The Kremlin has said peace talks between Russia and Ukraine may get under way in Turkey on Tuesday, adding that it is important the discussions are held face-to-face despite scant progress in negotiations so far.
The billionaire Roman Abramovich and a Ukrainian peace negotiator suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning earlier this month, according to a source with direct knowledge of the incident. Abramovich was taking part in informal peace negotiations in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early in March when he began to feel ill, the source told the Guardian. Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov was also part of the negotiation.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, used a video interview with independent Russian media outlets to signal his willingness to discuss having Ukraine adopt a “neutral status”, and also make compromises about the status of the eastern Donbas region, in order to secure a peace agreement with Russia. But he said he was not willing to discuss Ukrainian demilitarisation, and that Ukrainians would need to vote in a referendum to approve their country adopting a neutral status.
Ukraine is not willing to sacrifice its “territorial integrity”, Alexander Rodnyansky, a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president, said. He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme that “now the pressure is on Russia” and suggested that a “more concrete” version of the “Budapest memorandum” – which gave Ukraine security assurances – would be necessary to secure peace.
Ukrainian forces have seized back full control of the town of Irpin, a few miles from Kyiv, the local mayor said. Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said Irpin had been “liberated” and that Russian soldiers were “offering to surrender”. The information could not immediately be verified.
Ukraine’s economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said the war has so far cost Ukraine $564.9bn (£429.3bn) in terms of damage to infrastructure, lost economic growth and other factors. Eight thousand kilometres (4,970 miles) of roads and 10m sq metres of housing have been damaged or destroyed as a result of fighting, she said in an online post.
President Zelenskiy accused Russian authorities of disrespect towards the families of their own dead soldiers. Criticising Moscow for not agreeing on a scheme to have the remains of those killed in action returned to Russia, Zelenskiy claimed the Kremlin was affording less respect to those killed during its invasion of Ukraine than is usually given to dead pets.
Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last remaining independent news outlets, has said it will suspend operations after it received a second warning from the state censor for allegedly violating the country’s “foreign agent” law. The warning came a day after its editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, spoke with Zelenskiy in a group interview with Russian journalists that was quickly banned by the state media watchdog, Roskomnadzor.
Russia’s foreign affairs minister, Sergei Lavrov, appears to have ruled out any direct meetings between Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy, saying it would be counterproductive at this point.
The southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe and must be evacuated, its mayor has warned. Vadym Boichenko said about 160,000 civilians were trapped in the city without power.
Ukraine has no plans to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from besieged cities on Monday because of intelligence reports warning of possible Russian “provocations” along the routes, the deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence released its latest intelligence report, claiming there had been “no significant change” to Russian forces’ dispositions in Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russian investigators would look into a video circulating on social media that purported to show Ukrainian forces mistreating captured Russian soldiers. He also said Biden’s comments that Putin could not remain in power were a cause for concern.
Schools in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, will reopen today via remote learning online.
The UK government’s Cabinet Office has issued a procurement policy note for public sector organisations holding contracts with Russian or Belarusian suppliers, urging them to investigate where they can cancel contracts.
The UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said he had no doubt that Russia had carried out war crimes in Ukraine.
