Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Finland will formally be welcomed into Nato “within days” after Turkey’s ratification of the Baltic country’s accession to the western defence alliance, the Nato secretary general has announced. The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland’s membership, after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill this week. Sweden’s Nato bid faces objections from Ankara over claims it is harbouring what it considers members of terrorist groups.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, has said he has intensified talks with Russia about deploying tactical nuclear weapons in his country, alleging there were plans to invade Belarus from neighbouring Poland. Belarus had deployed a special forces contingent to its southern border with Ukraine “to prevent provocations”, he added.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said “severe violations” of human rights and international humanitarian law have become “shockingly routine” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine was far higher than official figures show, Türk said in an address to the UN’s human rights council in Geneva, where he said Ukraine was a nation “struggling to survive” in the face of Russia’s invasion.
The White House says it has new evidence that Russia is looking again to North Korea for weapons and munitions to fuel the war in Ukraine. “We also understand that Russia is seeking to send a delegation to North Korea and that Russia is offering North Korea food in exchange for munitions,” the White House national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Thursday.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has encouraged the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to speak to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and learn first-hand Ukraine’s peace formula to help end Russia’s invasion. Sanchez, speaking at a news conference during his visit to China, said he had informed Xi that Spain supported Zelenskiy’s proposals, which include a demand to restore Ukraine’s territory to before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. A readout of the meeting from the Chinese side said Xi called for an end to a “cold war mentality” and to the pressure of “extreme” sanctions against Russia.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to call up 147,000 Russian citizens for statutory military service as part of the country’s spring conscription campaign, Russian state media reported on Thursday. The Russian leader last signed a routine conscription campaign in September, calling up 120,000 citizens for statutory service, the state-run Tass news agency said. The general staff of the armed forces of the Russian Federation stated on Friday that it was not a second wave of mobilisation.
Ukraine will never forgive the Russian troops responsible for alleged atrocities in Bucha, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, as the town near Kyiv marked the anniversary of its recapture after 33 days of occupation in 2022. The leaders of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia travelled to Ukraine on Friday to take part in commemorative events, the Croatian government said.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has rejected charges brought against President Vladimir Putin by the international criminal court (ICC) for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children. The ICC issued an arrest warrant earlier this month for Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children and their transfer from areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.
President Joe Biden has called on Russia to release Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested earlier this week on espionage charges and facing 20 years in jail. “Let him go,” said Biden, when asked about the case on Friday. Previously, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, described the espionage charges levelled against Gershkovich as “ridiculous”. The prospect of a speedy release seems increasingly unlikely, however, as Russian officials continue to speak about Gershkovich in terms suggesting his conviction is a foregone conclusion. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has said any “threats” made by the US over Gershkovich’s would reap a “whirlwind”, Russian state media reports.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will chair a UN security council meeting in April when Russia assumes the international body’s presidency, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed on Thursday. Russia’s coming UN security council presidency was “the worst joke ever for April Fool’s Day”, said Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and a “stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning”.
Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete at Wimbledon and the British grass-court tournaments this year after the All England Club (AELTC) and the LTA jointly opted to reverse their bans on players for this season’s events. Russian and Belarusian players will be required to sign neutrality agreements, which prohibit them from expressing support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, receiving funding from the Russian or Belarusian state and being sponsored by organisations funded by their governments.
Ukrainian athletes will not be allowed to take part in qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics if they have to compete against Russians, government minister Oleh Nemchinov has said. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations Tuesday for the gradual return to international competition for Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thank you for following.
Updated
US threats over arrested reporter will ‘reap whirlwind’, warns Russia
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has said any “threats” made by the US over the arrest of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich would reap a “whirlwind”, Russian state media reports.
President Joe Biden earlier called on Russia to release Gershkovich, who was arrested in Ekaterinburg on Wednesday and flown to Moscow, where a court on Thursday officially charged him with espionage and remanded him in custody until the end of May.
The Biden administration on Thursday said it was deeply concerned about Gershkovich’s arrest and strongly urged Americans to avoid travel to Russia and to leave if they were already there.
