News updates from June 25: Eu charges Microsoft with antitrust violations; Fed official warns of another rate rise

FedEx shares surged in extended trading as it issued a rosy outlook and announced plans for $2.5bn in share buybacks for the current fiscal year.

The delivery company, considered a bellwether of global economic growth, said it expects low-to-mid single-digit revenue growth in the current fiscal year and earnings per diluted share to be between $18.25 to $20.25 a share. Analysts had forecast revenue growth of about 3 per cent and earnings of $20.15 a share.

FedEx, which has made efforts in recent quarters to cut costs in what chief executive Raj Subramaniam has described as a “challenging revenue environment”, reported net income of $1.47bn in its fourth quarter on revenue of $22.1bn. Although the latter was in line with analysts’ forecasts, net income was almost 17 per cent higher than what Wall Street expected.

The group also announced $2.5bn of stock repurchases for fiscal 2025.

FedEx shares leapt 15 per cent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

US stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on Tuesday thanks to a rebound in Big Tech stocks.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent, led higher by a near-7 per cent increase for chip designer Nvidia. The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3 per cent.

Nvidia had shed more than $500bn in market value since briefly becoming the world’s most valuable public company last week, but bounced back on Tuesday with its strongest one-day gain in about a month.

Tuesday’s moves were the latest illustration of how a small number of megacap companies have been driving the recent market rally, with the index climbing despite declines for more than three-quarters of individual companies.

Shares of electric vehicle start-up Rivian soared more than 35 per cent after Volkswagen announced a plan to invest up to $5bn as part of a partnership in EV software.

The tie-up comes as VW looks to enhance its EV offering in the face of sophisticated competition from Tesla and Chinese rivals. Its in-house software developer Cariad has struggled to deliver products on time.

Upon agreement of the 50/50 joint venture, VW would receive “immediate access” to Rivian’s EV software for use in its own cars.

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Shares of swimming pool groups were among the worst performers on Wall Street after one of the sector’s top players slashed its full-year outlook on subdued consumer spending on big-ticket items.

Louisiana-based Pool late on Monday said that owing to “persistently weak demand” for new pool construction — and with “peak selling season” almost complete — it believes pool construction activity could be down 15 per cent to 20 per cent for the year.

The company said its year-to-date sales are down about 6.5 per cent from a year ago, with its discretionary business lines hit hardest. Pool cut its annual earnings guidance range to $11.04 to $11.44 per diluted share from $13.19 to $14.19 previously.

Pool shares closed 8 per cent lower on Tuesday, making them the worst performer in the S&P 500, and giving the company a valuation of about $12bn. Smaller pool maker Latham Group sank 12.7 per cent, while pool supplies groups Hayward Holdings and Leslie’s dropped 9.1 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively.

Kenya’s President William Ruto on Tuesday said his country “experienced an unprecedented attack on its democracy, rule of law, and the integrity of its constitutional institutions” after nationwide anti-tax protests left at least five people dead and more than 30 injured.

The country’s army was deployed on Tuesday evening to support police after parts of the parliament building in Nairobi were set on fire.

Ruto said an “otherwise legitimate expression of the fundamental rights and freedoms of assembly” was “infiltrated and hijacked by a group of organised criminals”.

“Today’s events mark a critical turning point on how we respond to grave threats to our national security,” Ruto said, adding he will ensure that a “situation of this nature” does not happen again.

Norwegian solar manufacturer NorSun announced a $620mn investment to build a factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a signal of confidence to US ambitions to develop a local supply chain and cut reliance on Chinese production.

The 5GW factory, when operational, will be among the first to produce ingots and wafers for solar panels in the US, which has no operating capacity for these components.

The announcement on Tuesday from NorSun comes as US solar manufacturers struggle to compete with low market prices amid an overproduction of panels from China. Earlier this year, Bill Gates-backed CubicPV scrapped plans to build a 10GW wafer factory in the US, citing a “dramatic collapse” in prices.

US stocks climbed, lifted by a rebound in shares of Nvidia and its tech sector rivals.

