Russia's Wagner mercenary group is withdrawing its forces from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and is transferring its positions to Russian army units, according to the group's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russia had begun moving ahead with relocating tactical nuclear weapons to his country. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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03:47am: Kyiv reports increased danger of missile strikes, says defences working
Military authorities in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv reported an increased danger of Russian missile strikes in the early hours of Friday and said anti-aircraft defences were working.
Russian has launched hundreds of rocket attacks against targets across Ukraine since last October, seeking to destroy critical infrastructure and other targets. In recent weeks Ukraine said it has knocked out most of the missiles.
"Increased missile danger! Air defences are working in the region," the Kyiv regional military administration said in a message on Telegram.
02:30: Putin ally says Ukraine war could last for decades
A top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Ukraine war could last for decades, with long periods of fighting interspersed by truces, Russia's RIA news agency reported on Thursday.
It said former President Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Putin's powerful security council, had spoken during a visit to Vietnam. Medvedev often makes hard line comments and last month described Ukrainian authorities as an infection.
"This conflict will last a very long time, most likely decades," RIA cited Medvedev as saying.
"As long as there is such a power in place, there will be, say, three years of truce, two years of conflict, and everything will be repeated," he continued, reiterating Moscow's claim that Ukraine is a Nazi state.
01:21am: EU extends Ukraine tariff suspension, Zelenskyy pledges to make it permanent
The European Union agreed on Thursday to suspend restrictions on imports from Ukraine for a further year after warding off an import ban imposed by some EU nations amid farmer protests over low prices.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the EU for the extension and pledged to work towards meeting the union's standards required to secure membership of the 27-nation bloc.
The Council of the EU, the grouping of EU governments, said in a tweet that EU ministers responsible for trade had agreed to the extension at a meeting on Thursday.
12:30am: Russia signals end to Black Sea grain deal in July if demands not met
Russia signaled on Thursday that if demands to improve its grain and fertilizer exports are not met then it will not extend beyond July 17 a deal allowing the safe wartime export of the same products from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
It made the same threat and demands in March. Moscow then agreed last week to renew for 60 days the Black Sea export pact - initially brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July with Russia and Ukraine to try to ease a global good crisis aggravated by Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
10:10pm: US sanctions head of Wagner mercenaries in Mali
The United States has slapped sanctions on the head of Russia’s Wagner private military group in Mali, which the group is allegedly using as a conduit for arms for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The US Treasury said Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov works closely with Malian officials to build Wagner’s presence in Mali and elsewhere in Africa. The Wagner group moved into Mali last year to help the ruling junta with security issues and to seek business opportunities in mining after French soldiers pulled out.
“The Wagner Group may be attempting to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, including by working through Mali and other countries where it has a foothold,” the Treasury said in a statement.
It said Wagner could be using false documentation to hide the acquisition and transit of mines, uncrewed aerial vehicles, radar and counterbattery systems for use in Ukraine
9:10pm: Ukraine could use Bakhmut in counteroffensive
FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Lviv, Ukraine, said that the Wagner mercenary group indeed appears to be handing over its positions in the city of Bakhmut to regular Russian troops, but that the operation is expected to take several days.
He added that although Ukraine still claims to control “a very, very small part” of Bakhmut, Ukrainian fighters “are now preparing for a counteroffensive, pushing the Russians away to the north and the southwest of the city with a view of then pushing them into the city centre […] and then attacking them in Bakhmut".
Watch the full report by clicking on the player below:
8:39pm: US condemns Russia moving nuclear weapons to Belarus
The United States has strongly condemned an arrangement for Russia to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
“It’s the latest example of irresponsible behavior that we have seen from Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over a year ago,” Miller said, repeating Washington’s warning that use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons in the conflict would be met with “severe consequences", without specifying those consequences.
But, he added: “We have seen no reason to adjust our strategic nuclear posture, or any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon.
8:31pm: Pentagon says allies will unite to train Ukrainians on F-16s
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday said European allies are developing a coordinated program to train Ukrainian forces on the F-16 fighter jet.
Austin said Ukraine will also need to be able to sustain and maintain the aircraft and have enough munitions. He added that air defense systems are still the weapons that Ukraine needs the most in the broader effort to control the airspace.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added, however, that: “There are no magic weapons,” noting that providing 10 F-16s could cost $2 billion, including maintenance.
“The Russians have a thousand fourth and fifth-generation fighters, so if you’re going to contest Russia in the air, you’re going to need a substantial amount of fourth and fifth-generation fighters.”
As a result, he said, allies did the right thing by first providing Ukraine with a significant amount of integrated air defense to cover the battlespace. He said F-16s have a future role as part of Ukraine’s air capabilities, but it’s “going to take a considerable length of time to build up an air force that’s the size and scope and scale that would be necessary".
