European leaders visit Kyiv for talks on weapons, EU membership; UK announces new sanctions on Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government on Thursday to quickly come up with new measures to support the domestic car industry, which has seen sales crater since the invasion of Ukraine.

Amid a crunch on demand from Russian buyers and severe logistics problems as a result of Western sanctions, car sales slumped a record 83.5% in May, according to Association of European Businesses data.

"I would like to ask the government to tell us in detail what swift measures it is taking to support the auto industry and stabilize the internal market," Putin said in a meeting with officials broadcast on state TV.

Interfax news agency quoted him as saying the government should come up with an updated plan before Sept 1.

— Reuters

The State Department is aware of reports that a total of three U.S. citizens have gone missing in Ukraine but could not verify if they were in Russian custody.

"There are reports of one additional American whose whereabouts are unknown. I can't speak to the specifics of that case. Unfortunately, we don't know the full details," State Department spokesman Ned Price said during a daily press briefing.

"Similarly, our understanding was that this individual has traveled to Ukraine to take up arms," Price added.

Price's comments come on the heels of various media reports that Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, two former American service members, were captured by Russian forces in Kharkiv last week. Those reports and details have not been confirmed by CNBC or NBC News.

Price told reporters that so far the Biden administration has not seen any evidence that Russian forces have detained Americans.

"At this moment, we have seen the open press reports, the same reports that you all have seen, but we don't have independent confirmation of their whereabouts," Price said.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said Russia's blockade of Ukraine's ports will lead to food shortages as well as higher food prices across the globe.

"The failure of Russia to allow and enable the ports to be opened and available is obviously causing some significant disruption to the extent that the grain, nearly 20 million metric tons, can't get into the market," Vilsack told reporters at the United Nations.

He added that potential shortages will likely trigger "unrest and instability" in countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

Vilsack called on Russia to negotiate in good faith with international parties looking to create food corridors out of Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

A third of Sudan' population is currently facing a food crisis due to the compounded impact of climate shocks, political turmoil and rising global food prices, the U.N. food agency said.

A joint report by the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization said that 15 million people face acute food insecurity across all of the East African country's 18 provinces.

"The combined effects of conflict, climate shocks, economic and political crises, rising costs and poor harvests are pushing millions of people deeper into hunger and poverty,' said Eddie Rowe, WFP's representative in Sudan.

Living conditions rapidly deteriorated across cash-strapped Sudan since an October military coup sent an already fragile economy into free-fall, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine compounding the economic pain.

Funding levels fall short of meeting humanitarian needs in Sudan, where 40% of the population is expected to slip into food insecurity by September, the report said.

— Associated Press

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, Washington and its allies have imposed rounds of coordinated sanctions that vaulted Russia past Iran and North Korea as the world's most-sanctioned country.

A new report from the Center for a New American Security, or CNAS, calculates that the Biden administration has imposed more than 1,500 sanctions on over 800 targets related to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

Here's a look at the sanctions targeted since May:

• 229 designations placed on banking sector
• 8 designations placed on the energy sector
• 32 designations placed on technology sector
• 480 designations placed on defense and transportation sector
• 663 designations placed on Russian elites and oligarchs

"Additionally, almost 1,000 foreign companies have "self-sanctioned" by shuttering or curtailing their operations in Russia, which has contributed to Moscow's financial isolation from the global economy," the authors wrote in the report.

"To date, one of the most significant actions was the sanctioning of the Central Bank of Russia by the Group of Seven and other economies, which has effectively cut Russia off from accessing assets denominated in currencies that account for 95% of global foreign exchange reserves," the authors added.

— Amanda Macias

European Council President Charles Michel visited North Macedonia and said efforts to start European Union membership talks with the landlocked Balkan country and neighboring Albania have become a "top priority" since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

EU-member Bulgaria has blocked the start of those accession talks, insisting that North Macedonia officially recognizes common aspects of the neighbors' history and language. The impasse has also tied up Albania's bid.

"The war in Ukraine opened a new chapter in European history and put EU enlargement at the forefront," Michel said at the joint press conference with North Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski in the lakeside resort of Ohrid.

