LIVE UPDATES: Kiev Preparing Bucha-Type Provocation in DPR, Russian MoD Warns

Aside from closing down CBC's Moscow office, Russia will annul the accreditation of Canadian journalists, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

Turkey expects its NATO allies to respect and support Ankara's concerns about its security, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

"If we are allies, then Ankara's concerns about its security and borders should be respected and supported. We see that there is no such attitude toward us," Erdogan said during a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

Erdogan discouraged Finland and Sweden from sending delegations to Turkey next Monday, as scheduled, saying their visit will not change Ankara's opposition to their membership in NATO as his country "will not make the same mistake twice."

"We always support the alliance and allied spirit. But we cannot say yes to every proposal, we cannot say yes to an alliance with those countries that support terrorists who threaten Turkey's security," Erdogan noted.

Earlier in the day, the ambassadors of Sweden and Finland submitted their countries' applications for NATO membership to the alliance's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, at the headquarters in Brussels.

There is no such thing as a fast-track procedure for joining the European Union, however Brussels should explore possibilities for accelerated EU integration with third countries, including Ukraine, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told Deutschlandfunk radio.

"There is no accelerated process. I fully understand on an emotional level that Ukraine has such a desire. I think we all have an interest in anchoring Ukraine in the European family, bringing Ukraine to European values and ways of life and anchoring it there. Nevertheless, we all know that the accession process can take years, if not decades. Turkey has had candidate status since 1999," the minister said in an interview to the German broadcaster.

Schallenberg added that the EU should think about new arrangement on how to promote integration with third countries to bypass the usual model of accession to ensure a high level of relations between them and the union, including political, economic, scientific and technological relations.

Kiev applied for EU membership under fast-track procedure on 28 February, shortly after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine. On 9 May, French President Emmanuel Macron told the European Parliament that Ukraine's accession to the EU could drag on for years or decades unless the bloc is willing to lower the bar on its membership criteria.

The United States and its G7 allies will discuss over the next two days more support for Ukraine and the US Senate is expected to approve $40 billion in additional aid for the Eastern European country, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday.

"Over the next two days, I work with my G7 counterparts, to ensure we continue to stand together, to uphold our shared principles and extend our cooperation to boosting our support for Ukraine," Yellen told a news conference before the start of the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Meetings in Bonn, Germany. "I expect that the [US] Senate will respond to the president's request and pass a package of $40 billion in security, economic, and humanitarian aid."

Turkey has blocked the start of consideration of the application for accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, the Financial Times reported citing an informed source.

NATO ambassadors met on Wednesday to begin admission talks on the same day Finland and Sweden filed their bids, but Ankara's obstruction halted any vote, the newspaper said.

It noted that this called into question the ability of NATO to agree on the first stage of the application of the two countries within one to two weeks.

All 30 NATO member countries must ratify the applications of Finland and Sweden, but the process can only begin when the alliance issues a protocol of acceptance and formally invites these countries to join NATO.

The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday short-term emergency measures to address rising energy prices and possible supply disruptions, including an administrative price cap on gas in the event of full disruption of supplies from Russia.

"To accompany these measures, an administrative price cap on gas might be necessary at EU level in response to a full supply disruption. If introduced, this cap should be limited to the duration of the EU emergency and should not compromise the EU's ability to attract alternative sources of pipeline gas and LNG supplies, and to reduce demand," the commission said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, Spanish Ambassador to Moscow Marcos Gomez Martinez was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and Moscow strongly protested in connection with the provocative announcement by Madrid of 27 employees of Russian foreign missions in Spain personae non gratae by Madrid.

The Ukrainian parliament registered on Wednesday bills submitted by President Volodymyr Zelensky on the extension of martial law and mobilization in Ukraine.

The texts of the documents have not been made publicly available.

Finnish state-owned energy company Gasum said on Wednesday that Russia may suspend natural gas supplies on 20-21 May under the contract with Gazprom Export.

"Gasum considers there to be a real risk of the natural gas supplies under the company’s gas supply contract ending and that it is likely that imports of natural gas from Russia to Finland will cease either late on Friday, 20 May or on Saturday, 21 May 2022. Gasum has not received any information about the matter from Gazprom Export or from the Russian transmission operator," the company said in a statement.