KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraineian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the Russian blockade of Ukrainian sea ports prevents Kyiv from exporting 22 million tons of grain.
In his nightly address Monday, Zelenskyy said the result is the threat of famine in countries dependent on the grain and could create a new migration crisis. He charges that “this is something the Russian leadership clearly seeks.”
Zelenskyy accuses Moscow of “deliberately creating this problem so that the whole of Europe struggles and so that Ukraine doesn’t earn billions of dollars from its exports.”
He calls Russia’s claims that sanctions don’t allow it to export more of its food “cynical” and a lie.
___
BRUSSELS — European Union leaders reached a compromise Monday to impose a partial oil embargo on Russia at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a long-delayed package of sanctions that was blocked by Hungary.
The watered-down embargo covers only Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline.
EU Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter the agreement covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia, “cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine. Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war.”
__
KYIV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian president says a total of 32 media workers have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Monday that the number includes French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff.
The French news broadcaster BFM TV says Leclerc-Imhoff was hit by shrapnel while covering a Ukrainian evacuation operation.
In his talk, Zelenskyy said: “A little more than a month ago I gave an interview to this very TV channel. It was my first interview to the French media during the full-fledged war. My sincere condolences to colleagues and family of Frédéric."
___
Russian state gas giant Gazprom confirmed Monday it will halt gas supplies to a Dutch gas trader starting Tuesday due to its refusal to pay for deliveries in rubles, a requirement to European nations Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward earlier this year.
GasTerra, based in the northern Dutch city of Groningen, announced the shutoff Monday. It said the move means Gazprom will not deliver some 2 billion cubic meters of gas through Oct. 1, the date the supply contract ends.
In its statement cited by the Russian state news agency Tass, Gazprom said that GasTerra has not paid for the gas supplied in April.
The Dutch trader said it has bought gas from other providers in anticipation of a possible Gazprom shutoff and Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten said in a statement that the government understands the cutoff will “have no effect on the physical delivery of gas to Dutch households.”
GasTerra is a private company that is owned by the Dutch arms of energy giants Shell and Esso and the Dutch government.
___
KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked France not to succumb to Russian “blackmail” over food supplies at a meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
Zelenskyy’s office says in its summary of the Monday talks that Russia is using food security issues in an attempt to have international sanctions eased. Ukraine has accused Russia of looting grain and farm equipment from regions its troops hold in Ukraine and of obstructing Ukraine’s exports of grain.
Zelenskyy’s office says he and Colonna discussed sanctions, weapons supplies and Ukrainian aspirations to join the European Union.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says it’s important Colonna also visited Bucha, the sight of Russian atrocities.
Moscow has pressed the West to lift sanctions against it over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis worsened by Kyiv’s inability to ship grain while under attack. Britain has accused Russia of “trying to hold the world to ransom,” insisting there would be no sanctions relief.
Ukraine says it’s grateful to France for supporting strong sanctions.
___
PARIS — A French news broadcaster says a 32-year-old French journalist has been killed in Ukraine while “covering a humanitarian operation.”
BFM TV says the journalist was fatally hit by shell shrapnel while covering the Ukrainian evacuation operation on Monday. The broadcaster says Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was in an armored vehicle near Sievierodonetsk, a key city in the Donbas region.
French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to Leclerc-Imhoff. Macron tweeted the journalist “was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war.” Macron says, “Aboard a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot.”
Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko says another French journalist was wounded along with a Ukrainian woman who was accompanying them.
___
MOSCOW -- The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken on the phone to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and discussed the situation in Ukraine, among other things.
According to the Kremlin’s readout of the Monday call, “the emphasis was placed on the issues of ensuring safe navigation in the Black and Azov Seas, eliminating the mine threat in their waters.”
The readout says Putin “noted the readiness of the Russian side to facilitate the unimpeded maritime transit of goods in coordination with Turkish partners.” It says, “This also applies to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of looting grain and farm equipment from regions its troops hold in Ukraine and of obstructing Ukraine’s exports of grain.
The Kremlin says Putin “confirmed” to Erdogan that Russia can export “significant amounts of fertilizers and agricultural products” if sanctions against it are lifted.
Moscow has pressed the West to lift sanctions against it over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis worsened by Kyiv’s inability to ship grain while under attack. Britain has accused Russia of “trying to hold the world to ransom,” insisting there would be no sanctions relief.
A top U.S. diplomat has blasted the “barbarity,” “cruelty” and “lawlessness” of Russia’s invasion.
___
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden is suggesting that there are no plans for the U.S. to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine, amid reports that the move is being considered.
Biden told reporters outside the White House on Monday that “we are not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that can strike into Russia.”
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said that it was a “reasonable” decision.
He said that “otherwise, if our cities come under attack, the Russian armed forces would fulfill (their) threat and strike the centers where such criminal decisions are made.”
Medvedev added that “some of them aren’t in Kyiv.” And he said that “there is no need for a further explanation.”
___
BRUSSELS — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is welcoming a proposal for the European Union to slap an embargo on Russian oil transported by ship and to exempt oil pumped overland through Ukraine to his country.
Orban says the idea is a “good approach.” But he wants guarantees that “in the case of an accident with the pipeline” Hungary would “have the right to get Russian oil from other sources.”
Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria rely on Russian oil and are reluctant to impose sweeping sanctions on crude. Russia supplies more than 60% of Hungary’s oil.
Orban’s remarks came Monday at an extraordinary EU summit focused on helping Ukraine, with sanctions a clear focus of attention.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala also says that a ban on “sea-transported oil has our support.”
Fiala says his country “simply cannot afford a situation when we’d lack some oil products.”
___
BRUSSELS -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’s confident that a “good solution” to a standoff over a proposed European Union embargo on Russian oil will be found “sooner or later.”
Scholz said as he arrived at an EU summit Monday that Europe’s unity so far in the face of Russia’s attack on Ukraine sends a good signal “and I am very confident that we will do so in the future too.”
Divisions have emerged over whether to target Russian oil in a new series of sanctions, with Hungary leading objections. But Scholz said he saw talks being conducted “with a will to reach an agreement.”
He didn’t address details of a possible solution but said the EU’s strength lies in solving problems together and he is “firmly convinced that we can continue discussing a good solution with each other today and tomorrow.”
Scholz said: “No one can predict whether this will actually be the case, but everything I hear sounds as though there could be a consensus, and sooner or later there will be one.”
___
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lawmakers from NATO countries are calling for a solution to transport grain and other products from Ukraine to get around a Russian blockade of Black Sea ports.
Spanish lawmaker Zaida Cantera said that “Africa and the Middle East import around 50% of these products" and that, based on U.N. data, “Africa will face famine.” Cantera said that ”could lead to more migrants arriving in the southern parts of Europe.”
She spoke at the NATO parliamentary assembly, which was moved to the Lithuanian capital after originally being slated for Kyiv.
At the end of their one-day gathering, the NATO lawmakers approved a resolution calling for stronger sanctions against Russia and an increased supply of weapons to Ukraine.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, said during the meeting that his country will not accept any “land for peace” deals with Russia.
___
BARCELONA, Spain — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says next month’s summit in Madrid will be a “historic” opportunity to strengthen the alliance in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Speaking at a gala in Madrid to mark Spain’s 40th year as a NATO member, Stoltenberg said he looked forward to welcoming Sweden and Finland at the summit on June 29-30.
He said that “at the Madrid summit we will chart the way ahead for the next decade.” He added that “we will also be joined by Finland and Sweden, who have just made historic applications to join our alliance.”
But the leader of the 30-member alliance didn’t address Turkey’s reluctance to opening the doors to Sweden and Finland.