Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin was warned he could be arrested if he attends a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit in South Africa in August.

Authorities in the country warned that they would be compelled to detain the president after a warrant for his arrest issued in March by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper, citing sources in the country’s government, said that a special government commission established by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to look into the international arrest warrant concluded that the country would have no choice but to arrest Putin if he traveled to South Africa for the summit.

“We have no option not to arrest Putin,” a government official told The Sunday Times. “If he comes here, we will be forced to detain him.”

Putin was expected to travel to the summit, although the Kremlin had not confirmed his attendance, to meet with the leaders of BRICs.

The newspaper reported that officials were trying to find a way around the diplomatic dilemma, with Putin’s “virtual” attendance via videolink being mooted as a possible workaround.

The paper’s sources said that “the only option we have is for [Putin] to participate in the summit via Teams or Zoom from Moscow.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the country’s international allies to uphold sanctions on Russia after a series of pre-dawn missile strikes over the last few days.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel that “it is very important that Russia receives ever stronger signals that the world will not forgive any of Russia’s acts of terror. And that as many global players as possible are absolutely principled in upholding the sanctions regime against Russia.”

Zelenskyy’s comments came amid a wave of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine. Early on Friday, Russian strikes hit several cities across the country, killing at least 23 people and injuring many others,

Before dawn on Sunday, Russia launched another series of missile attacks aimed at Ukrainian cities. At least 34 people, including five children, were injured as a result of an attack on Pavlohrad, near the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine. During one attack on the northern region of Chernihiv, a 14 year-old boy died.

— Holly Ellyatt

The White House on Monday estimated that Russia’s military has suffered 100,000 casualties in the last five months in fighting in the Bakhmut region and other areas of Ukraine.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the figure, based on U.S. intelligence estimates, included more than 20,000 dead, half of them from the Wagner mercenary group, which includes convicts released from prison to join the fighting.

“Russia’s attempt at a winter offensive in the Donbas largely through Bakhmut has failed,” Kirby said.

“Last December, Russia initiated a broad offensive across multiple lines of advance, including toward Vuhledar, Avdiivka, Bakhmut, and Kreminna. Most of these efforts stalled and failed. Russia has been unable to seize any strategically significant territory.”

He said the Russians have made some incremental gains in Bakhmut but that this has come at a “terrible, terrible cost” and that Ukraine’s defenses in the region remain strong.

“Russia has exhausted its military stockpiles and its armed forces,” Kirby said.

Most of the Wagner mercenary group’s soldiers were “Russian convicts thrown into combat in Bakhmut without sufficient combat or training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control”, he said.

“It’s really stunning, these numbers,” Kirby added, saying the total is three times the number of American casualties in the Guadalcanal campaign in World War Two. Kirby said another U.S. weapons package for Ukraine would be announced soon.

— Reuters