live blog
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg warns Ukraine’s allies not to underestimate Russia. The US imposes sanctions on four gold companies for co-financing the Wagner mercenary group. The developments in the live blog.
Stoltenberg: Russia should not be underestimated USA impose sanctions on four gold companies At least three dead in rocket attack on Kramatorsk
7:01 a.m
US imposes sanctions on four gold companies
The US has imposed sanctions on four companies over illegal gold deals used to finance the Russian mercenary group Wagner. The US Treasury Department said the companies were in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Central African Republic and Russia.
The companies affected are Midas Resources SARLU and Diamville SAU in the Central African Republic, Industrial Resources General Trading in the UAE and Limited Liability Company in Russia. Statements from the companies and the Wagner Group were not available.
Because of the illegal gold deals, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s militia is maintaining and expanding its units in Ukraine and Africa, for example. The US State Department said the measures taken against Wagner were unrelated to the weekend’s uprising in Russia.
1:05 a.m
At least three dead in rocket attack on Kramatorsk
According to official sources, at least three people were killed and more than 40 others injured in a Russian rocket attack on the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. A child was among the dead, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in his evening video address. “Such terror proves to us and to the whole world again and again that Russia deserves only one thing for all its deeds: defeat and a tribunal.”
The Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko had previously announced that the Russian army had shelled Kramatorsk twice on Tuesday evening, hitting a restaurant among other things. Rescue workers searched under the rubble for possible victims.
12:59 a.m
Stoltenberg: Shouldn’t underestimate Russia
According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Ukraine’s allies must not underestimate Russia. For this reason, they should continue to support Ukraine, Stoltenberg said after a meeting of NATO countries in The Hague. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine has deepened the rifts in Russia. It is still too early to speculate about the effects of the relocation of the troops of the head of the Wagner mercenary unit, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to Belarus.
According to its Secretary General, NATO is ready to defend itself against any threat from “Moscow or Minsk”. At its next summit in Lithuania in mid-July, NATO will decide to strengthen its defense systems to protect all of its members, especially those sharing a border with Russia and Belarus, Stoltenberg said.
12:49 a.m
Tuesday’s live blog to read
There is a change at the top of the Ukrainian state-owned armaments company Ukroboronprom. President Selenskyj is said to have been dissatisfied with the previous boss. Two people were killed in a rocket attack in Kramatorsk.