Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children. In granting the request for warrants by the ICC prosecutor, a panel of judges agreed that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, bore responsibility for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the ICC arrest warrant for Putin was “meaningless”. “Russia is not a party to the Rome statute of the international criminal court and bears no obligations under it,” she said. The Kremlin said Russia found the very questions raised by the ICC “outrageous and unacceptable” but that any decisions of the court were “null and void” because it did not recognise the court’s jurisdiction.
Sources at the ICC have said they thought it was now “very unlikely” that Putin would travel to any country currently supporting Ukraine. If he did so he risked arrest, they pointed out. They said it was possible Putin would still fly to China which is not a signatory to the Rome statute, the treaty which obliges governments to enforce ICC warrants.
The ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin will probably be portrayed as a point of no return in Russia, where the Kremlin will spin the court’s decision as proof that the west is seeking nothing short of regime change. While Putin has already been preparing his public for a long war, the arrest warrant will for the first time raise the concrete possibility that Russia’s leaders and other prominent supporters of the war could face justice at The Hague if they ever find themselves under arrest.
Russia is sustaining up to 1,500 casualties a day in its current offensive, mostly in the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to a senior Nato official. Ukraine is taking “an order of magnitude less” in fighting where “several thousand” shells a day have been fired by both sides, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. They added that it was unclear how long the battle for Bakhmut will go on.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Turkey would start the process of ratifying Finland’s Nato membership bid in parliament after the country took concrete steps to keep its promises. In a news conference on Friday after meetings with his Finnish counterpart, Erdoğan said: “When it comes to fulfilling its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that Finland has taken authentic and concrete steps.”
Turkey’s willingness to consider ratifying Sweden’s Nato bid would “depend on the solid steps Sweden will take”, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday. His Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, welcomed Turkey’s decision to move on his country’s Nato bid, but also expressed solidarity with Sweden. Niinistö said: “I have a feeling that Finnish Nato membership is not complete without Sweden.”
Sweden remains confident it will join the Nato alliance, foreign minister Tobias Billström has said, despite Turkey’s decision to move foward with ratifying Finland’s Nato application. He said separate ratification of Finland and Sweden’s bids by Ankara was “a development that we didn’t want but it’s something that we’re prepared for.”
Hungary’s parliament is expected to vote on the ratification of Finland and Sweden’s membership of Nato on 31 March. Turkey and Hungary are the only two countries yet to ratify their attempts to join the alliance.
Slovakia will donate 13 MiG-29 warplanes to Ukraine, its prime minister has said. Slovakia’s prime minister, Eduard Heger, told a news conference on Friday that his government was “on the right side of history” as Slovakia became the second Nato member to announce such a shipment in 24 hours, after a similar move by Poland. The Kremlin said the promised planes were another example of Nato members “raising the level of their direct involvement in the conflict”, adding that “all this equipment will be subject to destruction”.
Denmark was “open” to the idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine to help its war effort against the Russian invasion, the Danish defence minister said on Friday, according to the state broadcaster DR. “I won’t rule out that at some point it may be necessary to look at the contribution of fighter jets,” the acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said.
China’s president is to visit Russia next week in an apparent show of support for Vladimir Putin, the Chinese foreign ministry has said. During the visit, scheduled for 20-22 March, the two leaders will sign “important” bilateral documents and discuss issues of further development of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between Russia and China.
The US has deep concerns that China could try to position itself as a peacemaker in the war in Ukraine by promoting a ceasefire, the White House has said. A ceasefire in Ukraine would “in effect recognise Russia’s gains and its attempt to conquer its neighbor’s territory by force, allowing Russian troops to continue to occupy sovereign Ukrainian territory”, White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said.
Talks are in progress on the renewal of an agreement allowing the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the UN’s office in Geneva has said. The Black Sea grain initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the UN and Turkey last July, is due to expire on Saturday. The UN, Ukraine and Turkey have called for a 120-day rollover of the agreement. Russia, however, has said the deal should be renewed for only 60 days.
Russia’s defence secretary, Sergei Shoigu, has presented state awards to the pilots of the Su-27 planes involved in the drone incident over the Black Sea for “preventing the violation of the borders of the special operation area by the American MQ-9 Reaper drone”.
Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, has said she sees no danger of war in her countries while Ukraine continues to hold out against Russia. “The Russian army cannot get here while Ukraine holds out – and [therefore] protects Moldova,” Sandu said in an address to the Moldovan parliament.
Kyiv’s wartime curfew will be reduced by an hour to boost business. The head of Kyiv city administration, Serhiy Popko, said that the new curfew period – starting at midnight instead of 11pm – would increase the time for public transport and that reducing its duration “should help reduce social tension, increase production, create new jobs”.
In light of Turkey’s decision to express its support for the Finnish Nato bid, our Europe correspondent Jon Henley explains the motivations for Sweden and Finland’s decision to apply to join the military alliance, as well as why they have historically remained outside the alliance.
The US has deep concerns that China could try to position itself as a peacemaker in the war in Ukraine by promoting a ceasefire, the White House has said.
White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters that any ceasefire at this time would not lead to a just and lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Instead, a ceasefire would be “effectively the ratification of Russian conquest”, he said. It would “in effect recognise Russia’s gains and its attempt to conquer its neighbor’s territory by force, allowing Russian troops to continue to occupy sovereign Ukrainian territory”, Kirby said.
Russia could use a ceasefire to regroup “so that they can restart attacks on Ukraine at a time of their choosing,” he warned.
The international criminal court’s arrest warrants for the “ugly duo” of President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, are “just the beginning”, Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov writes.