The S&P 500 was up 0.3 per cent in mid-afternoon trading on Tuesday, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2 per cent. The so-called “Magnificent Seven” megacap tech companies — Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Apple and Tesla — all climbed, and accounted for seven of the eight biggest index point drivers of the S&P 500’s advance.

Nvidia led the charge with a 5.8 per cent increase, bouncing after three consecutive days of declines.

Government bond prices were mostly steady despite the combination of a large Treasury auction, new economic data and updates from a senior Federal Reserve official on the inflation outlook.

The yield on the two-year note, which is particularly sensitive to interest rate expectations, inched up 0.01 percentage points to 4.74 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield added around the same amount, to 4.24 per cent. Higher yields reflect lower prices.

Shares in cruise line operators were among the best performers on Wall Street after one of the industry’s top players boosted its full-year outlook on continued strength in demand.

Carnival forecast adjusted net income of $1.55bn in fiscal 2024, a $275mn increase from three months ago, and above the $1.37bn analysts pencilled in.

Chief executive Josh Weinstein said the company is experiencing “strong bookings momentum driven by record booking volumes for 2025 sailings”, and was also able to achieve “considerably higher prices” on bookings taken in its most recent quarter compared to the prior year.

Shares in Carnival were up 9.3 per cent in lunchtime trading on Tuesday, on course for their biggest daily jump in a year.

Carnival was the best performer in the S&P 500, followed by rival Norwegian Cruise Line with a 6 per cent gain. Royal Caribbean Cruises, up 3.6 per cent, was the fourth-best performer in the index.

The Philippine ambassador to Washington has warned that a conflict with China over a contested reef in the South China Sea could engulf countries across the Indo-Pacific, raising the spectre of a possible nuclear war.

Jose Manuel Romualdez said the dispute with China over the Second Thomas Shoal had created an incendiary situation. In recent months, the Chinese coast guard has violently blocked Philippine boats from carrying out supply missions to marines stationed on the Sierra Madre, a marooned ship on the reef.

“It’s the most dangerous time . . . weapons of mass destruction are very real,” Romualdez told the Financial Times in an interview. “You have several countries, major powers that have large arsenals of nuclear power.”

“If anything happens, the entire Asian region will be completely included,” he added.

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A top Federal Reserve official has said she expects inflation to continue to edge lower this year before slowing more sharply in 2025, as US consumers reduce spending and housing costs ease. 

Lisa Cook, a Fed governor and a voter on the Federal Open Market Committee, said her forecasts for inflation meant that “at some point” it would be necessary to cut rates.

Her expectation is for three- and six-month inflation rates “to continue to move lower on a bumpy path” for the rest of 2024 as consumers grow more resistant to higher prices.

Next year, Cook forecasts inflation will slow “more sharply” as rents on new leases have less of an impact on price pressures. She also expects goods prices to continue to fall and services inflation to ebb.

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European stocks fell on Tuesday, with defence groups among the worst-performing companies.

The Stoxx Europe Aerospace & Defence index ended the session down 3.9 per cent, dragged lower by a 9.4 per cent decline for Airbus. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 lost 0.3 per cent, Germany’s Dax fell 0.9 per cent and France’s Cac 40 fell 0.6 per cent. London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.4 per cent. The euro slipped 0.2 per cent against the dollar. 

In the US, the blue-chip S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent and the tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1 per cent, with shares in Nvidia up 5.4 per cent in late morning trade in New York. 

Blackstone has made a “best and final” offer for Hipgnosis Songs Fund as it seeks to forestall any attempt to agitate for a higher price by hedge funds that have built a large stake in the UK-listed music rights owner.

A group of US and UK hedge funds have acquired a potential blocking stake in Hipgnosis Songs Fund ahead of a crucial shareholder vote on the $1.6bn takeover of the UK-listed music rights owner by Blackstone.

However, the US private equity fund has instead made a best and final offer. While not raising the price, it will mean that Blackstone will not be able to increase its offer or make a new offer for six months. In effect, this will send a message to the hedge funds that any attempt to block the takeover could simply collapse the deal.

