Summary
We will be pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for the next few hours.
Before we return, here is a comprehensive rundown of where things currently stand.
- Kharkiv has been hit by fresh strikes amid fears the city is still on Russia’s agenda. At least nine civilians were killed, including a child, and 19 injured, authorities said. “Today, the occupiers shelled Kharkiv again. At the moment, the list of the dead includes nine people. 19 wounded. All civilians,” Zelenskiy said. Residents have been urged to go to, or remain in, shelters.
- Officials in Ukraine have admitted that Russia has the “upper hand” in fighting in the country’s east. The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said just 5% of the area now remained in Ukrainian hands – down from about 10% little more than a week ago – and that Ukrainian forces were retreating in some areas. “The Russian army has thrown all its forces at taking the Luhansk region,” he said in a video on Telegram. “Extremely fierce fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Severodonetsk. They are simply destroying the city, they are shelling it every day, shelling without pause.”
- The Kremlin has rejected claims that Russia has blocked grain exports from Ukraine, blaming the west for creating such a situation by imposing sanctions on Russia. The UK’s foreign minister, Liz Truss, accused Vladimir Putin of “weaponising” hunger through Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports. A senior Turkish official said Ankara was in “ongoing” talks with Russia and Ukraine to open a corridor via the Bosphorus.
- Two captured Russian soldiers have pleaded guilty to shelling a town in eastern Ukraine, in the second war crimes trial since Russian troops invaded the country. Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov acknowledged being part of an artillery unit that fired at targets in the Kharkiv region from Russia’s Belgorod region.
- There are about 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik has said. “That’s a lot, and literally hundreds are being added every day,” Miroshnik was quoted by the Russian Tass news agency as saying.
- The deputy prime minister of the Russian-appointed Crimean government, Georgy Muradov, has said the Sea of Azov is “forever lost to Ukraine”. Russia’s Ria news agency also quoted a Russian-appointed official in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region as saying that the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions would never be returned to the control of the Kyiv.
- Russia has deployed mobile propaganda vans with large-screen televisions to humanitarian aid points in the captured city of Mariupol. The Orwellian turn comes as the Kremlin continued to push forward with efforts to integrate newly occupied territories across the south of Ukraine.
- Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said China’s cooperation with Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine “raises alarm bells”. Blinken criticised the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, for defending Putin’s “war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty” and said it was “a charged moment for the world”.
- Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president who is a close Putin ally, has ordered the creation of a new military command for the south of the country bordering Ukraine. The Belarusian armed forces previously said they would deploy special operations troops in three areas near its southern border with Ukraine. Lukashenko has also talked up the role of Russian-made missiles in boosting the country’s defences.
- Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, said that “weapons, weapons and weapons again” are what the country needs. “We need more heavy weapons delivered as soon as possible, especially MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) to repel Russian attacks,” Kuleba said.
- The US is preparing to send advanced, long-range rocket systems to Ukraine after an urgent request from Ukrainian officials, multiple officials reportedly told CNN. Kuleba said Ukraine’s most urgent need is for multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to counter Russian superiority in heavy weaponry. Zelenskiy also referred to the weapons as “the systems that are really needed to stop this aggression” in his latest address.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has complained about divisions inside the European Union over more sanctions against Russia and asked why some nations were being allowed to block the plan. “How many more weeks will the European Union try to agree on a sixth package?” Zelenskiy asked in his latest national address. “Pressure on Russia is literally a matter of saving lives,” he added.
-
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi held a phone call to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the issue of global food security on Thursday. Speaking to journalists after the call, Draghi said he would continue talking to both Moscow and Kyiv to resolve the food crisis, but added that he had little optimism for ending the war. “When asked if I have seen any glimmer of hope for peace, the answer is no,” he said.
- Russian troops occupying the south-eastern port city of Mariupol have cancelled school summer holidays to prepare pupils for switching to a Russian curriculum, according to officials. “The main goal is to eradicate everything Ukrainian and prepare for the new school year, which will be according to the Russian curriculum,” city official Petro Andryushchenko said.
Ukrainian president Zelenskiy has provided a little more information on the recent attack on Kharkiv, which killed at least nine civilians, including a child, and injured 19.
Today, the occupiers shelled Kharkiv again. At the moment, the list of the dead includes nine people. 19 wounded. All civilians. A child (five months) and a father were killed. The mother is in grave condition. Among the wounded in Kharkiv is also a nine-year-old girl.”
Missile strikes continues in the Sumy region, in Donbas again, he added.
“Significant intensification of the occupiers’ artillery in the Zaporizhzhia region again. Again, their efforts to burrow into the ground in the south.”
US to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine - reports
The US is preparing to send advanced, long-range rocket systems to Ukraine after an urgent request from Ukrainian officials, multiple officials reportedly told CNN.
The Biden administration is leaning toward sending the systems as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week, the outlet reported.
Senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, have pleaded in recent weeks for the US and its allies to provide the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS.
The US-made weapon systems can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometres — much farther than any of the systems Ukraine already has — which the Ukrainians argue could be a game-changer in their war against Russia.
Earlier this week, Kuleba said Ukraine’s most urgent need is for multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to counter Russian superiority in heavy weaponry.
Spoke with my German counterpart @ABaerbock and briefed her on the difficult situation in the Donbas. We need more heavy weapons delivered as soon as possible, especially MLRS, to repel Russian attacks. Also discussed further sanctions on Russia and Ukraine’s EU candidate status.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 26, 2022
Zelenskiy also referred to the weapons as “the systems that are really needed to stop this aggression” in his latest address.
Russia has in recent weeks pummelled Ukraine in the east, where Ukraine is outmanned and outgunned, Ukrainian officials said.
Another system Ukraine has asked for is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, a lighter wheeled system capable of firing many of the same types of ammunition as MLRS.
Updated
A Ukrainian official has said that Russian troops occupying the south-eastern port city of Mariupol have cancelled school summer holidays to prepare pupils for switching to a Russian curriculum.
The city fell to Russian forces last week following a weeks-long siege at the Azovstal steel works plant. City official Petro Andryushchenko said:
“The occupiers have announced the extension of the school year to September 1. That means no holidays.
The main goal is to eradicate everything Ukrainian and prepare for the new school year, which will be according to the Russian curriculum.”
“Throughout the summer, children will have to study Russian language, literature and history as well as maths classes in Russian,” Andryushchenko added.