Ukraine has been “flagging Russian war crimes for a long time”, he posted on Twitter alongside a video statement by the ICC’s president, Piotr Hofmanski, writing:
The tribunal, verdicts&punishments are coming.
Every criminal must be held accountable, especially when a top official is involved in the deportation of children.
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) March 17, 2023
We’ve been flagging russian war crimes for a long time.
The arrest warrants for the ugly duo are just the beginning. The tribunal, verdicts&punishments are coming. pic.twitter.com/st8T4Qs5FJ
In the video, Hofmanski says that while the court’s judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them. The court has no police force of its own to do so.
The White House said the US welcomed President Erdoğan’s announcement that Turkey’s parliament will begin ratifying Finland’s Nato bid.
Washington called on Ankara to quickly ratify Sweden’s accession to the military alliance as well. In a statement, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said:
Sweden and Finland are both strong, capable partners that share Nato’s values and will strengthen the Alliance and contribute to European security.
The United States believes that both countries should become members of Nato as soon as possible.
Sweden remains confident it will join Nato, says foreign minister
Sweden remains confident it will join the Nato alliance, foreign minister Tobias Billström has said, despite Turkey’s decision to move foward with ratifying Finland’s Nato application.
Billström told reporters:
It is a question of when Sweden becomes a member, not if. In terms of our security, our position is better now than when we applied for membership of Nato.
He said separate ratification of Finland and Sweden’s bids by Ankara was “a development that we didn’t want but it’s something that we’re prepared for.
We comply and will continue to comply with the memorandum established between our three countries.
He added that “it’s about when Sweden becomes a member, not about our security. We are even more secure now than we were before we applied for membership in Nato.”
Updated
Turkey’s willingness to consider ratifying Sweden’s Nato bid would “depend on the solid steps Sweden will take”, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at a news conference earlier today.
The Turkish leader, explaining the difference in Ankara’s viewpoint between Finland and Sweden’s Nato applications, claimed Stockholm had “embraced terrorism”, citing demonstrations by supporters of Kurdish militants on the streets of Stockholm.
Erdoğan said:
Such demonstrations do not take place in Finland. For that reason we had to consider (Finland) separately from Sweden.
His Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, welcomed Turkey’s decision to move on his country’s Nato bid, but also expressed solidarity with Sweden. Niinistö said:
I have a feeling that Finnish Nato membership is not complete without Sweden.
He added that he hoped to “meet the alliance of 32 members” at a Nato summit scheduled for July in Vilnius. There are currently 30 Nato member countries.
Updated
Let’s turn back to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s announcement earlier today that Turkey’s parliament will begin ratifying Finland’s Nato bid.
Both Finland and Sweden applied to join the alliance 10 months ago, and Turkey and Hungary are the only member countries that have not yet ratified the Nordic nations’ bids.
Ankara has accused Stockholm and Helsinki of being too soft on groups that it deems to be terror organistions, but expressed more reservations about Sweden.
Erdoğan, following talks with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, in Ankara, told a news conference today:
When it comes to fulfilling its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that Finland has taken authentic and concrete steps.
He added:
This sensitivity for our country’s security and, based on the progress that has been made in the protocol for Finland’s accession to Nato, we have decided to initiate the ratification process in our parliament.
Finland’s application can now go to the Turkish parliament, where Erdoğan’s party and its allies hold a majority.
Updated
Who are the Ukrainian children being taken by Russia?
What do we know about the Ukrainian children taken by Russia?
The court’s pre-trial judges said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population, and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children”. The judges said they had chosen to unseal the names of the suspects in an effort to prevent further crimes.
Reports first emerged last spring that Ukrainian children in occupied territory were being taken to Russia, and were even being adopted by Russian families. Russia has presented its actions as a humanitarian mission to save Ukrainian children from the war, but Ukraine has accused Russia of genocide and described its actions as a war crime.
Who are the children involved?
The alleged abductees include children taken from Ukrainian state institutions in the occupied areas, children whose parents had sent them to Russian-run “summer camps” from which they never returned, children whose parents were arrested by the Russian occupying authorities, and children who were orphaned by the fighting.
Where are the children from?
The vast majority of Ukrainian children taken by Russia are from occupied regions of southern and eastern Ukraine: Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as a small area of Mykolaiv.
How many children have been taken?
Russia has admitted to holding at least 1,400 Ukrainian children it describes as orphans, though it said at least 2,000 had travelled to Russia unaccompanied. In addition, several hundred children from the occupied territories remain in Russia after they attended “re-education” camps with the consent of their parents, but were then not returned.
Updated
Russian officials have already begun to portray the ICC’s arrest warrant in a similar way to the sanctions levelled against Russia, as an argument that the country is under siege from western powers.
They are once again seeking a “rally-round-the-flag” effect, this time around the Russian president, by encouraging a siege mentality.
“Washington and Brussels have exhausted all possible sanctions and unfriendly actions,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, the chair of Russia’s State Duma and a prominent hawk. “They have not managed to break the citizens of the Russian Federation or destroy the economy of our country.”
“Washington and Brussels now understand: if there is Putin, there is Russia,” he continued.
So they are attacking him. Putin’s strength is in the support of the people and the consolidation of society around him.
“Any attack on the Russian president we see as aggression against our country,” he said.
Updated
The international criminal court’s arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin will probably be portrayed as a point of no return in Russia, where the Kremlin will spin the court’s decision as proof that the west is seeking nothing short of regime change.
While Putin has already been preparing his public for a long war, the arrest warrant will for the first time raise the concrete possibility that Russia’s leaders and other prominent supporters of the war could face justice at The Hague if they ever find themselves under arrest.
