Thank you for following today’s coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We will be closing this liveblog but you can catch all the latest developments on our new blog launched below.
Summary
It’s just after 7am in Kyiv, here’s a round up of the latest developments.
- Ukraine has “likely won the battle of Kharkiv”, the country’s second largest city, the Institute for the Study of War has said in its latest assessment of the conflict. “Ukrainian forces prevented Russian troops from encircling, let alone seizing Kharkiv, and then expelled them from around the city, as they did to Russian forces attempting to seize Kyiv,” the US-based thinktank said.
- Ukrainians have also repelled multiple attempts by the Russians to cross a strategically significant river in the Donbas, inflicting heavy losses in the process, according to local officials and British intelligence. British defence intelligence said Russia had lost “significant armoured manoeuvre elements” from a battalion tactical group – a formation with about 800 personnel at full strength – from the failed effort to cross the Siversky Donets River, 12 miles (20km) west of Severodonetsk.
- Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland from 1am on Saturday the supplier, RAO Nordic, said, amid rising tensions over Helsinki’s bid to join Nato.
- That news came as US president Joe Biden expressed his support for the right of Finland and Sweden “to decide their own future, foreign policy, and security arrangements” in a call with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, and Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson.
- The White House also said it was ‘working to clarify Turkey’s position’ after president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey would not welcome either Sweden or Finland joining Nato. The comments appeared directed at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey regards as a terrorist organisation. Sweden has a large Kurdish diaspora.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says “very difficult negotiations are underway” on the evacuation of the seriously wounded and medics from Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant, which Russian forces continue to bombard. “Of course, we are doing everything to evacuate everyone else, each of our defenders,” the president added.
- Earlier, the Ukrainian president reiterated an offer to hold direct talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in his fullest public comments on the prospect of peace talks in weeks. “I am ready to talk to Putin, but only to him. Without any of his intermediaries. And in the framework of dialogue, not ultimatums,” he told Italy’s RAI 1 television.
- A Russian soldier has appeared in court accused of murdering an unarmed man on a bicycle, at the start of the first war crime trial in Ukraine since the invasion began. Vadim Shysimarin, a commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, is charged with the premeditated murder of a 62-year-old man. The case is scheduled to resume on Wednesday.
- Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia will hold a referendum on joining Russia on 17 July, the region’s leader, Anatoly Bibilov, has announced. South Ossetia was at the centre of the Russian-Georgian war in 2008 after which the Kremlin recognised the territory – along with another separatist region, Abkhazia – as an independent state and stationed military bases there.
- Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said Kyiv hopes to arm a million people as the country prepares for a “new, long phase of war”. He warned that “extremely tough weeks are ahead” and that Ukraine needed “unity, cohesion, will and patience” during this difficult period.
- The UK has issued sanctions against a dozen members of Vladimir Putin’s family and inner circle including his long-rumoured girlfriend. The Foreign Office argued that the Russian president officially owns only modest assets, and has sanctioned the people who help support his lavish lifestyle.
- The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, for the first time since before the invasion began, the Pentagon said. Austin “urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasised the importance of maintaining lines of communication”, the Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, said.
- The EU could agree on a phased embargo on Russian oil next week, despite concerns about supply in eastern Europe, according to diplomats and officials. A senior EU diplomat told Reuters an agreement could come as early as Monday when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels. A third diplomat said there was a chance of an agreement later in the week.
- The lawyer for the US professional basketball player Brittney Griner said her pre-trial detention has been extended by one month. The two-time Olympic medallist was arrested in February at Moscow’s airport, allegedly in possession of vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis. If found guilty, she could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Russian soldiers were captured on CCTV shooting unarmed civilians in the back, according to footage obtained by the BBC.
The film shows Russian soldiers trying to enter commercial premises neaar Kyiv in the early stages of the war before they appear to shoot a security guard and another man in the back.
The alleged shootings are being investigated by Ukrainian prosecutors as a war crime.
Updated
While the war rages in Ukraine, its deaf athletes have been doing the country proud in Brazil, which is currently hosting the Deaflympics. Ukraine is currently leading the medal table by a significant margin, according to this dispatch by AFP:
When Rymma Filimoshkina practiced the hammer throw in the yard near her house in Mariupol at the start of the Ukraine war, her neighbours thought she was throwing a bomb.
But her “weapon” isn’t one of destruction: it just won the 33-year-old deaf athlete a gold medal at the Deaflympics in Brazil.
Thousands of kilometres from the conflict at home, the Ukrainian team is raking in the medals at the Olympics for the deaf, which opened on 1 May and wrap up Sunday in the southern city of Caxias do Sul.
With two days left to go in the Games, Ukraine had a commanding lead in the medal table, with a total of 116 - more than double the second-place United States.
“In this event, we show the world we exist: we are Ukraine, a real powerful, independent and democratic country,” said Valeriy Sushkevych, president of the Ukraine Paralympic committee.
“One soldier called us and said: in between battles, we support you on TV. Your fighting spirit in sports is very important for us,” he told AFP.
Ukraine has a history of punching above its weight in disabled sport.
Its Paralympic program owes its success to two and a half decades of specialized schools in every region of the country for children with disabilities, who start participating in sporting programs at an early age, Sushkevych says.
Ukraine finished sixth in the medal table at the Summer Paralympics in Tokyo last year, and second at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing in March, just after Russia launched its invasion.
The team’s success at the Deaflympics is symbolically charged: Ukraine had finished second in the medal table at the last three editions of the event - behind Russia, which was banned from all international competitions over the invasion.
“I dedicate these medals to Ukraine. I’m very proud to represent my country,” said a smiling Dmytro Levin, a 24-year-old native of Kharkiv, speaking in sign language after winning two golds and a bronze in orienteering.
“I’m happy to have won this medal for Ukraine. But all I really want is peace,” said 15-year-old Sofia Chernomorova, who won bronze in badminton.
Filimoshkina said she still remembers the vibrations she felt with every bomb that exploded in Mariupol, the port city devastated by relentless Russian strikes.
“A lot of deaf people died because they didn’t hear the air raid sirens and went outside at the wrong time,” she said.
Her teammate Julia Kysylova, who won silver in the hammer throw, said that for a long time, she was sure they would have to cancel their trip for the Games.
“When the war erupted, it was impossible to train. I spent a month sheltering at home,” said the 25-year-old athlete from Nova Kakhovka, in the hard-hit southern region of Kherson.
She finally managed to flee to Spain, leaving her husband behind.
“It was a miracle we managed to cross the border. The trip took more than two days,” she said.
“After the Games, I hope to go back home and be with my husband,” she added.
“But I don’t know if that will be possible.”
Russia’s annual inflation jumped to a two-decade high of 17.8% in April, fuelled by Western sanctions over Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, the statistics agency said on Friday, AFP reports.
Since president Vladimir Putin moved troops into Ukraine on 24 February, Russia has been hit with a barrage of international sanctions, including embargoes on key exports, accelerating already high inflation.
Inflation of food prices, a huge concern for Russians on low incomes, has reached 20.5% year-on-year, according to Rosstat.
Pasta has gone up by 29.6%, butter by 26.1%, and fruit and vegetables by 33%.
Annual inflation could reach 23% this year before slowing down next year and returning to the target of 4% in 2024, according to the Central Bank.
“Looking ahead, we expect monthly increases in prices to ease further from May,” Capital Economics said.
Inflation has been speeding up for months due to a number of factors including the post-pandemic recovery and high prices for raw materials. Putin’s decision to send troops to Ukraine has added sanctions and the resulting logistical difficulties as factors.
Putin on Thursday said Western countries were worse hit by sanctions imposed on Moscow over Ukraine than Russia, which he insists has been resilient in the face of “external challenges”.
Washington is “working to clarify Turkey’s position” after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed opposition to Finland and Sweden joining Nato, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki has said according to Reuters.
The idea of the two nations becoming members of the transatlantic alliance had received “broad support from NATO member countries,” Psaki said.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby likewise said the United States is working to “better understand” Ankara’s stance.
Turkey is a valued NATO ally; that has not changed. They have been involved and helpful in trying to get dialogue going between Russia and Ukraine ,and they have provided assistance to Ukraine. So nothing changes about their standing in the NATO alliance.
