The White House on Thursday said Russia was ‘lying’ over claims the US aided Ukraine in an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin and denied any US involvement in the incident. Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is based, that Russian President Vladimir Putin must be brought to justice for his war in Ukraine. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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05:30am: China will promote peace talks on Ukraine crisis, says foreign minister
China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, said China will persist in promoting peace talks for the Ukraine crisis, and is "willing to maintain communication and coordination with Russia to make tangible contributions to the political settlement of the crisis", a foreign ministry statement on Friday said.
The statement referred to Qin's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' meeting in Goa, India, on Thursday.
10:39pm: Ukraine reveals it downed its own drone in Kyiv after it 'lost control'
The Ukrainian air force has announced that it downed its own drone that had lost control over Kyiv on Thursday, after a series of explosions shook the capital.
"At about 8pm (1700 GMT) a Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial device lost control during a scheduled flight in the Kyiv region... the target was destroyed!" the air force said, adding it was establishing the cause of a "likely" technical malfunction.
The head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's office Andriy Yermak had previously posted on Telegram saying that the drone had been Russian.
Earlier in the evening, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said a fire had broken out in the Solomyanskyi district in the west of the city. He said on Telegram there could be wreckage from drone fragments and emergency crews were at the scene.
Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, also reported a drone had been downed. There was no word on casualties or damage.
7:20pm: Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and UN personnel to discuss grain deal
Technical personnel from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations will meet on May 5 to discuss extending a deal allowing the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday.
The discussion will come ahead of the planned meeting of the deputy defence ministers of Russia, Ukraine and Turkey next week, Akar also said, adding that Ankara is continuing its efforts for further extension of the deal, which will currently expire on May 18.
6:40pm: Drone shot down near Russian airbase in Crimea, says Moscow-installed governor
Russia-installed authorities on Thursday said a drone had been shot down near an airbase in Russia-annexed Crimea, the latest in a string of such incidents in recent days.
"Another attack on Sevastopol. At about 7pm (1600 GMT) air defence forces destroyed an unmanned aerial device in the area of the Belbek airfield," Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.
5:20pm: US ambassador to Russia visits imprisoned ex-marine Paul Whelan
The US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy visited former US marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia for over four years, in Mordovia, a southeastern Russian region far from Moscow on Thursday.
"Today, Ambassador Tracy visited Paul Whelan at IK17 prison in Mordovia," the US embassy in Russia said on Twitter. "The US government will continue to engage Russian authorities on his case so Paul can come home as soon as possible," it said, calling his release an "absolute priority".
4:01pm: Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutors detain Odesa mayor
Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutors said on Thursday that Odesa mayor Hennadii Trukhanov had been detained in connection with an investigation into suspected corruption.
Trukhanov was elected mayor of the Black Sea port of Odesa in 2014 and has been under investigation since 2017 over embezzlement allegations, which he has denied.
FRANCE 24 interviewed Trukhanov in February about his shifting political allegiances, Ukrainian patriotism in Odesa and accusations that the mayor was widely seen as a pro-Russian figure.
>> Read more: Odesa, a defiant city on the strategic shores of the Black Sea
3:46pm: Poland to boost military protection of Baltic energy infrastructure
The Polish government has approved draft legislation that would allow the military to sink an enemy ship targeting a key gas pipeline from Norway via the Baltic Sea following NATO's warning that Russia might sabotage undersea energy infrastructure.
In "exceptional situations", and when other options had been exhausted, the military would be allowed to foil a terrorist attack by sinking an enemy ship or airship, the government said on Thursday.
The government said a permanent base for coast guard units would be established in Swinoujscie port, where a terminal for importing liquefied natural gas is located. Last month, Warsaw established a temporary 200 meters exclusion zone around the terminal.
NATO's intelligence chief warned on Wednesday that Russia may sabotage undersea cables to punish Western nations for supporting Ukraine.
3:15pm: EU warns Moscow not to use drone 'attack' as excuse to escalate war
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Moscow on Thursday to not use an alleged drone attack that it said targeted the Kremlin to escalate its war in Ukraine.
"We call on Russia not to use this alleged attack as an excuse to continue the escalation of the war," Borrell told journalists as he went in to attend an EU ministers meeting in Brussels.
"This is what worries us: this can be used to justify more conscription of people, more soldiers, more attacks on Ukraine."
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who on Wednesday called for the "physical elimination" of Zelensky over the purported drone attack, tweeted in imperfect English on Thursday criticising Borrell as "an impudent old fool".
2:43pm: Ukraine 'realistic' about not joining NATO during war, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine was "realistic" that it would not be able to join NATO while still fighting Russia.
"We are realistic, we know we will not be in NATO during the war," Zelensky said after meeting Dutch and Belgian prime ministers Mark Rutte and Alexander De Croo.
