More than 2,000 people detained during protests in Russia, says human rights group
More than 2,000 people in total have been detained across Russia for protesting against President Vladimir Putin’s partial military mobilisation, including 798 people detained in 33 towns on Saturday, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info.
Reuters reports that frustrations even spread to pro-Kremlin media, with one editor at the state-run RT news channel saying problems such as call-up papers being sent to the wrong men were “infuriating people”.
When Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was asked on Saturday why so many Russians were leaving the country, he pointed to the right of freedom of movement.
It’s slightly past 11pm in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
The Ukrainian defence ministry on Sunday made fun of Moscow’s partial mobilization order, posting on Twitter a compilation of social media videos of Russian police beating and arresting men protesting the call-up. The mockery came as Russia’s two top lawmakers expressed concern about the drive, ordering regional officials to resolve “excesses” that have ignited public anger, triggered demonstrations and prompted military-age men to make for border crossings.
Russophiles rallied across Bulgaria on Sunday in celebration of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Wearing T-shirts showing Russian bears, waving flags with “Z” symbols, and holding pictures of Putin aloft - the Ukraine war has not deterred Bulgarian Russophiles, who rallied in the centre of the country on Sunday to show their support, AFP reports.
Serbia will not recognize Russian annexation ‘referendums’ in occupied Ukrainian areas. “[The annexation referendums] completely contradict our state and national interests, our policy of dealing with territorial integrity, sovereignty and the principle of inviolability of borders,” said Nikola Selakovic, the Serbian foreign minister.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has renewed calls for Western allies to cut Russian banks from SWIFT, the global banking system that allows banks to send messages to each other. “If we cut Russian banks from SWIFT, we need to cut all Russian banks from SWIFT, but we need to make sure and I will repeat this, some countries do not follow and they are not completely involved in these sanctions. So Russian banks, the whole system, the whole Russian banking system must be cut from SWIFT,” he said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiyhas also said that Ukraine has received NASAMS (National Advance Surface-to-Air Missile Systems) air defence missiles from the US in a TV interview. Zelenskiy thanked Joe Biden and confirmed that they now have the systems in Ukraine. The Pentagon said ten days ago that two systems were due to be delivered. However he said he needed more to protect Ukrainian citizens.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has issued a plea for continued “generosity” and “patience” from those offering a home to refugees in Britain. Vadym Prystaiko said Ukraine needs “much more” help from the UK as the country fights back against Moscow’s invasion, with the partial mobilisation of Russian reservists amounting to “something formidable.”
UK prime minister Liz Truss has said its allies France and the US should continue to support Ukraine in the face of increased threats by Vladimir Putin and his mobilisation order. Truss said Putin was escalating the war because he was not winning and had made a mistake.
Protests against the mobilisation order to recruit more people for Russia’s army appear to be continuing in the Russian republic of Dagestan, with videos showing standoffs between police and the public. Video footage posted on social media shows the police arresting demonstrators. The order will see thousands more Russians drafted to be part of the war effort in Ukraine.
Israel will treat 20 Ukrainian soldiers who have been injured in the war with Russia, according to the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine. The first two patients will arrive on Sunday for treatment at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, said envoy Michael Brodsky.
The US and its allies will act “decisively” if Russia uses a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, its national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, reaffirming the Joe Biden White House’s previous response to mounting concerns that Vladimir Putin’s threats are in increased danger of being realised. “We have communicated directly, privately and at very high levels to the Kremlin that any use of nuclear weapons will be met with catastrophic consequences for Russia, that the US and our allies will respond decisively, and we have been clear and specific about what that will entail,” Sullivan told CBS.
Aiden Aslin, one of the five British nationals released by Russia earlier this week, has given his first media interview after returning to the UK. He told the Sun on Sunday that he was kept in solitary confinement for five months and “treated worse than a dog.”
Long queues of vehicles are at border crossing between Russia and Mongolia as people continue to flee the Kremlin’s partial mobilisation order, AFP reports. The head of a checkpoint in the town of Altanbulag told the agency that more than 3,000 Russians had entered Mongolia via the crossing since Wednesday.
The Ukrainian defence ministry on Sunday made fun of Moscow’s partial mobilization order, posting on Twitter a compilation of social media videos of Russian police beating and arresting men protesting the call-up.
