May 31, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Danish energy firm Ørsted has confirmed that Russian state energy giant Gazprom will halt gas supplies starting on June 1 after Ørsted refused to pay for gas in rubles. 

"At Ørsted, we stand firm in our refusal to pay in rubles, and we’ve been preparing for this scenario, so we still expect to be able to supply gas to our customers,” said Mads Nipper, group president and CEO of the Danish firm.

Ørsted warned on Monday that it could be cut off, adding that preparations to minimize the risk to wider supplies include filling up its gas storage facilities in Germany and Denmark.

Around 4% of Denmark’s total energy consumption comes from Russian gas, according to European think tank Bruegel.

Finland, Poland and Bulgaria have already been cut off from Russian gas supplies after refusing to pay in rubles. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March that "unfriendly" nations would have to pay rubles, rather than the euros or dollars stated in contracts. 

Video has been released of Ukrainian helicopters flying supplies into the Azovstal plant in Mariupol even as it was under siege by Russian forces.

The video was shot aboard a Mi-8 helicopter and shows the aircraft flying low across countryside and then along the Mariupol shore before a brief shot of supplies being offloaded.

A social media channel affiliated with Ukrainian defense intelligence that distributed the video said the missions had been carried out by Ukrainian special forces.

Another channel that published the video said: "This unique special operation was carried out by specialists of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense and the Azov Regiment. 16 Mi-8 military helicopters loaded with the necessary equipment flew to the defenders of Mariupol blocked by Russia on Azovstal."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to the previously undisclosed missions on May 20.

"Unfortunately, a large number of people died, our pilots. Absolutely heroic people who knew that it was difficult, that it was almost impossible to fly to Azovstal and bring there medicine, food, water, pick up the bodies of the wounded," he said.

"A lot of things were happening that no one could officially comment. There were no air corridors to Azovstal due to Russia's powerful deployed air defenses," Zelensky said.

The president added that "we lost a lot of pilots" who flew to the plant.

EU's decision on the sixth package of sanctions will affect Russian economic development and prosperity, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a press conference Tuesday following an extraordinary European Council meeting.

"The sanctions have a clear objective, to get Russia to end this war and withdraw its troops and come to an agreement with Ukraine on a reasonable and fair peace,“ Scholz said in Brussels.

About 90 percent of oil imports to Europe is covered by the embargo. An exception for pipeline oil being delivered to some countries in Europe enabled a joint agreement, Scholz explained. "This was important because the transitional measures that these countries have to take have not been able to be finalized so quickly,“ he said. 

Germany and Poland are continuing their efforts to become independent of Russian oil by the end of the year, the German chancellor said.

A Europe-wide gas embargo is not yet within reach as many countries will remain dependent on Russian gas much longer than Germany, Scholz said. "Germany is rapidly becoming independent of gas imports by constructing infrastructure to enable gas imports from other countries with ships,“ he said. "Some investments will be made very quickly, so we hope that there will already be significant changes at the turn of the year, but some things will take longer. But one thing is pretty clear from my point of view: Many countries will need longer than Germany." 

The German chancellor blamed Russia for the looming food crisis. "The responsibility clearly lies with Russia and its president,“ Scholz said. 

Germany is working on a weapons exchange with Greece so that the country can send its tanks from former Warsaw treaty to Ukraine which will be replaced German infantry fighting vehicles, Scholz announced.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said nothing could be ruled out about a possible next round of sanctions against Russia.

“I think we should not rule anything out for the coming weeks. Everything depends on the evolution of the situation on the ground,” Macron told reporters after a special European Union summit in Brussels. 

His remarks come after the EU leaders agreed on Monday to ban most Russian oil imports as part of a new sanctions package against Moscow. 

“[It] is a very strong package, which again, a few weeks ago nobody thought possible,” Macron said.   

Macron also announced that France has launched an investigation into the killing of French journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff in Ukraine. The 32-year-old worked for CNN affiliate BFM TV, which said that he was shot and killed on Monday on the road to Lysychansk in the Severodonetsk area of Ukraine. 

The Ukrainian parliament voted to dismiss the country's human rights ombudsman, Liudmila Denisova, saying she failed in her main roles.

The parliament overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in Denisova, with 234 in favor and 9 against, plus 28 abstentions. 

Frolov said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk "was forced to do all this work."