Zakharova, speaking today on Russia’s flagship Rossiya 1 channel, said Washington had made no attempt to understand what had happened to Gershkovich.
She said:
They immediately turn to threats, reprisals against Russian journalists. If this logic continues in the public space, they will reap a whirlwind.
Updated
President Joe Biden has called on Russia to release Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested earlier this week on espionage charges and facing 20 years in jail.
“Let him go,” said Biden, when asked about the case on Friday. Previously, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, described the espionage charges levelled against Gershkovich as “ridiculous”.
The prospect of a speedy release seems increasingly unlikely, however, as Russian officials continue to speak about Gershkovich in terms suggesting his conviction is a foregone conclusion.
“We are dealing with activity conducted under the cover of journalism, activity that is essentially espionage. Since he was caught red-handed, the situation is plain and simple,” said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Vladimir Putin.
Gershkovich was arrested in Ekaterinburg on Wednesday, and flown to Moscow, where a court on Thursday officially charged him with espionage and remanded him in custody until the end of May.
The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the charges against the 31-year-old reporter, and friends and colleagues of Gershkovich have described the accusations as ludicrous.
Observers have suggested two possible motives for the arrest: to stifle critical reporting on Russia even further, and to take Gershkovich “hostage” as a bargaining chip for a possible future exchange for Russian spies caught in the west. Being included in such an exchange may be Gershkovich’s best chance of a speedy release.
UN rights chief warns 8,400 civilian deaths ‘just the tip of the iceberg’
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said “severe violations” of human rights and international humanitarian law have become “shockingly routine” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine was far higher than official figures show, Türk said in an address to the UN’s human rights council in Geneva, where he said Ukraine was a nation “struggling to survive” in the face of Russia’s invasion.
People across Ukraine face “massive suffering and loss, deprivation, displacement and destruction”, he said.
The UN’s office of the high commissioner for human rights has verified more than 8,400 civilian deaths and more than 14,000 civilians wounded, but those figures “are just the tip of the iceberg”, Türk said. He added:
Most of the casualties resulted from Russian forces’ use of wide-impact explosive weaponry in residential neighbourhoods.
Updated
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, declined to comment on what Xi had told him regarding the war. Instead he said he had used the meeting to highlight Spain’s support for the peace formula proposed by Kyiv in November, which included demands to restore Ukraine’s territory to the status quo before Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
“I believe it’s a plan that lays the foundations for a durable peace in Ukraine and is perfectly aligned with the United Nations charter and its principles, which have been violated by Putin with his invasion,” Sánchez said.
I stressed the importance that Ukraine, as a free and sovereign state, should be the one to decide on the issues that affect it.
Beijing’s plans were largely dismissed by leaders in the west. When asked about China’s plan on Friday, Sánchez said he welcomed Beijing’s “complete and total rejection” of the threat and use of nuclear weapons in the conflict and its support for “territorial integrity”. He added:
I want to acknowledge the effort that the Chinese government has made to position itself on these two issues.
Updated
Finland will formally be welcomed into Nato “within days” after Turkey’s ratification of the Baltic country’s accession to the western defence alliance, the Nato secretary general has announced.
“All 30 Nato allies have now ratified the accession protocol,” Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday. “Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days.”
The move brings to an end decades of Finnish neutrality over Nato, and has been driven by concern over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares a border with Russia.
In a statement after the Turkish vote, the Finnish government said joining the alliance would strengthen the country’s security and improve stability and security in the region.
Sanna Marin, the Finnish prime minister, tweeted:
As allies, we will give and receive security. We will defend each other. Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application.
Finland’s imminent accession to Nato came as Russia said on Friday that a ceasefire in Ukraine would not enable it to achieve the goals of its “special military operation” at the moment.
The president of Moldova and the prime ministers of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia attended a ceremony along with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Bucha to mark the anniversary of its recapture after 33 days of occupation by Russian forces.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, has ruled out any ceasefire to end Russia’s war in his country that would involve Russian forces remaining in occupied parts of Ukraine.
Podolyak, posting to Twitter, said any ceasefire that would allow Russia the right to stay in occupied territories of Ukraine would be “totally inadmissible”. He added:
Ukraine has the right to move troops and equipment on its territory as it deems necessary.
