Ukraine live briefing: Zelensky uses Snake Island to mark 500 days of war; nations oppose Biden’s cluster munitions shipment

Britain joined Germany in distancing itself from the U.S. decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions on Saturday, as Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted a clarification and assurances about Ukraine’s use of the controversial weapons. Canada also opposed the shipment, saying it is committed to ending the use of such weapons. President Biden defended the move to supply Kyiv with cluster munitions on Friday, telling reporters that Ukraine is “running out of ammunition.”

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

Key developments

• In the undated video, Zelensky described Snake Island as “proof that Ukraine will regain every bit of its territory.” The island was captured by Russian forces in the early days of the war — with its Ukrainian border guards responding to demands they surrender with profanity. The moment was hailed as a rallying moment in Ukraine’s defense — and Russia’s withdrawal a few months later was seen as a symbolic victory for Kyiv. Zelensky regularly publishes videos as part of his messaging efforts and has previously released similar videos, often self-shot, to rally Ukrainians during key milestones of the war.
• Reznikov said Ukraine would not use cluster munitions in urban areas and would keep strict records of their use. The munitions would save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers and would not be used within Russia’s borders, he added.
• Ukrainian troops have “trapped” Russian forces in the eastern town of Bakhmut, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Saturday, as she also acknowledged 500 days of war. Maliar said Ukrainian forces had advanced more than one kilometer (0.6 miles) to the south of the town, which fell to Russian control in May after months of bloody fighting, while British Defense Ministry said in its daily update Saturday that Ukraine had made “steady gains to both the north and south” of the city.

Reaction to cluster munitions

• Russia’s ambassador to the United States said that the weapons allotment was a “gesture of despair” and that American involvement will “only lead to more casualties and prolong the agony of the Kiev regime.” “Washington has ignored the negative opinions of its allies regarding the perils of the use of indiscriminate cluster munitions,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov posted Friday on Telegram.
• European officials said they would not be sending such weapons to Ukraine. Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, when asked by reporters about the U.S. decision, stressed that their countries are among the more than 120 nations that signed a treaty banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions. The United States, Ukraine and Russia are not parties to the treaty. Spanish foreign minister Margarita Robles took a firmer line, telling reporters “no to cluster bombs and yes to the legitimate defense of Ukraine, which we understand should not be carried out with cluster bombs,” she said, per the BBC.
• Canada also opposed the U.S. shipment of cluster munitions, John Babcock, a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada, said in an email to The Post. Babcock cited the international treaty prohibiting the weapons, which Canada is a party to, though the United States is not. “We do not support the use of cluster munitions and are committed to putting an end to the effects cluster munitions have on civilians — particularly children,” Babcock said.
• Human rights groups criticized the U.S. move on cluster munitions, describing the weapons, which can leave behind unexploded ordnance that can kill years after a conflict ends, as a “grave threat to civilian lives” that “would inevitably cause long-term suffering.”

Battleground updates

• Poland has moved more than 1,000 troops toward its border with Belarus in an effort to thwart destabilization, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Saturday on Twitter. Belarus, one of the Kremlin’s last allies in the region, has worried NATO member Poland recently: On Sunday, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski tweeted that he was sending 500 riot and counterterror police to the border region.
• Five commanders who defended the Azov steel plant in Mariupol accompanied Zelensky to Ukraine from Turkey, where they were transferred after being captured by Russia in spring 2022. The men were supposed to stay in Turkey until the end of the war as part of the terms of a larger prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, Zelensky said in December, but returned home after an apparent renegotiation between Ukraine and Erdogan. Crowds in Lviv greeted the motorcade of the returning Azov leaders accompanied by Zelensky.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision to send Azov leaders back to Ukraine from Turkey violated the agreement, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Nobody informed Russia about the transfer of the leaders of the Azov terrorist group from Turkey to Ukraine, Peskov told RIA Novosti.
• At least eight people were killed in Russian shelling in the eastern Ukrainian town of Lyman, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. Five others were injured in the attack, the ministry wrote on Telegram on Saturday.
• Shelling in Russia’s Belgorod region hit a market close to the Ukrainian border, injuring two people, Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Saturday. He said one of the shells started a fire, and later added that two people were injured. Belgorod has seen several attacks by anti-Russian forces in recent months, according to local officials.
• Shells hit a building in Zaporizhzhia on Friday, home to several major industrial sites and a nuclear plant that has become a focus of worry over potential Russian attempts to cause a radiation leak. Regional governor Yurii Malashko said on Telegram that no residents were injured in Friday’s strike, though a building caught fire.

Global impact

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Ukraine’s NATO bid on Friday, telling reporters: “There is no doubt that Ukraine deserves NATO membership.” Turkey has maintained a complicated balancing act during the conflict — supporting Ukraine but also being reluctant to support Western sanctions on Russia, while helping to broker agreements to export Ukrainian grain. Turkey is also holding up Sweden’s bid to join the NATO alliance, saying it is unhappy with Stockholm’s treatment of what it calls Kurdish militants.
• Despite Zelensky’s last-minute appeals, “Ukraine will not be joining NATO” at the alliance’s upcoming summit in Lithuania, Sullivan said at a briefing on Friday. However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said separately that he expects the bloc’s leaders to reaffirm at the summit “that Ukraine will become a member of NATO” and “unite on how to bring Ukraine closer to its goal.”
• The U.N. aid chief said the Black Sea grain deal, which Russia has threatened to abandon, “isn’t something you chuck away,” while speaking to reporters Friday. The deal has facilitated the export of millions of tons of grain and foodstuffs supporting global food security, according to the United Nations, and is set to expire in mid-July unless it is renewed. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres reiterated the “importance of full and continued implementation of the agreements” in a statement released Friday.
• Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, met Friday with Evan Gershkovich’s family members and Wall Street Journal colleagues to mark the U.S. journalist’s 100th day of detention in Russia. Gershkovich is being held on espionage charges that he, his employer and rights groups unequivocally deny, and the United States considers him to be wrongfully detained.

From our correspondents

Kremlin smears Wagner boss Prigozhin, hailing Putin as Russia’s savior: The Kremlin’s propaganda apparatus is in overdrive working to discredit Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin and to cast President Vladimir Putin as the wise leader who saved Russia from civil war, Robyn Dixon reports.

But even as the state-controlled media is trashing Prigozhin as a greedy, treasonous opportunist, the Kremlin has permitted him to return to Russia and recover millions in cash and personal weapons, showing that it’s not so easy to make him disappear.

Still, the gaslighting efforts seem to be working, putting Russia’s shocked population back into passive mode and portraying Putin as stronger than ever. “As far as the general public is concerned, it seems like clinging to normalcy is still the most common and the most immediate reaction among the majority,” said Maria Lipman, a Russia analyst at George Washington University.

Robyn Dixon contributed to this report.