Ukraine Latest: US Accuses Russia of War Crimes in Ukraine
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(Bloomberg) -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China against arming Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, hours after the top Chinese diplomat said his country will offer a settlement proposal that respects “the sovereignty of all countries” and addresses their “legitimate security concerns.”
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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said NATO should try to agree on a security guarantee for Ukraine by July. In a Bloomberg Television interview, he also called on China to “play a responsible role.”
Vice President Kamala Harris told the Munich Security Conference that the US has concluded Russia committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)
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On the Ground
The threat from Russian air and missile strikes remains “very high” across Ukraine, the nation’s General Staff said in its daily report. Russian forces launched 10 missile barrages and 29 air strikes as well as 69 MLRS attacks in the previous day, according to the report. Ukraine said its forces repelled Russian attacks near settlements in the Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions on Friday. Ukrainian air defenses shot down six Russian drones, the General Staff added. Ukraine downed two out of four Kalibr missiles launched from Russian ships in the Black Sea, the country’s Air Force said on Telegram.
(All times CET)
Blinken Says China Weighing Lethal Support (11:30 p.m.)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China against providing lethal support such as weapons and ammunition to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
“The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support,” Blinken said in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” shortly after meeting China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Munich late Saturday. “And we’ve made very clear to them that that could cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”
Mayorkas Sees Risk of War ‘Normalization’ (4:37 p.m.)
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said “one thing that worries me is the normalization of tragedy” in the public’s consciousness of the war in Ukraine.
Asked in an interview at the Munich Security Conference whether he thinks the war will stretch on for more than a year, Mayorkas said: “I’m too much of an optimist to surrender to that.”
Orban Says Europe Indirectly at War With Russia (4:14 p.m.)
“Europe is getting immersed in war, in reality they’re already indirectly at war with Russia,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Saturday in an annual state of the nation speech.
Orban, the European Union leader with the closest ties to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, reiterated that Hungary won’t supply weapons to Ukraine and doesn’t view Russia as a security threat.
Estonia to Prod EU on Protecting Moldova (3:53 p.m.)
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said oligarchs accused of helping to destabilize Moldova and potentially overthrow its pro-European government should be targeted with European Union sanctions.
Reinsalu said he’ll put the request to the EU next week in Brussels. Any such measure could however face “legalistic” barriers, he said in an interview during the Munich Security Conference.
Baerbock Says China Shouldn’t Reward Russia (2:41 p.m.)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed China’s decision to put forward a peace initiative for Ukraine, but said “a just peace cannot mean that the aggressor gets rewarded.” As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, “China is obliged to use its influence for global peace,” Baerbock said in Munich.
A Russian troop withdrawal from Ukraine is a condition of any peace deal, she said.
Sunak Sees Conflict at Inflection Point (1:35 p.m.)
Sunak said the war in Ukraine has reached an “inflection point” and it’s critical for allies to provide more advanced weaponry.
Ukraine “has the ability to gain a decisive advantage on the battlefield,” Sunak said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It can’t just be about defending.” Talks on a new security guarantee for Ukraine should start now so they can be wrapped up by NATO’s July summit in Vilnius, he said.
Blinken Accuses Russia of War Crimes, Demands Accountability (1 p.m.)
Blinken said Russian forces are committing “execution-style killings of Ukrainian men, women, and children; torture of civilians in detention through beatings, electrocution, and mock executions; rape” and said that in concert with Russian officials, they “have deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families.”
Blinken said US support for accountability efforts would continue “for as long as it takes.”
The US has concluded that Russia committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris told the Munich Security Conference earlier Saturday.
Italian Foreign Minister Reiterates Support for Ukraine (12:45 p.m.)
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the Italian government’s support for the “defense of Ukraine and in favor of a just peace has never changed.”
Tajani’s commented after the European People’s Party canceled a meeting of conservative politicians in Naples after former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Tajani is a member of the Forza Italia party, which Berlusconi heads.
Denmark Cites Emerging Arctic Threat From Russia (12:30 p.m.)
The security situation in the Arctic High North region is likely to be more fragile in the coming years, as Russia steps up activity in the region, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, speaking on a panel at the Munich Security Conference.
While Finland and Sweden will be important additions to boosting security in the region when they join NATO, allies “need to be much more physically present there,” the Danish leader said.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto on the same panel noted that Russia covers half of the region, adding that “if we lose the Arctic because of climate change, we lose the globe.”
