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Two Russian soldiers plead guilty in the second war crimes trial in Ukraine.

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Kyiv May 26, 6:51 p.m.
Moscow May 26, 6:51 p.m.
Washington …

Kyiv May 26, 6:51 p.m. Moscow May 26, 6:51 p.m. Washington May 26, 11:51 a.m. The country’s central bank cut interest rates again as President Vladimir V. Putin moved to raise the minimum wage and sweeten military benefits. Two Russian soldiers pleaded guilty in the second war crimes trial in Ukraine since the fighting began. Eshe Nelson and Shashank Bengali
As the financial pain of the war weighs on Russia, the country’s central bank cut interest rates again on Thursday, the latest in a raft of measures by Moscow aimed at stabilizing an economy buffeted by Western sanctions and four months of fighting in Ukraine. The move came as President Vladimir V. Putin promised to increase the minimum wage and military benefits, a rare acknowledgment of the costs of his war, even as he insisted that Russia’s economy was weathering the asset freezes and departures of foreign companies that have followed his invasion of Ukraine. Russia has taken drastic action to stabilize its economy since the Feb. 24 invasion deepened its isolation and sparked fears of a crash. Since the Russian Central Bank doubled interest rates to 20 percent to shore up a plunging currency, the ruble has rebounded, leading the bank to reduce its benchmark rate to 11 percent on Thursday, with analysts saying that further cuts could come. Yet the war’s toll in Russia, though difficult to quantify, is becoming unmistakable. Prices of consumer goods are soaring. Basic items, from paper to buttons, are in short supply. Sales in the lucrative energy sector are projected to fall this year as European customers begin to pivot away from Russian oil. In announcing the interest rate cut, the head of the central bank warned that the coming months would be “difficult for both companies and citizens.”
The proposals announced by Mr. Putin on state television on Wednesday were an attempt to ease the pain for Russia’s people. In video clips released by the Kremlin, he was seen directing senior officials to raise payments to service members deployed in Ukraine and double child care allowances for women in the military. He also pledged an increase of 10 percent next month in the minimum wage and pensions for older people who are not in paid employment. In other developments:
Russia’s Supreme Court has delayed until June 29 a hearing to determine whether the Azov battalion, a regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard that made up the bulk of the fighters at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, should be designated a terrorist organization. Two Russian soldiers pleaded guilty on Thursday to firing on a town in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region from a position across the border in Russia. It is the second war crimes trial to take place in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. On the battlefield, Russia’s ambitions are narrowing to three cities in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. With the depletion of troops and equipment, some analysts expect the battle to be Russia’s last major offensive of the war. The European Union has stalled on its proposed ban on Russian oil, held up by Hungary’s refusal to back the measure along with the other 26 members of the bloc. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked that the proposed embargo remain off the table. He said that his concerns about it had not been resolved. Cassandra Vinograd
The mayor of Kharkiv says Ukraine’s second-largest city is coming under fire. “Today in Kharkiv it is loud and dangerous,” the mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said in a video posted to Facebook. “There are wounded and unfortunately dead.” Earlier this month, Ukrainian forces had pushed Russian troops out of the city and beyond striking distance. Somini Sengupta
The night the Russian bombing began, Ilyess El Kortbi, 25, a climate activist from Kharkiv, Ukraine, was on an overnight train to Kyiv, the country’s capital, to attend a conference on peace.
“When I woke up, everyone was silent. I asked why,” said Ilyess, who uses the nonbinary pronouns they/them. “Russian troops had entered Kharkiv region.”
They haven’t been back since, and they don’t want to, considering that Ilyess is regarded as a male and all adult males are forbidden from leaving the country and required to join the military. Their mother insisted that they leave. At first, they panicked. Then they thought of fellow Fridays for the Future activists in other war zones. “Now it is in Ukraine. But it was also in Syria. In Afghanistan. In Iraq,” they said Thursday at a protest with a few dozen others, down the road from the World Economic Forum venue in Davos, Switzerland. Hello from Davos! I am here because of the war in my country Ukraine????????
Because Europe is dependent on Fossil Energy owned by dictator Putin. War in Ukraine is Climate Crisis of today in Europe
I am here because I want Leaders and Business to #StandWithUkraine not on empty word pic.twitter.com/Ghc2M8CJ0E
They noted that climate activists had long urged European leaders to shift away from oil and gas, imported largely from Russia.
“Such wars are caused by energies we no longer need,” they said. “Here it is, a war funded by Europe being dependent on fossils, which is also the main cause of the climate crisis.”
They lost two fellow members of Fridays for the Future in the war, choking up at the memory. One was in school; the other had just graduated from university.
“It was so difficult to build a movement in Ukraine,” they said. “It wasn’t popular. We were continuing. We were just demanding something. It’s just unfair. Now they’re dead.”
Ilyess and fellow youth climate activists also plan to protest at the June meeting of the Group of 7 in Germany. Aurelien Breeden
In a phone conversation with the Turkish president, President Emmanuel Macron of France said it was important to “respect the sovereign choice” made by Sweden and Finland to join NATO, which Turkey has opposed so far. The French presidency said in a statement that Macron hoped there would be a “quick solution” to the blockage. Cassandra Vinograd
