The United Nations said Friday it was “deeply concerned” by what it described as summary executions of prisoners of war carried out by Russian and Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. Earlier in the day, Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev said Russian forces may have to advance as far as Kyiv or Lviv to destroy “infection” in Ukraine. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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10:23pm: Biden says China 'hasn't yet' delivered arms to Russia
US President Joe Biden on Friday said he believed China has not sent arms to Russia after President Vladimir Putin's forces invaded Ukraine.
"I don't take China lightly. I don't take Russia lightly," he told a news conference during a visit to Canada.
"I've been hearing now for the past three months (that) China is going to provide significant weapons to Russia... They haven't yet. Doesn't mean they won't, but they haven't yet."
5:09pm: Nordic countries plan joint air defence to counter Russian threat
Air force commanders from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said on Friday they have signed a letter of intent to create a unified Nordic air defence aimed at countering the rising threat from Russia.
The intention is to be able to operate jointly based on already known ways of operating under NATO, according to statements by the four countries' armed forces.
The move to integrate the air forces was triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, commander of the Danish air force, Major General Jan Dam, told Reuters.
"Our combined fleet can be compared to a large European country," Dam said
3:50pm: French DIY retailer Leroy Merlin to transfer ownership of Russian business
French DIY retailer Leroy Merlin, which employs 45,000 people in Russia, intends to hand over ownership of operations in the country to local management, its parent company ADEO said on Friday.
Leroy Merlin is owned by the Mulliez family, which is also behind French sporting goods chain Decathlon and food retailer Auchan, both of which continue to operate in Russia.
"We are starting the transfer process and have to submit the project to the relevant authorities in Russia," ADEO's head said, adding that the process may take many months to complete.
Western companies from McDonald's and Starbucks to Deutsche Bank and Shell have stepped back from Russia, under pressure from customers and their governments to inflict an economic price on Moscow for waging war on its neighbour.
2:32pm: Russia wants demilitarised buffer zones in Ukraine, says Putin ally
Russia wants to create demilitarised buffer zones inside Ukraine around areas it has annexed, an ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, saying it might be necessary to push deeper into Ukraine if such zones cannot be set up.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia needed demilitarised corridors around the areas it is claiming – and which Ukraine says it will never accept Russian control of.
"We need to achieve all the goals that have been set to protect our territories, that is the territories of the Russian Federation," Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said in an interview with Russian media posted on Telegram.
We need to "throw out all the foreigners who are there in the broad sense of the word, create a buffer zone which would not allow the use of any types of weapons that work at medium and short distances, that is 70-100 kilometres, to demilitarise it," Medvedev said
1:49pm: UN accuses Russia, Ukraine forces of ‘summary executions’ of prisoners
The United Nations said Friday it was “deeply concerned” by what it described as summary executions of prisoners of war carried out by Russian and Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.
The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, said her organisation had documented the killings of “up to 25 Russian prisoners of war” by Ukrainian armed forces as well as “the summary execution of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war shortly after being captured by Russian armed forces”.
11:53am: Ukraine revises death toll for overnight Russian strike in Donetsk region
Ukrainian emergency services has revised down the death toll of an overnight Russian strike in the Donetsk region, saying three and not five people were killed in the attack.
“Three people died and two people were injured as a result of the incident,” it said.
The strike occurred in the town of Kostyantynivka and hit a humanitarian support centre.
The emergencies service published images of a one-storey building with its roof caved in and debris all around. It said the victims included “three internally displaced women from Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar and Opytne” – nearby towns at the centre of the conflict.
Kostyantynivka is about 25 kilometres west of Bakhmut, an industrial city that has seen the longest and bloodiest battle of the Russian invasion.
11:42am: Kremlin says important to identify object found next to Nord Stream pipeline
The Kremlin on Friday said it was important to identify an object discovered next to one of the Nord Stream pipelines, and said the ongoing investigation into blasts that struck the pipelines last September must be conducted with full transparency.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters it was a positive sign that Denmark had invited the Russian-controlled operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to help salvage an unidentified object found close to the Baltic Sea pipelines. "It's certainly positive news when the owner of the pipeline is invited to take part in very important phases of the investigation," he said.
