Russian forces on Tuesday took control of part of the key city of Severodonetsk, their current priority in eastern Ukraine, where the situation is tense for Kyiv forces after more than three months of fighting.
Here are the latest developments, minute by minute
3:38 p.m. | Household debt hits historic high in Russia
MARIO BEAUREGARD/QMI AGENCY
Russian household debt hit an all-time high in the first quarter of this year, Russia’s central bank said in a report on Tuesday.
3:30 p.m. | Kyiv wants Macron’s visit before the end of the French presidency of the European Union
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba on Tuesday hoped that French President Emmanuel Macron, who has not been to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, would visit Kyiv before the end of the French presidency of the EU on June 30, in an interview with the French channel LCI.
2:30 p.m. | Canada sanctions Putin associates and other Russian banks
Canada on Tuesday targeted 21 Russians, close to Vladimir Putin, and four financial institutions and banks, in a new wave of sanctions in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
“We are targeting banks and oligarchs around the Putin regime, as well as the one I would call his partner,” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters in Ottawa.
2:10 p.m. | Gazprom stops gas deliveries to several European customers
The Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Tuesday the interruption from Wednesday of gas deliveries to several European customers – the list of which is growing – having refused to pay in rubles, a dispute born of the Russian military offensive against Ukraine .
1:27 p.m. | “Most” of Severodonetsk under Russian control
“Most” of Severodonetsk, a key city in eastern Ukraine plagued by heavy fighting between Russians and Ukrainians, is now under Russian military control, the governor of the Lugansk region announced on Tuesday. , Serguiï Gaïdaï, while Kyïv won a diplomatic battle with a European agreement on a gradual embargo on Russian oil.
1:18 p.m. | European Union under pressure from Africa to release cereals blocked in Ukraine
Called to the rescue by Africa, the Europeans are stepping up their efforts to get out the grain stocks blocked in Ukraine, in particular by negotiating with Moscow secure access to the port of Odessa, in order to avoid a world food crisis.
“The situation is worrying and the worst may be ahead of us”, warned the head of the African Union Macky Sall by videoconference to the heads of state and government of the EU meeting at the summit in Brussels.
1:07 p.m. | Nitric acid tank hit by Russians in Severodonetsk
A “nitric acid tank” at a chemical plant in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, was “hit” by a Russian strike on Tuesday, regional governor Sergei Gaïdaï announced, calling on residents to do not come out of air-raid shelters.
12:48 | Berlin to replace armored vehicles delivered by Greece to Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Tuesday an agreement with Greece under which Athens will deliver Soviet-era armored vehicles to Ukraine to counter the Russian invasion, and receive more modern vehicles from Berlin in exchange. .
“We are going to make German armored combat vehicles available,” Olaf Scholz said after a European summit in Brussels on Tuesday, where he met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
11:34 am | Suspension of Russian gas deliveries to Denmark from June 1
Danish energy company Ørsted announced on Tuesday that delivery of Russian gas to Denmark would be suspended from June 1 at 6 a.m. local time, after Ørsted refused to settle payment in roubles.
10:41 am | Lifting of the blockade of Odessa: Macron proposed to Putin to go through a resolution at the UN
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that he had proposed to Vladimir Putin the vote of a resolution at the UN to lift the Russian blockade of the port of Odessa in order to allow the export of Ukrainian cereals which are blocked there.
10:33 am | Ukraine: human rights officer dismissed from parliament for lack of results
Lioudmyla Denisova, the person in charge of human rights at the Ukrainian Parliament, was fired on Tuesday, the presidential party accusing her of having done nothing to organize evacuations of civilians and exchanges of prisoners.
The Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) voted on Tuesday to dismiss Ms. Denissova, a member of the opposition party “People’s Front” and appointed to this post in March 2018.
10:27 am | Tears, fatigue but relief for Ukrainian evacuees from Russian areas
Transported to a checkpoint, women, children, old people and a few rare men hurry to cross the roadblock of Ukrainian soldiers and rush into Red Cross minibuses, before letting their feelings go to Petchenigui.
