Tuesday’s Coverage: Remembering Civilians Murdered by Russia in Bucha

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 0917 GMT:

The European Union is launching the Ukraine2EU program, supported with €16.7 million euros ($18 million), for Ukraine’s preparations for EU membership.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budris told a conference about Kyiv’s accession, “Ukraine’s membership in the EU is crucial for the security and stability of Europe.”

“Moving along the European path still requires significant efforts from Ukraine, but it has already come a long way in extraordinary conditions,” said Danish Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerre. “The Ukrainian people can count on the support of their European friends in the process of gaining EU membership.”

UPDATE 0859 GMT:

At least four civilians have been killed and at least 18 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 41 of 74 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 20 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

Two people were slain in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, and one each in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south.

Casualties were also reported in the Dnipropetrovsk region

Russia launched 15 drones against Kharkiv city in northeast Ukraine. Two civilian enterprises were hit, and three fires broke out at industrial facilities.

Eight people, including three children, suffered from shock, but there were no physical injuries.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky commented:

ORIGINAL ENTRY: A bipartisan motion by 50 US Senators — half of the upper chamber of Congress — proposes more sanctions on Russia if Moscow continues to refuse good-faith negotiations with Ukraine to end Vladimir Putin’s 37-month invasion.

The measure was introduced by 25 Republicans and 25 Democrats. The lead sponsors, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, said:

The sanctions against Russia require tariffs on countries who purchase Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products. They are hard-hitting for a reason.

The dominating view in the United States Senate is that Russia is the aggressor, and that this horrific war and Putin’s aggression must end now and be deterred in the future.

Parallel bipartisan legislation is being introduced in the House of Representatives.

Administration officials followed up the recent shift in Donald Trump’s rhetoric threatening secondary sanctions on Russia’s oil exports. National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt said:

There is a deep frustration with the Russian government over negotiations. President Trump was clear he will consider imposing secondary sanctions on all oil coming out of Russia if they are not serious about bringing this conflict to a peaceful resolution.

Russia has rejected US-Ukraine proposals for a ceasefire apart from a provision for a halt on attacks against energy infrastructure — and even that has been violated by Moscow’s drone and missile strikes.

Sources told Reuters that, in a series of meetings and calls over the weekend, officials inside the White House and State Department acknowledged that Vladimir Putin is actively resisting attempts for a lasting agreement and discuss what,, if any, economic or diplomatic punishments could push Russia closer to a deal.

Russia Repeats Rejection of Ceasefire

On Tuesday, the Kremlin repeated that US proposals for a halt to Russia’s 37-month invasion of Ukraine are unacceptable.

Sergey Ryabkov, a foreign policy adviser to Vladimir Putin, said:

We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form….

All we have today is an attempt to find some kind of framework that would first allow for a ceasefire – at least as envisioned by the Americans.

Ryabkov declared, “There is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict”: the Kremlin’s euphemism for ultimata such as recognition of its seizure of around 25% of Ukraine; a weak, “neutral”, and “demilitarized” Ukraine with no security guarantees from Western partners; lifting of sanctions on Moscow; and removal of the Zelensky Government.

Speaking in Kyiv alongside German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the Trump Administration to escalate sanctions. He said the Administration has told Ukraine privately that it observed the Russian attacks violating the ceasefire.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky noted Russian attacks that cut power to 45,000 people in the Kherson region:

We have shared all information regarding Russia’s violations in the energy sector — there were strikes, and today again in Kherson, a Russian drone targeted an energy facility and equipment — deliberately and purposefully. Part of the city was left without electricity.

We insist that every such violation must be documented and receive a response from our partners. It is precisely these small details that add up to Russia’s major delays in the diplomatic process.

Russia’s Dmitriev to Visit Washington

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a long-time contact of the Trump camp, will meet Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington, according to a US official and two other sources.

The Trump Administration temporarily eased sanctions so Dmitriev could obtain a visa. The visit will be the first by a high-level Russian official to the US during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Dmitriev was involved in the direct US-Russia talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in February. He worked with Witkoff on the release of American teacher Marc Fogel, detained in Russia, as a prelude to the discussions.

In January 2017, Dmitriev met Erik Prince, the founder of the Blackwater mercenary group, in Mauritius to set up a channel between the incoming Trump Administration and Moscow.