Russia: Moscow bans more than 900 Americans from entering country, including President Biden

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has arrived in Ukraine, his office said Sunday.

Duda will deliver a speech to Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, as the first foreign head of state to address the council since the war began, the president’s office said in a statement.

It didn’t give details on the timing of his remarks.

Moscow is considering exchanging Ukrainian prisoners from the Azov regiment for Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and oligarch, according to Russian state media.

Medvedchuk was detained by Ukrainian authorities in April in a “special operation”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this year. 

Announcing Medvedchuk’s detention in April, Zelensky posted a photo of a handcuffed and disheveled-looking Medvedchuk wearing fatigues on Telegram, with the caption: “A special operation was carried out thanks to the SBU [the Security Service of Ukraine]. Well done!”

Prior to Russia’s invasion, Medvedchuk had faced allegations of treason in Ukraine and had been under house arrest. His whereabouts had been unknown in the weeks following the invasion. Some observers speculated that Medvedchuk or one of his allies might be the Kremlin’s preference to lead a puppet government in Ukraine if the Feb. 24 invasion succeeded in toppling Zelensky.

More than 1,000 education institutions in Ukraine have been destroyed by Russian forces since the war began, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with that figure including primary schools, kindergartens and universities.

Here are the latest updates in the war in Ukraine:

Russia bans Biden: Russia has banned more than 900 Americans from entering the country, including President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Russia published its updated “stop list” on Saturday, banning a total of 963 American officials and figures from entering the country.

The updated list included the majority of US senators and members of the House of Representatives, former and current government officials, journalists, military personnel, advocates, citizens, CEOs — and even a few deceased individuals.

Longtime Arizona. Sen. John McCain and Defense Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Melissa Drisko, who both died in 2018, were included on the list, as well as Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State under President Donald Trump.

Bridge destroyed: Russian forces have destroyed the Pavlograd bridge between Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, according to Serhiy Hayday, the head of the regional military administration. In a post on his Telegram page on Saturday, Hayday said this will “greatly complicate the evacuation and delivery of humanitarian aid,” but right now, “there is a connection between the cities.” Hayday also reported 57 people were evacuated on Saturday from the Luhansk region. 

Carnage in Lozova: A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region on Friday damaged more than a thousand apartments and 11 educational institutions, according to Mayor Serhiy Zelensky. 

“The figures are shocking: 11 educational institutions, including five schools. There are questions about the amount of damage suffered by a hospital and a clinic. Our Palace of Culture was completely destroyed too,” the mayor said Saturday in a video statement on Telegram.

Educational institutions hit: More than 1,000 Ukrainian educational institutions have been destroyed by the Russian army since the start of the war, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The figure includes primary schools, universities, kindergartens, and other institutes hit by Russian shelling since the war began last February.

Donbas offensive: the Russian army has been escalating attacks on Slovyansk and Severodonetsk over the past few days and the situation in Donbas is now “extremely difficult,’ the Ukrainian President said in his nightly address Saturday.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is a man on a mission.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, he has imposed sanctions on Moscow, agreed to pursue a nuclear-free world with the Pope and taken a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia and Europe to rally world leaders to protect democracy.

But it’s not just democracy in Ukraine that he’s trying to protect — Kishida sees parallels between Russia’s actions in Europe and China’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific, a region stretching from America’s Pacific coastline to the Indian Ocean.

“We strongly oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force, regardless of the location,” said Kishida, in a joint statement with European Union leaders in May. The same statement included a clause expressing “serious concern about reports of militarization, coercion and intimidation in the South China Sea,” though it didn’t name China as the aggressor.

Japan’s location places it in an increasingly volatile security environment — flanked by China to its south, nuclear-armed North Korea to the west and Russia to its north. As a result, the war in Ukraine has catalyzed debates on Japan’s national security like never before.

Read the full story: Japan turns away from post-war pacifism as China threat grows

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday “the situation in Donbas is extremely difficult,” as the Russian army has been escalating attacks on Slovyansk and Severodonetsk over the past few days.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are deterring this offensive. Every day that our defenders take away from these offensive plans of Russia, disrupting them, is a concrete contribution to the approach of the main day,” Zelensky said.

“No Russian strikes; neither by missiles in the Rivne region, nor by artillery in the Kharkiv or Sumy region, nor by all possible weapons in Donbas, will give Russia any result,” Zelensky added.

A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region on Friday damaged more than 1,000 apartments and 11 educational institutions, according to Mayor Serhiy Zelensky.

“Among the damaged educational facilities is the Lozova branch of the Kharkiv Automobile and Road College. Educational building number 1, training and production workshops, and a dormitory that are located on the territory of the college suffered damage as well,” Mayor Zelensky added.

CNN reported Friday a Russian missile had destroyed the House of Culture in Lozova, injuring seven, including an 11-year-old child, according to Ukraine’s Office of the President.

Lozova is roughly 73 kilometers, or 45 miles, southwest of Izium, a Russian-occupied city in the Kharkiv region. 

Russian forces have destroyed the bridge between Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Serhiy Hayday, the head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram on Saturday.

This is the second time the bridge has been destroyed, Hayday added. 

According to Hayday, militants had blown up the bridge while retreating during the liberation of Lysychansk in July 2014. Since then, communication between the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk — both of which have a population of roughly a hundred thousand people — has been difficult. The bridge was rebuilt in 2016. 

Hayday also reported 57 people were evacuated on Saturday from the Luhansk region. 

Earlier on Saturday, CNN reported at least six people had been killed in Russian attacks in the city of Severodonetsk. 

Russia published its updated “stop list” on Saturday, banning a total of 963 American officials and figures from entering the country.

The updated list included the majority of US senators and members of the House of Representatives, former and current government officials, journalists, military personnel, advocates, citizens, CEOs — and even a few deceased individuals.

Longtime Arizona. Sen. John McCain and Defense Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Melissa Drisko, who both died in 2018, were included on the list.

Russia also targeted Hollywood, with actor Morgan Freeman and actor/filmmaker Rob Reiner making the list. In 2017, Reiner was involved in promoting the group The Committee to Investigate Russia, and Freeman was featured in a video on the site.

Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State under President Donald Trump, was also listed. He previously spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about its election interference in US elections.

The ministry accused the people on the list of inciting “Russophobia”.

The growing list also includes several CNN contributors, though listed for their former duties, not their CNN association. They are David Axelrod, John Kasich, Wesley Clark, James Clapper, and Susan Glasser.

CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, International Security Editor, is also on the stop list. Walsh is a British citizen.

Russian Transportation Minister Vitaly Savelyev said on Saturday that Western sanctions against Russia have “practically broken all” logistics corridors used by the country for trade, state news agency TASS reported.

Speaking during a visit to Russia’s Astrakhan region, Savelyev said: “The sanctions that have been imposed on the Russian Federation today have practically broken all logistics [corridors] in our country. And we are forced to look for new logistics corridors together.”

He said Moscow is looking into capitalizing from alternative trade routes such as the International North–South Transport (INSTC) corridor – a transit route linking India with Central Asian countries, Russia and Europe through Iran, according to TASS.