Once again by points. Any ceasefire will mean RF’s right to stay in the occupied territories. This is totally inadmissible... 🇺🇦 has the right to move troops and equipment on its territory as it deems necessary. Weird "peacekeepers" look ridiculous.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 31, 2023
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has rejected charges brought against President Vladimir Putin by the international criminal court (ICC) for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant earlier this month for Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children and their transfer from areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.
It is unclear how many children have been taken from Ukraine by Russian forces. The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab published a report last month alleging that at least 6,000 children from Ukraine had been sent to Russian “re-education” camps in the past year. The ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has said his office had identified the deportation of “at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children’s care homes”.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has estimated the number of deported children at far more than 16,000. Many of these children were taken from their parents at “filtration points” as they tried to leave newly captured territory, removed from care institutions, or taken from people who were caring for them after their parents were killed in the war.
The Russian leadership has been overt about taking Ukrainian children to Russia and placing them in camps or putting them up for adoption by Russian families. Moscow says millions of people have chosen to move to Ukraine.
Ambassador Nebenzia, in an interview with Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency, said:
We are talking about evacuation from a war zone in full compliance with obligations under international humanitarian law, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Millions of people have been evacuated in this way, including children who, in the overwhelming majority of cases, arrive in Russian territory with their parents, guardians and trustees.
He accused western suggestions that such children had been adopted of being “deliberately misleading”, adding:
In reality, we are talking about temporary preliminary guardianship or temporary guardianship. The main goal is for children to be in families, not in orphanages. This form was chosen specifically taking into account the potential reunification of minors with their blood relatives, if any are found.
Updated
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has also been speaking about the role China could play in helping to end the conflict in Ukraine.
China cannot be a mediator in the war in Ukraine but could play the role of facilitator to reach a peace deal with Russia, Borrell said in a panel held in Madrid. He added:
China does not distinguish between aggressor and victim of aggression. China doesn’t call for a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
But Beijing should use its influence over Moscow to pressure for peace in Ukraine, he added.
Updated
Spanish PM urges Chinese leader to speak with Zelenskiy
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has encouraged the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to speak to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and learn first-hand Ukraine’s peace formula to help end Russia’s invasion.
Sanchez, speaking at a news conference during his visit to China, said he had informed Xi that Spain supported Zelenskiy’s proposals, which include a demand to restore Ukraine’s territory to before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
He said he “transmitted our concern” over Russia’s “illegal invasion” of Ukraine, adding that he “encouraged Xi to talk to President Zelenskiy”.
Sanchez prised two aspects of China’s own peace plan for Ukraine – “its complete and categorical rejection of not only the use but even the threat to use nuclear weapons” and its respect for territorial integrity.
A readout of the meeting from the Chinese side said Xi called for an end to a “cold war mentality” and to the pressure of “extreme” sanctions against Russia.
Xi was quoted by the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV as saying:
We hope that all parties concerned will build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture through dialogue and consultation.
Updated
'Let him go,' Joe Biden tells Russia after WSJ reporter detained
The US president, Joe Biden, has shared a message for Russia after it detained the US reporter Evan Gershkovich earlier this week:
Let him go.
The Biden administration reacted with fury to the news that Gershkovich, who works for the Wall Street Journal, was taken into custody on Wednesday during a reporting trip to Ekaterinburg, a city near the Urals region.
He has been accused of espionage charges that carry a jail sentence of up to 20 years, but Russia experts say the arrest is akin to hostage-taking, with Moscow planning to use Gershkovich as leverage in negotiations with the US.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called Russia’s upcoming presidency of the UN security council the “worst joke ever”.
From 1 April, it will be Moscow’s turn to take up the monthly presidency of the 15-member council, in line with a rotation that has been unaffected by the Ukraine war.
Kuleba said:
You cannot imagine a worse joke for April Fools’ Day … The country that systemically violated all fundamental rules of international security is presiding over a body whose only mission is to safeguard and protect international security.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 3.30pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Turkey’s parliament has approved a bill to allow Finland to join Nato, clearing the way for Helsinki to join the western defence alliance. The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland’s membership, after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill this week. Sweden’s Nato bid faces objections from Ankara over claims it is harbouring what it considers members of terrorist groups.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, has said he has intensified talks with Russia about deploying tactical nuclear weapons in his country, alleging there were plans to invade Belarus from neighbouring Poland. Belarus had deployed a special forces contingent to its southern border with Ukraine “to prevent provocations”, he added.
