We are now closing this blog. The report on the devastating Odesa attack is here. You can also read our correspondent Pjotr Sauer on the foregone conclusions over the Russian elections.
Summary of the day …
It has just gone 6pm in Kyiv, and 7pm in Moscow. Here are the headlines …
A Russian ballistic missile attack hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa on Friday, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 70 in Moscow’s deadliest attack in weeks, Ukrainian officials said. Two Russian Iskander-M missiles fired from the Moscow-occupied peninsula of Crimea struck a residential area in Odesa, Oleh Kiper, the region’s governor said on national television. A medic and rescuer were killed by a second missile after rushing to the scene to treat people hurt in the initial strike, he added.
114 million Russians are eligible to vote in a presidential contest that began on Friday, and will end on Sunday with an almost inevitable victory for president Vladimir Putin. He is running against Communist Nikolai Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, and Vladislav Davankov of the New People party. Two anti-war candidates, Boris Nadezhdin and Yekaterina Duntsova were barred from running by the electoral commission.
Voting is also taking place in the four occupied regions of Ukraine which Russia claims to have annexed despite its forces only partially controlling the territory. Ukraine has said the election there is illegal. Speaking at a meeting of Russia’s security council, Putin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt the voting process and people in the border regions with “a number of criminal armed actions”. Putin said the attempts to break into Russia did not succeed. He said the acts would not go unpunished.
The election has not been without incident so far. Authorities in St Petersburg “stopped a woman from throwing a molotov cocktail at a polling station sign” and in Moscow a woman was arrested after appearing to pour ink into a ballot box.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz, France’s president Emmanuel Macron and Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk met in Berlin. In a public briefing they promised Europe was united and determined in its support for Ukraine, and said they would use frozen Russian assets to purchase more weapons for Ukraine on the world market.
The regional governor of Belgorod announced on Telegram that one person has been killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian city of Grayvoron in the region. Earlier Russia claimed it had thwarted attempts by Ukraine to stage cross-border raids into the territory, while a senior Ukrainian intelligence official claimed that Kursk and Belgorod regions were “active combat zones”.
Ukraine claims it shot down all 27 “Shahed” drones with which the Russian army attacked overnight, however there were missile strikes in Kharkiv, Poltava and Donetsk regions, and two people were reported killed by shelling in Sumy region.
Ukraine claims to have attacked an oil refinery in Kaluga region with drones, causing damage. Russian authorities said air defences had shot down the drones, and there was “no infrastructure damage or casualties”.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday that a Russian national had been detained in Moscow on suspicion of treason and had confessed to assembling and launching drones on behalf of Ukraine.
The EU is set to agree sanctions on several people seen as involved in the mistreatment and death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony, three diplomats said on Friday.
Odesa’s regional governor Oleh Kiper has posted to Telegram to state that as a result of today’s missile strike, some people in the city are without gas and/or electricity. Between 500 and 800 people are affected.
Russia has released an image of president Vladimir Putin chairing the Russian security council meeting earlier today.
While Putin was hosting his meeting, Olaf Sholz, Emmanuel Macron and Donald Tusk were putting on a display of unity in person in Berlin.
Death toll in Odesa strike rises to 16, with more than 70 wounded
A Russian ballistic missile attack hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa on Friday, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 70 in Moscow’s deadliest attack in weeks, Ukrainian officials said.
The strike came as Russia’s presidential election got under way, with over 100 million people eligible to vote in a three-day process almost certainly guaranteed to return Vladimir Putin to power for another six year term.
The Odesa region has declared a day of mourning tomorrow.
Two Russian Iskander-M missiles fired from the Moscow-occupied peninsula of Crimea struck a residential area in Odesa, Reuters reports Oleh Kiper, the region’s governor said on national television.
“Russia continues to terrorise Odesa … local residents, medical and emergency workers are among the victims and injured,” Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, said.
The medic and rescuer were killed by a second missile after rushing to the scene to treat people hurt in the initial strike, Kiper added.
Ten people had suffered serious injuries, he said. Residents were rushing to donate blood, causing queues at medical centres.
A three-storey recreational facility was destroyed and at least 10 private houses, a low pressure gas pipeline and rescue vehicles were damaged in the attack, the southern military command said.
Moscow has repeatedly denied making targets of civilians in Ukraine, despite the high number of casualties and infrastructure damage inflicted during the conflict.
