Ukraine's military said Russian troops had killed at least 14 civilians and injured 15 more on Tuesday during mass attacks in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the focus of Moscow's latest offensive in its three-month-old invasion of Ukraine. Follow FRANCE 24's liveblog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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10:56pm: 'Helping the men fight by supporting women and children'
"We don't know exactly what's going on on the ground and the Ukrainians we have here in France have a lot of questions about their families -- 'are the men ok?' -- and they need answers," said Lydia Meyronnet, head of Care 4 Ukraine. "Obviously we can't have all the answers for them but we're definitely helping the men fight by supporting women and children."
10:14pm: Situation in Ukraine's Luhansk worse 'with every hour', governor says
The governor of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region said Tuesday that the situation there was worsening "with every hour" as advancing Russian troops seize more territory and seek to "completely destroy" a key city.
"The situation is very difficult and unfortunately it is only getting worse. It is getting worse with every day and even with every hour," Governor Sergiy Gaidai said in a video on Telegram. "Shelling is increasing more and more. The Russian army has decided to completely destroy Severodonetsk."
10:05pm: Soros says 'civilization may not survive' Ukraine war
US billionaire George Soros warned Tuesday that "civilization may not survive" Russia's invasion of Ukraine but said Europe could have a stronger position against Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding gas than it realises.
In his traditional dinner speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos, the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist said the war has "shaken Europe to its core".
"The invasion may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilization may not survive it," Soros said.
"We must mobilise all our resources to bring the war to an early end. The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible," he said.
9:41pm: Ukraine says at least 14 civilians killed in Russian attacks Tuesday in east
Ukraine's military said Russian troops had killed at least 14 civilians and injured 15 more on Tuesday during mass attacks in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the focus of Moscow's latest offensive.
In a Facebook post it said Russian troops had used aircraft, multiple rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars and missiles in their assault on the two regions.
9:24pm: US to end Russia's ability to pay international investors
The US will close the last avenue for Russia to pay back its billions in debt to international investors on Wednesday, making a Russian default for the first time since the Russian Revolution all but inevitable.
The treasury department said in a notification that it does not plan to renew the licence to allow Russia to keep paying its debtholders through American banks.
Since the first rounds of sanctions, the department has given banks a licence to process any bond payments from Russia. That window expires at midnight on May 25.
8:19pm: Blinken says Navalny appeal loss shows Russia wants to 'suppress dissent'
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Russia was seeking to "suppress dissent" in throwing out an appeal by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
"The denial of Navalny's appeal is another example of the Kremlin's quest to suppress dissent and civil society," Blinken wrote on Twitter.
"We respect the brave citizens of Russia who protest their government's brutal war and endemic corruption, despite threats, criminal charges, detentions and poisonings."
7:56pm: Last 24 hours 'extremely hard' for Ukrainian forces in Donbas
"The last 24 hours have been extremely hard for Ukrainian forces here in the Donbas; today they had to retreat from several positions," FRANCE 24's Gwendoline Debono reported from Druzhivka in eastern Ukraine. "Tonight Russian troops control new villages and [the] pressure, this military pressure from Russia, is extremely hard to contain for the Ukrainian defenders."
7:22pm: Russian parliament passes bill allowing Moscow to close Western news bureaus
Russia's parliament on Tuesday passed a bill giving prosecutors powers to shut foreign media bureaus in Moscow if a Western country has been "unfriendly" to Russian media, following the closure of some Russian state news outlets in the West.
The bill, passed in the first reading by the lower house of parliament, or Duma, also prohibits the distribution of articles or other materials from media that have been closed by the prosecutor's office. It needs to undergo two more readings, be reviewed by the upper house of parliament, and signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law.
The journalists of a media organisation deemed to be an offender under the bill would have their foreign ministry accreditation withdrawn – meaning they could not work in Russia.
7:09pm: Russia takes control of Donetsk region town of Svitlodarsk, governor says
Russian forces have taken control of three Donetsk region towns including Svitlodarsk, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told a local affiliate of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russia-backed self-declared Donetsk People's Republic said in a post on the Telegram messaging service that its forces had taken control of the town and replaced the Ukrainian flag with a Russian flag.