Russian troops attacked Ukraine with ten “Shahed” kamikaze drones overnight, according to Ukraine’s state broadcaster in its morning update on Friday. “Nine S-300 missiles were fired at Kharkiv: civil infrastructure and residential buildings were damaged, three people were slightly injured,” it said.
The White House says it has new evidence that Russia is looking again to North Korea for weapons and munitions to fuel the war in Ukraine. “We also understand that Russia is seeking to send a delegation to North Korea and that Russia is offering North Korea food in exchange for munitions,” White House national security council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to call up 147,000 Russian citizens for statutory military service as part of the country’s spring conscription campaign, Russian state media reported on Thursday. The Russian leader last signed a routine conscription campaign in September, calling up 120,000 citizens for statutory service, the state-run Tass news agency said. The general staff of the armed forces of the Russian Federation stated on Friday that it was not a second wave of mobilisation.
Ukraine will never forgive the Russian troops responsible for alleged atrocities in Bucha, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, as the town near Kyiv marked the anniversary of its recapture following 33 days of occupation in 2022. The leaders of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia travelled to Ukraine on Friday to take part in commemorative events, the Croatian government said.
Russian authorities have arrested a US journalist working in the country and accused him of espionage, a charge that could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Evan Gershkovich, a well-respected reporter from the Wall Street Journal, was detained on Wednesday during a reporting trip to the Urals city of Ekaterinburg. All accredited foreign journalists can continue to work in Russia, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will chair a UN security council meeting in April when Russia assumes the international body’s presidency, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed on Thursday. Russia’s coming UN security council presidency was “the worst joke ever for April Fool’s Day”, said Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and a “stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning”.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said Moscow will continue to give the US advance notice about its missile tests despite suspending participation in the New Start nuclear arms treaty, reversing a statement he made on Wednesday. The White House said on Tuesday that the US had told Russia it would cease exchanging certain data on its nuclear forces after Moscow’s refusal to do so.
Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete at Wimbledon and the British grass-court tournaments this year after the All England Club (AELTC) and the LTA jointly opted to reverse their bans on players for this season’s events. Russian and Belarusian players will be required to sign neutrality agreements, which prohibit them from expressing support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, receiving funding from the Russian or Belarusian state and being sponsored by organisations funded by their governments.
Ukrainian athletes will not be allowed to take part in qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics if they have to compete against Russians, government minister Oleh Nemchinov has said. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations Tuesday for the gradual return to international competition for Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals.
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here in London. I’m taking over from Tobi Thomas to bring you all the latest news from the war in Ukraine for the rest of the day. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, said on Friday that he had intensified talks with Russia about deploying tactical nuclear weapons in his country, alleging there were plans to invade Belarus from neighbouring Poland.
Reuters reports:
Speaking at an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, Lukashenko said Moscow’s plans to station nuclear arms in Belarus would help “safeguard” the country, which he said was under threat from the west.
“Take my word for it, I have never deceived you. They are preparing to invade Belarus, to destroy our country,” he told the audience.
Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its first deployment of nuclear armaments outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Lukashenko went further, saying he and the Russian president could decide if necessary to deploy strategic nuclear weapons - more powerful systems that can destroy whole cities from a range of thousands of miles - on Belarusian soil.
Belarus said this week that the Russian tactical nuclear weapons would offer protection after what it called a campaign of pressure from the United States and its allies aimed at overthrowing Lukashenko, who has been in power for nearly three decades.
“I am not trying to intimidate or blackmail anyone. I want to safeguard the Belarusian state and ensure peace to the Belarusian people,” Lukashenko said.
US president, Joe Biden, said on Tuesday he was concerned about the possibility Russia would send tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, calling the move “worrisome”.
Updated
Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete at Wimbledon and the British grass-court tournaments this year after the All England Club and the LTA jointly opted to reverse their bans on players for this season’s events.