China Flags Peace Plan, Condemns Nuclear Plant Attacks (12:00 p.m.)
Wang Yi, who holds the top foreign-policy post in the ruling Communist Party, told the Munich conference that China would release a peace proposal in the coming days that would be in keeping with previous efforts by President Xi Jinping.
He also condemned attacks on nuclear power stations.
“We oppose attacks on nuclear power stations, attacks on civilian nuclear facilities,” Wang said. “We have to work to prevent nuclear proliferation and nuclear disasters.”
Romania Handled Bulk of Grain Through Solidarity Lanes (12:50 p.m.)
Almost 13 million tons of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine have transited through Romania since the beginning of Russia’s war, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told Bloomberg. About 60% of the grain transported through solidarity lanes passed through Romania, Auresco said in an interview. The EU set up the solidarity lanes after Russia initially blocked cargo out of the Black Sea following its invasion of Ukraine.
Constanța’s port now is Europe’s largest for grain exports and Romania had also recently opened three new border crossing points with Ukraine, he added.
Poland Seeks Munitions Coalition to Help Ukraine (10:50 a.m.)
Poland is organizing a coalition of countries to finance the production of munitions for Ukraine, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters in Munich. He said he discussed the matter with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. He also talked with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about creating a hub in Poland to upgrade and repair Leopard tanks to be used by Ukrainian forces.
Finland Open to Joining NATO Ahead of Sweden (10:30 a.m.)
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin signaled that she’s ready to see her country become a NATO member before Sweden, even as she appealed to Turkey and Hungary to ratify membership for both countries.
“We are willing to join and we prefer and want to join together,” Marin said during a panel discussion in Munich. “Of course, we cannot influence and affect how some countries will ratify.” She said that it’s in the interest of all of NATO to see the Nordic neighbors join simultaneously because it increases the potential for cooperation in defending the alliance’s northern border.
China ‘Very Ambiguous’ on Sanctions (10:15 a.m.)
China is taking a “very ambiguous position” when it comes to circumvention of EU sanctions imposed on Russia, the EU’s trade chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich meeting.
Asked what measures the EU would take if it clearly emerged that Chinese companies were circumventing sanctions, Dombrovskis said it would be something that would need to be discussed with allies, adding that in some cases, as with Iran providing drones, companies have been added to sanctions packages.
“As we are actively imposing sanctions on Russia, they’re actively seeking ways to circumvent it so it requires constant pressure,” Dombrovskis said.
NATO Chief Says Putin Is Preparing for Long War (10:15 a.m.)
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, said President Vladimir Putin is preparing Russia for a long war and building up his military to sustain the fighting.
“There are no indications he has changed his ambitions,” Stoltenberg will tell the Munich conference later Saturday, according to a text of his remarks. “He is mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops, increasingly putting the Russian economy on a war footing and reaching out to other authoritarian regimes, such as Iran and North Korea, to get more weapons.”
Ukraine Power Intact Despite Russian Missile Attack (10 a.m.)
A Russian missile attack on Saturday morning failed to trigger a power shortage in Ukraine, according to a statement from national grid operator Ukrenergo.
Ukrenergo preemptively limited supply during the attack and the power network is returning to normal, the company said on Telegram. Imports from Slovakia are minimal amid lower demand during the weekend and sufficient electricity being generated within the country, Ukrenergo said.
Ukraine PM Rules Out Reconciliation (10 a.m.)
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said “cooperation and reconciliation” with Russia will be impossible for 100 years and the country would first need to be “democratized, demilitarized and denuclearized.”
In an interview with Germany’s Focus magazine, Shmyhal called for “the complete evacuation from Ukraine of Russian troops within the 1991 borders” and said that “thousands of our best people didn’t die so that we could compromise with a bloody terrorist and aggressor who is blackmailing the whole world.”
Scholz, Wang Discuss ‘Ukraine Issue’ (9 a.m.)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and China’s Wang Yi discussed “the Ukraine issue” on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference meeting Friday, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Wang said China and Germany share a responsibility for maintaining world peace and addressing global challenges, Xinhua reported. He also said the two countries should “safeguard the stability of global production and supply chains.”
(A previous version corrected Wang Yi’s title.)
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