Summary
That’s all from our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for today. In case you missed anything, here’s a quick round-up of all the latest developments.
The US president, Joe Biden, has said Ukraine is “not ready” for Nato membership. Speaking to CNN, he said Nato needed to “lay out a rational path” that Ukraine could follow in order to join the bloc, but that it would take time before the country met “all the qualifications – from democratisation to a whole range of other issues”.
The comments come as the leaders of Nato’s member states prepare to gather for a summit in Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
The Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Olha Stefanishyna, has said that, if Ukraine is not invited to join Nato, it would have to “reconsider its strategy” and work to obtain more security guarantees.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been in the north-western Ukrainian city of Lutsk for talks with the Polish president, Andrzej Duda. Writing on Twitter, he said the pair had a “brief but very substantive discussion” about the Vilnius summit and “agreed to work together to get the best possible result for Ukraine”.
Ukrainian forces are “making progress” around the eastern city of Bakhmut, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, has said. Russian forces captured Bakhmut in May after months of heavy fighting, but are thought to be struggling to maintain control of it.
A 66-year-old woman is being treated for concussion after Russian forces shelled a residential area in the southern city of Kherson, according to local authorities.
The financial secretary to the Treasury, Victoria Atkins, has reiterated the UK government’s opposition to sending cluster munitions to Ukraine. Speaking to Sky News, she said the UK had “signed the convention that prohibits their use and discourages their use. Of course we stick by that convention.”
It comes after the US announced it would provide Ukraine with the weapons. Cluster munitions are the subject of an international convention prohibiting their use, although none of the US, Ukraine or Russia are signatories.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, also said on Sunday that cluster munitions were not the “appropriate weapons” to provide. She said Ukraine needed to be “properly armed to fight Russia and their illegal invasion” but that cluster bombs “can have an impact, not just on the battlefield that time, on that day, but for months and years afterwards”.
President Biden is expected to land in the UK late on Sunday for meetings with the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, as well as King Charles, ahead of the Vilnius summit.
Updated
Ukraine ‘not ready for Nato membership’, says Biden
Ukraine is “not yet ready” to become a member of Nato, the US president, Joe Biden, has said.
Speaking to CNN, he said Nato needed to “lay out a rational path” that Ukraine could follow in order to join the bloc, but added: “Nato is a process that takes some time to meet all the qualifications – from democratisation to a whole range of other issues.”
He also said it would be difficult to get unanimous support for Ukraine’s ascension among the bloc’s existing members while the war is ongoing and that calls for a vote on the issue in the near future were “premature”.
He added that, while Ukraine worked to meet the criteria for membership, the US could provide military aid similar to the support it has long provided to Israel.
The question of whether to offer Nato membership to Ukraine is expected to be high on the agenda when the bloc’s leaders gather for a summit in Lithuanian capital Vilnius this week.
EXCLUSIVE: Biden says Ukraine is not yet ready for NATO membership, saying the war with Russia must end before the alliance can consider adding Kyiv to its ranks. https://t.co/2M6TRh9viK pic.twitter.com/KQROXXe3qc
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 9, 2023
Updated
A woman has been injured by Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson, the regional governor has said.
Writing on Telegram, Oleksandr Prokudin said the shelling hit a residential area at around 1pm on Sunday.
He said a 66-year-old woman had suffered a head injury and been diagnosed with concussion but that her life was not in danger.
Ukraine will have to “reconsider its strategy” and work to obtain more security guarantees if it is not invited to join Nato at the bloc’s upcoming summit in Vilnius, Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Olha Stefanishyna, has said.
The country has repeatedly asked to be granted membership of Nato, but a number of the bloc’s members – most notably the United States – have so far been reluctant to promise it will be allowed to join.
Speaking to European Pravda, Stefanishyna said the outcome of discussions of the issue in Vilnius would set in motion a “large number of processes related to strategic planning, defence aid, defence planning, questions related to the transformation of [Ukraine’s] security and defence sector, priorities in cooperation with allies, and the content of security guarantees”.
She said that if Nato membership is ruled out or no decision is made, then “the focus will shift” and “security guarantees become the priority”.
Updated
Ukrainian forces 'making progress' near Bakhmut, says general
Ukrainian forces are “making progress” around the eastern city of Bakhmut, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces has said.
