Ukraine-Russia war latest: International arrest warrants issued for former Russian defence minister and top general (2024)

Moscow has announced it is banning access inside Russia to the broadcasts of dozens of EU media outlets, in a retaliatory move after a similar EU ban on several Russian media firms.

In May, the European Union said it was suspending the distribution of four Russian outlets - the Voice of Europe, RIA news agency and the Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers.

It said they were spreading and supporting the "Russian propaganda and war of aggression against Ukraine".

Today the Russian foreign ministry has hit back by releasing a list of 81 media outlets from 25 EU member states whose broadcasts would no longer be available inside Russia.

Moscow has in turn accused these outlets of "systematically distributinginaccurate information" about the war.

Among the outlets banned are Italian broadcasters Rai andLa7 and newspapers La Repubblica and La Stampa.

The Italian foreign ministry has condemned the decision, calling the measure against "objective and unbiased" reporting "unjustified".

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country's dream has been made "a reality" as membership talks between the EU and Ukraine begin.

Mr Zelenskyy said there had been "thousands of meetings and calls" between Kyiv's application for membership on the fifth day of the Ukraine war and today's conference in Luxembourg.

He also said Ukraine had worked to meet conditions imposed by the EU and enacted new laws to improve his country's standing.

Ukrainian Prime Minister DenysShmyhal said the start of EU accession talks was asignificant step towards a "shared victory".

Russia has launched 2,277 attack drones at Ukraine since the start of this year alone, Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleschuk has said.

Of these, 1,953 (86%) have been downed by Ukraine's anti-aircraft defences, he said.

Mr Oleschuk said "thousands of servicemen" are firing at Russian drones "almost every night".

"The enemy is constantly increasing attacks with a large number of air attack means - this is especially true of attack [drones]," he wrote in a Telegram post.

In another legal development today, a top European court has found Russia guilty of committing multiple human rights violations since it annexed the Crimean peninsula a decade ago.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said breaches included violations of the the right to life, theprohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, freedom ofreligion and freedom of expression among others.

The ruling, on a case brought by Ukraine, ordered Moscow to "takemeasures as soon as possible for the safe return of the relevantprisoners transferred from Crimea to penal facilities located onthe territory of the Russian Federation".

The Strasbourg-based court earlier said the case was not concerned with whether the Crimea annexation was lawful under international law.

Russia said it would not comply with ECHR decisions issued after 15 March 2022, meaning the impact of the verdict could be limited.

Russian lender Sberbank has begun opening offices in occupied parts of the four Ukrainian regions it has illegally annexed.

The bank announced on Friday that it would open 46 offices during the week.

In 2022, Vladimir Putin signed laws absorbingDonetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia in a move rejected as a sham by Ukraine and the West.

Away from the ICC arrest warrants, the EU is officially launching membership talks with Ukraine today in what Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described as a "historic day" for his country.

Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, will lead Ukraine's delegation at a conference in Luxembourg, which marks the official opening of the long-awaited talks.

There are several stages ahead in Ukraine's years-long effort to join the bloc, with membership, if it comes, potentially years away. Negotiations themselves are also unlikely to begin for several months.

But the launching of official talks sends a message of solidarity to Ukraine beyond the financial support provided by EU nations so far.

"Generations of our people are realising their European dream. Ukraine is returning to Europe," Mr Zelenskyy said in an online post.

Moldova, which applied for EU membership in the wake of Russia's invasion, will take part in a separate conference to launch its own accession process.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the arrest warrants againstSergeiShoigu and Valery Gerasimov and said he wants to see them "behind bars".

In a post to social media, the Ukrainian president said the key Russian military figures were accused of being behind "barbaric" attacks against Ukraine's infrastructure.

"Every criminal involved in the planning and execution of these strikes must know that justice will be served. And we do hope to see them behind bars," he said.

Mr Zelenskyy said the decision by the International Criminal Court was a "clear indication that justice for Russian crimes against Ukrainians is inevitable".

"We look forward to more arrest warrants in order to deprive Russia of its sense of impunity. The feeling that has fuelled Russian crimes for decades. Accountability is the only way to put a stop to them," said the president.

Here we take a look at the top Russian figures facing International Criminal Court arrest warrants.

Both were heavily criticised by Russia's influential war bloggers for the army's failings in the first year of the war, when it suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks and retreats.

They were the targets of a revolt lead by mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin in June 2023.

He had previously hurled abuse at them in a series of videos, accusing them of sabotaging the war effort and starving his Wagner fighters of ammunition.

Sergei Shoigu, 69, served as defence minister from 2012 until Vladimir Putin unexpectedly removed him in May andnamedhim secretary of the Security Council.

He was personally close to Mr Putin, holidaying with him in the forests and mountains of Mr Shoigu's native Siberia where the pair of them were photographed hiking and fishing together bare-chested.

But his position was sharply weakened by the arrest of one of his deputies in April this year in a major corruption scandal.

The affair has since widened, with more arrests at the defence ministry and the General Staff.

General Valery Gerasimov, 68, has been chief of the General Staff since 2012and is overall commander of the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

He has remained in his post but is potentiallyvulnerable, as his deputy at the General Staff is one of thosedetained and under investigation.

On the battlefield, however,Russia's fortunes have improved in recent months with a seriesof gradual gains.

The head of the General Staff is the mostsenior post in the armed forces after the president, who iscommander-in-chief, and the defence minister.

The job comes withone of Russia's three "nuclear briefcases", according to someWestern military analysts.

We're now getting the first reactions from Russia to the International Criminal Court's warrants to arrest Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov on war crimes allegations.

The Russian Security Council has branded the decision "part of the hybrid war of the West against the Russian Federation", Russian state media Tass reported.

The warrant was insignificant and akin to "shaking of the air", the council said.

Ukraine's presidential chiefof staff has praised the International Criminal Court's move toissue arrest warrants for Russia's former defence minister and its chief of general staff.

Andriy Yermak said it was an important decision and the pair "bear individual responsibility".

Both will be "held responsible for evil", he said.

The court has accused Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov of war crimes and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts for attacking civilian targets in Ukraine.