Ukraine war live updates: Russia likely to bolster defenses as Ukrainians advance, push forward in grueling counteroffensive – CNBC

Russia on Monday called on the UN’s top court in The Hague to dismiss a case centered on Moscow’s claims that its invasion of Ukraine was carried out to prevent genocide.

The request was made at the start of hearings into the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court.

Ukraine filed the complaint just days after the Russian invasion on February 24 last year. kyiv says Russia is violating international law by claiming the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine.

Russian officials continue to accuse Ukraine of committing genocide. On Monday, Russia reiterated its allegations that the “Russophobic and neo-Nazi regime in Kiev” was using the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which both countries are parties, as a pretext to “take” a case to court.

Russia wants the case thrown out and says the court does not have jurisdiction. The hearings, which are scheduled to run through September 27, will not examine the merits of the case and will instead focus on legal arguments over jurisdiction.

“Ukraine does not accuse Russia of committing genocide. Nor does Ukraine accuse Russia of failing to prevent or punish the genocide. On the contrary, Ukraine insists that no genocide took place,” Russian agent to the tribunal Gennady Kuzmin said in his opening speech.

“This alone should be enough to dismiss the case. Because according to the Court’s jurisprudence, if there was no genocide, there cannot be a violation of the Genocide Convention.”

While Russia has so far ignored orders from the ICJ to stop its military actions and the Court has no way of enforcing its rulings, experts say a possible ruling in favor of Ukraine could be important for any future repair requests.

-Reuters

China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, begins a four-day trip to Russia on Monday during which the two countries are expected to pledge to deepen mutual political trust, preparing for a possible historic visit by President Vladimir Putin to Beijing in October .

Wang, who heads the Foreign Ministry as well as the ruling Communist Party’s foreign affairs office, will meet Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev for annual security talks, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement .

The veteran diplomat’s talks with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov will cover a “wide range of issues”, including “contacts at the highest and highest levels”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said last week.

Wang is expected to set the stage for Putin’s visit to the Chinese capital for the third Belt and Road Forum, following an invitation from President Xi Jinping during a high-profile visit to Moscow in March.

Putin participated in China’s first two Belt and Road forums in 2017 and 2019. But he is known to have not traveled abroad since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant. judgment against him for illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

On September 1, Putin said he expected to meet Xi soon, but did not explicitly confirm he would visit China again.

The warrant, issued just days before Xi’s visit to Russia, requires the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he enters their territory. However, China is not a party to the Rome Statute which led to the creation of the ICC in 2002.

The visit will also see a detailed exchange of views on issues such as Ukraine, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week.

-Reuters

Ukraine has recaptured two villages in the area around Bakhmut in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in recent days as its grueling counter-offensive continues in the south and east of the country.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday that Kiev forces had liberated Andriivka and Klishchiivka over the weekend, but said Russia was “trying with all its might to regain lost positions” .

“Our fighters are holding back enemy attacks there and are entrenched at the reached borders,” she said in a message on Telegram. Two square kilometers of territory were reconquered last week around Bakhmut, an epicenter of fighting for months.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his forces in the region in his evening speech on Sunday, saying: “I would especially like to salute the warriors who are gradually regaining Ukrainian territory in the Bakhmut region.”

Ukrainian forces are also trying to advance south to regain towns near and over the Sea of ​​Azov.

Maliar said Ukraine was continuing its “offensive operation in the direction of Melitopol” and that successes had been recorded in the area south and east of Robotyne, a town in the southern Zaporizhia region that Ukraine declared having reconquered at the end of August.

Last week, southern defense forces liberated 5.2 square kilometers of territory. Since the start of the counter-offensive, 261.7 square kilometers have been retaken in the region.

—Houx Ellyatt

Russian troops have likely strengthened their defenses around the occupied town of Tokmak in southern Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update on Sunday.

“Tokmak is preparing to become a pillar of Russia’s second line of defense,” the ministry said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He noted that Russia would likely deploy additional checkpoints, “hedgehog” anti-tank defenses and dig new trenches in the area controlled by its 58th Combined Arms Army. Tokmak is approximately 16 kilometers behind the current front line.

The ministry noted that improvements to the city’s defenses likely indicate Russia’s growing concern over Ukrainian tactical penetrations in recent weeks of the first main defensive line to the north.

—Houx Ellyatt