French journalist is killed near Sievierodonetsk; EU leaders fail to agree on a Russian oil import ban

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A French journalist, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, was killed after an evacuation car was hit near the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “I share the pain of the family, relatives and colleagues of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, to whom I send my condolences.”

EU leaders failed to agree on a Russian oil import ban before the two-day summit in Brussels. While the leaders of the 27 countries will agree in principle to an oil embargo, the details of their draft conclusions are yet to be decided.

Russia will stop supplying gas to the Netherlands as of tomorrow after the government-backed trader GasTerra refused to pay supplier Gazprom in roubles. About 44% of Dutch energy usage is based on gas, but only about 15% of Dutch gas comes from Russia, according to government figures.

Russia is considering paying Eurobond holders by applying the mechanism it uses to process payments for its gas in roubles. The scheme would allow Moscow to pay bondholders while bypassing western payment infrastructure. Investors, however, said the move would not enable Russia to avoid a historic default on debt.

In talks with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said if sanctions were lifted, then Russia could “export significant volumes of fertilisers and agricultural products”.

The new US ambassador to Ukraine has arrived in Kyiv, the Guardian understands, a symbolic move after the US withdrew all diplomats from the country before the Russian invasion in February.

The US president, Joe Biden, has said the US will not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach into Russia. The comments followed reports that the Biden administration was preparing to send advanced long-range rocket systems to Kyiv.

Russian troops have entered the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk. Regional governor Serhiy Gaidai has described the fighting as “very fierce”. Gaidai has also appeared on national television in Ukraine to say “Unfortunately we have disappointing news, the enemy is moving into the city.”

“Some 90% of buildings are damaged. More than two-thirds of the city’s housing stock has been completely destroyed. There is no telecommunication,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised speech last night about the status of Sievierodonetsk.

The “liberation” of the Donbas was an “unconditional priority” for Moscow, Russia’s foreign minister said on Sunday, adding that other Ukrainian territories should decide their future on their own. “The liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, recognised by the Russian Federation as independent states, is an unconditional priority,” Sergei Lavrov told French TV channel TF1.

Lavrov also denied speculation that President Vladimir Putin is ill. Lavrov said that Putin, who will turn 70 in October, appeared in public “every day”.

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The Tass news agency is reporting that grain is being shipped from Kherson, which the Russians now occupy, to Russia.

They quote Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the military-civilian administration that has been imposed on Kherson, as saying “We have space to store (the new crop) although we have a lot of grain here. People are now partially taking it out, having agreed with those who buy it from the Russian side.”

Brigade and battalion commanders likely deploy forwards into harm’s way because they are held to an uncompromising level of responsibility for their units’ performance.

Similarly, junior officers have had to lead the lowest level tactical actions, as the army lacks the cadre of highly trained and empowered non-commissioned officers (NCOs) who fulfil that role in Western forces.

Annual global survey of attitudes to democracy finds many countries maintain positive views of Russia

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The sharp polarisation between mainly western liberal democracies and the rest of the world in perceptions of Russia has been laid bare in an annual global poll of attitudes towards democracy.

Within Europe, 55% of those surveyed for the Alliance for Democracies said they were in favour of cutting economic ties with Russia due to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, whereas in Asia there was a majority against, and in Latin America opinion was evenly split.

The Russian president warned the French and German leaders it was ‘dangerous’ for the west to supply further weapons to Ukraine

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Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz held a three-way telephone conversation with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday, with the French and German leaders urging Putin to hold “direct serious negotiations” with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The call came as Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s Donbas region continues to grind on. During the 80-minute conversation, the two leaders “insisted on an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops”, according to a readout from Scholz’s office.