Ukraine war updates: Italy says no to Ukraine using Western weapons to strike military targets inside Russia

Two companies based in Africa that are linked to Russia’s Wagner Group have been slapped with sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday.

The companies were “enabling Wagner Group security operations and Wagner Group-linked illicit mining endeavors in the Central African Republic,” the department said in a statement. The sanctions were issued in an effort to “counter Russia’s destabilizing activities in Africa,” it added.

The companies were named as Mining Industries SARLU and Logistique Economique Etrangere SARLU.

Mining Industries leased aircraft that was used by the Wagner Group to move personnel and equipment throughout Africa and imported chemicals likely used for illicit mining linked to the group, while materials received by Logistique were likely also used for such mining, the Treasury department said.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Sri Lanka will tighten controls to try to stop its men being lured to Russia to fight in Ukraine with often false promises of salaries and benefits, a minister said on Thursday.

Colombo will also send a delegation to Moscow in June to bring back dozens of Sri Lankans already fighting in the front line who want to come home, some of them wounded, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya told reporters.

Countries across the region, including India and Nepal, have raised the alarm about their men being persuaded to travel to fight for Russia in Ukraine with offers of salaries, visas and sometimes university places.

Russia’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Levan S. Dzhagaryan, told the press conference on Thursday his embassy would cooperate with the efforts to stop Sri Lankans travelling illegally to Russia. He said his government was not involved in the recruitment offers.

Under the new controls, men will have to produce a “no-objection” document from the Sri Lankan defence ministry when they apply for a tourist visa to Russia, Tharaka Balasuriya told reporters.

— Reuters

Finland’s parliament should reject proposed legislation that would hinder migrants arriving from the country’s border with Russia from seeking asylum, the Finnish non-discrimination ombudsman said Thursday.

“In practice, it would make it possible for people to be forced out of Finland in uncertain and dangerous situations while the restriction decisions are in force,” the statement said, according to a Google-translation.

This comes after the government earlier this month proposed laws that would allow border guards to push back migrants attempting to enter Finland from Russia.

The Finnish government has acknowledged that the law would go against the country’s international commitments around asylum and human rights, but said the measures are needed and would be temporary.

Finland last year shut all of its border crossing points with Russia, saying Russia was intentionally sending undocumented migrants to the border. Russia has denied the allegations and said the closure of the crossings was unjustified.

— Sophie Kiderlin

The Russian foreign ministry on Thursday said it was in the final stages of preparing a proposal outlining “retaliatory measures” against the European Union after it banned the broadcast of several Russian media outlets, Reuters reported citing Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

The proposal would be submitted in the coming days, Zakharova said.

The EU earlier this month said that broadcasting activities of Russian media outlets Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta would be suspended within the bloc.

“These media outlets are under the permanent direct or indirect control of the leadership of the Russian Federation, and have been essential and instrumental in bringing forward and supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and for the destabilisation of its neighbouring countries,” it said at the time.

— Sophie Kiderlin

The European Council announced Thursday the adoption of a new regulation aiming at effectively halting imports of grain products from Russia and Belarus through prohibitively high tariffs.

“The new tariffs set today aim to stop the imports of grain from Russia and Belarus into the EU in practice,” Belgian Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem said in a statement.

“These measures will therefore prevent the destabilization of the EU’s grain market, halt Russian exports of illegally appropriated grain produced in the territories of Ukraine and prevent Russia from using revenues from exports to the EU to fund its war of aggression against Ukraine,” he said. “This is yet another way in which the EU is showing steady support to Ukraine.”

The tariffs, which enter into force on July 1, will apply to “cereals, oilseeds and derived products as well as beet-pulp pellets and dried peas” from Russia and Belarus, for which importers currently pay no or low tariffs, the European Council statement said.

— Natasha Turak

The Kremlin accused Kyiv’s Western allies including the EU, U.S. and NATO of encouraging Ukraine to carry on what it called a “senseless war” with Russia and of escalating tensions with Moscow.

“The member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance – the United States in particular, other European capitals – have in recent days and weeks embarked on a new round of escalation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian press. “They are doing this deliberately … They are encouraging Ukraine in every possible way to continue this senseless war.”