Erdogan told journalists on Friday that “we do not have a positive opinion” about the two countries joining the alliance, and said they shelter “terrorist organizations.”
Turkey has long accused Nordic countries, in particular Sweden, which has a strong Turkish immigrant community, of harbouring extremist Kurdish groups as well as supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based preacher wanted over the failed 2016 coup.
The leaders of the US and the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” in Ukraine and the creation of “an enabling environment for peaceful resolution”, following a summit in Washington.
“We continue to reaffirm our respect for sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity. We reiterate our call for compliance with the UN Charter and international law,” the group said in a statement.
We support the efforts of the UN Secretary-General in the search for a peaceful solution.
We also call for the facilitation of rapid, safe and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance for those in need in Ukraine, and for the protection of civilians, humanitarian personnel, and persons in vulnerable situations.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is likely to annex the occupied parts of southern and eastern Ukraine into Russia “in the coming months”, according to Katherine Lawlor and Mason Clark, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, warning that the move could then be used to threaten Ukraine and its allies with nuclear attack.
After annexation,
He [Putin] will likely then state, directly or obliquely, that Russian doctrine permitting the use of nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory applies to those newly annexed territories.
Such actions would threaten Ukraine and its partners with nuclear attack if Ukrainian counteroffensives to liberate Russian-occupied territory continue. Putin may believe that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would restore Russian deterrence after his disastrous invasion shattered Russia’s conventional deterrent capabilities.
Putin’s timeline for annexation is likely contingent on the extent to which he understands the degraded state of the Russian military in Ukraine.
The Russian military has not yet achieved Putin’s stated territorial objectives of securing all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and is unlikely to do so.
If Putin understands his military weakness, he will likely rush annexation and introduce the nuclear deterrent quickly in an attempt to retain control of the Ukrainian territory that Russia currently occupies.
If Putin believes that Russian forces are capable of additional advances, he will likely delay the annexation in hopes of covering more territory with it.
In that case, his poor leadership and Ukrainian counteroffensives could drive the Russian military toward a state of collapse.
Putin could also attempt to maintain Russian attacks while mobilizing additional forces. He might delay announcing annexation for far longer in this case, waiting until reinforcements could arrive to gain more territory to annex.
Ukraine and its allies therefore “likely have a narrow window of opportunity to support a Ukrainian counteroffensive into occupied Ukrainian territory before the Kremlin annexes that territory,”Lawlor and Clark write.
As reports suggest that Ukrainian forces have successfully pushed back Russian forces from around the country’s second largest city, Kharkiv, near the country’s north-eastern border with Russia, here are some images showing the destruction left behind:
An interesting thread here on Russia’s failed Donbas river crossing from retired Australian major general Mick Ryan.
In it, he notes that:
This Russian river crossing has gained attention because it resulted in the loss of (probably) a battalion tactical group and some critical engineer equipment. The reality is, it is worse than that.
He also says:
An important aspect of assault river crossings is that they are only undertaken if absolutely necessary. The resources needed - engineers, bridges, artillery - are closely husbanded by commanders. As I already mentioned, they are really hard, especially when being shot at.
Therefore, such operations normally only occur on an axis of advance that is a main effort (or about to become the main effort). This has been missed by many commentators - the Russians clearly intended to invest in this axis and throw a lot of combat power down it.
I was going to do a thread today on the implications of Ukraine’s offensive around Kharkiv. Instead, I have pushed that to tomorrow in order to discuss the Russian river crossing operation over the Severskyi Donets this week in #Ukraine. 1/ https://t.co/NPSQdN98WG
— Mick Ryan, AM (@WarintheFuture) May 13, 2022
Ukraine has “likely won the battle of Kharkiv”, the country’s second largest city, the Institute for the Study of War has said in its latest assessment of the conflict.
Ukrainian forces prevented Russian troops from encircling, let alone seizing Kharkiv, and then expelled them from around the city, as they did to Russian forces attempting to seize Kyiv.
Russian units had “generally not attempted to hold ground against counterattacking Ukrainian forces over the past several days, with a few exceptions.”
Reports from Western officials and a video from an officer of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) indicate that Moscow is focused on conducting an orderly withdrawal and prioritizing getting Russians back home before allowing proxy forces to enter Russia rather than trying to hold its positions near the city.
The US-based think tank said Ukraine would now likely “attempt to disrupt ground lines of communication (GLOCs) between Belgorod [in Russia] and Russian forces concentrated around [the Russian-occupied city of] Izyum, although Russia is using several GLOCs, including some further away from current Ukrainian positions than any Ukrainian counteroffensive is likely to reach soon.”
Russian troops had “made no progress” with an attempted ground offensive from Izyum, it continued, adding: “We had previously hypothesized that Russia might give up on attempts to advance from Izyum, but the Russians have either not made such a decision or have not fully committed to it yet.”
Meanwhile, it said, the main Russian effort was aimed at encircling the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk.
Russian troops attacking from Popasna to the north made no significant progress in the last 24 hours. Russian forces coming north-to-south have failed to cross the Siverskyi Donets River and taken devastating losses in their attempts.
The Russians may not have enough additional fresh combat power to offset those losses and continue the offensive on a large enough scale to complete the encirclement, although they will likely continue to try to do so.
Other key takeaways included:
- Russian forces have likely secured the highway near the western entrance to the Azovstal Steel Plant but fighting for the facility continues.
- Russian forces in Zaporizhia Oblast are likely attempting to reach artillery range outside Zaporizhia City.
- Ukrainian forces are reportedly attempting to regain control of Snake Island off the Romanian coast or at least disrupt Russia’s ability to use it.
Hello, this is Helen Livingstone taking over from my colleague Sam Levin.
First, a bit more from Zelenskiy’s latest nightly address, in which he warned that the war and Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s ports were “provoking a large-scale food crisis”.
Russian officials are also openly threatening the world that there will be famine in dozens of countries. And what could be the consequences of such a famine? What political instability and migration flows will this lead to? How much will you have to spend then to overcome the consequences?
These are the questions that need to be answered by those who are delaying sanctions on Russia or trying to postpone aid to Ukraine.
His warning came as G7 foreign and agriculture ministers were meeting in Germany to discuss ways of breaking the Russian blockade of grain exports.
Zelenskiy also claimed that Russia had lost almost 27,000 soldiers, “many of them young conscripts”, and that Ukraine had downed a 200th Russian military aircraft.
Russia had also “lost more than three thousand tanks, armored combat vehicles, a large number of conventional military vehicles, helicopters, drones and all its prospects as a state.”
And why all this? For a monument to Lenin to stand in the temporarily occupied Henichesk for a little longer? There is no other result for Russia and there will not be any.
The Guardian is not able to verify Ukraine’s claims regarding Russian losses and Moscow has provided very little detail.
Summary
- Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that Turkey would not welcome either Sweden or Finland joining the Nato.
- Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said Kyiv hopes to arm a million people as the country prepares for a “new, long phase of war”.
- Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland from 1am on Saturday the supplier, RAO Nordic, said, amid rising tensions over Helsinki’s bid to join Nato.
- The US is sending 10,500 new troops to Europe to replace soldiers who were earlier deployed, the Pentagon said on Friday.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said talks with Russia on getting wounded defenders out of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol were very complex and that negotiations were underway.
- Ukrainians have repelled multiple attempts by the Russians to cross a strategically significant river in the Donbas, inflicting heavy losses in the process, according to local officials and British intelligence.
- Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia will hold a referendum on joining Russia on 17 July, the region’s leader announced on Friday.
Zelenskiy: negotiations underway for evacuations from Azovstal plant
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said talks with Russia on getting wounded defenders out of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol were very complex, adding Kyiv was using influential intermediaries, Reuters reported, citing his late night address:
Russian forces have been constantly bombarding the steelworks in the southern port of Mariupol, the last bastion of hundreds of Ukrainian defenders in a city almost completely controlled by Russia after more than two months of a siege.
Ukraine, saying there is no military solution to the standoff, has proposed evacuating 38 of the most severely wounded defenders. If Moscow allows them out, Kyiv says it will release a number of Russian prisoners of war.
“At the moment very complex negotiations are under way on the next phase of the evacuation mission – the removal of the badly wounded, medics. We are talking about a large number of people,” Zelenskiy said in his address. “Of course, we are doing everything to evacuate all the others, every one of our defenders. We’ve already involved everyone around the world who could be the most influential intermediaries,” he added, without giving details.
Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, spoke to reporters in Washington DC today and said the crisis on the battlefield was now “far worse” than it was at the start of the war, CNN reports.
Ustinova said “it is hell” on the frontlines, the news network reported: “We keep losing many more men now than it was at the beginning of the war.” She was speaking at a German Marshall Fund roundtable.
She also called on the US to supply fighter jets and air defense systems, saying, according to CNN:
If we had howitzers two months ago, Mariupol would not happen because they wouldn’t be able to surround like they did, to surround the city and literally destroy it ... For us, time means lives, thousands of lives. We’ve been hearing that it has been unprecedented how fast everything is moving and how fast the decisions are taking. But there has never been a war since World War Two like that. And unfortunately, we keep asking here to take the decisions faster.”
.@SashaUstinovaUA called on the US to provide air defense systems and fighter jets to Ukraine, telling reporters at a @gmfus roundtable that the situation on the battlefield is far worse than it was at the beginning of the war.
— Jennifer Hansler (@jmhansler) May 13, 2022
“It is hell” on the frontlines right now, she said
Reuters has a dispatch from Dergachi, on the outskirts of Kharkiv, where firefighters were dousing smoldering wreckage after, according to local officials, a Russian missile attack hit the House of Culture, which was used to distribute aid supplies.
Volunteers inside were attempting to salvage packages of baby diapers and formula, the news agency reported on Friday. The mayor, Vyacheslav Zadorenko, told Reuters:
I can’t call it anything but a terrorist act. They wanted to hit the base where we store provisions and create a humanitarian catastrophe.”
The mayor also said that another missile had slammed into the building on Thursday and wounded a clinic staff member and killed a young couple in their home.
Some more on the latest developments:
US sending 10,500 new troops to Europe for new rotation
The US is sending 10,500 new troops to Europe to replace soldiers who were earlier deployed, the Pentagon’s spokesperson John Kirby also announced in his briefing today. He said the deployments were “one for one unit replacements” and that the turnovers would happen in the coming weeks and into the summer: “It will be a rotation over time.”
Pentagon chief orders 10,500 troops to replaces forces in Europe https://t.co/xYC9t74E4H pic.twitter.com/VbJvqxD5sM
— The Hill (@thehill) May 13, 2022
Kirby explained:
These are not permanent moves. These moves are designed to respond to the current security environment. Moreover these forces are not going to fight in Ukraine. They are going to support the robust defense of Nato allies.
Still, as the New York Times noted, the move suggests that the temporary expansion of troops is likely becoming more permanent.
Ukrainian military authorities loaded the bodies of Russian soldiers onto refrigerated rail cars on Friday, saying they were prepared to return the bodies to Russia in accordance with international law, Reuters reports. The authorities loaded the bodies after fighting in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. From the news agency:
Volodymr Lyamzin, the head of Ukraine’s civil-military cooperation, said his country was acting in accordance with international law and was ready to return the bodies to Russia.
“According to the norms of international humanitarian law, and Ukraine is strictly following them, after the active phase of the conflict is over, sides have to return the bodies of the military of another country, “Ukraine is ready to return the bodies to the aggressor”, he said.
Lyamzin said there were several refrigerator trains stationed in different regions across Ukraine where the bodies of Russian soldiers were being kept.
Several hundred bodies were being stored at a facility on the outskirts of Kyiv filmed by Reuters.
Updated
The Russian army has continued its strategic offensive in the country’s east, attacking new villages and towns, the Ukrainian army said in its daily operational statement today, the Associated Press reports:
Russian troops were engaging their Ukrainian opponents with live fire near the Rubezhnoye settlement, near the strategic city of Severodonetsk in Ukraine’s Donbas, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said in a Facebook post.
Analysts say that fighting in the Sevedononetsk area is critical to securing control over the Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On Friday, Russian troops unsuccessfully stormed the towns of Zolote and Kamyshevakha, the Ukrainian military said. It added that Moscow’s forces were firing artillery at the strategically important settlements of Kamenka and Novoselivka. The military also said that Russia continued shelling Ukrainian positions in Mariupol, near the Azovstal steel plant where Kyiv’s troops continue to hold out.
The accuracy of the claims could not be immediately verified, the AP noted.
The Pentagon spokesperson, John Kirby, urged Congress to pass the $40bn supplemental aid package for Ukraine during a briefing on Friday.
He said 19 May was a critical deadline, CNN reported:
19 May is the day we really, without additional authorities, we begin to not have the ability to send new stuff in. By the 19th of May, it’ll start impacting our ability to provide aid uninterrupted.”
Kirby said: “We continue to urge the Senate to act as quickly as possible so that we don’t get to the end of May and not have any additional authorities to draw upon ... We’ve been moving at a fairly fast clip here both in terms of the individual packages that have been approved and how fast that stuff is getting into Ukrainian hands ... We’d like to be able to continue that pace for as long as we can.”
Democrats and Republicans had both supported the aid package this week, but Rand Paul, the GOP senator and libertarian from Kentucky, single-handedly blocked its approval:
The United States accused Russia of using the UN Security Council to spout disinformation and conspiracy theories about biological weapons in Ukraine, to distract from its invasion of the country, the Associated Press reported.
US deputy ambassador Richard Mills called the Russian claims of alleged US involvement in a biological weapons program “categorically false and ludicrous”.
He warned the council Friday that Moscow’s actions follow a pattern of accusing others of violations it has perpetrated or intends to perpetrate, adding that they need to be watched closely “for the possibility of a false flag chemical or biological attack by Russia’s forces”.
UN deputy disarmament chief Thomas Markram reiterated to the council what his boss said at council meetings on 11 March and 18 March on similar Russian allegations: the United Nations is not aware of any biological weapons program in Ukraine.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia had earlier said in the meeting that he had called for a third council meeting because his government continues to receive “very worrying documentary evidence” that the US defense department is directly involved in carrying out “dangerous biological projects that look like a secret biological military program” in Ukraine.
Updated
Lloyd Austin, the US defense secretary, held a call with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Friday in which he called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, the Pentagon said.
During the call Austin also “emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication”, the Pentagon said. It was the first time Austin had spoken with Shoigu since 18 February, six days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The New York Times reported that the call came “at the initiative of the American side”.
“What motivated them to change their mind and be open to it, I don’t think we know for sure,” a senior Pentagon official told the Times. The hourlong conversation was “professional”, the Times reported, but broke no new ground.
“The call itself didn’t specifically solve any acute issues or lead to a direct change in what the Russians are doing or saying,” the official told the Times. He said Austin hoped the call would “serve as a springboard for future conversations”.
The call came after Republican US senator Rand Paul blocked the passage of a $40bn aid bill for Ukraine on Thursday. The bill will be taken up again next week.
Updated
“Difficult negotiations” are taking place to remove Ukrainian defenders holed up under the Azovstal steelworks in besieged Mariupol, CNN reported.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration, told CNN that attempts to save the fighters were ongoing.
“Difficult negotiations are underway, and they are still going on at this time, in order to save the defenders – gradually – because the Russian Federation is trying to dictate its conditions and requirements as much as possible. Therefore, in the first place, it will be seriously wounded fighters,” he said.
Kyrylenko said that Russians continue to bombard Avozstal. “These are heavy, vacuum, high-explosive bombs,” he said.
“We have to talk about it only when people will be safe. Only then we shall give any comments. Negotiations are ongoing and they are really very difficult. Because, first, the Russian Federation always changes them [the conditions]. And even those agreements that are reached are not a 100% agreement with Russia,” Kyrylenko said.
Updated
Consumer inflation in Russia accelerated in April to 17.83% in year-on-year terms, its highest level since January 2002, Reuters reported.
Data released showed inflation was boosted by the volatile rouble and unprecedented western sanctions, which have disrupted logistics chains.
But monthly inflation slowed to 1.56% in April from 7.61% in March, when it staged the biggest month-on-month increase since January 1999, data from the federal statistics service Rosstat showed.
Inflation in Russia has accelerated sharply after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
High inflation has been the key concern among households for years as it dents living standards, a fall which this year will be aggravated by a steep economic contraction.