In an appearance before Russia’s security council, Putin accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the election, which is also being held in the four occupied regions of Ukraine which Moscow has claimed to have annexed, despite its forces only partially controlling them. Putin said Kyiv had attempted a series of armed crimes to disrupt the election, which would not go unpunished.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, has commented on the attack in Odesa today. He said:
The Russian terror of Odesa is a sign of the enemy’s weakness, fighting Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee the safety of people on its own territory. The regime of terrorism and the terrorist …
The russian terror of Odesa is a sign of the enemy's weakness, fighting Ukrainian civilians at a time when it cannot guarantee the safety of people on its own territory.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 15, 2024
The regime of terrorism and the terrorist...
At the end of his speech, Donald Tusk described today’s meeting as “a good new beginning for the ‘Weimar triangle’”, and said the three would meet again in the summer in Poland.
The “Weimar triangle” was created between Germany, France and Poland after the reunification in Germany in 1991.
The three men have finished speaking. They did not take any questions from the assembled media.
Macron has said that Europe is united and determined in its support for Ukraine. Donald Tusk has added they speak with one voice on security, and that they intend to spend money to help here and now.
Emmanuel Macron is speaking now, and has said the countries will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it was necessary. He has repeated the argument that he made on French television last night in a combative interview, saying the security of the whole of Europe is at stake in Ukraine.
Scholz says that Vladimir Putin has to know that support for Ukraine in Europe will not ebb, and they will use frozen Russian assets to financially support Ukraine.
Olaf Scholz has opened the press conference in Berlin by saying it is clear that Germany, France and Poland support Ukraine, but it is also clear that the countries are not at war with Russia.
He said that the countries would buy more weapons for Ukraine on the world market, and that they would, with partners, build up weapons production in Ukraine.
Putin accuses Ukraine of trying to disrupt Russia's presidential election with 'criminal' acts
The RIA news agency has posted a short video clip of Russian president Vladimir Putin speaking at a meeting of Russia’s security council. In it Putin claims that Ukraine has been trying to disrupt the presidential voting process in Russia and to disrupt people in the border regions with “a number of criminal armed actions”
On Thursday Ukraine claimed that three pro-Ukrainian battalions made up of recruits from Russia had launched a fresh incursion into southern Russia. Putin said the attempts to break into Russia did not succeed. He said the acts would not go unpunished.
EU set to agree new Russia sanctions over Alexei Navalny death
Reuters reports the European Union is set to agree sanctions on several people seen as involved in the mistreatment and death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony, three diplomats told it on Friday.
EU foreign ministers are likely to endorse the sanctions on Monday, the day after the end of a three-day Russian election.
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
The EU has unveiled concrete plans to create capacity to produce 2m shells a year for Ukraine and its own defence by the end of 2025.
A tour of 30 manufacturers across the EU by defence commissioner Thierry Breton identified key bottlenecks that urgently needed clearing to deliver ammunition needed by Kyiv, including the manufacture of gun powder and explosives.
Under a €500m scheme it is providing grants to arms makers in France, Sweden, Greece, Norway, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and Czechia.
Officials said they were confident capacity would reach 1.7m shells by the end of this year, ahead of the target of 1m that was missed last year, with capacity for 2m by the end of 2025, or beginning of 2026.
The initiative is separate to an initiative by the Czechs to bring €800,000 worth of ammunition, some bought from outside the EU, to the battefield by summer.
Here is a video feed of the media appearance about to be made by Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron and Donald Tusk. We will bring you any key lines that emerge.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, president Emmanuel Macron, and prime minister Donald Tusk of Germany, France and Poland respectively have appeared in public together in Berlin.
Tass reports that authorities in St Petersburg “stopped a woman from throwing a molotov cocktail at a polling station sign”
A member of the city election commission is quoted as saying that “the election process is ongoing” and that voting was not interrupted.
In a separate incident reported earlier, a woman poured ink into a ballot box in Moscow. CCTV footage from the polling station has been released.
Updated
'There is not a moment to lose', US ambassador says after Odesa attack
Bridget A. Brink, the US ambassador in Kyiv, has addressed the latest Russian strike in Odesa.
“This cruel attack underscores that Russia will not stop its brazen aggression in Europe. We need to help Ukraine stop Russia now. There is not a moment to lose,” she said.
