Critics of withdrawn ‘foreign agents’ bill feared it would undercut bid for EU membership
Thousands of people took to the streets in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, this week after parliament backed a draft law which critics, who called it a “Russian law”, said would limit press freedom and undercut Georgia’s efforts to become a candidate for EU membership.
Continue reading...After criticism law was similar to Russian legislation used to stifle dissent, ruling party says it will withdraw bill
Georgia’s ruling party has said it will drop its bill on “foreign agents” after fierce opposition culminated in two nights of violent protests and criticism that the draft law would limit press freedom and undercut the country’s efforts to become a candidate for EU membership.
The Georgian Dream party said in a statement it would “unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations”. It cited the need to reduce “confrontation” in society.
Continue reading...Defence department reportedly unwilling to share intelligence over fears precedent could be set against US soldiers
The Pentagon has been accused of blocking the sharing of US intelligence with the international criminal court (ICC) about Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
The Biden White House and state department have been a proponent of cooperation with the Hague-based ICC, as a means of holding Russian forces accountable for widespread war crimes, but the defence department is firmly opposed on the grounds that the precedent could eventually be turned against US soldiers.
Continue reading...Police fire teargas at protesters rallying against ‘Russian law’ critics say could harm efforts to join EU
Police in the Georgian capital Tbilisi used tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades late on Wednesday as they moved to break up the second straight day of protests against a “foreign agents” law which critics say would limit press freedom and undercut the country’s efforts to become a candidate for EU membership.
Thousands of people clashed with police o taken to the streets of Georgia’s capital for a second day to rally against a “foreign agents” law that critics say would limit press freedom and undercut the country’s efforts to become a candidate for EU membership.
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. My colleagues in London will be taking you through the rest of the day’s news.
Last night Kharkiv’s street lights were switched on for the first time since the start of the war, the city’s Mayor said.
Continue reading...Kremlin dismisses tentative intelligence from European and US agencies as a bid by the perpetrators to divert attention
European and US intelligence officials have obtained tentative intelligence to suggest a pro-Ukrainian saboteur group may have been behind the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, according to reports in the New York Times and German newspaper Die Zeit.
German investigators believe the attack on the pipelines was carried out by a team of six people, using a yacht that had been hired by a company registered in Poland and owned by two Ukrainian citizens, according to Die Zeit.
Continue reading...Ukraine deputy PM says around 38 children remain in besieged city as western officials estimate Russia has sustained heavy losses there
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports on its Telegram channel for Sumy that Bilopillia, a city in the north-east of Ukraine, close to the border with Russia, has been hit by mortar fire this morning. No damage or casualties were reported. The claim has not been independently verified.
Russian forces carried out 50 airstrikes and five missile strikes overnight and Ukrainian forces repelled 37 attacks in the area around Bakhmut, according to the latest update by the General staff of the armed forces of Ukraine.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Only EU and Norwegian firms will be able to take advantage of joint procurement agreement, says leaked paper
Britain’s defence industry is to be blocked from profiting from the EU’s vast increase in spending on arms for Ukraine, under a leaked plan seen by the Guardian.
A “massive order” of ammunition, ranging from small arms to 155mm artillery rounds, is being prepared in Brussels but only EU and Norwegian manufacturers will be able to take advantage.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president’s comments come after video appears to show killing of unarmed combatant
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to “find the murderers” of an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner of war apparently shot dead by Russian troops as the Ukrainian military named the man it said was in the footage that spread rapidly across social media on Monday.
In the graphic 12-second clip that first circulated on Telegram and was widely shared on Twitter, a detained combatant, named by the Ukrainian military as Tymofiy Mykolayovych Shadura, is seen standing in a shallow trench smoking a cigarette. The soldier, in uniform with a Ukrainian flag insignia on his arm, says “Glory to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot with automatic weapons.
Continue reading...In a bellicose first press conference, Qin Gang rebuked Washington over its Taiwan policy and the balloon incident, while praising Beijing’s relationship with Russia
The US and China are heading towards inevitable conflict if Washington does not change its approach, China’s new foreign minister has said in a fiery press conference in which he defended his country’s strengthening relationship with Russia.
