Ukraine has repelled Russia’s attempt to cross Donbas river, UK confirms

Russia incurred heavy losses during Siverskyi Donets River attempt, according to defence intelligence

Ukrainians have repelled multiple attempts by the Russians to cross a strategically significant river in the Donbas, inflicting heavy losses in the process, according to local officials and British intelligence.

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said Russian forces had been repulsed three times as they tried to cross the Siverskyi Donets River, 12 miles (20km) west of Severodonetsk, losing armour and bridging equipment.

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Trial by fire: Ukraine war becomes gruelling artillery duel

As troops in mazes of trenches pound each other with shells, the terror of war draws closer to the city of Sloviansk

The call came at about midday on Wednesday. There had been “chemical poisoning” after a blast and patients needed collecting.

Fears of a Russian chemical weapons attack have haunted Ukraine almost since the war began, and as the volunteer medics in Sloviansk pulled on the ageing gas masks and plastic overalls that were their only protection, they wondered if this was it.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian forces continue Kharkiv pushback; Moscow to cut electricity supply to Finland after Nato decision – live

US think tank says Ukrainian forces have ‘likely won the battle of Kharkiv’; electricity supplier RAO Nordic says decision to suspend Finnish supply is ‘exceptional’

Here are some of the latest images we have been sent over the newswires showing the impact of the conflict in Ukraine and beyond.

British foreign secretary Liz Truss said it was vital to keep up the pressure on Russia by supplying more weapons to Ukraine and imposing further sanctions.

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First Russian soldier goes on trial in Ukraine for war crimes

Vadim Shysimarin accused of killing civilian on 28 February while fighting in Sumy region in north-east Ukraine

The first war crime trial since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine has opened in Kyiv in a watershed moment.

Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old Russian commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, allegedly killed a civilian on 28 February in the village of Chupakhivka while fighting in the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine.

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Senator Rand Paul single-handedly holds up $40bn US aid for Ukraine

Democratic and Republican Senate leaders both supported package but Paul objected to scale of spending

The top Democrat and Republican in the US Senate joined forces in a rare moment of unity on Thursday in an attempt to pass $40bn in aid for Ukraine, only to be stymied by a single Republican lawmaker: the Kentucky libertarian Rand Paul.

Faced with the prospect of an extended delay for the package that passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, sought to move forward on the aid package only to be blocked by Paul, a fiscal hawk who objects to the amount of spending proposed.

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‘They were furious’: the Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine

Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war

When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks.

The unit, stationed in Russia’s far east during peacetime, first entered Ukraine from Belarus when the war started at the end of February and saw bitter combat with Ukrainian forces.

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Baseball signed by Zelenskiy sells at US auction for over $50,000

Winning bid for Rawlings ball more than three times its estimate, with portion of proceeds going to Ukrainians displaced by war

A baseball signed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has sold at auction for more than $50,000, with a portion of the proceeds going to Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion.

A Boston auctioneer, RR Auction, said the winning bid for the Rawlings Major League baseball was more than three times its estimate. The company will donate its $15,000 cut from the sale. The seller, Randy Kaplan, will donate an undisclosed portion of his proceeds to the global non-profit Americares.

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Russia-Ukraine war: UN calls for end to school strikes after nearly 100 child deaths in April; EU to consider Ukraine’s membership – live

UN verifies nearly 100 child killings but says figure likely higher; Ukraine’s EU application to be assessed in June, says France

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reiterated his government’s position that there can be no renormalisation of relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters reports that asked on LBC radio whether Putin could be welcomed back on the global stage if he were to repent, Johnson said: “The short answer is no. No renormalisation and the UK is very clear about that.”

Overnight the Ukrainian defence ministry published photos of what it said were destroyed Russian tanks and other equipment in the village of Bilohorivka, that had been struck when the Russians were attempting to construct a pontoon-bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river. The general staff of the Ukraine armed forces published the pictures again this morning on Facebook.

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Spanish journalist held in Poland on suspicion of pro-Russian espionage

Pablo González, who has joint Spanish and Russian nationality, alleged to have worked for GRU military intelligence

A freelance journalist from Spain is spending his 10th week in Polish custody while prosecutors there investigate what they claim is a case of espionage linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a case that raises red flags about press freedom in Europe at a time of war, prosecutors are expected next week to ask a judge for a further three-month extension to the detention of Pablo González, who has freelanced for media including Spain’s La Sexta TV channel, Spanish state news agency EFE and the US-government funded Voice of America.

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Hunger crisis grips Horn of Africa – but 80% of Britons unaware, poll shows

UK government urged to act as worst drought in 40 years threatens region while aid efforts and global attention remain focused on Ukraine war

The UK government has been urged to give the hunger crisis gripping the Horn of Africa “proper attention”, as new polling showed just two in 10 people in Britain are aware that the worst drought in 40 years is even taking place, let alone threatening famine.

As the war in Ukraine rages, the combined effect of three failed rainy seasons has pushed parts of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia to the brink, killing livestock, forcing people to leave their homes and increasing levels of child malnutrition. The Russian invasion has exacerbated the situation, pushing up the price of staples such as wheat and sunflower oil, as well as fuel.