The mockery came as Russia’s two top lawmakers expressed concern about the drive, ordering regional officials to resolve “excesses” that have ignited public anger, triggered demonstrations and prompted military-age men to make for border crossings.
“Russia still has remnants of a professional army” that the Ukrainian army “hasn’t yet destroyed,” the Ukrainian defence ministry said in an English-language tweet, referring to this month’s rout of Russian forces from much of the northeastern Kharkiv region. “Looks like we’ll be ‘de-mobilizing’ these Russians ahead of schedule.”
“We also know that soon these ‘soldiers’ will be at the front, and with such a love for alcohol, it will be easier for them to die on our land,” the defence ministry added.
We understand that not all russian troops are like this;russia still has remnants of a professional army that #UAarmy hasn’t yet destroyed. We also know that soon these "soldiers" will be at the front,and with such a love for alcohol,it will be easier for them to die on our land. pic.twitter.com/Y7EgS0c5ze
Multiple reports have documented how people with no military service have been issued draft papers - contrary to Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu’s guarantee that only those with special military skills or combat experience would be called up.
Russophiles rallied across Bulgaria on Sunday in celebration of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Wearing T-shirts showing Russian bears, waving flags with “Z” symbols, and holding pictures of Putin aloft - the Ukraine war has not deterred Bulgarian Russophiles, who rallied in the centre of the country on Sunday to show their support.
The Balkan state - an EU and NATO member with historically close ties to Russia - still has many citizens nostalgic for the former Communist regime.
The pro-Moscow rally came as Sofia readies to return to the polls and the country grapples with its identity.
Hristo Ganev, a 60-year-old driver, had arrived at Sunday’s event early and bought a T-shirt emblazoned with the “Z” of the Ukraine offensive from one of the many stalls selling trinkets and souvenirs.
“Without Russia, Bulgaria would not have existed,” he told AFP, referring to the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, in which Russia freed Bulgaria from five centuries of Ottoman domination.
Ganev is married to a Russian he met when he was working in Siberia in the 1980s, and says he supports President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
He believes Putin’s claim that the troops are needed to “fight Nazism” and says he is even in favour of a nuclear war, “if that is the price to pay to free yourself from American domination.”
Serbia will not recognize Russian annexation ‘referendums’ in occupied Ukrainian areas, the Kyiv Independent reports.
“[The annexation referendums] completely contradict our state and national interests, our policy of dealing with territorial integrity, sovereignty and the principle of inviolability of borders,” said Nikola Selakovic, the Serbian foreign minister.
He added that his country would comply with international law and the UN Charter.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has renewed calls for Western allies to cut Russian banks from SWIFT, the global banking system that allows banks to send messages to each other.
“If we cut Russian banks from SWIFT, we need to cut all Russian banks from SWIFT, but we need to make sure and I will repeat this, some countries do not follow and they are not completely involved in these sanctions. So Russian banks, the whole system, the whole Russian banking system must be cut from SWIFT,” the president told CBS in an interview.
He went onto add, “If we talk about an embargo for energy, we need not to look for compromises, or we need to make sure that this embargo will be working and all the prices would be implemented according to the embargo because the profits from these imports support the Russian army and fund the war.”
“We see that it’s a very expensive toy for Putin. It’s a very bloody toy. So he needs more money, all the money and super profits from oil and gas Russia’s using, and we need to limit that.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine has received NASAMS (National Advance Surface-to-Air Missile Systems) air defence missiles from the US in a TV interview.
Speaking to US broadcaster CBS, Zelenskiy thanked Joe Biden and confirmed that they now have the systems in Ukraine. The Pentagon said ten days ago that two systems were due to be delivered. However he said he needed more to protect Ukrainian citizens.
Zelenskiy told Margaret Brennan on Face The Nation: “I want to thank president Biden for a positive decision that has been already made. And to the US Congress, we received NASAMS. It’s the air defense systems. But believe me, it’s not even nearly enough to cover the civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, universities, homes of Ukrainians."
“Why do we need this? We need the security in order to attract our Ukrainians to come back home. If it’s safe, they will come, settle, work here and will pay taxes and then we won’t have a deficit of $5 billion in our budget. So it will be a positive for everybody.”
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has issued a plea for continued “generosity” and “patience” from those offering a home to refugees in Britain.