Vereshchuk led the organization of evacuation corridors for Ukrainian civilians trying to escape the fighting and negotiated several exchanges of prisoners.

He added that the decision to seek Denisova's dismissal followed a meeting of the governing party in the Ukrainian parliament led by presidential adviser David Arakhamia.

CNN has reached out to Denisova for comment. 

In a brief statement on her Telegram channel, Denisova described her dismissal as unconstitutional.

"Today is the last day of my work as the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights," she said "I was fired in violation of the Constitution, laws of Ukraine and international standards. I will appeal this decision in court," she added.

"The law is the same for everyone!" she continued.

Ukraine has identified more than 600 Russian war crime suspects and has started prosecuting around 80 of them, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said at a presser Tuesday. 

Venediktova spoke alongside International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan and other counterparts following a meeting in The Hague to discuss investigations into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

She said high level military officials, politicians and "propaganda agents of the Russian Federation" are among the more than 600 Russian suspects. 

Venediktova said the investigations have been complicated by the fact that fighting is still ongoing. 

Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia have joined the international team investigating suspected war crimes in Ukraine, which was originally formed by Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland on March 21 to enable the exchange of information and resources, Venediktova said. 

Speaking at the same presser, Khan said ICC "will be working towards opening an office in Kyiv" in the next few weeks. 

Ukraine is in a state of fuel “price shock” and is now “completely dependent” on fuel imports after the country’s biggest oil refinery in Kremenchuk was destroyed by Russian missiles last month, Andrii Zakrevskyi, chair of Ukraine’s Oil and Gas Association, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

“We are now completely dependent on fuel imports. Railway supply chains have also come under pressure. There are queues at the borders, and if you add 3,000 fuel trucks, the burden on the logistics routes will increase,” Zakrevskyi said.

He said the war has reduced national consumption by 30-40%, but it still lacks four to five million tons of fuel a year. He said before the war, 75% of all fuel came from Belarus. 

Zakrevskyi said the country needs to “build pipelines from the Baltic Sea ports to Ukraine," but “there are many difficulties.”

India’s appetite for cheap Russian oil is swelling, even as the West continues to hit Moscow with unprecedented sanctions.

Russian crude flows to India are expected to reach 3.36 million metric tonnes in May, according to estimates from financial market data provider Refinitiv. This is nearly nine times higher than the 2021 monthly average of 382,500 metric tonnes.

Overall, the country has received 4.8 million metric tonnes of discounted Russian oil since the Ukraine war started, Refinitiv added. Urals oil from Russia currently trades at about $95 a barrel, while the global benchmark Brent crude is above $119 a barrel.

Part of the reason for the price disparity: The West has shunned Russian oil. On Monday, the EU agreed to ban 90% of Russian oil imports by the end of the year. Europe is the biggest buyer of Russian energy.

The United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia have already banned imports.

The embargo from a huge importer like Europe would pile pressure on the Russian economy, but Moscow has found other buyers in Asia.

According to Refinitiv, Russia crude flows to India soared to 1.01 million metric tonnes in April from 430,000 metric tonnes in March.

India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas did not immediately respond to a query on the impact EU’s partial ban will have on the South Asian economy’s oil ties with Moscow.

Earlier in May, India played down the import spike. In a statement, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said the country imports oil from all over the world, including a significant volume from the United States.

The world’s biggest democracy has refrained from taking a tough stance against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Russia and India have a long history of friendly relations, which stretch back to the Soviet era when the USSR helped India win its 1971 war with Pakistan.

India isn’t the only Asian giant buying Russian oil. China, historically the single biggest buyer of Russian oil, is expected to go on a shopping spree, too.

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India shows no sign of slowing its purchase of Russian oil

Taiwan announced Tuesday it will donate $6 million to five Ukrainian cities affected by Russia’s invasion – including Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city – as a token of support and to help rebuild schools and civilian infrastructure, according to a statement from its foreign ministry.

In a phone call with Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Taipei will donate $2 million to Kharkiv and an additional $500,000 each to Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.    

According to the statement, Terekhov expressed his gratitude and said he looks forward to inviting Wu to Kharkiv after the war.

The phone call with Kharkiv’s mayor follows a call with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko in April, where Taipei announced a donation of $8.8 million to Ukraine.  

Taiwan does not have official diplomatic relations with Ukraine.  

Last Friday, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it had finished transporting 582 tons of aid and supplies to the Ukrainian people.