This blog has now closed but you can follow all the latest developments on our new Ukraine liveblog in the link below.
An oil depot is reportedly on fire in the Russian city of Belgorod as the regional governor blames Ukrainian military helicopters for the attack.
Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel on Friday morning that the fire was caused by air strikes from two Ukrainian helicopters.
Belgorod sits just north of the border with Ukraine.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for any of the blasts.
An oil depot is on fire in #Belgorod, #Russia.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 1, 2022
"The emergency services went to the place of fire, measures are being taken to eliminate it", said Gladkov, the governor of the region in his Telegram channel. pic.twitter.com/ey7rC5ChSz
Summary
Here’s the latest:
- Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are due to restart this morning by video, focusing on the peace framework the Ukrainian side presented during a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul earlier this week.
- A humanitarian corridor out of Mariupol is set to be opened from 10am today to allow civilians out of the besieged port city, which is in the Donbas in south-eastern Ukraine. It follows “a personal request from the French president and German chancellor to Russian president Vladimir Putin”, the Russian defence ministry said.
- A convoy of Ukrainian buses has set out for Mariupol to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and bring out trapped civilians, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said.
- Russian forces have reportedly left the Chernobyl power plant, the Ukrainian Atomic Energy Ministry said, citing personnel at the site. Russian troops began leaving after soldiers got “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site, Ukraine’s state power company said. Energoatom said the Russians had dug in the forest inside the exclusion zone around the now-closed plant and “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began preparing to leave, Energoatom said.
- Russian troops reportedly took an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen hostage after leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Energoatom claimed in a statement on Telegram.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated his warning that Russia is preparing for “powerful strikes” in the Donbas region after appearing to withdraw from an assault on Kyiv. The Pentagon also said that Russia may be repositioning some of its forces to send them to the Donbas.
- Nato’s chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russian forces are not withdrawing, but regrouping. He also said the alliance had yet to be convinced Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow’s military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine had not changed.
- Russia is redeploying elements of its forces from Georgia to reinforce its invasion, British military intelligence said on Thursday. “It is highly unlikely that Russia planned to generate reinforcements in this manner and it is indicative of the unexpected losses it has sustained during the invasion,” the ministry added.
- The White House said the US has evidence that the war against Ukraine has been “a strategic disaster” for Russia. “We have seen incontrovertible evidence that this has been a strategic disaster for Russia,” director of communications Kate Bedingfield said, adding that Russia is “working to redefine the initial aims of their invasion”.
- US president Joe Biden said that Russian president Vladimir Putin “seems to be self-isolated” and noted “there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers,” without citing evidence.
- UK defence secretary Ben Wallace seemingly concurred with this assessment, saying Putin is “not the force he used to be” as he becomes increasingly more isolated. Speaking with Sky News, Wallace said: “President Putin is not the force he used to be. He is now a man in a cage he built himself. He’s isolated. His army is exhausted, he has suffered significant losses. The reputation of this great army of Russia has been trashed.”
- Russia has threatened to halt contracts supplying Europe with a third of its gas unless they are paid in Russian currency. Putin signed a decree on Thursday saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from Friday. He said contracts would be halted if these payments were not made. Germany and France rejected the demands and said they amounted to “blackmail”.
- EU and Chinese leaders will meet for a first summit in two years on Friday, with Brussels keen for assurances from Beijing that it will neither supply Russia with arms nor help Moscow circumvent western sanctions. EU officials close to the preparations of the summit said any help given to Russia would damage China’s international reputation and jeopardise relations with its biggest trade partners – Europe and the United States.
- Britain and its allies have agreed to send more lethal military aid to Ukraine to help defend it against Russia’s invasion, the British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said. As part of the agreement, armoured vehicles and long-range artillery will be sent.
- Australia will send armoured Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after Zelenskiy specifically asked for them during a video appeal to Australian lawmakers.
- Russia said it will respond to the EU’s “irresponsible” sanctions. Senior foreign ministry official, Nikolai Kobrinets, told Russian state media agency RIA in an interview: “The actions of the EU will not remain unanswered ... the irresponsible sanctions by Brussels are already negatively affecting the daily lives of ordinary Europeans.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier his forces are preparing for fresh Russian attacks on the Donbas region in the southeast after they repelled Russia’s assault on the capital Kyiv.
Zelenskiy said Russian troops continue to leave the country’s north but described the move as a tactical withdrawal.
Watch his video address from the streets of Kyiv below.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said Australia will send armoured Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy specifically asked for them during a video appeal to Australian lawmakers.
Zelenskiy addressed the Australian Parliament on Thursday and asked for the Australian-made, four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Morrison told reporters the vehicles will be flown over on Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport planes. He didn’t specify how many would be sent or when.
“We’re not just sending our prayers, we are sending our guns, we’re sending our munitions, we’re sending our humanitarian aid, we’re sending all of this, our body armor, all of these things and we’re going to be sending our armoured vehicles, our Bushmasters, as well,” Morrison said.
Zelenskiy specifically asked for Bushmaster vehicles during his address to Australian Parliament.
“You have very good armed personnel vehicles, Bushmasters, that could help Ukraine substantially, and other pieces of equipment,” Zelenskiy said.
Updated
Russian troops have reportedly taken an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen hostage after leaving Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant, according to officials.
State nuclear agency Energoatom released a statement on Telegram, citing plant workers:
As they ran away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Russian occupiers took members of the National Guard, whom they had held hostage since Feb 24, with them.”
The Guardian is unable to verify these claims and it remains unclear how many, if any, Ukrainian servicemen were taken away.
The Biden administration has approved the drawdown and sale of petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) citing a severe energy supply interruption.
In a recently published memorandum, Biden said Russia’s invasion on Ukraine “has had a profound impact on global oil markets” prompting the International Energy Agency Governing Board to agree to a collective release of petroleum reserves.
He said the United States committed to a drawdown and sale of 30 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
“The Secretary is authorised and directed to draw down and sell petroleum from the SPR at public sale to the highest qualified bidder at a rate the Secretary may determine, in accordance with section 161 of EPCA and the SPR competitive sales procedures in 10 CFR Part 625,” the statement read.
Russia will respond to European Union sanctions and says the 27-nation bloc might realise that a confrontation with Moscow is not in its interests, Russian state media agency RIA Novosti cited a senior foreign ministry official as saying on Friday.
Nikolai Kobrinets said in an interview with the news agency:
The actions of the EU will not remain unanswered ... the irresponsible sanctions by Brussels are already negatively affecting the daily lives of ordinary Europeans.
