EU needs to find way around Hungary ‘systematically’ obstructing support for Ukraine – Lithuanian foreign minister
Hungary is systematically blocking all efforts at the European Union level to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielis Landsbergis said on Monday, adding the bloc must “find a way to work around this.”
“We have to start seeing this as a systematic approach towards any efforts by the EU to have any meaningful role in foreign affairs,” Landsbergis said, adding: “It has gone very, very far.”
Key events
Poland will introduce restrictions on the movement of Russian diplomats on its territory due to Moscow’s involvement in a hybrid war against the European Union, foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.
Relations between Poland and Russia have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
Warsaw has also accused Moscow of spying activity and taking part in acts of sabotage on its territory, Reuters reported.
“These are national decisions, but we have evidence that the Russian state is involved in authorising sabotage in our country as well. We hope that the Russian Federation will treat this as a very serious warning,” Radoslaw Sikorski told journalists in Brussels.
Two killed in Russian attack on Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region, Kyiv says
Two civilians were killed and five wounded in a Russian attack on Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region on Monday, Ukrainian emergencies service said.
“In the afternoon, as a result of a missile attack on (the town of) Snihurivka, a fire broke out in a coffee shop, a car shop and a tyre service, and a blast wave damaged a self-service car wash,” the service said in the Telegram messaging app.
“The bodies of two people were found during the rubble removal,” it added.
The Kremlin said today that Nato was already in direct confrontation with Russia and that the alliance was escalating the Ukraine conflict with military rhetoric, Reuters reported.
Alar Karis, the Estonian president, said today that Russian hybrid attacks will likely continue.
Speaking alongside his Finnish counterpart, Karis said “we both recognised that we are ready for this development,” the Estonian public broadcaster reported.
“But that does not mean we watch everything and let it all happen. I would remind you that the Estonian-Finnish border with Russia is also the external border of the European Union, and we can emphasize this when we need to ask the EU for help to strengthen the border,” he added.
Vitaliy Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, said two people were injured when a Russian missile hit a car wash, Ukrinform reported.
“A missile hit a self-service car wash in the city of Snihurivka, Mykolaiv region. Two wounded (the girl is in a serious condition),” Kim wrote.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he agreed with Lithuania’s president “to sign a bilateral security agreement in the near future.”
On my way to Spain, I had a call with Lithuania’s President @GitanasNauseda. I congratulated him on his strong election victory and wished him inspiration in his future work for Lithuania’s prosperity.
We discussed preparations for important international events: the Peace…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 27, 2024
Afternoon summary
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Hungary is systematically blocking all efforts at the European Union level to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielis Landsbergis said on Monday, adding the bloc must “find a way to work around this.” “We have to start seeing this as a systematic approach towards any efforts by the EU to have any meaningful role in foreign affairs,” Landsbergis said, adding: “It has gone very, very far.”
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Russian forces captured two villages in Ukraine, the defence ministry said on Monday. The settlements are Ivanivka in the Kharkiv region and Netailove in Donetsk.
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Madrid where he is set to meet prime minister Pedro Sanchez and sign a security deal through which Spain will supply Kyiv with 1.13 billion euros ($1.23 billion) worth of weapons. King Felipe welcomed Zelenskiy on the tarmac at Barajas airport, a gesture underlining the importance of the visit for Madrid. Zelenskiy later met Sanchez ahead of a joint press conference scheduled for later in the afternoon.
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Spain plans to send Patriot missiles and Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of a $1.23 billion weapon package announced last month, El Pais newspaper reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources close to the operation. Spain will hand over a dozen crucial Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine and 19 second-hand German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks and other Spanish-made weapons, such as anti-drones gear and ammunition, the newspaper said.
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A Ukrainian drone attacked a Russian “Voronezh M” early-warning radar near the city of Orsk in the Orenburg region at a “record” distance, a Kyiv intelligence source said on Monday. The source told Reuters the attack was conducted by Ukraine’s military spy agency on Sunday and did not say whether it caused any damage. The city of Orsk lies around 1,500 km from the nearest parts of Ukrainian-controlled territory.
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One person was killed and three wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Oryol region on Monday, the regional governor, Andrey Klychkov, said on the Telegram messaging app. Klychkov said a drone had crashed into a gas station, damaging it, and a second fell on it later, killing a firefighter.
