Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy visits Donetsk front line

Two Russian pranksters released footage of a video call with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in which they led him to believe they were former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The call appears to have lasted around 15 minutes.

In the video, Cameron is heard talking about discussions he had with US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in which he pressed him to allow Republicans to vote in favor of US military aid to Ukraine.

Cameron is heard asserting that Trump believed that a deal could be made with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Russia would take control of the eastern Donbas region and the Crimean Peninsula. The UK's foreign secretary criticizes the idea as flawed, arguing that Putin would want to take more.

Cameron is also heard saying that Ukraine will not be invited to join the NATO military alliance next year due to US opposition.

Britain's Foreign Office said that the call looked like an operation designed to draw attention away from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It did not answer a question on the video's authenticity, according to the Reuters news agency.

The office reported that Cameron had been the victim of a hoax video call earlier this month.

The two Russian pranksters, who use the aliases "Vovan and Lexus," have targeted other British political figures in the past, including then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and then-Defense Minister Ben Wallace.

They have also held prank phone calls with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as well as former German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The duo has denied having links to Russia's intelligence services.

Austria has summoned Russia's ambassador to Vienna to protest at the withdrawal of media accreditation for an Austrian journalist, as a tit-for-tat reporting row between the two countries continued.

Carola Schneider, public broadcaster ORF's Moscow bureau chief and the organization's only remaining journalist in Russia, had her accreditation withdrawn on Wednesday and was asked to leave the country.

"The withdrawal of the accreditation of Carola Schneider … is unprecedented," said a foreign ministry statement, adding: "We condemn this unjustified and unacceptable step. This represents another arbitrary, baseless attack on the free press in Russia."

ORF, whose correspondent Maria Knips-Witting was also asked to leave Russia two weeks ago, called the decision "an arbitrary act against independent reporting."

The Russian Foreign Ministry, however, said in a statement that the decisions were a "forced retaliatory measure in connection with the continuing discrimination against representatives of Russian media in Austria."

Two journalists working for the Russian state-backed news agency TASS, including Vienna bureau chief Arina Davidyan, were stripped of their accreditations in April due to a "negative safety assessment," according to Austrian authorities.

Moscow said that it may reverse its decision if Austria restored Davidyan's credentials.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that Dmitry Pumpyansky, the former chairman of Russian steel pipe manufacturer TMK and president of investment bank Sinara, should no longer be subject to EU sanctions.

Pumpyansky was initially sanctioned in March 2022, one of over 2,200 Russian individuals and entities to have been slapped with asset freezes and travel bans since 2014.

At the time, the European Council alleged that Pumpyansky's organizations "support and benefit from cooperation with authorities of Russian Federation and State-owned enterprises including Russian railways, Gazprom and Rosneft."

However, the ECJ ruled on Wednesday that the Council failed to substantiate Pumpyansky's significance to Moscow after leaving his two key roles.

"Since he sold his shares in TMK and Sinara Group in March 2022, [Pumpyansky] is now merely a private individual and no longer involved in any business activity in Russia or elsewhere," the court said in its ruling, adding that the Council had failed to produce "sound and consistent evidence" of the 60-year-old's links with "economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation."

This latest annulment comes after sanctions against Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman and his business partner Petr Aven were partially lifted earlier this year.

Sanctions imposed on Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, however, were upheld in December despite an appeal by the former Chelsea Football Club owner.

Five Lithuanian aid workers were injured when they came under fire from Russian artillery as they delivered supplies to Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine earlier this week, officials have confirmed.

The volunteers were in a car which was targeted in Pokrovsk in Ukraine's partially-occupied Donetsk region on Monday.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas told reporters that the five had been taken to hospital in the eastern city of Dnipro and that they were in a "stable condition."

According to the AFP news agency, one of the volunteers had had a leg amputated, another had received a hand wound and three had suffered bruising.

The region's governor reported that five people were killed and dozens wounded in the shelling.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a surprise visit to Pokrovsk on Wednesday (see below).

The European Union agreed on new sanctions on Belarus over the Ukraine war, as it tries to tighten sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Belgium, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency, said EU ambassadors have agreed to the new package in principle. 

“With this package, we just closed the biggest loophole of our sanctions regime," the EU presidency said in a statement.

