US accuses Moscow of trying to intimidate US employees; five die in overnight attacks on Ukraine
The United States on Monday accused Moscow of attempting to intimidate and harass US employees after Russian state media reported that a former US consulate worker had been charged by security services with collecting information on the war in Ukraine and other issues for Washington. Russia is seeking to question two US diplomats at the embassy in Moscow over the case, in a break from diplomatic tradition.
The European Union should get ready to admit new members from eastern Europe and the Balkans by 2030, EU chief Charles Michel argued Monday. With Russia’s war in Ukraine continuing and Moldova’s pro-western government scrambling to reform, senior officials have previously been reluctant to offer precise timetables. “To be credible, I believe we must talk about timing and homework,” Michel said, addressing the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia. “As we prepare the EU’s next strategic agenda, we must set ourselves a clear goal. I believe we must be ready, on both sides, by 2030 to enlarge.”
Pope Francis came under criticism on Monday for telling Russian youths to remember that they are the heirs of past tsars such as Peter the Great, who President Vladimir Putin has held up as an example to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine said the comments, which Francis made on Friday in a live video address to Catholic youths gathered in St. Petersburg, were “deeply regrettable”.
Poland and the Baltic states will close their borders with Belarus entirely if a “critical incident” involving Wagner mercenaries takes place, the Polish interior minister, Mariusz Kamiński, said on Monday.
Three people were killed in an overnight Russian missile strike in central Ukraine, and two died in shelling later on Monday in the east and south, Ukrainian officials said. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the three people were killed at an industrial plant in central Poltava region. Five were wounded and another person was unaccounted for, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will skip the G20 summit in India next month and will send his foreign minister instead, prime minister Narendra Modi’s office said Monday. Modi’s office said he spoke to Putin by telephone, “expressing an understanding” for his decision not to attend the September 9-10 summit, which foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will attend.
A Russian-born Swedish citizen has reportedly been charged with collecting information for the Russian military intelligence service GRU for almost a decade.
Russian air defences downed two Ukrainian drones over Russian-annexed Crimea on Monday, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of the region, wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine said on Monday its troops had liberated the south-eastern settlement of Robotyne and were trying to advance further south in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.
The Ukrainian defence minister rejected new graft allegations concerning military supplies on Monday, amid media reports of uniforms being bought for inflated prices during the war with Russia. Several media outlets have reported that the ministry signed a contract late last year with a Turkish company to supply winter combat fatigues, but the price tripled after the inking of the deal. Ukrainian journalists have also determined that the winter gear can be bought in Turkey at considerably lower prices.
