Ukraine and Eastern Europe

The defence ministers of Russia and the United States have spoken by telephone about the war in Ukraine. The last such conversation was more than a year ago. The call came a few days after an attack in Crimea, possibly by US missiles, which has strained relations.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday (25 June) for former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. He is suspected of being responsible for attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine between October 2022 and March 2023. An arrest warrant has also been issued for Valery Gerasimov, commander-in-chief of the Russian army.

The Council of the European Union on Monday (24 June) adopted a 14th package of economic and individual restrictive measures against Russia, "dealing a further blow to the Putin regime and those who perpetuate its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine". These measures are designed to target high-value sectors of the Russian economy, such as energy, finance and trade, and make it increasingly difficult to evade EU sanctions.

The United States is moving Ukraine to the top of the list to receive air defence interceptors to protect its cities from the onslaught of Russian missile attacks. The policy decision applies to interceptors used by the Patriot and other air defence systems to shoot down incoming missiles and drones. As a result, the US will give priority to Ukraine for Patriot surface-to-air missiles. Deliveries to other countries will be delayed to allow Ukraine to build up a sufficient stockpile.

The G7 will explore ways to use future revenues from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the G7 and its allies froze around $300 billion in Russian assets. "We are making progress in our discussions on potential avenues to bring forward the extraordinary profits stemming from immobilized Russian sovereign assets to the benefit of Ukraine," the draft statement said. G7 negotiators have been discussing for weeks how best to use these assets, which include major currencies and government bonds held mainly in European vaults. The United States (US) has been urging its G7 partners - Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - to support a loan that could provide Kyiv with up to $50 billion in the near term. The cautious language of the statement, lacking figures or specifics, underlines the many legal and technical issues that would need to be resolved before such a loan could be issued. A G7 source indicated that there would be no significant changes to the statement before the final version is released later on Saturday (25 May).

Thousands of Ukrainian prisoners have expressed interest in a new initiative that offers them the opportunity to exchange their prison sentence for military service. According to Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska, more than 3,000 prisoners have already signed up to contribute to strengthening Ukraine's armed forces. "This response is in line with our expectations when introducing this legislation," Vysotska stated. Furthermore, she noted that up to 20,000 prisoners could potentially be eligible to participate in the programme, with approximately 4,500 having expressed interest thus far. It is important to stress that prisoners convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape, other sexual violence, and crimes against national security are excluded from this scheme. This development coincides with Ukraine's urgent need for additional troops in its ongoing conflict with Russia. Russia has similarly implemented analogous arrangements for prisoners of war in the context of this conflict.

Thousands of Ukrainian prisoners have expressed interest in a new initiative that offers them the opportunity to exchange their prison sentence for military service. According to Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska, more than 3,000 prisoners have already signed up to contribute to strengthening Ukraine's armed forces. "This response is in line with our expectations when introducing this legislation," Vysotska stated. Furthermore, she noted that up to 20,000 prisoners could potentially be eligible to participate in the programme, with approximately 4,500 having expressed interest thus far. It is important to stress that prisoners convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape, other sexual violence, and crimes against national security are excluded from this scheme. This development coincides with Ukraine's urgent need for additional troops in its ongoing conflict with Russia. Russia has similarly implemented analogous arrangements for prisoners of war in the context of this conflict.