After being banned from competing at all British tour-level events last year, this year Russian and Belarusian players will be required to sign neutrality agreements, which prohibit them from expressing support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, receiving funding from the Russian or Belarusian state and being sponsored by organisations funded by their governments. Players will not be required to express criticism of their governments.
“Our current intention is to accept entries from Russian and Belarusian players subject to them competing as ‘neutral’ athletes and complying with appropriate conditions. These will prohibit expressions of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in various forms and prohibit entry by players receiving funding from the Russian and/or Belarusian states (including sponsorship from companies operated or controlled by the states) in relation to their participation in The Championships,” said the AELTC in a statement.
In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the question of how to treat Russian and Belarusian professional tennis players has proven one of the most divisive issues in the recent history of the sport.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, has said on Friday he does not fear the possibility of fresh Western sanctions against his country over the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.
Reuters reports that in a televised address to the nation, Lukashenko said Minsk was prepared to defend its sovereignty through any means necessary, including nuclear.
He also said Belarus had deployed a special forces contingent to its southern border with Ukraine “to prevent provocations.”
An immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, called for by Putin’s ally Lukashenko, would not help Moscow achieve the goals of its invasion, the Kremlin has said.
Officials said they had noted the Belarusian president’s advice and that Putin planned to discuss it with him next week. But Reuters quotes the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov as claiming some elements of a peace plan proposed by China were unworkable because Ukraine was following western orders not to negotiate with Moscow.
All accredited foreign journalists can continue to work in Russia, the Kremlin has claimed, a day after the country’s FSB security service said it had arrested a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter on espionage charges.
Moscow said the reporter, Evan Gershkovich, has been carrying out espionage “under the cover” of journalism. Russia has presented no evidence to support the charges – the first such case against an American reporter since the end of the Cold War. And theey have been denied by the WSJ.
Here’s a little more detail on Lukashenko’s claim that Russian tactical nuclear weapons set to be deployed in his country would protect it from what he sees as western threats. In an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, he has said:
Take my word for it, I have never deceived you. They are preparing to invade Belarus, to destroy our country.
The Russian president ,Vladimir Putin, said on Saturday Moscow would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its first deployment of nuclear armaments outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Minsk said the missiles would offer protection after what it called a campaign of pressure from the United States and its allies aimed at overthrowing Lukashenko, who has been in power for 28 years.
In Friday’s speech, Lukashenko also called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for talks to start on a lasting peace settlement, warning that Russia would be forced to use “the most terrible weapon” if it felt threatened.
It is impossible to defeat a nuclear power. If the Russian leadership understands that the situation threatens to cause Russia’s disintegration, it will use the most terrible weapon. This cannot be allowed.
Updated
Bucha, a leafy suburb that is now a regular port of call for visiting foreign leaders, is expected to hold commemorative events to mark the anniversary later on Friday, Reuters reports.
The leaders of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia travelled to Ukraine on Friday, the Croatian government said.
Fighting is still raging in the east and south of Ukraine, where Russian forces hold swathes of territory captured since the invasion.
For places like Bucha, hundreds of miles from the fighting, the war is still felt with regular air-raid sirens telling residents to take cover from air strikes that have caused sweeping power outages.
Residents there told Reuters this week of the deep psychological wounds left by the occupation and said it would take generations to get over it. Some buildings remain battered in the town and a scrapyard is full of cars and military vehicles destroyed during last year’s fighting.
Updated
Ukraine will never forgive the Russian troops responsible for alleged atrocities in Bucha, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, as the town near Kyiv marked the anniversary of its recapture following 33 days of occupation in 2022.
Ukrainian forces took back control of the small towns of Bucha and Irpin to the northwest of Kyiv in late March last year, as Russian invasion forces abandoned an attempt to seize the capital. Marking the anniversary on Friday, Zelenskiy said:
When Bucha was de-occupied, we saw that the devil was not somewhere out there but on the ground. The heinous truth about what was happening in the temporarily occupied territories was revealed to the world.