Austin said the Dutch and Danish defence ministers are working with the US on the effort, and that Norway, Belgium, Portugal and Poland have already offered to contribute to the training. In addition, he said the allies will set up a fund so that other nations can contribute to the overall effort
6:31pm: Russia says it scrambled jets to US aircraft over Baltic Sea
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday that it scrambled fighter jets to escort two United States strategic bomber planes away from the Russian border as they flew over the Baltic Sea.
“The crew of the Russian fighter aircraft identified the aerial targets as two US Air Force B-1B strategic bombers,” it said in a statement.
The US aircraft did not cross the border and the fighter jets returned to their home airfield, it added.
6:01pm: Macron pays tribute to French reporter slain in Ukraine
France’s President Emmanuel Macron Thursday hailed the “bravery” of slain AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in a condolence letter to his colleagues after his death in Ukraine earlier this month.
Soldin, 32, died when an AFP team came under fire by Grad rockets while with Ukrainian soldiers near the eastern city of Bakhmut on May 9.
“His passing leaves you with an immense void. It devastates us all,” the president wrote in a typed-up letter handed to AFP. “Through his strength of character, his journey and his drive, Arman Soldin embodied your editorial staff’s passion—a passion to convey the truth, tell stories and gather testimonies. It was a passion for a cause: the duty to inform.”
Born in Sarajevo, Soldin was a French national who began working for AFP as an intern in its Rome bureau in 2015 and was later hired in London. He was part of the first AFP team to be sent to Ukraine following the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022, arriving on the following day.
Soldin had been living in Ukraine since September, leading the team’s video coverage and travelling regularly to the front lines in the east and south
5:35pm: Belarus’s Lukashenko says transfer of tactical nuclear weapons from Russia ‘already started’
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that the relocation of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus had already started, the TASS news agency reported.
Russia signed a deal with its close ally Belarus earlier on Thursday about the storage of the warheads at a special facility that should be finished in just over a month’s time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to relocate the weapons back in March.
5:22pm: Wagner group sends back bodies of US, Turkish nationals from Ukraine
Russia’s Wagner group on Thursday said it was sending back the bodies of a US citizen killed in fighting in Bakhmut as well as a Turkish citizen found dead in a blown up building.
In a video, mercenaries from the group were seen nailing closed the two wooden coffins and then draping a US flag over one coffin and a Turkish one over the other.
“We are returning the body of an American and the body of a citizen of Turkey along with prisoners,” said Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary group.
The US citizen perished in fighting in a part of Bakhmut known as the “nest” while the Turk was found dead along with a Turkish woman in the remains of a building blown up Ukrainian forces, Prigozhin said. The Turkish woman’s body could not be recovered, he said.
Wagner named the American as Nicholas Maimer, a former US special forces soldier, but did not identify the Turk.
Prigozhin has said around 20,000 of his mercenaries have been killed in the war
3:01pm: Finland to send more arms to Ukraine
Finland’s government said on Thursday it would send additional military equipment to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft weaponry and ammunition at an overall cost of €109 million.
“For operational reasons and in order to ensure the safe delivery of assistance, no further details are provided on the exact content, method or timetable of assistance,” the government said
2:29pm: Russian prosecutor asks court to recognise Nazi WWII crimes in Moscow region as ‘genocide’
Russian prosecutors have asked a court to recognise crimes committed by Nazi Germany in the Moscow region during World War II as genocide against the peoples of the Soviet Union, they said in a statement.
The move appeared part of a wider effort by Russia to portray its war in Ukraine as an existential struggle like that fought by the Soviet Union, which lost some 27 million people in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War.
1:57pm: Ukraine secures release of 106 soldiers in swap with Russia
Ukraine secured the release of 106 captured soldiers in a prisoner exchange with Russia on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff said. The soldiers, including eight officers, were captured fighting in the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut that Russia says it has captured, but where Kyiv's forces say they still have a small foothold.
"Every one of them is a hero of our state. Many of the ones we are returning from captivity were considered missing. The relatives of these people have gone through a difficult time," said the senior official, Andriy Yermak. There was no immediate information about the forces Russia received from Ukraine in exchange.
Ukrainian military intelligence says that 2,430 Ukrainians have been freed in prisoner swaps, including 139 civilians.
1:48pm: Ukraine announces diplomatic push for Africa
Ukraine on Thursday said it would open more embassies in Africa and stage a summit with leaders from the continent, where Russia is also carrying out a diplomatic offensive.
"We have recently adopted our first African strategy and intensified our political dialogue with many countries on the continent," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the African Union's forerunner.
"This year, we are going to establish new embassies in different parts of the continent and plan to hold the first Ukraine-Africa Summit. I invite the leaders of your countries to take part in this important event."
He added: "We want to develop a new quality of partnership based on three mutual principles: mutual respect, mutual interests, and mutual benefits."
Kuleba is currently on a tour of Africa, where he made an appeal from Addis Ababa on Wednesday to Ukraine's "African friends" to end their declared neutrality in the war.
1:07pm: Russia summons Germany, Denmark, Sweden envoys over Nord Stream investigation
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it had summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Sweden and Denmark to protest over what it said was the "complete lack of results" of an investigation into blasts that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September last year.