Summary
It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Ukrainians have repelled multiple attempts by the Russians to cross a strategically significant river in the Donbas, inflicting heavy losses in the process, according to local officials and British intelligence. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said Russian forces had been repulsed three times as they tried to cross the Siversky Donets River, 12 miles (20km) west of Severodonetsk, losing armour and bridging equipment.
- Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said Kyiv hopes to arm a million people as the country prepares for a “new, long phase of war”. He warned that “extremely tough weeks are ahead” and that Ukraine needed “unity, cohesion, will and patience” during this difficult period.
- Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland from 1am on Saturday the supplier, RAO Nordic, said, amid rising tensions over Helsinki’s bid to join Nato. The Finnish grid company, Fingrid, said trade in electricity imported from Russia would be suspended “for the time being” due to difficulties in receiving payments for electricity sold on the market, but insisted there was “no threat to the adequacy of electricity in Finland”.
- A Russian soldier has appeared in court accused of murdering an unarmed man on a bicycle, at the start of the first war crime trial in Ukraine since Vladimir Putin invaded the country. Vadim Shysimarin, a commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, is charged with the premeditated murder of a 62-year-old man. The case is scheduled to resume on Wednesday.
- The UK has issued sanctions against a dozen members of Vladimir Putin’s family and inner circle including his long-rumoured girlfriend. The Foreign Office argued that the Russian president officially owns only modest assets, and has sanctioned the people who help support his lavish lifestyle.
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Britain and Norway have signed a new joint declaration on enhancing cooperation between the two countries. Boris Johnson met his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Støre, in London on Friday, where both leaders “underscored their full support for any sovereign choice made by Nordic partners to enhance their security”, a Downing Street statement said.
- US president, Joe Biden, spoke with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, and Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, in call today. Biden expressed his support for the right of both Nordic countries “to decide their own future, foreign policy, and security arrangements”, the White House said. Niinistö said he discussed his country’s “next steps towards Nato membership” in the call.
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Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, remarked to journalists after leaving Friday prayers in Istanbul that Turkey would not welcome either Sweden or Finland joining the Nato. He said that Turkey was “currently following developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t feel positively about this”.
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The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, for the first time since before Moscow’s troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the Pentagon said. Austin “urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasised the importance of maintaining lines of communication”, the Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, said.
- The EU could agree on a phased embargo on Russian oil next week, despite concerns about supply in eastern Europe, according to diplomats and officials. A senior EU diplomat told Reuters an agreement could come as early as Monday when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels. A third diplomat said there was a chance of an agreement later in the week.
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The lawyer for the US professional basketball player Brittney Griner said her pre-trial detention has been extended by one month.
The two-time Olympic medallist was arrested in February at Moscow’s airport, allegedly in possession of vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis. If found guilty, she could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today as I hand the blog over to my US colleagues. I’ll be back on Monday. Thank you for reading.
Updated
US president Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of Sweden and Finland today to show his support “for Nato’s open door policy” and for the right of both Nordic countries “to decide their own future, foreign policy, and security arrangements”, the White House said.
Biden spoke with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, and Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, to discuss the “close defence and security cooperation” between the countries as well as their efforts “aimed at strengthening translatlantic security”, the White House said in a statement.
The leaders also discussed the “close partnership” among the countries across a range of global issues, and “reiterated their shared commitment to continued coordination” to help Ukraine, it said.
Updated
Ukraine ‘to arm a million people’ in new phase of war
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said Kyiv hopes to arm a million people as the country prepares for a “new, long phase of war”.
In a Facebook post published earlier today, Reznikov said:
We are entering a new, long phase of the war. To win it, we must plan resources carefully, avoid mistakes and project our strength in such a way that the enemy ultimately breaks.
Reznikov thanked the British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for his support to increase assistance for Kyiv, as well as American partners, including his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin.
Ukraine’s goal is to “restore our sovereignty and territorial integrity within the internationally recognised borders”, he said.
Reznikov added that he was “focusing on the need to provide for one million people who will be facing the enemy”.
He warned that “extremely tough weeks are ahead” and that Ukraine needed “unity, cohesion, will and patience” during this extremely difficult period.
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Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, said he discussed his country’s “next steps towards Nato membership” in a call with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, and Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, today.
A joint phone call with @POTUS @JoeBiden and @SwedishPM Magdalena Andersson. We shared a deep concern over Russia's war on Ukraine. I went through Finland’s next steps towards NATO membership. Finland deeply appreciates all the necessary support from the US.
— Sauli Niinistö (@niinisto) May 13, 2022
Andersson also tweeted about the call:
Important call with @POTUS Biden and President @niinisto on Russian aggression against Ukraine, and on 🇸🇪 🇫🇮 security policy. Much appreciate 🇺🇸 support for our security and respective security policy choices.
— SwedishPM (@SwedishPM) May 13, 2022
The call lasted about 40 minutes, the White House said.
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The call came at about midday on Wednesday. There had been “chemical poisoning” after a blast and patients needed collecting, Emma Graham-Harrison and Kateryna Semchuk report.
Fears of a Russian chemical weapons attack have haunted Ukraine almost since the war began. And as the volunteer medics in Sloviansk pulled on the ageing gas masks and plastic overalls that were their only protection, they wondered if this was it.
They set off anyway, inured to personal risks after weeks of driving through shelling to patch up the men and women injured on one of the most intensely fought-over sections of the frontline.
“We got a call saying there was a yellow-brown cloud after the hit, and yellow-white flakes in the air like snow. The soldiers immediately started having breathing problems,” said Vit, a paramedic who asked to go only by his nickname, which refers to his peacetime role as mayor of a small town. He was worried about being captured and tortured by Russian troops who were just a few miles away.
The ambulance team listened to the warning and then went to get the choking soldiers. Like the troops they support, they are supplementing limited, outdated equipment with courage and determination.
After dropping off their patient, who had gone into spasms in the ambulance, they were told the gas came not from chemical weapons but from a chemical plant that had been hit by Russian munitions.
But if the fear of one particular horror was put on hold for a moment, the other terrors of this war are drawing closer to this city in Donbas, less than 20 miles behind the frontline.
Read the full article: Trial by fire: volunteer medics brave Russian shells in Donbas
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Italy would be “very happy” to support Nato membership for Finland and Sweden, the Italian foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, said.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Di Maio said:
We as Italy will be very happy to welcome these two countries in this great alliance that defends its member countries and … which has guaranteed peace for decades.
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Russia to cut electricity supplies to Finland from Saturday
Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland from 1am on Saturday the supplier, RAO Nordic, said, amid rising tensions over Helsinki’s bid to join Nato.
RAO Nordic, a subsidiary of the Russian state energy holding Inter RAO, said in a statement that it was “forced to suspend the electricity import”, starting from 14 May.
RAO Nordic “is not able to make payments for the imported electricity from Russia”, the statement said.
It added:
This situation is exceptional and happened for the first time in over 20 years of our trading history.
The Finnish grid company, Fingrid, said trade in electricity imported from Russia would be suspended “for the time being” due to difficulties in receiving payments for electricity sold on the market.
Fingrid added:
There is no threat to the adequacy of electricity in Finland.
It said that power from Russia accounted for some 10% of Finland’s total power consumption, adding:
Missing imports can be replaced in the electricity market by importing more electricity from Sweden and partly also by domestic production.
Finnish leaders yesterday declared the country must apply to join the Nato alliance “without delay”. In response, the Kremlin said Russia would “definitely” see Finnish membership as a threat, and Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow would be “forced to take reciprocal steps, military-technical and other”.
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The EU could agree on a phased embargo on Russian oil next week, despite concerns about supply in eastern Europe, according to diplomats and officials.
A senior EU diplomat told Reuters “there will be a deal”, while a second senior diplomat said an agreement could come as early as Monday when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels. A third diplomat said there was a chance of an agreement later in the week.
One diplomat said:
This is going to be decided at the highest political level, between Budapest and Brussels. I am optimistic.
The embargo deal was first proposed by the European Commission in early May but dependence on Russian oil in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia has posed the biggest obstacle.
Hungary has already obtained an exemption until the end of 2024, as has Slovakia, and the Czech Republic until mid-2024.
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More on the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, who also spoke to his British counterpart, Ben Wallace, to discuss the next steps to help Ukraine, including military aid.