Writing on Telegram, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said “the defence forces continue to advance, and the enemy is trapped in places”.
Russian forces captured Bakhmut in May after months of heavy fighting, but are thought to be struggling to maintain control of it.
In an intelligence update on 8 July, the UK Ministry of Defence said Ukrainian forces had “made steady gains to the north and south” of the city.
It added that Russia’s leadership would “almost certainly see it as politically unacceptable to concede Bakhmut” but “there are highly likely few additional reserves to commit to the sector”.
Updated
The time is 6pm in Kyiv here is a summary of events so far.
Five former commanders of the garrison in Mariupol have returned to Ukraine from Turkey, being welcomed home at a ceremony in the western city of Lviv. They returned from Istanbul by plane with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
UK shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said cluster munitions are not the “appropriate weapons” to send to Ukraine. “While I support President Biden’s desire to ensure Ukraine is fully armed to fight Russia, I am not convinced that these are the appropriate weapons.”
Victoria Atkins, financial secretary to the Treasury has said the UK government maintains its position on the ban on the use of cluster bombs.
Allies arming Ukraine are “uncomfortable” with President Biden’s plans to send Kyiv cluster munitions, Lord Ricketts, a former senior UK diplomat has said.
The decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine “crosses the line” and risks costing the US its “moral leadership” in international affairs, the influential California congresswoman Barbara Lee has said.
The meeting between Joe Biden and UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has been partially overshadowed by the US president’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.
Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, has urged Ukraine not to use cluster bombs, adding the “real victims will be Ukrainians”.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he and Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, have agreed to work together to achieve the “best possible result” for Ukraine. The pair marked the anniversary of massacres of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during the second world war at a religious service in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk on Sunday.
Russian media outlets “were almost certainly initially surprised” by the Wagner mutiny last month and were “not prepared”, the UK Ministry of Defence has tweeted in its latest intelligence update.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the leaders of Nato should discuss Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant at their summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week.
President Zelenskiy has praised the “strength, glory and courage” of Ukrainians. “I am proud of all of them, grateful to each of them, we remember our heroes.”
Latvia’s long-serving foreign minister, known for his tough line on neighbouring Russia and strong support for Ukraine, was sworn in on Saturday as the Baltic nation’s president for a four-year term.
Eight people were killed and 13 injured on Saturday in Lyman in eastern Ukraine after the town came under Russian rocket fire, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. “So far we know about eight dead ... The number of injured has increased to 13 people,” the ministry said on social media.
Russian officials said one missile was shot down over the annexed Crimean peninsula and three over Russia’s Rostov and Bryansk regions that border Ukraine.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has reiterated that the UK is signatory to a convention that prohibits cluster munitions, after the US agreed to supply Ukraine with the controversial weapons. “We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion, but we’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and, most recently, long-range weapons,” Sunak said.
Mercenary fighters of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group are preparing to move to Belarus under the terms of a deal that defused their mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, a senior commander of the group was quoted as saying.
The departure of hundreds of Russian Wagner troops from the Central African Republic is part of a rotation of forces rather a withdrawal, a spokesperson for country’s presidency said on Saturday.
Poland has begun moving more than 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid rising concern in the Nato member that the presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has visited Snake Island, which became a symbol of his country’s defiance early in the war after Ukrainian soldiers there refused to surrender to Russian forces, to mark 500 days since the invasion.
The Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, discussed the Black Sea grain deal and Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a phone call, Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Sunday.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog chief said it was “making progress” on inspecting several areas of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after Ukraine claimed that “external objects similar to explosive devices” had been placed on rooftops at the site. UN officials said they had “not seen any indications of explosives or mines” while touring the cooling ponds and other areas, but have yet to visit the facility’s rooftops.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that next month’s BRICS summit, which Vladimir Putin has been invited to, will be held in-person despite an arrest warrant on the Russian leader.
The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said that next month’s BRICS summit, to which Vladimir Putin has been invited, will be held in-person despite an arrest warrant on the Russian leader.
“The BRICS summit is going ahead and we are finalising our discussions on the format,” Ramaphosa told journalists on the sidelines of a conference by the ruling ANC, adding it would be a “physical” meeting.
He did not say if Putin – who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over accusations that Russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian children – would attend or not, Agence France-Presse has reported.
