Russia-Ukraine war: Latest developments

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

US, EU ready new sanctions

The United States, European Union and G7 are set to toughen sanctions on Russia following allegations of war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

A source in Washington says the US will ban all new investment in Russia. The White House says it will also add sanctions on government officials and “their family members”, as well as state-owned entreprises.

The EU has proposed banning Russian ships from European ports and halting Russian coal imports, but European Council president Charles Michel says the bloc would also have to act “sooner or later” on Russian oil and gas.

Pope slams ‘horrendous cruelties’

Pope Francis says the “recent news about the war in Ukraine, instead of bringing relief and hope, instead attests to new atrocities, such as the Bucha massacre.”

“Evermore horrendous cruelties, also perpetrated against defenceless civilians, women, and children,” he says during his weekly audience.

‘Act immediately’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky challenges the United Nations to “act immediately” or “dissolve yourself altogether” during an address in which he shows harrowing footage of dead bodies — including children — he says were victims of Russian atrocities.

Likening Russia’s actions in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities to violence carried out by “terrorists” such as the Islamic State group, Zelensky calls on the Security Council to expel Russia “so it cannot block decisions about its own aggression, its own war.”

Russian yachts seized

Dutch authorities impound 14 yachts on order from Russian customers in Dutch shipyards, 12 of them still under construction.

“Given the current measures, these vessels cannot be delivered, transferred or exported for the moment,” Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra tells Dutch parliament, adding Dutch authorities are checking whether the customers are on the sanctions list.

Bid to ‘torpedo’ talks: Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the images of bodies in Bucha, which the Kremlin claims are fakes, are a “provocation” aimed at scuppering talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

“A question arises: What purpose does this blatantly untruthful provocation serve? We are led to believe it is to find a pretext to torpedo the ongoing negotiations,” He says in a message broadcast on Russian television.

600,000 ‘evacuated’ to Russia

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says over 600,000 people have been taken voluntarily to Russia since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, denying Kyiv’s claim of mass deportations.

“And we’re not talking about any kind of coercion or abduction, as our Western partners like to present this, but rather the voluntary decision by these people…” he tells the Security Council.

More US military aid

Washington announces it will send $100 million in additional anti-armour weapons to Ukraine, bringing US military aid to Ukraine to over $1.7 billion, according to the Pentagon.

Cluster munitions

UN undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, tells the Security Council of “credible” claims Russia has used indiscriminate cluster munitions two dozen times in populated parts of Ukraine.

War chest frozen

Britain has frozen some $350 billion (321 billion euros) in assets from the “war chest” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says during a visit to Warsaw.

She says this action meant that “over 60 percent of the regime’s $604 billion foreign currency reserves” were now “unavailable” to the Russian government.

Twitter curbs Russian accounts

Twitter says it will introduce new measures against Russian government accounts to reduce the impacts of official propaganda.

Moscow restricts access to Twitter and has blocked Facebook and Instagram.

Mariupol helicopters hit

Russia says it shot down two Ukrainian helicopters that were trying to evacuate leaders of the controversial nationalist Azov battalion from besieged Mariupol.

It also says it proposed that Ukrainian fighters lay down their arms and leave the city “via an agreed route” to territory under Kyiv’s control, adding that Ukraine had “ignored” the suggestion.

The Star