April 28, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that should Finland and Sweden apply to join the alliance it would be able to "find arrangements" to help the two countries during the interim period before they became formal members.

When asked at a news conference about what kind of guarantees and help the alliance could give the countries before they officially joined, Stoltenberg replied: "The reality is that Finland and Sweden are already close to NATO and we work together, we operate together, we exercise together."

"I am confident that there are ways to bridge that interim period in a way which is good enough and works for both Finland and Sweden."

Although previously non-aligned with NATO, Finland and Sweden are edging ever closer toward joining the US-led military alliance.

Russia has previously warned that such moves could lead to a more aggressive stance with regard to its hypersonic or nuclear weapons.

Speaking at a visit to the European Parliament in Brussels alongside President Roberta Metsola, Stoltenberg stressed should Finland and Sweden decide to apply to NATO, the accession process would “go quickly."

“We are in dialogue with Finland and Sweden, and it’s their decision. But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect the process to go quickly,” he told the press.

Two of Europe’s leading energy companies have confirmed they are in talks with Gazprom about how to pay for Russian gas, while complying with EU sanctions and Russia’s new rules demanding that all gas be paid for in rubles.

German firm Uniper said: “We consider a payment conversion compliant with sanctions law and the Russian decree to be possible. Uniper will continue to pay in euros. Uniper is in talks with its contractual partner about the concrete payment modalities and is also in close coordination with the German government.”

And Austrian firm OMV said: “We have analyzed the Gazprom request about payment methods in light of the EU-sanctions and are now working on a sanctions-compliant solution."

This comes after Russia said it has cut off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, dramatically escalating its response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Russian state energy giant Gazprom said in a statement Wednesday that it had fully halted supplies to Polish gas company PGNiG and Bulgaria's Bulgargaz after they refused to meet a demand by Moscow to pay in rubles, rather than euros or dollars.

Uniper, which is one of Europe’s leading gas companies, added: “For our company and for Germany as a whole, it is not possible to do without Russian gas in the short term; this would have dramatic consequences for our economy.”

Under the new Russian payment scheme, energy importers have had to open two bank accounts with Gazprombank -- a foreign currency account and a ruble account. Buyers are required to deposit foreign currency (dollars or euros) with Russia’s Gazprombank, which then converts it into rubles for onward payment to Moscow.

A European Commission document release last week advised that it “appears possible” to comply with the new Russian rules without getting into conflict with EU law.

On Wednesday, the Hungarian Foreign Minister confirmed to CNN that his country will use the payment scheme put in place by Moscow to pay for its oil and gas. 

Trevor Reed’s mother, Paula Reed, tweeted in the early hours of Thursday that her son is back in the United States.

“It's been very exciting day for the Reed family,” Paula tweeted. “Trevor is back in the USA.”

Trevor Reed, a US citizen and former Marine who had been detained in Russia since 2019, was released in a prisoner swap Wednesday.

In her tweet, Paula also advocated for the release of Paul Whelan, a US citizen and former Marine who was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he has consistently and vehemently denied.

“It's been a day of joy for us, but not for #PaulWhelan and his family. I know this is a hard day for them. Pls keep them (and the MANY others) in your prayers.),” she tweeted.

Germany's Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck has said that his government's goal must be to ensure independence from Russian energy supplies, even if it means pushing for alternative solutions previously considered “unrealistic.”

Following Russia's decision to stop gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday over their refusal to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand for payment in rubles, Habeck told journalists at a press briefing in Berlin that Germany's dependence on Russian gas has rapidly decreased in recent weeks. 

While it is "not realistic" for Germany to completely ban Russian gas before next year given the new infrastructure required to diversify gas imports, ''nevertheless, we have to try the unrealistic in some ways now,” Habeck said.

Habeck urged Germany to speed up the building of a liquid natural gas terminal within ten months’ time. Habeck described Russia's decision to cease supplies of gas to Poland and Bulgaria as an example of ''the reality where energy is used as a weapon'' and said that ''Russia is showing that it's ready to get serious.'' 

''It would be cynical if big and powerful Germany thought: 'Oh well, you can beat up the little guys a bit -- that's a warning for you.' No this is reality -- this is the reality where energy is used as a weapon and we have to see that we are not defenseless when energy is used as a weapon.”  