10:35am: Russia shuts down Swedish consulate, expels five diplomats, says ties at 'unprecedented low'
Russia said on Thursday it will shut down the Swedish consulate and expel five diplomats in what it said was a retaliatory measure for Sweden's "confrontational course" in relations with Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was responding to the expulsion of five of its diplomatic staff from Sweden last month, which it called an "openly hostile step". Relations between the two countries have worsened since Sweden last year announced its intention to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Russian statement said ties had "reached an unprecedented low".
10:18am: Russia's Shoigu says nuclear deployment in Belarus driven by sharp escalation of threats on western border
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday that the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus was driven by rising tensions with the West.
"In the context of an extremely sharp escalation of threats on the western borders of Russia and Belarus, a decision was made to take countermeasures in the military-nuclear sphere," TASS news agency quoted him as saying.
9:45am: Russia says it said from the start that Ukraine was behind Kremlin drone attack
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Russia had said from the start that Ukraine was behind a drone attack on the Kremlin in early May, after the New York Times reported that US spy agencies assessed that one of Ukraine's special military or intelligence units probably orchestrated it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied at the time that Ukraine was responsible. "We immediately said that the Kyiv regime was behind this. In the end, it doesn’t make much difference which of the units of the Kyiv regime is behind it," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
8:55am: Russia's Wagner begins withdrawal of units from Bakhmut
Russia's Wagner mercenary group has started withdrawing its forces from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video published on Thursday.
Prigozhin announced the capture of Bakhmut on Saturday after the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. He said his fighters would pull out and regular Russian troops would move in to replace them.
8:47am: Russia, Belarus sign document on tactical nuclear weapon deployment in Belarus
The defence ministers of Russia and Belarus on Thursday signed a document on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported.
Separately, Russian media reported that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that the West was waging an "undeclared war" against Russia and Belarus. Russia and Belarus, which are close allies over the conflict in Ukraine, agreed earlier this year to deploy part of Moscow's tactical nuclear arsenal in Belarus.
8:44am: Zelensky says Russia 'terrorising' Ukraine as 36 drones downed
President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of terrorising Ukrainians on Thursday, as his military announced it had shot down 36 Iranian-made attack drones deployed by Moscow's forces.
"The enemy continued to terrorise Ukraine by launching 36 Shaheds. None reached their target," Zelensky said in a social media post, after the Ukrainian military said it had downed more than two dozen drones.
8:10am: Russia's FSB says it detained 2 Ukrainians plotting to blow up power lines of Russian nuclear power stations
Russia's security service on Thursday announced the arrest of two Ukrainians who it said had planned to target nuclear power plants in the country.
"A sabotage group from the Ukrainian foreign intelligence service... tried to blow up some 30 power lines of nuclear power plants in Leningrad and Kalinin" in early May with the aim of stopping the nuclear reactors at the plants, Russian news agencies quoted the FSB as saying in a statement.
8:07am: Six drones shot down in Crimea, no casualties, Russian-backed chief says
The Russian-backed head of Crimea's administration said on Thursday that air defences had downed six drones overnight in different areas of the region. There were no casualties, Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram.
8:02am: Ukraine probably behind Kremlin drone attack, reports NYT
A drone attack on the Kremlin this month was probably orchestrated by one of Ukraine’s special military or intelligence units, assessments by US spy agencies show, the New York Times said.
The newspaper said the attack appeared to be part of a series of covert operations that have made officials in the United States – Ukraine’s biggest supplier of military equipment – uncomfortable. The US assessment was based on intercepted Russian and Ukrainian communications, the paper said.
5:03am: Kyiv defences repel Russian drone attack
Russian forces carried out overnight drone attacks on Kyiv, officials said Thursday, continuing a month-long campaign of air strikes against the Ukrainian capital. Military chiefs said Kyiv's air defences destroyed all of the drones during the three-hour air attack, the twelfth this month.
Serhiy Popko, head of the city's military administration, said in a message on Telegram that Russia "again attacked Kyiv from the air". "The attack was massive," the statement added. "The enemy continues to use attack tactics in several waves, with intervals between groups of attacking drones."
He added that "all detected air targets moving in the direction of Kyiv were destroyed" by Ukrainian air defence systems. The attacks were carried out using Iranian-made Shahed drones, the statement added, citing preliminary information. Air alerts were also reported in the cities of Kharkiv and Chernivtsi.
10:13pm: EU discussed plan to send profits from €196.6 billion in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine
The European Union has discussed sending Ukraine the profits from €196.6 billion in Russian assets that are stuck in the plumbing of global financial markets, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
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Key developments from Wednesday, May 25:
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that reports that pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters who crossed into Russia earlier this week had used Western-made military hardware were consistent with the West's growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict, and that any further attacks would be responded to "extremely harshly".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the supplying of F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine was a signal that Russia would lose in the conflict and called on Western leaders for quicker deliveries.
Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
