Closing summary
That’s all for today. Thank you for following along with our live coverage.
Russia summoned the French ambassador to its foreign ministry on Friday in connection with comments made by Stephane Sejourne, the French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sejourne said that Paris was not interested in dialogue with Moscow as statements from Russian officials contained false information.
Local police are searching for a Russell Bentley, a US national and Russia supporter who went missing in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Bentley moved to the Donetsk oblast in 2014 to fight for a Russian separatist militia against Ukraine. According to his X bio, he was a correspondent for the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik News, and a Russian federation citizen.
A Russian drone damaged equipment at a substation in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast overnight, cutting power to a number of households and individual consumers, Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram. The attack came after Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large electricity plant near Kyiv and hit power facilities in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday, destroying the Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant near the capital. Ukrenergo said 399 settlements were without power as of Friday morning, with a blackout in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Kherson oblasts.
After months of delay, the US House speaker is negotiating with the White House on advancing wartime funding for Ukraine – a package that would deviate from the Senate’s $95bn foreign security package and include several Republican demands. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been facing mounting pressure regarding a Ukraine aid package, not just from Joe Biden, who has repeatedly chastised Republicans for not helping Ukraine, but from hard-right members of his own party who remain staunchly opposed to additional Ukraine aid. Johnson is set to travel to Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Friday to meet with Donald Trump – who has said he would negotiate an end to the conflict as he tries to push the US to a more isolationist stance.
Ukrainian authorities conducted a search of a high-ranking priest of Moscow-linked church. Sources told the Kyiv Independent that the premises of Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, a senior member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, was searched this morning by the security service of Ukraine. The Moscow Patriarchate-linked church has repeatedly been accused of aligning with the Russian government, which the church has denied. The church had yet to comment on the search on Danylevych.
Thousands of Russian soldiers are fleeing the war in Ukraine, lying low while awaiting the results of their asylum applications to western countries like Germany, France and the US. Asylum claims from Russian citizens have surged, but few are winning protection – policymakers remain divided over whether to consider Russians in exile as potential assets or risks to national security. Fewer than 300 Russians got refugee status in the US in fiscal year 2022 while less than 10% of the 5,246 people whose applications were processed last year got some sort of protection from German authorities. In France, asylum requests rose more than 50% between 2022 and 2023, to a total of around 3,400 people.
Three people were injured on Friday when Russian forces attacked a town in the Donetsk oblast, the Ukrainian state emergency services said.
A Russian rocket struck five-story building in Kostyantynivka in the Kramatorsk district, sparking a fire on balconies from the second to the fifth floor. Rescuers were able to extinguish the fire quickly, but the building sustained a number of damages.
Russia summons French ambassador to foreign ministry
Russia summoned the French ambassador to its foreign ministry on Friday in connection with comments made by Stephane Sejourne, the French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Reuters is reporting.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sejourne said that Paris was not interested in dialogue with Moscow as statements from Russian officials contained false information.
“We regard these statements by the French foreign minister as a conscious and deliberate action by the French side aimed at undermining the very possibility of any dialogue between the two countries,” the ministry said.
US national reported missing in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine
Local police are searching for Russell Bentley, a US national and Russia supporter who went missing in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, Reuters is reporting.
Bentley moved to the Donetsk oblast in 2014 to fight for a Russian separatist militia against Ukraine. According to his X bio, he was a correspondent for the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik News, and a Russian federation citizen.
Police did not not provide details on his last known whereabouts or the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from photo agencies:
Man killed in Russian artillery attack on Kharkiv oblast
A 64-year-old man was killed and two more were injured Friday morning in a Russian artillery attacks in the Kharkiv oblast, the regional prosecutor’s office said.
The man died after Russian forces opened fire on the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi. Another artillery attack on the village of Monachynivka injured a 72-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman, said the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s office said.
The Kremlin said on Friday that a draft Russia-Ukraine agreement negotiated in 2022 could serve as a starting point for prospective talks to end the fighting that has dragged into a third year.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the draft document that was discussed in Istanbul in March 2022 could be “the basis for starting negotiations.” At the same time, he said that the possible future talks would need to take into account the “new realities”.
“There have been many changes since then, new entities have been included in our constitution,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
In September 2022, Russia annexed four Ukrainian regions in a move that Kyiv and its western allies have rejected as an unlawful.
Peskov’s statement followed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s comments on Thursday, in which he mocked prospective Ukraine peace talks that Switzerland is set to host in June, warning that Moscow will not accept any enforced peace plans.
Six Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Belgorod oblast this morning, injuring two and damaging an administrative building, the regional governor said on Telegram.
Russian air defence shot down four of the drones, said governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. One caused a grass fire on the outskirts of Belgorod city, while the other struck the administrative building.
From the explosion at the administrative building, one man sustained a shrapnel wound to his lower limb and another had shrapnel wounds to his upper and lower extremities, Gladkov said. Both were transported to a hospital for treatment.
The Belgorod oblast, located on Ukraine’s border, has been a frequent target of Ukrainian forces in recent weeks.
