WAR IN UKRAINE: May 18, 2022
An electronic sign in English, Ukrainian and Russian urges arriving travellers from Ukraine at London Gatwick Airport who’ve witnessed evidence of war crimes to report to the police
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 84
Ukraine is doing "everything possible and impossible" to save the remaining fighters trapped in Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks, a senior official has said. But Russian prosecutors said they would question all the Ukrainian soldiers as part of an investigation into what Moscow describes as "Ukrainian regime crimes against Donbas civilians". Full BBC story here
Russian former colonel criticizes invasion: In rare public criticism of the conduct of Russia's military operations in Ukraine, a former senior Russian officer has warned on state television that the situation will get worse. Despite pushback from the show’s presenter, retired Col. Mikhail Khodarenok said Ukraine could arm 1 million people - CNN
Both Ukraine and Russia admitted that peace talks aimed at ending the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on 24 February were currently on hold, blaming each other for this impasse. The periodic talks started in Belarus and then continued in Turkey.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says 3,752 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the current phase of the 8-year war. A further 4,062 are known to have been injured, it says. The UN entity says that it believes that the true figures for civilian deaths in the conflict are considerably higher.
EU chief pledges financial assistance for reconstruction of Ukraine of up to €9 billion in 2022. “We will continue to be by Ukraine's side - throughout this war and when they start rebuilding,” says Ursula von der Leyen. She adds the assistance should be accompanied with reforms. Estimates for Ukraine’s reconstruction bill from the Russian invasion are as high as $680 billion.
ICC prosecutor announces largest field deployment of forensics and investigative team to Ukraine: The "largest ever single field deployment" of an International Criminal Court forensics and investigative team has been sent to Ukraine, ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said in a statement Tuesday. "I can confirm that today my Office has deployed a team of 42 investigators, forensic experts and support personnel to Ukraine to advance our investigations into crimes falling into the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court ... and provide support to Ukrainian national authorities. This represents the largest ever single field deployment by my Office since its establishment," Khan said - CNN
“An ugly war is about to get much uglier” - an analysis on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s miscalculations on invading Ukraine. By Ian Bremmer, the founder and president of Eurasia Group. Read here