Wallace issued a statement after meeting Austin in talks held in the US:
We will continue to work with unity and resolve to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
The pair discussed “the next steps to provide defensive support for Ukraine, as well as Aukus (a defence pact between Australia, the US and Britain), the future of Nato, and other aspects of our shared security”, Wallace said.
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The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, for the first time since before Moscow’s troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the Pentagon said.
The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, said in a statement:
On 13 May, secretary of defence Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Russian minister of defence Sergey Shoygu for the first time since 18 February.
Austin “urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasised the importance of maintaining lines of communication”, Kirby added.
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The UK has issued sanctions against a dozen members of Vladimir Putin’s family and inner circle, including his long-rumoured girlfriend, arguing that given the Russian president officially owns only modest assets, these are the people who help support his lavish lifestyle.
The Foreign Office announcement means asset freezes and travel bans will be imposed on, among others: Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, Putin’s former wife; Alina Kabaeva, a media executive and the Russian president’s presumed partner; and Anna Zatseplina, Kabaeva’s grandmother.
The Foreign Office statement noted that Putin’s official assets ran to little more than a small flat in St Petersburg and two Soviet-era cars, despite his very obvious enormous personal wealth, including a yacht and the vast Putin’s Palace mansion on the Black Sea coast.
The sanctions targeted what the statement called a “wallet” of relatives and associates. The statement said: “Putin relies on his network of family, childhood friends, and selected elite who have benefited from his rule and in turn support his lifestyle. Their reward is influence over the affairs of the Russian state that goes far beyond their formal positions.”
Those named in the latest sanctions comprise seven family members and five people listed as financiers of Putin’s lifestyle.
Kabaeva, a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast, holds several powerful positions and has long been rumoured to be Putin’s girlfriend. She chairs the board of Russia’s National Media Group, which controls several television stations. Zatseplina is associated with Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire with close links to Putin.
Kabaeva, who is originally from Tashkent in Uzbekistan and won gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics, spent more than six years as an MP for Putin’s United Russia party. In 2014, she stepped back from politics to begin her role with National Media Group, despite her apparent lack of relevant experience beyond hosting a TV chat show.
Ocheretnaya and Putin divorced in 2014, but she had since, the statement said, “benefited from preferential business relationships with state-owned entities and exhibited significant unexplained wealth”.
The other family members issued with sanctions are Igor Putin, a businessman and cousin of the president; Mikhail Putin, another businessman believed to be related to the president; Roman Putin, who is Igor Putin’s son and runs a consulting firm; and Mikhail Shelomov, a business owner and Putin’s first cousin, once removed.
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Kyiv will see a relaxing of curfew hours from Sunday onwards, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, announced on Telegram.
From Sunday, the curfew will begin an hour later, from 11pm. It will continue to last until 5am.
Public transport will also run for longer hours from Monday, Klitschko said.
The mayor said:
Subway – from 6am to 10pm. Ground public transport – from 6am to 10.30pm. Observe the curfew rules.
And also – do not neglect air raid signals! Threat of missile attacks on Kyiv remains.
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Britain and Norway have signed a new joint declaration on enhancing cooperation between the two countries, just days after the UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, travelled to Sweden and Finland to pledge his support against potential Russian threats.
Johnson met his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Støre, in London today, where both leaders “underscored their full support for any sovereign choice made by Nordic partners to enhance their security”, a Downing Street statement said.
The statement continued:
The prime minister and Prime Minister Støre agreed that neither Nato nor the Nordic region posed a threat and that the longstanding policy of ‘high north, low tension’ had created decades of stability and prosperity for the area.
Støre told broadcasters that the pair discussed energy and climate policy, the need to provide support to Ukraine, as well as their cooperation on energy and carbon capture and storage.
He said it was a “historic” time for his region, with Finland potentially joining the Nato alliance.
PM @jonasgahrstore is in London today: meeting with PM @borisjohnson at No. 10, the two leaders signed a Joint Declaration on enhancing co-operation on areas from security & defence to climate change, environment & energy
— Norway in the UK (@NorwayinUK) May 13, 2022
'The UK is without question one of our closest allies' pic.twitter.com/5ExJnX6G4d
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The lawyer for the US professional basketball player Brittney Griner said her pre-trial detention has been extended by one month.
The two-time Olympic medallist was arrested in February at Moscow’s airport, allegedly in possession of vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis. If found guilty, she could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The Biden administration has said Griner, 31, has been wrongfully detained and has assigned diplomats to work on her release.
Griner appeared at the hearing in a court in Khimki just outside Moscow, handcuffed and wearing an orange hoodie with her face held low.
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There has been a little bit of Finnish reaction to those comments by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He said that Turkey was “currently following developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t feel positively about this”.
At the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Germany, Reuters is quoting Finland’s foreign minister Pekka Haavisto as saying that issues need to be taken step-by-step and that the process needs patience. He said that he would be meeting Turkey’s foreign minister in Berlin tomorrow.
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Kremlin press spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has given a read-out from Russia’s security council meeting today, where he says Russian president Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine and potential threats from the entry of Finland and Sweden into Nato, Russia’s RIA news agency reports.
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Erdoğan says Turkey 'would not welcome' Finland or Sweden joining Nato
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan remarked to journalists after leaving Friday prayers in Istanbul that Turkey would not welcome either Sweden or Finland joining the Nato.
“We are currently following developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t feel positively about this,” he said.
“We don’t want to commit a mistake,” he added. “Scandinavian countries are like guesthouses for terrorist organisations. To go even further, they have seats in their parliaments too.”
Erdoğan’s comments were primarily directed at the militant group the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK), which Turkey regards as a terrorist organisation, although they appeared to encompass the communities of Kurdish origin in Scandinavia as a whole.
Accession to Nato requires consensus from all member countries.
Sweden has a large Kurdish diaspora, with the community considered to be one of the largest outside of the Middle East. Prominent Swedish citizens of Kurdish origin currently include six members of parliament. The Turkish authorities are yet to provide any evidence for their claims that the parliamentarians in question have links with the PKK or similar groups outside Sweden.
The Kurdish-speaking population of Finland was estimated at just over 15,000 people as of 2020, less than 1% of the population.
Turkey has been a Nato member since 1952 and its membership remains a cornerstone of its foreign policy towards western countries. Despite this, Turkey recently decided to withdraw from a scheduled Nato military exercise in Athens in May due to disagreements with Greece.
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Russia accused of forcibly deporting 210,000 children from Ukraine
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsperson, Lyudmyla Denisova, said more than 210,000 children were among 1.2 million Ukrainians who Kyiv says have been deported against their will.
Speaking on national television, Denisova said:
When our children are taken out, they destroy the national identity, deprive our country of the future.
They teach our children there, in Russian, the history that (Russian president Vladimir) Putin has told everyone.
Denisova did not provide evidence to support these figures, and it has not been possible to independently verify them.
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Ukraine has asked G7 countries to seize Russian assets and hand them to Kyiv to help rebuild the country, its foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said.
Speaking to reporters as G7 foreign ministers met in northern Germany, Kuleba added that he hoped Hungary would agree with EU partners on an embargo on Russian oil.
Kuleba said:
Canada has already done this and I have a feeling that others will reach that point sooner rather than later. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. Russia must pay.
Following @ZelenskyyUa’s talks with G7 leaders, today I asked G7 to seize Russian sovereign assets and give them to Ukraine for rebuilding our country. Russia must pay. Politically, economically, and financially. I appreciate the positive reaction of G7 countries to our request. pic.twitter.com/DpUoanoEtW
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 13, 2022
Sweden has come closer to reversing its decades-long policy of military non-alignment, after a security policy review concluded that joining Nato would have a “deterrent effect” on the risk of conflict in northern Europe.
Swedish membership to Nato would “raise the threshold for military conflicts and thus have a deterrent effect in northern Europe”, the report said. It stopped short of offering a concrete recommendation but noted that it was “not realistic to develop bilateral defence alliances outside existing European and Euro-Atlantic structures”.
The report added:
Within the framework of current cooperation, there is no guarantee that Sweden would be helped if it were the target of a serious threat or attack.
The report paves the way for Sweden to announce a bid for Nato membership, and comes after Finnish leaders said they believed Finland should join Nato “without delay”.