Summary
After months of delay, the US House speaker is negotiating with the White House on advancing wartime funding for Ukraine – a package that would deviate from the Senate’s $95bn foreign security package and include several Republican demands. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been facing mounting pressure regarding a Ukraine aid package, not just from Joe Biden, who has repeatedly chastised Republicans for not helping Ukraine, but from hard-right members of his own party who remain staunchly opposed to additional Ukraine aid. Johnson is set to travel to Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Friday to meet with Donald Trump – who has said he would negotiate an end to the conflict as he tries to push the US to a more isolationist stance.
A Russian drone damaged equipment at a substation in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast overnight, cutting power to a number of households and individual consumers, Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram. The attack came after Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large electricity plant near Kyiv and hit power facilities in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday, destroying the Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant near the capital. Ukrenergo said 399 settlements were without power as of Friday morning, with a blackout in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Kherson oblasts.
Thousands of Russian soldiers are fleeing the war in Ukraine, lying low while awaiting the results of their asylum applications to western countries like Germany, France and the US. Asylum claims from Russian citizens have surged, but few are winning protection – policymakers remain divided over whether to consider Russians in exile as potential assets or risks to national security. Fewer than 300 Russians got refugee status in the US in fiscal year 2022 while less than 10% of the 5,246 people whose applications were processed last year got some sort of protection from German authorities. In France, asylum requests rose more than 50% between 2022 and 2023, to a total of around 3,400 people.
Ukrainian authorities conducted a search of a high-ranking priest of Moscow-linked church. Sources told the Kyiv Independent that the premises of Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, a senior member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, was searched this morning by the security service of Ukraine. The Moscow Patriarchate-linked church has repeatedly been accused of aligning with the Russian government, which the church has denied. The church had yet to comment on the search on Danylevych.
Five civilians were killed in Russian attacks on the Mykolaiv oblast, said regional governor Vitalii Kim on Telegram.
Ukraine’s parliament passed a controversial bill on Thursday that will change the rules on civilian military mobilisation in an effort to address fledgling manpower among its forces. The legislation, which must be signed by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is seen as crucial for Ukraine to address what military analysts say are major manpower problems as it fights a better armed and larger foe.
Russian forces outnumber Ukrainian troops seven to ten times in eastern regions, Ukraine’s Gen Yuriy Sodol told parliament on Thursday. “The enemy outnumbers us by 7-10 times, we lack manpower,” said Sodol, who is commanding the troops in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
Parts of Ukraine without power following Russian strikes
A Russian drone damaged equipment at a substation in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast overnight, cutting power to a number of households and individual consumers, Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram.
The attack came after Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large electricity plant near Kyiv and hit power facilities in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday, destroying the Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant near the capital.
Ukrenergo said 399 settlements were without power as of Friday morning, with a blackout in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Kherson oblasts.
The energy operator issued an emergency shutdown in the Kharkiv oblast, cutting off 210,000 consumers. The operator called for limiting the use of energy-consuming devices from 7pm to 9pm, in order to relieve some burden off the grid. Consumption limits for industrial consumers continue to apply in Kryvyi Rih.
Updated
Report: Ukrainian authorities conduct search of high-ranking priest of Moscow-linked church
The premises of Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, a senior member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, was searched this morning by the security service of Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent is reporting.
Sources told the Kyiv Independent that Danylevych has displayed support for the “Russian world” ideology and justified Russian aggression in the past. In 2017, he took part in a delegation of pro-Russian oligarch Vadym Novynskyi that sought to convince Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew not to grant the tomos of autocephaly – which signifies a decree of canonical autonomy – to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Bartholomew, the highest-ranking cleric of the Eastern Orthodox Church, granted the tomos in 2019.
The Moscow Patriarchate-linked church has repeatedly been accused of aligning with the Russian government, which the church has denied. The church had yet to comment on the search on Danylevych.
Thousands of Russian soldiers are fleeing the war in Ukraine
The Associated Press has a report out today about the thousands of Russian soldiers who are fleeing the war in Ukraine, lying low while awaiting the results of their asylum applications to western countries like Germany, France and the US.
Since September 2022, Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona has documented more than 7,300 cases in Russian courts against AWOL soldiers. Cases of desertion – the harshest charge – leapt sixfold last year.
Idite Lesom, or “Get Lost,” a group run by Russian activists in the Republic of Georgia, has been contacted by a record number of people seeking to desert – more than 500 in the first two months of this year.
In total, the group has supported more than 26,000 Russians seeking to avoid military service, and helped more than 520 active-duty soldiers and officers flee – a drop in the bucket compared with Russia’s overall troop strength, but an indicator of morale in a country that has made it a crime to oppose the war.
Overall, Sverdlin’s group says it has supported more than 26,000 Russians seeking to avoid military service and helped more than 520 active-duty soldiers and officers flee — a drop in the bucket compared with Russia’s overall troop strength, but an indicator of morale in a country that has made it a crime to oppose the war.
“Obviously, Russian propaganda is trying to sell us a story that all Russia supports Putin and his war,” said Grigory Sverdlin, the group’s head. “But that’s not true.”
