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Deadly blasts hit Russian border city

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According to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, explosions in the Russian city of Belgorod, which is close to the Ukrainian border, have killed at least three people.

At least 39 privately owned residential buildings and 11 apartment complexes were partially destroyed by the explosions, he claimed. The blasts, he said, activated air defence systems. The governor’s claim could not be independently verified, and Ukraine showed no immediate response. The information was obtained through Mr. Gladkov’s Telegram channel.

Numerous civilians and combatants have been killed or injured since Russia’s invasion on February 24 on the pretext of “demilitarising” and “de-Nazifying” Ukraine as it moved closer to Nato, and at least 12 million people have left their homes. In response, Western nations have armed Ukraine and imposed previously unheard-of sanctions on Russia, a nuclear powerhouse and a major source of energy.

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Nike latest brand to leave Russia permanently

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Since the invasion of Ukraine in February, Nike is the most recent Western company to announce plans to depart Russia. In March, the US sportswear juggernaut stopped accepting online orders and shut its local stores.

Local partners’ stores continued to be open, but the company is ending their contracts with them. Networking behemoth Cisco recently announced that it would begin to completely cease operations in Belarus and Russia. McDonald’s and Starbucks are two additional businesses that have recently finalised their exit strategies.

Nike issued a statement saying, “Nike has decided to exit the Russian market.” As we sensibly reduce our activities over the upcoming months, our first focus is to make sure we are adequately supporting our staff. Since the invasion, as the West and its allies have imposed sanctions and multinational corporations have fled the country, Russia has become more and more economically isolated.

According to Reuters, the nation is currently working on legislation that would punish foreign corporations looking to leave, enabling the government to take their assets and apply criminal penalties.

According to its website, Nike has more than 50 stores in Russia, with nearly a third of them being closed. Russian media claimed in May that the firm was terminating its contract with its biggest franchisee in that country, who was in charge of 37 locations.

Russia and Ukraine collectively contributed less than 1% of Nike’s total revenue, as previously revealed. On Thursday, Cisco announced that it had “decided to start an orderly wind-down of our business in Russia and Belarus.”A few hundred employees will be impacted by this choice, the US company stated, adding that it wanted to make sure they are “treated with dignity.”

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At the Brussels conference, EU leaders will support Ukraine as a candidate

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At a session in Brussels on Thursday, the European Commission is expected to accept Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the EU. Days after the Russian invasion in February, Ukraine submitted an application, and the procedure has since advanced at a record pace. According to its envoy to the EU, it would provide Ukrainians a psychological lift.

However, Vsevolod Chentsov acknowledged that “true integration” couldn’t begin until the conflict was done. The first official step toward EU membership is candidate status, and France stated last week that there was “complete accord” on Ukraine. However, joining can take a long time, and success is not guaranteed.

Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia are Western Balkan nations that have been candidate nations for years—in some cases, for more than a decade. Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted a candidacy application in 2016, but has yet to be accepted.

Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, said it was good that Ukraine was granted candidate status as he arrived for an EU summit with Western Balkan leaders, but Kyiv should not be deceived: “North Macedonia is a candidate [for] 17 years if I have not lost count, Albania eight, so welcome to Ukraine.” Although it is not anticipated, several member states are lobbying for Bosnia to receive candidate status.

In exchange for prerequisites being met before accession talks can start, including as judicial and anti-corruption reforms, some EU member states have agreed to support Ukraine’s candidacy.

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Russia introduces a ‘delicious’ McDonald’s alternative

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McDonald’s withdrew from Russia in protest of the invasion of Ukraine, selling more than 800 of its restaurants to Russian businessman Alexander Govor. The first rebranded restaurants in Moscow are reopening today. “Vkusno I Tochka,” which means “tasty and that’s it,” is the new name. The Golden Arches have been replaced with a stylized letter M made of two French fries and a dot (or perhaps a burger?) The Big Mac and McFlurry are no longer available.

Customers, on the other hand, should not notice too many differences, according to the new owners. They held a press conference in the flagship restaurant on Pushkin Square, which opened 32 years ago as the first McDonald’s in Moscow. “Our goal is for our guests to notice no difference in quality or ambience,” said Vkusno I Tochka CEO Oleg Paroyev. One male protester, however, disrupted the event by shouting, “Bring back Big Mac!” I was in the long line in 1990, and it took me three hours to get in and be served. I recall being ecstatic. McDonald’s’ arrival was a symbol of Soviet Russia’s embrace of Western ideas, culture, and cuisine.