He said the city’s Russian leadership were having trouble enlisting teachers to take on the job, with “only 53 teachers for nine schools”.
He did not say how many pupils would miss their summer holidays in the city.
Divisions in EU over Russia sanctions is 'matter of saving lives', Zelenskiy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has complained about divisions inside the European Union over more sanctions against Russia and asked why some nations were being allowed to block the plan.
The EU is discussing a sixth round of punitive measures, including an embargo on Russian oil imports.
Such a move requires unanimity but Hungary opposes the idea for now on the grounds its economy would suffer too much.
“How many more weeks will the European Union try to agree on a sixth package?” Zelenskiy asked in a late night address on Thursday, noting that Russia was receiving a billion euros a day from the 27-nation bloc for energy supplies.
“Of course I am grateful to those friends who are advocating new sanctions. But where do the people blocking this sixth package get their power from? Why are they allowed to hold such power?” he asked.
Berlin hopes talks on the new round of sanctions will be completed soon but it will not be a topic at a leaders’ summit next week, a German official said on Wednesday.
Pressure on Russia is literally a matter of saving lives. And every day of procrastination, weakness, various disputes or proposals to ‘pacify’ the aggressor at the expense of the victim merely means more Ukrainians being killed,” he said.
On Wednesday he savaged suggestions that Kyiv make concessions to bring peace, saying the idea smacked of attempts to appease Nazi Germany in 1938.
He also reiterated complaints that the world had so far failed to totally isolate the Russian banking system and was not providing heavy weapons quickly enough.
Updated
Kharkiv death toll rises to 9 dead
Nine people were killed in Kharkiv Thursday, the regional governor said, and 19 were injured.
Governor Oleg Sinegubov said on social media that 19 civilians were injured. Among the dead were a five month old.
These, he said, are “the terrible consequences of Russian aggression”.
As my colleagues Shaun Walker and Lorenzo Tondo reported earlier: the Russian-speaking city at the border of Ukraine was pounded by artillery for first time in two weeks, just as life there was beginning to to normal.
Russian troops had been pushed back over the past few weeks, but remained within arrillery range of the city.
Catch up
- Officials in Ukraine have admitted that Russia has the “upper hand” in fighting in the country’s east. The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said just 5% of the area now remained in Ukrainian hands – down from about 10% little more than a week ago – and that Ukrainian forces were retreating in some areas.
- At least nine civilians were killed, including a child, and 19 injured by Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine, regional authorities have said. Residents have been urged to go to, or remain in, shelters. The claims have not been independently verified.
- The Kremlin has rejected claims that Russia has blocked grain exports from Ukraine, blaming the west for creating such a situation by imposing sanctions on Russia. The UK’s foreign minister, Liz Truss, accused Vladimir Putin of “weaponising” hunger through Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports. A senior Turkish official said Ankara was in “ongoing” talks with Russia and Ukraine to open a corridor via the Bosphorus.
- Two captured Russian soldiers have pleaded guilty to shelling a town in eastern Ukraine, in the second war crimes trial since Russian troops invaded the country. Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov acknowledged being part of an artillery unit that fired at targets in the Kharkiv region from Russia’s Belgorod region.
- There are about 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik has said. “That’s a lot, and literally hundreds are being added every day,” Miroshnik was quoted by the Russian Tass news agency as saying.
- The deputy prime minister of the Russian-appointed Crimean government, Georgy Muradov, has said the Sea of Azov is “forever lost to Ukraine”. Russia’s Ria news agency also quoted a Russian-appointed official in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region as saying that the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions would never be returned to the control of the Kyiv.
-
Russia has deployed mobile propaganda vans with large-screen televisions to humanitarian aid points in the captured city of Mariupol. The Orwellian turn comes as the Kremlin continued to push forward with efforts to integrate newly occupied territories across the south of Ukraine.
- Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said China’s cooperation with Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine “raises alarm bells”. Blinken criticised the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, for defending Putin’s “war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty” and said it was “a charged moment for the world”.
- Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president who is a close Putin ally, has ordered the creation of a new military command for the south of the country bordering Ukraine. The Belarusian armed forces previously said they would deploy special operations troops in three areas near its southern border with Ukraine. Lukashenko has also talked up the role of Russian-made missiles in boosting the country’s defences.
-
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, said that “weapons, weapons and weapons again” are what the country needs.Russia still has a weapons advantage, and Ukraine needs “more heavy weapons. Without these, we won’t be able to push them back,” he said in a Twitter q & a.
Léonie Chao-Fong, Guardian staff
Updated
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, said that “weapons, weapons and weapons again” are what the country needs.
Russia still has a weapons advantage, and Ukraine needs “more heavy weapons. Without these, we won’t be able to push them back,” he said in a Twitter q & a.
Asked about peace talks, he said:
The moment Russia requests a ceasefire will mean only one thing, that Russia is one step away from losing the war. Russia will not request a ceasefire while they are on the offensive. But when they request a ceasefire we will think twice and three times before considering.
US officials are questioning Americans who travel to Ukraine to fight Russia, citing domestic security issues, reports Politico’s Besty Woodruff Swan and Christopher Miller:
U.S. officials, worried about domestic security issues, have been questioning Americans at airports as they travel to Ukraine to fight Russia, according to an intelligence bulletin reviewed by POLITICO.
The document shows that the U.S. government is gathering information about Americans traveling to Ukraine and is interested in their activity after they return. But critics say the focus on “violent extremist-white supremacists” echoes one of the Kremlin’s top propaganda points: that supporting Ukraine means also supporting neo-Nazis.
It comes as Washington grapples with a messy challenge: dissuading Americans from fighting alongside soldiers who have received some of their training and many of their weapons from the U.S. itself.
The Justice Department has not said whether it’s legal for Americans to join the Ukraine conflict. But no Americans are known to face criminal charges just for traveling to Ukraine to fight Russia, which invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24. This document shows that if law enforcement officials wanted to bring charges, they’ve had plenty of opportunities.
Read the full article here.
Updated
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be speaking virtually tomorrow at Stanford University, according to a tweet from a current professor at the school.
Michael McFaul, a professor at Stanford and a former US ambassador to Russia, tweeted about Zelenskiy’s impending talk:
At a most pivotal moment in Ukraine's history, honored to be hosting @ZelenskyyUa (virtually) @Stanford tomorrow.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) May 26, 2022
Updated
Here’s a story from the Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer about a Russian soldier’s life as a prisoner of war:
Still getting used to the feel of his gun and military fatigues, Anton suddenly found himself surrounded by Ukrainian forces as bullets flew by, with one striking his arm.
