question the Kremlin’s claims that all is going according to plan.