Putin Says in No Hurry; Blinken Accuses Russia

(Bloomberg) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was “not in a hurry” to end military operations in Ukraine, and threatened to step up attacks on civilian infrastructure. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia had committed war crimes following the latest discovery of a mass burial site in one of Ukraine’s newly-liberated regions.

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made an urgent appeal to allies to supply additional air- and missile-defense systems that he said are crucial to repelling Russia’s invasion and preventing further disruption to food and energy supplies. He also welcomed an upcoming visit by United Nations investigators to a town where mass graves have been found.

Russia’s central bank delivered the smallest interest-rate cut since it started easing monetary policy after the invasion of Ukraine.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

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On the Ground

Over the past day, infrastructure in more than 30 towns and cities has been damaged by air and missile strikes, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook. Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in the country’s east, increasingly pressuring Russian positions and logistics lines in Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk, according to the latest report by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. Russian and Ukrainian sources reported Ukrainian ground attacks northwest of Kharkiv, near the Ukrainian bridgehead over the Inhulets River, and south of the Kherson-Dnipropetrovsk border, the Institute said.

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Zelenskiy Welcomes a UN Inquiry Into Izyum Graves (1:28 a.m.)

Zelenskiy welcomed a United Nations decision to send investigators to the Ukrainian town of Izyum after the discovery of mass graves there. In his nightly video address on Friday he said that Ukraine would provide full access now that the town has been recaptured from Russian forces.

Earlier Friday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva said some its personnel in Ukraine would be going to Izyum.

“There is already clear evidence of torture,…