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US consumer confidence eased in June, according to the Conference Board, suggesting a somewhat mixed view on the American economy.

The business and research organisation’s consumer confidence index dipped to 100.4 from a downwardly revised 101.3 in May. That was marginally stronger than the reading of 100 economists had forecast.

“Consumers expressed mixed feelings this month: their view of the present situation improved slightly overall, driven by an uptick in sentiment about the current labour market, but their assessment of current business conditions cooled,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist of the Conference Board.

The report comes almost a fortnight after the University of Michigan’s preliminary reading of its consumer sentiment index unexpectedly hit a seven-month low in June, and as investors peruse economic data for signs of softening that could encourage the Federal Reserve to push ahead with interest rate cuts this year.

Shares in Nvidia rose in early trade on Tuesday, rebounding from a sharp sell-off in the previous session.

The chipmaker, which lost 6.7 per cent on Monday, gained 2.4 per cent shortly after the opening bell in New York. Last week, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable listed company — overtaking Microsoft and Apple — before falling sharply on Thursday, Friday and Monday, in the process wiping more than half a trillion dollars from its market value.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent and the tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5 per cent. Shares in Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet all rose in price.

Several people were reportedly killed and scores injured by gunfire during nationwide anti-tax protests in Kenya on Tuesday, as protesters stormed parliamentary grounds.

Local broadcaster KTN reported that at least eight people had been killed, citing paramedic services. The Kenya Human Rights Commission said the police had fired live rounds at demonstrators, while eyewitnesses said parts of Kenya’s parliament had been set on fire.

Earlier on Tuesday, lawmakers passed a controversial finance bill that will aid the government’s plans to raise more than $2bn in new taxes, and which now awaits the assent of President William Ruto.

“Ruto is using the finance bill to impose heavy taxation on Kenyans,” said 25-year-old Davis Tafari, one of the youngsters leading the protests, calling the tax bill “punitive and draconian”.

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Inflation in Canada has risen unexpectedly, just three weeks after its central bank became the first in the G7 group of advanced economies to cut interest rates in the current cycle.

Statistics Canada said the country’s consumer price index rose 2.9 per cent in May, up from 2.7 per cent in April. Economists polled by Reuters had expected inflation to slow to 2.6 per cent.

The Bank of Canada cut its policy interest rate to 4.75 per cent on June 5, having held it at 5 per cent since June 2023. Announcing the move, governor Tiff Macklem said the bank’s governing council had decided that “monetary policy no longer needs to be as restrictive”.

An index tracking European defence stocks fell more than 5 per cent and was on course for its worst session in more than two years on Tuesday, as shares in Airbus tumbled after the plane maker cut its profit forecasts.

The Stoxx Europe Aerospace & Defence index lost 5.5 per cent in early afternoon trade in what was set to be its biggest daily decline since falling 8.9 per cent in November 2021. The index remains up 19.2 per cent since the start of the year.

Airbus led the sell-off, losing 12.4 per cent after warning of supply chain disruptions and lowering its annual profit forecasts.

Ireland on Tuesday nominated Michael McGrath for an EU commissioner post, hoping that by submitting its bid early, the outgoing finance minister will clinch a senior economic portfolio.

The cabinet formally approved the choice of McGrath, who has been preparing the Irish government coalition’s final budget before elections that are widely expected this autumn. Ireland’s outgoing commissioner is Mairead McGuinness, the EU’s financial services chief.

McGrath, 47, has been finance minister since December 2022 and is well known in EU circles from meetings of Eurogroup. An unflappable, detail-orientated accountant who served as minister for public expenditure from 2020-22, he has a reputation for fiscal prudence and tough negotiating. He was replaced as finance minister by Jack Chambers, deputy leader of the Fianna Fáil party.

A top Federal Reserve official has backed more interest rate rises if inflation sticks at its current level, saying immigration and aggressive fiscal stimulus are likely to keep US prices rising more quickly than in other rich economies.

Michelle Bowman, one of the Fed’s governors and a voter on its rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, said she remained “willing to raise” borrowing costs again “should progress on inflation stall or even reverse”.