Reuters reports that international investigators are now collecting evidence in those towns and other places where Ukraine says Russian troops committed large-scale atrocities. Russia denies the allegations.
After Ukraine took back control of Bucha, harrowing images of dead bodies lying in the street were beamed across the world.
Russia’s occupation of the town resulted in more than 1,400 deaths, including 37 children, Kyiv said. More than 175 people were found in mass graves and torture chambers and 9,000 Russian war crimes have been identified, it said.
Zelenskiy described the town as a “symbol of the atrocities” of Russian occupying forces.
We will never forget the victims of this war, and we will certainly bring all Russian murderers to justice. We will never forgive. We will punish every perpetrator.
Updated
Russia storing nuclear weapons in Belarus is a chance to safeguard country, Lukashenko says
Russia’s plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus are a chance to safeguard the country from western threats, the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said.
Reuters reports that, in a scheduled address to the nation, Lukashenko said western nations were building up their military forces in Poland – on Belarus’ borders – and claimed they were planning to invade and destroy his country.
Updated
The United Arab Emirates central bank said on Friday it will cancel the licence for a branch of Russia’s MTS bank, which it approved to operate last year and which was made subject of British and US sanctions in February.
Reuters report it said operations at the bank, which is licensed in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, will be wound down within six months under central bank supervision.
Ukrainian athletes will not be allowed to take part in qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics if they have to compete against Russians, government minister Oleh Nemchinov said.
Reuters reports Nemchinov said the government’s decision was adopted following a proposal by sports minister Vadym Huttsait and that national federations ignoring the ruling could be sanctioned. Huttsait is also president of Ukraine’s Olympic committee.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations Tuesday for the gradual return to international competition for Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals. On Wednesday head of the IOC, Thomas Bach, described Ukraine’s government objections to the return of Russian athletes as “deplorable”.
Updated
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, has criticised the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell on Telegram for his words about detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
In her post she quotes Borrell’s comment “The EU condemns the detention in Russia of journalist and US citizen Gershkovich. Journalists should be free to practise their profession and deserve protection.”
Zakharova says in response “Prove, Josep, your words – stand up for Julian Assange and Marat Kasem. For the sake of balance.”
Assange, the WikiLeaks co-founder, remains in Belmarsh prison in London as he fights a US attempt to extradite him to face charges in connection with the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars as well as diplomatic cables.
Kasem, the editor-in-chief for the Lithuanian edition of Sputnik, the Kremlin-backed news website, was placed under detention in Lithuania in January.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, offers this morning update of overnight events in the conflict in Ukraine. On its official Telegram channel it writes:
At night, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with ten “Shahed” kamikaze drones: nine of them were shot down.
Nine S-300 missiles were fired at Kharkiv: civil infrastructure and residential buildings were damaged, three people were slightly injured. Some of the rockets hit the ground and exploded in the air, the head of regional authority said.
In the Izium district of the Kharkiv region, “Shahed” drones attacked critical infrastructure facilities. Two men were injured and were hospitalised.
Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs came under Russian fire at night: Russian troops launched a series of missile strikes [which] damaged infrastructure and residential buildings. There are no dead or injured.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has marked the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha with a message on his official Telegram channel. Ukraine’s president writes:
Bucha. 33 days of occupation. More than 1,400 deaths, including 37 children. More than 175 people were found in mass graves and torture chambers. 9,000 Russian war crimes. 365 days since it became a free Ukrainian сity once again. A symbol of the atrocities of the occupying country’s army. We will never forgive. We will punish every perpetrator.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, has been boasting on Telegram that the occupied region will be taking part in a trade forum in Moscow.
“The rich natural resources of Donbas, the huge industrial potential and human capital, I am sure,” he writes “will be of interest to many investors and partners.”
The Russian Federation claimed to annex the partially occupied Ukrainian territory of Donetsk late last year. The Donetsk People’s Republic was declared in 2014, with Russia, Syria and North Korea the only UN member states to formally recognise it as any kind of legitimate authority.
Updated
Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass this morning has a report about the planned spring conscription in Russia, quoting the general staff of the armed forces of the Russian Federation stating that it is not a second wave of mobilisation.
