(Reuters) – European leaders denounced Russia’s attempt to “blackmail” Ukraine’s allies over gas supplies, as Western sanctions batter the Russian economy already struggling with its worst crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said any countries attempting to interfere in Ukraine would receive a swift response, and that the relevant decisions had been taken.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine fired three rockets at the centre of the southern city of Kherson but Russian occupying forces shot down two of them, RIA news agency cited a security source as saying.
* Russian forces attacked a huge steel plant where fighters and some civilians are holed up in the southern city of Mariupol, an aide to the city’s mayor said.
* Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a pro-Ukraine rally in the occupied city of Kherson, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said, as Moscow tightened its grip over the southern region.
Reports of battlefield developments could not be immediately verified by Reuters.
MOLDOVA
* Moldova’s pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniestria said that shots were fired from Ukraine towards a village that houses an ammunition depot, the latest report to raise concern that Russia’s war might expand.
DIPLOMACY
* Canadian lawmakers voted unanimously to call Russia’s attacks in Ukraine a “genocide”, with members of parliament saying there was “ample evidence of systemic and massive war crimes against humanity”.
* Ukraine’s lead negotiator said no agreement had been reached for the Ukrainian and Russian presidents to discuss the war despite efforts by Turkey to arrange talks.
* Moscow freed former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, jailed on charges of fighting with police, in exchange for the United States releasing Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, jailed for drug trafficking.
* Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney urged countries at the United Nations to focus on international justice for war crimes in Ukraine so evidence does not sit in storage – as it has done for victims of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC IMPACT
* The European Commission proposed suspending import duties for a year on all Ukrainian goods and to exempt its steel exports from anti-dumping and safeguard measures.
* Real disposable incomes in Russia dropped 27.8% in the first quarter of 2022, the official statistics service said in an estimate, pointing to a dramatic slide in purchasing power since the Ukraine conflict began.
* A number of Ukrainian cities plan to rename streets and squares associated with Russia under a process of “derussification” following Moscow’s invasion.
QUOTES
“The announcement by Gazprom … is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
“This is unjustified and unacceptable. And it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier.”
(Compiled by Kevin Liffey)