In his first media appearance as foreign minister, held on Tuesday on the sidelines of the “two sessions” political gathering, Qin Gang outlined China’s foreign policy agenda for the coming years, presenting China and its relationship with Russia as a beacon of strength and stability, and the US and its allies as a source of tension and conflict.
Continue reading...Graphic clip shows detained combatant standing in a shallow trench before being apparently shot
Ukraine has urged the international criminal court to investigate footage circulating on social media that appeared to show Russian fighters killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
In the graphic clip that first circulated on Telegram, a detained combatant is seen standing in a shallow trench and smoking a cigarette. The soldier says “Glory to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot with automatic weapons.
Continue reading...PM welcomes endorsement of liberal values and support for Ukraine as far-right rival loses assembly seats
Estonia’s popular centre-right prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has begun weighing options for a new governing coalition after a sweeping election victory in which she received more personal votes than any politician in the country’s history.
The centre-right leader, one of Europe’s strongest pro-Kyiv voices, said on Monday she felt “humble and grateful” for a result that showed Estonians “overwhelmingly value liberal values, security founded on EU and Nato, and firm support to Ukraine”.
Continue reading...Head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force says his troops’ position could be in peril due to a lack of ammunition
Ukrainian forces have continued to defend the besieged city of Bakhmut, as the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force said the position of his troops could be in peril because of their lack of ammunition.
The battle for Bakhmut, which is still under Kyiv’s control, has raged for seven months, with thousands of people killed and hundreds of buildings collapsed or charred. The few remaining civilians have been confined to basements for months with no running water, electricity or gas.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses situation in besieged city as senior Ukraine commanders remain in favour of strengthening positions. This live blog is closed
Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk won her first WTA title Sunday with victory over Russia’s Varvara Gracheva and dedicated it to her country and “all the people who are fighting and dying”.
The 20-year-old Kostyuk collapsed to the court sobbing after winning the final of the ATX Open in Austin, Texas 6-3, 7-5.
Being in the position that I am in right now, it’s extremely special to win this title.
I want to dedicate this title to Ukraine and to all the people who are fighting and dying right now.
Continue reading...Only £200m of £520m allocated and bidders complain ‘low-bureaucracy’ process is frustrating
A British-led £520m international fund to provide fresh weapons for Ukraine and intended to be “low bureaucracy” has been plagued by delays, with only £200m allocated amid warnings that the rest of the funding will not provide arms at “the front until the summer”.
Bidders complain that the process, run by the UK’s Ministry of Defence, working with six other European countries, has been frustrating with deadlines missed – and the MoD conceded that awarding contracts “inevitably took time”.
Continue reading...Ideas that future conflicts would be economic or fought in cyberspace have been proved wrong
It was Boris Johnson who declared, in November 2021, four months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that “the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on the European landmass … are over”. Today, dozens of destroyed Russian tanks dot Ukraine’s eastern Donbas fields near Vuhledar, smashed, rusting emblems of a traditional heavy warfare that has returned to Europe.
Events have moved fast since Russia invaded last February, but it is worth restating how far planning for conventional war had gone out of fashion before then. Although it was recognised that Russia was a threat, the dominant military thinking was that the goal of authoritarian regimes was “to win without going to war”, as then chief of general staff Sir Nick Carter said in September 2020.
Continue reading...Her Reform party secured 31% against far-right’s 15% but Kallas must now form a coalition to govern
The Reform party of Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, secured first place in Sunday’s parliamentary election, a result that should ensure Tallinn remains one of Europe’s most staunchly pro-Ukraine governments.
Results with 98% ballots counted showed the far-right EKRE party in second place, with 16.1% versus 31.5% for Kallas’ liberal group, reflecting concerns among some voters over the rising cost of living in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Ukrainian forces ward off numerous assaults in and around besieged eastern city, says military, while resupply routes become ‘increasingly limited’
Western states delivering fighter jets to support Ukraine defending itself against Russia is “only a question of time”, Latvia’s prime minister has said.
Speaking to German news magazine Der Spiegel, Krišjānis Kariņš said his own country would not hesitate to send jets to Kyiv “if we had any.”
Across the whole of Europe we need a lot more reservists: trained people who can be deployed at the shortest notice.”
