June 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi vowed to “rebuild everything” after visiting Ukraine’s war-torn city of Irpin on Thursday.

“They know exactly where the sites that need to be rebuilt are. Each family has an app where they describe what happened, and they are already in a very advanced state,” he added. 

During his visit to the Kyiv suburb, locals spoke to him “about rebuilding. Words of pain, of hope but also of what they will want to do in the future,” the Italian leader said.

The leaders of France, Germany and Italy have arrived in Kyiv for a high profile trip to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's defense minister said the number of Ukrainians who have died since Russia invaded the country in February likely stands in the tens of thousands.

Here are the latest developments:

European leaders meet Zelensky: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi are meeting with Zelensky, during a visit to Kyiv designed to smooth out tensions over what Ukrainian officials perceive as lukewarm support in their fight against Russia. Speaking to reporters on the platform as he arrived at Kyiv train station, Macron told reporters he had a "message of European unity addressed to Ukrainian men and women." 

US aid bolsters Ukrainian military: US weapons will help Ukraine recapture Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea and Donbas, the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told CNN's Matthew Chance in an exclusive interview in Brussels. The defense minister said the first step would be stabilization of the situation on the ground to prevent further losses against Russian forces. He said the second stage is to push Russian forces back to their positions before the invasion on February 24, adding the military "will move step by step." 

Fighting in the east intensifies: The Russia-backed leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine said on Thursday that his fighters will push beyond the borders of the Donetsk region. “The West's supplies of new weapons to Ukraine are forcing DPR troops not to stop at the borders of the Donetsk Republic,” Denis Pushilin told Russian State Media RIA Novosti. He added that he wants to see a "referendum" held for his region to join Russia. Huge parts of the Donetsk region are still controlled by Ukraine, most notably the population centers of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

UK increases sanctions on Russia: Britain on Thursday sanctioned the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, for his "prominent support of Russian military aggression in Ukraine," the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. Patriarch Kirill has been sanctioned alongside several of Russian President Vladimir Putin's allies and military commanders. The announcement came two days after Russia published an updated “stop list” banning a total of 49 British citizens from entering the country, including journalists, UK military officials, defense contractors and members of parliament.

China reaffirms support for Russia: Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his support for Moscow on "sovereignty and security" matters in a call with counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, upholding his backing for the countries' partnership despite the global backlash against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Speaking on his 69th birthday, Xi also pledged to deepen strategic coordination between the two countries, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

Federal prosecutors in New York announced on Wednesday they were moving to seize more than $5.3 million from a United States bank account belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, according to court documents.

Malofeyev was recently targeted by the US in a round of sanctions imposed on Russia over the war on Ukraine. On April 20, the US unveiled sanctions targeting a key commercial bank and "a global network of more than 40 individuals and entities led by US-designated Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev."

The reasons given for these sanctions were "for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly," the government of Russia.

The US previously sanctioned Malofeyev in December 2014 for funding "separatist activities in eastern Ukraine" and for his close links to "Aleksandr Borodai, Igor Girkin (a.k.a. Igot Strelkov), and the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, which have all been previously sanctioned as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs)," according to a Treasury release at the time.

Ukraine’s Irpin and Bucha have “become a symbol of the unimaginable cruelty of the Russian war,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday after visiting Irpin, a suburb outside Kyiv.

This is Scholz's first trip to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion.   

“The brutal destruction in this city is a memorial — this war must end," Scholz demanded in a tweet.  

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is also visiting Kyiv, tweeted that Romania wants “all Russian perpetrators to be held responsible by the international criminal justice.” 

“No words to describe the unimaginable human tragedy and horrible destructions we saw today in Irpin,“ Iohannis wrote. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting in Kyiv with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, according to a photos and video distributed by Zelensky’s office.

“Busy day. Important meetings,” Zelensky said via his official Telegram channel, adding that he is pleased to meet these leaders.

Britain on Thursday sanctioned the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, for his "prominent support of Russian military aggression in Ukraine," the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. 

Patriarch Kirill has been sanctioned alongside several of Russian President Vladimir Putin's allies and military commanders, in UK's latest round of sanctions against Russia.

In May, a branch of Ukraine's Orthodox church broke ties with Russia's Patriarch Kirill over the Russian spiritual leader's support for the war in Ukraine, deepening a rift between the Moscow church and other Orthodox believers.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the sanction is another example of "Russophobia."

“This is craziness. It just shows how inadequate some countries are in their Russophobia,” Peskov told CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen. 

Targeting those responsible for "the barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine," the UK also announced sanctions against Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for her alleged involvement in the "forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children."

In the statement, the Foreign Office said Lvova-Belova stood accused of enabling the "violent" transfer of 2,00 children from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and orchestrating a policy allowing for their forced adoptions in Russia.

The UK's latest sanctions list also includes four Military Colonels from the 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade -- the unit is allegedly responsible for the murder and torture of civilians in Bucha.

The Russia-backed leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine said on Thursday that his fighters will push beyond the borders of the Donetsk region.

“The West's supplies of new weapons to Ukraine are forcing DPR troops not to stop at the borders of the Donetsk Republic,” Denis Pushilin told Russian State Media RIA Novosti.

Huge parts of the Donetsk region are still controlled by Ukraine, most notably the population centers of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

Last week, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations insisted that conquering the Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk) remained his country’s objective.

“The liberation of Donbas was the primary goal, which is being implemented at the moment,” Vasily Nebenzya told the BBC.

In a press conference with Danish journalists on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "sure that if Ukraine is not strong enough, they will go further" beyond the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

Russia and the United States must discuss the extension of the START nuclear arms reduction treaty, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov said extension discussions should have already started because the matter is important for global security. Talks of any kind between the US and Russia have been strained following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

“This is a topic that cannot be avoided,” Peskov told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti in an interview on Thursday.

“This discussion is important not only for the peoples of our two countries, but also for the whole world, for global security," he added.

Some background: The US and Russia previously agreed to extend the landmark New START treaty, which limits the number of strategic offensive weapons both countries can have, until February 4, 2026.

The historic agreement was first signed for a period of 10 years by former US President Barack Obama and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010.

It is the last treaty between the US and Russia placing limits on the growth of the world's two largest nuclear arsenals after the US pulled out of a separate nuclear arms control agreement with Russia, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), under the Trump administration in 2019.

The Russia-backed leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) says he wants to see a “referendum” held for his region to join Russia.

“A decision on a referendum on the DPR joining Russia will be made after the special military operation is completed,” Denis Pushilin told Russian state media RIA Novosti. He said that he hoped the war would be complete “by the end of the year.”

“Ukraine as a state may simply not exist in the foreseeable future,” he said.

Russia recognized the DPR as an independent state just before its February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

DPR fighters, Pushilin said, will not stop at the borders of Donetsk, large swaths of which are still controlled by Ukrainian forces.

“The West's supplies of new weapons to Ukraine are forcing DPR troops not to stop at the borders of the Donetsk Republic,” he said.

Some background: Donetsk lies in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which has seen a heavy Russian offensive since the invasion. Donetsk along with Luhansk, are both pro-Russian separatist states, seeking to break away from Ukraine.

On June 9, two Britons -- Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner -- and a Moroccan, Brahim Saadoune were given the death sentence in a pro-Russian DPR court after being captured, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti. The three foreign fighters were accused of being mercenaries for Ukraine.