The UN says at least 4,395 people have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war
People stand among newly built graves in a cemetery during the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in the village of Old Crimea near Mariupol, Ukraine, May 22, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko Reuters
The United Nations has confirmed that 4,395 civilians have been killed and 5,390 injured in Ukraine since Russia invaded its former Soviet neighbor on February 24.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says the death toll in Ukraine is likely to be higher, as armed conflict could delay reports of deaths.
The international organization said most of the registered civilian casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide range of impact, including heavy artillery fire and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as well as missiles and air strikes.
“Amanda Macias.”
Russia claims to have destroyed American and European arms stores in Ukraine
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has destroyed large quantities of Western-supplied weapons in Ukraine.
In an update to the Telegram, the ministry said high-precision air-based missiles had struck near the Udachne railway station in the Donetsk People’s Republic, one of two self-proclaimed pro-Russian enclaves in the region.
According to Russia, the missiles destroyed a large number of weapons and military equipment delivered to a group of Ukrainian nationalists, including from the United States and European countries.
Russia often calls Ukrainian fighters “nationalists” and other derogatory terms.
CNBC was unable to immediately verify the information in the update, although Russia had previously focused on arms supplies and depots sent to Ukraine by its Western allies.
“Holly Eliat.”
“It’s delicious and that’s it”: McDonald’s opens its doors in Russia under a new brand
Queue to enter the new fast food restaurant, which came as a replacement for McDonald’s, on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow.
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McDonald’s restaurants in Russia have reopened under a new brand after the American fast food giant closed its doors to customers due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There have been long queues in Moscow since 15 branches of the fast food chain – now rebranded to “Vkusno & tochka”, meaning “Delicious and that’s it” – reopened in and around Moscow on Sunday.
A woman takes a selfie in front of the new fast food restaurant on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow.
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People visit the former American fast food chain McDonald’s during its reopening under the new name Vkusno & tochka, which translates as “Delicious and that’s it”.
Anatolian Agency Anatolian Agency Getty Images
The chain is now owned by businessman Alexander Govor, who agreed to buy all 847 Russian McDonald’s stores after the chain joined other international companies in boycotting Russia following its invasion.
Businessman Alexander Govor, who agreed to buy all 847 Russian McDonald’s stores, served as a McDonald’s licensee in Russia before the purchase.
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Speech served as a licensee for McDonald’s in Russia before the purchase and operated 25 restaurants in Siberia. The contract of sale provides for employees to be detained for at least two years on equivalent terms.
“Holly Eliat.”
We must be sure that Ukraine “cannot be attacked again,” said the German Minister of State
Tobias Lindner, a state minister in the Federal Foreign Office, said Russia was destroying civilian infrastructure but was not “so advanced”.
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There is a “fundamental change” in Germany’s defense policy, and the country is committed to strengthening its own capabilities while supplying weapons and military systems to Ukraine, said Tobias Lindner, state minister in the Federal Foreign Office.
Germany has said it will send a ground-based air defense system to Ukraine, and Lindner told CNBC’s Martin Song that this is partly because the war is expected to drag on for a long time.
“The second reason is that we need to be sure that Ukraine will not be attacked again after the war,” he said.
“We have to make sure that there is no incentive for eight years in the future [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to do it another time, “he added.
Regarding the current war in Ukraine, Lindner said it was too early to judge whether the situation had turned in Russia’s favor.
He said Russian forces were destroying civilian infrastructure but “not making much progress”.
In addition to short-term supplies of ammunition, other supplies may be needed in a few months, he said.
“We need to prepare for a war that may not end in a few weeks,” Lindner said.
– Abigail Ng
Ukraine needs “heavy weapons parity” to end war, official says
Mikhail Podoliak, an adviser to President Zelensky, said Ukraine needed more heavy weapons to help it fight Russia and “end the war.”
“Holly Eliat.”
