June 1, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The White House defended its decision to send Ukraine new rocket systems that fall short of the 200-mile range Ukrainians requested, saying the US assessed that the 49-mile-range systems were what the country needs at this time in a new phase of battle. 

"We have tried to get the Ukrainians exactly what we think they needed to be able to fend off this Russian assault on their country. That worked in the early days, the Ukrainians were able to win the battle for Kyiv and drive the Russians away from their capital, now the conflict has shifted to a different phase in the south and east of the country," deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told CNN’s John Berman. 

The new weapons will add to Ukraine’s capability, Finer said, and it “will give them the ability to strike with precision Russian targets on the battlefield.”

As CNN has reported, the Biden administration will be sending Ukraine US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS. The HIMARS will be equipped with munitions that will allow Ukraine to launch rockets about 80 kilometers, or 49 miles. That is far less than the maximum range of the systems, which is around 300 kilometers, but far greater than anything Ukraine has been sent to date.

The US, he added, has asked Ukraine “for assurances that they will not use these systems to strike inside Russia” and instead to defend Ukrainian territory. 

Finer also reacted to reaction from Russia Wednesday morning that the US action is “adding fuel to the fire.”  

The US, he said, does not negotiate its security systems packages to Ukraine. 

He declined to comment on Russian gains in the eastern Donetsk region, calling this a “very difficult phase of fighting.” This phase, Finer predicted, will play out “over a period of weeks and months and perhaps even longer.” 

The Russians have made “incremental gains,” he said, but declined to “handicap the play-by-play.”

More Russian officials have been talking about integrating Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine into the Russian Federation.

Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti quotes Sergei Tsekov, a member of the Federation Council, as saying that referendums may be held this year in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Russian forces occupy much of Kherson, where fighting is continuing, and a part of Zaporizhzhia region.

Kherson was annexed by Tsarist Russia in the late 18th century but has been part of Ukraine since independence in 1991. 

Another member of the Federation Council, Andriy Turchak, said that the Kherson region and the liberated territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics would become part of Russia. But at the same time, he said the decision would be made by the residents of these regions themselves. 

"A referendum should be organized as soon as the situation is ready for this, as soon as the shelling stops and a security zone appears," said Turchak, a senior member of the governing United Russia party. "I'm sure the residents of Zaporizhzhia will also express their opinion in support of such a decision."

In April, CNN reported that fear of the impending vote and its implications — a possible strengthening of Russia's control — has led many residents to flee fast.

Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Wednesday that dialogue with Turkey regarding Sweden's NATO membership will continue, and Sweden will respond directly to Turkey to "sort out" any possible "misunderstandings."

"Our responses to demands and also questions from Turkey, we will take directly with Turkey and also of course sort out any issues or misunderstandings that there might be," she added. 

During their meeting, Andersson and Guterres discussed "Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine," the security situation in Europe and the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, she said. 

"Sweden will continue to pressure on Russia and to be a strong supporter of Ukraine," Andersson said, as the world is "witnessing shocking brutality and attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure."

"Russia must be held accountable for its action and I'm grateful for the secretary-general's clear stance on this," she said. 

Pump prices just took another big step in the wrong direction.

The US national average for regular gasoline climbed by five cents on Wednesday to a fresh record of $4.67 a gallon, according to AAA.

That leaves gas prices up by 48 cents in the past month alone.

It is now 32% higher to fill up your tank than it was the day before Russia invaded Ukraine. 

No states have an average of $4.15 or lower, with George coming in at the lowest with $4.16.  

Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told CNN he expects the national average to hit $4.75 in the next 10 days.

Oil prices, the biggest component of pump prices, continue to move higher. 

Brent crude, the world benchmark, gained 1% on Tuesday to close at the highest level in nearly three months. Brent is up another 1.2% Wednesday morning. The gains come after Europe agreed to phase out 90% of Russian oil imports by the end of the year. 

The national average for regular gas is now 44 cents higher than on the day US President Joe Biden announced the largest-ever release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in late March.

On Sunday, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic announced that his country had agreed to a new three-year gas supply deal with Russia's state energy provider Gazprom. 

The news came at an awkward time, and in doing so, Vucic created a fresh headache for the Western anti-Putin alliance and, notably, for the European Union. 

On the other side of the continent, EU heads of state were mired in in grueling negotiations over a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow. The final deal, announced late Monday, includes a partial ban on Russian oil imports to the bloc.

But Brussels was forced to make an exemption for oil that is imported to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via a pipeline, in order to get everyone on board. This was seen by some EU members as a major concession.

Of these Balkan states, Serbia in particular is seen as crucial for numerous reasons. 