Vadym Prystaiko said Ukraine needs “much more” help from the UK as the country fights back against Moscow’s invasion, with the partial mobilisation of Russian reservists amounting to “something formidable”.
Addressing a fringe event hosted by Labour Friends of Ukraine in Liverpool, the ambassador said people who found refuge in the UK through the government’s sponsorship scheme continue to need support, PA Media reports.
“We hoped to reach a six-month period by the sponsorship agreement between most of the UK citizens and Ukrainians who came here,” he said.
“I just hope that the generosity, tolerance, kindness, patience of these people will allow us to engage with Ukrainians who still need some support here.”
He added: “Still we need support here, helping these people to go through the most difficult times of the war.”
In March, the UK government launched the Homes for Ukraine scheme so people could sponsor refugees fleeing the war-torn country by offering a spare room or home for at least six months.
Ministers have since faced calls to consider increasing the monthly thank-you payments to hosts who extend their offer beyond the initial period they committed to.
Prystaiko said it should be Russia that pays to rebuild Ukraine.
“I know there are so many generous people in nations around the globe, who told us, ‘don’t worry guys, we will help you to rebuild’. I believe the Russians have to pay for this, not you, not your taxpayers’ money,” he said.
The ambassador said the partial mobilisation of Russian reservists looks to be “something formidable”.
“We are adults here and I have to be frank with you,” he said.
“We obviously understand that three, four, five (hundred) thousand people Russia has promised to mobilise... this make a difference in the battlefield.
“Yes, Russians will struggle to re-arm them, feed them, equip them, and most of these people are not fit for... service. But (the) sheer mass of these people is something formidable.”
UK prime minister Liz Truss has said its allies France and the US should continue to support Ukraine in the face of increased threats by Vladimir Putin and his mobilisation order.
Truss said Putin was escalating the war because he was not winning and had made a mistake.
“I think he didn’t anticipate the strength of reaction from the free world,” Truss said in the interview broadcast on Sunday, Reuters reports.
“We should not be listening to his sabre-rattling and his bogus threats. Instead, what we need to do is continue to put sanctions on Russia and continue to support the Ukrainians.”
Truss, who became prime minister earlier this month, has pledged to raise defence spending to 3% of the UK’s GDP.
Protests against the mobilisation order to recruit more people for Russia’s army appear to be continuing in the Russian republic of Dagestan, with videos showing standoffs between police and the public.
Video footage posted on social media shows the police arresting demonstrators. The order will see thousands more Russians drafted to be part of the war effort in Ukraine. On Thursday a video showed people angrily confronting an official at a recruitment centre.
Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, appears to be at the centre of the protests, with some roads blocked. The area borders Azerbaijan and Georgia to the south.
In Dagestan’s Makhachkala, protesters are shouting “No to war!” and “Let them go!”, arguing with policemen, and trying to take back the detainees. Earlier, protesters against mobilisation blocked the federal highway. Video: Utro Dagestan 🔗https://t.co/riv1nts2jGpic.twitter.com/gdGwThGK1y
Israel will treat 20 Ukrainian soldiers who have been injured in the war with Russia, according to the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine.
“Israel will receive for treatment 20 Ukrainian servicemen who were seriously wounded during the war,” envoy Michael Brodsky tweeted.
The first two patients will arrive on Sunday for treatment at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, he added.
A medical source confirmed to Agence France-Presse that two soldiers were en route to Israel, while a spokesperson for the Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv said she expected the first patients to arrive “soon”.
They will be treated with prosthetics and rehabilitation.
Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s largest hospital, ran a field hospital in western Ukraine for six weeks following the Russian invasion in February.
US to act 'decisively' if Russia uses nuclear weapon in Ukraine
Edward Helmore
The US and its allies will act “decisively” if Russia uses a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, its national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, reaffirming the Joe Biden White House’s previous response to mounting concerns that Vladimir Putin’s threats are in increased danger of being realised.
“We have communicated directly, privately and at very high levels to the Kremlin that any use of nuclear weapons will be met with catastrophic consequences for Russia, that the US and our allies will respond decisively, and we have been clear and specific about what that will entail,” Sullivan told CBS’s Face The Nation.
Sullivan said that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had been “waving around the nuclear card at various points through this conflict”, and it was a matter that Biden’s administration has “to take deadly seriously because it is a matter of paramount seriousness – the possible use of nuclear weapons for the first time since the second world war”.
