Ben Stiller meets Zelenskyy; Americans may face death
The Russian military pounded away at pockets of resistance across parts of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday while two American veterans captured by Russian troops waited to learn if they will face the death penalty.
The beleaguered eastern city of Sievierodonetsk is one of the last areas in the Luhansk region that Russia has failed to completely overwhelm. About 568 civilians, including 38 children, remain holed up with Ukraine fighters at the Azot chemical plant, said regional governor Serhiy Haidai. The civilians are primarily employees of the company, and their families and have refused to evacuate, Haidai said.
“Today everything that can burn is on fire,” Haidai said.
The Russian military controls about 95% of the Luhansk, which along with Donetsk comprises the Donbas region that the Kremlin has coveted since withdrawing from a botched assault on the Ukraine capital of Kyiv in the early days of the four-month war.
Latest developments
►Polish and Ukrainian government officials say they plan to display in Warsaw burnt-out Russian tanks captured by Ukrainian forces. Polish Prime Minister Michal Dworczyk’s office said the idea is to highlight Russian “atrocities” and the Ukrainian response.
►Destruction of businesses, housing and infrastructure has surpassed $100 billion, the equivalent to 50% of Ukraine’s gross domestic product in 2021, the National Bank of Ukraine estimated.
►The Luxembourg government had provided 15% of its defense budget to support the Ukrainian military, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after meeting with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel in Kyiv on Tuesday.
►The Nobel Peace Prize auctioned off by Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees sold Monday night for $103.5 million, more than 20 times the highest amount previously paid for a Nobel. Muratov also donated to charity the $500,000 that came with the prize.
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Americans captured in Ukraine could face death penalty, Russia says
Two American veterans independently supporting the Ukraine military may face the death penalty, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned. Peskov told NBC News the fates of Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, and Alexander Drueke, 39, will be decided by a Russian court. They were “involved in illegal activities …(and) should be punished,” he said, adding that they weren’t likely to be protected by Geneva Conventions afforded prisoners of war because they weren’t part of Ukraine’s regular army.
Huynh and Drueke traveled to Ukraine in April to help Ukrainians repel Russian forces. The State Department issued a statement calling on “the Russian government – as well as its proxies – to live up to their international obligations in their treatment of any individual, including those captured fighting in Ukraine.”
Last week, two Britons and a Moroccan were sentenced to death by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Asked if the Americans would face the same fate, Petrov said he “cannot guarantee anything. It depends on the investigation.”
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