Summary
As the time in Kyiv approaches 9pm, here’s a roundup of today’s news in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president spoke to the Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the first time since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. He said they had a “long and meaningful” phone call and that he would send an envoy to Beijing.
Xi is reported to have said that China “would not sit idly by, nor would it add oil to the fire, still less exploit the situation for self gains,” in regards to Ukraine.
Xi also said that “talks and negotiation” were the only way the conflict would end. He is going to send a peace delegation to Kyiv.
British fighter jets helped in a joint-Nato response to intercept three Russian planes, including two SU-27 fighter jets, over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday.
The Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny says he is being investigated on terrorism charges that could see him sentenced to 30 years in prison, Reuters reports.
The Kremlin critic is currently serving sentences totalling 11-and-a-half years on charges including fraud and contempt of court, which human rights groups say were made up to silence him.
Italy has said it wants to play a major role in the reconstruction of Ukraine and urged EU bodies to back the rebuilding of a country battered by over a year of war with Russia. Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, met the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, on Wednesday.
A Ukrainian reporter working as a fixer for Italy’s daily newspaper Repubblica has been shot dead by snipers in Kherson, while his Italian colleague was wounded, the newspaper said Wednesday.
“Our correspondent Corrado Zunino and his fixer Bogdan Bitik were victims of an ambush by Russian snipers today on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine,” the Repubblica said.
Russia is resettling poor citizens from remote parts of its country in the east of Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s deputy defence minister. Hanna Mailar said the inward migration into Ukraine was mainly being seen in Luhansk.
In a press conference, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said there was “no use now in saying who is right” in the conflict. In a joint conference with the Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez he said that “no one can doubt that Brazilians condemn Russia’s [invasion]. The mistake happened and the war started.”
That’s all for today. Thanks for following along. We’ll be back tomorrow.
Ukrainian journalist shot dead in Ukraine with Italian colleague wounded
A Ukrainian reporter working as a fixer for Italy’s daily newspaper Repubblica has been shot dead by snipers in Kherson, while his Italian colleague was wounded, the newspaper said Wednesday.
“Our correspondent Corrado Zunino and his fixer Bogdan Bitik were victims of an ambush by Russian snipers today on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine,” the Repubblica said.
“Bitik unfortunately did not make it and died: he leaves behind his wife and a son. Corrado, who was wounded in the shoulder, is in the civil hospital in Kherson,” it said.
Both reporters, who had extensively covered the conflict, were wearing bulletproof vests with “press” written on them, it added.
“We were hit. I saw Bogdan on the ground, he wasn’t moving,” Zunino said in a telephone conversation with someone at the newspaper, the daily said.
“I crawled until I got out of the line of fire. I ran until I came across a civilian’s car. I was covered in blood, I got myself taken to the hospital in Kherson.
“I tried several times to call Bogdan, he didn’t answer. He was a great friend of mine, the pain is excruciating”, he was reported to have said.
The reporters were ambushed near the bridge in Kherson, the Repubblica said.
“It’s difficult to recover Bitik’s body at the moment, due to the presence of snipers,” it said.
Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said his ministry and the Italian embassy in Kiev were working with the Ukrainian authorities on returning Zunino to Italy.
Russia is resettling poor citizens from remote parts of its country in the east of Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s deputy defence minister.
The claim was made amid long-standing reports that Ukrainians in the east of the country have been forcibly deported into Russia, and children effectively kidnapped.
Hanna Mailar said the inward migration into Ukraine was mainly being seen in Luhansk.
According to Maliar, people are being brought to the occupied territories and provided “every possible support” from the occupation authorities, including housing, employment, and loans for developing businesses.
“In this way, the enemy seeks to destroy Ukrainian statehood and the national self-identity of society in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories,” Maliar wrote.
The Reintegration Ministry reported on 29 March that over 19,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia.
Additionally, the National Resistance Center reported on 12 April that over 100,000 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have been transported to Russia under the pretext of receiving “medical treatment.”
Parents cannot refuse treatment without being threatened with losing their parental rights, according to the center.
Lula: 'there is no use in saying who is right or wrong over Ukraine'
As mentioned earlier in the blog, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with the Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday, and held a news conference which touched on Ukraine.
Lula criticised the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, but said there was “no use now in saying who is right” in the conflict.
His comments came after he set off a storm among western allies by stating earlier this month that they were prolonging the fighting by supplying arms to Ukraine.