McDonald’s announced last month that it would leave Russia due to the war’s “humanitarian crisis” and “unpredictable operating environment.” Last year, Russia and Ukraine accounted for about 9% of McDonald’s global sales.

Since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, international brands such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Levi’s, and Apple have left or suspended sales in Russia. Wide-ranging international sanctions have been imposed on Russia, disrupting its supply chains and raising unemployment.

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Flight ban affects Russian foreign minister’s visit to Serbia due to Ukraine conflict

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Since three of Serbia’s neighbours have refused to let his plane use their airspace, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia has been cancelled.

Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, all EU members, have imposed a flight ban, as have Serbia and North Macedonia. In February, the EU imposed an airspace ban in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Lavrov has blamed the latest move on “the Brussels puppeteers.” Serbia has remained friendly with Russia despite the EU’s broad sanctions against the country. Days after the invasion on February 24, the EU and the UK imposed a blanket flight ban on Russian planes, including oligarchs’ private jets.

Serbia, like many other European countries, is heavily reliant on Russian gas. On the 6-7 June, Mr. Lavrov was scheduled to meet with President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.

He called the decision “unprecedented” and said that “no one will be able to destroy our relations with Serbia” in a statement broadcast on Russian state news channel Rossiya 24.

“It appears that the Brussels puppeteers did not want to give us a platform so that we could confirm Russia’s position on the Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina problems in the capital of Serbia,” he added.

Serbia’s refusal to recognise Kosovo’s independence is backed by the Kremlin. The NATO bombing campaign against Serbia during the Kosovo war in 1999 enraged Russia.

Mr. Lavrov accused Nato and the EU of wanting to “turn the Balkans into their own project called closed Balkans” in a statement released on Monday. “Our diplomacy has yet to master teleportation,” a Russian foreign ministry source said of the decision to bar Mr Lavrov’s flight.

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‘Don’t humiliate Russia,’ Macron says, inciting outrage in Ukraine

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Ukraine’s foreign minister has slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for stating that Russia must not be humiliated as a result of its invasion. Mr. Macron stressed the importance of President Vladimir Putin having a way out of a “fundamental error.”

Allies, on the other hand, should “better focus on how to put Russia in its place” as it “humiliates itself,” according to Dmytro Kuleba. Mr Macron has spoken with Mr Putin on the phone several times in an attempt to broker a ceasefire and negotiations.

The French efforts to maintain contact with Putin contrast sharply with the US and UK positions. “Calls to avoid humiliating Russia can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it,” Foreign Minister Kuleba said in a tweet.

Ukraine must not give Russia territorial concessions, according to Kyiv, because Russia’s invasion has been condemned internationally as a brutal aggression. Mr Macron had previously told French regional media that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “isolated himself.”

“I believe, and I told him so,” he said, “that he made a historic and fundamental error for his people, for himself, and for history.” “Isolating oneself is one thing,” he continued, “but getting out of it is a difficult path.”Mario Draghi, Italy’s prime minister, has sided with Mr Macron, saying Europe wants “some credible negotiations.”

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Brittney Griner has had her detention in Russia extended

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Brittney Griner, an American basketball player, has had her pre-trial detention in Russia extended for another month. Ms Griner, 31, has been detained since February, when Moscow airport officials allegedly discovered cannabis oil in her luggage as she was returning to the United States after performing in Russia. 

Officials in the United States believe she was wrongfully imprisoned and should be released. If convicted, Ms Griner, one of the best female players in the world, faces up to ten years in prison. Ms Griner is seen in an Associated Press photo wearing an orange hoodie and looking down at the court hearing in Khimki, Russia, just outside of Moscow. 

A consular official from the US State Department attended the hearing and spoke with Ms Griner on the sidelines, according to the US State Department. Ms Griner was doing “as well as can be expected in extremely difficult circumstances,” according to a spokesman. Her lawyer told the Associated Press after the hearing that Ms Griner had not expressed “any complaints about the detention conditions.”

According to state-owned Russian news agency TASS, Russia is hoping to trade Ms Griner for Viktor Bout, an arms trafficker convicted in the United States. Bout, dubbed “the Merchant of Death,” was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the United States, where he was found guilty of attempting to smuggle weapons to Colombian rebels for use against US citizens.

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Russia-Ukraine war: European Union likely to sanction Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend Alina Kabaeva

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Alina Kabaeva, the alleged girlfriend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is named in the sixth proposed package of European Union sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Kabaeva, who has been romantically linked to Putin, was included in a proposed EU sanctions list, according to two European diplomatic sources.