"The EU is firmly committed to your entry into the EU and the start of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania to begin as soon as possible. This is a top priority and we support all efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution to the open bilateral issue with Bulgaria," Michel said.

— Associated Press

French President Emmanuel Macron announced new weapons for Ukraine, and said European support will continue to flow to Kyiv.

"Ukraine can count on us, Ukraine can count on Europe," Macron said during a press conference in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy and leaders from Germany, Italy and Romania. "Europe is by your side and will do so as long as possible," he said.

He added: "This war changes all of Europe."

The French president announced the delivery of six canons and additional artillery for Ukraine. Zelenskyy praised the delivery of weapons and said Ukraine "is dependent on aid from Europe."

Zelenskyy also urged European leaders to grant Ukraine European Union membership status and pass a seventh package of sanctions against Russia.

— Amanda Macias

The United Nations has confirmed 4,481 civilian deaths and 5,565 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because the armed conflict can delay fatality reports.

The international organization said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes.

— Amanda Macias

The head of the Russian Central Bank warned that the country's economy faces pressure from abroad that could persist indefinitely, dampening hopes that conditions could return to what they were before Russia sent troops into Ukraine.

"It seems to me that it's obvious to everyone that it won't be as it was before," Elvira Nabiullina said at a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an annual showpiece gathering aimed at investors.

"External conditions have changed for a long time indeed, if not forever," she said.

Russia was hit by a wide array of sanctions after the start of the Ukraine military operation, including major banks being cut off from the SWIFT international payment system and Western bans on flights. Hundreds of foreign companies have suspended operations in Russia or pulled out entirely.

The consequences of those actions have yet to be fully assessed.

— Associated Press

The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Romania are in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

From left to right, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis are seen sitting around a large table.

The need for more weapons, and Ukraine's EU membership bid, are likely topping the agenda. Here is a selection of pictures taken today as the leaders meet.

Earlier in the day and flanked by Ukrainian soldiers, the leaders visited ruined buildings and wrecked cars in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, where Ukraine has accused Russia of committing atrocities. Moscow denies the claims.

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy have walked around the ruined surburb of Irpin near Kyiv on Thursday as they seek to reinforce their support for Ukraine.

Walking around ruined buildings and wrecked cars, the tour showed the leaders the locations of what Ukraine has said were atrocities by Russian troops.

The leaders were shown the wreckage of a car which Ukraine says was targeted by Russian troops when a mother and children were inside, Reuters reported. Russia denies allegations that its forces committed atrocities or that it has targeted civilians during the conflict.

Macron told reporters that the city was "heroic" and had been marked by the "stigma of barbarism."

The visit to Irpin and Kyiv follows criticism of the leaders from some quarters that their support of Ukraine was sluggish, with Germany particularly reluctant to send weapons to Ukraine at the start of the war.

Responding to that criticism, Macron said Thursday that "France and Europe have been standing by Ukraine and its population since the beginning."

The U.K. has announced a new range of sanctions for "the barbaric treatment of children" in Ukraine.

The measures include the sanctioning of Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for her alleged involvement in the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children, the U.K. said in a statement.

The U.K. said, "Lvova-Belova has been accused of enabling 2,000 vulnerable children being violently taken from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and orchestrating a new policy to facilitate their forced adoptions in Russia."

There has been no response from Lvova-Belova of Russia's Foreign Ministry. Lvova-Belova herself told the Vedomosti newspaper back in May that more than 190,000 children had arrived in Russia from the Donbas region by early May, including about 1,200 coming from orphanages in the pro-Russian Donetsk and Luhansk "People's Republics."

Commenting on the new sanctions, U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said, "we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of Putin's war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children."

Patriarch Kirill, head of Russian Orthodox Church also sanctioned for his prominent support for Russia's invasion.

— Holly Ellyatt

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have traveled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today.

The trio travelled to Kyiv by train from Poland for the high-profile visit, becoming the latest in a line of Western leaders to make the trip to the Ukrainian capital.

The visit by the three European leaders has reportedly taken weeks to organize and comes as they look to rebuff criticism of their response to the war, with all being accused of being slow and somewhat reluctant to support Ukraine with weapons.