Tass quotes Vladimir Tsimlyansky, who is head of the main organisational and mobilisation directorate of the general staff, saying “I want to assure you all that the plans of the general staff do not include a second wave of mobilisation. Those who have already been called up for military service, as well as citizens who have voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the operation, are quite enough to fulfil the assigned tasks.”
Tass reports that the spring conscription in 2023 will take place at the usual time, which it states is from 1 April to 15 July, and will affect 147,000 Russians aged 18 to 27.
Russia has also appeared to rule out sending the new recruits to the territories of Ukraine that Russia has claimed to annex, or carrying out recruitment in those occupied territories.
Tass quotes Tsimlyansky saying “All conscripts will be sent for military service to points of permanent deployment located on the territory of the Russian Federation” and, also reminded readers that Andrey Kartapolov, head of the state Duma committee on defence said yesterday that conscripts would not be sent to “new regions”, and conscription was not planned to be carried out in this territory yet. “In general,” he said, “in the new regions there will be no conscripts as such in any form.”
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Updated
Japan is banning Russia-bound exports of steel, aluminium and aircraft including drones in its latest sanction against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the trade ministry said on Friday.
The measure, which also prohibits Japanese entities from exporting a wide variety of industrial items such as construction machinery, ship engines, testing equipment and optical devices to Russia, will go into effect on 7 April, the ministry said in a statement.
Now that that Finland’s path to Norway has been cleared, you may be wondering where Sweden’s Nato bid is up to. Well, Turkey is still holding off approving Sweden’s bid. Ankara says it has not gone far enough in cracking down on people Turkey considers terrorists. The three countries signed a pact on the issue last year.
Turkey has repeatedly said that Sweden needed to take additional steps against supporters of Kurdish militants and members of the network Ankara holds responsible for a 2016 coup attempt. Turkey treats both groups as terrorist organisations.
Talks between Sweden and Turkey have made little progress, especially after several disputes, mainly over street protests by pro-Kurdish groups in Stockholm.
Stoltenberg has said he had urged Turkey and Hungary to ratify both applications. A vote on Sweden’s bid has not yet been scheduled in Hungary. You can read more here:
Bucha mayor, Anatoliy Fedoruk, who likened the rebuilding to a bustling anthill, said residents are eager to close a deeply painful chapter.
“It’s this kind of incredible desire for nothing to visually remind us of what the Russians did and left in their wake,” he said.
“It’s in the heart, soul and mind of every Bucha resident.”
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Zelenskiy on Thursday called the liberation of Bucha and other towns around Kyiv “a symbol of the fact that Ukraine will be able to win this war”.
But while most in Bucha believe in victory, said Andriy Holovin, a priest at a Ukrainian Orthodox parish, the emotional wounds could take generations to heal.
“We should understand that it’s easy to rebuild walls, but it’s much harder to rebuild a wounded soul,” he said.
One year since discovery of Bucha massacre
Bucha, a leafy suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, became synonymous with Russian brutality after a military retreat last March revealed ravaged streets littered with civilian bodies. Ukrainian authorities put the civilian death toll in areas of the Kyiv region liberated from Russian forces at 1,137, including 461 killed in Bucha alone.
International investigators are collecting evidence in Bucha and in other places where Ukraine says Russian troops committed widespread atrocities in their invasion that began on Feb. 24, 2022. Moscow denies the allegations.
Russia’s forces abandoned their assault on Kyiv a month into the war, withdrawing from Bucha in the north and other areas. Fighting rages on in the east and south.
Reuters has this story on the one-year anniversary of the discovery of the massacre:
Today Bucha is full of life. Young families crisscross central streets and the sounds of construction clatter in the crisp spring air.
On a recent afternoon, tractors trundled up and down Vokzalna Street, where an internationally funded reconstruction project is aimed at erasing the traces of war.
The scars of war are strewn across the town, where some high rises remain battered and a scrapyard is full of cars and military vehicles destroyed during last year’s fighting.
Fences along Yablunska Street, where dozens of residents were killed, are still riddled with bullet holes.
Turkey approves bill to allow Finland to join Nato
Turkey’s parliament has approved a bill to allow Finland to join Nato, clearing the way for Helsinki to join the western defence alliance as war rages in Ukraine.