“No one can doubt that Brazilians condemn Russia’s territorial violation of Ukraine. The mistake happened and the war started,” he said during an official visit to Spain.
“There is no use now in saying who is right, who is wrong. What we have to do now is stop the war,” he added at a joint press conference with Sánchez, Reuters reports.
“No one in the world is talking about peace except for me, it is like being alone screaming in the desert.”
Lula, a 77-year-old former metalworker who served two previous terms as president from 2003 to 2010, has resisted taking sides over the conflict, neither with Europe and the United States, nor with China and Russia.
He raised hackles earlier this month by saying Washington should stop “encouraging” the war by supplying weapons to Kyiv.
Lula also angered Ukraine in recent days by suggesting it should agree to give up the Crimea peninsula, which Russia forcefully annexed in 2014 in a prelude to its invasion of Ukraine last year.
His comments were criticised by Europe, Ukraine and the United States, with Washington accusing him of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda”.
Asked again during his visit to Madrid about Crimea, Lula said, “it is not up to me to say who Crimea belongs to.”
“When you sit at a negotiating table you can discuss anything, even Crimea,” he added.
“But I am not going to discuss that, it is the Russians and the Ukrainians who will discuss that.”
The US has welcomed the phone call between the Ukrainian president and his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday.
“We think that’s a good thing,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“Now, whether that’s going to lead to some sort of meaningful peace movement or plan or proposal, I just don’t think we know that right now.
“We have long said we want this war to end,” he said, adding that it could end “immediately” if Russia would pull its troops out of Ukraine.
“If there’s going to be a negotiated peace, it’s got to (be) when president Zelensky is ready for it … where he can do it from a position of strength
“We certainly would welcome any effort to arrive at a just peace, as long as that peace could be just, could be sustainable, and could be credible.
“And in our view, it’s not going to be sustainable or credible unless the Ukrainians and president Zelensky personally is invested in it and supportive of it.”
The Guardian’s central and eastern European correspondent Shaun Walker has asked the question on whether Russia is carrying out more espionage activity or whether their agents are just being caught more often.
Since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine last February, hardly a week goes by without news of Russian spies, agents or informants being unmasked somewhere in the world.
A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin, sentenced to 13 years in prison. An alleged mole inside Germany’s intelligence service, suspected of passing information to Moscow. Nine people arrested in Poland accused of tracking weapons deliveries to Ukraine and planning acts of sabotage.
Just last week, US authorities issued an indictment against four US citizens and three Russians accused of carrying out “a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States” on behalf of Russian intelligence. The list goes on and on.
Perhaps most eye-catching has been the arrest of several alleged “illegals” – deep-cover, elite Russian spies trained to adopt foreign identities to embed into western societies and steal secrets.
Read more:
Here are some of the latest images from Ukraine today:
Chinese president to send peace talks delegation to Ukraine
Peter Beaumont in Kyiv and Emma Graham-Harrison in Dnipro send this report on Zelenskiy’s talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping:
Chinese president Xi Jinping will send a delegation to Ukraine to hold talks with all parties on resolving the conflict there, following his first phone call with Ukrainian counterpart Volodmyr Zelenskiy e since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Chinese state media Xi made the offer during a telephone call on Wednesday with Zelenskiy and offered to help facilitate peace talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire as soon as possible.
Xi also appeared to pledge China would remain neutral in the conflict saying Beijing “will neither watch the fire from the other side, nor add fuel to the fire, let alone take advantage of the crisis to profit”.
The Chinese leader’s comments come despite the fact that China remains Russia’s top strategic ally in the midst of the conflict.
Read the full story here:
Reuters reports the Romanian agriculture minister, Petre Daea, saying the European Commission will ban Ukrainian grain and oilseeds exports to Romania until 5 June.
This comes after Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia took unilateral steps to ban imports of food products from Ukraine, citing a need to protect their own farmers from cheap food prices. Romania had not introduced a ban.
As the Guardian reported last week, the European Commission has been trying to navigate a solution:
Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the commission, has written to the leaders of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, setting out support measures after four of those countries banned the import or sale of grain and other food products inside their borders earlier this week.
The commission wants member states to approve a further €100m in compensation payments for farmers in affected countries, on top of €56.3m that has already been shared between Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. It is also considering banning the sale of grain in the five affected countries until the end of June, with wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds only able to enter affected countries en route to another country.
More details from the discussions between Denys Shmyhal and the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, according to a readout on the Ukrainian government website.
More sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry was discussed, as well as the ongoing negotiations over the Black Sea grain deal that is due to expire in May.
In the meeting, which was also attended by the foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s hopes to join the EU were discussed as well as the potential accession to Nato.
“I am grateful to Italy for the military and technical assistance it provides to Ukraine’s security and defence forces, in particular for the sixth aid package, which includes vital air defence systems.” said Shmyhal.
Updated
Moscow has said Kyiv is undermining any peace attempts in response comments to the first call between the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, since Russia’s offensive, Agence France-Presse reports.
China has sought to portray itself as neutral in the Ukraine conflict despite strong ties with Russia. It has not condemned Moscow’s offensive.
“The Ukrainian authorities and their western minders have already shown their ability to mess up any peace initiatives,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Moscow noted “the readiness of the Chinese side to make efforts to establish a negotiation process.”
Beijing proposed a vague political solution to the conflict that includes a call for dialogue and respect for all countries’ territorial sovereignty.
“We see a broad consonance in our approach and in the provisions in the paper [published by China],” Russia’s foreign ministry said.
It accused Kyiv of having rejected “any sensible initiatives aimed at a political and diplomatic settlement”.
“The eventual consent to negotiations is conditioned by ultimatums with obviously unrealistic demands,” it said.
Ukraine has said it would not negotiate with Vladimir Putin and that peace would only be possible after Russia withdrew its troops.
Updated
After the call with President Xi earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed a new ambassador to China, Pavlo Riabikin.
Reuters reports that the announcement was made on a decree posted on a Ukrainian government website.
Updated
Italy has said it wants to play a major role in the reconstruction of Ukraine and urged EU bodies to back the rebuilding of a country battered by over a year of war with Russia.
The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the president, Sergio Mattarella, met the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, on Wednesday.
Italy struck the supportive tone at a bilateral summit with Ukraine in Rome convened to discuss reconstruction initiatives, saying private and public capital should contribute along with international institutions and multilateral banks.
“We want to play a leading role not only politically, but also by involving businesses,” Meloni said speaking alongside Shmyhal according to Reuters.
Meloni, who took office last October at the helm of a rightist coalition, encouraged Italian companies to contribute to Ukrainian reconstruction, calling it a “far-sighted” investment.
So far Meloni has stuck to the pro-Ukraine policy of her predecessor, Mario Draghi, despite scepticism from some of her own coalition partners.
The World Bank, United Nations, European Commission and Ukraine recently estimated it would cost $411bn to rebuild, a big jump from an earlier estimate of $349bn.
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said his country would help Kyiv join the EU and insisted Russia should share the burden of the reconstruction.
“Any resolution of the conflict will have to ensure that Russia pays for the damage it has caused,” he said.
In a recent visit to the United States, Ukraine’s Shmyhal said it was critically important to begin reconstruction this year and Kyiv had identified a priority funding gap of $14bn needed for 2023.
We are deepening 🇺🇦🤝🇮🇹 cooperation. At the meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, I thanked Italy for its extensive assistance and consistent stance in supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of #Ukraine. We are working for the victory and 🇺🇦's recovery! pic.twitter.com/GGvOo2irHC
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) April 26, 2023
Updated
A hub to repair Leopard 2 tanks that Ukraine is receiving from European allies will start operating in May.
The latest development in a long-running theme about tank supplies was confirmed by Poland’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, at a joint press conference with Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, according to Ukrainian news website Ukrinform.
Błaszczak said that an agreement was signed on Friday between Poland Ukraine and Germany on the creation of the maintenance and repair centre.
“All these tanks will be serviced at Bumar-Labedy in Gliwice,” Błaszczak said.
There is a concern about difficulties repairing the tanks because of a lack of spare parts, but Germany’s cooperation would ease any problems as the vehicles are made by a German company.
“I really wanted the Germans to also feel their responsibility and for this process to take place quickly and effectively,” he said.
Updated
Chinese state TV has reported more details of the call between presidents Xi and Zelenskiy.
The Chinese premier said that “talks and negotiation” were the “only way out” of the war, CCTV reported according to Agence France-Presse.
Though Beijing is officially neutral in the conflict, Xi has never condemned the Russian invasion.
Zelensky has said repeatedly he would be open to talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi.
In February Beijing unveiled a 12-point paper calling for a “political settlement” to the crisis in Ukraine.