Again today Russia attacked Odesa, killing innocent civilians and targeting first responders.
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) March 15, 2024
This cruel attack underscores that Russia will not stop its brazen aggression in Europe.
We need to help Ukraine stop Russia now. There is not a moment to lose. pic.twitter.com/IoduaXMyjn
Here are the latest images from Odesa, where officials say 14 people were killed due to the Russian missile attack.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chair of Ukraine’s parliament, has said today’s strike on Odesa shows “there should be no delay in supporting Ukraine”.
He wrote:
Odesa. In broad daylight, cynical Russian terrorists launched a rocket attack on the city. There are injured and dead. My sincere condolences to family and friends. Civilian infrastructure was damaged.
Ukraine trembles every day from Russian terror. People are dying because of Russian evil. Peaceful people. And this Russian evil must lose.
And there should be no delay in supporting Ukraine. Not for a moment
Dmitry Medvedev, Russian security council deputy chairman and hawkish ally of the Russian president, has cast his vote today.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights has commented on today’s missile strike in Odesa. He writes on social media:
Odesa. Russia has once again launched a missile attack on civilians. After the first hit, rescuers arrived at the scene but were targeted as Russia struck again. 14 people were killed, including local residents, a medical worker and a rescuer. 46 people, including seven State Emergency Service personnel, were injured. The world should know. The world should not forgive! The terrorist state must be held accountable for its cynical war crimes against Ukrainians.
Odesa region declares day of mourning after at least 14 killed, 46 injured in Russian missile attack
The number of people killed due to the Russian missile attack has increased to 14, Oleg Kiper, the head of the region, has said.
Local media reported that among the dead are local residents, a doctor and a rescuer. Another 46 people, including seven employees of the State Emergency Service, were injured.
A day of mourning in the region has been declared for tomorrow according to state broadcaster Suspilne.
Earlier reports indicated that rescuers were on the scene after a fire broke out from an initial strike when the location was targeted again.
Woman reportedly arrested for pouring ink into ballot box during Russian election
Russian state investigators in Moscow said on Friday they had opened a criminal case against a woman who poured green dye into a ballot box to try to disrupt voting in the country’s presidential election.
CCTV footage released of the incident by the RIA state news agency showed a young woman depositing her voting slip before calmly pouring a green liquid into the transparent plastic ballot box.
A policeman is seen detaining her immediately afterwards in the footage.
The woman, who was not named, was later charged with “obstructing the exercise of electoral rights or the work of election committees,” Reuters reports the Investigative Committee’s press service said.
Russia’s defence ministry has issued handout photos of defence minister Sergei Shoigu casting his ballot in today’s election at an undisclosed location in Rostov region.
Death toll in Odesa strike rises to at least eight
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s southern post city of Odesa on Friday has risen from two to eight, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said. More than 20 people were injured.
The state emergency service has issued some images from the scene.
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 1.30pm in Kyiv, and 2.30pm in Moscow. Here are the latest headlines …
A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa on Friday killed at least two people and wounded others, the regional governor said. A medic and a rescuer were killed when a second strike hit a location where they were trying to extinguish fire caused by an initial impact. At least 20 people have been wounded.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has welcomed French president Emmanuel Macron to Berlin’s chancellery. Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk will join them later amid tensions over Russian military advances in Ukraine and a US congressional refusal to approve substantial further military aid to Kyiv.
In a combative TV interview on Thursday night, Macron told the French public “The security of Europe and the French is at stake in Ukraine. If Russia wins, the lives of the French change and Europe’s credibility is reduced to zero. Who can think that Vladimir Putin will stop there?”
114 million Russians are eligible to vote in a presidential contest that began today, and will end on Sunday with an inevitable victory for president Vladimir Putin. He is running against Communist Nikolai Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, and Vladislav Davankov of the New People party. Two anti-war candidates, Boris Nadezhdin and Yekaterina Duntsova were barred from running by the electoral commission.
Voting is also taking place in the four occupied regions of Ukraine which Russia claims to have annexed despite its forces only partially controlling the territory. Ukraine has said the election there is illegal. The Russian-installed head of the occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, has said that “more than half of the voters voted early” in his region, reducing security concerns. However, he said “The enemy is trying by any available means of disrupting and discrediting our elections.”
