Russian warplane accidentally strikes city of Belgorod near Ukraine, injuring two; Zelenskiy calls on Nato to give timeframe for Ukraine accession
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said all member countries have agreed that Ukraine will eventually join the transatlantic military alliance once the war is over, ahead of a meeting of western defence ministers discussing further military aid for Kyiv. He also told the media that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Kyiv must have “the deterrence to prevent new attacks”.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, posted that he had a “fruitful” bilateral meeting with his US counterpart at Ramstein airbase in Germany Friday morning. US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said international backing for Ukraine holds “strong and true”.
Ukraine’s future lies in Nato, Stoltenberg chief had said Thursday during, his first visit to the country since Russia’s invasion 14 months ago. Nato’s chief pledged continued military support for Ukraine, saying: “Nato stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.” He invited the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to the Nato summit in Vilnius in July.
Zelenskiy said Nato needed to invite Ukraine to become a member and give it a timeframe for accession. “There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance,” he said. “And now, when most people in Nato countries and the majority of Ukrainians support Nato accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions.”
A Russian warplane has accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod near Ukraine, causing an explosion and damaging buildings, the Tass news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying. Late on Thursday, local authorities reported a large blast in the city, which lies just across the border from Ukraine. Belgorod’s regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said two women had been injured and four apartment buildings and four cars damaged. Announcing a state of emergency, he said on the Telegram messaging app there was a “huge” crater 20 metres (65ft) wide in the city centre.
Ukraine’s air defence has claimed to have downed eight Iranian-manufactured “Shahed” drones overnight.
Germany, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement on Friday for a hub to repair Leopard tanks used in Ukraine to fight Russian forces
The first trucks carrying Ukrainian food products including corn and eggs were bound to start transit via Poland to the Netherlands on Friday morning, a Polish customs official said, as rules allowing the shipments took effect overnight.
The G7 is considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing Japanese government sources.
EU countries are haggling over how to fulfil a promise to supply Ukraine with ammunition, following criticism from Kyiv that delays were costing lives. France, backed by Greece and Cyprus, is pressing to ensure that an EU plan to purchase €1bn (£880m / $1.1bn) of ammunition for Ukraine is fulfilled via a fully-EU supply chain.
A Moscow court issued a warrant for the arrest of the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, accusing the spy chief of organising “terrorist attacks” inside Russia.
The UK imposed sanctions on five people linked to the arrest of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was jailed for 25 years this week. Elena Lenskaya – a judge who approved Kara-Murza’s arrest, along with Denis Kolesnikov and Andrei Zadachin – investigators involved in the arrest of Kara-Murza, will all be hit with sanctions. FSB agents Alexander Samofal and Konstantin Kudryavtsev, who followed Kara-Murza on multiple trips before he was poisoned in 2015, will also be receive sanctions. Kara-Murza holds dual British-Russian citizenship.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, will meet the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Monday, according to Russia’s ambassador to the UN. The two last met at the G20 summit in Bali in November. According to ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, the Black Sea grain deal will be an item for the meeting on Monday.
A group of Ukrainian servicemen has been accused of treason for giving away information during an unauthorised mission that enabled Russia to attack a military airfield, Ukraine’s SBU security agency said. It announced in a statement that the servicemen had attempted, “without coordination with the relevant state authorities”, to seize a Russian plane last July after its pilot said he would defect.
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