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Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS summit in South Africa next month “by mutual agreement,” the South African presidency announced Wednesday. As a signatory to the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, South Africa would have been obliged to arrest Putin if he arrived in the country due to the ICC arrest warrant issued against him in March over war crimes in Ukraine. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had sought an exemption, saying that trying to arrest Putin would amount to a declaration of war against Moscow.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Russia used Kh-59 guided air missiles, long-range Kh-22 missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Odessa overnight, reported Oleh Kiper, the regional governor. The strikes hit grain and oil terminals at the port, Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported, citing Vladyslav Nazarov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military’s southern command. Odessa’s mayor, Gennady Trukhanov, described the attacks as “one of the most horrible nights,” adding: “We do not recall such a scale of attack since the beginning of a full-scale invasion.”
Russian drones also appeared to target other areas of the country overnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that there were attacks on Zhytomyr and other regions of the country. The military administration in the capital, Kyiv, said on Telegram that the air defense was able to intercept all drones over the city.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied a claim that Russia threatened South Africa with war if it arrested Putin when asked about it at a news conference Wednesday. But he added that it was “absolutely clear to everyone in this world what it means to attempt to encroach on the head of the Russian state, so no one here needs to explain anything.” Ramaphosa said in court documents published Tuesday that “to declare war with Russia by arresting President Putin” during the summit would be “a reckless, unconstitutional and unlawful exercise” of government power, local news outlet News 24 reported.
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary General António Guterres would “continue to explore all possible avenues to ensure that Ukrainian grain, Russian grain and Russian fertilizer are out into the global market” after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal that allowed millions of tons of essential food products to be exported from Ukrainian ports that Russia had blockaded. Governments around the world, from France and Finland to Kenya, criticized Russia’s decision to pull out of the grain deal this week.
A fire broke out early Wednesday at a military training ground on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, reported no casualties but said that more than 2,200 people were being evacuated from nearby villages. Investigators are working on determining the cause of the blaze, he said.
Traffic has partially resumed on the Crimean Bridge, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Telegram, adding that fully restoring the structure could cost between $11 million and $14 million.
The head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, MI6, encouraged Russians to spy for his country, Reuters news agency reported. In a rare speech in Prague, Richard Moore urged disaffected Russians to “join hands with us,” adding: “Our door is always open … Their secrets will be safe with us and together we will work to bring the bloodshed to an end.” The CIA has also sought to recruit Russians, and in May published instructions on how to share information safely with the agency online.
President Biden will discuss the repatriation of Ukrainian children with a papal envoy this week in Washington, the White House said. Kyiv estimates that thousands of children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.
Russian warships will participate in a joint naval exercise with China in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the Kremlin said Tuesday. A group of vessels left the far eastern city of Vladivostok for the exercises, which are set to begin later this month.
In Central Asia, a hidden pipeline is supplying Russia with banned technology: On the shipping label, Chinese drones were described as heavy-duty crop dusters — a tool used by orchards and large farms. But the identity of the Russian buyer hinted at other possible uses.
The shipment of drones was intercepted by customs officers on the border of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan during the final leg of their long trek, according to U.S. officials who recounted the event. The episode was unusual, and lauded as a rare victory in a whack-a-mole effort to stop banned hardware from pouring into Russia, Joby Warrick reports.
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