The regional governor of Belgorod announced on Telegram that one person has been killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian city of Grayvoron in the region. Earlier Russia claimed it had thwarted attempts by Ukraine to stage cross-border raids into the territory, while a senior Ukrainian intelligence official claimed that Kursk and Belgorod regions were “active combat zones”.
Ukraine claims it shot down all 27 “Shahed” drones with which the Russian army attacked overnight, however there were missile strikes in Kharkiv, Poltava and Donetsk regions, and two people were reported killed by shelling in Sumy region.
Ukraine claims to have attacked an oil refinery in Kaluga region with drones, causing damage. Russian authorities said air defences had shot down the drones, and there was “no infrastructure damage or casualties”.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday that a Russian national had been detained in Moscow on suspicion of treason and had confessed to assembling and launching drones on behalf of Ukraine.
Two killed and 20 wounded in double Russian missile strike on Ukrainian port city of Odesa – governor
A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa on Friday killed at least two people and wounded others, the regional governor said.
“There are also seriously injured among the medics and rescuers. The total number of victims is being specified,” Reuters reports Oleh Kiper, the governor, said on Telegram messenger.
He added that the two killed were a medic and a rescuer, who rushed to the site after the first strike. Ukraine’s air force had announced a ballistic missile threat ahead of the blasts in the city.
Local media reported that “civilian infrastructure was damaged, 20 people were injured, five of whom were rescuers”. It said that a fire broke out at the initial point of impact, and then the rescuers were killed when it was struck again as they sought to extinguish the flames.
Citing rescue services, Suspilne reported “The impact also damaged ten private houses, a service station, a low-pressure gas pipeline and two fire and rescue vehicles. Currently, the fire on the gas pipeline and in a private house is being extinguished.”
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has just welcomed French president Emmanuel Macron outside Berlin’s chancellery. They briefly posed for photos but did not have any words for the media.
France’s president Emmanuel Macron caused consternation on 26 February when he refused to rule out sending troops to Ukraine, later clarified as trainers, but in a dramatic TV interview last night he refused to retreat, saying he would rule nothing out in a bid both to maintain strategic ambiguity and to convince Vladimir Putin that Russia is engaged in a war that Europe will not allow it to win.
Quoting Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle at various points in the interview he said:
The security of Europe and the French is at stake in Ukraine. If Russia wins, the lives of the French change and Europe’s credibility is reduced to zero. Who can think that Vladimir Putin will stop there?
Although he refused to describe Russia as an enemy, but instead as an “adversary”, he said Russia is already engaged in a hybrid war in Europe. He also rejected claims that his rhetoric risked escalation.
“We must not be weak,” Macron argued. “We have set too many limits with words,” Macron said. “Two years ago we said we would never send tanks. Then we did. Two years ago we said we would never send medium-range missiles. Then we did.”
He defended his abandonment of his original dialogue with Putin by saying “the changing situation on the ground today requires a new approach.”
“The Ukrainian counter-offensive did not go as planned,” the president admitted, highlighting the stalemate on the fronts, the lack of recruits and shells in the Ukrainian camp. At the same time, he said, the Kremlin regime “has become significantly tougher,” a reference to the death of Alexei Navalny.
Scholz, Macron, Tusk set to meet in Berlin amid tension over Ukraine, Russia and US
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor
The three leading military powers on mainland Europe – France, Germany and Poland – are due to meet in an emergency session in Berlin on Friday in a bid to end debilitating tensions over the response to the twin spectres of Russian military advances in Ukraine and a US congressional refusal to approve substantial further military aid to Kyiv.
The clash in approach predominantly between the newly hawkish French president Emmanual Macron and the perennially cautious German chancellor Olaf Scholz was laid bare in a dramatic French TV interview on Thursday night in which Macron warned Europe’s security, even its existence, is at risk.
The newly elected Polish prime minister Donald Tusk is not quite cast in the role of mediator in Berlin since Poland has always regarded Russia as an imperialist power, but his attendance, after an opening Franco-German bilateral, underlines the need for a soothing third party.
Tusk, just back from meetings with Biden in Washington, will bring the latest political intelligence on whether the Republican speaker Mike Johnson can be forced to bow to Democrat demands and lift his block on a Senate vote on $60bn of US military aid.
