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Summary
It’s almost 2am in Kyiv, Ukraine, and here’s where things stand on what is now the 95th day of Russia’s invasion:
- Russia continues to bombard areas of Donbas with shelling and seize more territory in Ukraine’s east. Russia’s defence ministry claims troops have captured the strategically important city of Lyman and several other smaller towns and encircled Sievierodonetsk, which Ukraine denies.
- Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Saturday night television address that conditions in Donbas are “indescribably difficult”. He thanked Ukrainian defenders holding out in the face of the onslaught.
- Zelenskiy also conceded that, while he is certain his country will take back all the land Russia has seized since its 24 February invasion, other territory, such as Crimea, which Russia took in 2014, cannot be recovered by force. “I do not believe that we can restore all of our territory by military means. If we decide to go that way, we will lose hundreds of thousands of people,” he said.
- Russia’s Tass news agency says president Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law a measure scrapping the upper age limit for military recruits in the face of mounting losses in Ukraine. UK intelligence estimated this month Russia had lost about a third of its ground forces.
- Officials in the south eastern port city of Mykolaiv said at least one person was killed, and at least six injured, in Russian shelling. Two rounds landed in courtyards of high-rise buildings, and one shell fell close to a kindergarten, CNN reported.
- Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed concerns over food supplies in a phone call.
- Vladimir Putin spoke with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz and according to the Kremlin he told them that continuing arms supplies were “dangerous”, warning “of the risks of further destabilisation of the situation and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis”. Russia said it was willing to discuss ways to make it possible for Ukraine to resume shipments of grain from Black Sea ports.
- Spain is sending a battery of surface-to-air missiles and around 100 troops to the Nato forward presence mission in Latvia, joining around 500 compatriots already present in the Baltic state, El País reported.
The New York Times reports that Russia has resorted to crowdsourcing food, clothes and even military supplies for its troops from its own citizens.
“No one expected there to be such a war,” Tatyana Plotnikova, a business owner in the city of Novokuybyshevsk, told the Times in a phone interview.
“I think no one was ready for this”.
The article suggests Russia’s $66bn (£52.2bn) defence budget was woefully inadequate for such a large scale undertaking as the invasion of Ukraine.
A grass-roots network of citizens is donating roubles to pay for, among other items, drones, crutches and potatoes to be sent to the front line.
Read the New York Times article here.
Zelenskiy: no military solution in Crimea, other lost territory
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has expanded - a little - on his earlier assertion that Donbas would remain in the country’s hands, despite the furious onslaught by Russia’s military forces in the region.
Tonight, he said that he didn’t believe all the land seized by Russia since 2014, which includes Crimea, could be recaptured militarily.
In a television address late Saturday, Reuters reported, Zelenskiy thanked Ukraine’s forces for holding out in Donbas, and repeated his belief that Moscow would come to the negotiating table if his country seized back all the land taken by Russia since its 24 February invasion.
But he ruled out going further and attempting to retake Crimea and other territory lost since the Russian invasion there in 2014 by force:
I do not believe that we can restore all of our territory by military means. If we decide to go that way, we will lose hundreds of thousands of people.
Zelenskiy acknowledged that the situation in Donbas, where Russia has claimed to have taken control of the strategically important town of Lyman and encircled Sievierodonetsk, was challenging:
It’s indescribably difficult there. And I am grateful to all those who withstood this onslaught.
The Ukraine president added that he expected “good news” on weapons supplies next week, but did not give further details.
Updated
Quick update to an earlier post, in which we reported that hundreds of Lithuanians were raising funds to buy an advanced military drone for Ukraine.
The Lithuanian internet broadcaster Laisves TV, which launched the telethon-style fundraising drive several days ago to show solidarity for another country once under the rule of Moscow, says the 5m euros (£4.25m, $5.4m) target was reached this afternoon.
Here’s some video from the fundraiser (portions in English), with the total passing 5m euros just before the 59-minute mark:
Updated
A consignment of Russian crude oil that has waited off Sri Lanka’s coast for more than a month was finally unloaded in Colombo on Saturday in a move beneficial to both countries.
