Russia halts gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria; Volodymyr Zelenskiy accuses Moscow of seeking to destabilise Moldova region
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Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens to spill over in dangerous new phase
Analysis: Mysterious explosions in Moldova raise possibility of new Putin gambit after early failures
A series of mysterious explosions in Moldova have raised the threat of Russia’s war in Ukraine spilling over into new territory, with unpredictable consequences.
The blasts destroyed radio antennas in a Russian-garrisoned sliver of eastern Moldova along the Ukrainian border, Transnistria, which had been peaceful since a brief conflict in 1992 waged by Kremlin-backed separatists against the Moldovan army.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: about 15,000 Russian troops killed since start of invasion, says UK; Nato is ‘in essence engaged in war with Russia’, says Lavrov – live
UK defence secretary says, alongside death toll, Russians have lost over 2,000 armoured vehicles; Russian foreign minister says western weapons are a ‘legitimate target’
- Russia failing in its war aims, says Blinken on visit to Kyiv
- Sweden and Finland to submit Nato applications, say reports
- Evidence some Ukrainian women raped before being killed
- UK military aid to Ukraine could rise to £500m, MPs told
- Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 61
The visit of US secretary of state Antony Blinken and US defence secretary Lloyd Austin to Kyiv had been kept tightly under wraps in advance for security reasons. Some images from the meeting have been sent to us via the newswires.
The US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has just been speaking to the media at the Poland-Ukraine border. He has been meeting officials from Ukraine. He told reporters:
Our focus in the meeting was to talk about those things that would enable us to win the current battle and also build for tomorrow. We talked about security force assistance. And we talked about training.
Continue reading...Blinken due to meet Zelenskiy in first wartime visit by top US officials to Ukraine
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin will join secretary of state in Sunday’s meeting as Russia continues attacks in south and east Ukraine
Kyiv prepared for its first wartime visit from two top US officials as Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine, including a deadly strike in the port city of Odesa, that all but buried hopes of a truce for Orthodox Easter.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he would meet with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, in Kyiv on Sunday. The White House declined to comment.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 60 of the Russian invasion
Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Kyiv on Sunday as Russia continues attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, will travel to Kyiv to meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Sunday. It will be the first high-level US trip to the city since the war began on 24 February.
Zelenskiy, at a press conference on Saturday held in an underground metro station, said Ukraine will ask the US for more heavy weapons to defeat Russia. “As soon as we have [more weapons], as soon as there are enough of them, believe me, we will immediately retake this or that territory, which is temporarily occupied,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine’s president also spoke at length about possible peace negotiations with Russia, saying if Moscow kills any Mariupol defenders – or goes forward with the independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – Ukraine will suspend peace negotiations with Moscow.
In attacks on the eve of Orthodox Easter, Russian forces pounded cities and towns in southern and eastern Ukraine. A three-month-old baby was among eight people killed when Russia fired cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, officials said. Eighteen more were wounded.
Separate strikes in Girske, a village in the eastern Lugansk region, killed six civilians, the region’s governor, Sergiy Gayday, said.
Two Russian generals were killed near Kherson, the Ukrainian ministry of defence said in a statement. Another is in critical condition. The Ukrainian military on Friday hit the command post of Russia’s 49th army near the occupied regional capital, the ministry said.
The fate of the Ukrainians in the sprawling and besieged steel mill in Mariupol wasn’t immediately clear. Earlier Saturday, a Ukrainian military unit released a video reportedly taken two days earlier in which women and children holed up underground, some for as long as two months, said they longed to see the sun.
Another attempt to evacuate women, children and older adults from Mariupol failed on Saturday. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, said Russian forces did not allow Ukrainian-organised buses to take residents to Zaporizhzhia, a city 227km (141 miles) to the north-west.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War has released its latest analysis, warning that Russian forces will likely increase the scale of ground offensive operations in the coming days. It predicts that Russia will likely continue attacking south-east from Izyum, west from Kreminna and Popasna, and north from Donetsk via Avdiivka or another axis. Russian forces will attempt to starve out the remaining defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and will not allow trapped civilians to evacuate, it adds.
Satellite images released this week showed what appeared to be two recently excavated mass grave sites next to cemeteries in two towns near Mariupol, and local officials accused Russia of burying thousands of civilians to conceal the slaughter taking place there. The Kremlin has not commented on the images.