Russian forces now control most of Severodonetsk, the governor said
Russian forces control most of the hostile city of Severodonetsk, according to the latest update by Sergei Haidai, governor of the eastern province of Luhansk, where the city is located.
“The battles are so fierce that the battle can last one day, not even for the street, but only for one floor. [of a building]”Haidai said on Facebook this morning.
A damaged building is depicted in Lisichansk as black smoke and dirt rise from the nearby town of Severodonetsk during a battle between Russian and Ukrainian troops in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass on June 9, 2022.
Aris Messinis Afp | Getty Images
He said the Russians now controlled 70% of Severodonetsk and that “mass evacuations and transportation of human goods due to shelling are impossible”.
He said about 500 residents, including about 40 children, were still sheltering at the Azot chemical plant, an industrial zone heavily shelled by Russia. The shelter of civilians in an industrial zone is reminiscent of the hundreds of people who hid in the Azovstal steel complex in Mariupol for months before Russia took control of the plants after a long and bloody siege.
“Holly Eliat.”
Sweden hopes for a “quick way forward” to NATO membership, the official said
Despite Turkey’s objections, Sweden is hoping for a quick solution so that it can become a member of NATO, said Jan-Olof Lind, Swedish Defense Minister’s Secretary of State.
“We are hoping for a quick way forward so we can start our accession to NATO,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia.
Sweden and Finland have announced plans to apply for membership in the alliance in May.
“We are firmly in the position that we will continue the process of applying with NATO together with Finland,” Lind said. “So unresolved issues need to be resolved in one way or another. We look forward to that. “
– Abigail Ng
Russia has used banned cluster munitions, Amnesty International said
An unexploded ordnance of a missile that appears to contain cluster bombs fired from a BM-30 Tornado multiple rocket launcher in Lisichansk on April 11, 2022.
Anatoly Stepanov | Afp | Getty Images
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in Kharkov in indiscriminate Russian shelling with widely banned cluster munitions and inaccurate missiles, Amnesty International reported on Monday.
Amnesty said it had found evidence that Russian forces had repeatedly used 9N210 / 9N235 cluster munitions as well as “explosive mines”, both of which were banned by international treaties due to their indiscriminate effects.
A new report by the International Human Rights Organization documents how Russian forces have caused mass deaths and destruction by bombing residential neighborhoods in Kharkov since their invasion began in late February.
It cites an attack on the afternoon of April 15, in which Russian forces fired cluster munitions in and around Miru Street in the Industrial Quarter. “At least nine civilians were killed and more than 35 were injured, including several children. Doctors at Kharkiv City Clinical Hospital 25 showed Amnesty International metal fragments that they removed from patients’ bodies, including the distinctive pieces of steel rods contained in the 9N210 / 9N235 ammunition cluster, Amnesty said.
Amnesty notes that while Russia is not a party to either the Cluster Munitions Convention or the Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines, international humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks and the use of weapons that are indiscriminate in nature.
“Indiscriminate attacks resulting in the death or injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects constitute war crimes,” Amnesty said. Russia has denied attacking civilians or civilian infrastructure, despite widespread evidence that it has done so.
“Holly Eliat.”
Crossing rivers is a huge problem for Russia, says the United Kingdom
This photo, taken on April 29, 2022, shows a ruined railway bridge over the Seversky Donets River in Raigorodok, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Yasuyoshi Chiba AFP | Getty Images
Russia needs to make difficult river crossings to succeed in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine – and that is unlikely to be easy, the British Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update on Monday.
Noting that the battle around Severodonetsk “continued to rage” over the weekend, the United Kingdom said on Twitter that “river crossing operations are likely to be among the most important determinants of the war in the coming months.”
The key, 90-kilometer central section of Russia’s front line in Donbass is located west of the Seversky Donets River. To succeed in the current operational phase of its offensive in Donbass, “Russia will either have to complete ambitious flanking operations or storm the river,” the United Kingdom said.
Ukrainian forces have a strategy to destroy bridges before withdrawing, …
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