While that is unlikely in the near term, Russia will probably use it to raise the stakes of the war domestically and also to argue, when it wants, that any negotiations are just a smokescreen to the ultimate goal of toppling Putin.
“The west is showing that it’s ready to go all the way,” said Vladlen Tatarsky, one of the best-known of Russia’s influential military bloggers. “They’re betting on creating a schism inside Russia that wants to remove Putin.”
But it’s us who are ready to go all the way with our president until victory, whatever that [victory] looks like. Whatever it costs. Because now there is no road back. Remember that.”
Updated
Hundreds of Ukrainian children taken from orphanages to Russia, says ICC prosecutor
Karim Khan, chief prosecutor at the international criminal court, in The Hague, said hundreds of Ukrainian children had been taken from orphanages and children’s homes to Russia.
He added:
Many of these children, we allege, have since been given up for adoption in the Russian Federation.
Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago.
Ukraine has said more than 16,000 children had been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
Updated
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia “is the start of the process of accountability. We appreciate and support ICC’s work”.
His reference to the start of a process of accountability is designed to show that the EU is not abandoning its support for a special tribunal to try the crime of aggression, a proposal supported by Ukraine since it is seen as necessary to bring the Russian leadership class as a whole to justice.
There is tension between the ICC and the Ukrainian authorities over whether this special tribunal is needed. The ICC has been trying to show there is no need for another body, and that it has the will, means and powers to tackle the Russian leadership.
Updated
The international criminal court (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin is a “wake-up call to others committing abuses or covering them up”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
HRW’s associate international justice director, Balkees Jarrah, said in a statement:
This is a big day for the many victims of crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine since 2014. With these arrest warrants, the ICC has made Putin a wanted man and taken its first step to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in Russia’s war against Ukraine for far too long.
The warrants for Putin and his children’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, “send a clear message that giving orders to commit or tolerating serious crimes against civilians may lead to a prison cell in The Hague”, the statement continues.
Updated
The senior Nato official says there is still no sign of Beijing supplying lethal aid to Moscow, but that it has not been taken off the table either.
On China - still no sign of Beijing supplying lethal aid to Moscow - but the senior Nato official warns it has not been taken off the table either. Intense western focus on this, not surprisingly
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) March 17, 2023
Russia is sustaining up to 1,500 casualties a day in its current offensive, mostly in the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to a senior Nato official.
Ukraine is taking “an order of magnitude less” in fighting where “several thousand” shells a day have been fired by both sides, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
The official added that it was unclear how long the battle for Bakhmut will go on. Grim, intense fighting is taking place at the city’s frontline, running along the river, which has become a “killing zone”, they said.
Although Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure was outpacing western production, the official said there were no signs that Ukrainian forces were losing the city.
Russia is sustaining "1200, 1300 even 1500" casualties a day in its current offensive, mostly in Bakhmut. Killed to wounded ratio is one to three - senior Nato official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) March 17, 2023
Ukraine is taking "an order of magnitude less" - no figure given - in fighting where "several thousand" shells a day have been consumed on both sides
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) March 17, 2023
Unclear how long the battle for Bakhmut will continue. Front line in the city runs along the river which has become a "killing zone". Grim, intense fighting although signs shelling slightly abating
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) March 17, 2023
Updated
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, writes that the ICC’s decision is a “step closer to judgment day”.
The court’s arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin sends outs a “historic signal: all atrocities against Ukraine stem from criminal policy of Russian leaders”, Kallas tweeted.
She added:
Reminder that no-one is immune, not even heads of state. Russian regime will be held accountable.
Step closer to judgement day.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) March 17, 2023
With first warrant of arrest for #Putin, #ICC sends out historic signal: all atrocities against Ukraine stem from criminal policy of Russian leaders.
Reminder that no-one is immune, not even heads of state. Russian regime will be held accountable. https://t.co/WWddPzuNfd
The Kremlin has also responded to the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin, saying it did not recognise the court’s jurisdiction.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia found the very questions raised by the ICC “outrageous and unacceptable”.
Any decisions of the court were “null and void” with respect to Russia, he said.
Asked if the Russian president now feared travelling to countries that recognised the ICC, Peskov said:
I have nothing to add on this subject. That’s all we want to say.
Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, has responded to the news that the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for her for the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine.
Lvova-Belova, speaking to Russia state-run RIA new agency, said:
It’s great that the international community has appreciated this work to help the children of our country: that we don’t leave them in war zones, that we take them out, that we create good conditions for them, that we surround them with loving, caring people.
Putin's 'travel options have become extremely limited'
Sources at the international criminal court said they thought it was now “very unlikely” that Vladimir Putin would travel to any country currently supporting Ukraine. If he did so he risked arrest, they pointed out.
They said it was possible Putin would still fly to China which is not a signatory to the Rome statute, the treaty which obliges governments to enforce ICC warrants.
“The Russia president’s travel options have become extremely limited,” a source said.
Updated
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has welcomed Turkey’s decision to move forward with ratifying Finland’s Nato application.
In a statement, Wallace said he would be “working closely with Turkey to ensure Sweden is also acceptable as soon as possible”.
The UK “will stand shoulder to shoulder with Sweden against any Russian intimidation”, he added.
Turkey 🇹🇷 has announced today they will ratify Finland’s 🇫🇮 accession to NATO.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 17, 2023
Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP has welcomed the announcement.
⬇️ pic.twitter.com/A9wRcRku6i
Updated
Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, says “the world has changed” after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.
The ICC’s decision is “the beginning of [Russia’s] end in its current form on the world stage,” Podolyak writes on Twitter, adding:
Just wait.