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Finland expected to announce bid to join Nato

Nato allies expect Finland and Sweden to be granted membership quickly, a move Putin has warned would have ‘serious military consequences’

Finland is expected to announce its intention to join Nato on Thursday with Sweden likely to follow soon after, diplomats and officials have said, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reshapes European security and the Atlantic military alliance.

Nato allies expect Finland and Sweden to be granted membership quickly, five diplomats and officials told Reuters, paving the way for increased troop presence in the Nordic region during the one-year ratification period.

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Russia-Ukraine war updates: peace talks harder ‘with each new Bucha’, says Zelenskiy – as it happened

UK signs security assurance declarations with Sweden and Finland; Ukraine leader says discovery of atrocities makes peace negotiations harder

Two points of note from the operational update of the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces this morning. They claimed:

In the Donetsk and Luhansk oblast, defenders of Ukraine repulsed 12 enemy attacks, destroyed 12 tanks, four artillery systems, 19 units of armoured combat vehicles, seven cars and two units of special engineering equipment of the enemy.

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Kherson’s military administrators to call for Russian annexation

Unclear if Kremlin will agree to annex captured Ukrainian territory or use threat to put pressure on Kyiv

The Russian-controlled administration in the Ukrainian city of Kherson has said it plans to request annexation by Moscow, a move that would confirm the Kremlin’s permanent occupation of Ukrainian territory captured since February.

If Russia attempts to annex the Kherson region it would make a peace agreement more unlikely, as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that Russia’s withdrawal to prewar positions was a precondition for any successful negotiation.

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Ukraine refugees who enter UK via Ireland may be sent to Rwanda, MPs told

Minister also refuses to say whether Ukrainians who cross Channel in small boats could be sent to Africa

Undocumented people who travel from Ukraine to the UK via Ireland could be considered for removal to Rwanda, a senior Home Office official has told MPs.

During the same select committee hearing, a minister refused to say under repeated questioning whether Ukrainians who arrive in the UK across the Channel by boat could also be sent to the central African country.

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US inflation dips to 8.3% but stays close to 40-year high –as it happened

Rolling coverage of business, the world economy and the financial markets

National Grid has agreed to pay back £200m of revenues gleaned from subsea electricity cables early in an effort to cut painful household bills, reports Alex Lawson.

Under an agreement with watchdog Ofgem, the energy network operator must pay back revenues made from European ‘interconnector’ cables over a five-year period above a cap.

Since the price of materials is rising, we need to work to reduce the amount of materials we use as much as possible and to replace them with less expensive materials.

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Joe Biden calls inflation his ‘top domestic priority’ but blames Covid and Putin – as it happened

President says he understands American’s frustration with Democrats, who control all three branches of government: ‘I don’t blame them’

After his remarks, Biden lingered at the podium to take a few questions on the topic of inflation. (He dismissed off-topic questions, including one about abortion rights.)

Asked whether he believed his agenda was to blame or had contributed to rising costs, he said his policies have “helped not hurt” the economy.

Americans have a choice right now between two paths, reflecting two very different sets of values. My plan attacks inflation and grows the economy by lowering the costs for working families, giving workers well-deserved raises, reducing the deficits by historic levels, and making big corporations and the very wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. The other path is the ‘ultra-MAGA’ plan put forward by Congressional republicans to raise taxes on American families , lower the income of American workers, threaten sacred programs Americans count on like social security, medicare and medicaid, and give break after break to big corporations and billionaires just like they did the last time in power when their top priority was the reckless $2tn tax cut the majority of that going to the wealthiest Americans which ballooned the deficit and not a penny of it was paid for,” the president said.

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Leonid Kravchuk, first president of Ukraine, dies aged 88

Former leader relinquished his country’s Soviet nuclear arsenal, the third-largest in the world

Ukraine’s first president Leonid Kravchuk, who agreed to give up his country’s Soviet nuclear arsenal, the third-largest in the world, has died at the age of 88.

“Sad news and a great loss,” presidential aide Andriy Yermak said on Telegram, describing Kravchuk as “a wise patriot of Ukraine, a truly historical figure in gaining our independence”.

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John Kerry warns a long Ukraine war would threaten climate efforts

Exclusive: US presidential envoy says limiting global heating to 1.5C could be made harder by conflict

The longer the war in Ukraine carries on, the worse the consequences will be for the climate, the US presidential envoy John Kerry has warned.

Many countries are struggling with an energy crisis while also urgently needing to cut greenhouse gas emissions to limit global heating to 1.5C, he said.

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‘I almost got hit’: the Ukrainian journalists turned war correspondents overnight

Initially writing stories and making television reports was secondary for the journalists as many focused on survival

When the war started journalists in Ukraine found themselves at the centre of the biggest story in the world. They became war correspondents overnight.

Ukrainian journalists were spotlighted this week when the Pulitzer prize board awarded them with a special citation, hailing the country’s reporters for the “courage, endurance and commitment to truthful reporting” they have shown since the Russian invasion.

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