— Holly Ellyatt

A food crisis on top of existing crises would exacerbate the increasing trend of global displacement, Reuters reported, citing the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

At the end of 2021, 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced, well over double the number from 10 years ago, according to UNHCR's annual Global Trends report.

That figure has swelled to over 100 million, driven in part by Russia's invasion of Ukraine which the agency said caused the fastest and one of the largest forced displacement crises since World War II.

Grandi also criticized the "monopoly" of resources given to Ukraine compared with other underfunded programs for the displaced, Reuters reported.

"Ukraine should not make us forget other crises," he said, according to Reuters.

– Chelsea Ong

Russian forces are using "all available firepower" to pound the key target of Severodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk as well as Bilohorivka, a settlement to the west of the twin cities that are separated by the Siverskyi Donets river.

In the latest military update from Ukraine's armed forces, spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun said that "the Russian occupiers continue to fire on the units of our troops with all available firepower."

"The enemy does not stop trying to establish full control over the city of Severodonetsk" he said, adding that "the fighting continues."

Russian forces have been throwing everything they can at seizing Severodonetsk, which was the last major Ukrainian-held city in the Luhansk province. Around 80% of the city was in Russian hands yesterday, with fierce street battles taking place for, as President Zelenskyy put it earlier this week, "every meter of the city."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is grateful for a new $1 billion support package including coastal defense, artillery and modern rocket systems as Russia presses home its advantage in eastern Ukraine.

"I am grateful for this support, it is especially important for our defense in Donbas," he said in his nightly address Wednesday, adding that he had already discussed with President Biden "the tactical situation on the battlefield and ways to accelerate our victory. Sanctions, politics, economic cooperation — we are preparing for new steps."

He said Russia was already responding to Ukraine's foreign policy success, noting that "gas pressure on Europe is growing again. The shelling of Ukrainian positions and peaceful cities is intensifying again."

"We are defending Donbas," he said, saying that the Ukrainian army had proved itself "despite the significant advantage of the Russian army in the number of soldiers and equipment."

"Of course, we will do our best to outmatch their advantages for now. Every day I fight for Ukraine to get the necessary weapons and equipment."

 — Holly Ellyatt

The Biden administration has yet to see China work with Russia amid punishing rounds of coordinated global sanctions in response to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

Beijing so far has not provided material support to Moscow, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House.

Kirby's comments follow Chinese President Xi Jinping's call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In the past week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met separately with high-level Chinese officials and reiterated that the world's second-largest economy should not alleviate economic pressure on Russia.

— Amanda Macias

Since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Biden administration has deployed more than 100,000 U.S. troops to NATO-member countries and authorized $5.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.

Read more: Biden to send another $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine

The Pentagon said that the latest tranche of weapons for Kyiv, the 12th such installment, is valued at $350 million and includes:

• 18 155 mm howitzers
• 36,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition
• 18 tactical vehicles to tow 155 mm howitzers
• Ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HMARS
• 4 tactical vehicles to recover equipment and spare parts.

The U.S. will also provide Ukraine with two Harpoon coastal defense systems, thousands of secure radios, night vision and thermal devices along with funding for training and maintenance support. That aid is collectively valued at $650 million.

— Amanda Macias

The United Nations has confirmed 4,452 civilian deaths and 5,531 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because the armed conflict can delay fatality reports.

The international organization said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes.

— Amanda Macias

Russia's Gazprom announced a reduction in natural gas flows through a key European pipeline for the second day in a row, hours after Germany's vice chancellor said its initial move appeared to be political rather than a result of technical problems.

The state-owned energy giant said on Twitter that deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany would be cut again Thursday, bringing the overall reduction through the undersea pipeline to 60%.

The new cut came a day after Gazprom said it would reduce flows by 40% after Canadian sanctions over the war in Ukraine prevented German partner Siemens Energy from delivering overhauled equipment. It blamed the same issue for the additional reduction.

Gazprom also told Italian gas giant Eni that it would reduce gas through a different pipeline by roughly 15%. The reason for the reduction has not been made clear, and the Italian company said it was monitoring the situation.

— Associated Press