June 28, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The Russian Foreign Ministry has added 25 US citizens, including first lady Jill Biden, to a “stop list,” as Moscow retaliates against expanding sanctions from the US and European nations.

“As a response to the ever-expanding US sanctions against Russian political and public figures, 25 American citizens will be added to the stop-list,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

The US citizens on the list, which also includes Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are barred from entering Russia on an indefinite basis, the statement read.

Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution more than a century ago.

Following reports Moscow had failed to pay about $100 million in interest on two bonds during a 30-day grace period which expired Sunday, the White House said the default showed the power of Western sanctions imposed on Russia since it invaded Ukraine.

"This morning's news around the finding of Russia's default, for the first time in more than a century, situates just how strong the reactions are that the US, along with allies and partners, have taken, as well as how dramatic the impact has been on Russia's economy," a senior administration official said on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Germany.

Russia denied it was in default, saying the payments due Sunday had been made, in dollars and euros, on May 27 and the money was stuck with Euroclear, a clearinghouse based in Belgium.

In a statement posted late Monday, Moody's credit ratings agency said the "missed coupon payment constitutes a default."

"On 27 June, holders of Russia's sovereign debt had not received coupon payments on two eurobonds worth $100 million by the time the 30-calendar-day grace period expired, which we consider an event of default under our definition," it said.

The historic default — the first time Russia has defaulted since 1918 — had been widely anticipated after half the country's foreign reserves were frozen and the US Treasury ended a carve-out from sanctions allowing US bondholders to be repaid by Russia.

Read the full report here.

A Moscow court found Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin guilty of disobeying police, giving him 15 days of jail time, the press service of the court said in a statement Tuesday.

"Upon considering [the case], the court has appointed Yashin I.V. an administrative punishment in the form of administrative arrest for 15 days," the court said.

Yashin pleaded not guilty, the statement said.

Yashin gave a statement during the hearing and published it on his Telegram channel, saying it was an attempt to persecute him for his political views and force him to escape the country. He had previously repeatedly said he was not inclined to do so.

"I am an opposition politician, an independent MP, a critic of President Putin, and an opponent of the war with Ukraine. This detention is a way to put pressure on me," Yashin said. "I want to officially declare: First - the case against me is fabricated, I am innocent. Second - the war with Ukraine must be stopped immediately. Third - Putin must leave. Fourth - Russia must be free."

Over the past few days, Russia has stepped up the use of a variety of missiles against targets across Ukraine -- attacks that have resulted in civilian casualties in several places, most notably in Kremenchuk on Monday.

Ukraine's armed forces chief, Valeriy Zaluzhniy, said Tuesday: "Four days ago, the enemy fired 53 cruise missiles from various platforms, three days ago -- 26 missiles, two days ago -- almost 40, and 12 in the last 24 hours."

Separately, Ukraine's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrskyi, said that more than 100 missiles had been fired at Ukraine in the last few days. 

At least 18 people were killed in the missile attack that hit a shopping center in Kremenchuk.

The Ukrainian military commented at the weekend about the variety of Russian missiles being used, some of which appear to have been taken out of storage and do not provide the precision that the Russian Defense Ministry claims.

Ihnat said the range of weapons included naval "Kalibr" cruise missiles and missiles such as the KH-22 that are launched from strategic bombers such as the TU-95 and TU-22M3 -- and are capable of speeds of up to 3,000 kilometers per hour.

Ihnat said that Russia had previously used the TU-22M3 bombers from bases in the Rostov region and the Black Sea region of southern Russia. "Now Russia has moved these planes to the north, and flying into the airspace of Belarus, they launch strikes at the North of Ukraine."

He described the KH-22 missile, which Ukrainian officials say was used in the Kremenchuk strike, as "one of the most destructive missiles." It can carry an explosive payload of 1,000 kilograms and is carried by the TU-22M3. 

KH-22 missiles, he said, had been used in strikes against the Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions. Russia has also used the KH-59 in attacks on Ukraine and short-range ballistic missiles such as the land-based Soviet-era Tochka-U missile (which Ukraine also has), as well as a range of sea-launched missiles from the Black Sea. 

Some analysts believe the growing use of KH-22 missiles stems from developing shortages of more modern precision missiles.

Writing for the Jamestown Foundation on June 16, Pavel Luzin estimated that Russia had fired more than 2,100 cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles since the invasion began and was "facing a growing deficit of these types of stand-off weapons."