“It was our first confrontation with the enemy; we hadn’t even fired a shot. They ambushed us, and we couldn’t fight back. We had to surrender,” said Anton, a 21-year-old Russian serviceman, in an interview with the Guardian.
Anton was taken captive by Ukrainian forces near Mykolaiv on 2 March with five other soldiers from his unit, as Russian forces were staging an offensive on the strategically important shipbuilding city near the Black Sea.
Anton, who asked not to be identified with his real name, would spend the next 45 days in Ukrainian captivity. He was eventually released in mid-April after Moscow arranged a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, and spoke to the Guardian from Russian territory.
Anton’s story is a very rare account of a Russian PoW who has since been exchanged, as both Russia and Ukraine have released very little information about the fate of the hundreds of captive Russians.
Moscow does not publicise the names of its service people captured in Ukraine. However, during his captivity, Anton was interviewed as a Russian prisoner by a prominent Ukrainian vlogger. He was also named as a captured Russian soldier on websites close to the Ukrainian authorities.
Read the full story here.
Updated
World Health Organization (WHO) member states strongly condemned Russia today for its invasion of Ukraine and attacks on healthcare sites, reports AFP.
At WHO’s annual healthcare convention, the resolution condemning Russia was approved by 88 votes, with 12 votes against. A Russian counter-resolution on the health crisis in Ukraine did not get approved.
The approved resolution says that it “condemns in the strongest terms” Russia’s “military aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on healthcare facilities”.
The resolution also demands Russia “immediately cease any attacks on hospitals” and other healthcare facilities.
Ukrainian ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko said that the resolution and vote “sends a clear signal to the Russian Federation: stop your war against Ukraine. Stop attacks on hospitals.”
“The World Health Assembly confirmed that the responsibility for the health crisis in Ukraine rests exclusively with the Russian Federation,” added Filipenko.
A World Health Organization assembly voted to adopt a Western-led resolution condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine, which it says led to a health emergency https://t.co/uci70OWglU pic.twitter.com/0niUKUeZsr
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 26, 2022
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said today that the military situation in eastern Ukraine is much worse than people say it is, reports Reuters.
During a live question and answer session on Twitter, Kuleba said that the military situation in Ukraine’s eastern part is worse than many people say. Kuleba added that Ukraine still needs heavy weaponry to effective fight Russia.
Updated
Kharkiv hit by fresh strikes amid fears city is still on Russian agenda
This is the latest update on the situation in Kharkiv from Shaun Walker and Lorenzo Tondo:
Artillery has pounded the city of Kharkiv for the first time in two weeks, just as life in Ukraine’s second city was starting to return to normal after Russian troops were pushed back from its outlying towns and villages.
Kharkiv’s regional governor, Oleh Synehubov, said at least seven people had been killed and 17 injured in the attacks on the northern part of the city.
“There’s no logic to it, it’s just terror against the local population, to sow panic and to destroy critical infrastructure,” said Synehubov, dressed in military fatigues with a pistol at his hip, in an interview with the Guardian in central Kharkiv shortly after the attacks.
The largely Russian-speaking city near the border of the two countries was heavily attacked during the first days of the war as Russian forces tried to take control, but they were pushed back to the suburbs. The Russians sent artillery and missiles into the city, on one occasion destroying the regional administration building, housed in a grand Stalin-era structure.
The Russians have been pushed further back over the last six weeks as Ukrainian forces regained control of several towns and villages, but they remain well within artillery range of the city centre.
“For two weeks it’s been relatively quiet … I think this is them saying hello, telling us they are still there, trying to create panic,” Synehubov said.
One fascinating aspect of US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s speech on America’s China policy was the promise to use the unity caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a tool in that broader global rivalry.
As the AP reports, Blinken thinks the coalition of nations now helping Ukraine against Russia can be mashalled by the US into a broader group opposing Chinese influence: “While the US sees Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine as the most acute and immediate threat to international stability, Blinken said the administration believes China poses a greater danger.
“Blinken laid out principles for the administration to marshal its resources, friends and allies to push back on increasing Chinese assertiveness around the world. Although he made clear that the US does not seek to change China’s political system, rather it wants to offer a tested alternative.
“This is not about forcing countries to choose, it’s about giving them a choice,” he said.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said civil vessels may safely use the Azov Sea port, in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, as it had eliminated the danger from mines.
The ministry said yesterday that Russian forces had completed removing mines in the port and nearby waters.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, warned that the western countries supplying weapons to Ukraine capable of hitting Russian territory would be “a serious step towards unacceptable escalation”, Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports.
Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying that he hoped sane people in the west would understand this, adding:
There are still a few left there.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, thanked Finland for its support during a surprise visit from the Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin.
Finland’s military assistance is “very valuable”, Zelenskiy wrote on Facebook after talks with Marin, adding:
Weapons, sanctions policy and the unity of our partners in the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the EU – this is what can provide strength in the defence of our land.
Marin visited the Ukrainian capital as well as the towns of Irpin and Bucha, where Ukraine suspects Russian troops carried out atrocities, an allegation denied by Moscow.
Russia’s actions in Ukraine were a “turning point for the entire European family and the whole world”, Marin said after meetings with Zelenskiy and his prime minister.
She described Russia’s actions in Ukraine as “an attempt against the principles of building a common European home”, adding:
What happened, what Russia did is a turning point for the entire European family and the whole world. We see that the old arrangement has been destroyed and there is no return to the former relationship.
Updated
A British man who has turned his Polish castle into a makeshift hotel for Ukrainian refugees has accused the UK government of showing “no humanity whatsoever” for not allowing a severely autistic teenager to come to live with an approved foster carer in Lancashire, Helen Pidd and Diane Taylor report.
Pleas are mounting for compassion to be shown to Timothy Tymoshenko, 16, who fled the war in Ukraine without his parents. He is living with his 17-year-old brother, Yurii, in what was once a private palace for the prince-bishop of Wrocław in Piotrowice Nyskie, a tiny Polish village near the Czech border.
Jim Parton, a former stockbroker and writer from London, lives there with his Polish wife, Anna, and their six children, aged seven to 17.