At this point, names can be removed or added at the discretion of member states, and it is expected to be a point of negotiation when a new sanctions package is proposed, according to an EU Commission source. The EU has not yet given its approval to the draught proposal. “There are ongoing discussions. It won’t be easy, but we’ll have to wait and see “On Friday morning, one of the diplomatic sources said.

Kabaeva, who was born in 1983, was first linked to Putin when she was a medal-winning gymnast more than a decade ago. Putin, who is divorced, has denied ever dating her. Kabaeva and Putin are said to have met when she was a young gymnast competing in European competitions and at the Olympic Games. At the 2004 Athens Games, she won the gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics.

She was selected as one of the torch bearers when Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014, an event that occurred shortly before Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.Since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, the EU has increased its economic sanctions against Russia. Recently, the EU proposed a ban on Russian oil imports, which would have a significant impact on Russia’s economy, though Hungary, an EU member with close ties to Putin, is likely to sabotage any such plans.

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Ukraine war: Russia aiming for full control of south, commander says

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According to a senior Russian commander, Russia wants to take full control of southern Ukraine as well as the eastern Donbas region.

State media quoted Maj Gen Rustam Minnekayev as saying that achieving this goal would allow Moscow to build a land bridge to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. He also stated that it would allow Moscow access to the separatist region of Transnistria in Moldova, which is backed by Russia.

Transnistria is a small region on Ukraine’s western border. Although it is unclear whether Gen Minnekayev’s remarks were officially sanctioned by the Kremlin, they were widely reported in Russian state media outlets such as Interfax and Tass.

Russian defence officials told the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg that they were “looking into” the general’s remarks, which, if true, would provide the first glimpse into Russia’s possible plans for the coming weeks. Meanwhile, a senior EU official told Reuters that Russia is likely to intensify its attacks in eastern Ukraine and along the southern coast in the coming days, adding that the next two weeks could determine the outcome of the war.

Moldova summoned Moscow’s ambassador in response to the remarks, which the country’s foreign ministry described as “deeply concerning.”

Transnistria is a small Russian-speaking breakaway region that borders Ukraine on the west. It declared independence after the Soviet Union fell apart in a bloody conflict, but it is not recognised internationally and remains part of Moldova officially.

As part of a truce agreement, a small detachment of around 1,500 Russian troops has been stationed in the region since 1995. On Friday, Gen Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, spoke at a military event in the Sverdlovsk region.

“Control of Ukraine’s south is another route to Transnistria, where there are also reports of oppression of the Russian-speaking population,” Gen Minnekayev said.

Before launching the invasion on February 24, Mr Putin made similar claims about alleged discrimination against Russian speakers in Ukraine, but without providing evidence. Ukraine’s defence ministry slammed Gen Minnekayev’s remarks as “imperialism” by Russia.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s president, responded to them in his regular overnight address. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine was only meant to be a start; they want to take over other countries,” he claimed.

He previously stated that Russia planned to stage a series of phoney independence referendums in occupied territories in order to establish a series of pro-Russian breakaway states.

“You should know this is not to help you if they ask you to fill out some questionnaires or leave your passport data somewhere,” he warned.

“If an order from Moscow is given to stage such a show, it will be used to falsify the so-called referendum on your land. This is the situation. Take care.” In the coming weeks, referendums are planned in Kherson and occupied areas around Zaporizhzhia, according to a spokesperson for the Ukrainian defence ministry.

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Putin praises the annexation of Crimea and the war as lessons in heroism

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Eight years after Russian troops seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, the event is being commemorated in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium with flag-waving crowds and special lessons in schools. In front of the crowd, President Vladimir Putin made a special appearance.

Workers for the state claimed they had been ordered to participate. Teachers held lessons in schools to commemorate the “Crimean spring.” The Russian army has seized towns and cities along Ukraine’s south coast from its bases in Crimea. Mr. Putin has used the anniversary to emphasize his love for the motherland on several occasions.

Officials claimed that over 200,000 people had gathered at the stadium, but the figures could not be confirmed. The stadium holds an official capacity of 81,000 people, but there were large crowds outside as well. President Putin praised the military for demonstrating Russian unity, saying: “When necessary, they act as brothers, shielding each other from bullets with their bodies. We haven’t seen such unity in a long time.” He also repeated the lie that Russian troops were preventing genocide in eastern Ukraine.

In what the Kremlin later described as a technical glitch, his address on almost every major state TV channel abruptly cut to singer Oleg Gazmanov belting out the words “Forward, Russia” as he spoke on stage. Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, spoke at the event, as did Margarita Simonyan, a top state television journalist, and Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry.

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