Bowman’s remarks came in a speech on Tuesday in London, and point to the debate within the Fed about whether the bank can begin cutting interest rates this year, or at all before November’s presidential election.

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Russia has blocked online access to several dozen major European news outlets, in what the Russian foreign ministry said was a response to EU measures introduced last month against three Russian state media outlets.

The foreign ministry published a list of 81 European news outlets whose websites would no longer be freely accessible from inside Russia, including Politico, Germany’s Der Spiegel, Spain’s El País, The Irish Times, Italy’s La Repubblica, and France’s Le Monde.

The EU Council last month suspended the broadcasting activities of four Russian state media outlets, saying they “spread and support the Russian propaganda and war of aggression against Ukraine”. The Russian foreign ministry on Tuesday cited three: the Ria state news agency, and the Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers. 

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants on war crimes charges against Russian security council secretary Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the top commander of Russia’s invasion force in Ukraine.

The court said on Tuesday there were reasonable grounds to believe Shoigu, Russia’s former defence minister, and Gerasimov “bear individual criminal responsibility” for a campaign of missile strikes against Ukrainian electric power plants and substations from October 2022 to March 2023.

The arrest warrants are the third set handed out by the ICC since president Vladimir Putin – who is himself under an ICC indictment on charges relating to the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children – ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A former Fujitsu engineer has maintained that the system at the centre of the Post Office Horizon scandal was robust, despite the High Court finding it was responsible for faulty data used in prosecutions. 

Gareth Jenkins told a public inquiry into the affair that while he accepted there were “discrete bugs” in the system that could result in account discrepancies, they were well controlled and managed.

“They could cause discrepancies in branch accounts but not at the sort of levels that have been talked about,” he said. “In general the systems I believe were operating as they should.”

More than 900 sub-postmasters were convicted in cases involving faulty data from Horizon following its introduction in 1999.

Historically low levels of correlation between stocks listed on the S&P 500 have so far prevented index heavyweight Nvidia’s recent declines from provoking a broader market sell-off, according to Bank of America analysts.

The chipmaker — “arguably the overwhelming driver of growth in a historically narrow market,” said BofA in a note to clients on Tuesday — has lost about 16 per cent since last Thursday. The S&P 500 has proved resilient, however, thanks in part to stock-to-stock correlation having dropped to its lowest level in almost 20 years.

“Despite some steep declines in the megacaps, the S&P 500’s worst day last week remained limited to a [0.25 per cent] sell-off, with its streak of consecutive days without a 2 per cent decline now reaching 380,” BofA said.

Fedspeak: Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman will deliver a speech in London on monetary policy. Fed governor Lisa Cook will speak at an Economic Club of New York luncheon. 

US property prices: The Case-Shiller 20-city composite index is expected to show the annual rate of growth in home prices slowed to 7 per cent in April, down from 7.4 per cent in March, against the backdrop of a high mortgage rate environment.

Consumer confidence: The Conference Board is expected to report its index tracking consumer confidence ticked down 2 points in June to a reading of 100.

Corporate earnings: FedEx is expected to report that revenue edged up 0.6 per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, while net income is expected to fall 18 per cent from a year ago to $1.26bn. Cruise operator Carnival reports earnings before Wall Street’s opening bell.

Rishi Sunak has dramatically withdrawn Conservative support for two Tory candidates linked to allegations of betting on the election date.

After standing by Craig Williams and Laura Saunders for several days, Sunak pulled the plug on the candidates on Tuesday morning, amid growing pressure from Labour and some senior Tories to do so.

The Conservative party issued a statement that said: “As a result of ongoing internal enquiries, we have concluded that we can no longer support Craig Williams or Laura Saunders as parliamentary candidates at the forthcoming general election.

“We have checked with the Gambling Commission that this decision does not compromise the investigation that they are conducting, which is rightly independent and ongoing.”

Stellantis could stop building cars in the UK unless the British government does more to stimulate demand or change current electrification policy, its UK boss has warned. 