Prime Minister Sanna Marin of Finland is on a visit to Ukraine, where she met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and toured the towns of Bucha and Irpin, which were devastated by fighting. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Marin’s government to apply for NATO membership. Valerie Hopkins
Two Russian soldiers pleaded guilty on Thursday to firing on eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region from across the border in Russia, in the second war crimes trial to take place in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. The soldiers, Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov, acknowledged being part of an artillery unit that shelled the village of Derhachi, destroying a school, from a position near the Russian border city of Belgorod. The men, who served as an artillery driver and a gunner, crossed the border and continued shelling before being captured, prosecutors said. The hearing was live streamed on YouTube.
“I am completely guilty of the crimes of which I am accused,” Mr. Bobikin said from the glass cell in which he and Mr. Ivanov were held in the courtroom. “We fired at Ukraine from Russia.”
The two soldiers are charged with violating the laws and customs of war. The charge is laid out by the Geneva Conventions, to which Ukraine is a party. Prosecutors told the court in the Kotelevska district of central Ukraine that the men deserved to be jailed for 12 years. Mr. Ivanov asked for leniency. “I repent and ask for a reduction in the sentence,” he said. The verdict is due on May 31. It will likely be the second war crimes verdict handed down in Ukraine after a court in the capital, Kyiv, convicted Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin of killing a 62-year-old civilian in the Sumy region. Chief Prosecutor Irina Venediktova said last week in an interview with local media Novoye Vremya that her office had identified 11,800 war crimes and 45 war crimes suspects. Matthew Mpoke Bigg
Shell fire has killed at least three civilians in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk since Wednesday as Moscow presses its attack, Ukrainian officials said. Russian forces targeted Luhansk’s last working gas distribution center, leaving the province without natural gas. There is also no electricity or centralized water system, an official said. Anton Troianovski
President Vladimir V. Putin tried to put a brave face on Western companies’ exit from Russia. “Sometimes you look at those leaving and think, ‘Maybe thank God that they are,’” Putin said in a televised meeting. “Our businesses and our manufacturers have grown up and will successfully find a place on ground prepared by our partners. Nothing will change.” Earlier Thursday, the chairwoman of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, warned that the coming months would be “difficult for both companies and citizens” as the Russian economy adapts to sanctions. Anton Troianovski
Putin also lashed out at Western governments that are freezing Russian assets in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. “Stealing others’ assets never ends well, primarily for those doing such wicked things,” he said in a televised meeting, according to the Interfax news agency. Patricia Cohen and Valeriya Safronova
After sanctions hobbled production at its assembly plant in Kaliningrad, the Russian automaker Avtotor announced a lottery for free 10-acre plots of land — and the chance to buy seed potatoes — so employees could grow their own food in the westernmost fringe of the Russian empire during “the difficult economic situation.”
Banks have shortened receipts in response to a paper shortage. Clothing manufacturers said they were running out of buttons.
“The economic prospects for Russia are especially gloomy,” the Bank of Finland said in an analysis this month. “By initiating a brutal war against Ukraine, Russia has chosen to become much poorer and less influential in economic terms.”
It is not easy to figure out the impact of the war and sanctions on the Russian economy at a time when even using the words “war” and “invasion” are illegal. President Vladimir V. Putin has insisted that the economy is weathering the measures imposed by the United States, Europe and others. Still, Avtotor’s vegetable patch lottery and what it says about the vulnerabilities facing the Russian people, along with shortages and price increases, are signs of the economic distress that is gripping some Russian businesses and workers since the war started. Valerie Hopkins
Two Russian soldiers pleaded guilty to firing on a town in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region from a position across the border in Russia. The soldiers, Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov, issued their guilty plea in the second war crimes trial to take place in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February. The trial is taking place in central Ukraine, and the verdict is due on Tuesday. Patricia Cohen and Melissa Eddy
Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany helped close out the final hours of the annual meeting of global leaders at the World Economic Forumon Thursday by describing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as an imperialist throwback who must not be allowed to succeed in his invasion of Ukraine.
“Our goal is crystal clear,” Mr. Scholz told a packed hall in Davos, Switzerland. “We cannot allow Putin to win his war.”
Mr. Scholz said that even though Russia had nuclear weapons, that did not give it the right to unilaterally redraw borders.
“That is imperialism,” he said, “an attempt to blast us back to a time when war was a consistent instrument of politics.”
Invoking the horrors of World War II and Germany’s history of Nazi aggression, Mr. Scholz said that opposing Russia’s military adventurism was about not just the future of Ukraine, but also the system of international cooperation.
“The vow of ‘never again,’ is at stake,” he said.

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