The full-scale war began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, saying it was carrying out a “special military operation.” Ukraine says it is fighting to defend itself and expel Russian forces from its territory with Western help.

— Natasha Turak

Some top U.S. officials are said to be in favor of lifting restrictions on how Ukraine uses weapons provided by Washington, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing two unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

CNBC has contacted the White House for comment.

The report comes as pressure builds on Western leaders to allow Ukraine to use weapons provided by allied partners to strike military bases inside Russia. The U.S. has so far resisted these calls, putting it at odds with some of Ukraine’s other international allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Western leaders not to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike targets inside Russia, saying the prospect could trigger a global conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday joined the head of NATO by pushing for a policy shift that allows Ukraine to hit targets outside of the country.

Earlier on Thursday, however, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani reportedly said that any weapons it has supplied to Kyiv should not be used on Russian territory.

— Sam Meredith

Natalya Komarova, the governor of Siberia’s oil-rich Khanty-Mansiysk region, announced her resignation on Thursday, abruptly stepping down after 14 years in the role.

In a video posted on her official Telegram channel, Komarova said she’d made the decision to move to an undisclosed job and thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his trust.

Komarova, who was first appointed as the strategically important region’s governor in 2010, was criticized by pro-war activists last year for reportedly saying there was “no need” for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Komarova did not explain why she had taken the decision to step down.

— Sam Meredith

Italy will never send any troops to Ukraine and any weapons it has supplied to Kyiv should not be used on Russian territory, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday.

“All the weapons leaving from Italy (to Ukraine) should be used within Ukraine,” Tajani said in a TV interview with public broadcaster RAI.

Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, but Rome has never disclosed any details about its military aid.

— Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked Sweden for donating a military support package worth 13 billion kronor ($1.2 billion), saying the war-torn country was grateful for the “substantial reinforcement.”

“Today we are grateful to Sweden: there is a new and very significant military package for our warriors,” Zelenskyy said in his daily evening address.

“We are working at maximum capacity to make our air defense system more effective, and Sweden is providing Ukraine with special radar surveillance aircraft; armored vehicles and ammunition are also part of this package,” he added.

Sweden’s government on Wednesday announced it was delivering its 16th and largest package of military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

— Sam Meredith

Ukraine’s air force said on Thursday its defense forces repelled seven Russia-launched cruise missiles and 32 drones overnight.

In a post via the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s armed forces said Russia launched a missile-aircraft attack on military facilities and critical infrastructure in the Kharkiv region.

“As a result of the anti-aircraft battle, 7 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles and 32 Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs were shot down in the Khmelnytskyi, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhya, Odesa, Kherson, Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions,” the post said.

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.

— Sam Meredith

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that China could hold a peace conference to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.

“We appreciate Beijing’s constructive approach to the Ukraine crisis. Our Chinese friends understand its root causes and the essence of the current developments,” Lavrov said in an interview with Rossiya Segodnya media group, according to comments published via the Foreign Ministry’s website.

“We share [China’s] standpoint that it is crucial, first and foremost, to address the root causes and protect the legitimate interests of all parties. We should then work towards subsequent agreements based on the principle of equal and indivisible security,” he added.

Russia has sought to hold peace talks on the condition that Kyiv and the West recognize its territorial gains in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said peace talks on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s terms are a non-starter.

— Sam Meredith

Russian strikes killed two civilians in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Wednesday, according to regional governor Serhiy Lysak.

In a Google-translated post published via the Telegram messaging app, Lysak said a Russian kamikaze drone had targeted an ambulance, killing the 54-year-old driver and injuring his 53-year-old wife.

A 52-year-old man died in hospital after being hit by artillery fire earlier in the day, Lysak said.

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.

— Sam Meredith

Police in Brussels carried out searches at the home and office of a European Parliament employee over suspected Russian interference, Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement Wednesday.

A search was also carried out at the suspect’s office in Strasbourg, where the EU Parliament’s French headquarters are located, a statement said.

“These searches are part of a case of interference, passive corruption and membership in a criminal organization, and concern indications of Russian interference, according to which members of the European Parliament were allegedly approached and paid to promoting Russian propaganda via the Voice of Europe ‘news website’,” it said.

“There is evidence that the European Parliament employee in question played an important role in this affair,” it added.

— Karen Gilchrist