When the Russian invasion began in February, they decided to turn what is usually a guest house and wedding venue into an open house for Ukrainians seeking sanctuary abroad.
They are currently hosting 17 people in the sprawling 700-year-old palace, after four left for Canada on Monday. Among those remaining is Timothy, who is severely autistic, non-verbal and needs strong prescription medication to control his changing moods.
Experienced children’s carers in Lancashire have been to visit the boys in Poland and are willing to take the brothers in, but are growing increasingly frustrated that the UK government hasn’t yet granted them visas to enter the country.
Julie Elliot, 61, and her husband, Roger, 66, already have 14 children together – four biological and 10 adopted. Both worked as nurses before becoming full-time carers to their adopted family, and were made MBEs in 2016 for services to children.
Their adopted children, aged between nine and 40, all have disabilities and eight of them still live at the couple’s home in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire.
They and Parton are pleading with the Home Office to let Timothy come to the UK along with his brother. They do not qualify for the Homes for Ukraine scheme as unaccompanied children under 18.
The issue is the subject of a high court challenge and dozens of UK foster carers are anxiously waiting to see if approval is granted for the children they hope to care for to be brought to the UK.
Updated
Death toll from Russian shelling in Kharkiv rises to seven
At least seven civilians have been killed and 17 wounded during Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine, according to local authorities.
Earlier it was reported that five people had died and 10 were injured, including one child, as a result of today’s shelling in Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Synehubov, reported heavy fighting to the north and north-east of the city. He said:
The enemy is again insidiously hitting the civilian population, terrorising them.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Summary
It’s almost 7.30pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Officials in Ukraine have admitted that Russia has the “upper hand” in fighting in the country’s east. The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said just 5% of the area now remained in Ukrainian hands – down from about 10% little more than a week ago – and that Ukrainian forces were retreating in some areas.
- At least eight civilians were killed and 17 injured, including a child, by Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine, regional authorities have said. Residents have been urged to go to, or remain in, shelters. The claims have not been independently verified.
- The Kremlin has rejected claims that Russia has blocked grain exports from Ukraine, blaming the west for creating such a situation by imposing sanctions on Russia. The UK’s foreign minister, Liz Truss, accused Vladimir Putin of “weaponising” hunger through Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports. A senior Turkish official said Ankara was in “ongoing” talks with Russia and Ukraine to open a corridor via the Bosphorus.
- Two captured Russian soldiers have pleaded guilty to shelling a town in eastern Ukraine, in the second war crimes trial since Russian troops invaded the country. Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov acknowledged being part of an artillery unit that fired at targets in the Kharkiv region from Russia’s Belgorod region.
- There are about 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik has said. “That’s a lot, and literally hundreds are being added every day,” Miroshnik was quoted by the Russian Tass news agency as saying.
- The deputy prime minister of the Russian-appointed Crimean government, Georgy Muradov, has said the Sea of Azov is “forever lost to Ukraine”. Russia’s Ria news agency also quoted a Russian-appointed official in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region as saying that the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions would never be returned to the control of the Kyiv.
-
Russia has deployed mobile propaganda vans with large-screen televisions to humanitarian aid points in the captured city of Mariupol. The Orwellian turn comes as the Kremlin continued to push forward with efforts to integrate newly occupied territories across the south of Ukraine.
- Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said China’s cooperation with Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine “raises alarm bells”. Blinken criticised the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, for defending Putin’s “war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty” and said it was “a charged moment for the world”.
- Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president who is a close Putin ally, has ordered the creation of a new military command for the south of the country bordering Ukraine. The Belarusian armed forces previously said they would deploy special operations troops in three areas near its southern border with Ukraine. Lukashenko has also talked up the role of Russian-made missiles in boosting the country’s defences.
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong with you as we unpack all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, spoke with Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, in a phone call earlier this afternoon.
In a statement after the call, Rome said the pair discussed the situation in Ukraine, the food crisis and its impact on poor countries. No further details of the call were given.
In the Kremlin’s readout of the call, it said Putin told Draghi that Russia was ready to significantly contribute to solving the international food crisis but only if the west lifts sanctions.
The Russian leader also said Moscow was ready to continue uninterrupted gas supplies to Italy, the Kremlin said.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said China’s cooperation with Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine “raises alarm bells”.
In a speech on the Biden administration’s policy towards China at George Washington University, Blinken criticised the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, for defending Putin’s war on Ukraine.
Blinken said:
Even while Russia was clearly mobilising to invade Ukraine, President Xi and President Putin declared that the friendship between their countries was, and I quote, ‘without limits’.
He emphasised that the US did not want another cold war and did not support Taiwanese independence.
But he said:
Beijing’s defence of President Putin’s war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty and secure a sphere of influence in Europe should raise alarm bells for all of us who call the Indo-Pacific region home.
This is a charged moment for the world.
Updated
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president who is a close Putin ally, has ordered the creation of a new military command for the south of the country bordering Ukraine, Belarus’s state-owned news agency Belta reports.
Lukashenko was quoted by Belta as saying:
Regretfully, a new direction has opened, a new front as they say, and we cannot neglect it.
Earlier this month, the Belarusian armed forces said it would deploy special operations troops in three areas near its southern border with Ukraine.
Minsk has complained about Nato allies amassing soldiers near its borders - Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are all members of the alliance - and is increasing the amount and intensity of its own military exercises in response.
Lukashenko has also talked up the role of Russian-made missiles in boosting the country’s defences.
Updated
Russia uses Orwellian propaganda news vans in Mariupol
Russia has deployed mobile propaganda vans with large-screen televisions to humanitarian aid points in the captured city of Mariupol as the Kremlin has pushed forward with efforts to integrate newly occupied territories across the south of Ukraine.
Videos published by the Russian ministry of emergency situations showed the vans, which it called “mobile information complexes”, playing state TV news segments and political chatshows where pundits support the invasion to locals in the ruined city that still lacks electricity and running water.
The Orwellian turn comes as much of Mariupol was destroyed in an artillery bombardment that left thousands dead. One of the vans was deployed near the ruins of the Mariupol drama theatre, where hundreds were killed in an airstrike in March.
Several of the trucks now patrol the city, mainly playing Russian television news segments. “The people of Mariupol have been held in a virtual informational vacuum for three months due to the lack of electricity,” wrote the emergencies ministry in a statement.
The mobile screens have reportedly been deployed to places where Mariupol residents are receiving humanitarian aid, Russian documents, and at points in the city where drinking water is available.
