Russia Ukraine war: ICC issues war crimes warrants for top Russian officials

Former Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, and military chief General Valery Gerasimov have been accused of “directing attacks at civilian objects”, “causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects”, and perpetrating the crime against humanity of “inhumane acts”.

The statement from the ICC added that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023”.

Russia will resume direct passenger rail service with North Korea in July after a four-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the news agency Interfax reported today.

Citing the governor of the Russian far eastern region of Primorsky Krai bordering North Korea, Oleg Kozhemyako, Interfax reported that the trains will run from the city of Vladivostok to the North Korean port of Rason.

“Having boarded in Vladivostok, (people) will come straight to the DPRK, enjoy the beauty, nature, culture there, get acquainted with the customs and traditions,” the agency cited Kozhemyako as saying at the opening of a festival of goods in Vladivostok from North Korea.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in 2022 and subsequent sanctions on Moscow by Kyiv’s allies, Russia tilted toward Asia and Africa, seeking economic, security and diplomatic ties.

A shaven-headed Evan Gershkovich appeared briefly before journalists in a Russian court this morning at the start of a trial on charges of espionage that the US reporter denies.

The 32-year-old was seen standing in a glass box, wearing an open-necked shirt and with his arms folded.

The Wall Street Journal reporter is accused by prosecutors of gathering secret information on the orders of the US Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 20 years.

He, his newspaper and the US government all reject the allegations and say that he was just doing his job as a reporter accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work there.

The proceedings will take place behind closed doors, meaning that the media is excluded and no friends, family members or US embassy staff are allowed in to support Gershkovich. Such arrangements are common at spying or treason trials in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is open to the idea of a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and that contacts with the United States have taken place, but they must remain secret.

Donald Trump has been presented with a plan to bring an end to the war in Ukraine by two key advisers that would require Kyiv to sit down for peace talks with Russia or receive no further US weapons.

The strategy, which would only be actionable in the event that the Republican presidential contender beats Joe Biden to the White House in November, would conversely see Moscow threatened with increased American support for Ukraine if it refused to participate in the negotiations.

“We tell the Ukrainians, ‘You’ve got to come to the table, and if you don’t come to the table, support from the United States will dry up,’” Kellogg told the news agency.

Russia and Ukraine each handed back 90 prisoners of war yesterday in the latest of several periodic swaps in their 28-month-old conflict, with the United Arab Emirates overseeing the exchange as an intermediary.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said most of the freed servicemen were privates and sergeants, and the swap was another step in the process of bringing all detainees home.

“We will return all others in the same way,” he said in his nightly video address. “We are seeking the truth about everyone – where a person is, in what condition, what is needed for their return.”

He thanked the UAE for facilitating the exchange and pledged to press on with efforts to bring home those still being held.

The last exchange took place on 31 May, when each side handed over 75 prisoners of war, also with the UAE acting as a go-between. That was the first exchange in nearly four months.

The Russian defence ministry, in a posting on the Telegram messaging app, said: “As a result of negotiations, 90 Russian prisoners of war who risked death in captivity are being returned from areas under Kyiv’s control.”

It said the Russian prisoners were able to return home “with the United Arab Emirates participating as an intermediary in a humanitarian capacity”.

The freed Russian prisoners were being flown to Moscow, where they would undergo medical checks, the ministry said.

Russia said prisoners brought home yesterday had faced mortal danger in captivity.

Ukraine said returnees had included soldiers who had defended the Azovstal steel mill in a three-month siege in 2022 and others taken prisoner when Russian forces briefly seized the defunct Chornobyl nuclear power station.

The UAE said its action as a go-between had been made possible by maintaining good contacts with both sides.

If the West underestimated the resolve of Russia – a major nuclear power – it could lead to “tragic and fatal” consequences, warned deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow’s arms control point person.

Mr Ryabkov said the West underestimated “Russia’s readiness to stand up for itself and ensure its own interests in any situation”. “I don’t even want to assume that this underestimation could become tragic and fatal,” he said.

He said Russia had the resources to convey signals to the West in the field of nuclear deterrence but there was a danger the West could make a mistake.

“There is a danger, it cannot be underestimated, that their side may make a mistake. We will try not to,” he said. “Our common task is to prevent the world and the multipolar world, above all, from sliding into nuclear chaos,” Mr Ryabkov said.

In a 2023 call with Russia’s Sergei Shoigu, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin had pointed to risky behaviour by Russian fighter pilots that caused a US drone to crash in the Black Sea near Ukraine.

Relentless Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions defending the strategically important eastern town of Chasiv Yar are disrupting troop rotations and the delivery of some supplies, soldiers in the area say.

For Ukrainian soldiers defending the eastern Donetsk region, the Russian ground assaults and aerial barrages allow little respite after more than two years of war.

“We work, you could say, without rest,” said a platoon commander who, in line with his brigade’s rules, identified himself only by his first name, Oleksandr. “So no two days are alike. You always need to be ready to work day and night,” he said on Monday.

Russian troops are seeking to press their advantage in troop numbers and weaponry before Ukrainian forces are bulked up by promised new Western military aid that is already trickling to the front line, analysts say.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said it will take time for the effects of the new Western weaponry to be felt on the front line. Meanwhile, it said, “Russian forces are attempting to make tactically and operationally significant gains” before it arrives.

Elsewhere, the Kremlin’s forces kept up their barrages of civilian infrastructure with three aerial strikes in the northeastern Kharkiv region Tuesday, local officials said, though nobody was injured.

Russia has pounded Kharkiv in recent months, apparently to draw some Ukrainian forces away from the defense of Donetsk while trying to create a buffer zone to prevent cross-border Ukrainian attacks. Russian launched 42 glide bombs against the Kharkiv region in the previous 24 hours, authorities said yesterday.