Are they ready from their own pocket to pay for further killings of civilians in Ukraine, the transformation of Europe from a region of cooperation and stability into a zone of conflict? I don’t think so.”
Updated
Putin is now 'a man in a cage he built himself' UK defence secretary says
Earlier, we heard remarks from US president Joe Biden who suggested Putin appears to be “self isolated” with indications that he has either fired some of his advisers or put them under house arrest.
UK defence secretary Ben Wallace has seemingly concurred with this assessment, saying Putin is “not the force he used to be” as he becomes increasingly more isolated.
Speaking with Sky News, Wallace said:
President Putin is not the force he used to be. He is now a man in a cage he built himself. He’s isolated.
His army is exhausted, he has suffered significant losses. The reputation of this great army of Russia has been trashed.
He has not only got to live with the consequences of what he is doing to Ukraine, but he has also got to live with the consequences of what he has done to his own army.”
Wallace added that he believed Russian forces appear to be regrouping and shifting their focus towards the south and east of Ukraine.
“We have seen it before. It always gets worse. It goes for more civilian attacks, more civilian areas.”
"President Putin is not the force he used to be".
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 31, 2022
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace describes the Kremlin as a "man in a cage that he built himself" and "Russia is a lesser country" because of him.https://t.co/fRz3GD32S3
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/zfc1MMQmCj
Russian troops leave Chernobyl after radiation exposure - Ukraine reports
Russian troops began leaving the Chernobyl nuclear plant after soldiers contracted “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site, Ukraine’s state power company has alleged.
Ukraine’s state agency in charge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Energoatom, published an update late on Thursday confirming Russian troops had left the site.
According to the staff of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there are currently no outsiders at the NPP site.
It will be recalled that today the Russian occupation forces left the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the satellite city of Slavutych.”
Energoatom said Russian troops had dug in the forest inside the exclusion zone around the now-closed plant.
“It should be noted that the information about fortifications and trenches that the [Russians] built right in the Red Forest, the most polluted in the entire Exclusion Zone, was also confirmed,” Energoatom said in a Telegram post.
So it is not surprising that the occupiers received significant doses of radiation and panicked at the first sign of illness. And it manifested itself very quickly.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had not been able to confirm reports of Russian troops receiving high doses and was seeking more information in a statement on Thursday.
The IAEA has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while being in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and is seeking further information in order to provide an independent assessment of the situation.”
Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Associated Press it “seems unlikely” a large number of troops would develop severe radiation illness, but it was impossible to know for sure without more details.
He said contaminated material was probably buried or covered with new topsoil during the cleanup of Chernobyl, and some soldiers may have been exposed to a “hot spot” of radiation while digging. Others may have assumed they were at risk too, he said.
Russian troops on Tuesday left Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant after weeks of occupation, officials said on Thursday.
Energoatom said Russian troops began leaving the station and other exclusion zones, which they had occupied since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February.
The IAEA also released a statement, saying: “Ukraine informed IAEA today that Russian forces that had been in control of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant since 24 February have, in writing, transferred control of the nuclear power plant to Ukrainian personnel and moved convoys of troops.”
#Ukraine informed IAEA today that Russian forces that had been in control of #Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant since 24 Feb have, in writing, transferred control of the NPP to Ukrainian personnel and moved convoys of troops. https://t.co/DkBXEJpDu8 pic.twitter.com/guITblxwXP
— IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 31, 2022
Updated
Interim summary
Hello and thank you for joining us.
Here is a quick re-cap of where thing stand:
- The White House said that the US has evidence that the war against Ukraine has been “a strategic disaster” for Russia. “We have seen incontrovertible evidence that this has been a strategic disaster for Russia,” director of communications Kate Bedingfield said, adding that Russia is “working to re-define the initial aims of their invasion.”
- Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks on the Donbas region in the southeast after they repelled Russia’s assault on the capital Kyiv, President Zelenskiy said, confirming Russian troops continue to leave the country’s north but described the move as a tactical withdrawal. “We must also realise that for the Russian military, this is part of their tactics ... We know that they are moving away from the areas where we are beating them to focus on others that are very important. On those where it can be difficult for us,” he said in a late-night address. Describing the “extremely difficult” situation in Ukraine’s south and in Donbas, Zelenskiy said Russian troops are “accumulating the potential for strikes. Powerful strikes.”
- A humanitarian corridor is set to be opened on Friday morning to allow civilians out of the besieged port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine. “The Russian armed forces will reopen a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on April 1 from 10am,” or 7am GMT, the Russian defence ministry said. The decision came after “a personal request from the French president and German chancellor to Russian President Vladimir Putin”, it said.
- Meanwhile, a convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for Mariupol to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and bring out trapped civilians, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said.
-
Russia is redeploying elements of its forces from Georgia to reinforce its invasion of Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Thursday. “It is highly unlikely that Russia planned to generate reinforcements in this manner and it is indicative of the unexpected losses it has sustained during the invasion,” the ministry added.
- Russian forces are not withdrawing, but regrouping, Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg also said the alliance had yet to be convinced Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow’s military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine had not changed.
- The Pentagon added Russia may be repositioning some of its forces around Kyiv to send them to the eastern Donbas region. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Russia has moved a “small number” - perhaps 20% - of its troops from around Kyiv after failing to capture the city. Kirby said the “best assessment” is that the troops are “going to be repositioned, probably into Belarus, to be refit and resupplied and used elsewhere in Ukraine.”
- Kirby added it was not clear that Russia’s convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv, which once stretched some 40 miles, even exists anymore after failing to accomplish its mission. “I don’t even know if it still exists at this point … They never really accomplished their mission,” he said.
- US President Joe Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “seems to be self-isolated” and noted “there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers,” without citing evidence.
- Putin has threatened to halt contracts supplying Europe with a third of its gas unless they are paid in Russian currency. Putin signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from 1 April. He said contracts would be halted if these payments were not made. Germany and France rejected the demands. Government ministers said it was an unacceptable breach of contracts and amounted to “blackmail”.
-
EU and Chinese leaders will meet for a first summit in two years on Friday with Brussels keen for assurances from Beijing that it will neither supply Russia with arms nor help Moscow circumvent western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. EU officials close to the preparations of the summit said any help given to Russia would damage China’s international reputation and jeopardise relations with its biggest trade partners - Europe and the United States.