Russia said it took control of several villages elsewhere in the eastern Donbas region and destroyed 11 Ukrainian military targets on Saturday, including three artillery warehouses. Russian attacks also struck populated areas.
The UK Ministry of Defence released an intelligence update detailing accusations that Russia is planning to conscript Ukrainian civilians in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Nearly 5.2 million people have fled Ukraine due to the war. The number of Ukrainians leaving the country since Russia’s invasion is now 5,163,686, the UN refugee agency says.
A third of Russian gas exported to the European Union could be affected because of the war, says the head of Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz.
Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
Continue reading...In Mariupol, Putin now rules a wasteland pitted with mass graves
The inevitable end to the brutal siege shows Russia’s logistical strengths – but also why invasion is ultimately so futile
The city of Mariupol is now effectively in Russian hands. Although some Ukrainian troops continue to hold out at the Azovstal steelworks, the Russians have felt able to redeploy the forces used to assault the city. They leave behind an apocalyptic landscape that in many respects stands as a symbol of Russia’s strategic failure in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin set out to reanimate a Russian empire but has instead found himself master of a wasteland above ground and a mass grave beneath.
That Mariupol would be a target for the Russian military had been obvious since 2014, when Russian proxies initially seized the city and tried repeatedly to retake it after being driven out. A major industrial centre and port on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol would be economically vital to any annexed territory and in any case was on the main supply route from Rostov into southern Ukraine. The Russians assigned a significant force to take the city, though their composition shows that it was not Russia’s primary objective. The siege was prosecuted by troops from the 150th Rifle Division and 810th Naval Infantry Brigade reinforced with Chechen Rosgvardia and conscripted fighters from occupied Donetsk.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 59 of the invasion
Zelenskiy warns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just the ‘beginning’ as the Kremlin will push to capture other countries
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: catch up on this week’s must-read news and analysis
Russia begins long-awaited push to seize eastern Ukraine … fight to the death in Mariupol … and the cost of war in Russia
Every week we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war, from news and features to analysis, visual guides and opinion.
Continue reading...Russian forces accused of secret burials of Mariupol civilians in mass graves
Mayor says corpses thrown into mass grave which appears to be visible on newly released satellite images
Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave, the city’s mayor said on Thursday, as a US satellite imagery company released photos that appeared to match the site.
The mayor, Vadym Boichenko, said Russian trucks had collected corpses from the streets of the port city and had transported them to the nearby village of Manhush. They were then secretly thrown into a mass grave in a field next to the settlement’s old cemetery, he said.
Continue reading...Russia plans to hold sham independence vote in southern Ukraine, Zelenskiy says
Ukraine president warns citizens against handing over personal information, as satellite images of mass graves emerge near Mariupol
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of planning to “falsify” an independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, telling Ukrainians there not to give personal information to occupying forces.
The warning came after Mariupol’s mayor accused Russia of hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes by burying the bodies of up to 9,000 civilians in a new mass grave, allegations backed up by satellite images from US company Maxar.
Continue reading...Putin orders blockade of Mariupol steelworks ‘so a fly can’t get through’
Russian president tells forces that storming last Ukrainian stronghold in port city would be ‘impractical’
Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces not to storm the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged city of Mariupol, after his defence minister admitted that the Russian army was still fighting thousands of Ukrainian troops there.
The Russian president described a plan to storm the Azovstal steelworks as “impractical” and called instead for Russian troops to blockade the area “so that a fly can’t get through”.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 55 of the invasion
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says ‘battle for Donbas’ has begun as Russia mounts anticipated offensive in the eastern part of Ukraine
Russia’s expected offensive in the eastern part of Ukraine has begun. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a “significant part” of the Russian army was now focused on taking control of eastern Ukraine. “Now we can already state that the Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time,” he said in a video address.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak called it “the second phase of the war” and assured Ukrainians that their forces could hold off the offensive. “Believe in our army, it is very strong,” Yermak said.
There are now 76 Russian battalion tactical groups in the Donbas region of Ukraine and in the country’s southeast, a senior US defence department official said. Eleven of those groups were added over the last several days.
The first shipments of a new US military aid package have arrived at Ukraine’s borders, a senior Pentagon official said. Last week, the United States unveiled a $800-million tranche of equipment for Ukraine, including helicopters, howitzers and armoured personnel carriers.
Seven people were killed in strikes in the western city of Lviv. Maksym Kozytskyy, the governor of Lviv, said preliminary reports suggested there were four strikes there, three on warehouses that were not in use by the military and another on a car service station. “It was a barbaric strike at a service station, it’s a completely civilian facility,” he told a news conference.