That the cash-strapped Sri Lanka was finally able to come up with $75m (£59m) to pay for it could prove a timely boost to Russia, which faces European sanctions on its oil from Monday when EU leaders meet to discuss new measures to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine.
The US already has an embargo on Russian oil, and has put pressure on Europe to follow suit.
Moscow, meanwhile, has been negotiating further exports to Sri Lanka, of crude, coal, diesel and petrol as the island nation suffers an economic downturn and severe fuel shortages.
The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) refinery was shuttered in March, AFP reports, because of a foreign exchange crunch that left the government unable to finance crude imports.
Here’s the latest from the Observer’s Simon Tisdall and Mark Townsend on Ukraine’s plea to the west for more weapons, as the Russian invasion approaches its 100th day:
Ukraine is in a race against time to save the eastern Donbas region as relentless Russian artillery and air strikes threaten to turn the tide of the war, and support for Kyiv’s continued defiance among some west European allies appears to be slipping.
Ukrainian officials say they urgently need advanced US-made mobile multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to halt Russian advances in Luhansk and Donetsk. The rockets would be capable of striking Russian firing positions, military bases, air strips and supply lines at a range of up to 300km (185 miles).
“We are in great need of weapons that will make it possible to engage the enemy over a long distance,” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said. “The price of delay is measured by the lives of people who have protected the world from [Russian] fascism.”
Ongoing disagreements in Washington have held up MLRS deliveries. Some of President Joe Biden’s national security advisers are said to be fearful Ukraine may use the rockets to hit targets inside Russia, a development that could spark an escalation drawing in the US and Nato. Kyiv has previously launched attacks on Russian soil.
Moscow, keenly aware of the game-changing potential of the rocket systems, has already voiced strong objections. “If the Americans do this, they will clearly cross a red line,” said Olga Skabeeva, an influential Russian state TV host whose views reflect the Kremlin’s. Russia’s response could be “very harsh”, she warned.
US news outlets reported on Saturday that Biden had agreed to provide some rocket systems as part of a major new US arms package for Ukraine to be announced this week. The package may also include another advanced weapon, the high mobility artillery rocket system, known as Himars.
The decision reportedly followed talks between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister. “Heavy weapons on top of our agenda, and more are coming our way,” Kuleba said after the talks.
But doubts remain about which weapons systems will be provided, and the timing of the US move. The White House and the Pentagon have yet to confirm the reports.
Read the full story:
Here’s a selection of images from Ukraine on the 94th day of Russia’s invasion.
Russia scraps age limit for military recruits
Russia’s Tass news agency says that the country’s president Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law a measure scrapping the upper age limit for military recruits.
Russia has suffered stunning losses in its three-month-old invasion of Ukraine, with tens of thousands of soldiers killed or wounded, according to Brookings. UK intelligence estimated this month Russia had lost about a third of its ground forces.
Putin hopes the removal of the age limit for military recruits, which passed the Duma (Russian parliament) last Wednesday, will attract experienced veterans back into service and help mitigate the losses. Previously citizens were barred from signing up at 40, and foreigners at 30.
Other measures reportedly under consideration include extending conscription and reducing the time recruits spend training before being sent to the front line.
Here’s our story from earlier this month about Russia’s plan to recruit older professionals:
Updated
It’s Richard Luscombe in the US, taking over the Ukraine blog from my colleagues in the UK, and guiding you through the next few hours.
Officials in Mykolaiv now say at least one person was killed in Russian shelling of the south eastern port city earlier Saturday, according to CNN citing the regional state administration.
In an updated statement, officials said:
On Saturday morning, May 28, occupying troops of Russia once again fired at the city of Mykolaiv. And again the blow fell on residential areas. One person died on the spot. At least 6 civilians are also known to be injured.
CNN reported the administration said at least two rounds landed in courtyards of high-rise buildings, and one shell fell close to a kindergarten.
Mykolaiv, which is still under Ukrainian control, is about 35 miles north west of the Russian occupied city of Kherson.