- Russian forces have reportedly left the Chernobyl power plant, the Ukrainian Atomic Energy Ministry said, citing Chernobyl personnel. Russian troops began leaving the site after soldiers got “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site, Ukraine’s state power company said. Energoatom said the Russians had dug in the forest inside the exclusion zone around the now-closed plant and “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began preparing to leave, Energoatom said.
- Britain and its allies have agreed to send more lethal military aid to Ukraine to help defend it against Russia’s invasion, the British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said. As part of the agreement, armoured vehicles and long-range artillery will be sent.
Updated
Russia is redeploying some forces from Georgia, UK MoD says
Russia is redeploying elements of its forces from Georgia to reinforce its invasion of Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Thursday.
Between 1,200 and 2,000 of these Russian troops are being reorganised into 3x Battalion Tactical Groups,” Britain’s ministry of defence said.
It is highly unlikely that Russia planned to generate reinforcements in this manner and it is indicative of the unexpected losses it has sustained during the invasion.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 31 March 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 31, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/SV5bl19zq3
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/e1x4jsAZnx
Updated
EU and Chinese leaders will meet for a first summit in two years on Friday with Brussels keen for assurances from Beijing that it will neither supply Russia with arms nor help Moscow circumvent western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.
EU officials close to the preparations of the summit said any help given to Russia would damage China’s international reputation and jeopardise relations with its biggest trade partners - Europe and the United States.
The presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, will hold virtual talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and later President Xi Jinping.
An EU official said China’s stance towards Russia would be the “million-dollar question” on Friday, as reported by Reuters.
Another pointed out that over a quarter of China’s global trade was with the bloc and the United States last year, against just 2.4% with Russia.
“Do we prolong this war or do we work together to end this war? That is the essential question for the summit,” the official said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated China’s call for peace talks this week, adding the legitimate concerns of all sides should be accommodated.
Here is a handful of some of the latest images to come from Ukraine today.
In another busy day of diplomacy Zelenskiy confirmed he addressed the parliaments of Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium.
“I felt total support. I am waiting for concrete steps. I called for tougher sanctions against Russia. We have to put pressure on the aggressor until the aggression is over,” he said.
In a discussion with President of the European Council, Charles Michel, Zelenskiy said the pair discussed additional sanctions on Russia, economic support for Ukraine and financing of priority projects.
“The dynamics of our movement towards full membership in the EU,” he added.
Zelenskiy said he was grateful for the new package of sanctions against Russia imposed by the United States.
“We are grateful. It will not allow the current sanctions to be circumvented - we have already noticed such attempts. It will also limit the work of sensitive sectors of the Russian economy - its defence sector.”
Finally, Zelenskiy said he also held talks with President of Turkey Erdoğan.
“We spoke very specifically. In particular, about the prospects of negotiations in Turkey with the Russian Federation. And also about the creation of an effective system of guarantees for our state. About the security we have always needed and to the real provision of which we have come closer.
“I am grateful for Turkey’s readiness to become a guarantor of security for Ukraine.”
Zelenskiy also provided an update on Ukraine’s military defence, confirming Russian troops continue to leave the country’s north but describing the move as a tactical withdrawal.
To the north of Kyiv, in the Chernihiv direction, in the Sumy region, the expulsion of the occupiers continues. They themselves are aware that they can no longer withstand the intensity of hostilities they could have maintained in the first half of March ...
But we must also realise that for the Russian military, this is part of their tactics. All this is not occasional. We know their plans. We know what they are planning and what they are doing.
We know that they are moving away from the areas where we are beating them to focus on others that are very important. On those where it can be difficult for us.
Describing the “extremely difficult” situation in Ukraine’s south and in Donbas, Zelenskiy claimed Russian forces are accumulating in the temporarily occupied areas of region of Kherson.
They are trying to organise some of their incomprehensible structures there, they are trying to figure out how to consolidate their presence there,” he said.
Also in Donbas, in Mariupol, in the Kharkiv direction, Russian troops are accumulating the potential for strikes. Powerful strikes.”
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as we continue to deliver all the latest from Ukraine.
As expected, Zelenskiy has delivered another late-night address.
They [Russia] said - three or five days. They thought that this would be enough for them to seize our entire state. And it’s already 36. And we are standing. And we will continue to fight. Until the end.”
Kari Paul here, signing off for the evening. Below are some of the top stories of the moment.
- Thousands of civilians are still trapped in Mariupol after Russia has failed to deliver on its ceasefire promises, Ukrainian officials said.
- The White House said in a press conference on Thursday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been ‘strategic disaster’
- Biden’s administration has also promised additional sanctions on Russia
- Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, is headed to Ukraine - marking the first leader of an EU institution to do so
Roberta Metsola heads to Ukraine
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola is headed to Kyiv to discuss the Ukrainian conflict. This reportedly marks the first leader of an EU institution to do so since the conflict began.
The first leader of an EU institution that goes to Kyiv since the war started. #Ukraine #Russia https://t.co/kKF0bnDaUT
— Rikard Jozwiak (@RikardJozwiak) March 31, 2022
Reddit users suit up for war in Ukraine
Over at Vice there is an interesting look at the online forums being used to plan volunteer war efforts. On Reddit page r/VolunteersForUkraine, nearly 45,000 subscribers discuss various volunteer efforts - including traveling to defend country with weapons. From the story:
The Ukraine volunteer subreddits are spaces where fantasies of heroic deeds on a battlefield morph quickly into IRL plans to go to war. And much of the tension on those subreddits come from that space between fantasy and reality.
More than 20,000 foreign fighters from 52 countries have reportedly attempted to join the conflict on the side of Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia in February. Read the full story here.
Updated
Guardian photo essay: The people who keep the refugee trains running out of Ukraine
On the Guardian today we have a photo essay by Jelle Krings and accompanying story from Shaun Walker in Kyiv about the railway system in Ukraine.
Millions of people have evacuated the country by train, as Ukranian Railways and its 230,000 employees stay in t he country to work and help get refugees to safety. From Aleksandr Kamyshin, Ukranian Railways CEO.
If the track is blown up, we repair it. If we can get somewhere, we go. It may be dangerous for our staff, but then that train can save thousands of other people from danger.
Be sure to check out the full story here.
White House: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been ‘strategic disaster’
White House director of communications Kate Bedingfield has said that the US has evidence that the war against Ukraine has been “a strategic disaster” for Russia.
During a press briefing on Thursday afternoon, Bedingfield said:
We have seen incontrovertible evidence that this has been a strategic disaster for Russia...