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The European Union has added Voice of Europe and two businessmen connected to the news website to an EU-wide sanctions list, extending sanctions imposed by the Czech Republic, its foreign ministry said. The sanctions on the two individuals, Viktor Medvedchuk and Artem Marchevskyi, and the website will consist of travel bans and asset freezes, the ministry said. In March, the Czech Republic sanctioned the Prague-based company, which runs the news website voiceofeurope.com, alleging it was a tool of Russian propaganda, Reuters reported.
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Poland fleshed out details on Monday of “East Shield”, a 10 billion zloty ($2.55 billion) programme to beef up defences along its eastern border with Belarus and Russia, saying it hoped to complete the plans by 2028. The border has been a flashpoint since migrants started flocking there in 2021, after Belarus, a close Russian ally, opened travel agencies in the Middle East offering a new unofficial route into Europe – a move the European Union said was designed to create a crisis, Reuters reported.
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Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nausėda has won re-election, official results showed, in a vote marked by defence concerns over neighbouring Russia. The count published by the electoral commission showed that Nausėda won 74.6% of votes with 90% of ballots counted after polls closed on Sunday in the second-round vote.
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A Russian military court has refused to release Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia’s 58th army arrested on suspicion of fraud, turning down a request to put him under house arrest, a Reuters reporter in the court said. Following a June 2023 mutiny by Wagner mercenaries against Russia’s defence establishment, Popov said he had been dismissed after telling the top brass about the dire situation at the front in Ukraine.
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In the weeks since Vladimir Putin sacked his longtime defence minister Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s FSB security service has pursued a series of high-level corruption cases against a deputy minister and department heads in what many insiders are now calling a purge in the defence ministry. Andrei Belousov, the technocrat economist appointed to replace Shoigu, has a mandate to reduce corruption in the defence ministry and streamline military production for a long war against Ukraine that could largely be decided by industrial output.
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A former German armed forces officer was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Monday for spying for Russia, German media reported, in a case that highlighted Germany’s vulnerability to the increasingly hostile neighbour to its east. The former army captain, who was stationed at the army’s procurement office in Koblenz, was accused of handing over classified documents to Russia’s consulate in Bonn and embassy in Berlin.
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The death toll from Russian strikes on a hardware store in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv rose to 16 on Sunday, authorities said, as rescuers continued to search the charred debris for bodies. The dead included a 12-year-old girl. Another 43 people were wounded and several people were listed as missing.
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, released a desperate video plea calling on world leaders to attend a “peace summit” in Switzerland. Zelenskiy appealed in particular to the US president, Joe Biden, and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to attend the summit, which is due to start on 15 June. “Please, show your leadership in advancing the peace – the real peace and not just a pause between the strikes,” said Zelenskiy in English. Biden has not yet confirmed his attendance and it is not known whether China will attend – “negotiations are ongoing” over Beijing’s participation, Zelenskiy’s aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview last week.
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Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated her opposition to weapons supplied to Ukraine being used on Russian soil, after Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg told the Economist the restriction should be lifted. “I don’t know why Stoltenberg said such a thing, I think we have to be very careful,” Meloni told Italian television, while adding that “I agree that Nato must remain firm, not give the signal that it is giving in.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Madrid where he is set to meet prime minister Pedro Sanchez and sign a security deal through which Spain will supply Kyiv with 1.13 billion euros ($1.23 billion) worth of weapons.
King Felipe welcomed Zelenskiy on the tarmac at Barajas airport, a gesture underlining the importance of the visit for Madrid. Zelenskiy later met Sanchez ahead of a joint press conference scheduled for later in the afternoon.
Spain will commit to send Ukraine a dozen Patriot anti-aircraft missiles and 19 second-hand German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks, as well as other Spanish-made weapons such as anti-drone gear and ammunition, El Pais newspaper reported on Monday.
The tanks, which were mothballed for many years, will need a thorough refurbishing, the newspaper added, citing unnamed sources close to the deal.
A Russian military court has refused to release Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia’s 58th army arrested on suspicion of fraud, turning down a request to put him under house arrest, a Reuters reporter in the court said.
Following a June 2023 mutiny by Wagner mercenaries against Russia’s defence establishment, Popov said he had been dismissed after telling the top brass about the dire situation at the front in Ukraine.
Popov, whose military call sign was “Spartacus” and who was popular with the troops, said at the time that Russian soldiers had been stabbed in the back because of the failings of their senior commanders.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said that Popov was suspected of involvement in the theft of more than 130 million roubles ($1.44 million) of metal products intended for building fortifications along the Ukrainian frontline.