Luzin estimated that Russia’s current maximum annual production capacity of new cruise and short-range ballistic missiles "is likely no higher than 225."

Ukrainian officials will not disclose what percentage of Russian missiles they shoot down, though they have frequently had success in destroying missiles fired at Kyiv, Odesa and Mykolaiv before they hit their targets. Ihnat said that it is a "more realistic goal for our air defenses" to shoot down slower cruise missiles.

Lysychansk, is the “last outpost in the Luhansk region” for the Ukrainian army, and it is under attack "from different directions," Serhiy Hayday, head of Luhansk region military administration, has said.

The aim now "is to last as long as possible," Hayday said via Telegram, adding the city is “being destroyed everyday and is extremely dangerous for the local population to stay.”

In an attempt to put a positive spin on the situation in the beleaguered city, Hayday said the city had enough food and medicine to last for "several weeks."

The fall of Lysychansk would practically mean Russian forces control the entire region of Luhansk, one of the two regions of Donbas.

A revised figure has been given for the number of people missing following the missile attack on a mall in Kremenchuk on Monday.

Ukraine's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrskyi, told Ukrainian television that 21 people were missing, 15 less than the previous estimate of 36 from officials.

Monastyrskyi, who visited the site, said the security services had established "which aviation regiment committed this crime. And there are already the first names of pilots who flew on the Tu-22, which carried out fatal strikes."

"It is difficult to say what the enemy planned. But this is not the first time it has hit civilian targets," he said.

"This is a completely civilian object. Neither the Armed Forces nor other military formations have ever been stationed here. There are no bunkers and warehouses with weapons. There is nothing here to threaten any of the military.

"There are no military facilities around. There are no military units or military depots within a radius of 5 kilometers (3.1 miles)," he added.

Monastyrskyi said that a special forensic laboratory provided by Ukraine's international partners to investigate war crimes would be used to help identify the victims of the missile strike. "Evidence of this crime will be collected, properly executed and transmitted, including to international institutions," he said.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General, Iryna Venediktova, also visited the site and said it was "not just a war crime, it is a crime against humanity -- a large-scale evidence of the Kremlin's systematic policy of killing civilians in Ukraine."

"Every fragment of a missile, every piece of evidence is important and must be documented according to the highest standards of international humanitarian law, because this case can go not only to the national court, but also to be considered in The Hague," she said in reference to the seat of the International Criminal Court.

She said that law enforcement agencies had been tasked "to assess the situation as to why the public facility was not evacuated during the air raid. If there was negligence, they should be held accountable. Sirens are a signal that no one can ignore during a war."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has delivered his final remarks after his country concluded the hosting of the G7 summit.

“Intensive and constructive days are now behind us,” Scholz said of the talks.

He said the meeting had shown in an impressive manner that the group of leaders was countering Russian “aggression,” citing Monday's attack on a Ukrainian shopping mall as proof that the Russian President Vladimir Putin was keeping course in his “brutal” path of war.

The G7 countries stand united in the belief Putin should not win this war, and that they have discussed rebuilding Ukraine, Scholz said.

Scholz said the Russian narrative -- that only Western states were critical of the invasion -- needed to be countered.

Some background: The Marshall Plan -- formally the European Recovery Program -- was originally designed by the United States to help restabilize Western European countries after the World War II.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called Russia "totally insane terrorists" in reference to the airstrike on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine.

The strike on the mall on Monday, which killed at least 18 people, with dozens still missing, has been widely condemned by the international community.

Leaders at the G7 Summit in Germany called the attack "abominable" and "a war crime."

The European Union called the strike a "heinous act," adding in a statement: "The continued shelling of civilians and civilian objects is reprehensive and totally unacceptable and amounts to war crime."

Responding to the attack, Moscow said it hit a Western-made weapons and ammunition plant neighboring what it called a "non-functioning" mall.

Russia is bombing Kharkiv "hour by hour," according to the mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city.

"There is a morning bombardment, there is a day bombardment, and there is a night bombardment of the city of Kharkiv. All this comes from the territory of the Russian Federation -- from the Belgorod region," Ihor Terekhov said.

The goal, he said, is "exterminating us as a nation."

Terekhov said the intensity of shelling had increased in recent days, and had also destroyed a school, adding that bombings targeted industrial zones and enterprises that bear no connection to the military.

As a result of the shelling, the mayor reported five people had been injured and one person was hospitalized with serious injuries.