Russia-Ukraine war: Australia slaps new sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s shadow fleet vessels
Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined key G7 partners in a move to “help starve the Russian war economy of oil revenue”. Follow updates.
Europe
Don't miss out on the headlines from Europe. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Australian Government has sanctioned dozens of Russia’s shadow fleet vessels used to help conduct its war on Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined key G7 partners in the move to “help starve the Russian war economy of oil revenue”.
“Russia uses these vessels to circumvent international sanctions and sustain its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine,” she said.
“Operating under deceptive practices, including flag-hopping, disabling tracking systems, and operating with inadequate insurance, the shadow fleet enables the illicit trade of Russian oil and other sanctioned goods.
“These sanctions reinforce Australia’s consistent commitment to ensuring Russia, and those enabling its illegal invasion of Ukraine, face consequences.”
Shadow fleet vessels are ships, primarily oil tankers, that engage in illicit or deceptive practices to evade sanctions, regulations, or insurance requirements.
The sanctions will apply to 60 Russian vessels that will also be targeted by sanctions from Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
FOLLOW UPDATES BELOW:
RUSSIA REACTS TO TRUMP CLAIM
Russia has agreed with US President Donald Trump’s assertion that there would be no war in Ukraine if Russia wasn’t kicked out of the G8 in 2014, saying the G7 looked “rather useless” now.
Mr Trump told the G7 summit in Canada on Monday that the G8 had made a mistake by kicking Russia out in 2014 after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
“This was a big mistake,” he said, before adding that he believed Russia would not have invaded Ukraine at the start of 2022 had President Vladimir Putin not been ejected from the leaders’ club.
He said Putin “basically doesn’t even speak to the people that threw him out, and I agree with him”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “We agree with President Trump: it was a big mistake then to exclude Russia from the G8 format.”
He said the G7 had “lost practical significance” for Russia, given the state of world affairs.
“Given the declining share of the G7 countries in the global economy, given all the trends that are observed in the G7 countries and, of course, against the background of, for example, such formats as the G20, the G7 looks dull and rather useless,” Peskov said.
‘HORRIFIC’: RUSSIAN STRIKES KILL 10 IN UKRAINE
Russia fired scores of missiles and drones at Kyiv on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called “one of the most horrific attacks” on the capital.
The strike was one of the deadliest on Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and came as direct peace talks between the two sides appeared to stall.
Zelensky said “an entire section of an apartment block” was destroyed and rescuers were searching under the rubble for possible survivors.
Dozens of residents took shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on the drone and missile threat or reassuring pets, AFP journalists saw.
Some 27 locations in Kyiv were hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.
One person was also killed and 10 wounded in a strike on the southern port city of Odesa, while attacks on the Sumy and Kherson regions later in the day killed two others, authorities said.
A total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were used in the strikes nationwide, Zelensky said.
“Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on Facebook.
“Right now in Kyiv, efforts are underway to rescue people from under the rubble of an ordinary residential building – it’s still unclear how many remain trapped.”
He urged the international community not to “turn a blind eye”. Russian President Vladimir “Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on,” he said.
US CITIZEN KILLED IN RUSSIAN ATTACK
Residential buildings, educational institutions and “critical infrastructure facilities” were all hit, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.
A total of 114 were wounded in the attack on Kyiv, 68 of them hospitalised, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
He reported earlier that a US citizen had died in a Russian attack on the capital’s Solomyansky district.
“During the attack on Kyiv … a 62-year-old US citizen died in a house opposite to the place where medics were providing assistance to the injured,” Klitschko said on Telegram.
Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the new strikes showed Moscow was “continuing its war against civilians”.
More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has kept up its attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire.
Talks have stalled. Moscow has rejected the “unconditional” truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s demands as “ultimatums”.
Zelensky had been hoping to speak with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, but the US leader cut short his visit, amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
TRUMP UNLEASHES ON WORLD LEADERS
Donald Trump has used his first appearance at the G7 to agitate for the inclusion of Russia in the leader’s group, sensationally claiming Vladimir Putin would not have gone to war with Ukraine if his country wasn’t booted from the block.
The US President said it had been a “big mistake” to evict Russia from the group in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.
“You wouldn’t have that (Ukraine) war,” he said.
“You have your enemy at the table … he wasn’t really an enemy at the time.
“If he were a member of what was called the G8 at that time … you wouldn’t have a war right now.”
Mr Trump said he had the best relationship with the Russian leader of any of the G7 nations.
“Putin speaks to me,” Mr Trump said.
“He doesn’t speak to anybody else because he was very insulted when he got thrown out, as I would be, as you would be, as anybody would be.”
Mr Trump is joined by leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Antonio Costa, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and host Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the summit in Alberta.
BODIES OF UKRAINE SOLDIERS RETURNED
Russia has returned 1245 bodies to Ukraine, Kyiv said on Monday, the final stage of a deal to repatriate more than 6000 dead Ukrainian soldiers agreed at peace talks this month.
Russia and Ukraine reached a deal on a large-scale exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed soldiers, the only visible result from two rounds of direct talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
“Another 1245 bodies returned to Ukraine – repatriation part of Istanbul agreements has been completed,” the government agency co-ordinating the repatriation said.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Facebook that Kyiv has received more than 6000 bodies in total over the past week.
The Russian defence ministry gave a slightly different figure of 1248 for the number of bodies returned in the final stage of the accord – three more than Kyiv said it had received.
Moscow’s defence ministry said it had “fulfilled the agreement”. It also said it was ready to “hand over another 2239 bodies of fallen servicemen”, an offer extra to what was agreed in Istanbul.
Moscow said it had received the bodies of 51 dead Russian soldiers in return, taking the total number handed over by Ukraine in the latest exchanges to 78.
Kyiv initially said the two sides had agreed to “exchange” the bodies of 6000 dead Ukrainian soldiers, though Russia has always presented it as unilateral decision.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded in February 2022, according to independent monitors and Western intelligence agencies.
Neither side releases regular or reliable figures on the number of their own casualties but they do publish claims about the other side’s losses that are widely seen as inflated.
- with AFP
More Coverage
Originally published as Russia-Ukraine war: Australia slaps new sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s shadow fleet vessels
Join the conversation
Reason behind Europe’s biggest power cut revealed
A government investigation has revealed what caused a mass power outage that plunged millions of people across two countries into darkness.
Read more
Albo could get face-to-face with Trump within days
Anthony Albanese is set to get a second chance at meeting with Donald Trump – as soon as next week – after the US President’s sudden exit at the G7 summit left the PM high and dry.
Read more