Svitlodarsk is 80 kilometers southwest of Severodonetsk, the focus of Russian attacks in recent days.
7:07pm: 'Fatigue with war' in Kyiv
"From what I felt, there was this real sense of sort of fatigue with the war; [...] in the confines of Kyiv, there is a semblance of normal life, or at least people are trying to make it feel like normal life," said FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih, recently returned from reporting in Ukraine.
7pm: Hungary announces 'state of danger' over war in Ukraine
Hungary has declared a legal “state of danger” in response to Russia's war in neighboring Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced Tuesday, allowing the right-wing nationalist government to take special measures without the participation of the legislature.
In a video on social media, Orban said that the war in Ukraine represents “a constant threat to Hungary” which was “putting our physical security at risk and threatening the energy and financial security of our economy and families”.
In response, he said, a “war state of danger” would take effect beginning Wednesday, allowing the government “to respond immediately and protect Hungary and Hungarian families by any means possible”.
6:56pm: 'Bucha can be described as positively bustling'
"I was in Bucha this morning and, really, almost as much as Kyiv right now, Bucha can be described as positively bustling: Shops are open, people are in the streets, people said that every day there are more people who are coming home," FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reported from Kyiv.
6:21pm: Germany and Poland discussed promise of replacement tanks for Warsaw, German FM says
Germany has rejected suggestions that it is reneging on a promise to provide Poland with tanks to make up for those that Warsaw has delivered to Ukraine.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told German broadcaster Welt that he was “very disappointed” Berlin had not fulfilled its promise on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Poland.
Speaking after a meeting with her Polish counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the issue had been discussed in order to resolve "misunderstandings”.
5:30pm: EU suspends import duties on Ukrainian goods
EU ministers on Tuesday agreed to suspend import duties on all products from Ukraine in a bid to help the country's battered economy survive Russia's military assault.
European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the suspension was a temporary measure that "will make it easier for Ukraine to continue trading in the face of Russia's aggression and will provide overall support to the Ukrainian economy".
Bilateral trade between the EU and Ukraine, an agricultural export powerhouse, accounted for €52 billion of trade last year, according to the EU executive.
5:04pm: Russian military campaign in most active phase, Ukraine says
Russia's military campaign in Ukraine has entered its most active phase, Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said on Tuesday.
Three months after invading Ukraine, Russian forces are trying to encircle Ukrainian troops in twin cities straddling the Siverskyi Donets River in eastern Ukraine. Motuzyanyk said Russian forces had not given up attempts to cross the river.
4:25pm: Eighty-two percent of Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions, poll says
Eighty-two percent of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should not sign away any of its territories as part of a peace deal with Russia under any circumstances, according to a new survey by one of the country's top pollsters.
In the poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology between May 13-18 and released on Tuesday, 82 percent of respondents said they did not support territorial concessions, even if it prolonged the war and increased the threat to Ukraine's independence.
3:53pm: Russia bars entry to 154 members of British House of Lords
Russia's foreign ministry on Tuesday announced that it was imposing an entry ban on 154 members of the UK parliament's House of Lords in retaliation for sanctions against Russian senators over Ukraine.
"In response to a decision taken in March by the British government to put almost all Russia's Federation Council members on a sanctions list, on a reciprocal basis, personal sanctions are being introduced against 154 members of the House of Lords," the ministry said in a statement.
3:25pm: EU proposes to make seizing assets easier, including of sanctioned oligarchs
The EU Commission wants to make it easier to confiscate assets linked to serious illegal activities and suspected criminals, including those evading European Union sanctions against the Kremlin, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
The legislative proposal, due to be published on Wednesday and still subject to changes, is aimed at addressing a longstanding weakness in the EU, where many states lack sufficiently robust legal frameworks to seize criminal assets, making it easier for criminals to hide their resources and benefit from illegal activities.
The war in Ukraine has further exposed this weakness, as many states are struggling to freeze assets of people sanctioned by the EU for their ties to the Kremlin – and many more lack legal powers to confiscate frozen assets.
3:21pm: Putin 'miscalculated' Ukrainian, international response to invasion
Three months after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, "it certainly has not been the success that Vladimir Putin expected it to be and hoped it to be when he launched what he called the 'special military operation'", said FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Philip Turle. "He thought then that his soldiers were going to be welcomed in with open arms into what was a former Soviet state, that the war would last for three days and that he would easily overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky."