“Stellantis UK does not stop. Stellantis production in the UK could stop,” the group’s UK managing director Maria Grazia Davino said at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ annual summit in London on Tuesday.

Davino said the UK’s quota regime, which requires manufacturers to meet electric vehicle sales targets, which rise annually, had put “return under stress”.

“It is the lack of demand versus the regulation and its punishment if you don’t make it,” she said. 

A decision on the future of the company’s UK production would likely come in less than a year, Davino added.

Israel’s supreme court has unanimously ruled that there is no basis for exempting ultraorthodox religious students from the country’s compulsory military service, and that those who meet the criteria must be called up.

In a closely watched ruling on one of the most divisive issues in Israeli politics, the court also ruled that religious schools whose students do not do military service would no longer be entitled to receive state subsidies.

The exemption is widely seen as an issue with the potential to split Benjamin Netanyahu’s five party coalition, which contains two ultraorthodox parties determined to preserve the arrangement, and others, including defence minister Yoav Gallant, who are intent on abolishing it.

Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved for sale in China, opening the door to a huge market in which obesity rates have more than doubled among adults in the past two decades.

The Danish pharmaceutical company said on Tuesday: “We can confirm that Wegovy has been approved in China for long-term weight management for people living with overweight and obesity.” It did not say when the product would launch and declined to share details on pricing and volumes.

Novo Nordisk has been investing heavily in its manufacturing capacity to meet soaring demand for both Wegovy and Ozempic, which treats diabetes.

Big share price moves in Europe today include German healthcare group Merck, Luxembourg-based business support services company Eurofins and English winemaker Chapel Down: 

• Merck: Shares in the German healthcare group led losses on the region-wide Stoxx 600 index on Tuesday, dropping 10 per cent after late-stage trials for a cancer drug failed. 

• Eurofins: Shares in the Luxembourg-based business support services company led gains on the Stoxx 600, rising 4.7 per cent after it denied allegations from short seller Muddy Waters that its financial statements could contain material overstatements of profits.

• Chapel Down: Shares in the London-listed English sparkling wine producer slipped 3 per cent after it announced it was considering a sale as part of a wider strategic review aimed at raising funds to bolster its growth plans. 

European shares slipped in early trading on Tuesday after chipmaker Nvidia led losses on Wall Street in the previous session.

The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.3 per cent, with declines for industrials and healthcare companies outweighing gains for energy groups and utilities. Germany’s Dax fell 1.1 per cent and France’s Cac 40 fell 0.6 per cent. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1 per cent.

Contracts tracking the blue-chip S&P 500 and the tech-dominated Nasdaq 100 were steady ahead of the New York open.

Nvidia, which dropped almost 7 per cent on Monday, has shed more than $500bn in market value since briefly becoming the world’s most valuable company last week.

Shares in Airbus tumbled 10 per cent on Tuesday after the plane maker cut its annual profit forecast because of persistent supply chain disruptions and challenges in its space business.  

After the French stock market closed on Monday, Airbus said it would deliver “around 770” aircraft this year, down from a previous target of “around 800”. The group blamed a “degraded operating environment”.

The company also pushed back its target to produce 75 of its best-selling A320 family of jets from 2026 to 2027.

As a result, the aerospace and defence group now expects adjusted earnings before interest and tax of €5.5bn this year, down from a previous forecast of as much as €7bn.

This post has been updated to correct the number of aircraft Airbus expects to produce

Julian Assange’s wife has spoken of the “whirlwind of emotions” as he boarded a plane out of the UK after reaching a plea deal with US prosecutors.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Stella Assange said the past few years had been “extraordinary”.

“I’m just so emotional now, this is finally over,” she said. 

Assange has agreed with the US Department of Justice to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate classified information linked to US national defence. He has already spent 62 months in jail in the UK and prosecutors are not seeking additional imprisonment.

England’s largest winemaker Chapel Down has launched a strategic review to explore long-term funding options, which include a sale of the business. 

The company, based in Kent in England’s South East, said on Tuesday that it was looking for long-term investment to fund its ambitious growth plans, and would also consider funding from new or existing shareholders.