We have seen this invasion has been a strategic failure for Putin and for Russia. They are working to re-define the intentional the — the initial, I should say — the initial aims of their invasion.
Bedingfield added that Russia will face further sanctions over its invasion of the country.
Putin himself has said these sanctions have imposed unprecedented costs on the Russian economy, and our role is to continue to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield.
Bedingfield said there are no current plans for direct talks between Joe Biden and his counterpart, Russian president Vladimir Putin, reiterating the US needs to see “tangible de-escalation of the war by Russia” before such a step would be considered.
In coming days the US will add 120 entities from Russia and Belarus to its list of sanctions, targeting defence, aerospace and maritime sectors.
That will bring the number of Russian and Belarusian parties added to the list to more than 200 since the invasion of Ukraine began, Reuters reports.
Updated
Thousands of Ukrainians trapped in Mariupol as Russia fails to uphold promises of ceasefire
Ukraine has reportedly stated that the city of Mariupol is still under siege, despite promises of cease fire.
Russia had pledged to halt attacks and allow citizens to evacuate the besieged city, but Ukraine deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Thursday there had been “no ceasefire”.
“The enemy continues to destroy, with air strikes, the remnants of infrastructure left in Mariupol, trying to destroy all living things,” she said, according to the Financial Times.
Vereshchuk added that Russian forces had not fully opened a route for evacuations from the city, where more than 5,000 people have died as they remain without food, water, or heat and under constant threat of bombings.
Depressing update: the buses to evacuate those trapped in the besieged city did not make it to Mariupol tonight, despite Russia’s promises to allow them safe passage https://t.co/pYV3joiChZ
— Henry Foy (@HenryJFoy) March 31, 2022
According to reports, 75,000 Ukrainians have been evacuated and the Red Cross is working to evacuate 100,000 more but is awaiting a reliable promise of ceasefire from Russia to safely transport the refugees.
Updated
Hello, readers! Kari Paul here on the West Coast, I will be blogging for the next few hours. Stay tuned for updates.
Russia says it will open humanitarian corridors from the besieged city of Mariupol tomorrow, 1 April, reports Reuters citing Russia’s TASS news agency.
The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday it would open a humanitarian corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday, Tass news agency reported.
It quoted Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, as saying Moscow was acting on a request that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had made to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian forces have left Chernobyl, Ukrainian officials say
Russian forces have left the Chernobyl power plant, says the Ukrainian Atomic Energy Ministry citing Chernobyl personnel.
❗️Occupiers left the territory of the #Chernobyl nuclear power plant. pic.twitter.com/cRt8jR3uiP
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 31, 2022
This story is ongoing – stay tuned for more details.
Updated
The US has made “limited additional progress” on previous demands for consular access to US citizens detained in Russia, reports Reuters.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price added that the US continues to ask for regular and consistent access to detainees.
Last week, the State Department said that the US embassy was allowed to contact American basketball player Brittney Griner, who is currently being held in a Russian prison.
Griner was found to be in good condition, according to US officials.
The US Pentagon said today that it was not clear if Russia’s convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv exists after failing to complete its mission.
The Pentagon said on Thursday it was not clear that Russia’s convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv, which once stretched some 40 miles, even exists anymore after failing to accomplish its mission.
I don’t even know if it still exists at this point … They never really accomplished their mission,” said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.
The stalled convoy became a symbol of Russia’s battlefield difficulties and had been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces during the first weeks of the more than month-long invasion.
Updated
Ukraine has launched a website allowing users across the world to report the assets of those involved in the Ukraine invasion.
The website titled “Whistleblower Portal” allows users to submit “a whistleblower report on assets of persons related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
From the Kyiv Independent:
⚡️⚡️Ukraine launches a website for whistleblowers around the world to report assets of those involved in Russia's war:https://t.co/L3bLoKUrph
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 31, 2022
The UN nuclear watchdog group says it is in close consultations with Ukraine to send its first assistance and support mission to the Chernobyl radioactive waste facilities.
The decision came after Ukraine informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Russian forces controlling the Chernobyl site had pulled out, with Ukraine presuming that the remainder of Russian forces were preparing to leave the site, according to news agencies.
In a statement, the IAEA said: “The IAEA is in close consultations with Ukrainian authorities on sending the Agency’s first assistance and support mission to (Chernobyl) in the next few days.”
Read the rest of the IAEA statement here.
Updated
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said today that Russia cannot be a “constructive partner” in the G20 alliance given its invasion of Ukraine, reports Reuters.
While speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Canada, Trudeau said that world leaders are having conversations about Russia’s presence in the G20 as the Ukraine invasion has “upended economic growth for everyone around the world and [Russia] can’t possibly be a constructive partner”.
Trudeau’s comments follow US president Joe Biden’s early calls for Russia to be removed from the G20, a group made up of some of the world’s largest economies.
Updated
Russia says it has met its financial obligations on 2030 Eurobonds, reports Reuters.
The Russian finance ministry said it has met its obligations on 2030 Eurobonds in full as its payment agent, the Bank of New York Mellon, has received $329.2 million on coupon payments and a partial redemption of the 2030 papers.
It was the fifth coupon payment due on the country’s international bonds since Russia faced sweeping sanctions over what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Russian forces have killed 148 children through shelling and airstrikes since the start of the Ukraine invasion, reports Reuters.
According to Ukraine’s defence ministry, Russian forces have fired 1,370 missiles and destroyed 15 Ukrainian airports.
More than 10 million Ukrainians have fled since the invasion began, the defence ministry reported, but Reuters could not independently verify those numbers.
Updated
Biden suggests Putin may be 'self-isolated'
US president Joe Biden said today that Vladimir Putin is “isolated”, with indications that he has either fired some of his advisers or put them under house arrest.
Taking questions from reporters while speaking live from the White House, Biden said:
He seems to be self isolated. And there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers.
But, in reference to his previous statement, Biden added:
But I don’t want to put too much stock in this at this time because we don’t have that much hard evidence.
Biden on Putin: "He seems to be self isolated. And there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers. But I don't want to put too much stock in this at this time because we don't have that much hard evidence".
— James Politi (@JamesPoliti) March 31, 2022
Biden also noted that there is no clear evidence that Putin is pulling back Russian troops from Ukraine.
“I’m a little skeptical - it’s an open question whether he’s actually pulling back,” said Biden.
Biden added that there was "no clear evidence" that Putin was pulling forces out of Kyiv and beefing up troops in the Donbas. "I'm a little skeptical - it's an open question whether he's actually pulling back," and focused on the Donbas.