"But we want a very clear message that we will be in NATO after the war," Zelensky added.
Zelensky made a surprise visit to the Netherlands a day after meeting Nordic leaders in Finland to drum up support ahead of Ukraine's awaited counter-offensive against Russia.
2.36pm: Russian TV shows Putin in the Kremlin for first time since drone attack
Russian television on Thursday showed President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin for the first time since a drone attack that Moscow said was a Ukrainian assassination attempt.
State television showed Putin with Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, saying the meeting was inside the Kremlin.
2:21pm: White House says Kremlin 'lying' about US role in drone attack
The White House on Wednesday denied any involvement in an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin, after Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of guiding Ukraine to launch the assault.
"We had nothing to do with this," said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, on MSNBC. "Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple," he added.
Russia alleges that Ukraine carried out a "terrorist attack" overnight Tuesday into Wednesday with two drones, aiming to kill President Vladimir Putin, a charge which Kyiv has denied.
Kirby reiterated in his interview to MSNBC on Wednesday that Washington does not support or condone attacks by Ukraine outside its borders.
"We've been clear with them publicly and we've been clear with them privately that we do not encourage nor do we enable them to strike outside Ukraine," he said
2:00pm: Ukraine believes counter-offensive will succeed, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday Russia was demoralised on the battlefield and that Kyiv believed its planned counteroffensive to recapture occupied land from Russian forces would be successful.
Zelensky told reporters in The Hague that foreign visits he has been making this week were focused on replenishing the strength of Ukrainian forces, and that the whole of Ukrainian society was preparing for the counteroffensive.
1:56pm: Berlin police investigate Zelensky visit leak
Berlin police said Thursday they would open an investigation after details of a possible trip by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attributed to the force appeared in the media.
Investigators had launched a probe "into a suspected betrayal of secrets... in relation to a possible visit by a state president", police said in a statement.
The Netherlands will be unwavering in its support for Ukraine, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to The Hague.
Rutte added that Russia cannot win the war in Ukraine and must be held accountable for what he said were crimes of aggression and other war crimes.
1:17pm: White House says Russian claims US is behind drone are false
Russia's claims that the US is behind a drone attack on the Kremlin are false, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.
Kirby also told MSNBC the United States does not encourage or enable Ukraine to strike outside its borders. Russia accused the United States of being behind an attack aimed at killing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
12:11pm: 'Zelensky is always very forthright'
FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Angela Diffley gave her analysis of Volodymyr Zelensky's speech in The Hague in which the Ukrainian president said Vladimir Putin "deserves to be sentenced for his criminal actions".
"Zelensky is always very forthright, and this is him stating his position. Of course Ukraine might not get everything it wants further down the line whenever any negotiations take place, but he is laying down what matters here to Ukraine," Diffley said.
>> Read more: Ukraine unveils plan for recaptured Crimea – but West ‘reluctant’ to help
"First of all, he has identified [that] this war was not simply about Russia invading a country; it [is] about universal values and that is why so many people support Ukraine. He says it was about freedom and it was about justice."
There is "a lot of discussion about when this war might end and what might constitute some sort of acceptable settlement to Ukraine, and there are murmurings that Ukraine should settle for the 2014 borders and forget about Crimea, [but Zelensky] is saying 'no way; we want Crimea back; we want our territory and we want our values, which are universal values, respected'," Diffley said.
11:45am: Russia accuses US of masterminding drone attack on Kremlin
The Kremlin on Thursday accused the US of masterminding the drone attack on President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin residence which it said was carried out by Ukraine.
"Decisions on such attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "Kyiv only does what it is told to do."
11:37am: Zelensky says in The Hague that Putin must face justice
Russian President Vladimir Putin must be brought to justice for his war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday during a visit to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is based.
The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin for suspected deportation of children from Ukraine and the European Commission has said another international centre for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine would be set up in The Hague.
"We all want to see a different Vladimir here in the Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law," Zelensky said in a speech, referring to Putin.
"I'm sure we will see that happen when we win," he said, adding: "Whoever brings war must receive judgement."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday visited the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for suspected deportation of children from Ukraine.
Zelensky, dressed in his trademark khaki, was welcomed at the court by its president, judge Piotr Hofmanski.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC and rejects its jurisdiction, denies committing atrocities during its conflict with Ukraine, which it terms a "special military operation".
In his first official trip to the country, Zelensky was due to deliver a speech later in the morning, also in The Hague, titled "No Peace Without Justice for Ukraine".
FRANCE 24's former Moscow correspondent Nick Holdsworth gave his analysis on the alleged Ukrainian assassination attempt on President Vladimir Putin.