The Swedish foreign minister, Ann Linde, said Finland’s position would affect Sweden and “needed to be considered”. She also noted that both Finnish and Swedish Nato memberships would be considered “negative” by Russia.
Linde told reporters that Sweden did not anticipate a “conventional military attack” in reaction to a potential application, but acknowledged that the government has not ruled out “an armed assault against Sweden”.
Russian retaliatory measures against Sweden “cannot be ruled out during a transition period”, the report continued, citing “cyberattacks and other forms of hybrid attacks”. Russia would be able to carry out “limited acts of violence” against Sweden, such as “sabotage by Russian special forces units or operations using long-range weapons”.
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Russia is advising its citizens against travelling to the UK its foreign ministry said.
The ministry said:
Taking into account the extremely unfriendly course of the UK towards our country, in order to avoid financial losses and other possible problems, we recommend that Russian citizens refrain, if possible, from travelling to the UK and trying to obtain British visas.
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Zelenskiy says he is ‘ready to talk to Putin’
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has reiterated an offer to hold direct talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Ukrainian president’s fullest public comments on the prospect of peace talks in weeks.
Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine should be a starting point for any discussions between the two leaders, Zelenskiy told Italy’s RAI 1 television, Reuters reports.
Zelenskiy said:
As president, I am ready to talk to Putin, but only to him. Without any of his intermediaries. And in the framework of dialogue, not ultimatums.
Ukraine and Russia have not held face-to-face talks since 29 March. Interfax news agency has quoted Moscow’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, as saying peace talks were being held remotely.
Zelenskiy also ruled out suggestions that Ukraine should make concessions for the sake of securing a peace agreement that would allow Putin to save face, adding that Ukraine would not compromise over its territorial integrity.
He said:
Get out of this territory that you have occupied since February 24. This is the first clear step to talking about anything.
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Russia said it expelled 10 Romanian diplomats in response to similar expulsions by Bucharest, its foreign ministry said.
In a separate statement, the ministry said a member of the Bulgarian embassy was also being expelled.
Germany says it has started training Ukrainian soldiers in the use of the Panzerhaubitze (PzH) 2000 artillery system this week.
The PzH 2000 howitzer is one of the most powerful artillery weapons in the Bundeswehr inventories and can hit targets at a distance of 40km (25 miles).
Good morning! Training of Ukrainian soldiers in use of the PzH 2000 started in Germany this week. The delivery of 12 of these weapon systems is currently being coordinated and organised with the Netherlands. We are also reinforcing #NATO’s eastern flank.👇 https://t.co/XylsiFfy7S pic.twitter.com/G44q6rZPvm
— Germany at NATO (@GermanyNATO) May 13, 2022
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has been speaking to reporters during his regular briefing. Referring to a report in a Finnish newspaper that Russia may cut gas supplies to Finland as soon as today, Peskov said it was “most likely” “another newspaper hoax”.
Iltalehti reported yesterday that Finnish politicians had been warned that Russia could halt gas supplies to its neighbour on Friday. The newspaper cited unnamed sources and did not say where the warning came from.
Peskov said there were no plans to cut Finland off from gas supplies today, adding that Gazprom remained a reliable gas supplier, Reuters reports.
He also hit back at calls by Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, to “root out” Russia’s “monstrous ideology”.
In a column for Britain’s Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday, Morawiecki said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was more dangerous than either Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin because of the advanced weapons at his disposal.
Peskov told reporters:
This is the quintessence of that hatred towards Russians that has regrettably, like a metastasis, infected the entire Polish leadership and, in many ways, Polish society.
He said Morawiecki’s “shocking” statement was “hysterical and unacceptable”.
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Russian president Vladimir Putin held a phone call with German chancellor Olaf Scholz, in which Putin “outlined in detail the logic and main objectives of the special military operation”, the Kremlin said on Friday.
According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Putin also spoke about the “measures being taken to ensure the safety of civilians” during what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The Kremlin further said that Putin drew attention to the “gross violations” committed by Ukrainian militants “professing the Nazi ideology”. The Russian leader added that the current Russian-Ukrainian negotiations were “effectively blocked” by Kyiv.
During the conversation, the leaders agreed to hold further talks soon, the Kremlin said.
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A Russian soldier has appeared in the dock at the first war crime trial of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The defendant, who arrived at Kyiv’s small district court No 3 in a grey tracksuit and handcuffs, is Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, who is in Ukrainian custody charged with murdering a 62-year-old man.
It was a preliminary hearing and a first date for trial has been set for 18 May.
Shysimarin’s lawyer said his client had confessed to the killing of the victim but that he had not yet discussed whether he would plead guilty.
Shysimarin spoke briefly to confirm his name and that he understood the charges against him.
It is alleged that Shysimarin, a sergeant, had been fighting in the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine when he killed a civilian on 28 February in the village of Chupakhivka.
He is accused of shooting at a civilian car after his convoy of military vehicles had come under attack from Ukrainian forces. He then drove the car away with four other soldiers as he sought to flee Ukrainian fighters.
Shysimarin shot dead the unarmed man, who was on a bicycle and talking on his phone, after being ordered “to kill a civilian so he would not report them to Ukrainian defenders”, according to prosecutors.
The crime is said to have happened “dozens of metres” from the victim’s house and was committed using an AK-74 rifle.
The name of the 62-year-old victim was not made public.
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Germany’s agriculture minister, Cem Özdemir, described grain theft by Russia in eastern Ukraine as “repugnant” as G7 countries met to discuss the impact of the war on the global food supply.
Özdemir was speaking to reporters at the start of a meeting in Stuttgart with colleagues from G7 countries, Ukraine, the EU, the OECD and the UN’s food and agricultural agency, Reuters reports.
Özdemir said:
This is an especially repugnant form of war that Russia is leading.
Russia was “stealing, robbing, taking for itself grain from eastern Ukraine,” Oezdemir said, describing it as an “economic war”.
Ukraine’s agriculture minister, Mykola Solsky, said his country was in a “very difficult situation” with regard to grain exports, adding:
We cannot get away from the fact that the harvest will be smaller than last year.
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UK announces new sanctions targeting Putin’s family and inner circle
Britain announced its latest round of sanctions targeting the Russian president’s financial network, including his ex-wife, family and inner circle.
The sanctions are aimed at the “shady network propping up Putin’s luxury lifestyle”, British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said in a statement.
The 12 new names added to the British sanctions list include the former first lady of the Russian Federation and ex-wife of Putin, Lyudmila Ocheretnaya.
Mikhail Shelomov, a Russian business owner and the leader’s first cousin, once removed, has also been targeted.
Several other relatives of Putin holding executive positions at major Russian firms like Gazprom have also been sanctioned. They face asset freezes and travel bans.
Truss’ statement read:
We are exposing and targeting the shady network propping up Putin’s luxury lifestyle and tightening the vice on his inner circle.
We will keep going with sanctions on all those aiding and abetting Putin’s aggression until Ukraine prevails.
Putins’ official assets are modest, according to the UK Foreign Office, with his lifestyle “funded by a cabal of family, friends and elites”.
Britain’s sanctioned list now includes more than 1,000 individuals and 100 entities.
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong with you again today. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email if you have anything you’d like to flag.
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Today so far …
- The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said the failed crossing of the Siverskyi Donets river by Russian forces in the Donbas showed the pressure Russian commanders were under.
- Ukrainian military forces released footage on Thursday that they say shows destroyed Russian military vehicles and a pontoon bridge in eastern Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian forces, the images were taken along the Siverskyi Donets River.
- The first war crime trial since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine has opened in Kyiv in a watershed moment. Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old Russian commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, allegedly killed a civilian on 28 February in the village of Chupakhivka while fighting in the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine.
- Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces struck the Kremenchug oil refinery in central Ukraine, destroying its production capacity and fuel tanks.
- Ukraine says it has damaged a Russian navy logistics ship near Snake Island, a small but strategic outpost in the Black Sea.
- Kharkiv governor Oleh Synyehubov said “the night was relatively calm” in the region. However he added that in Dergachi “the Russians damaged the humanitarian headquarters, the registry office, part of the clinic, and the ambulance building”, and that in Shebelinka “a Russian shell hit a hangar building. The roof of the hangar and 10 trucks were on fire. Unfortunately, three people died and five others were injured.”