Its size, population and geographical location all make it a major stakeholder in the geopolitics of the region. If you want to have a conversation about the future of Bosnia or Kosovo, you are going to need the Serbian government in the room. 

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A new "simplified procedure" for the adoption of Ukrainian children was introduced Wednesday, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy and the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

There are 17,000 children in Ukraine waiting for adoption, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Social Policy Kostiantyn Koshelenko told reporters in Kyiv.

"However, there are several times as few potential adoptive parents. One of the reasons is that the adoption procedure is very complicated," said Koshelenko.

"We are changing it to implement a rapid digital process. One needs only five minutes to submit a request for the initial consultation."

An initial adoption request can be submitted via Diia portal from Wednesday, with adoption applications available online from August, Koshelenko added.

Some 6,506 children from orphanages have been displaced due to the ongoing conflict, including 4,228 that have been relocated abroad, according to a statement from the Ministry of Social Policy.

Less than half of the country’s orphanages have moved children abroad or elsewhere in Ukraine. Some 1,750 foster families have been displaced.

The war has had a devastating impact on Ukraine's children.

On Wednesday, which marks Children's Day in Ukraine, the country's prosecutor general's office said that at least 243 children have died and 446 others have been injured in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24.

Meanwhile, UNICEF said millions of young lives had been "shattered" by the conflict. Three million Ukrainian children need humanitarian assistance inside the country, as do more than 2.2 million in refugee-hosting countries, the UN children's agency said.

Nearly two-thirds of children have been displaced by the conflict, said UNICEF.

The US is "adding fuel to the fire" by supplying weapons to Kyiv, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday in response to President Joe Biden’s decision to provide more advanced missile systems to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian authorities have long asked the United States to supply high-tech, medium-range rocket systems. Biden said Tuesday the US is providing Ukraine "more advanced rocket systems and munitions" as its war with Russia grinds on.

Peskov also added the Kremlin does not trust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's words that Kyiv would not use multiple launch rocket systems to attack the Russian territory if they receive them from the US.

It’s more than 1,800 miles from Severodonetsk to Glasgow.

As Russian pressure increases in the strategically key eastern Ukraine city where two-thirds of properties have been reported as destroyed, an international football match in the Scottish city would seem somewhat irrelevant.

Ukrainian Taras Berezovets, who worked as a political analyst before the Russian invasion started on February 24 but has since joined Ukraine’s special forces, would disagree.

Like many other of his "brothers in arms" – given football has always been the number one sport in Ukraine – Berezovets will be doing his best to keep across developments in his country’s World Cup playoff against Scotland on Wednesday.

If Ukraine does get past Scotland at Hampden Park and then beats Wales in Cardiff on Sunday, the country will have remarkably secured qualification for the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

According to Berezovets, work is underway to find a broadcast of the match. But even if that’s impossible for those on the front line, he says those fighting will still gather together and listen on the radio if they can.

"When the football team is playing, the whole country is watching. Football is the number one sport in Ukraine, it’s extremely popular," Berezovets told CNN Sport over the phone from the country’s embattled south.

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At least seven people have been killed and 16 others injured in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian military officials said on Wednesday.

In eastern Ukraine, where the heaviest fighting is taking place, four people were killed and at least 10 others injured after Russian troops targeted air strikes, missiles and artillery shelling on several cities including Severodonetsk and Sloviansk, a statement from Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force said.

In Luhansk and Donetsk, Russian troops shelled 21 areas on Tuesday, and destroyed 46 "civil objects," the statement said.

A separate update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russia is "focusing their efforts on conducting offensive operations" in the Donetsk area, with the support of the air force, and is firing "along the line of contact from mortars, artillery and multiple rocket launchers" in order to "inflict losses and deplete the personnel of our troops."

In Lyman, 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Severodonetsk, "the fighting continues." Further south in Bakhmut, Russia is "trying to oust units of our troops from their positions," the military said.

The regional military-civilian administration also said that shelling continued all night on positions around Avdiivka, north of Donetsk city, and on Wednesday morning there was shelling of the old part of the city, and the area of ​​the Avdiivka Coke Plant.

In the past 24 hours, nine Russian attacks have also been repulsed in Donetsk and Luhansk, the regional officials added.

Two people were killed and five injured in the northeast after Russia "fired en masse" on Kharkiv, Izium, Bohodukhiv and Chuhuiv on Tuesday, regional officials said.

In the south, one person died after shelling in the Bereznehuvate area, 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Kherson. One person was also injured in shelling on Wednesday in Ochakiv, south of Mykolaiv city, regional officials said.

In Kherson, telephone and internet connections are still cut off, and the Russians have increased the number of places selling Russian SIM cards in the city. The situation in the occupied villages around Kherson "is critical, and heavy fighting continues there," regional officials said.