The meeting also represents a test for whether the three can revive the so-called “Weimar Triangle” as a new inner motor for Europe. The three countries last met together at this level in June.
Here are some excerpts from Suspilne’s morning news round-up:
Air defence forces shot down all 27 “Shahed” drones with which the Russian army attacked Ukraine. The Russian army hit Kharkiv region and Donetsk region with S-300/S-400 missiles, as well as one Kh-59 guided missile in Poltava region, while the air alert signal was not activated in the region.
At night and in the morning, Sumy oblast was shelled with anti-aircraft guns, mortars and artillery. Two people died, five others were injured, houses and cars were damaged, the police reported.
At night, Russian troops attacked Kyiv and the region with drones. Due to falling debris, grass caught fire in an open area in one of the districts of Kyiv region, the fire was extinguished. No people were injured.
Diana Magnay, international correspondent for Sky News, has written that while the outcome of Russia’s election may be a foregone conclusion, president Vladimir Putin will still be watching it closely for the signals it sends about his policies.
She writes:
If turnout and support flag in line with a generalised anxiety regarding how this war ever reaches a conclusion – particularly a war which is pitched as a never-ending conflict with the west – then it will look as though Putin has made a terrible mistake. This he cannot allow.
It is also a way of proving to those who might feel at the very least some disquiet about the course their country is taking, that they are in the minority.
For the majority in Russia, it is easier to stay passive, to go along with the Kremlin’s voracious messaging, to tick the boxes on all things including at the ballot box and to hope that Putin’s shiny new economic promises filter down their way.
Money in this militarised economy is flooding into regions which haven’t traditionally seen much of it by way of army salaries and payouts to soldiers’ families.
State-owned news agency RIA has reported on Telegram that Belgorod mayor’s office has denied rumours being spead about “closed polling stations”. It reports that if residents receive such calls it is a fraud.
State-owned news agency Tass reports that the Russian-installed head of the occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, has said that “more than half of the voters voted early” in the region, which has “noticeably decreased” what he described as “the risk of crowds of people directly at the polling stations”.
He is quoted as saying that “We are especially active tonight and in the morning with threats and false reports about impending terrorist attacks. The enemy is trying by any available means of disrupting and discrediting our elections.”
The all clear has sounded in Odesa after local media reports of earlier explosions.
More details soon …
Reuters reports that the Kremlin, commenting on French president Emmanuel Macron’s remarks about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, said that France was already involved in the war and had now signalled it was ready for deeper involvement.
Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer have this report on what a post-election Russia might look like:
As Russians go to the polls on Friday in an election with only one possible result, the Kremlin will claim a mandate for that war, enshrining Vladimir Putin’s bloodiest gamble as the country’s finest moment. The Russian leader has often succeeded by presenting his opponents with only bad and worse options; these elections are no different. Now convinced that he can outlast the west, Putin is seeking to wed Russia’s future, including an elite and a society that appear resigned to his lifelong rule, to the fate of his long war in Ukraine.
“You are dealing with the person who started this war; he’s already made a mistake of such a scale that he can’t ever admit it to himself,” a former senior Russian official told the Guardian. “And he can’t lose that war either. For him that would be the end of the world.
“We all – thanks to Putin – have been led into such a shitshow that there is no good outcome. The only options go from very bad to catastrophic,” he added. And if Putin begins to lose, the person added, then “we may all see the stars in the sky” – suggesting a potential nuclear war.
Read more from Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer here: A forever war, more repression, Putin for life? Russia’s bleak post-election outlook
One killed in Ukrainian shelling of Grayvoron in Russia's Belgorod region – governor
Regional governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has announced on Telegram that one person has been killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian city of Grayvoron in Belgorod region.
He wrote:
The city of Grayvoron came under fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There is a dead person. This is a participant in our territorial self-defence. He was one of its active participants – he repeatedly helped to evacuate civilians and ensure security in his native district.
At the time of the shelling, the man was on the street and received serious injuries incompatible with life. I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. This is a heavy loss for all residents of the Belgorod region.
Damage report: There is an arrival at the road surface in the city centre. Neighbouring retail buildings are hit. Seven private residential buildings, two garages and two cars received various damages.
Suspilne is continuing to report explosions in Odesa.