As a member of the ICC, South Africa would be expected to arrest Putin if he sets foot in the country.
South Africa has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying it is impartial and prefers dialogue.
Updated
Providing cluster bombs to Ukraine "crosses the line", influential California congresswoman says
The decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine “crosses the line” and risks costing the US its “moral leadership” in international affairs, the influential California congresswoman Barbara Lee said.
“We know what takes place in terms of cluster bombs being very dangerous to civilians,” Lee said. “They don’t always immediately explode. Children can step on them. That’s a line we should not cross.”
In 2001, Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the war in Afghanistan. She is running to replace the retiring Dianne Feinstein in the Senate next year.
Speaking to CNN’s State of the Union, she added: “I think [Joe Biden] has been doing a good job managing … Putin’s aggressive war against Ukraine, but I think that this should not happen. [Biden] had to ask for a waiver under the Foreign Assistance Act just to do it because we have been preventing the use of cluster bombs since I believe 2010.”
Read the full report here.
The Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, discussed the Black Sea grain deal and Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a phone call, Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Sunday.
Moscow has been threatening to quit the deal allowing the safe export of grain and fertilizer from Ukrainian ports because several demands to dispatch its own grain and fertiliser have not been met. The deal expires on 17 July, Reuters reported.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday that he was pressing Russia to extend the deal, brokered last year by Ankara and the United Nations, by at least three months.
Updated
There’s been a further update on missiles reportedly shot down on Sunday by Russian air defence systems.
Russian officials said one was shot down over the annexed Crimean peninsula and three over Russia’s Rostov and Bryansk regions that border Ukraine.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk, wrote on Telegram that the Russian military had shot down two Ukrainian missiles, Reuters reported.
A sawmill was totally destroyed as result of one of the missiles falling, Bogomaz said.
Updated
Missile reportedly shot down over annexed Crimean peninsula, says Russia
More on the reported missile shot down on Sunday over the annexed Crimean peninsula.
The Russia-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that a cruise missile was shot down near the city of Kerch on the Crimean peninsula, without inflicting any damage or casualties.
Local officials said traffic movement on the Crimean Bridge that links the peninsula to the Russian mainland was restored after an apparent suspension, Reuters reported.
No reason for the traffic halt was given.
Russian officials said another missile was shot down, this time over Russia’s southern Rostov region that also borders Ukraine.
In this incident, air defence shot down a Ukrainian missile in Russia’s Rostov region, the city’s governor, Vasily Golubev, said on Telegram.
Golubev wrote:
There were no casualties. The debris partially damaged the roofs of several buildings.
Updated
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Joe Biden will meet King Charles for the first time since the coronation in a fleeting visit that will be used by Rishi Sunak and the US president as a “pre-meeting” ahead of joint efforts at this week’s Nato summit.
However, the sixth meeting between the pair since Sunak took office in October has been partially overshadowed by the US president’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, weapons that are prohibited by 100 countries including the UK, which currently holds the presidency of a convention banning them.
Sunak has a choice about how much to make of the difference when Biden visits Downing Street on Monday morning, but it is likely to be limited as the prime minister seeks to continue the process of repairing UK-US ties frayed over the course of the Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss premierships.
Read the full report here.
Updated
Zelenskiy says he and Polish president Andrzej Duda have pledged to work together
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he and Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, have agreed to work together to achieve the “best possible result” for Ukraine.
He tweeted:
During the events in Lutsk, @AndrzejDuda and I had a brief but very substantive discussion about the upcoming @NATO Summit in Vilnius.
We agreed to work together to get the best possible result for Ukraine.
During the events in Lutsk, @AndrzejDuda and I had a brief but very substantive discussion about the upcoming @NATO Summit in Vilnius. We agreed to work together to get the best possible result for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/excDfFEXMr
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 9, 2023
Updated
Cambodia urges Ukraine not to use cluster bombs
Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, has urged Ukraine not to use cluster bombs, adding the “real victims will be Ukrainians”.
Hun Sen tweeted:
It would be the greatest danger for Ukrainians for many years or up to a hundred years if cluster bombs are used in Russian-occupied areas in the territory of Ukraine.
He cited Cambodia’s “painful experience” of US cluster munitions dropped in the early 1970s, a foreign legacy that has left tens of thousands maimed or killed, Agence France-Presse reported.