Some more details have become available of the British fighter jets who were involved in an operation to intercept three Russian planes over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday (see 7.49am).
The RAF planes joined Eurofighters flown by Germany, and they intercepted two SU-27 fighter jets who were flanking an IL-20 surveillance plane who were flying with their location transponders turned off.
Some interesting comments from China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying after President Xi’s phone call with Zelenskiy.
Xi has so far met with Putin since Russia’s invasion, but not Zelenskiy, despite the Ukrainian president’s pleas.
Otherwise he has not intervened in the crisis, with some claiming the conflict and geopolitical implications work in China’s favour.
Among the most interesting lines is China claiming “as a responsible major country, China would not sit idly by, nor would it add oil to the fire, still less exploit the situation for self gains”.
An group of special representatives will also be sent to Ukraine. This had been confirmed by President Xi to Zelenskiy during the call.
She posted on Twitter: “China is consistent and clear-cut in its readiness to develop bilateral relations with Ukraine. Two sides need to carry forward the tradition of mutual respect and sincerity, and take the China-Ukraine strategic partnership forward.
“On the Ukraine crisis, China always stands on the side of peace. Its core stance is to facilitate talks for peace.
“China did not create the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to the crisis. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible major country, China would not sit idly by, nor would it add oil to the fire, still less exploit the situation for self gains.
“Everything China does is aboveboard. Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way forward.
“With rational thinking and voices now on the rise, it is important to seize the opportunity and build up favorable conditions for the political settlement of the crisis.
“It is hoped that all parties would seriously reflect on the Ukraine crisis and jointly explore ways to bring lasting peace and stability to Europe through dialogue.
“China will send the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs to Ukraine and other countries to have in-depth communication with all parties on political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
“China has provided multiple batches of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and will keep providing help to the best of its ability.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has 'long and meaningful' phone call with President Xi
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday he had held a “long and meaningful” phone call with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, and hoped it would give impetus to relations with Beijing.
“I had a long and meaningful phone call with...President Xi Jinping,” he wrote on Twitter.
“I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations.”
He did not immediately give any other details.
The call was also confirmed by a Chinese government spokeswoman.
Updated
Spain has welcomed Brazil’s interest in the push for mediation in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, Reuters reports.
The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, told a joint news conference with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday.
Lula has recently said that a group of neutral nations should come together to broke peace between Russia and Ukraine. He has refused to supply arms to Kyiv, and Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government has invited him to Ukraine to see the impact of the conflict.
Updated
Russia’s envoy to the UN in Geneva said on Wednesday that no real progress had been achieved in resolving issues raised by Moscow over the Black Sea grain deal, which is set to expire in May.
Speaking to reporters at the Russian permanent mission in Geneva, envoy Gennady Gatilov said Russia’s position on extending the deal remains unchanged. Moscow has said it will not agree to an extension unless the ewst removes obstacles to Russian exports of grain and fertiliser.
Ukraine is urging its allies not to bow to Russian “blackmail” over nuclear plants it has seized during its invasion on the 37th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Reuters reports. On Telegram, the president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said:
Thirty-seven years ago, the Chornobyl NPP accident left a huge scar on the whole world. We must do everything to give the terrorist state no chance to use nuclear power facilities to blackmail Ukraine and the entire world.
An explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the formerly Soviet Ukraine spread radiation across Europe in 1986. It is thought around 30 plant workers and firemen died in the immediate aftermath and many more people died later from radiation-related illnesses.
The decommissioned plant, north of Kyiv, lies near the Ukraine’s border with Belarus and was captured by Russian troops on 24 February 2022; the first day of Russia’s invasion. Moscow’s forces occupied the plant for five weeks before withdrawing on 31 March 2022.
Ukrainian officials have accused Putin of attempting to blackmail Kyiv and its allies into meeting Russian demands due to safety concerns about radiation levels.
The Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny says he is being investigated on terrorism charges that could see him sentenced to 30 years in prison, Reuters reports.
The Kremlin critic is currently serving sentences totalling 11-and-a-half years on charges including fraud and contempt of court, which human rights groups say were made up to silence him.
On Twitter, Navalny’s aides said: “They have presented absurd allegations that threaten me with 30 years in prison … that I, while in prison, commit terrorist acts.”