The world changed. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for "strategist" Putin. It's a clear signal to RU elites of what will happen to them & why it won’t be "as before". It's the beginning of RF’s end in its current form on the world stage. It's a clear legal procedure. Just wait.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 17, 2023
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The international criminal court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Putin’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, after their judges assessed there were “reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children”.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the ICC arrest warrant for Putin was “meaningless”. “Russia is not a party to the Rome statute of the international criminal court and bears no obligations under it,” she said. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s office of the president, said the ICC’s arrest warrant was “just the beginning”.
Slovakia will donate 13 MiG-29 warplanes to Ukraine, its prime minister has said. Slovakia’s prime minister, Eduard Heger, told a news conference on Friday that his government was “on the right side of history” as Slovakia became the second Nato member to announce such a shipment in 24 hours, after a similar move by Poland. The Kremlin said the promised planes were another example of Nato members “raising the level of their direct involvement in the conflict”, adding that “all this equipment will be subject to destruction”.
Denmark was “open” to the idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine to help its war effort against the Russian invasion, the Danish defence minister said on Friday, according to the state broadcaster DR. “I won’t rule out that at some point it may be necessary to look at the contribution of fighter jets,” the acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said.
China’s president is to visit Russia next week in an apparent show of support for Vladimir Putin, the Chinese foreign ministry has said. During the visit, scheduled for 20-22 March, the two leaders will sign “important” bilateral documents and discuss issues of further development of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between Russia and China.
Britain has called on China to use President Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow next week to encourage Vladimir Putin to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine. “If China wants to play a genuine role in restoring sovereignty to Ukraine, then we would obviously welcome that,” a spokesperson for Rishi Sunak said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Turkey would start the process of ratifying Finland’s Nato membership bid in parliament after the country took concrete steps to keep its promises. In a news conference on Friday with his Finnish counterpart, Erdoğan said Turkey would continue discussions with Sweden on terrorism-related issues and that Sweden’s Nato membership bid would depend directly on measures taken.
Hungary’s parliament is expected to vote on the ratification of Finland and Sweden’s membership of Nato on 31 March. Turkey and Hungary are the only two countries yet to ratify their attempts to join the alliance.
Talks are in progress on the renewal of an agreement allowing the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the UN’s office in Geneva has said. The Black Sea grain initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the UN and Turkey last July, is due to expire on Saturday. The UN, Ukraine and Turkey have called for a 120-day rollover of the agreement. Russia, however, has said the deal should be renewed for only 60 days.
Russia’s defence secretary, Sergei Shoigu, has presented state awards to the pilots of the Su-27 planes involved in the drone incident over the Black Sea for “preventing the violation of the borders of the special operation area by the American MQ-9 Reaper drone”.
Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, has said she sees no danger of war in her countries while Ukraine continues to hold out against Russia. “The Russian army cannot get here while Ukraine holds out – and [therefore] protects Moldova,” Sandu said in an address to the Moldovan parliament.
Kyiv’s wartime curfew will be reduced by an hour to boost business. The head of Kyiv city administration, Serhiy Popko, said that the new curfew period – starting at midnight instead of 11pm – would increase the time for public transport and that reducing its duration “should help reduce social tension, increase production, create new jobs”.
Germany’s fencing federation has cancelled a women’s foil world cup event after the sport’s global governing body (FIE) reversed a ban on athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus. More than 60% of countries voted to allow Russians and Belarusians to resume competing in FIE events at last week’s extraordinary congress.
Good afternoon from London, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still here with all the latest from Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Russia says ICC arrest warrant against Putin is 'meaningless'
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has responded to the international criminal court’s arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin.
Zakharova said:
The decisions of the international criminal court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view.
Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the international criminal court and bears no obligations under it.
Updated
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, writes that the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin is “just the beginning”.
The international criminal court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 17, 2023
It's just the beginning.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has responded to the international criminal court’s (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
“Wheels of justice are turning,” Kuleba writes on Twitter, adding that he “applaud(s)” the ICC’s decision.
International criminals will be held accountable for stealing children and other international crimes.
Wheels of Justice are turning: I applaud the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over forcible transfer of Ukrainian children. International criminals will be held accountable for stealing children and other international crimes.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 17, 2023
Updated
ICC accuses Putin of 'unlawful deportation of population'
The international criminal court (ICC) statement goes on to say that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, bear responsibility for:
The war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.
Updated
International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Putin
The international criminal court (ICC) has issued warrants of arrest for President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
In a statement, the ICC said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that the Russian leader “bears criminal responsibility” for the “war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation” in Ukrainian occupied territory.
It writes that there are also “reasonable grounds” to believe that Lvova-Belova “bears individual criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”.
Updated
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass is reporting that Russia and China hope to sign as many as 12 joint documents during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow next week, with two planned to be directly signed by Xi and President Vladimir Putin.
It reports:
“The signing of joint documents will take place, the leaders will directly sign the two main documents of this visit: a joint statement by the Russian Federation and China on deepening relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction entering a new era – such a joint declaration, it is already in a high degree of elaboration, separate words are being agreed upon,” said assistant to the head of the Russian state, Yuri Ushakov. He specified that the second document to be signed by Putin and Xi Jinping is a joint statement on a plan to develop key areas of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation until 2030.
“In addition to these two documents, there are still many documents under development on completely different areas of cooperation – more than 10 documents, they are in varying degrees of readiness and will be signed, as they say, on the sidelines of the visit,” Ushakov specified.
Updated
Erdoğan: Turkey aiming to ratify Finland's Nato membership before May elections
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that Turkey will start the process of ratifying Finland’s Nato membership bid in parliament after the country took concrete steps to keep its promises.
