Closing summary
The blog is now closed for today. Here is what you might have missed:
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Saturday claimed full control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the focus of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. Reuters could not independently confirm the claim. Prigozhin made it in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. “Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Prigozhin said. He said that his forces would withdraw from Bakhmut from 25 May for rest and retraining.
Ukraine’s military denied that Russia’s Wagner private military unit had taken full control of the ruined eastern city and said its troops were continuing to fight there. “This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut,” military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said the situation in Bakhmut was critical, with Ukrainian troops maintaining a defence in the south-western part of the city. “Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” she said on the Telegram messaging app. “As of now, our defenders control some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector.”
The G7 has condemned Russia’s “brutal” war on its neighbour Ukraine “in the strongest possible terms”, calling it a “serious violation of international law”, in its final communique from this week’s summit. As part of the statement, the world leaders called for “just and lasting peace” and recommitted their intention to provide Ukraine with military, financial and humanitarian support.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he invited India to join Ukraine’s peace formula during his talks with the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit on Saturday in Japan. Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app that they also discussed Ukraine’s needs in de-mining and mobile hospitals during their first face-to-face meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Reuters reported.
The US president, Joe Biden, will announce a $375m military aid package for Ukraine while in Hiroshima, Japan, where he is attending G7 summit, a US official has said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the package would include artillery, ammunition and Himars rocket launchers, Reuters reported.
Western countries will be running “colossal risks” if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, the Tass news agency quoted the Russian deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, as saying on Saturday. The US president, Joe Biden, told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters, senior US officials said.
Pope Francis has tasked a leading Italian cardinal with a mission in hopes it can “ease tensions” in the Ukraine war and lead to a path of peace, the Vatican said Saturday. In a brief written statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that Francis had entrusted the mission to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is close to the pontiff. The Associated Press reports that Bruni said the timetable and the mechanics of the mission “are currently under study.”
The international criminal court said on Saturday that it was “undeterred” after Russia put prosecutor Karim Khan on a wanted list over his issuance of an arrest warrant for president Vladimir Putin. Khan, who is British, issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. Khan’s picture could be seen in the Russian interior ministry’s database on Friday.
An aide to the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, has said the object that entered Poland’s airspace last year and was found in April was a Russian-made rocket. Associated Press reports that the aide, Paweł Szrot, said on Radio RMF FM on Friday that the nose of the rocket had been found and that it was “peculiar” because it was made of concrete. It was being examined by experts.
The US has said it will back a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 and other modern fighter jets, marking a significant boost to western support for Kyiv as it prepares a major counteroffensive. The news was welcomed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, whose RAF will be involved in the initiative.
Zelenskiy has addressed Arab League leaders in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and asked them not to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Ukraine. After the visit, the Saudi foreign minister declared the country to be neutral in the conflict.
The US has halted exports of a slew of consumer goods to Russia including clothes dryers, snow ploughs and milking machines out of concern the goods may be repurposed to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The list of banned consumer goods came as the Biden administration also added 71 companies to a trade blacklist.
Russia has sanctioned the former US president Barack Obama in response to the US sanctioning 300 individuals, companies and institutions. The US measures are largely targeted at energy production.
Western leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Japan have urged Russia to stop its objection to the renewal of the Black Sea grain deal and told it to halt “threatening global food supplies”.
The UK unveiled a swathe of new sanctions ahead of the G7 meeting in Hiroshima. Sunak announced a UK ban on imports of Russian diamonds and Russian-origin copper, nickel and aluminium. Sunak also has a self-declared mission to push India into showing greater support for Ukraine.
Hungary has stepped up threats to block further EU funds for weapons to aid Ukraine, marring a show of unity from western nations at the G7 summit.
Australia has imposed a new set of sanctions and an export ban on Russia. The sanctions will target 21 entities and three individuals, with entities including the major Russian oil company Rosneft, gold company Polyus PJSC, steel company Severstal PJSC and five banks.
The Russian government has put the British prosecutor of the international criminal court, Karim Khan, on a wanted list in an act of retribution after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for allegedly overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children.
Ukrainian air defence claimed it destroyed 19 drones and missiles out of 28 launched on Friday morning. “Three Kalibr missiles launched from the Black Sea and 16 drones were shot down. Shelling continues on an almost daily basis,” a Ukrainian air force spokesperson, Yuriy Ihnat, told Ukrainian television. Lviv’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, posted to Telegram to say five drones had been shot down overnight above his western Ukrainian region.
Pope Francis has tasked a leading Italian cardinal with a mission in hopes it can “ease tensions” in the Ukraine war and lead to a path of peace, the Vatican said Saturday.
In a brief written statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that Francis had entrusted the mission to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is close to the pontiff.
The Associated Press reports that Bruni said the timetable and the mechanics of the mission “are currently under study.”
Just a week earlier, Francis held talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the Vatican.
Afterwards, Zelenskiy, when asked about their meeting, indicated he thought that any mediation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was impossible.
At the end of April, flying back to Rome from a pilgrimage in Hungary, Francis indicated to reporters aboard the plane that the Vatican was involved in some kind of peace mission but declined to give details.f
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said:
I can confirm that Pope Francis has tasked Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops Conference, with conducting a mission, in agreement with the (Vatican) Secretariat of State, that would contribute to easing the tensions in the conflict in Ukraine, in the hope, never given up by the Holy Father, that this can launch paths of peace.
The timings of such a mission, and its ways, are currently under study.
