The protocol means that Finland and Sweden can participate in NATO meetings and have greater access to information, but will not be protected by an alliance defense clause – that an attack on one ally is an attack on all – until ratification. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (L) and Swedish Foreign Ministry Anne Linde Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the signing at NATO headquarters alongside the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden: This is truly a historic moment. With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger. He urged allies to ratify quickly and assured the two Nordic countries of NATO’s support in the meantime. Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde thanked NATO for its support and said she looked forward to working together “to ensure our collective security”. I just attended the historic NAC meeting where 🇸🇪 and 🇫🇮 accession protocols were signed by all NATO allies. Thank you for your support! Now the process of ratification by each of the Allies begins. We look forward to working together to ensure our collective security. #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/9VNyBwk0Es — Ann Linde (@AnnLinde) July 5, 2022 Russia has repeatedly warned both countries against joining NATO and in March threatened “severe military and political consequences” if Finland and Sweden join the alliance. Hi to all. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to send me a message if you have something to point out, you can reach me on Twitter or via email. Updated at 11.30 BST Important events: Show only key events A Ukrainian mathematician who proved the best way to pack spheres in eight dimensions to take up the least amount of space and an Oxford expert who has solved prime number spacing puzzles are among the winners of the Fields Medal, considered the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for mathematics. The winners of the award, presented at the International Mathematical Union awards ceremony in Helsinki, were announced as Professor James Maynard 37, of the University of Oxford, Professor Maryna Viazovska, 37, of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Hugo Duminil- Copin, 36, of the University of Geneva and the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, and June Huh, 39, of Princeton University. Maryna Viazovska, the second woman to receive the award Photo: Matteo Fieni While the first Fields Medal was awarded in 1936, there was a hiatus until 1950, since then it has been presented every four years to up to four mathematicians under the age of 40. Viazovska, who was born and raised in Kyiv, is only the second woman to receive the award, following Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani’s victory in 2014. Mirzzakhani died of breast cancer in 2017. Read the full article by Nicola Davis and Ian Sample: Fields Medal: Kyiv-born professor and Oxford expert among winners Russian conscripts are not being sent to fight in Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has claimed. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied that Russia uses state-sponsored conscripts to serve in the military, saying only professional soldiers and officers take part in its military operation. Last month, around a dozen army officers were prosecuted after the Ministry of Defense admitted that hundreds of conscripts had been sent to fight in Ukraine. Citing Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russia’s state-run Ria news agency reported that Putin had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish officials responsible for violating his directives to exclude conscripts from the operation. The Ministry of Defense said in March: Unfortunately, we have discovered enough evidence of the presence of conscripts in units participating in the special military operation in Ukraine. Practically all of these soldiers have been withdrawn to Russia.
Finland and Sweden sign “historic” NATO accession protocol
NATO’s 30 member countries have signed accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, sending the two Nordic countries’ membership bids to the alliance’s parliaments for approval. The protocol means that Finland and Sweden can participate in NATO meetings and have greater access to information, but will not be protected by an alliance defense clause – that an attack on one ally is an attack on all – until ratification. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C) with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (L) and Swedish Foreign Ministry Anne Linde Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the signing at NATO headquarters alongside the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden: This is truly a historic moment. With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger. He urged allies to ratify quickly and assured the two Nordic countries of NATO’s support in the meantime. Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde thanked NATO for its support and said she looked forward to working together “to ensure our collective security”. I just attended the historic NAC meeting where 🇸🇪 and 🇫🇮 accession protocols were signed by all NATO allies. Thank you for your support! Now the process of ratification by each of the Allies begins. We look forward to working together to ensure our collective security. #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/9VNyBwk0Es — Ann Linde (@AnnLinde) July 5, 2022 Russia has repeatedly warned both countries against joining NATO and in March threatened “severe military and political consequences” if Finland and Sweden join the alliance. Hi to all. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to send me a message if you have something to point out, you can reach me on Twitter or via email. Updated at 11.30 BST
Today so far…
Russia has declared victory in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, a day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last remaining stronghold in the province. On Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that “the operation” in Luhansk was over. The Russian president said that military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk “must rest, increase their combat capabilities.”
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said the weeks-long battle for Lysychansk had drawn Russian troops who could have been fighting on other fronts and given Ukrainian forces time to build fortifications in the Donetsk region to make it “ harder for the Russians there”. He also repeated calls for Ukraine’s western allies to provide more weapons, saying the country’s armed forces would launch a counterattack when they had sufficient long-range weapons.
Following Russia’s capture of Lysychansk and control of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, Ukrainian forces will be able to return to a more easily defensible, aligned front line, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The battle for Donbass
Ukrainian forces are set to raise the country’s flag on Snake Island, a strategic and symbolic Black Sea outpost from which Russian troops withdrew last week after months of heavy shelling. Ukraine’s military said earlier that the national flag had been returned to the island shortly before 11pm on Monday. However, Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern military command, later confirmed in an interview with CNN: “The flag was delivered to the island by helicopter. He will wait for the troops to arrive and then wave.’
Russia is reportedly planning to launch a rail link between the Rostov region and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions it holds in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that Russia has established two humanitarian corridors in the Black and Azov seas to facilitate the export of grain.
Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the Russian administration of Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia region, said the region plans to sell Ukraine’s grain to the Middle East. The main countries involved in the agreement were Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the international community to reduce Russia’s access to maritime transport, saying that “Russia’s export economy relies heavily on maritime transport provided by foreign fleets. I urge partners: to limit Russia’s access to their services and to exhaust Putin’s war machine.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will fly to Hanoi today for a two-day visit to Vietnam before heading to the G20 meeting later this week in Indonesia.
That’s it from me, Martin Bellam, for now. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you next. I will be back later. Updated at 11.09 BST Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that Russia has established two humanitarian corridors in the Black and Azov seas to facilitate the export of grain. Russian news agency RIA Novosti quotes Shoigu as saying: “A set of measures is being taken to ensure the safety of navigation in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. The risk of mines in the waters of the port of Mariupol has been completely eliminated.” Russia has repeatedly said it does not interfere with Ukraine’s grain exports and that authorities in Kyiv should simply mine its waters, an act that would also allow Russian warships closer unhindered access to Ukraine’s southern coast. Updated at 10.58 BST