A senior pro-Russian official in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson has told Reuters that nearby fighting could affect the timing of its formal bid to join Russia and a decision was likely “towards next year”.
Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-backed Kherson Military-Civilian Administration, added the process might involve a referendum, backtracking on previous comments that none would be needed.
Asked about the timetable for joining Russia, he replied: “It won’t happen by autumn. We’re preparing an administrative system and then towards next year we will see what the situation is like.”
Updated
Hundreds of Lithuanians have raised funds to buy an advanced military drone for Ukraine in its war against Russia, in a show of solidarity with a fellow country formerly under Moscow’s rule, Reuters reports.
Some 4.4m euros ($4.7m, £3.75m) have been raised in three days - out of the 5m euros needed - according to Laisves TV, a Lithuanian internet broadcaster that launched the fundraising drive.
Updated
A London host of a Ukrainian family has written to her local food bank “begging for help” because rising energy costs mean she can no longer afford to feed her new guests.
The Ukrainian family, now coming to a food bank in Euston, north London, every week, is among a growing number of recently arrived refugees from the war-torn country relying on handouts to survive, according to charities.
Helena Aksentijevic, manager of the Euston food bank, said she had been handed the letter by the Ukrainian family. It was from the host and said that they were struggling to cover the extra cost of feeding two women and two children, as well as additional energy costs.
A summary of today's developments
- Russian forces are now in full control of the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry has claimed.
- Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed concerns over food supplies in a phone call today.
- Vladimir Putin spoke with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz and according to the Kremlin he told them that continuing arms supplies were “dangerous”, warning “of the risks of further destabilisation of the situation and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis”. Russia was willing to discuss ways to make it possible for Ukraine to resume shipments of grain from Black Sea ports, the Kremlin said.
- Spain is sending a battery of surface-to-air missiles and around 100 troops to the Nato forward presence mission in Latvia, joining around 500 compatriots already present in the Baltic state, El País has reported.
- Ben Grant, the son of a Conservative MP, has told how he helped save a fellow British volunteer fighter in Ukraine while under heavy Russian gunfire after he was injured by a landmine.
- A ship has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol for the first time since Russia completed its capture of the city to load metal and ship it east to Russia in a move Kyiv branded as “looting”
- Ukrainian presidential adviser and peace talks negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak has said any agreement with Russia cannot be trusted and Moscow’s invasion can only be stopped by force, Reuters reports.
- The governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, has said that there are some 10,000 Russian troops in the eastern region, Reuters report, adding it could not independently verify the claim.
- President Zelenskiy accepted the situation in Donhas was “very difficult”, saying in a Friday night address that invading forces “have concentrated maximum artillery, maximum reserves” to the region.
Updated
More on today’s conversation between Vladimir Putin, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron.
Agence France-Presse reports that Scholz and Macron asked Putin for “serious direct negotiations” with Volodymyr Zelenskiy to find “a diplomatic solution to the conflict.”
During an 80-minute conversation with the Russian president, the two EU leaders “insisted on an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops,” the German chancellor’s office said.
The German chancellor and the French president also “called on the Russian President to ensure an improvement in the humanitarian situation of the civilian population” in Ukraine.
The two European leaders “took positive note of the Russian president’s commitment to treat captured fighters in accordance with international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions, and to ensure unhindered access to the International Committee of the Red Cross”.
The global food supply, which has been hit by Russia’s action in Ukraine, was also discussed.
Putin assured that he “wants to allow the export of grain from Ukraine, especially by sea,” the German chancellery added.
The three leaders also agreed on the “central role” the United Nations has to play to guarantee exports.
My colleagues Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Gemma Handy report on the Russia-linked superyachts “going dark” to avoid tracking systems.
In the sparkling azure waters of Antigua, the gleaming £95m superyacht Alfa Nero could be seen at anchor last week by sightseers enjoying the Caribbean coastline. But few of the tourists who spotted its sleek black hull would have appreciated it was quite a find.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the superyacht, which is linked to the Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev, has vanished off the global tracking maps used to locate marine traffic.