— Ken Thomas (@KThomasDC) March 31, 2022
Updated
Summary
Here’s a summary of the latest developments:
- Russian forces are not withdrawing, but regrouping, Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg also said the alliance had yet to be convinced Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow’s military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine had not changed.
- The standing of the Russian president Vladimir Putin has been “diminished” after his invasion of Ukraine, the head of the British armed forces said. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said: “The scenes coming out of Mariupol and elsewhere are horrific, and the coming weeks will continue to be very difficult.”
- Putin signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from 1 April. He said contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.
- Germany and France quickly rejected the demands. Government ministers said it was an unacceptable breach of contracts and amounted to “blackmail”.
- Russian forces around Kyiv have lost their offensive capacity and are changing tactics to favour long-range attacks more than direct fighting, the deputy chief of staff of Ukraine’s ground forces said. Oleksandr Hruzevych said: “The enemy has almost exhausted its offensive potential, but the forces that remain around Kyiv are not small.”
- More senior European Union figures have been barred from entering Russia. The measure was in response to what the Kremlin has tried to portray as anti-Russian policies as Moscow faces weighty sanctions imposed because of its invasion.
I’m now handing over to my colleague Gloria Oladipo.
Updated
Britain and its allies have agreed to send more lethal military aid to Ukraine to help defend it against Russia’s invasion, the British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said. After hosting dozens of international partners at the second International Defence Donor Conference for Ukraine (IDDCU), he said:
There’ll be more lethal aid going into Ukraine as a result of today. A number of countries have come forward, either with new ideas or indeed more pledges of money.
The aid will include the provision of air and coastal defence systems, longer-range artillery and counter battery capabilities, armoured vehicles as well as wider training and logistical support. Wallace added:
Today’s donor conference demonstrates the international community’s determination to support Ukraine in the face of President Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion by Russian force.
We are increasing our coordination to step up that military support and ensure the armed forces of Ukraine grow stronger as they continue to repel Russian forces.
Moscow calls the invasion it launched on 24 February a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarising and “denazifying” its neighbour, which Ukraine and the west have dismissed as a baseless pretext for war.
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Europe must not let itself be blackmailed by the Russian president’s conditions for gas payments, the Czech industry minister Jozef Síkela has said.
Vladimir Putin has decided to further escalate economic war with Europe ... we cannot help him with sidestepping anti-Russia sanctions in this way. On the contrary, we must demand valid contracts to be upheld.
He also said that gas shipments from Russia to the Czech Republic were stable.
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More than a month after the Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, cities hit hardest by shelling have become nearly unrecognisable.
Russian troops have shelled and heavily damaged residential areas, shopping centres, government buildings and cultural sites across Ukraine, while continuously claiming to have only shelled military targets.
The number of Ukrainian refugees has now passed the UN’s worst-case estimate, with more than 4 million people fleeing the country.
All foreign-leased aircraft still in Russia after the termination of western leasing contracts have been entered into the Russian aircraft register and will remain in Russia, Reuters quotes the deputy prime minister, Yuri Borisov, as saying.
The imposition of sanctions by western powers in response to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine forced western leasing firms to terminate contracts with Russian airlines for more than 500 aircraft. More than 400 of these are still in Russia, Reuters says.
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A major exhibition at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum this year that was to draw largely on loans from Russian institutions has been cancelled because of sanctions and the war in Ukraine.
Russia! Icons & The Avantgarde was to explore the relationship between traditional Russian icon paintings and the art of the avant-garde movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The museum, which is to announce a revised exhibition programme in the coming weeks, has now been obliged to cancel the show because of sanctions and the situation in Ukraine.
The exhibition is the latest high-profile casualty of the fallout since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in an increasing isolation of Russia in cultural, sporting and economic spheres. A spokesperson for the Ashmolean Museum said:
With regret, the Ashmolean is obliged to withdraw the exhibition Russia! Icons and the Avant-Garde, which was scheduled to take place from July to December 2022.
The serious and deteriorating situation in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed or threatened on both Russia and the UK make an exhibition dependent on loans from Russian institutions impossible this year or in the immediate future. We hope the project can go ahead at a later date and we will keep this in review.
About 75% of the loans for the exhibition were coming from Russian institutions. It was to feature work by Kazimir Malevich, who was born in Kyiv to a Polish family, and worked in Russia, Ukraine and Poland, the Russian painter and theorist Wassily Kandinsky; and others.
It comes as other institutions have been severing ties with wealthy Russian figures who have provided funding or loaned works of art.
This month, the Tate ended relations with Viktor Vekselberg and Petr Aven after the Russian billionaires were sanctioned by the US and EU.
Also this month, Aven stepped down as a trustee of the Royal Academy Trust and the London gallery returned his donation towards its current exhibition Francis Bacon: Man and Beast.
Russian arts institutions in Moscow have also been thrown into turmoil as many Russian and foreign directors of curators step down from roles.
The artistic director of the V-A-C Foundation in Moscow, Francesco Manacorda, said in March that that he had resigned due to the conflict in Ukraine. Simon Rees, the artistic director of the Cosmoscow art fair, also announced that he was cutting ties with the institution.
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Russia expands sanctions imposed on EU leaders
Senior European Union figures have been barred from entering Russia in response to what the Kremlin has tried to portray as anti-Russian policies. EU officials, lawmakers, public figures and journalists are among those sanctioned, Reuters reports. Russia’s foreign ministry said:
The restrictions apply to the top leadership of the European Union; including a number of European commissioners and heads of EU military structures, as well as the vast majority of members of the European Parliament who promote anti-Russian policies.
Moscow said its blacklist included representatives of some EU member states, as well as public figures and journalists who it said were “personally responsible for promoting illegal anti-Russian sanctions, inciting Russophobic sentiments and the infringement of the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population”.
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The US president, Joe Biden, is due to announce the release of a record 1m barrels of oil from US strategic stockpiles every day for the next six months in an attempt to dampen soaring fuel prices in the wake of the attack on Ukraine. The White House said:
After consultation with allies and partners, the president will announce the largest release of oil reserves in history, putting one million additional barrels on the market per day on average – every day – for the next six months.
The scale of this release is unprecedented: the world has never had a release of oil reserves at this one million per day rate for this length of time. This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as a bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up.
Agence France-Presse reports that Biden was scheduled to lay out the details in a speech later on Thursday. The release will dwarf earlier uses of the strategic stockpile announced by the Biden administration in tandem with other countries on 1 March following the Russian invasion, and also last year in response to rising inflation.