“The practice of ‘there is nothing to eat, so feed them lies’ is gaining momentum,” wrote Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol. It’s “cynicism of the highest level”.
“The truth and the propaganda,” wrote Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry, posting a video of the trucks superimposed over images of the ruins of the city. This is “the Russian world”, he added.
Updated
The UK government introduced legislation on Thursday to help councils, NHS trusts and other public bodies exit contracts with Gazprom and other Russian companies, Alex Lawson and Pamela Duncan report.
Councils have been keen to withdraw from contracts amid concerns they were helping to fund Vladimir Putin’s regime. They had been prohibited from taking “non-commercial considerations” into account when procuring or terminating contracts, and they have a statutory duty to find the cheapest deal on behalf of the taxpayer.
Many councils had been forced to select Gazprom as a supplier because it offered the greatest value for money. They paid £29m to Gazprom from 2016 to 2021, data firm Tussell has said.
In March the Cabinet Office asked central government to review all contracts with Russia and Belarus-linked firms and to consider terminating those contracts. This process has been extended to local councils.
Councils including Merton and Telford and Wrekin have said they are keen to cut ties with Russia.
A government source said: “Local authorities are not obliged to terminate contracts, but our message is clear: Putin’s barbaric regime should not benefit from taxpayers’ money.”
Michael Gove will write to all councils to make them aware of the changes.
The government has said any costs incurred from exiting contracts will have to be covered by existing budgets.
The west is attempting to choke off the Russian economy to damage Putin’s war coffers and fuel anti-war sentiment among the Russian public.
Updated
Natalia Popova, adviser to the head of the Kharkiv regional council, has posted an updated set of casualty figures for the shelling of Kharkiv today. She said on Facebook: “Ten wounded. Among the wounded, one child. Five people died.”
She urged people to go to or to remain in shelters. The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Peter Beaumont has this latest report of the overall situation in the war on Ukraine:
Ukrainians in the eastern Donbas region are burying dead civilians in mass graves in the face of a concerted assault by Russia, which is reportedly holding about 8,000 prisoners of war in the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Amid reports that Lyman, the site of an important railway junction, had largely been taken by Russian forces, Ukraine’s general staff reported that Russian forces were also advancing on Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said just 5% of the region remained in Ukrainian hands – down from about 10% just over a week ago.
Haidai added that police in Lysychansk were burying the bodies of civilians in mass graves, with about 150 people having been buried in such a grave in one district.
If confirmed, the continuing Russian advances in Lyman, which has been contested for a month, would make it easier for Russian forces to isolate the key city of Sievierodonetsk, which has been under relentless shelling for days.
According to accounts posted on social media, Lyman’s Ukrainian defenders had pulled back to the southern outskirts, although fighting was continuing, in particular around the railway sidings in the town.
Read more of Peter Beaumont’s report here: Ukrainians burying civilians in mass graves as Russia advances
Updated
Updated
Ukrainian official concedes Russia now 'has the advantage' in Luhansk
A senior Ukrainian official has conceded that Russia at present has the upper hand in fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region.
Gen Oleksiy Gromov said at a briefing:
Russia has the advantage, but we are doing everything we can.
He added that Russia has been spotted moving Iskander missile systems to Belarus’s western Brest region.
This raised the possibility of new missile strikes on west Ukraine, Gromov said.
Updated
St Petersburg’s anti-war protesters want to send a message to those “who are still silent”.
As the women protest against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, reactions are varied from passersby: some stop to whisper their gratitude, and others castigate them as traitors.
Updated
At least four civilians were killed and several injured by Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine, according to the regional governor.
Writing on Telegram, Oleh Synyehubov urged residents of the city to go to shelters.
Updated
Turkey is in “ongoing” talks with Russia and Ukraine to open a corridor via the Bosphorus for grain exports from Ukraine, according to a senior Turkish official.
The official, requesting anonymity because the talks were confidential, told Reuters:
Turkey is negotiating with both Russia and Ukraine for the export of grains from Ukraine.
With a corridor to be opened from Turkey, there was a demand for this grain to reach their targeted markets. Negotiations are still ongoing.
Two other sources confirmed that Turkey was in talks to help the grains be shipped out of Ukraine. Although a Nato member, Turkey was seen as more “neutral” than other western alliance members, one person said.
A senior diplomat said yesterday:
Turkey is ready to contribute to a kind of monitoring of these exports from Odesa through the Black Sea because Turkey traditionally is very strong in the Black Sea and they are ready to help.
Putin ‘holding the world to ransom’ over food, says UK
The UK’s foreign minister, Liz Truss, accused Vladimir Putin of “weaponising” hunger through Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports.
Speaking during a visit to Bosnia Herzegovina, Truss was asked whether she supported lifting sanctions in exchange for grain exports from Ukraine.
Truss replied:
It is completely appalling that Putin is trying to hold the world to ransom. He is essentially weaponising hunger and lack of food amongst the poorest people around the world.
We simply cannot allow this to happen. Putin needs to remove the blockade on Ukrainian grain.
She added:
What we cannot have is any lifting of sanctions, any appeasement, which will simply make Putin stronger in the longer term.
Updated
Journalists from western countries will be expelled from Russia if YouTube blocks access to Moscow’s foreign ministry’s briefings, the ministry said.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, who holds a weekly briefing, said the ministry had warned YouTube against blocking her content.
Zakharova was quoted by the Russian state-owned news agency Tass as saying:
We just came and told them: ‘You block another briefing, one journalist or American media outlet goes home. Another briefing is blocked and we will name a specific journalist or specific media outlet that will go home.’
She added that Moscow was working on measures against English-language media in response to what it considered “unfriendly actions” by foreign governments towards Russian news outlets. She did not provide further details.
Zakharova’s comments came after Russian lawmakers approved a bill giving prosecutors powers to shut foreign media bureaus if a western country has been “unfriendly” to Russian media. The measure is meant to retaliate for the closure of some Russian state news outlets in the west.
Updated
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has been speaking during his regular briefing where he rejected claims that Russia had blocked grain exports from Ukraine.
Instead, Peskov accused the west of creating such a situation by imposing sanctions on Russia.
Peskov told reporters:
We categorically do not accept these accusations. On the contrary, we blame Western countries for taking actions that have led to this.
Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea have been blocked since Russia’s invasion on 24 February, leaving more than 20m tons of grain stuck in silos in the country.
Yesterday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said the Kremlin would allow ships carrying food to leave Ukrainian ports in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Updated
Two Russian soldiers plead guilty to war crimes in eastern Ukraine
Two captured Russian soldiers have pleaded guilty to shelling a town in eastern Ukraine, in the second war crimes trial since Russian troops invaded the country.
Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov acknowledged being part of an artillery unit that fired at targets in the Kharkiv region from the Belgorod region in Russia.
The shelling destroyed an educational establishment in the town of Derhachi, the prosecutors said.
Bobikin and Ivanov, described as an artillery driver and a gunner, were captured after crossing the border and continuing the shelling, the prosecutor general’s office said.
At the trial in the Kotelevska district court in central Ukraine, Bobikin told the court:
I am completely guilty of the crimes of which I am accused. We fired at Ukraine from Russia.
Ivanov asked not to be handed the maximum jail term, telling the court:
I repent and ask for a reduction in the sentence.
State prosecutors asked for the pair to be jailed for 12 years for violating the laws of war. A defence lawyer asked for leniency, arguing that two soldiers had been following orders and repented.
The verdict is expected on 31 May.
Hello, it is Léonie Chao-Fong here in London taking over from Martin Belam with all the latest news from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Today so far …
- Ukraine’s president and foreign minister have pleaded with the west to send more weapons to their military in the face of Russia’s intensifying assault on the eastern Donbas region. “We need the help of our partners – above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Dmytro Kuleba told the World Economic Forum in Davos that Nato was doing “virtually nothing” to help Ukraine.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow was ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20m tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country. Kuleba poured scorn on Moscow’s claim and accused Russia of trying to “blackmail the world”.
- There are about 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik was quoted by the Russian Tass news agency as saying.
- Denis Pushilin, head of the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic, has said they cannot yet be 100% sure they have flushed every last Ukrainian fighter out of the Azovstal steel plant.
- The deputy prime minister of the Russian-appointed Crimean government, Georgy Muradov, has said: “The Sea of Azov is forever lost to Ukraine.” He is reported to have said: “Ports in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions will never again be Ukrainian. I am sure that after the reunification of our regions with Russia, the Sea of Azov will again, as it was before, become exclusively an inland sea of the Russian Federation.”
- Russia’s ministry of defence claims that as a result of their operations in the last 24 hours, more than 350 Ukrainian fighters were killed, and 96 units of weapons and military equipment were disabled.
- Russian forces shelled more than 40 other towns in Donbas on Wednesday, Ukraine’s military said, threatening to shut off the last main escape route for civilians trapped in the path of their invasion.
- Russia’s failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russia’s more elite units, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence in its latest intelligence update on the war.
- Ukraine’s governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synyehubov, has said fighting is most intense in the Izyum region. He claimed: “The Russians are trying to improve the tactical situation in the area of the city of Izyum and resume the offensive on Slovyansk.”
- Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, said that for the first time since Lviv started accepting displaced people from elsewhere in Ukraine, there was not a single person who registered for temporary accommodation yesterday.
- Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, has told the World Economic Forum in Davos that he believes Russia still hopes to take control of the Ukrainian capital. He said everyone in the world understands it is not “a special operation”, but that it is a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
- The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has told the World Economic Forum that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a thunderbolt, and that Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to win or to dictate peace terms.
- British foreign secretary Liz Truss is expected to urge Britain’s allies to remain strong in support of Ukraine and not to appease Putin, in a speech later today.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I am handing over to my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong.
Updated
My colleague Graeme Wearden is in Davos, where the German chancellor Olaf Scholz is speaking:
Olaf Scholz has told the World Economic Forum that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February was a thunderbolt, and that Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to win or to dictate peace terms.
A nuclear power is acting as if it has the right to redraw borders, he said. This is imperialism, threatening to to take us back to a time when war was a common instrument of politics.
We cannot allow Putin to win this war, and I firmly believe he will not win it, Scholz said.
The prospect of Russia capturing all of Ukraine seems less likely than at the start of the war, Germany’s chancellor says, thanks to the Ukrainian forces and support from international community.
Finland and Sweden are looking to join Nato, and we would welcome them with open arms, Scholz says.
He says Germany is providing heavy weapons to Ukraine, and Scholz believes that Putin will only seriously negotiate peace when he believes he cannot break Ukraine’s defences.
Russia must not be allowed to dictate the peace terms, Scholz said.
Updated
Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has posted a situation update to Telegram. He states:
On 25 May the Russians lead a powerful and long-lasting artillery attack on Lysychansk. They attempted to storm our defence near Ustynivka at the same time destroying this village and Lysychansk nearby by artillery
As a result, two died in Ustynivka and one in Lysychansk.
A shell hit the humanitarian aid centre, and a volunteer car that delivered food to Luhansk region was damaged. Eleven high-rises, the building of ‘Impulse’ in Sievierodonetsk, eight high-rises and private houses, a house of culture and the Administration Services Centre in Lysychansk, four houses in Privillya, two in Novodruzhesk and Hirske each were destroyed. Now the enemy is trying to gain a foothold near Sievierodonetsk.
On 25 May overall, 10 Russian attacks were repelled, four tanks, two artillery systems, an armoured personnel carrier, a motor vehicle and one unit of special equipment were destroyed. Air defence units shot down five UAVs ‘Orlan-10’.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Isobel Koshiw reports for us from Kyiv on the anarchists joining Ukraine’s struggle against Russia:
In an unnamed basement bar in central Kyiv, Ukrainian anarchists have created a headquarters where they gather supplies to send to their peers on the frontlines and welcome anarchists from abroad who have come to fight.
It is unusual to see anarchists supporting state structures, but they say taking action against Russia is necessary for their own survival. “We are fighting to protect the more or less free society that exists in Ukraine,” said an activist, Dmytro. “Without which there would be no space for activism or underground movements.”
He added: “Putin’s terror is happening [in Ukraine] and it is indiscriminate. It is happening against every part of the population, but especially against the Russian-speaking parts of the population that Putin supposedly came here to liberate,” referring to the fact that the war has been heaviest in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“His regime is an ultraconservative, rightwing dictatorship that represses anarchists in Russia, the free press, LGBT networks. It scares even the most banal, grass-roots initiatives, like animal rights activists. We see the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as a conflict between a more or less democratic state and a totalitarian one.”