In a news conference with his Finnish counterpart, Erdoğan said Turkey will continue discussions with Sweden on terrorism-related issues and that Sweden’s Nato membership bid would depend directly on measures taken.
Reuters report Erdoğan said he had given a list to Sweden of “120 terrorist” which they were to repatriate to Turkey, and they had failed to do so.
Sauli Niinistö, Finland’s president, said that it had understood earlier that Turkey would approve Finland’s bid and “this is important for Finland”. But he also said “Finnish membership of Nato is not complete without Sweden.”
Erdoğan said he hoped the process would be complete before May’s elections.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, is carrying a report on its Telegram channel that civilians are being evacuated from Bakhmut, the key frontline battleground. It posted:
In Bakhmut, local residents are being evacuated by the Ukrainian military. It is impossible to bring humanitarian aid to the city, deputy mayor of Bakhmut Oleksandr Marchenko told Suspilne.
Previously Ukrainian authorities have said only about 4,000 civilians out of an estimated prewar population of 70,000 remain in the settlement.
The claim has not been independently verified.
Updated
A quick snap from Reuters here that Hungary’s parliament is expected to vote on the ratification of Finland and Sweden’s membership of Nato on 31 March.
Turkey and Hungary are the only two countries yet to ratify their attempts to join the alliance.
Updated
With the anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea approaching, Vladimir Putin is today chairing a meeting on the development of Crimea, a recording of which is being broadcast. We’ll bring you any key lines that emerge.
Russia claimed to annex Crimea in 2014, in a move not widely recognised, and which led to Russia’s expulsion from the G8.
Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, has said she sees no danger of war in her countries while Ukraine continues to hold out against Russia.
Sandu, in an address to the Moldovan parliament on Friday, said:
There is no danger of war coming to Moldova while Ukraine is fighting. I want to reassure our citizens that Moldova is not now in any danger of war. The Russian army cannot get here while Ukraine holds out – and (thus) protects Moldova. We are grateful to Ukrainians for their bravery and love of freedom.
She repeated accusations, denied by Moscow, that Russia has been plotting to destabilise Moldova.
Sandu, whose country borders Ukraine, has repeatedly expressed concern about Moscow’s intentions towards her country and about the presence of Russian troops in Transnistria.
Russian troops would continue trying to destabilise her country “from within”, she said on Friday, praising Moldova’s law enforcement agencies for blocking attempts to sow chaos.
She added:
As long as I am president, Moldova will hold out.
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Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, has arrived in Ankara to meet his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, raising hopes that the talks will pave the way for Turkey’s approval of Finland’s Nato membership application.
President of Türkiye @RTErdogan welcomed President @Niinisto to Ankara. Following their discussions, the Presidents will hold a joint press conference. Follow the live stream starting at approximately 4.45 PM local time: https://t.co/GQ7LQi7d7n pic.twitter.com/4CMa9cExFi
— TPKanslia (@TPKanslia) March 17, 2023
The pair are scheduled to hold talks and have a working dinner before a joint news conference later today.
Finland and Sweden applied for Nato membership in May last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of nonalignment.
Their applications were accepted at a Nato summit last June but required ratification by all 30 member countries’ parliaments. The accession process has been held up by Turkey and Hungary, the only two countries not to have yet ratified the Nordic states’ applications.
Niinistö has said he believed Erdoğan would announce his decision concerning Finland’s Nato application when the two meet. Before leaving Helsinki, he said Turkish officials had requested his presence in Ankara to announce Turkey’s decision.
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Kyiv’s wartime curfew will be reduced by an hour to boost business, the administration of the Ukrainian capital announced on Friday.
Since Russia launched its invasion last February, the residents of Kyiv and all other cities across Ukraine have been subject to regionally imposed curfews for security reasons. Night revellers have to scarper home or face questioning, fines and even conscription by the police and soldiers who patrol the streets at night.
The head of Kyiv city administration, Serhiy Popko, said that the new curfew period – starting at midnight instead of 11pm – would increase time for public transport, and that reducing its duration “should help reduce social tension, increase production, create new jobs”.
The restaurants, clubs and bars that reopened after the invasion were forced to bring forward their closing times to between 8pm and 9.30pm to allow employees to get home. Kyiv’s clubs started holding weekend daytime events, which start at 5pm on Fridays and 11am on Saturdays and Sundays, with large chunks of the profits donated to the army.
Last orders will soon be at about 10pm with closing time at 10.30pm-11pm, in another step towards the city returning to its new normal after being surrounded by Russian forces for five weeks last spring.
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While we’re on the subject of Xi Jinping’s state visit to Moscow, a Kremlin adviser has said the Chinese and Russian leaders will discuss the Ukraine conflict at next week’s meeting.
Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to the Kremlin, also said Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, will take part in talks with Xi and that “military-technical cooperation” would be discussed during the visit, the state-owned Ria news agency is reporting.
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Britain has called on China to use President Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow next week to encourage Vladimir Putin to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.
The Kremlin and China’s foreign ministry have confirmed the Chinese leader’s official visit, scheduled for 20-22 March, which Russia said was “at the invitation of Vladimir Putin”.
It will be the first time Xi has visited Putin, the man who he has previously described as his “best friend”, since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
A spokesperson for the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, told reporters:
If China wants to play a genuine role in restoring sovereignty to Ukraine, then we would obviously welcome that.
They added:
We’re clear that any peace deal which is not predicated on Ukraine’s sovereignty and self determination is not a peace deal at all. So we will continue to call on China, as we have done before, to join other countries across the world in calling on Putin to withdraw his troops.
