Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow gathers ‘virtually all its forces’ to storm settlements near Sievierodonetsk, says Ukraine – live

Charles Michel, president of the European Council, is calling for the European Union to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.

As expected, Michel stopped short of recommending candidate status for Georgia, another former Soviet state seeking acceptance into the EU.

Next week, EU leaders will decide whether to grant these three states EU candidate status, although full membership will likely take years.

“I believe it’s time to recognise the European perspective of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia,” Michel said in a video address posted to Twitter. “The future of these countries and their people lies within the EU. More specifically, my intention is that we decide to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.”

Joining the EU could take years, but receiving candidate status alone would be a historic step for Ukraine, where reformers have been seeking democratic change since the Maidan protests of 2014, events that were the prelude to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, had previously stated that Ukraine had made major strides in the past eight years, including creating a market economy and an independent judiciary and tackling corruption. However, she said, more needed to be done to allow Ukraine to progress in membership talks.

The Kremlin on Monday said any Americans captured in Ukraine were “mercenaries” who should take responsibility for their “crimes”, Reuters is reporting.

As of today, the US state department was investigating the possible capture of Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, two missing Americans volunteering to defend Ukraine against Russian invaders. Last week, a photograph surfaced showing the two veterans in the back of a military truck with their hands tied behind them.

The RIA news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that the detained men were not covered by the Geneva convention, as they were not regular troops.

Last week, the family of the former Marine Corps officer Grady Kurpasi disclosed that he had been missing in the Kherson area since late April. It is unclear if the state department is investigating whether Kurpasi was captured as well.

So far in the conflict, one US citizen has been killed fighting as a volunteer.

It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Africa was a “hostage” of Russia’s “colonial” war in his country which has led to global food shortages and famine fears across the African continent. Ukraine was engaged in “complex negotiations” to unblock the grain trapped at its Black Sea ports by Russia’s naval blockade, Zelenskiy said in an address to the African Union.
• The pro-Russian Crimean leader, Sergey Aksyonov, has accused Ukraine of launching a missile strike on drilling platforms off the coast of the peninsula. Three people were injured and a search is underway for seven other workers after the attack on the drilling platforms of Chernomorneftegaz, Aksyonov said. It has not been possible to independently verify his claims.

• The former director of the British special forces said the UK must “prepare for war” as a deterrent against Russia. The comment by Gen Sir Adrian Bradshaw came after the new head of the British army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, told troops they must prepare “to fight in Europe once again”.

• Turkey said it does not consider next week’s Nato summit as a final deadline for resolving its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance. Turkish presidential spokesperson, Ibrahim Kalin, reported no breakthrough in talks in Brussels but said discussions between Ankara, Stockholm and Helsinki will continue.

• The editor of the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta is auctioning his Nobel peace prize medal, with the proceeds to go to helping children displaced by the war in Ukraine. Dmitry Muratov, whose 23-carat gold medal will go on sale in New York on Monday, said the sale was “an act of solidarity” with the 14 million Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion, which he called “a tragedy”.

That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today. I’ll be back tomorrow. Vivian Ho will be here shortly to continue to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Thank you.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said Russia has gathered almost all of its forces to storm the settlements near the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk.

“Decisive” battles are taking place in the area of Sievierodonetsk with the Russian leadership aiming to reach the borders of the Luhansk region by the end of the week, Maliar was quoted by the Ukrainian News Agency as saying.

Maliar told reporters:

The Russian army has thrown virtually all its forces and means in order to storm the settlements around. They seek to break through the defences of our troops and are trying to encircle the grouping of our troops, which is carrying out the defence of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk.

Ukrainian troops are doing “everything possible” to hold its territory in order to prevent encirclement, she said, adding:

But we must understand that the enemy has an advantage in armament, so the situation is extremely difficult now, and at night and today, there is a maximum intensity of these decisive battles.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Africa was a “hostage” of Russia’s “colonial” war in his country which has led to global food shortages and famine fears across the African continent.

Ukraine was engaged in “complex negotiations” to unblock the grain trapped at its Black Sea ports by Russia’s naval blockade, Zelenskiy said in an address to the African Union, AFP reports.

