Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the peninsula's annexation from Ukraine. Earlier, US President Joe Biden welcomed the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for his Russian counterpart, saying the leader has "clearly" committed war crimes in Ukraine. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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10:07am: Ukraine still able to resupply troops in battered Bakhmut, army says
Ukrainian forces outside the battered eastern city of Bakhmut are managing to keep Russian units at bay so ammunition, food, equipment and medicines can be delivered to defenders, the army said on Saturday.
And in the latest claim to have inflicted heavy casualties, Kyiv said its troops had killed 193 Russians and injured 199 others during the course of fighting on Friday.
Russia has made the capture of Bakhmut a priority in its strategy to take control of Ukraine's eastern Donbas industrial region. The city has been largely destroyed in months of fighting, with Russia launching repeated assaults.
7:02pm: Two killed, eight wounded in eastern Ukraine, mayor says
Russian strikes killed two people and wounded eight in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Saturday, the mayor said, accusing Moscow of having used cluster bombs in the attack.
"Russia continues to spread terror," Oleksandr Goncharenko said in a Facebook post. "Consequences of Kramatorsk bombardment with cluster bombs: two people were killed and eight were wounded, three of them seriously."
AFP journalists on the ground heard around 10 explosions go off nearly simultaneously just before 4:00 pm local time (1400 GMT) and saw smoke above a park in the southern part of the city.
A woman died at the scene from her wounds, they saw.
Soon after, another round of explosions was heard in a neighbourhood two kilometres (one mile) away. A woman taxi driver was seriously wounded, according to AFP journalists.
5:17pm: Russia agrees to 60-day extension of Ukraine grain deal
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday that Moscow agreed to a 60-day extension of a deal that allowed exports of Ukrainian grain to resume following Russia's military campaign.
"We are seeing reports from parties to the 'grain deal' that the deal has been extended for 120 days," Zakharkova said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency. "We have repeatedly stated... that the Russian side has notified all parties to the deal that it is extending the deal for 60 days".
3:32pm: Kyiv thanks UN, Turkey for 'sticking to' grain deal agreements
Ukraine's infrastructure minister on Saturday thanked the United Nations and Turkey for adhering to the agreements of a deal that allowed grain exports from war-torn Ukraine.
"(The) Black Sea Grain Initiative agreement is extended for 120 days. Grateful to Antonio Guterres, the United Nations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Minister Hulusi Akar and all our partners for sticking to the agreements," Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter.
Neither Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor the UN have yet confirmed the length of the extension. Ankara had previously said it wanted a 120-day extension, while Russia wanted to extend it for 60 days.
3:07pm: Turkey's Erdogan says Ukraine grain deal extended
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday announced the extension of a deal that allowed exports of Ukrainian grain to resume following Russia's invasion.
"Following talks with the two parties, we have assured the extension of the deal that was due to expire on March 19," Erdogan said in comments broadcast on Turkish television, just hours before the agreement was due to expire at midnight.
2:45pm: Putin visits Crimea on annexation anniversary
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea on the ninth anniversary of the peninsula's annexation from Ukraine, Russian state TV reported.
On the surprise visit to the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol, Putin visited an arts school accompanied by local governor Mikhail Razvozhayev, according to images broadcast on the channel Rossiya-1.
"Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin knows how to surprise. In a good way," Razvozhayev said on the messaging app Telegram. He said Putin had been expected to take part in the opening of a children's art school by video link.
"But Vladimir Vladimirovich came in person. Himself. Behind the wheel. Because on such a historic day, the president is always with Sevastopol and the people of Sevastopol," the Moscow-appointed official said.
12:39pm: Russian mercenary chief aims to recruit 30,000 new fighters by mid-May
Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to recruit approximately 30,000 new fighters by the middle of May, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday.
He said in an audio message on Telegram that Wagner recruitment centres, which he said last week had opened in 42 Russian cities, were hiring on average 500-800 people a day.
11:43am: Turkey says it will make efforts to further extend Black Sea grain deal
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that Turkey would make efforts to further prolong the Black Sea grain deal enabling exports of grain from Ukraine, on the day the pact is due to expire.
"Russia agreed an extension of the grain deal for only two months. We will make efforts for a further extension of the deal after two months," Cavusoglu said in a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Cairo.
10:55am: Russian drones target Ukrainian cities including Kyiv
Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force has said in a message posted on Telegram, adding that 11 out of 16 drones were shot down “in the central, western and eastern regions”.
The head of the Kyiv city administration, Serhii Popko, said Ukrainian air defences shot down all drones heading for the Ukrainian capital, while officials in the western city of Lviv said three of six drones were shot down, with the other three hitting a district bordering Poland.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attacks were carried out from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov and Russia’s Bryansk province, which borders Ukraine.
8:35am: ICC arrest warrant for Putin 'a highly symbolic move'
Chances of Russia's Vladimir Putin facing trial at the ICC are highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction or extradite its nationals, FRANCE 24's Kyiv correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze reports.
However, the moral condemnation will stain the Russian leader and follow him whenever he seeks to attend an international summit in one of the court's 123 member states that are theoretically bound to arrest him.
6:25am: Turkey still hopeful of extension to Ukraine grain deal
Turkey is hoping that a grain export deal between Kyiv and Moscow key to alleviating a global food crisis can be extended for another 120 days – but time is running out, with the current deal expiring just before midnight on Saturday, Istanbul time.
"The deadline is approaching," Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said Friday. "We are in touch with both Ukraine and Russia about extending the agreement under its original terms."
Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 saw Ukraine's Black Sea ports blocked by warships.
But a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022 – and signed by Kyiv and Moscow – has allowed for the safe passage of exports of critical grain supplies.
2:15am: Putin 'clearly committed war crimes', says Biden
US President Joe Biden has welcomed the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian leader has "clearly committed war crimes".
The ICC earlier on Friday called for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow's invasion began of its neighbor last year. The United States is not a member of the ICC.
"Well, I think it's justified," Biden told reporters, referring to the warrant. "But the question is – it's not recognised internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point."
The United States separately has concluded that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine and supports accountability for perpetrators of war crimes, a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
10:44pm: ‘First time’ leader of a UN Security Council permanent member is charged: ICC prosecutor
In an interview with FRANCE 24 after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan said it was an important day for international justice.
The warrant marked “the first time ever that a head of state from a P5 has been charged” by the international court, said Khan referring to the UN Security Council’s permanent five members.
9:53pm: Zelensky hails ICC move, blames Putin for child deportations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin was historic and blamed the Russian leader for the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children.
"This is an historic decision which will lead to historic accountability," he said in his nightly video address. The real number of deported children could be "far more" than 16,000, he said, adding that their deportations constituted a policy of "state evil which starts precisely with the top official of this state."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
