Live Updates | Turkey continues to put pressure on Sweden, Finland
ISTANBUL – Turkey’s foreign minister says Sweden and Finland must now take “concrete steps” to alleviate their country’s security problems in order to overcome Ankara’s objections to their offer of NATO membership.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that delegations from the two Nordic countries have returned home with Turkey’s demands after a visit this week and Ankara is waiting for their response.
The countries’ applications for membership require support from all NATO countries, but Turkey opposes them. It has cited alleged support for Kurdish militants that Turkey is considering terrorists and restrictions on arms sales to Turkey.
Cavusoglu said that “an approach of” we will convince Turkey in time anyway, we are friends and allies “would not be correct.” He insisted that “these countries must take concrete steps.”
He added that “we understand the security problems of Finland and Sweden but … everyone must also understand Turkey’s legitimate security problems.”
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IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
– ‘Relentless’: Russia clamps Ukrainian strongholds in the east
– West is considering having Russian oligarchs buy the way out of sanctions
– The United States wins the latest legal battle to seize Russian yacht in Fiji
US General: No need to add ground forces in Sweden, Finland
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENT:
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ROME – Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has discussed the emerging food crisis in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Draghi’s office said Thursday’s talks “focused on the situation in Ukraine and efforts to find a common solution to the ongoing food crisis and its serious repercussions on the world’s poorest countries.”
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, but the war and a Russian blockade of its ports have halted much of this flow, jeopardizing the world’s food supply. Many of these ports are now also heavily mined.
Russia is also a significant exporter of grain. Moscow on Thursday pressured the Western world to lift sanctions against Russia, in order to shift the blame for the food crisis.
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BERLIN – Germany’s development minister has traveled to Ukraine to pledge further civilian support and discuss the country’s reconstruction.
Svenja Schulze is the second German minister to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited on 10 May and reopened the country’s embassy in Kyiv.
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Schulze’s ministry said it planned to meet with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and other senior officials in Kyiv on Friday.
It said the talks will address immediate support for resolving the problems Ukraine is facing now and “strategic issues” related to the reconstruction of the country.
Schulze said in a statement that “we must already now lay the foundations for internationally coordinated support for the reconstruction of a free and democratic Ukraine” and Germany will contribute.
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MOSCOW – Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine claim control of Lyman, a city in the Donetsk region. No confirmation has yet been received from Ukrainian officials.
The military in the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic told the Telegram that as of Friday, rebel forces, backed by Russian troops, “have liberated and taken full control of 220 settlements, including Lyman.”
Lyman, which had a population of over 20,000 before the war, is a major railway hub in the Donetsk region, north of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, cities still under Ukrainian control.
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MOSCOW – Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced that it is expelling five Croatian diplomats in response to “unfriendly steps” taken by Zagreb to reduce the size of Russia’s diplomatic mission there.
The ministry said in a statement that it called on Croatian Ambassador Tomislav Car on Friday. It said it “expressed a strong protest in the context of the Croatian authorities’ baseless attempt to blame Russia for war crimes in Ukraine and the provision of military assistance from the Croatian side to the neo-Nazi Kiev regime.”
Last month, Croatia expelled 18 Russian diplomats.
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KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s foreign minister is appealing to Western nations to supply Kyiv with heavy weapons to enable the country to push back Russian forces.
On Thursday night, Dmytro Kuleba tweeted a video in which he himself answered questions posted on Twitter, saying: “We need heavy weapons. The only position where Russia is better than us is the amount of heavy weapons they have. Without artillery, without more missile systems will we are not able to push them back. ”
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Kuleba said the situation in the eastern part of the country, where Russian forces are on the offensive, “is as horrible as people say.”
He added: “I would even say that it is even worse than what people say. We need weapons. If you really care about Ukraine, weapons, weapons and weapons again,” the minister stressed.
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KYIV, Ukraine – A Ukrainian regional governor says four people have been killed in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk in the past 24 hours by Russian shelling. Another person was killed by a Russian grenade in the village of Komushuvakha.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, wrote in a Telegram post on Friday that “the people of Sievierodonetsk have forgotten when it was last quiet in the city for at least half an hour.” He said that “the Russians are pounding relentlessly against residential areas.”
Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on Thursday that 60% of the city’s residential buildings have been destroyed, and about 85-90% have been damaged and require major repairs.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The United States has won the latest round of a legal battle to seize a $ 325 million Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji, where the case is now on its way to the Supreme Court of the Pacific Nation.
The case has highlighted the difficult legal basis on which the United States finds itself as it seeks to seize assets from Russian oligarchs around the world. These intentions are welcomed by many governments and citizens who oppose the war in Ukraine, but some measures raise questions about the extent of US jurisdiction.
Fiji’s Court of Appeal on Friday rejected an appeal by Feizal Haniff, who represents the company that legally owns the superyacht Amadea. Haniff had claimed that the United States had no jurisdiction under Fiji’s laws on mutual assistance to seize the ship, at least until a court investigated who actually owned Amadea.
Haniff said he now plans to take the case to Fiji’s Supreme Court and will apply for a court order to stop US agents sailing Amadea from Fiji before the appeal is heard.
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WASHINGTON – The US general who has been nominated to take over the European command has told the senators that Sweden and Finland’s efforts to join NATO will not require the addition of more US ground forces in any of the countries. But Army General Christopher Cavoli said on Thursday that military exercises and occasional U.S. troop rotations are likely to increase.
Cavoli, who currently serves as commander of the U.S. Army’s Europe and Africa, said the increased military focus is likely to remain in Eastern Europe – where nations are more concerned about potential Russian aggression and the possible spread of the war against Ukraine.
Cavoli told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his nomination hearing that “NATO’s focus has shifted eastward.” He said that “depending on the outcome of the conflict, we may need to continue with it for a while.”
Cavoli was asked about the US troop presence in Europe, which has grown from less than 80,000 to about 102,000 since the build-up to Russia’s invasion. He said that the increase has no connection to the recent moves of Finland and Sweden to apply for membership in NATO.
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KYIV, Ukraine – The Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk is the center of fierce fighting in the east. Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk says that it will last even though a Russian reconnaissance and sabotage group entered a city hotel.
Stryuk said at least 1,500 people had been killed in Sievierodonetsk and that about 12,000 to 13,000 remained in the city, where he said 60% of residential buildings had been destroyed.
Sievierodonetsk is the only part of the Luhansk region of the Donbas under Ukrainian government control, and Russian forces have tried to cut it off from the rest of Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Stryuk said the main road between the neighboring town of Lysychansk and Bakhmut in the southwest is still open, but traveling is dangerous. He said only 12 people could be evacuated on Thursday.
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