Ukraine: Kyiv making progress despite 'difficulties'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Tbilisi to stop its "abuse" against former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who also holds Ukrainian citizenship.

In a Twitter statement, Zelenskyy accused Russia of killing Saakashvili "at the hands of the Georgian authorities." 

The Ukrainian president said he had instructed the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to summon the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine in strong protest against Saakashvili's treatment. Kyiv will also ask the Georgian ambassador to leave Ukraine within 48 hours to hold consultations with Tbilisi.

"Once again, I call on the Georgian authorities to hand over Ukrainian citizen Mykhailo Saakashvili to Ukraine for the necessary treatment and care," Zelenskyy said. He urged Ukraine's partners to save the former president.

"No government in Europe has the right to execute people, life is a basic European value," he said.

After leading Georgia's so-called Rose Revolution in 2003, Saakashvili was sworn in as president. He left office in 2013 later, but his two-term tenure saw Russia's 2008 invasion of the country.

In 2015, Saakashvili renounced his Georgian citizenship and became the governor of Ukraine's Odesa Oblast, a post he occupied until late 2016. 

He returned from Ukraine to Georgia in 2021, when he was arrested on grounds of a corruption conviction he had received in absentia. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have spoken by phone. 

"The chancellor reinforced the enduring and unbreakable solidarity with Ukraine in light of the unchanged, ongoing aggression by the Russian Federation," government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters in Berlin after the call on Monday.

He said that Zelenskyy had thanked Scholz for Germany's military support, particularly reinforcing Ukrainian anti-air defenses and artillery. 

Zelenskyy and Scholz also jointly appealed for the grain export deal brokered by the UN to again be extended. The rolling agreement first reached last year requires regular renewal, with the latest expiry date two weeks away, on July 17. Both leaders said that an extension would reduce strain on the global food market. 

Russia and Ukraine are both major global food and agricultural exporters, Russia's invasion of Ukraine put additional pressure on already-rising global prices. 

Hebestreit said that Scholz and Zelenskyy discussed a range of other issues, including the political, military and humanitarian situation in Ukraine. World leaders are gearing up for the NATO leaders' summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week.

Russian vacationers are rushing in large numbers to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which has been illegally occupied by Moscow since 2014. 

Despite the war with Ukraine, a 13-kilometer (8.07-mile) long traffic jam had formed on Monday on the Russian side of Kerch Bridge, according to news reports. 

This 19-kilometer long bridge connects Crimea with the Russian mainland.  

Crimea was a popular holiday resort during the Soviet Union. Russian citizens are attracted to the destination as they cannot take their vacations in many Western countries due to the sanctions.  

The peninsula is now only accessible to vacationers by train or car, as air traffic was suspended due to the war.  

It is reported that emergency services, volunteers and administrative staff were distributing water to people waiting in vehicles.  

 

"We will leave no stone unturned to hold Putin and his henchmen accountable," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Monday.

In a statement marking the opening of a center in The Hague that aims to prosecute those responsible for the  Russian invasion in Ukraine, she said the aggression continues to bring unspeakable horrors, every day.

"The new international prosecution center will play a key role in making sure that the perpetrators are brought to justice," she added. 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already issued international arrest warrants for President Putin on suspicion of war crimes. 

Ukraine's counteroffensive remains in a "difficult" situation, top NATO official Rob Bauer said on Monday.

The Dutch admiral, who is the chair of NATO's military committee, made the comments while speaking to reporters at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

"People should never think that this is an easy walkover. It will never be," Bauer said.

He said that in some places Ukrainian forces face obstacles up to 30 kilometers deep as they attempt to break through Russian lines.

"It is not a surprise that this is not going fast," he said, comparing the counteroffensive to the Allied forces in Normandy during World War II.

Bauer said that Kyiv was right to be cautious in its operations to minimize Ukrainian casualties.

"It is extremely difficult, this type of operation and I think the way [Ukrainian forces] do it is commendable," he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv's forces were making progress in a counteroffensive despite difficulties.

"Last week was difficult on the front line. But we are making progress," he said.

"We are moving forward, step by step! I thank everyone who is defending Ukraine, everyone who is leading this war to Ukraine's victory!"

Moscow does not harbor "many hopes" that the Black Sea grain deal will be renewed, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Under the deal, which is set to expire on July 18, Moscow guarantees the safety of grain ships leaving Ukrainian ports through Russian-controlled waters.

The United Nations signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow in July 2022, under which the international body committed to facilitating access of Russian fertilizer and other exports to global markets.

Moscow has demanded the readmission of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT international banking system in order to allow for these exports.

"So far we have nothing to report on the implementation of that part of the agreement that concerned the Russian side," Peskov said.

"For the time being, we state that this part of the agreements is still not fulfilled. There is still time for the deadline to expire, but there is not much hope."

According to the Financial Times, the European Union was on Monday considering a proposal that would allow Rosselkhozbank to open a subsidiary that would then be reconnected to the global financial system.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says that the mutiny by the Wagner private paramilitary group late last month has not affected the situation of Russian forces in Ukraine.