While asylum claims from Russian citizens have surged, few are winning protection – policymakers remain divided over whether to consider Russians in exile as potential assets or risks to national security. Fewer than 300 Russians got refugee status in the US in fiscal year 2022 while less than 10% of the 5,246 people whose applications were processed last year got some sort of protection from German authorities. In France, asylum requests rose more than 50% between 2022 and 2023, to a total of around 3,400 people.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from photo agencies:
Russian forces fired 54 missiles and 126 air strikes, and carried out 95 shellings on Ukrainian troops and settlements yesterday, engaging Ukrainian forces in 78 combat clashes, the general staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said in its morning briefing.
The attacks killed five civilians in Mykolaiv, said regional governor Vitalii Kim on Telegram, with one succumbing to injuries this morning.
The general staff estimated that Russia lost 840 personnel yesterday.
Russian air defence shot down four Ukrainian drones near the town of Novoshakhtinsk in Russia’s Rostov oblast, home to an oil refinery previously targeted by Kyiv, the regional governor said on Telegram.
That attack caused no damages, and no one was hurt, said Vasily Golubev, the governor.
Ukrainian drones had targeted the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery last month, causing the plant to briefly shut down.
US House speaker in talks with White House on advancing Ukraine aid
After months of delay, a top House Republican said the US House speaker is negotiating with the White House on advancing wartime funding for Ukraine – a package that would deviate from the Senate’s $95bn foreign security package and include several Republican demands, the Associated Press is reporting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has been facing mounting pressure regarding a Ukraine aid package, not just from Joe Biden, who has repeatedly chastised Republicans for not helping Ukraine, but from hard-right members of Johnson’s conference who remain staunchly opposed to additional Ukraine aid.
“There’s been no agreement reached,” House Republican leader Steve Scalise told reporters on Thursday. “Obviously there would have to be an agreement reached not just with the White House, but with our own members.”
Johnson is set to travel to Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Friday to meet with Donald Trump – who has said he would negotiate an end to the conflict as he tries to push the US to a more isolationist stance. Johnson has purportedly been consulting Trump in recent weeks on the Ukraine funding to gain his support — or at least prevent him from openly opposing the package.
Some of this aid may include sending money to Kyiv as a loan or redirecting Russian assets seized under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (Repo) for Ukrainians Act – a departure from previous aid packages sent to Ukraine. Even still, aid opponents like congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia are unlikely to be swayed. Greene has threatened to try to oust Johnson as speaker and warned that advancing funding for Ukraine would help build her case that GOP lawmakers should select a new speaker.
“This becomes a more dangerous world with Russia in Kyiv,” said congressman Don Bacon, a Republican who supports aiding Ukraine. “So we’re just got to find a the smart way to get a bill passed that we can get out and back to the Senate.”
Opening summary
Good morning. The US House speaker is negotiating with the White House on advancing wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel, the Associated Press is reporting.
Speaker Mike Johnson has delayed for months on advancing desperately needed aid to Ukraine, in an effort to include some politically advantageous Republican demands in the package – as well as due to pressure from some hard-right Republicans aligned with Donald Trump.
Yesterday, Japans’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, called on Americans to overcome their “self-doubt” and referenced the war in Ukraine. “Without US support, how long before the hopes of Ukraine would collapse under the onslaught from Moscow?” Kishida asked.
More on that in a bit.
Here is a roundup of the other big stories:
Ukraine’s parliament passed a controversial bill on Thursday that will change the rules on civilian military mobilisation in an effort to address fledgling manpower among its forces. The legislation, which must be signed by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is seen as crucial for Ukraine to address what military analysts say are major manpower problems as it fights a better armed and larger foe.
Russian forces outnumber Ukrainian troops seven to ten times in eastern regions, Ukraine’s Gen Yuriy Sodol told parliament on Thursday. “The enemy outnumbers us by 7-10 times, we lack manpower,” said Sodol, who is commanding the troops in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
Russian missiles and drones destroyed a large electricity plant near Kyiv and hit power facilities in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday, officials said. The major attack destroyed the Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant near the capital, a senior official at the company that runs the facility told Reuters.
The mass use of “drop-and-forget” guided bombs containing foreign components is driving Russian advances in Ukraine, with up to 500 now being fired a week, according to a Ukrainian government analysis. High explosive and cluster bombs fitted with “UMPC” guiding systems with a range of 40-60km (25-37 miles) are now said to be a central threat on the frontline, forcing back Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine and Latvia signed a bilateral security agreement, Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced during a visit to Vilnius. Zelenskiy said: “It envisages Latvia’s annual military support for Ukraine at 0.25% of GDP. Latvia also made a 10-year commitment to assist Ukraine with cyber defence, demining, and unmanned technologies, as well as support for Ukraine’s EU and Nato accession.”
Drone attacks on the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine must stop as they could pose “a new and gravely dangerous” stage in the war, the UN nuclear watchdog chief, said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of targeting the plant since Russia seized it weeks after invading Ukraine. Both countries requested an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)‘s board after an attack on Sunday. “It is of paramount importance to ensure these reckless attacks do not mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war,” IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said, adding: “Strikes must cease.”