An investigation by the Observer this weekend reveals it is one of at least six superyachts linked to UK-sanctioned oligarchs which have “gone dark” on ocean tracking systems. The owners of these yachts will almost certainly realise they are at risk of being targeted in a global hunt for the assets of Russia’s super-rich.
At least 13 such vessels with a total value of nearly £2bn have already been impounded since the invasion of Ukraine, from southern France to Fiji. In the latter case, the superyacht Amadea, allegedly linked to the gold billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, was seized on behalf of the US.
Analysts report an increase in Russian-linked yachts which are turning off the automatic identification system (AIS) equipment used for tracking large vessels. The system can be turned off for legitimate reasons, but experts believe some vessels want to avoid detection.
Read the full report here.
Spain is sending a battery of surface-to-air missiles and around 100 troops to the Nato forward presence mission in Latvia, joining around 500 compatriots already present in the Baltic state, El País has reported.
The Spanish defence ministry “plans to deploy in Latvia a battery of surface-to-air NASAMS,” or Norwegian advanced surface to air missile system, El País said as Nato beefs up its presence in the Baltic region in the face of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
#DiaFAS España desplegará un batería de misiles antiaéreos NASAMS en Letonia para reforzar la defensa aliada frente a Rusia y mostrar su compromiso con la OTAN a un mes de la cumbre de la Alianza Atlántica en Madrid.https://t.co/w0PDbtTz7V pic.twitter.com/Mmzf4Ag0eO
— miguel gonzalez (@mgonzalezelpais) May 28, 2022
“Our commitment to Nato is total,” defence minister Margarita Robles told Spanish television in addressing the report, according to Reuters.
“We have troops at the moment in Latvia and also in Lithuania, we have our ships in the Mediterranean,” Robles said as she stressed Madrid’s “maximum readiness” to step up its contribution to the western military alliance’s show of strength designed to deter potential Russian incursions into its former Soviet-era zone of influence.
The @NATO flag & the flags of all 3️⃣0️⃣ #NATO allies where present this morning in #Huesca 🇪🇸 during the 🇪🇸 Armed Forces Day #DIFAS22 parade.#WeAreNATO 🇦🇱🇧🇪🇧🇬🇨🇦🇨🇿🇭🇷🇩🇰🇪🇪🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇷🇭🇺🇮🇸🇮🇹🇱🇻🇱🇹🇱🇺🇲🇪🇳🇱🇲🇰🇳🇴🇵🇱🇵🇹🇷🇴🇸🇰🇸🇮🇪🇸🇹🇷🇬🇧🇺🇸
— España en la OTAN 🇪🇦 (@SpainNATO) May 28, 2022
🎥 @Defensagob pic.twitter.com/zi8zVnnpFp
Robles was speaking as she attended an armed forces day military parade in the northern town of Huesca, ahead of the 40th anniversary of Spain’s incorporation into Nato on 30 May 1982.
After Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Spain announced it was sending 150 additional troops to Latvia to beef up an initial 350-strong contingent deployed in 2017 as Nato responded to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea by deploying battle groups on the body’s eastern flank.
Spain also pledged after the Russian invasion to supply offensive military hardware to Ukraine after initially suggesting it would only supply military support as part of an EU package.
“When we defend Ukraine we are defending our values of democracy,” said Robles, adding Madrid was in so doing standing up against the “cruelties” of the Russian regime.
Updated
More on Vladimir Putin’s phone conversation with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Reuters reports that Putin warned Macron and Scholz against ramping up arms supplies to Ukraine, saying they could further destabilise the situation in the pro-Western country.
Putin told them the continuing arms supplies were “dangerous”, warning “of the risks of further destabilisation of the situation and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis”, the Kremlin said.
Updated
My colleague Shaun Walker reports on TV news chief Viktor Muchnik, who closed down his Siberian TV station and fled Russia when journalists faced jail for reporting on Ukraine.
On the ninth day of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, editor-in-chief Viktor Muchnik gathered the staff of TV2 for a meeting at their small newsroom in the Siberian city of Tomsk.