Read more of Isobel Koshiw’s report from Kyiv: ‘Putin’s terror affects everyone’ – anarchists join Ukraine’s war effort
Russia’s military have issued their operational briefing for the day. Among the claims – which have not been independently verified – are:
- “High-precision air-based missiles hit 48 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment of the armed forces of Ukraine.”
- “In the area of the settlement of Dneprovskoe, Mykolaiv region, the Ukrainian center of electronic intelligence was destroyed, including 11 military personnel of the combat crew, as well as 15 foreign specialists who arrived with the protection of engineering and operational staff.”
- “Russian air defence systems shot down one Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopter over the village of Gusarovka, Kharkiv region. Also, a military transport aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, which was delivering ammunition and weapons, was shot down in the air in the Kremidovka region of the Odessa region.”
The Russians also claim that as a result of their operations in the last 24 hours, more than 350 Ukrainian fighters were killed, and 96 units of weapons and military equipment were disabled.
The Russian ministry of defence have also published two videos this morning. One of which claims to show a series of Ukrainian defence trenches which had been seized by Russian forces. The other shows the launching of an OTRK “Iskander” missile, which Russia claims can hit targets up to 500km away and is “impossible” to detect.
The governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synyehubov, has issued an update on his region on Telegram. He reported:
A 62-year-old man was injured in the shelling in the Pyatihatok district of Kharkiv last night. Balakliya was shelled: ten people, including a nine-year-old child, were injured. Two people died: men aged 64 and 82. Only a nine-year-old girl was taken from Balaklia to Kharkiv, she is in stable serious condition. Other patients were hospitalised in Kupyansk CDH. Russian occupiers fired on Zircons, burned houses, one victim. Also one victim of shelling of Chuguiv district. This morning Zolochiv community and Slatine were fired upon again, Dergachiv community - two wounded.
He went on to say:
Our armed forces of Ukraine are fighting intensively against the Russian occupiers. The hottest in the Izyum region. The Russians are trying to improve the tactical situation in the area of the city of Izyum and resume the offensive on Slovyansk.
Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic, has given an interview to Russia’s RIA Novosti in which he has said he cannot be certain that all Ukrainian forces have been expelled from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. They quote him saying:
No, it’s impossible. They could hide physically, they could be lost somewhere. For now, we thoroughly check every nook and cranny of Azovstal, and there the territory is quite serious. I will not say that they are 100% there, or 100% have already been cleared. After our units check everything, clear mines, after they clear all the rubble that is there, after that we can say … there is absolutely no one left.
Graeme Wearden is in Davos, where Kyiv’s mayor is speaking:
Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, begins his briefing by saying that Russia still hopes to take control of the Ukrainian capital.
It is clear that it is not a special military operation, as Russia claims, but war, one of the biggest since the second world war, he says.
Thousands of people have died, including a lot of children, Klitschko says, with a huge battle raging in the East of Ukraine.
It is no secret that Russia’s priority is to occupy the whole country, and their main target is still the capital of Ukraine, the heart of the country, the former heavyweight champion says.
He says the whole world has seen the evidence from satellite cities such as Bucha.
Everyone understands, it’s not a special operation.. it is the genocide of the Ukranian people, Klitschko says, with children, women, and old people killed.
And he explains the human suffering, saying it is difficult to understand how people can lose their home in a moment - or suddenly lose friends, relatives, or parents.
Dr Svitlana Krakovska, head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), believes the reconstruction of cities bombed in the invasion can be an example to the rest of Europe.
Speaking yesterday at a panel session in Davos organised by the Arctic Basecamp group of climate scientists, Dr Krakovska said:
We have a big disaster in our country, we have so many people killed, our cities destroyed.
But these destroyed cities are our opportunity, to rebuild them in a climate-resilient way.
To do this we will need the support of all the international community, financial support and technology support as well.
So we are looking forward to having Ukraine as a role model for Europe.
Dr Krakovska received a medal from Ukraine’s Volodymyr president Zelenskiy last year for her work on rising global temperatures, including visiting the Antarctic to monitor the impact of climate change there.
Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, has posted a status update for the day. He said that there was one air alert overnight, but there were no strikes reported. He also said that for the first time since Lviv started accepting displaced people from elsewhere in Ukraine, there was not a single person who registered for temporary accommodation yesterday.
The impact of the war in Ukraine has been a strong theme running through the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this week. Today, in about half-an-hour, Vitaliy Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, will be speaking about how to rebuild the Ukrainian capital after the war, and what aid will be needed. My colleague Graeme Wearden is there, and he will be covering that live on our business blog. I’ll bring you the top lines here.
'Sea of Azov is forever lost to Ukraine' – Crimean official
The deputy prime minister of the Crimean government, Georgy Muradov, has said “The Sea of Azov is forever lost to Ukraine” according to reports from Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency. They quote him saying:
The Sea of Azov is forever lost to Ukraine. Ports in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions will never again be Ukrainian. I am sure that after the reunification of our regions with Russia, the Sea of Azov will again, as it was before, become exclusively an inland sea of the Russian Federation
The agency also quotes Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region as saying the same – that Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions will never be returned to the control of the Kyiv.
Russia annexed Crimea after invading in 2014. Ukraine has repeatedly said that it will not enter any peace deal that does not restore its borders. Vladimir Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev has said that Russia will not accept any settlement that does not recognise Crimea as Russian territory.
8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Luhansk and Donetsk by pro-Russian separatists
There are about 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik was quoted by Tass news agency as saying on Thursday, according to Reuters.
“There are a lot of prisoners. Of course, there are more of them on the territory of Donetsk People’s Republic, but we also have enough, and now the total number is somewhere in the region of 8,000. That’s a lot, and literally hundreds are being added every day,” Miroshnik said.
- This is Martin Belam taking over from my colleagues in Australia. I can be reached at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Russia's elite units have suffered significant losses, says MoD
Russia’s failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russia’s more elite units, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence in its latest intelligence update on the war.
(1 of 7) pic.twitter.com/qOkFLNy14a
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 26, 2022
It notes that Russia’s elite airborne forces – the VDV – have been heavily involved in several notable tactical failures since the start of Russia’s invasion such as the failure to capture Hostomel airfield near Kyiv and the recent “failed and costly crossings of the Siverskyi Donets river”.
