The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine yesterday called for the removal of Russian cosmonauts from missions at the International Space Station, after the three crew members were photographed with the flags of the two separatist districts of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The Russian space agency Ruscosmos has released photos of cosmonauts Oleg Artemiev, Dennis Mataviev and Sergei Korsakov, holding the flags of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – the names given by pro-Russian separatists to the two provinces in Donbas. The photos were taken in honor of the completion of the Russian takeover of Luhansk Oblast earlier this week.
“Russian cosmonauts display a flag under which Russian soldiers kill women and children in the Donbas and turn all the cities in Ukraine into rubble,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement.
At the scene of the fighting, the Ukrainian army reported yesterday that the Russians were trying to establish control of Luhansk and eliminate the last Ukrainian forces in parallel with increased attacks in the Donetsk Oblast. British military intelligence noted that the Ukrainian forces in Luhansk “apparently withdrew in an orderly fashion, in line with existing plans” and that “there is a realistic likelihood that the Ukrainian forces will now be able to enter a more prepared and tightened line of defense”.
Meanwhile, Sweden, Finland and the 30 NATO member states yesterday officially signed the two Nordic countries’ accession documents to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, after last week NATO leaders at the Madrid summit approved the applications to join.
It is estimated that the approval process will be completed in the coming months, including in Turkey, which last week lifted its veto following a tripartite agreement with Finland and Sweden on a “fight against terrorism”. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlot Chebushulu warned this week that his country could withdraw if the Nordic countries do not live up to their commitments, such as extraditing terror suspects, but it is estimated that the barrier will be finally removed if the US approves the sale of F-16s to Turkey.