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The UK does not plan to pay for Russian gas in roubles, the prime minister Boris Johnson’s spokesperson has said, adding that the government was monitoring the implications for the European market of Putin’s demand.
The Russian president said he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from 1 April – and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.
Asked if there were any circumstances in which the UK would pay in roubles for Russian gas, the spokesman told reporters: “That is not something we will be looking to do.”
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European leaders are reacting to the news that Vladimir Putin has threatened not to honour gas contracts unless the payments are made in roubles from tomorrow. Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, has said:
With regard to the threat, demand or consideration – one doesn’t know how to call it any more – to be made to pay in rouble, it is crucial for us that the contracts are respected. It is important for us not to give a signal that we will be blackmailed by Putin.
The country’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said: “By all means, it remains the case that companies want, can and will pay in euros.” and the French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said: “Contracts are contracts.”
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We reported earlier that the UK government has made 14 new additions to its sanctions list; including Sergey Brilev, a presenter on the Russian state-run Rossiya channel, and Col-Gen Mikhail Mizintsev, dubbed “the butcher of Mariupol”.
My colleague Peter Walker now has the full story:
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Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us on the newswires from Ukraine.
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Germany and France again reject Russian demand to pay for gas in roubles
Germany and France have again rejected demands by Russia that European countries pay for its gas in roubles, saying it was an unacceptable breach of contracts and amounted to “blackmail”, Reuters reports.
Speaking during a news conference, Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, said he had not yet seen a new decree signed by President Valdimir Putin mandating gas payments in roubles, adding that Germany was prepared for all scenarios, including a stoppage of Russian gas flows to Europe.
The French finance minister, Bruno le Maire, said France and Germany rejected Russia’s demand.
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Nato has asked Denmark to send a battalion of 800 soldiers to Latvia to bolster the military alliance’s eastern flank, the Danish defence ministry said.
Theprime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said this week that Denmark was ready to send a battalion to the Baltic states on Nato’s request, although Reuters notes that such a request would still require parliamentary approval.
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Here is some more detail on what Vladimir Putin has just said about gas contracts. Reuters reports that the president said he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from 1 April, and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.
“In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow,” Putin said in televised remarks.
“If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either – that is, existing contracts will be stopped.”
Russia supplies about a third of Europe’s gas, but to date western companies and governments have rejected this demand for payment in roubles as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars.
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Ukraine military: Russia has 'almost exhausted its offensive potential' around Kyiv
Oleksandr Hruzevych, the deputy chief of staff of Ukraine’s ground forces, has also been talking, saying that Russian forces around Kyiv have lost their offensive capacity and are changing tactics to favour long-range attacks more than direct fighting.
Reuters quotes him saying: “The enemy has almost exhausted its offensive potential, but the forces that remain around Kyiv are not small.”
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Putin has signed decree saying gas must be paid for in roubles from tomorrow
Vladimir Putin has been talking. I have just got some flash quotes from Reuters at the moment, and the Russian president has said:
- He has signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from 1 April, and contracts will be halted if these payments are not made.
- He said western sanctions had been imposed before, and the economic war against Russia started years ago. He added that the west would try hard to find reasons for new sanctions.
- Putin says the goal has been to undermine Russia’s development.
- The US will make profits from global instability and solve its problems at the expense of others.
- Europe moving to buy liquid natural gas from the US will lead to millions of job losses in Europe.
I will hopefully bring you some fuller quotes in due course.
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The Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said Vladimir Putin had assured him Russia would contribute to securing humanitarian access to besieged civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
During a one-hour phone call with the Russian president, Støre said he urged Putin to end the war in Ukraine, pull out Russian troops and enable humanitarian access.
“We have very limited expectations of what could be achieved, but nothing should be left untried in the situation we are now in,” Reuters quotes Støre as saying.
Commenting on their discussions about the need for humanitarian access to civilians in the port city of Mariupol, Støre said: “My impression is that he confirms Russia’s intention to contribute to that.”
Støre added, however, that only actions on the ground could tell whether Russia delivers on the promises or not.
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Keir Giles has written for us today. He works with the Russia and Eurasia programme of Chatham House, and is the author of Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia to Confront the West. He argues that only total military failure will curb Putin’s ambitions in Ukraine:
But while evidence of Ukraine’s success in fending off at least some of the Russian offensives may mean that the country as a whole is not in immediate danger of being overrun, the risk to Ukraine’s future as a sovereign nation remains. Russia has a long track record of starting wars disastrously, but then succeeding in throwing sufficient manpower and material into the conflict to grind down its opponents through sheer mass. The danger is that Russia can continue a war of attrition, regardless of the cost in casualties among poorly trained troops or the damage done to Russia’s own economy, longer than Ukraine can maintain the interest and support of the west.
And in the meantime, Russia will continue to engineer humanitarian disasters in order to put pressure on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to make concessions in order to end the fighting. The capital itself will continue to be under threat. Suspending attempts to push forward and seize more territory around Kyiv does not mean that Russia will cease mounting long-range missile and artillery strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities from those areas it does already control.
That Russian pressure will be both direct, presenting Zelenskiy with the appalling choice of continuing the fighting at the cost of innocent lives or making concessions to end the suffering, and indirect, if Zelenskiy’s western backers modify their advice – and their support – because they do not feel Ukraine should resist further in the face of humanitarian catastrophe.
Read more here: Keir Giles – Only total military failure will curb Putin’s ambitions in Ukraine
Head of British armed forces: Putin has 'damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgments'
The head of the British armed forces said the standing of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has been “diminished” after his invasion of Ukraine.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, told an event hosted by the Institute for Government (IfG) thinktank: “The scenes coming out of Mariupol and elsewhere are horrific, and the coming weeks will continue to be very difficult.
“But in many ways, Putin has already lost. Far from being the far-sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, Putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgments.”
PA Media quote him as saying: “Like all authoritarians, he allowed himself to be misled as to his own strength, including the effectiveness of the Russian armed forces.
“And lastly, he has failed to anticipate the unity and cohesion that exists among the free nations of the world, here in Europe and obviously far beyond. His actions to date have done more to galvanise than divide, and have shown Ukraine to have the one thing Russia conspicuously lacks – real friends.
“What is very clear is that Putin is a weaker and more diminished figure today than he was a month ago, and conversely Nato is stronger and more united today than at any time I can remember.”
