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Ukraine conflict day 98: U.S. to send advanced rockets to Kyiv, Moscow to supply grain markets
CGTN
Europe;Ukraine
Ukrainian servicemen walk as seeds burn in a grain silos after it was shelled repeatedly, in Donetsk region. /Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters

Ukrainian servicemen walk as seeds burn in a grain silos after it was shelled repeatedly, in Donetsk region. /Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters

TOP HEADLINES

• Joe Biden says the U.S. will send more advanced rocket systems to Ukraine to help its troops fight Russian forces. Washington says the High Mobility Advanced Rocket System will allow Ukrainian forces to "more precisely strike targets on the battlefield from greater distance inside Ukraine" but not attack Russian territory.

• Germany will supply Ukraine with the IRIS-T medium-range surface-to-air defense system, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, following pleas from Kyiv as well as German opposition parties to step up heavy weapons deliveries.

• Russia said the U.S. decision to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions to Ukraine was "extremely negative" and would increase the risk of a direct confrontation. READ MORE BELOW

• Russian forces seize control of most of the eastern city of Severodonetsk, after weeks of fighting for the key industrial hub in Luhansk. "Unfortunately, today, Russian troops control most of the city," Luhansk Governor Sergiy Gaiday said in a video.

• Gaiday also said Russian forces struck a tank containing nitric acid at a Severodonetsk chemical plant, calling on residents to stay in shelters. "For the Russian military, for Russian commanders, for Russian soldiers, any madness is absolutely acceptable," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address on Telegram.

• Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow will find ways to supply markets with Russian grain and fertilizers despite Western sanctions, RIA news agency reported.

• Russia has completed testing of its hypersonic Zircon cruise missile and will deploy it before the end of the year on a new frigate of its Northern Fleet, a senior military official confirmed.

• Russia's Gazprom said its gas exports to countries outside of the former Soviet Union dropped by more than a quarter year-on-year between January and May after losing several European clients. Exports to countries outside the region totaled 61 billion cubic meters, a 27.6 percent fall from the same period last year, the energy giant said in a statement.

• Ukraine's foreign minister asked French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the country before the end of June, when France's presidency of the EU ends. "It would be good that Macron came during the French EU presidency, and the best thing would be that he comes with more weapons deliveries for Ukraine," he told French news channel LCI.

• Traditionally Eurosceptic Denmark is voting in a referendum on Wednesday on whether to overturn its opt-out on the EU's common defense policy after Russia's offensive in Ukraine. The vote comes on the heels of neighboring Finland's and Sweden's historic applications for NATO membership, as the Ukraine conflict forces countries in Europe to rethink their security policies.

A police officer checks a home during an evacuation of local residents between shelling, in the village of Antonivka, in Donetsk region. /Anna Kudriavtseva/Reuters

A police officer checks a home during an evacuation of local residents between shelling, in the village of Antonivka, in Donetsk region. /Anna Kudriavtseva/Reuters

IN DETAIL

Russia warns of direct conflict with U.S.

The planned delivery of new U.S. weapons to Ukraine, including advanced missile systems, increases the risk of drawing the United States into direct conflict with Russia, Moscow said on Wednesday.

"Any arms supplies that continue are on the rise, increase the risks of such a development," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RIA Novosti news agency in answer to a question about the possibility of a confrontation between Moscow and Washington. 

On Tuesday, Washington said it would be supplying Ukraine with advanced missile systems, including the High Mobility Advanced Rocket System (HIMARS) multiple-launch rocket system that can simultaneously launch multiple precision-guided missiles.

Both Ukraine and Russia already operate multiple-launch rockets systems, but the HIMARS has superior range and precision.

The HIMARS system that Washington is providing to Ukraine will have a range of about 80 kilometers. 

According to Ryabkov, the U.S. is determined to "wage war (on Moscow) to the last Ukrainian in order to inflict, as they say, a strategic defeat on Russia." 

"This is unprecedented, this is dangerous," Ryabkov said. 

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters

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