Europe

June 23 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday declared the EU's move to accept Ukraine as a candidate for accession as a victory and promised not to rest until Russia's defeat and full membership had been secured.

European Union leaders formally accepted Ukraine as a candidate to join the 27-nation bloc, a bold geopolitical move hailed by Ukraine and the EU itself as an historic moment. 

"This is a victory," a smiling Zelenskiy said in a brief video posted to his Instagram channel, noting Ukraine had waited 30 years for this moment.

MOSCOW, June 24 (Reuters) - Moscow's foreign ministry on Friday blamed the United States for a Lithuanian ban on sanctioned goods crossing from the Russian mainland to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which has increased already high tensions between Moscow and the West.

"The so-called 'collective West', with the explicit instruction of the White House, imposed a ban on rail transit of a wide range of goods through the Kaliningrad region," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement published on Friday.

BRUSSELS, June 24 (Reuters) - EU leaders on Friday warned that "cheap energy is gone" and agreed to boost preparations for further cuts in Russian gas, accusing Moscow of "weaponising" energy via a supply squeeze which Germany warned could partly shut its industry.

A day after celebrations over setting Kyiv on the road to membership of the bloc, Friday's summit in Brussels was a sober reflection on the economic impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with growing worries over soaring prices and warnings of a "tough winter".

KIEV, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian forces were ordered to withdraw from Severodonetsk, the administrative center of the Ukraine-controlled part of the eastern Lugansk region, a regional governor said on Friday.

"The soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard were ordered to withdraw to new positions, to new fortified areas, and carry out full-fledged combat operations from those positions," Serhiy Haidai, head of the Lugansk regional military administration, said on Telegram.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After weeks of ferocious fighting, Ukrainian forces will retreat from a besieged city in the country’s east to avoid encirclement, a regional governor said Friday.

The city of Sievierodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region, has faced relentless Russian bombardment. Ukrainian troops fought the Russians in house-to-house battles before retreating to the huge Azot chemical factory on the city’s edge, where they remain holed up in its sprawling underground structures in which about 500 civilians also found refuge.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A man was found guilty Friday of murder and attempted murder for fatally stabbing five people and wounding four others in southern Norway when he attacked strangers with a bow and arrows and knives.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders agreed Friday that Croatia will join the group of countries using the euro, bringing the number of nations sharing the currency to 20 starting in January.

“The euro is the monetary expression of our shared destiny and has been part of our European dream,” said EU Council President Charles Michel, who chaired a summit of bloc leaders in Brussels. “Now, the dream comes true for Croatia.”

BERLIN (AP) — Germany will start charging for rapid COVID-19 tests that were previously free, though vulnerable groups will be exempt from the fee.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said Friday that starting July 1 the rapid tests widely available at centers across Germany will cost citizens 3 euros ($3.16) each, with the rest subsidized by the government.

The tests will remain free for people who can prove they belong to vulnerable groups, for visitors of care homes and hospitals, and for small children.

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the United Nations warned Friday that the world faces “catastrophe” because of the growing shortage of food around the globe.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war in Ukraine has added to the disruptions caused by climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and inequality to produce an “unprecedented global hunger crisis” already affecting hundreds of millions of people.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a double blow as voters rejected his Conservative Party in two special elections dominated by questions about his leadership and ethics.

The party’s chairman quit after the results early Friday, saying the party “cannot carry on with business as usual.”

The centrist Liberal Democrats overturned a big Conservative majority to win the rural southwest England seat of Tiverton and Honiton, while the main opposition Labour Party reclaimed Wakefield in northern England from Johnson’s Tories.