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Talks are ongoing on the renewal of an agreement allowing the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the UN’s office in Geneva has said.
The Black Sea grain initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the UN and Turkey last July, is due to expire tomorrow.
The UN, Ukraine and Turkey have called for a 120-day rollover of the agreement. Russia, however, has said the deal should be renewed for only 60 days.
While Moscow has not specifically said why it only wants a 60-day renewal, it has complained that its own food and fertiliser exports are being hindered by western sanctions.
Ukraine has so far exported nearly 25m tonnes of mainly corn and wheat under the deal, according to the UN. The top primary destinations for shipments have been China, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Kremlin says it will destroy all fighter jets sent to Ukraine
The Kremlin has also responded to pledges from Nato members Poland and Slovakia to send MiG-29 jets to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, speaking to reporters during a briefing today, said the promised planes were another example of Nato members “raising the level of their direct involvement in the conflict”.
He said:
In the course of the special military operation all this equipment will be subject to destruction.
And added:
It feels like all of these countries are thus engaged in the disposal of old unnecessary equipment.
Russia has accused the west of directly participating in the conflict by supplying weapons to Kyiv, and has previously warned that Nato weapons were legitimate targets for its forces.
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Ukrainian MPs have been reacting to Slovakian prime minister Eduard Heger’s announcement that it plans to give Ukraine its fleet of 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets.
Kira Rudik tweets her thanks to Slovakia, as well as to Poland which announced yesterday it would send Ukraine four MiG-29 fighter jets in the coming days.
“Who is next?” She writes.
After #Poland, #Slovakia approved sending fighter jets to Ukraine. Thank you! 👏
— Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) March 17, 2023
Who is next? 😎
Inna Sovsun directs her requests for fighter jets to the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Britain, Germany, Finland and the US.
🇸🇰Slovakia will supply 13 MiG-29 fighters to #Ukraine. This is in addition to 4 MiG-29 that Poland announced yesterday.
— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) March 17, 2023
Dear Dutch, Swedes, French, British, Germans, Finns, Americans, what about you?
F-16, F/A-18, Eurofighter, JAS39, Rafale and Tornado would help us win faster!
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here taking over the live blog from Martin Belam. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Slovakia’s government on Friday approved a plan to give Ukraine its fleet of 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, becoming the second NATO member country to heed the Ukrainian government’s pleas for warplanes to help defend against Russia’s invasion. Prime minister Eduard Heger told a news conference that his government is “on the right side of history.” Earlier, Heger tweeted that military aid was key to ensuring Ukraine can defend itself and all of Europe against Russia. Slovakia grounded its Mig-29s in the summer due to a lack of spare parts and expertise to help maintain them after Russian technicians returned home. Ukraine’s air force continues to use Mig-29s.
Denmark was “open” to the idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine to help its war effort against the Russian invasion, the Danish defence minister said on Friday, according to the state broadcaster DR. “I won’t rule out that at some point it may be necessary to look at the contribution of fighter jets,” the acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said.
The Kremlin said that fighter planes supplied to Kyiv will be destroyed and will not change the course of the war.
Russia’s defence secretary, Sergei Shoigu, has presented state awards to the pilots of the Su-27 planes involved in the drone incident over the Black Sea for “preventing the violation of the borders of the special operation area by the American MQ-9 Reaper drone”.
China and Russia have confirmed that China’s president Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Russia on 20-22 March. “During the talks, they will discuss topical issues of further development of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic cooperation between Russia and China,” the Kremlin said. China’s foreign ministry said Xi would be exchanging opinions on international and regional issues with Vladimir Putin, and the objective of the visit was to deepen bilateral trust.
The White House said Thursday that talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and China’s president would be a “good thing,” but warned Beijing against taking a “one-sided” view of the conflict. There has been no confirmation of a call to Zelenskiy by Xi. However, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba talked by phone Thursday.
The United Nations office in Geneva said on Friday that discussions on the renewal of a deal allowing the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports were ongoing. The Kremlin on Friday said Russia was extending the Black Sea grain deal for 60 days, echoing previous statements by the foreign ministry. Ukraine has said the deal, which expires Sunday, must be rolled over in full under the existing terms, which provide for a 120-day extension minimum.
Germany’s fencing federation has cancelled a women’s foil World Cup event after the sport’s global governing body (FIE) reversed a ban on athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus.
Slovakia becomes second Nato member to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine
Slovakia’s government on Friday approved a plan to give Ukraine its fleet of 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, becoming the second Nato member country to heed the Ukrainian government’s pleas for warplanes to help defend against Russia’s invasion.
Associated Press has more details on the announcement by the prime minister, Eduard Heger, who told a news conference that his government was “on the right side of history”. Earlier, Heger tweeted that military aid was key to ensuring Ukraine can defend itself and all of Europe against Russia.
The defence minister, Jaroslav Nad, said Slovakia would receive €200m (£175m) from the EU as compensation and unspecified arms from the US worth €700m.
Slovakia grounded its Migs in the summer because of a lack of spare parts and expertise to help maintain them after Russian technicians returned home. Ukraine’s air force continues to use Mig-29s.
In light of the absence of its own aircraft, Slovakia’s fellow Nato members Poland and the Czech Republic have stepped up to monitor Slovak airspace, with Hungary to join later this year.
Updated
The UN office in Geneva said on Friday that discussions on the renewal of a deal allowing the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports were ongoing, Reuters reports.
The Black Sea grain initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the UN and Turkey last July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain blockaded by Russia’s invasion to be safely exported from three Ukrainian ports. The pact expires on Saturday.