New wartime laws meant the whole newsroom risked jailtime for reporting on the conflict, Muchnik told them, and TV2 had just been officially blocked by Russia’s communications watchdog, along with many other independent media outlets.
“All of us who wanted to change things for the better here, at this moment we can feel we have failed,” said Muchnik, reflecting bitterly on his three decades of work at one of Russia’s most resilient media outlets.
The journalists drained glasses of wine, and almost everybody cried. Then Muchnik signed resignation papers for the entire collective. A few days later, he and his wife, Viktoria, who also worked for TV2 for more than a quarter of a century, packed a couple of suitcases and flew out of Russia, probably for ever.
Read more here.
Updated
Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko was prevented from leaving Ukraine to take part in a meeting of a Nato body in Lithuania, his party’s parliamentary faction has said.
Reuters reports Poroshenko was stopped twice at a border crossing with Poland while he was on his way to the meeting of Nato’s Parliamentary Assembly, a consultative interparliamentary organisation, a statement said.
Ukrainian media reported Poroshenko could not cross the border due to “technical problems” with a permit allowing him to leave the country.
His European Solidarity parliamentary faction said: “Poroshenko had received all the formal permissions to leave the country and had been included ... in the official delegation of the Parliament of Ukraine for this event.”
Poroshenko was to have several high-level meetings in Vilnius, including with the president of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda. He was also scheduled to participate in a meeting of the European People’s Party in Rotterdam, it said.
In January, Poroshenko won a court ruling allowing him to remain at liberty while being investigated for treason in a probe he says was a politically motivated attack linked to allies of his successor, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Poroshenko is being investigated in connection with the financing of Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country through illegal coal sales in 2014-15.
Updated
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, told the leaders of France and Germany in a phone call today that Russia was willing to discuss ways to make it possible for Ukraine to resume shipments of grain from Black Sea ports, the Kremlin said.
Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key global fertiliser exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.
Reuters reports that the Kremlin said:
For its part, Russia is ready to help find options for the unhindered export of grain, including the export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports.
It added that Putin also said Russia was willing to resume talks with Ukraine.
Special attention was paid to the status of the negotiations that are frozen because of Kyiv. President Vladimir Putin confirmed the Russian side’s openness to resume dialogue.
The Kremlin said Putin also informed French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, that Russia was ready to increase its export of fertilisers and agricultural products if sanctions against it were lifted - a demand he has raised in conversations with the Italian and Austrian leaders in recent days.
Ukraine and Western countries have accused Russia of weaponising the food crisis created by its invasion of Ukraine, which has sent the prices of grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertiliser soaring.
Russia has blamed the situation on Western sanctions against it, and on the mining of Ukrainian ports.
Updated
Johnson and Zelenskiy discuss concerns over food supplies in phone call
We reported earlier on Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s phone call.
Asked what the two men discussed, a Downing Street spokeswoman said:
The prime minister said that the UK will continue to support the heroic Ukrainian armed forces in their efforts to defend their homeland against this barbaric attack, including helping provide the equipment they need.
The leaders spoke about Putin’s despicable blockade of Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest shipping port.
The spokeswoman added that the UK was involved in “intensive work... with international partners to find ways to resume the export of grain from Ukraine to avert a global food crisis”.
He said that the UK would work with G7 partners to push for urgent progress.
The leaders agreed next steps and the imperative for Russia to relax its blockade and allow safe shipping lanes.
The son of a Conservative MP has told how he helped save a fellow British volunteer fighter in Ukraine while under heavy Russian gunfire after he was injured by a landmine.
Ben Grant arrived in Ukraine in March, when he told the Guardian he was moved to volunteer after seeing footage of a Russian bombing of a house where a child could be heard screaming. He said he went without telling his mother, MP Helen Grant, he was going.
Dramatic video footage, published by the Telegraph, follows the 30-year-old, who is a veteran of Afghanistan and a former Royal Marine, screaming: “We’ve got to move now or we’re gonna die!”
