Ukraine Update: Blinken to Meet With Top Israeli Officials

Article content

Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) —

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid early Sunday and later with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. His visit to Israel comes hours after President Joe Biden said Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” and that the war in Ukraine had given the world’s democracies “purpose.”

The American president made the remarks in an emotional address in Warsaw, having earlier labeled Putin a “butcher.” Daily insults of Putin “narrow the window of opportunity for normalizing dialogue, so much needed now, with the current U.S. administration,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Bloomberg News in response. 

Article content

While Biden was in neighboring Poland, Russian shelling hit Lviv in far western Ukraine on Saturday, with television images showing firefighters battling flames near large fuel tanks. That comes a day after Russia’s military said it’s focusing on taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. 

Key Developments

Biden Calls For Putin’s Removal in Risky Escalation Over UkraineRussia Says Donbas Is Ukraine Focus in Possible Shift in War AimU.S., EU Reach LNG Supply Deal to Cut Dependence on RussiaWith Ukraine’s Culture Under Fire, Museums Stage Rescue Mission

All times CET:

Two Evacuation Corridors Open on Sunday (8:38 a.m.)

Two humanitarian corridors have been agreed to for Sunday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video statement. 

Article content

One is from Mariupol for people able to flee in personal cars; another is from Rubizhne in the Luhansk region in the far east. Ukraine continues work to reopen other humanitarian corridors.

Poland, where most Ukrainian refugees are fleeing, reported 31,100 people crossed the border on Saturday and another 5,200 early Sunday. 

Russia Attempting to Encircle Forces Near Separatist Regions, U.K. Says (8:24 a.m.)

Russia is stepping up attempts to encirclement of Ukrainian forces directly facing the separatist regions in the east, advancing from the direction of Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the south, the U.K. defense ministry said. 

“The battlefield across northern Ukraine remains largely static, with local Ukrainian counterattacks hampering Russian attempts to reorganize their forces,” the ministry said in a daily intelligence assessment. 

Article content

The city of Chernikiv in Ukraine’s north, near the Belarus border, has been encircled with no evacuation routes possible, its mayor said on Saturday. 

Japan PM Warns of World’s Biggest Crisis Since WW2 (5.20 a.m.)

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the war in Ukraine could lead to the world’s greatest crisis since the second world war, Kyodo News reported. 

“One-sided changes driven by force cannot be accepted in the Indo-Pacific, and particularly in East Asia,” Kishida said in a speech to new graduates at the National Defense Academy. Kishida also said he will strengthen Japan’s defense capabilities through a revision of the country’s national security strategy by the end of the year, Kyodo said.

Article content

IAEA Watching ‘Developments’ Near Chernobyl (1:46 a.m.)

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was “monitoring developments” after being told by Ukrainian officials that Russian troops had taken control of Slavutych, a town near the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine.

The IAEA said in a tweet on Saturday that many of the plant’s staff live in Slavutych and that there had been “no staff rotation” at Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear accident, since Monday.

U.K. Forms Unit to Aid Negotiations, Truss Says (10:25 p.m.)

The U.K. has created a special diplomatic unit to help support Ukraine “when the Russians are serious about negotiations,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in an interview with The Telegraph. 

Article content

“I don’t believe they are serious at present and that’s why I’ve said we need to be tough to get peace,” Truss told the newspaper. “We need to double down on sanctions. We need to double down on the weapons that we’re sending Ukraine.” 

Ukraine has said it’s ready to discuss neutral status as long as it has firm security guarantees from its partners, including Germany, the U.K. and the U.S.

U.S. to Provide $100 Million in ‘Civilian Security’ Aid (9:40 p.m.)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the U.S. would be providing $100 million to Ukraine for law enforcement, border security, protection for government infrastructure and other “civilian security assistance.” 

“The increased funding will continue a steady flow of personal protection equipment, field gear, tactical equipment, medical supplies, armored vehicles and communication equipment for the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service and the National Police of Ukraine,” Blinken said in a State Department statement released on Saturday. 

Article content

Biden Speech Disappoints Some Ukrainians (8:30 p.m.) 

While Ukraine’s Foreign and Defense Ministers spoke warmly of their meeting in Poland Saturday with Biden, there was less equivocal support for the president’s remarks among people in Ukraine.

Local television discussions after Biden’s speech and social media posts were flooded with comments of disappointment that Biden had not announced fresh sanctions on Russia or further weapons supplies for Ukraine. The president’s comment that the war could last for some time also came in for criticism.

Moscow Fires Back After Biden’s Remark on Putin (8:30 p.m.)

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told the Tass news agency on Saturday that Biden’s reference to Putin as a “butcher” further diminishes the possibility for future relations between the U.S. and Russia. “The state leader should remain sober,” Peskov said.

Article content

Russia has threatened periodically since the war started to cut off ties totally as the U.S. imposes heavy economic penalties on Moscow and as Biden has branded Putin a war criminal.

White House Softens Biden Call for Putin’s Removal (7:50 p.m.)

Shortly after Biden said at the conclusion of a fiery address that Putin could not remain in power, White House officials insisted that he was not calling for the removal of the Russia leader.

Rather, they said, Biden meant that Putin should not be allowed to hold sway over Ukraine or other nations in the region. The American president was preparing to head back to Washington after delivering the speech in Warsaw. 

Biden Says Putin ‘Cannot Remain in Power’ (6:50 p.m.)

Biden said Putin should not remain in power and that the war had “revitalized” the world’s democracies “with purpose and unity.” In a speech at Warsaw’s Royal Castle he implored allies to steel themselves for a long fight against an adversary he labeled a “butcher.”

Article content

“In this battle, we need to be clear-eyed: This battle will not be won in days and months either. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead,” Biden said. The speech was delivered on Saturday evening after an emotional visit with Ukrainian refugees.

Lviv Hit Again By Russian Missiles (6:25 p.m.)

While Biden was visiting Poland’s capital, reports on social media and television images showed large plumes of smoke rising near Lviv, with air raid sirens sounding in the western Ukrainian city near the Polish border.

Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said Russian missiles had hit the city and told people to stay in shelters. Lviv region governor Maksym Kozytskyi said three large blasts had been felt. Russian missiles have previously hit sites in western Ukraine including a military training center and buildings near Lviv’s airport. 

Article content

Sadovyi later said Russian missiles struck the city a second time. “One more missile attack,” he wrote on his Facebook page. 

Chernihiv in Ukraine’s North Encircled, Mayor Says (5:02 p.m.)

Even as the southern port city of Mariupol remains under siege, Chernihiv in Ukraine’s north, close to the Belarus border, is also encircled by Russian troops, Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko said in a televised briefing where he warned of an expanding humanitarian crisis. 

“The city is reduced to ashes,” Atroshenko said. He said more than 120,000 people remained of a pre-war population closer to 250,000, and at least 200 civilians had been killed in the past month. 

Russian troops blew up a bridge that connected the city with a key road, and for now there are no evacuation routes working and no ability to get aid in, Atroshenko said.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Bloomberg.com