The MoD analysts say that the VDV “has been employed on missions better suited to heavier armoured infantry and has sustained heavy casualties during the campaign. Its mixed performance likely reflects a strategic mismanagement of this capability and Russia’s failure to secure air superiority”.
It concludes that the misemployment of the VDV in Ukraine shows how Vladimir utin’s huge investment in his armed forces in recent years has resulted in “an unbalanced overall force”.
Russian aggression cannot be appeased, Truss to warn
Our diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has more on the speech British foreign secretary Liz Truss plans to make in Bosnia on Thursday.
She is expected to urge Britain’s allies to remain strong in support of Ukraine and not to appease Vladimir Putin. It comes as Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed for more weapons from the west to stave off Russia’s onslaught in the Donbas region.
Here’s Patrick’s dispatch:
Amidst growing discussion about an early diplomatic settlement to the war in Ukraine involving a loss of territory to Russia, Truss will say the West must not take their feet off the accelerator or else a more prolonged and bloody conflict will ensue.
In a visit to Bosnia Herzegovina she will insist “we must all learn the lesson of history” in standing up to Putin.
She makes no criticism of a specific country, but it is known there is growing frustration amongst countries that take the hardest line in support of Ukraine that Germany and Hungary are not doing more to back Ukraine either by supplying heavy weapons or allowing an EU wide embargo on Russian oil imports to be started.
The German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday warned of a fatigue in Europe with the war, and growing public concern about rising food and energy prices.
Truss in a speech to Bosnia and Herzegovina armed forces at Sarajevo’s Army Hall, will say: “Russia’s aggression cannot be appeased. It must be met with strength. We must not allow a prolonged and increasingly painful conflict to develop in Ukraine.
We must be relentless in ensuring Ukraine prevails through military aid and sanctions. We can’t take our foot off the accelerator now.”
Britain has been one the countries leading in support for Ukraine, and Truss within the British cabinet has been one of the most uncompromising
On Friday she will travel to Prague for talks with Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský where she will praise the Czechs for supplying tanks to Ukraine. The Czechs are due to be compensated by Germany supplying tanks to replace those sent to Ukraine
On Tuesday the Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday accused the German government of breaking its word on an agreement to supply Warsaw with new tanks as compensation for Polish deliveries of Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month introduced the so-called “Ringtausch,” a swap scheme under which eastern NATO partners would supply the Ukrainian army with Soviet-era tanks like the T-72 in exchange for modern western tanks from German manufacturers, such as the Leopard. Germany is due to deliver 14 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks and one Leopard tank recovery vehicle to Prague under the swap scheme.
A Russian soldier who was held as a prisoner of war in Ukraine for 45 days before being allowed to return home has told about the toll being in captivity has taken on his mind and body.
Speaking to Pjotr Sauer, our correspondent in Russia, the soldier, from Siberia, said he received very little military training and was shocked when he was told his unit was going into Ukraine.
When he was captured he said he was not physically harmed but suffered mental torment from his Ukrainian captors.
“We were constantly told that Russia is finished, that we belonged to the bottom of society. They would threaten to starve us.”
The every-day boredom was the hardest thing.
“If we were lucky, we would be given something random to read. Sometimes they let us watch Ukrainian propaganda on television.
“Most days we would just stare at the walls in front of us,” he said, adding that he was moved three times during his captivity.
Read Pjotr’s full report here:
Russia 'ready to allow grain shipments if sanctions lifted' – Rudenko
Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency cited Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko as saying.
Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February. More than 20m tonnes of grain are stuck in silos in the country, raising concerns about famine in countries dependent on the supplies.
Western powers have been discussing the idea of setting up “safe corridors” for grain exports from Ukraine’s ports, although these would need Russian consent.
“We have repeatedly stated on this point that a solution to the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the lifting of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions,” Rudenko was quoted as saying.
“And it also requires the demining by the Ukrainian side of all ports where ships are anchored. Russia is ready to provide the necessary humanitarian passage, which it does every day.”
Updated
UK foreign secretary Liz Truss is expected to call on Thursday for further military aid and sanctions to help Ukraine during a trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Russia’s aggression cannot be appeased. It must be met with strength,” Truss is expected to say, noting how appeasement of Russian president Vladimir Putin after his wars in Georgia and Crimea has not worked.
Hello. I’m Martin Farrer and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
If you’re just waking up or dropping in to catch up on what’s been happening, here are some of the latest developments:
-
Ukraine’s president and foreign minister have pleaded with the west to send more weapons to their military in the face of Russia’s intensifying assault on the eastern Donbas region. “We need the help of our partners – above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Dmytro Kuleba told the World Economic Forum in Davos that Nato was doing “virtually nothing” to help Ukraine.
- Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled. The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said the area was now without gas supplies and had limited water and electricity after the last gas supply station was hit.
- Russian forces shelled more than 40 other towns in Donbas on Wednesday, Ukraine’s military said, threatening to shut off the last main escape route for civilians trapped in the path of their invasion.
- UK foreign secretary Liz Truss is expected to call on Thursday for further military aid and sanctions to help Ukraine during a trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Russia’s aggression cannot be appeased. It must be met with strength,” Truss is expected to say.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country. Kuleba, poured scorn on Moscow’s claim and accused Russia of trying to “blackmail the world”.
- Zelenskiy rejected the notion that his country should cede territory to make peace with Russia. He criticised a New York Times editorial that suggested Ukraine must compromise by giving up territory in exchange for peace. he said in his latest nightly address. Those who advise Ukraine to give up territory fail to see the ordinary people, he said, “who actually live in the territory they propose to exchange for the illusion of peace.”
- Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s plan to simplify the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied regions violates international law. The ministry’s statement came after Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree simplifying the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia region.
- Russian lawmakers have voted to approve a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers. Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims. Zelenskiy responded: “(They) no longer have enough young men, but they still have the will to fight.”
- A senior United Nations official is due to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss reviving fertiliser exports, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, stressing that the talks were not linked to a resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments, Reuters reported.
- Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors have released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes – including murder and torture – in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.
- Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas said it would be “much more dangerous giving in to Putin than provoking him” during a speech in Stockholm and warned: “All these seemingly small concessions to the aggressor lead to big wars. We have done this mistake already three times: Georgia, Crimea and Donbas.”
- Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said an Italian peace plan for Ukraine was a “fantasy”. Zakharova said at her weekly briefing: “You can’t supply Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans for a peaceful resolution of the situation with the other.”