- The Ukrainian counteroffensive around the north-eastern city of Kharkiv is “starting to look very similar to the counteroffensive that ultimately drove Russian troops away from Kyiv and out of western Ukraine entirely”, the Institute for the Study of War has said in its latest assessment of the conflict.
- Swedish membership of Nato would have a stabilising effect and would benefit countries around the Baltic sea, Sweden’s foreign minister Ann Linde said today, the day after neighbour Finland committed to applying to join the 30-nation alliance.
- The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said that the European Union would provide another €500m (£425m) worth of military support to Ukraine, and that he was confident a deal could be reached in the coming days to agree an embargo on Russian oil.
- British foreign secretary Liz Truss said it was vital to keep up the pressure on Russia by supplying more weapons to Ukraine and imposing further sanctions. “It is very important at this time that we keep up the pressure on Vladimir Putin by supplying more weapons to Ukraine and by increasing the sanctions.”
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. Léonie Chao-Fong will continue to bring you the latest developments.
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The first war crime trial since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine has opened in Kyiv in a watershed moment.
Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old Russian commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, allegedly killed a civilian on 28 February in the village of Chupakhivka while fighting in the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine.
Shysimarin, who has been held in Ukrainian custody, is accused of shooting at a civilian car after his convoy of military vehicles came under attack from Ukrainian forces. He then drove the car away with four other soldiers as he sought to flee Ukrainian fighters.
Shysimarin shot dead a 62-year-old unarmed man who was on a bicycle and talking on his phone, after being ordered “to kill a civilian so he would not report them to Ukrainian defenders”, according to prosecutors. The crime is said to have happened “dozens of metres” from the victim’s house and was committed using an AK-74 rifle.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said before the trial opened: “Prosecutors and investigators of the SBU [Ukrainian secret services] have collected enough evidence of his involvement in violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder. For these actions, he faces 10 to 15 years in prison or life in prison.”
Two other cases are likely to be heard in court within days including an in absentia trial of Mikhail Romanov, a Russian soldier accused of rape and murder. He is accused of breaking into a house in March in a village in the Brovarsky region near Kyiv, murdering a man and then repeatedly raping his wife while “threatening her and her underage child with violence and weapons”.
You can read more of Daniel Boffey’s report from Kyiv here: First Russian soldier goes on trial in Ukraine for war crimes
Reuters is carrying another quote from Sweden about their moves to consider joining Nato. Defence minister Peter Hultqvist said: “If Sweden chooses to seek Nato membership, there is a risk of a reaction from Russia. Let me state that, in such a case, we are prepared to deal with any counter-response.”
Yesterday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would “definitely” consider it a threat if Sweden’s neighbours Finland were to join Nato.
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Swedish membership of Nato would have a stabilising effect and would benefit countries around the Baltic sea, Sweden’s foreign minister Ann Linde said today, the day after neighbour Finland committed to applying to join the 30-nation alliance.
“Swedish Nato membership would raise the threshold for military conflicts and thus have a conflict-preventing effect in northern Europe,” Linde told reporters when presenting a parliament report on security, Reuters reports.
Sweden is widely expected to follow Finland’s lead and media reports have suggested Stockholm could apply for Nato membership as early as Monday.
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Ukrainian military forces released footage on Thursday that they say shows destroyed Russian military vehicles and a pontoon bridge in eastern Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian forces, the images were taken along the Siverskyi Donets River. The UK’s Ministry of Defence said on Friday the failed crossing of the river by Russian forces showed the pressure Russian commanders were under. The ministry’s intelligence update said the images suggested that Russia “lost armoured manoeuvre elements of at least one battalion tactical group” at the river, located west of Severodonetsk.
While G7 foreign ministers have been meeting in Germany, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has been meeting his counterpart from Belarus.
🇷🇺🇧🇾 In #Dushanbe, FM Sergey #Lavrov held a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of #Belarus Vladimir Makei.#RussiaBelarus pic.twitter.com/6ktTE7funu
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) May 13, 2022
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has just posted a video clip of an interview conducted with Rai 1 in Italy. Overnight he posted to Telegram in English, saying:
Russia’s strategic defeat is already obvious to everyone in the world and even to those who still continue to communicate with them. Russia simply lacks courage to admit it so far. They are cowards. And they are trying to hide the truth behind missile, air and artillery strikes. Therefore, our task is to fight until we achieve our goals in this war. Free our land, our people and reliably ensure our security.
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Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces struck the Kremenchug oil refinery in central Ukraine, destroying its production capacity and fuel tanks.
Reuters reports the ministry also said its forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 aircraft in Kharkiv region. The reports have not been independently verified.
Kharkiv governor Oleh Synyehubov has provided an update on the situation in his region on Telegram, saying “the night was relatively calm”.
He said that a rocket had hit “the territory of Kharkiv airport”, but that no one was injured. He listed a small number of injuries and fatalities in Saltivka, Dergachi, Zolochiv, Balaklia and Shebelinka.
He said that in Dergachi “the Russians damaged the humanitarian headquarters, the registry office, part of the clinic, and the ambulance building”, and that in Shebelinka “a Russian shell hit a hangar building. The roof of the hangar and 10 trucks were on fire. Unfortunately, three people died and 5 others were injured.”
He added:
In the Kharkiv direction, the occupiers did not attempt to attack. Fighting continues in the Izium region. Our armed forces hold positions and repel the enemy!
None of the claims have been independently verified.
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Borrell: EU will provide another €500m of military support to Ukraine
A quick snap from Reuters here that the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said this morning that the European Union would provide another €500m (£425m) worth of military support to Ukraine, and that he was confident a deal could be reached in the coming days to agree an embargo on Russian oil.
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Here are some of the latest images we have been sent over the newswires showing the impact of the conflict in Ukraine and beyond.
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British foreign secretary Liz Truss said it was vital to keep up the pressure on Russia by supplying more weapons to Ukraine and imposing further sanctions.
“It is very important at this time that we keep up the pressure on Vladimir Putin by supplying more weapons to Ukraine and by increasing the sanctions,” Reuters reports she told the media on arrival at a G7 foreign ministers meeting in northern Germany.
Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, has issued a short update on Telegram this morning. He said that the Russians had “made every effort to break through the defences in Luhansk region” and attempted to storm “Rubizhne, Zolote, Nizhne, suburbs of Severodonetsk”.
He suggested that the Russians were making another attempt to cross the Siverskyi Donets, describing them as “racists” and “idiots”. He then said:
[The Russians] do not manage to defeat the Ukrainians in battle, so the racists deliberately destroy the region, turning it into a desert. Most of our settlements are destroyed by 70%, those that are under occupation even more.
The Russian embassy in Latvia has issued a strongly worded statement about the decision yesterday in Riga to suspend protections of Soviet monuments within its borders. The embassy says:
We are outraged by the decision of the Latvian Saeima to unilaterally suspend Article 13 of the Russian-Latvian Intergovernmental Agreement of 30 April, 1994, which prescribes the Latvian side to protect, maintain and take care of memorials.
This traitorous, unjustified step has neither moral nor legal grounds and constitutes a flagrant violation of the universally recognised principles and norms of international law, including the provisions of this very treaty.
This situation clearly demonstrates for the entire responsible international community the true face of the political elite of modern Latvia: cynicism, double standards, a complete rejection of civilised ways of settling interstate issues and brazen disregard for the fundamental principles of international law. In Latvia, the problem of settling the score with one’s own historical past is looming large.
Yesterday Latvia’s parliament voted that protection of Soviet monuments would be suspended until Russian forces left Ukraine. MP Krista Baumane said the monuments were symbols of Russian occupation and of Russian crimes in Ukraine.
A small number of lawmakers opposed the move, saying they were memorials for the victory over Nazism in the second world war, and nothing to do with the current conflict.
Updated
Failed river crossing shows pressure Russian commanders are under, says UK MoD
The UK’s ministry of defence has said the failed crossing of the Siverskyi Donets river by Russian forces in the Donbas showed the pressure Russian commanders were under:
Conducting river crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky manoeuvre and speaks to the pressure the Russian commanders are under to make progress in their operations in eastern Ukraine.
