April 7, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine continues to negotiate with Russia “to prevent more Buchas,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, and again called on the international community to increase pressure on the Kremlin, suggesting that as long as the war continues, sanctions cannot be seen as fully efficient.

The positions of each side in the diplomatic negotiations “will be defined by the successes of relevant armies and the impact of sanctions imposed on Russia," Kuleba said.

“These are the two main criteria which make either our or their position stronger,” he said at a news conference in Brussels following a meeting of the NATO foreign ministers. “Of course, we are focused on making sure that we will be stronger and we will eventually prevail.”

Kuleba reiterated his plea to the international community to stop buying Russian gas and oil. 

“The damage that is being inflicted on Russia by sanctions now has … long term implications for Russia," the foreign minister acknowledged. “But people are dying today. Their offensive is unfolding today. And we need steps which will stop Russia’s war machine today. As long as this hasn’t been done, we cannot speak about efficiency, full efficiency of sanctions."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said he expects Russia’s war with Ukraine to “be a long slog” as Ukraine fights to maintain its territorial integrity with no signs on the horizon that the Kremlin will stop its aggression. 

Ukraine has successfully defeated Russia’s initial onslaught on Kyiv, Milley said, but he noted there’s a battle ahead in the southeastern part of the country as Russia has refocused its war efforts there.

“They've managed to defeat the Russian onslaught on to Kyiv, but there is a significant battle yet ahead down in the southeast, down around the Donbas-Donetsk region where the Russians intend to get mass forces and continue their assault,” Milley said. “So I think it's an open question right now, how this ends. Ideally, Putin decides to ceasefire, stop his aggression, and as some sort of diplomatic intervention. But right now that doesn't look like it's on the horizon, the immediate horizon.”

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya called upon all United Nations member states to support the resolution suspending Russia from the Human Rights Council. 

Kyslytsya was the first speaker at the UN General Assembly Thursday morning and likened the Human Rights Council to a sinking Titanic. 

“Now the world has come to a crucial juncture. We witness that our liner is going through treacherous fog towards deadly icebergs. It might seem that we should have named it the Titanic instead of the Human Rights Council," Kyslytsya said. "We need to take an action today to save the council from sinking.”

The Ukrainian ambassador said Russia’s actions in Ukraine “would be equated to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

While he noted that a vote to suspend a country from the Human Rights Council is “a rare and extraordinary action,” he said “Russia’s actions are beyond the pale.” 

The draft resolution is co-sponsored by more than 50 UN member states, Kyslytsya said.

US security assistance is flowing into Ukraine “faster than most people would have ever believed conceivable,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday, adding that at times, it is arriving in Ukraine within days of receiving authorization.

“From the time authorization is provided, four or five days later, we see real capability begin to show up,” Austin said during a hearing on the Defense Department budget request before the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

Austin’s comments came in response to questioning from lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee. GOP Sen. Roger Wicker pressed Austin on why all of $3 billion in congressional authorization for US arms to Ukraine has yet to be provided.  

“We've only used $900 million of this — less than a third of the amount authorized. Why hasn't the administration provided the full $3 billion?” 

Austin told Wicker that the US has provided Ukraine with “those capabilities that are relevant and effective in this fight.”  

“You’ve seen us provide a tremendous amount of anti-armor, anti-aircraft capability and also communications capabilities, as well as UAVs. And we're also looking to help them in a number of other ways,” he said.

The United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote Thursday on whether to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council.

In a draft of the resolution on whether to suspend Russia from the Geneva based Human Rights Council seen by CNN, the UNGA said the General Assembly may “suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.”

The Council has “grave concern” regarding reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” and “violations of international humanitarian law” committed by the Russian Federation during its aggression against Ukraine, the draft resolution adds.

The General Assembly would need to vote in favor by two-thirds majority to remove Russia from the HRC.

If the vote is passed, it will decide to suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of the Russian Federation.

A number of countries are expected to speak at the UNGA ahead of the vote, including representatives from Russia and Ukraine.

The US Commerce Department on Thursday moved to block three Russian airlines from receiving exported parts from the US in the department’s first move to punish alleged violations of export controls since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The move — which applies to Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot, along with airlines Azur Air and Utair — is an effort to cut off the airlines from the global economy.

It follows US sanctions announced Wednesday against two of Russia’s biggest banks and the adult children of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as US President Joe Biden accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine.

The Commerce Department’s so-called Temporary Denial Orders, which are valid for six months and can be renewed, effectively bar the use of US parts to service the planes, as well as maintenance contracts for planes that are subject to US export regulations. 

As result of the orders, the Russian airlines would over time “largely be unable to continue flying either internationally or domestically,” said Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary of Commerce for export enforcement.

“[I]t’s obviously difficult to keep flying if you can’t service your planes,” Axelrod said Thursday at a press briefing, adding that the three Russian airlines would commit “imminent” violations of export controls by flying “US origin aircraft” into Russia without authorization for continuing to fly those aircraft within Russia without authorization.

CNN has requested comment from the three Russian airlines.

“The battle for Donbas” is underway, and it “has not reached its maximum scale," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday.

“Every day, the heaviest fighting takes place in that part of Ukraine and more is to come, unfortunately,” Kuleba said at a press conference in Brussels.

“Russia has its plan, we have ours, and the battlefield will decide the outcome,” Kuleba said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he was “very specific” in his requests to NATO on Thursday, and said he was “cautiously optimistic about the outcomes of our discussions.” 

Speaking to the press after attending the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Kuleba said he believed there was a growing understanding that Ukraine was not fighting just for its own security but for that of the countries in the alliance.

Kuleba reiterated his earlier remarks, saying the deal Ukraine is proposing to NATO is simple: “You provide us with everything we need and we will fight for our security and your security so that President Putin has no chance to test Article V.” 

He would not go into specific details about those discussions, but said he did not raise future security guarantees “because we know exactly the list of allies that who we see as potential security guarantors” and that would be negotiated bilaterally.

The "the most difficult situation" Ukraine now faces is in the country's east, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Interior minister of Ukraine, warned Thursday.

Ukrainian military officials say they have observed a buildup of Russian forces here.

"The most difficult situation now is, of course, in eastern Ukraine," he said in televised remarks. "This is the Luhansk region — in the area of ​​Rubizhne, in the area of ​​Popasna … [where] there is, in fact, the destruction of cities. Unfortunately, the Russians continue to do everything they did before in Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and so on — to destroy civilian infrastructure. And, of course, this is Mariupol, which is still under Ukrainian control and which is still fighting."

Recent advances by Russian forces in the Kharkiv region could be setting the stage for the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk to become the next target of Russia's offensive, said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

The heads of the Donetsk and Luhansk regional military administrations have asked residents in some of those eastern regions to evacuate, Denysenko noted.

"All the humanitarian corridors that are being opened are officially declared by the state," he said. "Keep this in mind, and if you have the opportunity to go through these corridors — be sure to use them. Because we realize that the only strategy of the Russian Federation is the strategy of destruction of settlements."