Навальный:
— Команда Навального (@teamnavalny) April 26, 2023
Они выдвинули абсурдные обвинения, по которым мне грозит 30 лет колонии. Следователь Видюков вчера сказал, что из этого дела отдельно выделено террористическое дело о том, что я, сидя в тюрьме, совершаю теракты. И по этом делу меня будет судить отдельно военный суд
In August 2020, Navalny was poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent and was hospitalised in critical condition. The Kremlin denied trying to kill him, though he blamed Putin for the attack.
He was jailed in 2021 when he returned to Russia after receiving medical treatment in Germany following the poison attack.
This month, Russian investigators formally linked Navalny supporters to the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky, a Russian military blogger and supporter of Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, who was killed by a bomb in St Petersburg. Navalny’s allies have denied any involvement.
Russian investigators have also said that 11 people have been added to an “international wanted list” in a case linked to Navalny, the state-owned news agency Tass reports.
Yevgeny Roizman, the former mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city Ekaterinburg, is going on trial today over accusations he discredited the Russian armed forces over the war in Ukraine. He has claimed he is being charged for describing Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine as “the invasion of Ukraine”, the French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Roizman, who has been a prominent Kremlin critic, said he knows he could go to prison at any moment. He is Russia’s last prominent opposition figure who is still in the country and has not been jailed. He could face five years in prison if convicted, Russian state media reports.
In August 2022, authorities opened a criminal case against Roizman for “discrediting” the Russian armed forces in comments he made about the war in Ukraine.
Roizman, 60, pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial in Ekaterinburg in a live YouTube broadcast of the hearing, according to AFP. Asked by the judge if he admitted his guilt, Roizman said “no”.
In 2013, he became Russia’s highest-profile opposition mayor and held the position in the Urals city from from 2013 to 2018.
All other top opposition figures are either in prison or in exile because of Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on anti-Kremlin dissent.
Here are the images shared by the German air force of the Russian aircraft intercepted over the Baltic Sea.
They are reported to be two SU-27 flankers and one IL-20 aircraft.
Fears are growing in Ukraine that Moscow is pushing its close ally Belarus to take direct part in fighting, as Belarusian men are called to attend military training, AP reports.
“Russian troops are already in Belarus, and I see the country gradually being turned into a military barracks,” Ruslan, an engineer who was recently summoned for military training in the Belarus capital of Minsk, told AP. He preferred not to share his full name out of concerns for his safety.
Everybody fears that they won’t allow Belarusians to keep watching the war from a distance for too long.
The Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko has relied on the Kremlin’s political and economic support in recent months to help deal with protests and mass arrests.
A Belarusian air defence unit was formed recently in Minsk, which is thought to station some of Moscow’s missile units.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited border guards in the northwestern Volyn region earlier this month, saying that the country must “be ready” for a possible invasion from Belarus, AP reports.
Updated
Russian military aircraft intercepted in international airspace, says Germany
Three Russian military aircraft flying without transponder signals have been intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, Reuters reports.
Two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft were identified by German and British forces, the German air force has said, adding several images of the aircraft mid-flight on Twitter.
Aufklärungsflieger abgefangen. 🇩🇪 und 🇬🇧 #Eurofighter wurden alarmiert, um 3 Militärmaschinen zu identifizieren. Die zwei SU-27 Flanker und eine IL-20 aus 🇷🇺 flogen erneut ohne Transpondersignal im int. Luftraum über der Ostsee. #SecuringTheSkies #VAPB @NATO @GermanyNATO… pic.twitter.com/sOY4CPkrbe
— Team Luftwaffe (@Team_Luftwaffe) April 26, 2023
Updated
Ukraine is working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and American companies to collect evidence of war crimes by Russians, such as geolocation and cellphone information, Reuters reports, citing senior officials.
Ukrainian authorities are collecting digital information from battlefields and Ukrainian towns ravaged by the war since Russia invaded the country last February, said Alex Kobzanets, a FBI special agent.
“Collection of that data, analysis of that data, working through that data is something the FBI has experience working through,” Kobzanets said at a cybersecurity conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.
That work includes looking into cellphone information, forensic analyses of DNA samples, as well as analysis of body parts collected off battlefields, he said.
The work reflects deepening collaboration between the US and Ukraine on the cyber front, where Russia has been a common adversary for both nations. The Russian government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Some recent images from the war in Ukraine:
The Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, in his latest statement on Telegram has said “no one can feel safe” unless Russia is defeated and called for the war to end with a “new Nuremberg”.