Russia has repeatedly said – including again this morning – that it will renew the deal but only for a period of 60 days. Russia argues that the deal has not delivered exports for Russian agricultural produce, which are still subject to western sanctions.
Ukraine says the terms of the original deal state that the minimum renewal period is 120 days. Ukrainian officials had previously expressed the hope that the agreement could be extended for a year, and expanded to include the port of Mykolaiv.
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The Kremlin’s press briefing this morning has produced several key lines beyond the announcement that Russia continues to insist it will only extend the grain deal for 60 days. Reuters report the Kremlin also said:
Fighter planes supplied to Kyiv will be destroyed and will not change the course of the war. This week Slovakia and Poland have promised Ukraine Soviet-era Mig-29 fighters.
The Kremlin said Kyiv’s attacks on the Orthodox Church illustrated why the “special military operation” was necessary. Special military operation is Russia’s preferred term for the invasion of Ukraine.
More details were revealed on the planned visit of China’s president Xi Jinping. He will meet Putin on the Monday, there will be negotiations on the Tuesday, and the visit will end with a joint press briefing.
Kremlin insists it is only renewing Black Sea grain deal for 60 days
The Kremlin on Friday said Russia was extending the Black Sea grain deal for 60 days, echoing previous statements by the foreign ministry, Reuters reports.
Ukraine has said the deal, which expires shortly, must be rolled over in full under the existing terms, which provide for a 120-day extension minimum.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has tweeted that Russia has struck Avdiivka four times but with no casualties.
Russians carried out 4 airstrikes on Avdiivka. There are no victims.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 17, 2023
Barrages of the city take place around the clock.
The fighting for Avdiivka continues. pic.twitter.com/0qokR0pwEs
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Slovakia approves sending Mig-29 planes to Ukraine
The Slovak government approved sending Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, prime minister Eduard Heger said on Friday, stepping up its military assistance to Kyiv.
Reuters reports the fleet of 11 MiG-29 planes was retired last summer, and most of them are not in operational condition.
More details soon …
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Chasiv Yar, near the battle for Bakhmut.
Russia presents awards to Su-27 pilots over Black Sea drone incident
The state-owned Russian news agency RIA is reporting that Russia’s defence secretary, Sergei Shoigu, has presented state awards to the pilots of the Su-27 planes involved in the drone incident over the Black Sea for “preventing the violation of the borders of the special operation area by the American MQ-9 Reaper drone”.
More details soon …
Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine have announced that 38 prisoners of war, who were part of an exchange on 7 March, are being returned to the region.
The state-owned news agency Tass quotes Victoria Serdyukova saying: “After the initial examination of doctors and the provision of emergency medical care to them, accompanied by my representatives, 38 servicemen return home, most of whom were returned as a result of an exchange with the Ukrainian side that took place on 7 March 2023. Very soon they will meet with their relatives.”
Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed acting head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, which Russia claims to have annexed, posted a video of some of the returnees on his Telegram channel, and said: “Missing their native lands, tired, but happy. They say that at home, after long months of captivity, the highest reward awaits – the hugs of loved ones. Congratulations to the boys and their families on their return.”
Updated
China has also commented on President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to Russia. Reuters reports that the spokesperson Wang Wenbin, at a regular news briefing, said the objective of the visit was to deepen bilateral trust.
China’s foreign ministry said Xi would be exchanging opinions on international and regional issues with Vladimir Putin during his visit.
Xi will visit Russia from 20-22 March, the Chinese foreign ministry and the Kremlin announced earlier.
Updated
Germany’s fencing federation has cancelled a women’s foil World Cup event after the sport’s global governing body (FIE) reversed a ban on athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus.
More than 60% of countries voted to allow Russians and Belarusians to resume competing in FIE events at last week’s extraordinary congress.
Reuters reports that the German federation (DFB) president, Claudia Bokel, a team epee silver medallist at the 2004 Olympics, said the decision had triggered heated discussions.
“Our solidarity goes to the people of Ukraine who are suffering from the war of aggression,” Bokel said. “The German fencing federation accepts last Friday’s decision.
“We now want to give a clear signal that we would have liked a different result and that we still see a large number of open implementation questions from the world federation, which make it impossible to carry out the tournament.”
The competition was scheduled for 5-7 May in Tauberbischofsheim. Fencing’s qualifying process for next year’s Paris Olympics is due to begin in April.
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Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that in the last 24 hours Russian forces have shelled 13 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region. The claim has not been independently verified.
Zaporizhzhia is one of the partially occupied regions of Ukraine that the Russian Federation claims to have annexed.
Kremlin confirms Xi Jinping state visit on 20-22 March
China’s president, Xi Jinping, will be in Russia from 20-22 March for a state visit, the Kremlin has said on Friday.
“During the talks, they will discuss topical issues of further development of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic cooperation between Russia and China,” the Kremlin said.
“A number of important bilateral documents will be signed,” Reuters reports it added.
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White House says talks between Zelenskiy and Xi would be a 'good thing'
The White House said Thursday that talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese leader Xi Jinping would be a “good thing,” but warned Beijing against taking a “one-sided” view of the conflict.
“We think it would be a very good thing if the two of them talk,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters when asked about a Wall Street Journal report that the Ukrainian leader is set to talk with Xi for the first time since Chinese-ally Russia invaded.
“We support and have supported” contact, Kirby said. But he cautioned against a Chinese push for a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying it would simply help Russian aggression.
There has been no confirmation of a call to Zelensky by Xi. However, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba talked by phone Thursday.
Xi is also reported to be preparing a trip to Moscow to speak with his ally President Vladimir Putin.
