Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Poland on Wednesday to strengthen ties with a neighbouring country that has played a big role in galvanising Western military and political support for Kyiv against Russia's full-scale invasion. His Polish counterpart said Warsaw was ready to send all its MiG-29 jets to Ukraine "in the future", provided Poland's NATO allies provided adequate security guarantees. Read our live blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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11:15pm: Zelensky aims for Western warplane coalition
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a trip to Warsaw on Wednesday that Poland would help form a coalition of Western powers to supply warplanes to Kyiv, adding that Ukrainian troops were still fighting for Bakhmut in the east but could withdraw if they risked being cut off.
Neighbouring Poland is a close ally of Ukraine and helped galvanise support in the West to supply main battle tanks to Kyiv. During Zelensky's visit, Poland announced it would send 10 more MiG fighter jets on top of four provided earlier.
8:16pm: Russian charged with war crimes says Ukrainian children can go home
Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova, who is being sought for war crimes for deporting children from Ukraine, told a UN meeting Wednesday that they were taken for their safety and Moscow is coordinating with international organisations to return them to their families.
Ambassadors from Western countries boycotted the informal UN Security Council meeting, sending low-level diplomats instead. Diplomats from the United States, Britain, Albania and Malta walked out when Lvova-Belova started to address the meeting by video link.
The International Criminal Court last month issued an arrest warrant for her and Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine.
Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month, called Wednesday's meeting to counter what it claims is disinformation about the Ukrainian children.
Lvova-Belova said there has been no official communication with Ukrainian authorities about the children, but she said her office has met with representatives of UNICEF, Refugees International and the International Committee of the Red Cross and “we provide all available information about the situation of children. ... Now we’re coordinating efforts with the Red Cross on reunification,” she said.
>> Read more: Mother Russia: Maria Lvova-Belova, the Putin ally deporting Ukrainian children
7:52pm: Ukrainian minister says situation at front 'completely under control'
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Wednesday that the situation at the front was "completely under control" despite repeated Russian attempts to take Bakhmut and other cities in eastern Ukraine.
Malyar wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian soldiers were repelling dozens of attacks a day around Bakhmut, Lyman, Avdiivka and Marinka.
7:35pm: Putin opens talks with Belarus leader, no public mention of Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko to Moscow on Wednesday for two days of talks, but in their opening public remarks both men steered clear of the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week the two leaders would discuss Lukashenko's call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Last month Putin said Russia would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
"I must say that we have done a lot as a result of our joint work in all areas," Putin told Lukashenko in comments broadcast by state television. "We will discuss all of this tomorrow - this applies to our cooperation in the international arena and jointly solving questions of ensuring the security of our states."
7:20pm: Church accused of Moscow ties expelled from two parishes in western Ukraine
A Ukrainian branch of the Orthodox church accused of ties with Russia was expelled from the premises of two places of worship on Wednesday amid rising public anger against the organisation 14 months into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The evictions come amid spiralling tensions between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) on one side and Ukraine's government and large parts of society on the other.
Kyiv accuses the UOC of preserving ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, which has supported Moscow's invasion. The UOC says it broke all associations with the Russian Church in May 2022.
In the village of Zadubrivka in the western Chernivtsi region, furious local residents forced their way in and evicted the UOC from the local church after they said priests refused to admit a funeral procession for a fallen soldier into the church, public broadcaster Suspilne reported.
In Lviv, worshippers gathered in the city's main UOC church to vote to transfer the church to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which is favoured by Kyiv and counts the majority of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine as members.
7:10pm: Fire at Russian defence ministry building in Moscow
A fire broke out at a building belonging to Russia's defence ministry in the centre of Moscow, the TASS news agency has reported, citing emergency services.
Footage shared by state media outlets on social media showed a small plume of black smoke rising from the defence ministry's headquarters in Moscow on Znamenka street, near the Kremlin.
There were no details on any casualties or the cause of the fire.
7:05pm: Russia says Ukrainian light aircraft 'crashed' in border region
Russia's FSB security service has detained a pilot of a Ukrainian light aircraft that crashed in the southern Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has said.
"The aircraft, for unknown reasons, crashed near the settlement of Butovsk in Bryansk region. The pilot (a citizen of Ukraine), who tried to escape to Ukrainian territory, was detained by a border patrol," the FSB was quoted as saying.
6:30pm: West helped Ukraine mount acts of sabotage, Putin claims
Russia's Vladimir Putin has charged that Western intelligence agencies helped Ukraine carry out acts of sabotage, urging his officials to mount a stronger response.
Putin spoke during a call with members of his Security Council that focused on efforts to shore up control of the four Ukrainian provinces that Russia claimed as part of its territory in September – a move that was rejected by most of the world as an illegal annexation.
“There are reasons to believe that the capabilities of third countries, Western special services, have been involved in preparation of acts of sabotage and terror attacks,” Putin said, without elaboration and without providing any evidence.