"Nothing could have been further from the truth," Turle continued. "I think he miscalculated the resistance of the Ukrainians; I think he miscalculated the coming together of the international community."
2:49pm: 'At least three or four funerals a day' in Kharkiv in earlier stages of the war
"It was incredibly intense," FRANCE 24 senior journalist Catherine Norris-Trent said about her recent time in the outskirts of Kharkiv. "
"Since the early stages of the war, Russian forces had been pounding Kharkiv; really hitting the city centre," Norris-Trent said. "But in March and April those bombs were still hitting the northern, the eastern outskirts of the city day and night, very hard, often in civilian areas. And there were lots of losses every single day -- at least three or four funerals a day taking place in each of the cemeteries in the city we visited."
2:14pm: Finland, Sweden to send teams to Turkey to discuss NATO bids
Finland and Sweden will send delegations to Ankara on Wednesday to try to resolve Turkish opposition to their applications for membership of the NATO military alliance, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Tuesday.
Ankara's objections have put the brakes on what Sweden and Finland hoped would be a quick accession process as the two countries look to shore up their security following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We understand that Turkey has some of their own security concerns vis-a-vis terrorism," Haavisto said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We think that these issues can be settled. There might be also some issues that are not linked directly to Finland and Sweden but more to other NATO members."
1:44pm: Navalny loses appeal against nine-year sentence
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday lost his legal appeal against a nine-year prison sentence that he and his allies condemn as politically motivated.
His sentencing came as Moscow pushes on with its military offensive in neighbouring Ukraine and Russian authorities seek to silence remaining government critics.
A Moscow court ruled to "leave the sentence without changes" and for it to enter into force immediately, meaning that the leader of Russia's embattled opposition will be transferred to a strict-regime penal colony with harsh conditions, including few family visits.
1:31pm: Bucha ‘bustling with life’ as some residents return home
Reporting from Bucha, a Kyiv satellite city where Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces committed mass atrocities during the occupation, FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg says life is returning to the city.
"It's an astonishing contrast” to the scenes in Bucha in early April, when Russian troops withdrew from western Ukraine, leaving behind the wreckage and trauma of war.
1:14pm: 200 bodies found in Mariupol building rubble
Workers digging through rubble have found 200 bodies in Mariupol, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The bodies found in the basement of a collapsed apartment building were in a state of decomposition and a stench permeated the neighbourhood, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the city's mayor.
Mariupol has endured some of the worst suffering of the war and became a worldwide symbol of defiance for the months-long resistance put up by Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal steelworks.
11:14am: Sweden, Finland to attend the June NATO summit: Spain's PM
Sweden and Finland will attend the NATO summit in Madrid next month, said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Finland and Sweden said they have been spurred into joining NATO by Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, reversing generations of military non-alignment.
The NATO summit will be held in Madrid on June 28-30.
10:45am: ‘Large part’ of Russian artillery, air defence systems currently in Donbas
Reporting from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in the Donbas region, FRANCE 24’s Gwendoline Debono says Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the area. Their main objective is the city of Severodonetsk, where Russian troops destroyed a critical bridge a few days ago. But the morale of Ukrainian defenders remains high, says Debono.
10:03am: Poland to order six more Patriot missile batteries
Poland intends to buy six additional Patriot missile batteries, according to Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak.
Poland has been boosting its military capacity after Russia invaded Ukraine. Warsaw has vowed to raise its defence spending to three percent of GDP and more than double the size of its army.
"I signed a Letter of Request concerning six Patriot batteries with omnidirectional radars, launchers and a supply of missiles," Blaszczak said on Twitter.
Poland already has two Patriot batteries, which are US-made and therefore compatible with NATO systems.
09:38am: In Chernobyl, people recount 'terrible stories of abuses, of rape'
“It all started here three months ago,” explains FRANCE 24’s Cyril Payen, reporting near a power plant in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernobyl. “At dawn, 4am, three months ago, hour by hour, Russian units crossed the border from Belarus.”