He added:
It has been more than half a century. There have been no means to destroy them all yet.
As my pity for the Ukrainian people, I appeal to the US president as the supplier and the Ukrainian president as the recipient not to use cluster bombs in the war because the real victims will be Ukrainians.
Updated
Russian air defence systems shot down a cruise missile near the city of Kerch, the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.
The incident inflicted no damage or casualties, he added, without specifying where the missile had been launched from, Reuters reports.
Russia annexed Crimea, where it bases its Black Sea Fleet, from Ukraine in 2014.
Updated
President Zelenskiy and the Polish president Andrzej Duda marked the anniversary of massacres of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during the second world war.
The killings have been a source of tension between the allies. However, Warsaw has positioned itself as one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia invaded the country in 2022.
Television footage showed Zelenskiy and Duda in a church in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk on Sunday during a service held in memory of the victims.
“Together we pay tribute to all the innocent victims of Volhynia! Memory unites us!” Duda’s office wrote on Twitter. “Together we are stronger.”
W Łucku na Wołyniu, w rocznicę Krwawej Niedzieli, razem z Prezydentem @ZelenskyyUa oddaliśmy hołd pomordowanym Polakom. pic.twitter.com/IZe56ruSBK
— Andrzej Duda (@AndrzejDuda) July 9, 2023
Updated
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda attended a church together on Sunday in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk.
Allies arming Ukraine 'uncomfortable' with US plan to send cluster bombs to Kyiv - former senior UK diplomat
Allies arming Ukraine are “uncomfortable” with President Biden’s plans to send Kyiv cluster munitions, a former senior UK diplomat has said.
Lord Ricketts, who served as the UK’s first national security adviser, told the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme on Sky News:
You can feel the allies are all very uncomfortable with this.
We have all of us, apart from the Americans, signed up to the convention which means we don’t produce or stockpile or use these weapons. They are indiscriminate weapons, of course.
He added:
It is a hard choice of the kind that countries have to make in war time. I am uncomfortable with it, yes I wish it wasn’t being done, but I think we can understand why they are doing it.
Updated
Cluster munitions 'not appropriate weapons' to send to Ukraine, says shadow chancellor
More on the Washington’s announcement that the US is to send cluster bombs to Ukraine.
The UK shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said cluster munitions are not the “appropriate weapons” to send to Ukraine.
Reeves told the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme on Sky News:
We all agree that Ukraine needs to be properly armed to fight Russia and their illegal invasion.
But I am concerned about the use of cluster bombs, and it is not just the UK who has these concerns, other countries clearly do as well.
So I would like to find a way to properly arm Ukraine but without using these weapons which can have an impact, not just on the battlefield that time, on that day, but for months and years afterwards.
That is something that causes me deep concern, and many other people as well.
While I support President Biden’s desire to ensure Ukraine is fully armed to fight Russia, I am not convinced that these are the appropriate weapons.
Updated
UK government mainstains position 'discouraging use' of cluster bombs, says Treasury minister
In the UK Victoria Atkins, financial secretary to the Treasury has said the UK government maintains its position on the ban on the use of cluster bombs.
On Friday, the United States confirmed it is to supply such munitions to Ukraine.
Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, she added:
The UK has signed the convention that prohibits their use and discourages their use. Of course we stick by that convention …
We have signed this convention and for us that is our position on these bombs.
"We have signed the convention that prohibits cluster bombs, and we are going to stick to that convention", says Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins on the US sending cluster bombs to Ukraine.
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday & The Take (@RidgeOnSunday) July 9, 2023
#Ridge https://t.co/ZoMhCmTrtv
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/OeT0Labgxp
Updated
President Zelenskiy has praised the “strength, glory and courage” of Ukrainians.
In a social media post he added:
I am proud of all of them, grateful to each of them, we remember our heroes.
We cannot name all the names now.
We will be able to tell about some heroes only after our victory – their bravery is so special.
500 days of the full-scale war.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 8, 2023
During this time, thousands and thousands of our people showed strength, glory and courage of the Ukrainian people in battles for the sake of our state.
Almost 50,000 of our people have been awarded state awards.
298 Ukrainian men and women have… pic.twitter.com/ZVZQo8de9r
Latvia’s long-serving foreign minister, known for his tough line on neighbouring Russia and strong support for Ukraine, was sworn in on Saturday as the Baltic nation’s president for a four-year term.