Russian forces have failed to make any significant advances despite concentrating forces in this area after withdrawing and redeploying units from the Kyiv and Chernihiv Oblasts.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces successfully prevented the crossing, and released images which the MoD said indicated that Russia “lost significant armoured manoeuvre elements of at least one Battalion Tactical Group”.
The pictures showed what Ukraine claimed were destroyed Russian tanks and other armoury in the village of Bilohorivka, near the strategic Ukrainian-held city of Lysychansk.
Artillerymen of the 17th tank brigade of the #UAarmy have opened the holiday season for ruscists. Some bathed in the Siverskyi Donets River, and some were burned by the May sun. pic.twitter.com/QsRsXmnJ65
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 11, 2022
The UK’s ministry of defence also said Russia was “investing significant effort in the vicinity of Izium and Severodonetsk in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.”
The primary objective on this axis is to envelop Ukrainian forces in the Joint Forces Operation area, isolating them from support or reinforcement by units in the west of the country.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 13 May 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 13, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/7SVSQChAFe
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/vqt5MS4LR5
Updated
The Ukrainian counteroffensive around the north-eastern city of Kharkiv is “starting to look very similar to the counteroffensive that ultimately drove Russian troops away from Kyiv and out of western Ukraine entirely”, the Institute for the Study of War has said in its latest assessment of the conflict.
It was “forcing the Russian command to make hard choices”, including by making Russian units focus their bombardments on attacking Ukrainian troops rather than the city, the US-based thinktank continued.
Meanwhile, Russian forces may be abandoning their efforts to encircle Ukrainian troops along the Izyum-Slovyansk-Debaltseve line in eastern Ukraine in favour of shallower encirclements of the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk.
However, it was “unclear if Russian forces can encircle, let alone capture, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk even if they focus their efforts on that much-reduced objective”, the institute said.
Russian offensives have bogged down every time they hit a built-up area throughout this war, and these areas are unlikely to be different.
Continued and expanding reports of demoralisation and refusals to fight among Russian units suggest that the effective combat power of Russian troops in the east continues to be low and may drop further.
If the Russians abandon efforts to advance from Izyum, moreover, Ukrainian forces would be able to concentrate their efforts on defending Severodonetsk-Lysychansk or, in the worst case, breaking a Russian encirclement before those settlements fall.
However, the thinktank also noted Russian forces probably control almost all of the city of Rubizhne as of 12 May and have most likely seized the town of Voevodivka, north of Severodonetsk.
They will likely launch a ground offensive on or around Severodonetsk in the coming days. The relative success of Russian operations in this area combined with their failure to advance from Izyum and the notable decline in the energy of that attempted advance suggest that they may be giving up on the Izyum axis.
The report also noted that Russian forces were strengthening their position on Snake Island, in the Black Sea, in a bid to block Ukrainian maritime communications near they key port city of Odesa.
#Russian forces may be abandoning efforts at a wide encirclement of #Ukrainian troops along the Izyum-Slovyansk-Debaltseve line in favor of shallower encirclements of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 13, 2022
Read the latest from @TheStudyofWar and @criticalthreats:https://t.co/VxNkHsOInx pic.twitter.com/UcfBQlkQwt
Updated
Ukraine says it has damaged a Russian navy logistics ship near Snake Island, a small but strategic outpost in the Black Sea, Reuters reports.
“Thanks to the actions of our naval seamen, the support vessel Vsevolod Bobrov caught fire – it is one of the newest in the Russian fleet,” said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration.
Reuters could not independently verify the details. Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Satellite imagery provided by Maxar, a private US-based company, showed the aftermath of what it said were probable missile attacks on a Russian Serna-class landing craft near the island, close to Ukraine’s sea border with Romania.
Images also showed recent damage to buildings on the island, which became famous for the foul-mouthed defiance of its Ukrainian defenders early in the invasion.
Renewed fighting around Snake Island in recent days may become a battle for control of the western Black Sea coast, according to some defence officials, as Russian forces struggle to make headway in Ukraine’s north and east.
Updated
Russian commander set to go on trial for war crimes in Kyiv
A court in Kyiv will hear the first war crime trial since the invasion began when a Russian soldier accused of murdering a 62-year-old civilian appears in the dock on Friday, the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey reports.
The defendant who will appear at Kyiv’s district court is Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, who is currently in Ukrainian custody.
It is alleged Shysimarin, a sergeant, had been fighting in the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine when he killed a civilian on 28 February in the village of Chupakhivka.
He is accused of shooting at a civilian car after his convoy of military vehicles had come under attack from Ukrainian forces. He then drove the car away with four other soldiers as he sought to flee Ukrainian fighters.
Shysimarin shot dead the unarmed man, who was on a bicycle and talking on his phone, after being ordered “to kill a civilian so he would not report them to Ukrainian defenders”, according to prosecutors.
Read on here:
Don't lift sanctions on Russia till all troops have left Ukraine, Truss says
International sanctions on Russia should remain in place until all its troops have left Ukraine, UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has told a meeting of her G7 counterparts in Germany according to the BBC.
“Putin is humiliating himself on the world stage. We must ensure he faces a defeat in Ukraine that denies him any benefit and ultimately constrains further aggression,” she said.
She also said that Ukraine’s allies should commit to more sanctions against Russia and that they should go “further and faster” to support it in its war.
“The best long-term security for Ukraine will come from it being able to defend itself. That means providing Ukraine with a clear pathway to Nato-standard equipment,” she said.
Truss has been accused of taking a risky approach to the war, one that could risk inflaming the situation further and endangering any peace talks or chances of de-escalation.
Welcome summary
Hello, this is Helen Livingstone bringing you the latest developments on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s a roundup of the latest:
- A court in Kyiv will hear the first war crime trial of the invasion. Vadim Shysimarin, 21, a commander in Russia’s Kantemirovskaya tank division, is accused of shooting dead an unarmed man, 62, who was on a bicycle and talking on his phone in the village of Chupakhivka, Sumy. Shysimarin was ordered “to kill a civilian so he would not report them to Ukrainian defenders”, according to prosecutors.
- International sanctions on Russia should only be lifted when all its troops have left Ukraine, UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has told a meeting of her G7 counterparts according to the BBC. “We must ensure he [Putin] faces a defeat in Ukraine that denies him any benefit,” she said.
- The Russian foreign ministry in Moscow said it would have to take “military-technical” steps if Helsinki applied for Nato accession, after Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, and prime minister, Sanna Marin, said it must apply to join the military alliance “without delay”. Sweden is expected to follow within days.
- Russia could cut its gas supplies to Finland on Friday, a day after Finnish leaders said they would apply to join Nato, according to reports.
- The Republican senator Rand Paul has blocked the passage of a $40bn aid bill for Ukraine in the US Senate. Paul demanded changes including an inspector general to oversee how it is spent.
- Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said that “at least several thousand Ukrainians” have been sent to so-called “filtration centres” in Russia where they are subject to “brutal interrogations”. Tens of thousands more had been evacuated to Russia or Russia-controlled territory. Carpenter said that one survivor said “everyone was afraid to be taken to Donetsk”, where they could be the victim of “further investigation or murder”.
- Urgent measures to break the Russian blockade of grain exports from Ukraine’s ports, including by trying to open routes through Romania and the Baltic, are being discussed at a three-day meeting of G7 foreign and agriculture ministers in Germany. Before the war, most of the food produced by Ukraine – enough to feed 400 million people – was exported through its seven Black Sea ports.
- Ukraine claimed it had damaged and set on fire a Russian navy logistics ship in the Black Sea. The Vsevolod Bobrov was near Snake Island, said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration in southern Ukraine. The Guardian could not independently verify the details and Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said “very difficult negotiations” were ongoing to evacuate 38 seriously wounded fighters from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, in exchange for Russian prisoners of war. “We work step by step,’” he said. “We will exchange 38, then we will move on.”
- The number of people who have fled Ukraine to escape Russia’s invasion has exceeded six million, the UN’s refugee agency has said. A further eight million people have been displaced inside Ukraine.
- The UN’s human rights council has passed a resolution to investigate alleged abuses by Russian troops in parts of Ukraine formerly under their control, with a view to holding those responsible to account. The resolution passed by a strong majority, with 33 members voting in favour and two – China and Eritrea – against. There were 12 abstentions.