The lethality of the standard-issue MPL-50 entrenching tool is particularly mythologised in Russia. Little changed since it was designed in 1869, its continued use as a weapon highlights the brutal and low-tech fighting which has come to characterise much of the war.
One of the reservists described being ‘neither physically nor psychologically’ prepared for the action.
Continue reading...Fighting in Bakhmut’s streets but Russia has not taken city, says Ukraine, as civilian casualties rise; families evacuated from Kupiansk amid shelling
The Ukraine military said Russian troops were trying but failing to surround Bakhmut. Defenders had repelled numerous attacks in and around the besieged city in eastern Ukraine, the armed forces’ general staff added in its Facebook post late on Saturday.
There is fighting in Bakhmut’s streets but Russian forces “still haven’t taken control over the city”, its deputy mayor, Oleksandr Marchenko, told BBC Radio.
A woman was killed and two men were badly wounded in Bakhmut by shelling while trying to cross a makeshift bridge out of the city on Saturday, according to Ukrainian troops assisting them.
Russian artillery is reported to be pounding the last routes out of Bakhmut, aiming to block Ukrainian forces’ access in and out and complete an encirclement of the city. The UK Ministry of Defence said Ukrainian resupply routes there were becoming “increasingly limited”.
The death toll has risen to 11 from a Russian missile strike that hit a five-storey apartment block in southern Ukraine on Thursday, Ukraine’s emergency services said on Saturday.
Ukraine has ordered a mandatory evacuation of families and vulnerable residents from the frontline city of Kupiansk and adjacent north-eastern territories. The evacuation order was due to the “unstable security situation” caused by Russia’s constant shelling of the town and its surroundings, it said. Russian troops retreated from key cities in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, including Kupiansk, and Ukraine recaptured it last September.
Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, Nato’s former deputy supreme allied commander Europe, has urged speeding up the supply of equipment and support to Ukraine to give the Ukrainians “the tools they need to do the job”,
The Russian defence minister paid a rare visit to Moscow’s forces in Ukraine. In a statement on Telegram, Russia’s defence ministry said Sergei Shoigu “inspected the forward command post of one of the formations of the eastern military district in the south Donetsk direction”.
The president of the European parliament, Roberta Metsola, has called for Ukraine to be allowed to begin EU membership negotiations this year, during a visit to the country on Saturday. She was “hopeful” the talks could starts this year, she said.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s description of the Russian invasion as “the war, which we are trying to stop, and which was launched against us using the Ukrainian people” was met with laughter at an event in New Delhi, India.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, an influential far-right Republican in Congress, has called for the US to stop aid to Ukraine, saying President Joe Biden was “putting the entire world at risk of world war three”.
Continue reading...UK intelligence says Ukraine attempting to reinforce contested city with elite units but resupply lines increasingly limited
More from BBC Radio 4’s Today.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, Nato’s former deputy supreme allied commander Europe, told the programme that some countries view the conflict in Ukraine as a “European war”.
There are many countries, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world where the battle of the narrative has not been won, and that’s something that I think the West absolutely need to focus on.
I think there needs to be a recognition that many of the impacts of the war are hitting particularly African countries and other parts of the world very hard and that support needs to be given… and avoid the perception this is very much seen as a European war.”
The Ukrainians have arguably achieved a strategic success thusfar in forcing the Russians to expend vast amounts of manpower and equipment in what is likely to be, if they take it, a Pyrrhic victory…”
What we’ve seen from the West and Nato countries is a sort of incremental supply … it’s dribbled in rather that coming in in a concentrated way. If they’d had the stuff that they need months ago, we probably wouldn’t be where we are now. So this places a real imperative on speeding up the supply, the integration, the logistics support, the training and all the other stuff that needs to be done to give the Ukrainians the tools they need to do the job.”
There is fighting in the city and there are also street fights but thanks to the Ukrainian armed forces they still haven’t taken control over the city.
Their only goal is killing people and the genocide of the Ukrainian people…the tactic that the Russians are using is the tactic of parched land.
They want to destroy Bakhmut, they want to destroy the city…and I honestly can’t understand why they’re doing this.”
Continue reading...