Edgars Rinkevics, who had served as Latvia’s top diplomat since 2011, took the oath of office in the capital, Riga.
Rinkevics, 49, is the seventh president of Nato and EU member Latvia, a nation of 1.8 million, since it regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Latvia’s presidency is largely a ceremonial post and the head of state acts mainly as an opinion leader and uniting figure in the country, where almost one-third of residents speak Russian.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the leaders of Nato should discuss Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant at their summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week.
Accusing Ukraine of “systematic infliction of damage” to the plant, Zakharova said that “the Nato summit’s key attention should be devoted to it”.
“After all, the vast majority of the alliance members will be in the direct impact zone” if something were to happen at the plant, Zakharova said on Telegram.
Vilnius is some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest.
Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of planning to attack the plant, which is located on Russian-held territory in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, near the front line of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.
Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has for days warned of the grave threat at the facility, most recently saying Russian forces had mined the roof of several reactors.
The International Atomic Energy Agency experts based at the plant that they had yet to observe any indications of mines or explosives at the plant, but they also needed more access to be sure.
Updated
The departure of hundreds of Russian Wagner troops from the Central African Republic is part of a rotation of forces rather a withdrawal, a spokesperson for country’s presidency said on Saturday.
The short-lived mutiny led by Wagner mercenary founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia in June has raised questions about the outlook for his group’s sprawling network of military and commercial operations across CAR and other parts of Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Reports of the recent departure of large numbers of Wagner personnel from CAR by plane have fuelled speculation in recent days that the group is pulling out of the country, where it has been helping the government to quell several rebel insurgencies since 2018.
But the CAR presidential spokesperson Albert Yaloke Mokpem said “it is not a definitive departure but a rotation”. “Some have left, and others will come,” he said.
Several hundred Wagner troops have recently left the country, a military source told Reuters. It is not known how many remain. Some 1,900 Russian mercenaries, including from Wagner, were believed to be operating there.
Russian media 'not prepared' for Wagner mutiny: MoD
Russian media outlets “were almost certainly initially surprised” by the Wagner mutiny last month and were “not prepared”, the UK Ministry of Defence has tweeted in its latest intelligence update.
Wagner forces took over a regional military command in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, before advancing towards Moscow. Just as suddenly, the advance was called off, and Russian state media said the Wagner troops would return to Ukraine while its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, would move to Belarus.
“Russian state-approved media has responded to the 24 June 2023 Wagner Group mutiny in three phases,” the MoD said. “Outlets were almost certainly initially surprised by the mutiny and were not prepared; Russian TV maintained its usual schedule.
“After the insurrection was defused, Russian state outlets sought to ‘correct’ claims that security forces had been passive.
“Narratives promoted the idea that President Vladimir Putin had triumphed by thwarting the insurrection, while avoiding bloodshed, and sought to unite the country behind the president.
“Nearly a week later, the state started to play down the significance of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and the mutiny, while tarnishing his character.
“Wagner Telegram channels have largely gone silent, almost certainly due to state intervention. By contrast, Putin has undertaken unusually prominent public engagements, almost certainly aiming to project strength.”
Updated
With Nato countries set to meet for a summit in Lithuania next week, members are split over when to offer Nato membership to Ukraine. But the bigger question is: are they are doing enough now to help the country?
The Guardian columnist Simon Tisdall says Nato “must unleash its considerable power to ensure Ukrainian victory”.
“All Nato countries [must] fully grasp the wider implications of a Ukrainian failure to repel Russian aggression.
“If that happened, eastern and central Europe, the Nordic region and the Balkans would be destabilised. Nato would be forced on to a permanent war footing. International law would be shredded. A precedent would be set for China over Taiwan.”
Read the article here:
Poland has begun moving more than 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid rising concern in the Nato member that the presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.
“Over 1,000 soldiers and almost 200 units of equipment from the 12th and 17th Mechanized Brigades are starting to move to the east of the country,” the defence minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, wrote on Twitter.
“This is a demonstration of our readiness to respond to attempts at destabilisation near the border of our country.”