6:02pm: Poland pledges backing for Kyiv's NATO bid
Poland has reiterated its backing for Kyiv's NATO membership as Ukraine's leader visited Warsaw to thank Polish authorities for their steadfast support since Russia's invasion.
"Today we are trying to get for Ukraine... additional guarantees, security guarantees, which will strengthen Ukraine's military potential," Polish President Andrzej Duda said after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.
These guarantees are an "introduction to Ukraine's full membership in NATO," Duda added, saying Poland "firmly" supports Kyiv's bid to join the alliance.
Zelensky thanked Poland for supporting Kyiv's efforts to enter both the European Union and NATO, and for pledging to send Ukraine several MiG-29 fighter jets.
"I would like to convey to our partners, who are constantly looking for compromises on our way to NATO, that Ukraine will be uncompromising in this as well," Zelensky said. "I am grateful that Poland will be with us on this path."
5:30pm: Zelensky hints at withdrawal if Bakhmut troops risk encirclement
Ukrainian troops face a really difficult situation in Bakhmut and Kyiv will take "corresponding" decisions to protect them if they risk being cut off by Russian forces, President Zelensky has said on his visit to Poland.
The Ukrainian president said Kyiv's forces in Bakhmut sometimes advanced a little only to be pushed back by Russian forces, but that they remained inside the city. "We are in Bakhmut and the enemy does not control it," Zelensky said.
"For me, the most important is not to lose our soldiers and of course if there is a moment of even hotter events and the danger we could lose our personnel because of encirclement – of course the corresponding correct decisions will be taken by generals there," Zelensky said, appearing to hint at the possibility of a withdrawal.
Ukrainian military commanders have stressed the importance of holding Bakhmut and other towns and inflicting losses prior to the anticipated counteroffensive.
>> Read more: Western arms supplies ‘no guarantee’ of a decisive victory for Ukraine
4:55pm: Ireland to set up 'consultative forum' on military neutrality
Ireland's government will ask the public for their views on the country's tradition of military neutrality in a consultative forum, the foreign minister has said, in the latest sign of a possible shift in the wake of Russia's Ukraine invasion.
Foreign Minister Micheál Martin said the forum, which will be held in June in three different cities over four days, will focus on a range of security issues and allow for a discussion on the decades-old neutrality policy in the country, which is not a NATO member.
"The international security environment has changed significantly over the last year. We have seen blatant and brutal disregard by Russia of international law," Martin said in a statement.
"Ireland's commitment to a rules-based international order and our traditional policy of military neutrality do not inure us from the need to respond to this new reality," he added.
The forum will hear from security, defence and foreign policy experts, as well as political representatives, civil society, academics and other relevant bodies. Members of the public can attend and submit written submissions in advance.
4:15pm: Spain arrests two for smuggling military equipment to Russia
Spanish investigators say they have arrested a Ukrainian and a Russian on suspicion of smuggling military aeronautical equipment to Russia, in defiance of an EU embargo linked to the Ukraine war.
The two were arrested at separate locations in the northern Basque Country in an operation by police and customs investigators to stop an "imminent" shipment to Russia, an interior ministry statement said.
"The raid was launched to prevent the imminent dispatching from EU territory of equipment for the cockpits of military aircraft," it said, without saying when it happened.
Following a tip-off in June 2021, investigators discovered a network to supply military equipment to Moscow's aeronautical sector with a "profound knowledge of transportation logistics".
The network had designed a "sophisticated system of international customs documentation" that allowed it to ship goods "to countries not facing an embargo when in reality the destination was Russia", the ministry said.
3:30pm: Poland ready to send all MiG-29 jets to Ukraine 'in future'
Poland is ready to send all its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine "in the future", having already pledged 14 Soviet-made planes to Kyiv, President Andrzej Duda has said at a joint press conference with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.
"I think that in the future we will be able to transfer our whole remaining fleet of MiG-29 to Ukraine, if there is still such a need," Duda said of 28 MiG-29 jets in Poland's possession.
Duda said the move, however, would require a green light from NATO allies as the remaining fighter jets in Poland's possession had been "adapted to NATO standards".
"We'll still need some," he said, adding that Poland would be able to pass on its old MiG-29s to Ukraine as it receives new South Korean FA-50 fighter jets and US-made F-35 stealth jets on order.
The Polish leader said his country had provided four Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, four more were in the process of being handed over and another six were being prepared.
2:45pm: Putin tells US envoy Washington is responsible for Ukraine 'crisis'
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the incoming US ambassador Lynne Tracy that US support for the 2014 Maidan revolution in Ukraine led to the current situation in the war-torn country.
"Relations between Russia and the United States, from which global security and stability directly depend, are going through a deep crisis," Putin told the US envoy as he accepted her credentials.