The southern port city of Mariupol has not fallen to Russian forces, US officials said. “Our assessment is Mariupol is still contested,” the Pentagon official said. If Russian forces succeed in taking full control of Mariupol, that could free up nearly a dozen battalion tactical groups for use elsewhere in the Donbas.
About 1,000 civilians are reportedly hiding in underground shelters beneath the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, according to the city council. Most of the civilians are believed to be women with children and elderly people.
Shelling in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region killed four people, regional governor, Pavlo Kirilenko, said.
US president Joe Biden will on Tuesday hold a call with allies to discuss the Ukraine crisis, including on how to coordinate on holding Russia accountable, the White House said.
Despite urging from Zelenskiy, Biden has made no plans to visit Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, adding that details would not be provided if that decision changed, for security reasons.
Family members of sailors who served onboard the Russian warship Moskva are demanding answers as the ministry has sought to suppress information about what happened to the ship or its estimated 510-strong crew.
The total number of dead, wounded and missing remains a state secret. A number of families have gone public saying they cannot find their sons who were serving onboard.
Two British fighters captured in Ukraine by Russian forces have been paraded on Russian state TV asking Boris Johnson to help free them, in a dramatic escalation of the propaganda war. Footage showed Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin calling on the British prime minister to help free them in exchange for Ukraine releasing the pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
Ukraine is hoping to receive candidate country status to join the European Union within weeks, Zelenskiy said. The European Union’s ambassador in Ukraine, Matti Maasikas, said he received a completed questionnaire from Zelenskiy just 10 days after the document was provided to Kyiv. “Extraordinary times take extraordinary steps and extraordinary speed,” he tweeted.
Ukraine vows Mariupol troops will ‘fight to the end’ as surrender deadline passes
Russian forces edge closer to control of port city whose fall would deal economic blow to Kyiv and symbolic victory for Moscow
Ukraine has vowed that its forces will “fight to the end” in the besieged port city of Mariupol, after a Russian ultimatum for the remaining Ukrainian troops there to surrender expired.
Moscow is edging closer to full control of the city in what would be its biggest prize since it invaded Ukraine in February. Relentless bombardment and street fighting have left much of the city pulverised, killing at least 21,000 people by Ukrainian estimates.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 53 of the invasion
Mariupol forces defy Russian demand for surrender, as European Commission chief urges fast supply of arms to Ukraine
The remaining Ukrainian forces in the southern port city of Mariupol were still fighting on Sunday and continued to defy a Russian demand that they surrender, according to the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urged member states to supply Ukraine with weapons systems “quickly” and suggested that a new round of EU sanctions could target Russia’s powerful Sberbank and include an embargo on Russian oil.
A Ukrainian health official said at least five people were killed in the Russian shelling of Kharkiv on Sunday. Maksym Haustov, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration’s health department, said another 13 residents were wounded in the bombardment of Ukraine’s second largest city.
At least two people were killed and four injured on Sunday in shelling of the eastern Ukrainian town of Zolote, the local governor said. “In one of the high-rise buildings, two floors were destroyed … we have at least two dead citizens, four more wounded,” said Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk.
Ukraine and Russia failed to agree on humanitarian convoys for the evacuation of civilians from war-affected areas, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk.
Another missile attack in the early hours of Sunday damaged infrastructure in Brovary, near Kyiv, said the city’s mayor, Igor Sapozhko, in an online post.
Russian armed forces destroyed an ammunition factory near Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said.
Many of the nearly 5 million people who have fled Ukraine will not have homes to return to, the United Nations warned.
Ukraine has asked G7 nations for $50bn (£38bn) in financial support and is also considering issuing 0% coupon bonds to help it cover a war-linked budget deficit over the next six months, the president’s economic adviser Oleg Ustenko said.
Russia said it was “concerned” about increased activity of Nato forces in the Arctic and that it saw risks of “unintended incidents” occurring in the region, Reuters reported.
In his Easter Sunday address, Pope Francis urged leaders to hear the people’s plea for peace in Ukraine and implicitly criticised Russia for dragging the country into a “cruel and senseless” conflict.
Christ’s message that good will triumph over evil resonated even more this year amid the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Boris Johnson said.