The sparkling wine producer said it was on track to deliver double-digit sales growth in 2024. The winemaker started trading on London’s Aim market in December. 

The price of bitcoin rebounded after a sell-off on Monday while Japanese equities defied a drop in US tech companies to lead Asian stock markets higher.

The volatile cryptocurrency added 3.2 per cent to $61,377 per token after dropping more than 5 per cent on Monday. Bitcoin is up almost 40 per cent for the year to date.

In equity markets, Japan’s benchmark Topix index led gains in Asia with a 1.4 per cent increase. Manufacturing conglomerate Hitachi added the most points to the index with a 4.6 per cent gain while robotics company Keyence posted an 0.8 per cent increase.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 was the only major index in the region to fall.

Japanese equities led gains in Asia on Tuesday, defying a sell-off in US technology groups that affected Taiwan’s stock market.

The benchmark Topix added 1.3 per cent. Robotics maker Keyence edged up 0.9 per cent but was the largest contributor to the index’s rise given its large market capitalisation. The exporter-oriented Nikkei 225 was more muted with a 0.2 per cent gain.

The yen strengthened 0.1 per cent to ¥159.43 per dollar as officials continue speaking about currency intervention.

Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index dropped 1.2 per cent after the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1 per cent on Monday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest chip foundry, shed 1.1 per cent.

Events: The World Economic Forum’s ‘Summer Davos’ conference begins in Dalian, China. The National People’s Congress standing committee convenes in Beijing for a four-day session. Peruvian President Dina Boluarte begins a trip to China.

Economic data: South Korea and Australia publish consumer sentiment data for June. Malaysia announces its May consumer price index and Hong Kong releases import and export data for last month.

Dark side of the moon: China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe is due to return to Earth carrying the first samples collected from the far side of the Moon.

Corporate updates: Sony Group holds its annual shareholders’ meeting; possible acquisition deals will be in focus. Citic and China Merchants Bank also host annual meetings.

The Nasdaq Composite notched its biggest one-day drop in almost two months, as Nvidia led a sell-off among several Big Tech names and countered gains for the broader US stock market.

The tech-heavy index closed 1.1 per cent lower on Monday, its biggest one-day drop since April 30. Shares in Nvidia dropped 6.7 per cent, continuing a recent slide, for their biggest daily fall since mid-April.

Owing to its heavy weighting, Nvidia’s share price moves have a large influence over the direction of stock market indices.

The S&P 500 closed 0.3 per cent lower on Monday, even as about 70 per cent of the benchmark index’s constituents ended the session higher.

A fall in GameStop shares briefly put famed meme stock trader Keith Gill — better known to followers as Roaring Kitty — into the red on his position in the ailing video games retailer’s shares.

GameStop shares initially surged last month on Gill’s return to social media discussions on the chain after a three-year hiatus.  

On Monday, however, the shares slipped below the $23.4135 Gill paid for his 2.1 per cent holding, according to the most recent June 13 screenshot of his account. GameStop shares closed the session at $23.65, above Gill’s threshold but still about one-third above their price before his return.

San Francisco Federal Reserve president Mary Daly has sought to quell concerns that artificial intelligence could negatively affect the US labour market, calling the rapid advancement of the new technology a “natural evolution of the economy”.

Speaking at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club on Monday, Daly said: “The lion’s share of what we’re hearing is that companies are experimenting with and using it to replace certain tasks, but that doesn’t translate into replacing people.”

She added that “those people can now do different things that are important to the economy and business that they didn’t have time to do before”.

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has replaced Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol as army joint forces commander hours after complaints about the officer’s conduct were aired publicly by a prominent soldier.

Zelenskyy appointed Brigadier General Andriy Hnatov to the post in the latest shake-up of the country’s senior military leadership following a meeting with commanders on Monday.

The move to sack Sodol, who previously served as commander of the marine corps, came hours after Lieutenant Colonel Bohdan Krotevych, chief of staff of the Azov national guard brigade, accused him of working on behalf of Russia and blamed him for the deaths of “thousands” of Ukrainian soldiers. 

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