Speaking at a Kremlin ceremony, the Russian leader also told the European Union's ambassador that relations between Russia and the bloc had "seriously degraded", and that the EU had initiated a "geopolitical confrontation" with Moscow.
Putin, whose unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has triggered crippling sanctions from the West, said Russia remained open to a constructive partnership with every country and would not isolate itself.
1:29pm: Sport of fencing in turmoil after Poles cancel World Cup event
The rebellion against the decision by the International Fencing Federation (FIE) to reintegrate Russians and Belarusians into the Olympic sport grew on Wednesday with the cancellation of the women's World Cup event in Poznan.
"We cannot organise this event under the FIE conditions" who "impose" the welcoming of Russian athletes, said Adam Konopka, vice president of the Polish Fencing Federation (PFSz), to AFP.
The cancellation of the Poznan round of the women's World Cup, which was scheduled for April 21-24, follows that of the one in Germany – the added significance being that both were to be qualifiers for next year's Paris Olympics.
There remain only three such events for qualifying standard to be reached.
1:12pm: Turkish foreign minister will discuss Ukraine war with Russia's Lavrov
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday that he will discuss developments in the Ukraine war with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during his visit to Turkey this week.
Speaking to reporters, Cavusoglu said Ankara is working with the United Nations to solve issues regarding grain and fertiliser exports via the Black Sea.
Cavusoglu also said he was concerned about the warring parties' preparations for further attacks.
12:56pm: Macron warns supporting 'aggressor' Russia makes one an 'accomplice'
French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday in Beijing that anyone helping "aggressor" Russia in the Ukraine conflict would become an "accomplice".
Speaking to journalists following his first speech in China after arriving for a three-day visit, Macron said: "We have decided since the beginning of the conflict to help the victim, and we have also made it very clear that anyone helping the aggressor would be an accomplice in breach of international law."
>> Read more: On China visit, Macron attempts diplomatic balancing act on Ukraine
10:44am: Macron says China can play ‘major role’ in bringing peace to Ukraine
China can play a “major role” in finding a “path to peace” in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech on Wednesday after landing in Beijing for the first day of a state visit.
The president said dialogue with China about the war in Ukraine was “indispensable” due to Beijing’s close relationship with Russia. “Speaking directly with China about this conflict, about Russian aggression … means engaging in a strategic relationship that can be more complex than what we would like to say in writing”, he added.
10:18am: Major Russian bank reports $7.7 billion loss due to sanctions
Russia's second-largest bank VTB, one of the first banks to be excluded from the SWIFT global payments system over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, reported on Wednesday a loss of 612.6 billion rubles ($7.7 billion) for 2022.
"In 2022 the VTB group faced unprecedented hardships and challenges ... We were the first target for the maximum sanctions possible, which led to significant losses," the bank's chief financial officer Dmitry Pianov said in a statement.
>> Read more: Starting to sting? Putin denounces sanctions as oil revenues contract
7:36am: Zelensky arrives in Poland, says Polish president's aide
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has crossed the border into Poland ahead of his official visit to the capital Warsaw, the Polish president's foreign policy adviser said on Wednesday. "I can say that President Zelensky has crossed the Polish border," Marcin Przydacz told private broadcaster TVN24.
Zelensky's visit to neighbouring Poland, a close ally that has played a big role in galvanising Western military and political support for Kyiv against Russia's invasion, comes as Ukraine plans a counteroffensive to recapture occupied land in its east and south.
Poland has taken in more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees over the past 13 months of war. The NATO member has also played an important role in persuading other Western powers to supply tanks and other weaponry to Ukraine.
7:26am: Ukrainian drone crashes near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
A Ukrainian drone has crashed near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Russia's RIA news agency cited a Russian officer as saying on Wednesday, as the chief of the global nuclear watchdog was expected in Russia for talks on the plant's security.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi was due to travel to Russia's Kaliningrad region on Wednesday, a week after visiting the Zaporizhzhia facility in southern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian forces.
4:33am: Macron and Biden discuss how to engage China in Ukraine peace
French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden discussed China in a phone call on Tuesday and how to engage Beijing in bringing an end to the war in Ukraine, the Élysée Palace said on Wednesday.
>> Read more: Biden and Macron speak about China's role in ending Ukraine war
Key developments from Tuesday, April 4:
Finland has formally joined the NATO military alliance in a historic policy shift for Helsinki brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, drawing a threat from Moscow of "countermeasures". Finland's accession roughly doubles the length of the border that NATO shares with Russia and bolsters the alliance's eastern flank as the war in Ukraine grinds on.
Russian investigators charged Darya Trepova, a 26-year-old resident of St Petersburg, with terrorist offences over the killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a bomb blast in that city, Russian news agencies reported. The charges carry a maximum jail term of 20 years. Investigators said Trepova had acted under instructions from people working on behalf of Ukraine.
>> Read our live blog for all of yesterday's developments as they unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