Chernobyl was also one of the first places to be liberated after Russian troops withdrew from western Ukraine after failing to take the capital.
Three months later, people in Chernobyl are recounting “terrible stories of abuses, of rape, of disappearances” that occurred during the Russian advance, says Payen.
08:01am: 'Strong views' on invasion at Quad meeting: Australian PM
Australia's new prime minister, Antony Albanese, has said "strong views" were expressed on Russia at the Quad leaders meeting in Tokyo.
The grouping known as the Quad includes Australia, Japan, the US and India. US President Joe Biden, who is attending the meeting, has been pushing for a coordinated response to the Ukraine invasion, but India has maintained a neutral stance.
Speaking to reporters after the Quad meeting, Albanese said Russia's "unilateral" attack on the people of Ukraine was an outrage. "Strong views were expressed in the meeting," he said.
07:39am: In occupied Kherson, discontent on display during organised press tour
At a water treatment plant in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, a worker offers a curt visit of the premises. “I was told to give a tour. So, we are giving a tour. Here is where we stock things,” she says, pointing to a closet. “There is a dryer there,” she continues tersely before moving to the next room.
Russian forces took control of the Kherson region, which borders the Donetsk region to the east and Crimea to the south, early in the war and have installed a pro-Kremlin administration.
Protests have broken out in Kherson city, the regional capital, against the invasion of Ukraine. But on an organised press tour three months after the launch of the invasion, residents selected to speak to the press are tight lipped about their situation – mostly.
05:00am: Ukraine's Zelensky urges allies to pressure Moscow on prisoner swap
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Monday that Kyiv was ready for an exchange of prisoners with Russia "even tomorrow" and called on his allies to put pressure on Moscow.
"The exchange of people - this is a humanitarian matter today and a very political decision that depends on the support of many states," Zelensky said in a question-and-answer video link with audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"It is important ... to pressure politically on any level, through powerful business, through the closure of businesses, oil embargo ... and through these threats actively intensify the exchange of our people for Russian servicemen."
"We do not need the Russian servicemen, we only need ours," Zelensky said. "We are ready for an exchange even tomorrow."
Zelensky said that Ukraine has involved the United Nations, Switzerland, Israel and "many, many countries", but the process was very complicated.
Several thousand people are in captivity after Russia captured the port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine and as a result of the battle in the eastern Donbas region, he said.
12:05am: US still 'a ways away' from sending troops back into Ukraine, says general
The United States is still "a ways away" from any possible decision on whether to re-introduce U.S. troops into Ukraine, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Monday, even as he acknowledged low-level planning underway.
President Joe Biden decided to withdraw American troops from Ukraine before Russia's Feb. 24 invasion in order to avoid a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary.
But changing circumstances including a reopening of the U.S. embassy have raised questions about whether US troops may be required to return to help ensure security of diplomats in a country at war.
At a news conference, Milley acknowledged some degree of staff planning ahead of a potential decision to send US troops back into Ukraine. That planning hasn't made it to his level for review or to the level of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Then, ultimately, it would be up to Biden.
"At the end of the day, any reintroduction of US forces into Ukraine would require a presidential decision. So we're a ways away from anything like that," Milley said.
"We're still developing courses of action, and none of that's been presented yet to the Secretary."
10:56pm: Russia not sure it needs resumed ties with West, will work on ties with China, Lavrov says
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow will consider offers of re-establishing ties with the West and think about whether that is needed, but will focus on developing ties with China.
"If they (the West) want to offer something in terms of resuming relations, then we will seriously consider whether we will need it or not," Lavrov said in a speech, according to a transcript on the foreign ministry's website.
He also said Moscow's goal now is to further develop ties with China.
"Now that the West has taken a 'dictator's position', our economic ties with China will grow even faster," Lavrov said.
9:53pm: German economy minister expects EU embargo on Russian oil 'within days'
The EU will likely agree an embargo on Russian oil imports "within days", German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told broadcaster ZDF on Monday.
Habeck warned that an embargo would not automatically weaken the Kremlin as rising prices were enabling it to rake in more income while selling lower volumes of oil. Therefore, one consideration was to no longer pay "any price" for oil, but to agree on upper limits, he said. For that to work, however, many countries would have to get on board.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
