Ousted Ukrainian defence minister refuses any other role in Zelenskyy’s government – as it happened
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains under pressure to restore ousted defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, after he told reporters he would not accept any other role in the government – despite alternatives put forward by the president (14:01).
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains under pressure to restore ousted defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, after he told reporters he would not accept any other role in the government – despite alternatives put forward by the president (14:01).
“No other role carries the actual authority to combat procurement corruption, complete the army’s transformation, plan and execute asymmetric operations against the enemy,” Fedorov, whose dismissal last week rare wartime street protests, said in a statement sent to reporters and quoted by Reuters.
Fedorov’s supporters vowed to continue rare wartime street protests until he gets restored to his original position as defence minister.
And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today.
The EU has adopted its 21st package of sanctions against Russia, delayed by Greece pushing for a controversial concession on LNG exports (9:37), making Russia “the most sanctioned country in the world” (17:56).
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the sanctions will “continue to weaken the economic foundations of Russia’s war effort” (9:37), while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said they were “hitting Putin where it hurts most” (11:52).
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed the package saying that “every new sanction decision strengthens Europe’s security and makes Russia pay a proper price for its war of aggression.”
The move comes as the foreign ministers of the US and Russia met on the sidelines of an Asian summit for bilateral talks, which also covered the Russian war on Ukraine (9:59, 10:04, 10:15, 10:34).
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains under growing pressure to reinstate his sacked defence minister (11:09), after Mykhailo Fedorov ruled out returning to administration in any other role (17:10), and his supporters vowed to continue rare wartime street protests until he gets his old job back.
Ireland’s prime minister Micheál Martin was faced with awkward questions about a leading Irish metals refinery during his trip to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy (17:06).
The EU has imposed what it is describing as the “single largest sanctions package” against Russia targeting banks, crypto platforms and oil in a bid to weaken its war economy further.
It includes sanctions on 218 persons and companies, 94 financial institutions including Moscow’s stock exchange, but also a controversial exemption for Greece to continue transporting liquid natural gas to non-EU countries.
The EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas said the sanctions package was its “largest round in four years, totalling 218 listings”.
The 21st round of sanctions is aimed at “keeping up the pressure” on Russia’s economy including an extension of an existing price cap on Russian oil set at $44.7.
This is $20 below a rolling average rate for Ural oil since the outbreak of the Iran war which was estimated at $65.3.
With Donald Trump’s renewed attacks on Iran pushing the price of a barrel of oil past $100 on Thursday, some have asked whether the price cap will encourage more ghost tankers rather than discourage.
The EU estimates that Moscow $11bn windfall from the Iran war fuelled price hikes in April and May but said the vagaries of the market seen since February should vindicate its price cap point over the coming months.
“Freezing the oil price cap adjustment for a year, so that the Russian war machine does not benefit from market shocks,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on Thursday morning of the 21st round of sanctions.
On gas, Greece has secured an exemption from a ban on transporting Russian LNG to third countries to get an otherwise at risk package getting over the line.
EU officials said “Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world, more than Iran,” as it unveiled its 21st round of sanctions, including new curbs on 33 Russian banks, a bank in Mongolia and two Russian spin-off banks in India claimed to be facilitating circumvention of sanctions.
In total 90 banks are under restrictions, an estimated 50% of the Russian financial network.
EU hopes to cut off 33 Russian banks off from funds in the EU by removing its from the Swift international transactions system.
It is also trying to enact a ban on third countries using crypto platforms to transact with Russian entities in an effort to choke off circumvention outside the conventional banking system in countries such as Panama and the Marshall Islands.
The Council of the European Union has just published a more detailed breakdown of the 21st package of sanctions against Russia, which lists all the measures agreed by the EU ambassadors this morning and now worked into a legal text.
The package includes asset freezes and a prohibition to make funds available to 94 banks and major financial institutions as well as extending its transaction ban to 33 additional Russian credit and financial institutions. It also includes a Kyrgyz bank and three other non-Russian banks for circumventing sanctions.
There are also more designations on 14 crypto-related service platforms in places such as Belarus, Georgia, Panama, the Marshall Islands, and the UAE.
The note also spells the details on energy measures, including the pause on the automatic adjustment of the oil price cap until 15 July 2027, and a number of measures against Russia’s shadow fleet and oil sector.
There are also 56 listings of persons and companies involved in the Russian Military Industrial Complex, and 51 new entities subject to tighter export restrictions on dual-use goods and technologies – some of them, again, in third countries such as China, India, or Turkey.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains under pressure to restore ousted defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, after he told reporters he would not accept any other role in the government – despite alternatives put forward by the president (14:01).
“No other role carries the actual authority to combat procurement corruption, complete the army’s transformation, plan and execute asymmetric operations against the enemy,” Fedorov, whose dismissal last week rare wartime street protests, said in a statement sent to reporters and quoted by Reuters.
Fedorov’s supporters vowed to continue rare wartime street protests until he gets restored to his original position as defence minister.
During his trip to Kyiv, Ireland’s prime minister Micheál Martin was faced with awkward questions about claims that a leading Irish metals refinery is part of an international aluminium supply chain that appears to conclude with shipments to arms producers feeding the Kremlin’s war machine in Ukraine.
Reuters noted that Ireland is under mounting pressure over the Aughinish Alumina plant, Europe’s largest refinery of the aluminium feedstock alumina, which the facility continues to export to Russia.