The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland’s membership, after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill this week.
The president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said this month that Finland had secured Turkey’s blessing after moves to support its promised crackdown on groups seen by Ankara as terrorists, and to free up defence exports.
Finland and Sweden asked to join the transatlantic military alliance last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the process has been held up by Turkey and Hungary. The parliaments of all Nato members must ratify newcomers.
Sweden’s faces objections from Ankara over claims it is harbouring what it considers members of terrorist groups. Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, said soon after the Turkish vote: “Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application.”
Read on here:
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Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments as they happen.
Our top story this morning:
Finland is a step closer to joining Nato after Turkey’s parliament approved a bill ratifying its membership. Turkey was the last of the western military alliance’s 30 members to approve Finland’s membership bid, after Hungary’s legislature passed a similar bill this week.
Meanwhile Ukraine is commemorating the one year anniversary of the discovery of the Bucha massacre. The leafy suburb of the capital Kyiv became synonymous with Russian brutality after a military retreat last March revealed ravaged streets littered with civilian bodies.
“For many residents of the Kyiv region, the past year has become the most horrific in their entire lives. And the liberation of the Kyiv region has become a symbol of the fact that Ukraine will be able to win this war,” president Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
We’ll have more on these stories shortly. In the meantime here are the key recent developments:
The White House says it has new evidence that Russia is looking again to North Korea for weapons and munitions to fuel the war in Ukraine, this time in a deal that would provide Pyongyang with much-needed food and other commodities in return.
Russian authorities have arrested a US journalist working in the country and accused him of espionage, a charge that could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Evan Gershkovich, a well-respected reporter from the Wall Street Journal, was detained on Wednesday during a reporting trip to the Urals city of Ekaterinburg.
The US is “deeply concerned” over Gershkovich’s detention. The state department “has been in direct touch” with the Russian government over the the journalist’s detention, “including actively working to secure consular access” for him, the White House confirmed.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will chair a UN security council meeting in April when Russia assumes the international body’s presidency, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said. Russia’s coming UN security council presidency was “the worst joke ever for April Fool’s Day”, said Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and a “stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning”.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said Moscow will continue to give the US advance notice about its missile tests despite suspending participation in the New Start nuclear arms treaty, reversing a statement he made on Wednesday. The White House said on Tuesday that the US had told Russia it would cease exchanging certain data on its nuclear forces after Moscow’s refusal to do so.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to call up 147,000 Russian citizens for statutory military service as part of the country’s spring conscription campaign, Russian state media reported. The Russian leader last signed a routine conscription campaign in September, calling up 120,000 citizens for statutory service, the state-run Tass news agency said.
Russian authorities are preparing to launch a significant recruitment campaign aimed at signing up 400,000 new troops to fight in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update, citing Russian media. Moscow was presenting the campaign “as a drive for volunteer, professional personnel, rather than a new, mandatory mobilisation”, it said, adding that in practice regional authorities might try to coerce men to join up. “It is highly unlikely that the campaign will attract 400,000 genuine volunteers,” it said.
A Russian man who fled house arrest after being sentenced to jail for discrediting Russia in social media posts, following an investigation prompted by his daughter’s anti-war drawings, was arrested in Belarus, his lawyer said. Alexei Moskalyov, 54, was sentenced to two years for his criticism of Kremlin policies in social media posts. Police investigated him after his 13-year-old daughter, Maria, refused to participate in a patriotic class at her school and made drawings showing rockets being fired at a family standing under a Ukrainian flag and another that said “Glory to Ukraine!”.
The International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, has hit back at criticism by some European governments – including Ukraine’s – of a plan for a full return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sport. “It is deplorable to see that some governments do not want to respect the majority within the Olympic movement and all stakeholders, nor the autonomy of sport,” Bach said on Thursday.
King Charles III has lauded the unity between the UK and Germany in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying “the scourge of war is back in Europe”. Both the UK and Germany had shown “vital leadership”, the king said in a bilingual speech in the Bundestag, praising Berlin’s decision to provide large military support to Ukraine as “remarkably courageous, important and appreciated”.
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