“Every manifestation of Russian terror, every day of aggression is an additional argument that all this must end in the Tribunal – in a new Nuremberg against ruscism, against those who destroy lives and people, who use missiles against museums and guided bombs against churches. Russia must lose. The world cannot have any other goal,” Zelenskiy wrote.
Updated
Russia’s war in Ukraine will be top of the agenda at the G7 summit next month, with the White House announcing on Tuesday that the US president, Joe Biden, will attend the meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.
The leaders of the G7 - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - are meeting at the site of the world’s first nuclear attack, with Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, having said he hopes to make nuclear disarmament a key plank of discussions.
Updated
A little more from Lavrov – the foreign minister also warned the European Union “is becoming militarized at a record rate” and aggressive in its goal of containing Russia. Associated Press reports he told a news conference he has no doubts that there is now “very little difference” between the EU and Nato. Lavrov said they recently signed a declaration, which he said essentially states that the 31-member Nato military alliance will ensure the security of the 27-member EU political and economic organisation. He was apparently referring to a January EU-Nato declaration on their “strategic partnership” which urges closer cooperation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to confront evolving security threats, Associated Press says.
Lavrov: 'practically no results' from grain deal
Moscow has seen “practically no results” from a pact with the United Nations that aimed to help Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports and blamed Western countries for creating a deadlock, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on in New York on Tuesday.
Russia has signalled that unless a list of demands is met to remove obstacles to those exports, it will not agree to extend a related deal beyond 18 May that allows the safe wartime export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
Lavrov, at a news conference at the United Nations in New York, praised the work of UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres and UN aid chief Martin Griffiths in their bid “to reach agreement with countries that have announced illegitimate and lateral sanctions against the Russian Federation.”
“But there has been practically no result,” Lavrov said.
Russia signed a three-year deal last July in which the United Nations agreed to help try and remove any obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports. While those exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance are a barrier to shipments.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Virginia Harrison and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next little while.
It’s coming up to 8am in Kyiv, here’s where things stand:
Two women have been killed and 10 wounded in a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree establishing temporary control of the Russian assets of two foreign energy firms, signalling Moscow could take similar action against other companies if need be. The decree – outlining possible retaliation if Russian assets abroad are seized – showed Moscow had already taken action against Uniper SE’s Russian division and the assets of Finland’s Fortum Oyj.
The number of daily casualties Russia is suffering has fallen by about 30% in April, UK intelligence has said. In its daily intelligence briefing, the Ministry of Defence reported that the drop was probably due to the end of Russia’s winter offensive, which, it added, had largely failed. The MoD also said Russia was now likely to be preparing its troops for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Kyiv admitted it was behind a drone attack in the bay of Sevastopol, Ukrainian authorities confirmed. However, officials rejected Russian claims that the attack had put the operation of the grain corridor at risk.
Russia’s foreign ministry has said it is expelling a Moldovan diplomat in what it cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova. The ministry said in a statement it had summoned Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow to announce the expulsion, as well as to protest against what it called “unfriendly steps towards Russia” and “regular anti-Russian statements”.
Lithuania’s parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of allowing border guards to turn back migrants who illegally enter the country. Lithuania borders fellow EU states Latvia and Poland, as well as Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In 2021, Latvia declared a state of emergency and Lithuania began planning a razor-wire fence to stop record numbers of migrants crossing its border from Belarus.
A former commander in Russia’s Wagner mercenary group seeking asylum in Norway has pleaded guilty to being involved in a fight outside an Oslo bar and carrying an air gun in public and said he felt “very ashamed”. Andrei Medvedev, 26, crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in January and has spoken out about his time fighting with Russian invasion forces in Ukraine.
Britain and France’s sports ministers insisted on Tuesday that Russian and Belarusian athletes must never compete as neutrals as recommended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because they could still be funded by their governments.
A court in Russia has convicted a former police officer of publicly spreading false information about the country’s military after he criticised the war in Ukraine to his friends over the phone. The ex-officer, Semiel Vedel, was sentenced on Monday to seven years in prison and barred from working in law enforcement for four years after his release.
Risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, are steadily growing, the Tass news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Tuesday. Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministry’s head of nuclear non-proliferation, told the Russian state news agency that Washington was escalating the risks through its conduct with Moscow.
It is time for the Nato alliance to “stop making excuses” and accept Ukraine as a member, as the country has demonstrated its readiness and has much to offer, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba said. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Kuleba said the political will of the alliance had been “sorely lacking” on the issue of admitting Ukraine.