More details soon …
Here is what state-owned news agency Tass is reporting about border skirmishes and an attempted incursion into Belgorod by Ukrainian forces. It writes:
Up to 30 Ukrainian saboteurs and foreign mercenaries in two Mi-8 helicopters landed a kilometre from the Russian border at about 16:30 Moscow time on 14. The group moved towards Kozinka and went into several houses on the outskirts of the village.
When trying to advance further, the group was stopped by military and border guards. The area near Kozinka was remotely mined to prevent the approach of Ukrainian armed forces reserves.
During the retreat, some of the saboteurs tried to gain a foothold in one of the houses, while others entered a minefield, where they were destroyed. At the same time, Tornado multiple launch rocket systems eliminated a group of Ukrainian soldiers who had moved to evacuate the wounded and bodies of the dead.
Control over the village has been completely restored, and the area has been cleared.
Tass cited Russia’s ministry of defence for the report. The claims have not been independently verified.
It goes on to report, citing mayor of Belgorod, Valentin Demidov, that three people have been injured on 15 March due to Ukrainian shelling, and that 400 residents of three border villages in Belgorod have been evacuated due to Ukrainian shelling.
Ahead of the meeting today between Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron in Berlin, Tusk has posted to social media to say “True solidarity with Ukraine? Less words, more ammunition.”
True solidarity with Ukraine? Less words, more ammunition.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) March 15, 2024
Ukraine claims to have attacked a Russian oil refinery with drones
Ukraine attacked a Russian oil refinery in Kaluga region with drones early on Friday, causing damage in an operation that was conducted by the GUR military spy agency, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
Ukraine was checking the extent of the damage, the source said. The claims have not been independently verified.
Vladislav Shapsha, the Russian governor of Kaluga region, said earlier on Telegram messenger that air defences had shot down four drones in the area where the refinery is located and that there had been no infrastructure damage or casualties.
Kaluga region is to the south-west of Moscow region.
Russia's foreign intelligence director: Macron's idea of sending Nato troops into Ukraine 'crazy and paranoid dreams'
Sergei Naryshkin, chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, said on Friday that French president Emmanuel Macron’s remarks about the possibility of sending soldiers from Nato countries to Ukraine were “crazy and paranoid dreams”, Reuters reports
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, is reporting an explosion in Odesa. Regional governor Oleg Kiper has warned residents via Telegram to take shelter.
More details soon …
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
Europe could be at a 1942 moment where leaders realise that it is really imperative that Ukraine wins the war and do something to achieve that, the head of Estonian’s ministry of defence, Kusti Salm has said.
At a briefing with reporters in Brussels he said that the initiative of Emmanuel Macron, who is today meeting Olaf Scholz and Donald Tusk, could have a transformational effect on the war in Ukraine.
Referring to a meeting of 21 leaders in Paris two weeks ago after which Macron, unilaterally said sending troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out, Salm said:
It was first time when such a large group said that Ukraine needs to win the war. The European Council [of 27 EU member states] has never said it. But the change starts from the vision statement. And at some point, we get where this needs to be articulated. If we roll back history a little bit, then the change during the Second World War happened in 1942 when the UK and the US spelled out that Germany needed to be defeated.”
He said that was the pivotal moment when the allies went from ambiguity to a position of strength, a juncture Europe is now at.
He said the EU now needs not just to stand on the sidelines cheering for Ukraine but needs to develop a strategy and military plan to get Ukraine to victory.
The verbal support is there but that is not enough, he said.
“There is not a defence minister who hasn’t taken a selfie with Zelenskiy and said how crucial and how historical and all this is. Now it’s time to back these words with actual figures … big generational changes,” he added.
“We need to speak about it more about the realities. It doesn’t mean that Ukraine is going to lose, but it means the probability is getting uncomfortably high,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how we cast the room with all sorts of political arguments. The fact of the matter is that if Russia walks away with the understanding that they get what they want, then they’re not going to stop there.”
Reuters notes that more than 114 million Russians are eligible to vote, including in what Moscow prefers to call its “new territories” – the four regions of Ukraine that it has claimed to annexed but which its forces only partly control. Ukraine says the staging of elections there is illegal.
As a reminder, Vladimir Putin is not the only candidate. He is running against Communist Nikolai Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, and Vladislav Davankov of the New People party.