These evacuees have just passed from the Russian occupation zone, where they have been living in very difficult conditions since the beginning of the invasion on February 24, to finally reach the zone under Ukrainian control, near Kharkiv, in the north-east of the country.
10:05 am | Africa worries about the consequences of European sanctions
The President of the African Union, the Senegalese Macky Sall, expressed concern on Tuesday about the consequences of European sanctions excluding Russian banks from the international Swift system and called on the Twenty-Seven to act to free the stocks of cereals blocked in Ukraine by the dispute.
9:32 am | Ukraine has identified “a few thousand” war crimes cases in the Donbass
Ukraine’s judiciary has identified “a few thousand” war crimes cases in Donbass, the prosecutor general told a press conference in The Hague, as Russian forces advance in this eastern region, their strategic priority.
9:05 am | Russian oil: an embargo that will require other sources of supply
The European Union’s partial embargo on Russian oil imports will force Europeans to turn to other sources of supply, such as in Africa and Asia, at the risk of increasing prices.
READ | Where are the sanctions targeting the Russian economy?
Oil embargo, new investments prohibited, asset freezes: the point on the sanctions taken by Western countries against Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.
7:23 am | Sanctions against Moscow: Europeans cautious to move to a gas embargo
An embargo on gas purchases from Russia was on everyone’s mind on Tuesday after an oil embargo was agreed, but several European leaders pleaded for a ‘pause’ and some even ruled out adopting such a measure .
READ | Ukraine wins the battle of the European oil embargo but retreats in Severodonetsk
Ukraine has won a battle to secure an embargo on Russian oil from the Europeans, but its military is backing away from a Russian steamroller in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow forces now control part of the key city from Severodonetsk.
5:32 | Orban welcomes the exemption obtained for Russian oil
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomed Tuesday the agreement of the 27 countries of the EU which provides an exemption for oil transported by pipeline, thus allowing his country to continue to receive cheap crude oil from Russia.
5:28 | Two Russian soldiers sentenced to 11 years in prison for bombing villages
A Ukrainian court on Tuesday sentenced two Russian soldiers to 11 and a half years in prison accused of having bombarded with multiple missile launchers two villages in the Kharkiv region, in the north-east of the country.
5:13 am | Moscow says it is ready to return the bodies of 152 fighters discovered in Azovstal
The Russian army discovered the bodies of 152 Ukrainian fighters in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol (southeast), and is ready to hand them over to Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
4:46 | Russian bank Sberbank assures that Swift’s exclusion will not affect it
The main Russian bank Sberbank said on Tuesday that its exclusion from the international financial system Swift, decided by the European Union, will only have a limited effect, the group having already been hit by other sanctions since the Russian offensive against Ukraine
4:18 | Lavrov in Turkey on June 8 to ‘discuss safe corridors’ for grain export
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Turkey on June 8 to discuss the establishment of “secure corridors” for the transport of Ukrainian grain, his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Cavusoglu announced on Tuesday.
4h15 | Russian Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to the Netherlands
Russian gas company Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it suspended gas deliveries to Dutch supplier GasTerra in the face of its refusal to pay in rubles, a dispute arising from the Russian military offensive against Ukraine.
4:11 | Agreement of the Twenty-Seven to stop most of their imports of Russian oil
The leaders of the 27 EU countries reached an agreement on Monday that would see them cut their imports of Russian oil by some 90% by the end of the year in order to dry up funding for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. .
3h38 | The Russians control “part” of Severodonetsk
Russian forces now control “part” of Severodonetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine that they have been shelling and trying to take for weeks, the region’s governor announced on Tuesday.
3:03 | A first commercial ship left Mariupol for Russia
A first commercial ship, loaded with metal, left the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, conquered by Russian forces, to reach Rostov-on-the-Don in Russia, the pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Pushilin announced on Tuesday.
READ | Serhiy Salov: at the piano for Ukraine
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
Originally from Ukraine, adopted and internationally renowned Montreal pianist Serhiy Salov is the instigator of a series of short Montreal performances delivered over the next few weeks to benefit Ukraine. A humanitarian campaign combining music and concrete actions to help its Ukrainian people.