Last week, Danish authorities said a tubular object, protruding around 40 cm (16 inches) from the seabed and 10 cm in diameter, had been found during an inspection of the last remaining intact Nord Stream pipeline by its operator, Nord Stream 2 AG.
"It is critically important to determine what kind of object it is, whether it is related to this terrorist act – apparently it is – and to continue this investigation. And this investigation must be transparent," Peskov added.
Three of the four pipelines of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas links were hit in a still-unexplained explosion last September.
11:36am: Russia says use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine would harm the population
Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that the use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine would harm Ukrainian troops, the wider population and negatively affect the country's agriculture sector, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia reacted furiously to plans outlined by Britain earlier this week to send shells containing depleted uranium to Ukraine.
London says they are a conventional form of ammunition, while President Vladimir Putin said the move showed NATO members were sending weapons with a "nuclear component" to Kyiv.
11:29am: Russian wanted by US goes missing in Italy
The son of a senior Russian official arrested in Italy at Washington’s request disappeared the day after a court approved his extradition to the United States, media reports said.
Following his arrest at Milan Malpensa Airport on October 17, Artyom Uss was held at his residence near Milan but required to wear an electronic bracelet.
US authorities accuse Uss, the son of a Siberian governor, of having illegally sold US technologies to Russian arms companies.
On Tuesday, an Italian court agreed to his extradition to the United States – but the following day, he disappeared, media reports said. According to La Repubblica newspaper, police checked on Uss early Wednesday but around lunchtime his electronic bracelet sounded the alarm, and he has not been seen since
10:09am: 'We don't want direct conflict with NATO', says Russia's Medvedev
Russian ex-President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that Russia was not planning to enter into a direct conflict with NATO and was interested in resolving the Ukraine crisis through talks, the Interfax news agency reported.
However, he warned that any Ukrainian attempt to take the Crimean peninsula – which Moscow annexed in 2014 – would be grounds for Russia to use "absolutely any weapon" against Kyiv in response.
9:46am: Several civilians killed in overnight Russian attacks in northern and eastern Ukraine
Overnight Russian missile strikes and shelling killed at least seven civilians in northern and eastern Ukraine, regional officials said.
Emergency services said five civilians were killed in Kostiantynivka in the eastern region of Donetsk region, and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said two were killed and seven wounded following intense shelling of Bilopillia in the northern region of Sumy.
9:35am: Russian officer sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for desertation
A Russian security officer who fled the country because he objected to the invasion of Ukraine has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in high-security prison, the Taiga.info news website reported on Friday.
Federal Protective Service Major Mikhail Zhilin, 36, fled to Kazakhstan last year when Russia announced a conscription campaign, illegally crossing the border through woods while his wife and children drove through a checkpoint. Zhilin sought refugee status in the former Soviet republic but his request was denied and authorities there stopped him from leaving for Armenia.
Kazakhstan handed him over to Russia late last year, leading to the rare conviction of an officer for desertion.
According to Taiga.info, a court in the city of Barnaul found Zhilin, who had worked on communications at a security facility in Siberia, guilty of deserting and illegal border crossing and, in addition to the prison term, stripped him of his officer rank.
7:19am: Russian forces may advance to Kyiv or Lviv, Medvedev says
Russian forces may have to advance as far as Kyiv or Lviv in Ukraine to “destroy this infection”, the country’s former president Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Russian news agencies.
“Nothing can be ruled out here. If you need to get to Kyiv, then you need to go to Kyiv, if to Lviv, then you need to go to Lviv in order to destroy this infection,” RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, as saying.
1:47am: Ukraine prepares counteroffensive
Ukrainian troops will soon counterattack as Russia’s offensive looks to be faltering, a commander said, noting Russia’s Wagner mercenaries “are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam”.
“Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” Kyiv’s ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a social media post.
There was no immediate response from Moscow to suggestions its forces in Bakhmut were losing momentum, but Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin issued statements in recent days warning of a Ukrainian counterassault.
On Monday, Prigozhin published a letter to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, saying Ukraine aimed to cut off Wagner’s forces from Russia’s regular troops.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP and AP)