- This is Martin Belam in London again here for the next hour or so. You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
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In the UK, the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said refugees in Ukraine are facing “Kafkaesque” bureaucracy as they try to navigate the visa requirements of the British Home Office.
She cited the cases of a woman who had travelled “extensively” to fulfil the requirements, including to Warsaw to give biometric data; and of a mother and son who had been granted a visa but then had it revoked.
“This is Kafkaesque: what on earth is going on? Why is the home secretary so totally incapable of getting a grip on this?” Cooper asked.
“Why on earth is it taking so long? Why are they still demanding reams of bureaucracy, reams of information? Tens of thousands of people are still stuck in the system. Families are desperate. People across the country have said they want to help, and yet the Home Office is letting them down.”
The Home office minister Kevin Foster, answering MPs’ questions, said “the trajectory of visas being granted every day is increasing”. He said there had been 23,500 visas granted to Ukrainians with family connections in the UK; and 3,705 under the Homes for Ukraine scheme – but said it was “too early to say” how many of those had actually arrived in the UK.
Read more of Heather Stewart’s report here: Ukraine refugees trying to get UK visas facing ‘Kafkaesque’ system, MPs told
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Russia has attempted to disrupt Ukraine’s government and military in cyberspace and is looking to digitally target countries that oppose its invasion, the head of Britain’s GCHQ spy service has said. Reuters quotes Jeremy Fleming as saying during a speech in Canberra on Wednesday:
We’ve seen sustained intent from Russia to disrupt Ukrainian government and military systems. We’ve seen what looks like some spillover of activity affecting surrounding countries. And we’ve certainly seen indications which suggest Russia’s cyber actors are looking for targets in the countries that oppose their actions.
Russia has consistently denied accusations of mounting cyber-attacks on western targets. Its defence ministry did not immediately respond to a written request from Reuters for comment on Fleming’s remarks.
Fleming dismissed recent commentary which expressed surprise that Russians had not deployed a major cyber-attack alongside their invasion, an analysis that he said “misses the point”. But “that’s not to say that we haven’t seen cyber in this conflict. We have – and lots of it,” he added.
Dozens of Ukrainian and Russian websites have been taken offline during the conflict by legions of “hacktivist” volunteer hackers on both sides, Reuters reports.
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Here’s a little more on those comments by Mario Draghi, who has said Putin told him that “conditions are not yet mature for a ceasefire” in Ukraine earlier this week.
Sharing details about the call with the Foreign Press Association in Rome, Draghi said it was too soon to “overcome scepticism” about a peace deal. It was the first time Draghi had spoken to the Russian president since the start of the war.
I told him I wanted this call to talk about peace, and he said: ‘Sure, let’s talk about peace.’
I asked when or if a ceasefire is expected, and he said: ‘The conditions are not mature.’ My conviction is that, to resolve certain crucial points for an agreement, there would need to be a meeting with [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy, who has practically been asking for this since the start of the war, and the response was that he thinks the time is immature.
In Putin’s opinion, there have been some small steps ahead in the negotiations.
We all want to see a ray of light ... in some ways, the sanctions are working. Peace will be reached if Ukraine has the possibility to defend itself; otherwise there will be no peace. There is a desire to move forward soon, but it is also too soon to overcome scepticism.
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Russian forces regrouping for further attacks, Nato warns
Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said; commenting on Moscow’s announcements about a scaling down of military operations around Kyiv.
According to Reuters, Stoltenberg also said the alliance had yet to be convinced Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow’s military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine had not changed.
According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region.
Moscow says it is now focusing on “liberating” the Donbas region – two south-eastern provinces partly controlled by separatists Russia has backed since 2014.
At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering ... We have no real change in the real Russian objective ... they continue to pursue a military outcome.
He also said Nato allies would continue to provide weapons to Ukraine for as a long as necessary.
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The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is sanctioned by European nations over the invasion, was part of Moscow’s delegation at peace talks in Istanbul, Reuters quotes Turkish leaders as saying.
They claimed he is “sincerely” working to end the war that was started and is still being aggressively pursued by his own political ally, Vladimir Putin.
Abramovich made a surprise appearance at Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul. However, video footage showed him sat among observers rather than with the two negotiating teams.
Speaking to reporters on a flight from Uzbekistan, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Abramovich’s presence showed Putin “believes, trusts him”, according to broadcaster NTV and others.
Abramovich participated in the negotiations as part of the Russian delegation. Rather than looking at who was at the table, we should look at on whose behalf they were there.
The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, told the broadcaster A Haber Abramovich had been liaising between Kyiv and Moscow since the 24 February invasion and working “sincerely” to end the fighting.
Of course, official talks are important, negotiations are important, but public opinion is sensitive, everyone wants to maintain their position, and there are channels that should be kept open between leaders and countries. Here, Abramovich plays a useful role.
According to Reuters, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said Abramovich was not an official member of the Russian delegation, but acknowledged his presence to “enable certain contacts”.
Turkey, a Nato member, shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has good ties with both and has offered to mediate. It has supported Kyiv, but also opposes sanctions on Moscow; including measures against Abramovich and other Russian billionaires.
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The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, told the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, conditions were not yet in place for a ceasefire in Ukraine, the latter told a news conference, when asked about a telephone call with the former the previous day.
According to the Reuters news agency, Draghi also said Putin told him current gas contracts remained in force and that European firms will continue to pay in euros and dollars, rather than in roubles.
What I understood, but I may be wrong, is that the conversion of the payment ... is an internal matter of the Russian Federation.
Asked about increased defence spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Draghi said Italy would reach the Nato goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence in 2028, adding that this was not in dispute among members of his coalition.
However, Draghi said that the government’s upcoming economic forecasting document would not spell out a specific increase in defence spending.
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More than 5m items of medical supplies have been given to Ukraine, helping to save tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, the UK government is claiming.
Since the Russian invasion was launched, 13 flights carrying ventilators and other medical supplies have left the UK. Lifesaving medicines, intensive care equipment and wound packs have been donated by NHS England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK’s health and social care secretary, Sajid Javid, has said:
The appalling atrocities inflicted on the Ukrainians by Putin’s evil attacks are causing untold misery to millions of people.
The invasion has created a medical emergency and the UK has acted swiftly to give our Ukrainian friends the medical support they need which has helped save tens of thousands of lives.
The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said:
The UK is continuing to play a leading role in the response to Russia’s unprovoked attacks on the Ukrainian people, with UK aid supplies flowing into Ukraine and its border regions.
From medicines and equipment, to food, generators, blankets and hygiene kits, we are working with the government of Ukraine, our trusted humanitarian partners and friends in the region to help those most in need.