Meanwhile, he and others dragged former grenadier guard Dean Arthur to safety after a Russian ambush in a woodland north of Kharkiv earlier this month.
He told the newspaper of his terror, saying: “I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life.”
Updated
More on the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine which the Russian defence ministry claims Russian forces are now in full control of.
Reuters is reporting on a statement from the Russian defence ministry which said:
Following the joint actions of the units of the militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian armed forces, the town of Krasny Liman has been entirely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists.
Krasny Liman, which had a population of around 20,000 people before the hostilities broke out, is the town’s old name.
Located in the north of the eastern Donetsk region, Lyman lies on the road to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the capital of the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he has had a phone conversation with the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson.
In a tweet, Zelenskiy said they had spoken about “strengthening defence for Ukraine, intensifying work on security guarantees, supplying fuel to Ukraine”.
He added: “We must work together to prevent a food crisis and unblock Ukraine’s ports.”
As part of the regular dialogue, I had another phone conversation with @BorisJohnson. We talked about strengthening defense support for 🇺🇦, intensifying work on security guarantees, supplying fuel to Ukraine. We must work together to prevent a food crisis and unblock 🇺🇦 ports.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 28, 2022
Updated
Ukraine has started receiving Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Denmark and self-propelled howitzers from the US, Ukrainian defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said.
“The coastal defence of our country will not only be strengthened by Harpoon missiles they will be used by trained Ukrainian teams,” Reznikov wrote on his Facebook page.
He said Harpoon shore-to-ship missiles would be operated alongside Ukrainian Neptune missiles in the defence of the country’s coast including the southern port of Odesa.
Another excellent 📞 talk with 🇩🇰 DefMin Morten Bodskov. #UAarmy receive significant military support from 🇩🇰 partners & friends. Mainly it refers to the so needed strengthening of our critical naval capabilities 🚀 but also heavy weaponry. Thank you 🇩🇰 for the help we get pic.twitter.com/I1J8fdqKmW
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) May 26, 2022
Reznikov said the supplies of Harpoon missiles were the result of cooperation between several countries, saying the deliveries from Denmark took place “with the participation of our British friends”.
Ukraine has also received a range of heavy artillery pieces, he said, including modified US-made M109 self-propelled howitzers that will allow the Ukrainian military to strike targets from longer distances.
Updated
In a daily update, Russia’s defence ministry said it had used missile strikes to destroy Ukrainian command posts in Bakhmut and Soledar.
Both towns lie on a strategically important road running southwest from Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk, where the main Russian offensive is now concentrated.
Reuters reports that the ministry said it had destroyed five command and observation posts, hit areas where Ukrainian soldiers and equipment were located and destroyed four ammunition depots near the towns of Nyrkove, Bakhmut and Myronivka.
The Guardian could not independently confirm the Russian claims.
A ship has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol for the first time since Russia completed its capture of the city to load metal and ship it east to Russia in a move Kyiv branded as “looting”.
A spokesperson for the port told Tass news agency the vessel would be loading 2,700 tonnes of metal before travelling 160km (100 miles) east to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Monday.
The spokesperson did not say where the metal being shipped had been produced, Reuters reports.
Writing on the Telegram messaging app Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said the shipment amounted to looting by Russia:
Looting in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine continue.
Following the theft of Ukrainian grain, the occupiers resorted to exporting metal products from Mariupol.
On Friday, Ukraine’s largest steelmaker Metinvest said it was concerned that Russia may use several ships stranded in Mariupol to “steal and smuggle metallurgical products” belonging to the group. It accused Russia of piracy.
Asked on Saturday whether the metal due to be shipped out belonged to Metinvest, a company spokesman said: “We said yesterday that our metal is in the port of Mariupol, yes.”
Russia seized full control of Mariupol last week when more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steelworks. It said on Thursday that the port had been demined and was open again to commercial vessels.
Updated
Russia claims capture of Lyman
Russian forces are now in full control of the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry has claimed.
Yesterday, Ukraine reported Russia had captured most of Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance to Sloviansk, a city a half-hour drive further southwest.