"It's very interesting that there was no announcement from the Kremlin about this attack in the early hours of this morning, until at least 12 hours after the alleged drone attacks. This attack – and we've all seen the videos of that drone coming in over the dome of the Kremlin and then an explosion – this is in the very centre of Moscow and a lot of people live around there, and in the early hours in the morning there are people out and about.
"This should have been all over Russian social media; there are all kinds of pro-war bloggers who would have leapt at this and had that video up and out there immediately," Holdsworth said. "Nothing of the kind emerged until after the announcement – and that's unusual."
10:04am: Was pre-dawn drone offensive 'revenge' for Ukraine's alleged Putin assassination attempt?
Ukraine said it destroyed 18 out of 24 Russian drones fired in a pre-dawn attack in the early hours of Thursday morning, just a day after Russia accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate President Vladimir Putin with a drone attack on the Kremlin. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reported on the situation in Kyiv.
Asked if the strikes were a form of Russian revenge, Cragg said "apparently some of the drones that were shot down over Odesa had 'for Moscow' or 'for the Kremlin' written on them, which is explicitly stating that these were drones fired in revenge."
On the other hand, he pointed out, Russia has been "intensifying drone and missile attacks across Ukraine in recent days, which they say is a bid to eliminate Ukrainian military equipment and personnel ahead of this much-touted Ukrainian counter-offensive, so whether or not this was really something that they did extra on top of what they were planning to do anyway is anyone's guess, really".
9:46am: Death toll rises to 23 after Russian shelling of Ukraine's Kherson
Russian shelling killed 23 people in and near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday, hitting a hypermarket, a railway station and residential buildings, the regional governor said.
"The enemy's targets are the places where we live. Their targets are our lives, and the lives of our children," governor Oleksandr Prokudin said, announcing the latest death toll in an online video on Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday decried the attacks on Kherson, condemning "the bloody trail that Russia leaves behind with its shells".
Ukrainian air defences said they downed 18 out of 24 kamikaze drones that Russia launched in a pre-dawn attack on Thursday.
In a statement, Kyiv city administration said that all missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital for the third time in four days have been destroyed.
"The Russians have attacked Kyiv using Shahed loitering munitions and missiles, likely the ballistic type," the administration said.
Out of 15 Shahed kamikaze drones fired at the Black Sea coastal city of Odesa, air defences destroyed 12, while three struck a university compound. There were no casualties, the Ukrainian southern military command said.
3:30am: Zelensky arrives in Netherlands
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to make an official visit to the Netherlands on Thursday, where he will deliver a speech and will have meetings with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and members of parliament, the Dutch government said.
The Dutch foreign ministry said Zelensky was expected to deliver a speech entitled "No Peace Without Justice for Ukraine."
Citing security concerns, government spokespeople declined to provide further details on Zelensky's visit, which would be his first to the country. The Ukrainian leader has visited several foreign capitals including London, Paris and Washington, DC since Russia's 2022 invasion.
Dutch news agency ANP reported that Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands by airplane late on Wednesday after a visit to Finland.
3:15am: Explosions heard in Kyiv, other Ukrainian cities
Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities in the early hours of Thursday morning, officials and media outlets said, with some local authorities reporting that anti-aircraft defences were at work.
Russia has regularly bombarded Ukraine since October last year, striking at a variety of targets. The latest blasts were reported less than 24 hours after Kyiv said 21 people died in a Russian strike on the city of Kherson.
"Air defences are working in the Kyiv region," the regional military administration said on Telegram. Reuters eyewitnesses in the city said there had been at least one loud blast.
Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported explosions in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Yuri Malashko, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said on Telegram that anti-aircraft defences were working.
Local media also reported blasts in the Black Sea port of Odesa. Air alerts have been sounded in most of the eastern half of the country, according to an official government map.
3:05am: Part of south Russia oil refinery catches fire after drone attack, reports Russian media
Part of an oil refinery in southern Russia is on fire after it was hit by a drone attack, Tass news agency cited local emergency services as saying early on Thursday.
Tass said the incident occurred at the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. It cited a source as saying a fuel reservoir was on fire but gave no details.
Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for what Moscow says are frequent drone strikes against infrastructure and military targets, particularly in regions close to Russia.
Last June the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia's Rostov region, bordering Ukraine, suspended operations after two unmanned aerial vehicles attacked its facilities.
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Key developments from Wednesday, May 3
A senior Ukrainian presidential official said on Wednesday that Kyiv had nothing to do with any drone attack on the Kremlin, adding that such a move would achieve nothing for Kyiv on the battlefield and would only provoke Russia to take more radical action. Russia had accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate President Vladimir Putin with such a drone attack.
This came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Finland for a surprise visit and talks with Nordic leaders.
Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