Zelenskiy said:

This war may seem very distant to you and your countries. But the food prices that are catastrophically rising have already brought (the war) to the homes of millions of African families.

The unjust level of food prices, which has been provoked by the Russian war, is being painfully felt on all continents. Unfortunately, this can be a particular problem for your countries.

Zelenskiy said although Ukraine was trying everything to free up its ports, he admitted there has been “no progress yet because no real tool has yet been found to ensure Russia does not attack them again”.

He added:

That is why the food crisis in the world will continue as long as this colonial war continues.

It’s just past 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• The pro-Russian Crimean leader, Sergey Aksyonov, has accused Ukraine of launching a missile strike on drilling platforms off the coast of the peninsula. Three people were injured and a search is underway for seven other workers after the attack on the drilling platforms of Chernomorneftegaz, Aksyonov said. It has not been possible to independently verify his claims.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he expected Russia would intensify attacks on Ukraine and possibly other European countries after the uropean Commission proposed it as a candidate for EU membership. “Obviously, this week we should expect from Russia an intensification of its hostile activities,” he said in a nightly video address. “And not only against Ukraine, but also against other European countries.”

• Ukraine’s forces remain on the defensive in the eastern Donbas region, where fighting continues in Sievierodonestsk. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said Russia was massing forces in an attempt to take full control of the city after weeks of fighting, adding: “All Russian claims that they control the town are a lie”. He told Ukrainian television: “They control the main part of the town, but not the whole town.”

• The former director of the British special forces said the UK must “prepare for war” as a deterrent against Russia. The comment by Gen Sir Adrian Bradshaw came after the new head of the British army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, told troops they must prepare “to fight in Europe once again”.

• Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow should wait until Americans “crawl back” and beg to hold nuclear arms reduction talks. Medvedev, who served as president from 2008-to 2012, said Russia-US relations “are at zero on the Kelvin scale” and that there was no point in having any nuclear arms reduction talks.

• A senior Ukrainian official has said wheat farmers in Russian-occupied territory are being paid less than half what they were paid before the war – and in Russian roubles. The claim, by the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, comes amid fears that some crops will not be planted for next year’s harvest because it is uneconomical.

• The editor of the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta is auctioning his Nobel peace prize medal, with the proceeds to go to helping children displaced by the war in Ukraine. Dmitry Muratov, whose 23-carat gold medal will go on sale in New York on Monday, said the sale was “an act of solidarity” with the 14 million Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion, which he called “a tragedy”.

Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you with all the latest news from the war in Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.

Palaces, yachts and vineyards reportedly provided to Vladimir Putin by friends and oligarchs can now be linked to what appears to be an informal network holding assets worth more than $4.5bn (£3.7bn), Daniel Boffey, Olesya Shmagun and Miranda Patrucic report.

A digital paper trail appears to suggest that an array of holiday homes and other assets reportedly used by the Russian president, which according to available records belong to or have been owned by separate individuals, companies and charities, are linked through a common email domain name, LLCInvest.ru.

A snapshot of leaked email exchanges from last September further suggests directors and administrators associated with some of the separate entities that hold and manage these assets have discussed day-to-day business problems as if they were part of a single organisation.

An anti-corruption expert in Russia, who requested anonymity given the political situation in Moscow, said the findings raised questions as to whether there was a level of “common management”.

“LLCInvest looks most of all like a cooperative, or an association, in which its members can exchange benefits and property,” they suggested.

For nearly two decades, Putin has been accused of secretly accumulating vast wealth through proxies, fuelled by a series of disclosures in leaks such as the Pandora papers about the fortunes of those closest to him.

Sergey Kolesnikov, a businessman, claimed 10 years ago that he had been behind a scheme that allowed a group of Russia’s top oligarchs to pool billions of roubles into a type of “investment fund” for the benefit of Putin, who was then serving as prime minister. The claims were denied and Kolesnikov fled from Russia.

Last month the UK government contrasted Putin’s “lavish lifestyle” with official Russian records that listed “modest assets” including a small flat in St Petersburg, two Soviet-era cars from the 1950s, a trailer and a small garage.

Read the full story: Russian emails appear to show ‘network’ holding $4.5bn assets linked to Putin