Ponad 1000 żołnierzy i niemal 200 jednostek sprzętu z 12. i 17. Brygady Zmechanizowanej rozpoczyna przemieszczenie na wschód kraju w ramach operacji "Bezpieczne Podlasie". To demonstracja naszej gotowości do reagowania na próby destabilizacji w pobliżu granicy naszego państwa. pic.twitter.com/VEDKUrroLK
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) July 8, 2023
Last Sunday Poland said it would send 500 police to shore up security at its border with Belarus.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to offer mercenary fighters of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group the choice of relocating to Belarus has led to fears among eastern Nato members that their presence will cause greater instability in the region.
A senior Wagner commander was quoted as saying on Saturday that mercenaries from the group were preparing to move to Belarus.
Biden heading to Nato summit
The US president, Joe Biden, is on the way to Europe to attend a Nato summit in Lithuania, where the expansion of the alliance and the US approval of cluster munitions are likely to be key talking points.
For the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, the summit “will send a clear message: Nato stands united and Russia’s aggression will not pay”. But Nato has also struggled to bridge divides over important issues. Finland was welcomed into the alliance this year, but Sweden’s membership has been held up by Turkey and Hungary.
There are also disagreements over how quickly to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join Nato. Countries on the alliance’s eastern flank want to move quickly, viewing it as a way to deter Russian aggression. The US and others advocate a more cautious approach.
Biden said in a CNN interview that aired on Friday: “I don’t think there is unanimity in Nato about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the Nato family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war.”
Read more on this story here:
Five freed Mariupol commanders return to Ukraine
Five former commanders of the garrison in Mariupol have returned to Ukraine from Turkey, being welcomed home at a ceremony in the western city of Lviv.
Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhyi Volynsky, Denys Shleha and Oleh Khomenko returned from Istanbul by plane with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The commanders, hailed as heroes in Ukraine, led last year’s defence of the port during Russia’s three-month siege, holding out in tunnels and bunkers under the Azovstal steel plant, until surrendering in May last year.
Moscow freed some of them in September in a prisoner swap brokered by Ankara, under terms that required the commanders to remain in Turkey until the end of the war.
“They will finally be with their relatives,” said Zelenskiy.
The action was slammed by the Kremlin, saying both Kyiv and Ankara had violated terms of the agreement.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Mark Gerts bringing you the latest news of the conflict and its ramifications.
Ukraine has welcomed back five former commanders who led the defence of Mariupol last year. Under terms of the agreement with Russia after the city’s surrender, they were to stay in Turkey until the end of the war, but have come back from Istanbul with the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Joe Biden is on the way to Europe to attend a Nato summit set to be dominated by the war in Ukraine, with membership of the expanding Nato military alliance and the US approval of cluster munitions likely to be key talking points.
More on these stories shortly. In other key developments:
Eight people were killed and 13 injured on Saturday in Lyman in eastern Ukraine after the town came under Russian rocket fire, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. “So far we know about eight dead ... The number of injured has increased to 13 people,” the ministry said on social media. The strikes hit around 10am local time at two intersections that were busy with pedestrians. A residential building, an annex to a printing house and three cars were set on fire in the attack, the ministry said.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has reiterated that the UK is signatory to a convention that prohibits cluster munitions, after the US agreed to supply Ukraine with the controversial weapons. “We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion, but we’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and, most recently, long-range weapons,” Sunak said. The US president, Joe Biden, has been condemned by human rights groups for agreeing to send the weapons, with one fellow Democrat labelling the decision “unnecessary and a terrible mistake”.
Mercenary fighters of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group are preparing to move to Belarus under the terms of a deal that defused their mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, a senior commander of the group was quoted as saying. Since the June mutiny, when Wagner fighters briefly seized a southern Russian city and marched towards Moscow, the exact whereabouts of Prigozhin and his mercenaries have been unclear.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has visited Snake Island, which became a symbol of his country’s defiance early in the war after Ukrainian soldiers there refused to surrender to Russian forces, to mark 500 days since the invasion. In an undated clip released on Saturday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy was shown arriving by boat and laying flowers to honour those who defended the island.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog chief said it was “making progress” on inspecting several areas of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, after Ukraine claimed that “external objects similar to explosive devices” had been placed on rooftops at the site. UN officials said they had “not seen any indications of explosives or mines” while touring the cooling ponds and other areas, but have yet to visit the facility’s rooftops.