Germany's goal is to diversify energy infrastructures accordingly and ''revamp our energy infrastructure based on renewable energy and massive savings so that we are not defenseless,” he added.

On Tuesday during a visit to Poland, Habeck said that Germany could handle an embargo on Russian oil imports, hinting that the country could end its dependence on Russian oil imports shortly. Habeck told journalists that Germany's share of crude oil imported from Russia has fallen from 35 percent before the war to around 12 percent, adding that a European embargo on Russian oil would be "manageable.”

Habeck stressed Wednesday that Germany would continue to make its energy payments in euros or dollars in line with its European partners.

As Russian shelling intensifies across a wide swathe of eastern Ukraine, officials in Donetsk have posted photographs of one small hamlet in the region in which over two dozen homes have been hit.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of Donetsk regional military administration, said on his Telegram channel that 27 houses just in the village of Lastochkine had been damaged by shelling. He gave no information on casualties. 

The village is near the small town of Ocheretyn, a few miles from the current front lines. Ocheretyn has also seen widespread shelling by Russian forces trying to break through Ukrainian lines.

Since they launched the second phase of their military operation, Russian forces have intensified artillery and rocket fire against towns and villages along the front lines, which run for hundreds of kilometers from Luhansk and Donetsk in the east to Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south.

Japan has lodged a protest with Moscow over its decision to expel eight Japanese diplomats from Russia, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday. 

"We absolutely cannot accept Russia issuing this notice," Matsuno told reporters, blaming Moscow for the breakdown in bilateral ties. 

Moscow announced on Wednesday the retaliatory expulsion of the Japanese diplomats, who must leave the country by May 10, Russia's Foreign Ministry said, according to state news agency TASS. The move comes after Tokyo expelled eight Russian diplomats and officials in April over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Japanese Ambassador to Moscow Toyohisa Kozuki is not among those expelled, Matsuno said on Thursday. 

On Wednesday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said a representative of the Embassy of Japan was summoned and told that Tokyo has embarked on a "deliberately anti-Russian course" since Russia's operation in Ukraine, according to TASS. 

Japan's Embassy in Moscow also issued a statement Wednesday calling the invasion "a clear violation of international” and “absolutely unacceptable,” adding that Russia's killing of innocent citizens is a "war crime."

A Russian-appointed official in the occupied region of Kherson says its return to Ukrainian control is "impossible" – and has ruled out a referendum to decide its future.

The Deputy Chairman of the Russian-appointed administration of the region, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti:

Stremousov, who is Ukrainian and has a long record on the fringes of regional politics, added:

Last month, Ukrainian prosecutors opened a case against Stremousov for "assisting a foreign state in carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine."

There had been reports that the Russians would organize some form of a referendum in Kherson on whether the southern region should become an independent republic, like the self-declared republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. But Stremousov said that would not happen. 

He said the main task was to restore the region's economy, and "no referendums are planned."

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Zelensky derided reported plans to hold a referendum in Kherson.

The Canadian House of Commons voted unanimously on Wednesday to recognize “acts of genocide” being committed by Russia in Ukraine. 

The motion described mass atrocities, willful killings of Ukrainian civilians, the forcible transfer of Ukrainian citizens to Russian territory, and “widespread instances of physical harm, mental harm and rape.” 

Some context: In mid-April, US President Joe Biden said Putin’s actions in Ukraine amounted to genocide, after accusing the Kremlin of “trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian,” comments which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau supported at the time.  

Evidence of mass graves in the towns of Bucha and Borodianka on the outskirts of Kyiv has continued to emerge since early April, following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kyiv region.

During a visit to investigate the civilian deaths, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC'' were being committed in Bucha and Borodianka. 

On Monday, the International Criminal Court joined an EU investigation into possible war crimes, marking the court's first joint investigation in its 20-year history.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the mass killings of civilians while reiterating baseless claims that images of bodies on the streets of Bucha are “fake.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin may seek to consolidate what he has got in Ukraine and dig in like a "cancerous growth" within the country, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday.

Some background: Russia's initial assault, launched on February 24, was a massive setback for Putin as the Ukrainian military held off the invading forces as they advanced toward Kyiv.

Moscow's second phase appears focused on reinforcing its presence in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, parts of which Russian-backed separatists have controlled since 2014, and carving out a land bridge linking the Russian region of Rostov with Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine eight years ago.