Ukrainian and Russian forces had been fighting for Lyman for several days.
Earlier, the UK warned that control of the town would give Russia “an advantage in the potential next phase of the Donbas offensive, when it will likely seek to advance on key Ukrainian-held cities deeper in Donetsk Oblast, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk”.
Russia successfully test-fired a hypersonic Zircon cruise missile over a distance of about 1,000km (625 miles), its defence ministry said today.
The missile was fired from the Barents Sea and hit a target in the White Sea, it said.
Video released by the ministry showed the missile being fired from a ship and blazing into the sky on a steep trajectory, Reuters reports.
President Vladimir Putin has described the Zircon as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems.
Russia has conducted previous test launches of the Zircon from warships and submarines in the past year.
Last month it test-launched a new nuclear-capable intercontinental missile, the Sarmat, capable of carrying 10 or more warheads.
Updated
The Kyiv Independent has tweeted some statistics regarding Russia’s losses, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures.
Official Russian sources are claiming fewer losses.
These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of May 28, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/amu2h8CKK8
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 28, 2022
Updated
The Associated Press reports on the evacuation effort in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine.
It quotes Mark Poppert, an American volunteer working with the British charity RefugEase.
“The Russians are right over there, and they’re closing in on this location,” he said during an evacuation on Friday.
“Bakhmut is a high-risk area right now,” he said. “We’re trying to get as many people out as we can in case the Ukrainians have to fall back.”
Bakhmut is in the Donetsk region in Ukraine’s industrial east. Donetsk and the neighbouring region of Luhansk makes up the Donbas, where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled some territory for eight years.
Poppert and other Ukrainian and foreign volunteers working with the Ukrainian charity Vostok SOS, which was coordinating the evacuation effort, were hoping to get about 100 people out of Bakhmut on Friday, Poppert said.
Many of the evacuees are elderly, ill or have serious mobility problems, meaning volunteers have to slowly negotiate their way through narrow corridors and down flights of stairs in apartment buildings.
Most people have already fled Bakhmut: only around 30,000 remain from a pre-war population of 85,000. And more are leaving each day.
However, some want to stay.
Svetlana Lvova, the 66-year-old manager for two apartment buildings in Bakhmut, reflected on the latest resident who had refused to leave.
“I can’t convince them to go,” she said. “I told them several times if something lands here, I will be carrying them — injured — to the same buses” that have come to evacuate them now.”
Updated
Ukrainian presidential adviser and peace talks negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak has said any agreement with Russia cannot be trusted and Moscow’s invasion can only be stopped by force, Reuters reports.
Podolyak wrote on the Telegram messaging app:
Any agreement with Russia isn’t worth a broken penny.
Is it possible to negotiate with a country that always lies cynically and propagandistically?”
He added:
Russia has proved that it is a barbarian country that threatens world security. A barbarian can only be stopped by force.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other after peace talks stalled, with the last known face-to-face negotiations on 29 March.
The Kremlin said earlier this month that Ukraine was showing no willingness to continue peace talks, while officials in Kyiv blamed Russia for the lack of progress.
On Monday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that President Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet with to discuss how to end the war.
Updated
Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have killed more than 30,000 Russian soldiers since the war began. The armed forces’ and government released the figures on their social media accounts, after 94 days of fighting. The Guardian has not independently verified them.
It also claimed to have destroyed at least 207 Russian aircraft, 180 helicopters, more than 1,330 tanks, about 3,300 APVs, 13 military boats, 93 anti aircraft systems and 200 multiple launch rocket systems, as well as thousands of other vehicles and fuel tanks, drones and artillery systems.
The governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, has said that there are some 10,000 Russian troops in the eastern region, Reuters report, adding it could not independently verify the claim.
“These are the (units) that are permanently in Luhansk region, that are trying to assault and are attempting to make gains in any direction they can,” Gaidai said on Ukrainian television.
Russia captures most of town in east, says UK
Russian forces have likely captured most of the town of Lyman, in a likely preliminary operation for the next stage of their offensive Donbas, the UK ministry of defence has said.