Two anti-war candidates, Boris Nadezhdin and Yekaterina Duntsova were barred from running by the electoral commission. Supporters of the late Alexei Navalny have called on people across Russia to protest by turning out to vote all at the same time at noon on Sunday in each of the country’s 11 time zones.
They have presented the “Noon against Putin” action as a way for people to express opposition without the risk of arrest, as they will be queueing up to vote legally. The Kremlin has warned people against taking part in unauthorised gatherings.
Russia claims to have arrested man in Moscow for assembling drones for Ukraine
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday that a Russian national had been detained in Moscow on suspicion of treason and had confessed to assembling and launching drones on behalf of Ukraine.
Reuters reports that in a statement, the FSB said that the man, whom it did not name, had “assembled and launched unmanned aerial vehicles to create false targets in the immediate vicinity of Russian defence ministry facilities.”
The Interfax news agency cited a video released by the FSB as saying that the man had worked for the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of armed pro-Ukrainian Russian exiles.
Belgorod governer: missile warning in place
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, has posted to the Telegram messaging app within the last twenty minutes to warn of an air alert. He wrote:
A missile warning siren has been launched in Belgorod and the Belgorod region. If you are at home, do not go near the windows. Take shelter in rooms without windows with solid walls. If you are outside, go to a shelter or other safe place.
Ukraine claims that Kursk and Belgorod in Russia are 'active combat zones'
Countering Russia’s claim to have thwarted cross-border attacks from Ukraine, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s GUR intelligence agency has said that Kursk and Belgorod regions inside Russia are “active combat zones”.
Andriy Yusov said on Ukrainian television:
Kursk and Belgorod regions are now an area of active combat actions. This is what we confirm. And as stated by the volunteers and rebels, we are talking about Russian citizens who, having no other options, are defending their civil right with arms against the Putin regime.
Updated
Russian election: 2.6 million people have voted early, including in Ukraine's occupied regions
Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the central election commission of the Russian Federation, has said more than 2.6 million people have voted early in Russia’s election, which will almost undoubtedly see president Vladimir Putin returned with a large share of the vote.
She said early voters included those in the four regions of Ukraine which the Russian Federation has claimed to annex – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Russia claims it thwarted Ukraine's attempt at a cross-border raid into Belgorod
Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to launch a cross-border attack on Russia’s Belgorod region on Thursday.
Reuters reports that in a statement, the ministry said that Ukraine had attempted to land forces by helicopters in Belgorod region, a frontier province that has come under regular attack in recent months.
The attempted incursions come as Russia votes in its presidential election over three days, with president Vladimir Putin almost certainly guaranteed to win.
Updated
Welcome and opening summary …
It has just gone 10am in Kyiv and 11am in Moscow. Russia begins its election today with Ukraine attempting to cause disruption ands confusion with cross-border raids. Here are the headlines …
Three pro-Ukrainian battalions made up of recruits from Russia have launched a fresh incursion into southern Russia in a cross-border raid meant to sow chaos before President Vladimir Putin’s widely expected re-election this weekend. The three armed groups of Russian exiled fighters, who operate closely with Ukraine’s military, said they had crossed the border into the southern Kursk and Belgorod regions. Russia said on Friday it had thwarted attempts to land troops by helicopter in Belgorod.
Russia is believed to have jammed the satellite signal on an aircraft used by the British defence minister, Grant Shapps, to travel from Poland back to the UK, a government source and journalists travelling with him said on Thursday. The GPS signal was interfered with for about 30 minutes while the plane flew close to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, they said. There was no danger to Shapps on the travelling aircraft, UK Defence sources said.
Russia and Ukraine downed enemy drones and rockets overnight to Friday as polling stations opened across Russia on the first day of voting in the presidential election. Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 27 Iranian-style drones – all of which it said it downed – as well as eight missiles at its territory overnight. Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted five Ukrainian drones and two rockets over the Belgorod border region and the Kaluga region, south-west of Moscow. Local officials said earlier that two people were killed and 12 wounded in Ukrainian missiles strikes over the Belgorod region.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed its troops killed 195 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed five tanks and four armoured infantry vehicles, two days after saying it killed 234 Ukrainian troops in another border assault. The claims were not independently verified.
Ukrainian drones attacked several oil refineries hundreds of kilometres from the frontline in Russian regions including Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad. The continuing strikes are part of a strategy to cause economic damage.
