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China was hit with sanctions from the US for the supply of “important raw materials for Russia’s military-industrial base” for use in the war against Ukraine. US officials on Wednesday announced a massive package targeting nearly 300 entities in Russia, China and other countries. “Today’s actions will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s military effort by going after its military industrial base and the clandestine networks that help supply it,” said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The nearly 300 targets include dozens of accused actors which allows Russia to acquire technology and equipment from abroad. In addition to China, the targeted non-Russian organizations were located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Slovakia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These companies “enable Russia to acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad,” the finance ministry said in a statement. As part of the measures, the State Department additional individuals and companies blacklisted involved in the energy, mining and metallurgical sectors of Moscow; and persons associated with the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Siberian prison in February.
The US has accused Russia of violating an international ban on chemical weapons by using the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control chemicals “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine. Russia’s use of the gas “comes from the same game as its poisoning operations” of Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent, the State Department said, adding that it provided its Congress findings.
“The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is likely driven by the desire of Russian forces to pushing Ukrainian forces out of entrenched positions and achieving tactical gains on the battlefield,” the State Department said. In addition to chloropicrin, Russian forces also illegally used grenades loaded with CS and CN gases, the Ukrainian military said.
The US government said it was sanctioning Russian state organizations and companies linked to Moscow’s chemical and biological weapons programs, including a specialized military unit that “facilitated the use” of chlorpicrin against Ukrainian troops. The State Department is expected to take its findings to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), whose rules Russia and other members are bound by.
Five civilians were killed on Wednesday when Russia struck the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk in Ukraine, local authorities said. In the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, a bomb attack killed a 38-year-old woman and her father in a car, the region’s governor said. Farther east in the Kharkiv region, near the city of Kupyansk, Russian shelling killed a 67-year-old woman in the village of Lelyukovka. In the eastern Donetsk region, a 57-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man were killed and six others wounded in the small town of Girnik, about 15 km from the front line, said Vadim Filashkin, head of the regional military administration. .
This was said by the regional governor Vadim Filashkin 682 residents are kept in ‘very difficult conditions’ without running water or electricity in the besieged town of Chasov Yar, pre-war population 12,500 people. Months of relentless Russian artillery pounding have taken their toll a strategic city that emerged as the next main target of the invaders, located on elevated ground that can serve as a gateway to the cities of Konstantinovka, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Ukrainian forces defending Chasov Yar said they were still awaiting new ammunition.
The Ukrainian postal and courier company Nova Postha said late Wednesday that a a missile hit his sorting warehouse in Odessa, but there were no injuries among his employees. Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said at least 13 people were injured in the missile strike, which caused a large fire.
Rusnak pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to the FBI about him involvement in an organization that wants to restore the “Russian Empire”, including Ukraine. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Thomas Janchauskas, a U.S. green card holder who lives primarily in Russia, was the regional leader of the Tsargrad Society, formerly known as the Double-Headed Eagle Society. US prosecutors say the group is controlled by sanctioned Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev. Janchauskas, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to FBI agents. He faces up to six months in prison when he is sentenced on July 11.
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