Kirby said the United States has not confirmed that a Putin-Xi summit will take place but urged Beijing to avoid seeking a resolution to the war that would “reflect only the Russian perspective.”
He said China’s highlighting of the need for a ceasefire “sounds perfectly reasonable,” but would effectively “ratify Russia’s conquest.”
“It would, in effect, recognize Russia’s gains” and “constitute another, continued violation of the UN Charter,” he said.
Russian forces occupying swaths of Ukraine are currently under intense pressure from Western-armed Ukrainian troops.
A ceasefire would allow Moscow to “further entrench its positions in Ukraine, to rebuild their forces... and retrain them so that they can restart attacks at a time of their choosing,” Kirby said.
A durable peace “can’t be one-sided and it has to absolutely include and be informed by Ukrainian perspectives and Ukrainian decisions,” he said.
Denmark says allies are ‘discussing’ whether to send aircraft
Western countries are debating whether to send fighter jets to Ukraine, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, told Danish TV2 on Thursday.
“This is something we’re discussing in the group of allied countries. It’s a big wish from Ukraine,” she said.
Denmark was “open” to the idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine to help its war effort against the Russian invasion, the Danish defence minister said on Friday, according to the state broadcaster DR.
“I won’t rule out that at some point it may be necessary to look at the contribution of fighter jets,” the acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said.
The Danish air force has purchased 77 F-16 jets since the 1970s, according to the armed forces. Approximately 30 of them are in operation, according to local media reports.
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US and Germany say there are no plans to send fighter jets yet
Poland’s president said Thursday that his country plans to give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, which would make it the first Nato member to fulfill the Ukrainian government’s increasingly urgent requests for warplanes.
President Andrzej Duda said Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made warplanes “within the next few days” and that the rest needed servicing and would be supplied later. The Polish word he used to describe the total number can mean between 11 and 19.
Poland was also the first Nato nation to provide Ukraine with German-made Leopard 2 tanks. On Wednesday, Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller said some other countries also had pledged MiGs to Kyiv, but did not name them. Both Poland and Slovakia had indicated they were ready to hand over their planes, but only as part of a wider international coalition doing the same.
Germany appeared caught off guard by Duda’s announcement.
“So far, everyone has agreed that it’s not the time to send fighter jets,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters. “I don’t have any confirmation from Poland yet that this has happened.”
The White House called Poland’s providing Ukraine fighter jets a sovereign decision and lauded the Poles for continuing to “punch above their weight” in assisting Kyiv.
But the US administration stressed that Poland’s move would have no bearing on President Joe Biden, who has resisted calls to provide US F-16s to Ukraine.
“There’s no change in our view with respect to fighter aircraft at this time,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “That is our sovereign decision. That is where we are, other nations can speak to their own” decisions.
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Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next while.
Our top story this morning: Poland’s announcement that it will be sending four warplanes to Ukraine in the coming days, making it the first country to do so, puts pressure on the allies to supply Ukraine with fighter jets. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV2 on Thursday that western nations are debating whether to send fighter jets to Ukraine. But German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, “So far, everyone has agreed that it’s not the time to send fighter jets,”.
Poland’s decision to give Ukraine the MiG-29 fighter jets was a “sovereign decision”, the White House said, and would not prompt Joe Biden to supply Kyiv with American F-16 aircraft.
Poland was the first NATO nation to provide Ukraine with German-made Leopard 2 tanks.
We’ll have more on this shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:
Russia has committed a wide-range of war crimes in Ukraine including wilful killings, systematic torture and the deportation of children, according to a report from a UN-backed inquiry published on Thursday. The report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine was released a year to the day after the Russian bombing of a theatre in Ukraine’s south-eastern city of Mariupol which killed hundreds of people. Its head said the team was following the evidence and that there were “some aspects which may raise questions” about possible genocide. Russia dismissed the report.
The Pentagon released a video showing the moments before a Russian fighter crashed into a US Reaper drone after spraying it with jet fuel on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea. The declassified footage shows an Su-27 Flanker jet making two exceptionally close passes of the un-crewed drone, spraying fuel in front of it, a harassment tactic that US experts say has not been seen before.
The Kremlin said a decision on whether to retrieve the downed US Reaper drone from the Black Sea would come from the Russian military. “If they deem it necessary to do that in the Black Sea for our interests and for our security, they will deal with that,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader in occupied Donetsk, told state-owned news agency Tass that he did not see any signs Ukraine was withdrawing from Bakhmut. He is quoted as saying on Thursday: “In Bakhmut, the situation remains complicated, difficult – that is, we do not see that there are any prerequisites there that the enemy is going to simply withdraw units.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he and senior Chinese diplomat Qin Gang had discussed the “significance of the principle of territorial integrity” during a phone call today. “I underscored the importance of [Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s] peace formula for ending the aggression and restoring just peace in Ukraine,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Qin told Kuleba that China “hopes that all parties will remain calm, rational and restrained, and resume peace talks as soon as possible”, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is expected to visit the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow as soon as next week, and to subsequently hold a virtual meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Polish authorities say they have detained nine members of a Russian spy ring who they say were gathering intelligence on weapons supplies to Ukraine and making plans to sabotage the deliveries. Six people have been charged with preparing acts of sabotage and espionage, and charges are being prepared against the other three.
The UN called for a 120-day renewal of a deal allowing the safe export of grain shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports ahead of a deadline later this week. In response to remarks by UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the deal “is being extended for 60 days”.
Vladimir Putin has told his country’s leading billionaires that Russia is facing a “sanctions war”. In an address to Russia’s business elite, the president urged them to invest in new technology, production facilities and enterprises to help Russia overcome what he said were western attempts to destroy its economy.