European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the package.

"Belarus must no longer serve as a route to circumvent our sanctions against Russia," she said on X, formerly Twitter. "With this package we increase the pressure on both countries & make our sanctions against Russia even more effective."

The Kremlin ridiculed the latest arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russian officials as "absurd."

The ICC announced on Tuesday arrest warrants against former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the army chief of staff, for alleged crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

"We do not recognise the jurisdiction of this court," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We are not members of the relevant statutes. Accordingly, we do not recognise these orders. Moreover, we consider it quite absurd, like the last two warrants that concerned the head of state and our children's ombudsman."

Last year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin himself, as well as the children's ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and Russian-controlled territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested during a visit to troops in the eastern Donetsk region that he will address officials who are shirking their duties.

"I was surprised to learn that some relevant officials have not been here for six months or more," Zelenskyy said. "There will be a serious conversation, and I will draw appropriate conclusions regarding them."

He added that back in Kyiv he would speak to "officials who must be here and in other areas near the front line — in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions."

Zelenskyy was briefed on the situation in the region and presented medals to soldiers.

The statements come after Bodhan Krotevych, the chief of staff of the Azov regiment, said in a statement that an unnamed general "killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general," in an apparent reference to incompetent troop management.

Kyiv hailed the appointment of outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as NATO chief, describing his role as "crucial."

"Congratulations to Mark Rutte on being elected as the new Secretary General of NATO. Your leadership and dedication to democratic principles are crucial for our shared future," the Ukrainian presidency's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on social media.

Rutte was officially named the new NATO secretary general on Wednesday.

A staunch backer of Ukraine, the 57-year-old Rutte staked his claim for the job last year after the collapse of his Dutch ruling coalition. He quickly gained the support of NATO heavyweights the United States, Britain, France, and Germany.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met soldiers on the frontline Donetsk region, where he presented Ukraine's new joint forces commander to troops.

The Ukrainian president recorded a video address against the backdrop of a city sign of Pokrovsk, which is on part of the front that has seen some of the most intense fighting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

"I started the day in the Donetsk region, together with our soldiers, together with Chief Commander [Oleksandr] Syrsky and the new Commander of the Joint Forces, General [Andriy] Hnatov," Zelensky said from the city of Pokrovsk. 

"Today, I officially introduced Andriy Hnatov to all those responsible for the defense of Donetsk region. We listened to reports directly from the positions," he added.

Zelenskyy said the newly appointed Gnatov was "a young man, but his knowledge of the frontline and experience are exactly what we need."

Hnatov's main tasks include "preserving as many fighters' lives as possible" while repelling the invading Russian forces, Zelenskyy said in the video posted on the Telegram messaging platform.

Hnatov replaced Lieutenant-General Yuri Sodol, who was criticized over military setbacks.

Reporters briefly filmed US journalist Evan Gershkovich ahead of the start of his closed trial on spying charges in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

The 32-year-old, who could face up to 20 years in a penal colony if convicted, was seen standing with a shaved head in a glass box.

In the hearing, a Russian prosecutor said there was evidence the Wall Street Journal reporter had gathered secret information on a company that makes tanks for Russia's war in Ukraine. 

Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US government all reject the allegations. They say he was merely doing his job as a reporter accredited by Russia's Foreign Ministry to work in the country.

A next hearing date was set for August 13.

United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russia's new defense minister, Andrei Belousov, have spoken in a rare communication between the two governments. 

The telephone conversation came in the wake of a deadly attack on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula that Moscow has blamed on Washington.

The sides gave differing accounts of what was said, with the Pentagon saying the pair spoke about the importance of keeping lines of communication open.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Belousov had warned Austin of the dangers of continued US arms supplies to Ukraine.

"Belousov pointed to the danger of further escalating the situation through continued supplies of American weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces," said a Russian ministry statement. 

It was the first conversation between the two men since Belousov replaced Sergei Shoigu in May.

Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters that Austin had initiated the conversation, which was the first such call since March 2023.

Relations between the Kremlin and the White House are at their coolest in decades. Moscow last week said diplomatic contacts between President Joe Biden's administration and President Vladimir Putin's government were at "an absolute minimum."

rc/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)