In its latest update, the ministry said Lyman was a strategically important railway junction and access point to important rail and road bridges over the Siverskyy Donets river.
“In the coming days, Russian units in the area are likely to prioritise forcing a crossing of the river. For now, Russia’s main effort likely remains 40 km to the east, around the Sieverodonetsk pocket but a bridgehead near Lyman would give Russia an advantage in the potential next phase of the Donbas offensive, when it will likely seek to advance on key Ukrainian-held cities deeper in Donetsk Oblast, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk,” it said.
On Thursday, Denis Pushilin, the head of the Russian-controlled territory of Donetsk, said if Russia captured the whole of Donetsk and Luhansk, a referendum would be held.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 28 May 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 28, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/SNyBZINIl2
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/XzTbIJ8R1J
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An interesting interview with retired Major John Spencer, chair of the urban warfare studies at Madison Policy Forum. He told the BBC that Russia has some momentum in the east, but Ukrainians had the ability to stop them moving forwards if they could get more western weapons.
Will they [Ukrainians] be able to continue putting up a good fight? "I think so, they still have what Russians do not, the will to fight...but they need the longer range systems." my comments tonight @BBCWorld TV with @RichPreston #UkraineRussiaWar pic.twitter.com/F7FTCaEW64
— John Spencer (@SpencerGuard) May 28, 2022
Asked if Ukrainian forces can keep putting up a fight, given the depletion of resources and exhaustion of troops, Spencers says he thinks so.
“They still have what Russia doesn’t - the will to fight, they’re fighting for their country. Many in Russia still struggle with morale and cohesion because they’re not sure what they’re fighting for”.
On rumours the US will give Ukraine longer range weapons systems, he said this would be “critical lifeblood to keep Ukraine from losing more and more of eastern Donbas.”
Donbas will be Ukrainian, says Zelenskiy
Hello, and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here is a quick summary of the latest developments. Much of the focus is on the east, where the situation appears bleak in the besieged city of Sievierodonetsk - the largest in Donbas still held by Ukraine.
Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, saying Ukrainian forces may need to retreat after Russian troops entered the city, Peter Beaumont and Isobel Koshiw report.
“The Russians will not be able to capture Luhansk region in the coming days as analysts have predicted,” Haidai said on Telegram, referring to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets river. “We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat.”
Haidai said 90% of buildings in the city were damaged.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accepted the situation in Donbas was “very difficult”, saying in a Friday night address that invading forces “have concentrated maximum artillery, maximum reserves” to the region.
“There are missiles strikes and aircraft attacks – everything,” he said. “We are protecting our land in the way that our current defence resources allow. We are doing everything to increase them. And we will increase them.
“If the occupiers think that Lyman or Sievierodonetsk will be theirs, they are wrong. Donbas will be Ukrainian.”
- The Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, has stated that in talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president indicated he was “prepared to discuss a prisoner swap with Ukraine”.
- Independent news source Meduza has reported that officials close to the Kremlin have said Russia is “planning full-scale victory in Ukraine by autumn” and may again try to take the capital city of Kyiv.
- The governor of Ukraine’s eastern region of Luhansk stated that Ukrainian forces may be forced to retreat from the zone to avoid being captured.
- A Nato defence ministry meeting to discuss the war will next take place on 15 and 16 June, reports Nexta.
- New UN figures have revealed that 4,031 civilians have died since Russia first invaded Ukraine in February, including 261 children.
- US president Joe Biden accused Vladimir Putin of attempting to “wipe out” Ukrainian culture and identity during a speech today, reports the Washington Post.
- A new report by more than 30 internationally recognised legal scholars and experts says Russia is guilty of inciting genocide and having the intent to commit genocide in Ukraine, legally obliging other countries to stop it.
- The US is expected to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine that could be announced as early as next week, reports CNN.
- Officials in Ukraine – including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his nightly address on Friday – have appealed for additional assistance from the west as the Donbas region faces “an obvious policy of genocide” from Russian forces there.
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