"The provocation did not affect the actions of army groups [in Ukraine]," he said, referring to the uprising by Wagner troops.

Shoigu said the mutiny aimed to destabilize Russia, but failed due to troops' loyalty to Moscow.

It was the first public statement from the defense minister since Yevgeny Prigozhin began his shortlive mutinty, the aim of which was to remove military top brass, such as Shoigu, according to the former mercenary leader.

Top Russian official Dmitry Medvedev said that the war in Ukraine will be "permanent" in an article for the government-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Medvedev is a former president of Russia and is now the deputy head of the country's Security Council.

Arguing that Ukraine will not be accepted into the NATO military alliance, Medvedev said that the "conflict will be permanent," as it is a matter of existential importance for Moscow.

"The phase of confrontation (with the West) will be very long," he said. "The confrontation will continue for decades."

In his article, Medvedev argued that Russia is not isolated on the world stage and that it has continued developing its ties to countries Asia, Africa and Latin America.

He said that tensions were now "much worse" than during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, when the world was on the edge of nuclear war.

"One thing that politicians of all stripes do not like to admit: such an apocalypse is not only possible, but also quite probable," he said, referring to the possibility of global nuclear conflict.

Ukraine said its forces had recaptured 37 square kilometers (14 square miles) of land around Bakhmut in the east and along the southern front from Russian forces during the last week, according to a Telegram post from Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on Monday.

"We are moving forward in the Bakhmut area, while the enemy is continuing to attack in the direction of Lyman, Avdiivka and Maryinka," she said.

An area of about 9 square kilometers was retaken near Bakhmut and a further 28.4 square kilometers at various points in the south, Maliar said.

Russian troops have also launched their own offensive along stretches of the eastern front, she added.

Ukraine's claim of recaptuing land comes weeks after it announced a highly anticipated counteroffensive.

Russia's main domestic security agency, the FSB, on Monday said it foiled an attempt to assassinate the Russian-backed head of occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, Russian news agencies reported.

The FSB said it had detained a Russian man who was hired and trained by Ukraine's security services to kill Aksyonov by blowing up his car, according to the report.

"An assassination attempt organized by Ukraine's special services targeting the head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov, was foiled," Russian state-run agency TASS reported, citing an FSB statement. 

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, nor could Russia's claim be independently verified.

Crimea was invaded and annexed by Russia in 2014. 

The European Union is reportedly reviewing a proposal that would allow a Russian bank, which is currently under sanctions, to set up a subsidiary to reconnect to global financial networks, UK newspaper The Financial Times said on Monday.

The EU intends to use this proposal, brokered through the UN, as an incentive for Russia to extend the Black Sea grain deal that lets Ukraine export food to global markets, beyond July 17. 

The Russian Agricultural Bank, also known as Rosselkhozbank, would be able to use the SWIFT global financial payments system through the subsidiary unit, under the deal.

SWIFT was closed to the largest Russian banks after the invasion of Ukraine last year.

Russia has previously said that it sees no reason to extend the grain deal which allows Ukraine to export its agricultural products over the Black Sea.

Russia has accused the West of not living up to its side of the deal. Russia and Ukraine are two of the biggest exporters of grainin the world.

Fierce fighting is taking place in parts of Ukraine as Kyiv's forces continue their counter-offensive, the country's deputy defense minister said.

Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram, "everywhere things are hot" in the east, with Russian forces advancing near the beleaguered cities of Avdiivka, Maryinka and Lyman in the Donetsk region.

They were also continuing their advance near Svatov in the neighboring Luhansk region. 

"Fierce fighting is raging there ... The situation is quite complicated," she said.

Maliar said Ukrainian troops were also pushing ahead with "partial success" to the south of the eastern city of Bakhmut, as well as near Berdyansk and Melitopol in southern Ukraine.

The award-winning Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina has died from her injuries after a Russian missile attack on a restaurant in Kramatorsk last week, the writers' association and freedom of expression group PEN said.

She is the 13th person to have died after a Russian missile destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant on Tuesday.

"With our greatest pain, we inform you that Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina passed away on July 1st in Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro," PEN Ukraine wrote on its Facebook page.  

She set aside her writing after Russia's invasion and had been documenting Russian war crimes.

Her writing had previously earned her the Joseph Conrad Literary Award, and made her a finalist for the European Union Prize for Literature.

US President Joe Biden will head to Europe next weekend for a visit to bolster the international coalition against Russian aggression as the war in Ukraine the White House said.

During his five-day visit he'll attend the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

He also plans to commemorate Finland entrance to NATO during a visit to Helsinki. Finland became a full member of the bloc earlier this year.

Biden will begin his trip next Sunday in London, and will meet with King Charles III at Windsor Castle the next day, according to Buckingham Palace.

Before heading to Europe, Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the White House on Wednesday to discuss Stockholm's NATO ambitions. 

lo/jsi (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)