Ukraine’s war in the living room: Kyiv power willing to negotiate the Chersonese; Swedish investigators still investigating Nord Stream sabotage – CNBC

At least five people were killed by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne reported.

“At night, Russian forces fired mortars at Bilopillya in Sumy oblast, people in the village were left without electricity,” the outlet wrote on its official Telegram channel.

“As it happened yesterday in the Donetsk region of the Russian shelling, five people were killed and nine others were wounded. The man who was wounded yesterday in the Beryslava shelling in the Kherson region died in the hospital.”

CNBC could not independently verify the information.

-Natasha Turak

Moscow fired a Russian colonel general following his poor performance in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defense wrote in its daily intelligence update. Reports of the release surfaced in Russian media and social media.

“The Russian MoD has very likely dismissed Colonel-General Rustam Muradov as the commander of the Eastern Group of Forces (EGF) in Ukraine. The EGF under Muradov has suffered extremely heavy losses in recent months as his ill-conceived attacks have repeatedly managed to capture Donetsk. Oblast town of Vuhledar” ministry UK Twitter he wrote

The operation has “attracted intense public criticism across the spectrum from Russian commentators – including Muradov’s own forces,” the post said, adding that it was “a senior military release until 2023”.

-Natasha Turak

Swedish authorities investigating the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline have yet to show any evidence, which they said led Sweden to prosecute.

“We are working constantly and leaving no stone unturned and leaving nothing to chance,” prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

“Our hope is to be able to confirm who committed this crime, but we must note that it will likely be difficult given the circumstances.”

The Nord Stream pipeline that connects Russia and Germany and was before Russia’s vital source of gas in Europe suffered a huge explosion last September, as Russian energy sanctions were imposed on the invasion of Ukraine.

-Natasha Turak

Ukraine is willing to discuss the status of the Crimean peninsula if its army reaches the Crimean border, a top official said.

“If we will be able to achieve strategic goals in the front and when we will be at the administrative border at Chersonesos, we are ready to open. [a] diplomatic website to discuss this issue “Andriy Sybiha, served as an officer of the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy; he told the Financial Times into the conversation.

“It does not mean that we exclude the way of liberation” [of Crimea] from our army,” he said.

The FT report added that Sybiha’s comments “reveal Western leaders who doubt Ukraine’s ability to reclaim the peninsula and worry that any military effort could lead Vladimir Putin to resort to nuclear war, possibly with nuclear weapons.”

Kyiv pushed the negotiations so far until Russian forces withdrew from the whole of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which belongs to Ukraine under international law and was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The FT report described Sybiha as a “veteran diplomat” who has long been at Zelenskyy’s side. Sybiha said that “the president and his aides were now talking specifically about Crimea, as the Ukrainian army was getting closer to recapturing its territory against an offensive,” FT wrote.

-Natasha Turak

If Beijing further supports Russia in its war against Ukraine, that could affect trade relations between Europe and China, said Jens Eskelund, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, will be in Beijing this week alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.

“I think both will impress the Chinese leaders, who are now looking at everything through the lens of Ukraine,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

“It should not be underestimated – it could also have a potential impact on European-China trade – if we continue to see expressions of support from China for Russia in its aggression against Ukraine. This point will be clear.”

– Sumathi Bala

The White House said it saw no indication that China had agreed to provide Russia with lethal weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“We have not seen any indication that he has provided a lethal instrument to Mr. Putin. And we are waiting for actions, not words,” the spokesman for the national security adviser. John Kirby said of the meeting with the reporters.

“We’re just going to keep our eyes open and watch it,” he said, refusing to speculate on the possibility of U.S. retaliation if Beijing provided Russia with aid.

-Amanda Macias