Continue reading...‘I think he will’: Zelenskiy hopeful President Biden will visit Ukraine
Ukrainian president also reiterates in interview that he is not willing to cede territory in country’s east to end war with Russia
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged US president Joe Biden to visit Ukraine and reiterated that he is not willing to cede territory in the country’s east to end war with Russia, during an extended interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday.
“I think he will,” Zelenskiy said in English when asked if he was aware of any plans for a US presidential visit. “But it’s his decision, of course, and [it] depends on the safety situation, of course. But I think he’s the leader of the United States and that’s why he should come here to see.”
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Fighters in last Mariupol pocket of resistance ignore surrender-or-die ultimatum – live
Troops dug in at huge steel mill despite a midday deadline to surrender from Moscow
- What we know on day 53 of the invasion
- Johnson and senior ministers banned from entering Russia
- Kyiv arms plant hit by Russia may have made missiles that sank Moskva
- Stay or go? Ukrainian mayors’ agonising choice as Russia invaded
- This week’s must-read news and analysis
A missile attack in early hours of Sunday damaged infrastructure in the city of Brovary, near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, Igor Sapozhko, mayor of Brovary said in an online post.
There were no details on the extent of the destruction and potential casualties.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow attacks UK’s ‘anti-Russian hysteria’; billionaire vows to rebuild Mariupol – live
Russia says the ban on Boris Johnson and senior ministers from entering the country will soon be expanded to other politicians
- Johnson and senior ministers banned from entering Russia
- Senior MP criticises UK red tape after taking in Ukrainian family
- Up to 3,000 Ukraine troops killed since Russia invaded, says Zelenskiy
- Stay or go? Ukrainian mayors’ agonising choice as Russia invaded
- Catch up on this week’s must-read news and analysis
Stay or go?
The question was a difficult one for Ukrainian officials in occupied areas, when deciding whether to follow President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s lead after he made the decision to remain in Kyiv as Russia invaded.
During occupation the main thing is to preserve life, and the people most in danger are the heads of the city. If the city is occupied, what should the mayor do, what should the team do? There was no single algorithm. Nobody gave us any orders. Everyone acted as they felt right.”
The situation in Mariupol is difficult and hard. Fighting is happening right now. The Russian army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city.”
Continue reading...Kyiv arms plant hit by Russia may have made missiles that sank Moskva
After two weeks of relative calm, mayor of city warns residents who have left that it is not safe to return
An arms plant in Kyiv destroyed by Russian long-range air-launched rockets allegedly produced at least one of the missiles used to sink the Moskva warship.
The attack on Friday was widely regarded by both parties as the most significant revenge strike by the Kremlin after the sinking of Russia’s flagship vessel in the Black Sea and a reminder that, despite being liberated from the occupants, the war in the Ukrainian capital is far from over.
Russia’s foreign ministry has barred entry to the country for the prime minister, Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace and 10 other British government politicians and members. The move was taken “in view of the unprecedented hostile action by the British government, in particular the imposition of sanctions against senior Russian officials”, Reuters reports the ministry said in a statement.
The battle for Mariupol is continuing. If Moscow captures the city, home to 400,000 people before the invasion, it would be the first big city to fall.
Nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Saturday, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, announced. Five of the nine evacuation corridors are from the east, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, which local officials have said is under heavy shelling.
Continue reading...How Zelenskiy’s team of TV writers helps his victory message hit home
Influences from Churchill to Tolkien are woven in to the Ukrainian president’s compelling video addresses
On day 50 of Russia’s invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskiy made his nightly address to the Ukrainian people. Vladimir Putin had confidently expected to seize Ukraine in five days, Zelenskiy said, standing outside his neo-classical administration building in central Kyiv. Putin was now “making friends with reality”, he added mordantly, hailing the bravery and staunchness of his citizens.
There was a reference to Russia’s flagship Moskva, which Ukraine says it audaciously sank last Wednesday with two lethal Neptune missiles. The warship has become a meme and symbol of national defiance, ever since Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea told it in the first days of the conflict to “go and fuck yourself”.
Continue reading...Zelenskiy reportedly asks Biden to name Russia a state sponsor of terrorism – as it happened
- Washington Post reports request made in recent phone call
- Psaki says Joe Biden is not planning to go to Ukraine
- Russian Moskva cruiser sinks after claim of missile strike
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has made a direct request to Joe Biden that the US designates Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, the Washington Post reports.
This would be a rare and radical sanction, but Zelenskiy has been firm in putting pressure on the west to assist in Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion, and this is no exception as his country endures atrocities from its northern neighbor.
Continue reading...