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The number of Ukrainian refugees who have been officially registered in Spain has reached nearly 30,000, says the country’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez.
He added that the number of Ukrainian refugees registered was likely to rise to 70,000 in the next few days.
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The UK has said that it has imposed further sanctions of prominent Russian figures and military leaders, including Sergey Brilev, a propagandist who owns the Russia Today (RT) news channel.
Other Russian figures facing sanctions includes Aleksandr Zharov, chief executive of Gazprom-Media, Alexey Nikolov the managing director of RT and Anton Anisimov, the head of Sputnik International Broadcasting were also sanctioned.
Col-Gen Mikhail Mizintsev, dubbed “the butcher of Mariupol”, is also among the 14 new additions to the sanctions list.
Commenting on the sanctions, Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said:
Putin’s war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin’s fake news and narratives.
We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.
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The director general of the The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Robert Mardini, has called on Ukraine and Russia to agree on a safe evacuation of civilians from Mariupol and other frontline areas.
Speaking to Reuters, Mardini said that supplies were running low, and that up to 170,000 residents were trapped with no power.
To date the ICRC has so far led two evacuations of civilians from the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.
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As reported earlier, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has appeared in the Netherlands via video link and asked the Dutch parliament for weapons, reconstruction aid and to halt all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.
The opposition Labour party leader of the Netherlands, Lilianne Ploumen, called on the government of the prime minister, Mark Rutte, to urgently implement EU sanctions and quickly target the assets because we can “no longer justify this to Ukraine”.
Some background:
- Roughly 20% of Dutch natural gas comes from Russia, which has become an increasingly important trading partner for the Netherlands in recent years.
- The Dutch, along with other EU countries including Germany, are looking for other energy sources, but quick alternatives are few and global supplies limited.
Zelenskiy asked the Dutch to “adopt a city” in Ukraine to focus postwar reconstruction efforts. - The Netherlands has supplied Ukrainian forces with military equipment, including anti-tank rockets and Patriot air defence systems and is also supporting Nato’s increased presence along the military alliance’s eastern flank.
- The Dutch have so far been unable to effectively freeze or seize tens of billions of euros in Russian assets registered in the Netherlands, due to complex tax structures that make it difficult to identify ultimate owners of corporate holdings and property.
- A letter to parliament from the finance ministry on 22 March aid €392m ($431.24 million) in Russian assets and transactions had been frozen under EU sanctions imposed since the invasion on 24 February.
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Today so far …
- An evacuation mission is under way from Ukraine’s besieged southern port city of Mariupol. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said it was planning to send a convoy of 45 buses from Zaporizhzhia to make the 220 kilometre (136 mile) journey. At least 17 of the buses have already departed.
- Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are on their way to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol with aid supplies and stand ready to evacuate civilians, it said.
- The boss of the British spy agency GCHQ has claimed that demoralised Russian soldiers in Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft. Sir Jeremy Fleming said Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, “massively misjudged” his chances for a swift military victory in Ukraine and claimed that his advisers were “afraid to tell him the truth”.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told the Australian parliament that his country is “undefeatable” against Russia as long as it can count on the support of the global community. Zelenskiy accused Putin of “nuclear blackmail” and said that an unchecked Russia was a “threat” to the world, suggesting its actions may inspire other nations to follow suit, in a thinly veiled warning about China to the parliament he was addressing.
- As well as appearing before the Australian parliament today, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has appeared in the Netherlands via video link and asked the Dutch parliament for weapons, reconstruction aid and to halt all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.
- Zelenskiy said in a video address to the people of Ukraine last night that he doesn’t believe Russia’s vows to de-escalate its fighting. He said peace talks with Russia continue “but for the moment there are just words, nothing concrete”.
- Moscow would not refuse a direct meeting between its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, but any talks between them would need to be substantive, the Russian foreign ministry has said.
- The UK’s international trade secretary was asked about UK-India relations in the wake of India’s refusal to condemn Russian aggression in Ukraine. Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that “we understand why they’ve chosen to sit on the fence at the moment. They have connections in both directions.” Both the UK foreign minister and Russia’s Lavrov are in India at the same time.
- Taiwan’s defence ministry has set up a working group to study the tactics of the war in Ukraine, including how the country has been able to hold out against Russia. Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has raised its alert level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Oil prices tumbled on reports that the United States is considering tapping its reserves to combat a supply crisis sparked by the Ukraine war. The Russian rouble meanwhile has recovered to its pre-war value despite western sanctions on the country’s exports and financial systems.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I am handing over to my colleague Tobi Thomas and heading off to host our Thursday quiz. I will be back later on.
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Red Cross says it is on way to besieged Mariupol with aid supplies
Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are on their way to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol with aid supplies and stand ready to evacuate civilians, it said.
Ewan Watson, ICRC spokesperson, said Ukraine and Russia must agree on the exact terms of the operation, which is planned for Friday, adding that “tens of thousands” of lives depend on its success.
“For logistics and security reasons, we’ll be ready to lead the safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided all the parties agree to the exact terms, including the route, the start time, and the duration,” Watson told Reuters in Geneva.
Earlier Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said it was planning to send a convoy of 45 buses from Zaporizhzhia to make the 220 kilometre (136 mile) journey to Mariupol. At least 17 of the buses have already departed.
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As well as appearing before the Australian parliament today, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has appeared in the Netherlands via video link and asked the Dutch parliament for weapons, reconstruction aid and to halt all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.
“Stronger sanctions are needed so that Russia doesn’t have a chance to pursue this war further in Europe,” Reuters quote him telling lawmakers. “Stop all trade with Russia.”
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The US said on Wednesday that Russian forces had begun to pull out of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power site, which they seized on the first day of the invasion on 24 February.
An employee at Ukraine’s exclusion zone management agency claimed on Facebook that some soldiers had been taken to a special medical facility with acute radiation sickness, but this has not been confirmed.
On Monday workers at the site separately alleged to Reuters that soldiers had driven their armoured vehicles without radiation protection through a highly toxic zone called the “Red Forest”, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust.
Kim Willsher, our Paris correspondent who visited Chernobyl in 1990, writes:
“If either account is accurate it would suggest a remarkable level of either ignorance of what happened at Chernobyl on 26 April 1986 when the nuclear plant’s Reactor 4 exploded after an experiment went wrong, or criminal recklessness. The ‘Red Forest’ is so named because the tops of the pine trees around the nuclear plant glowed red from the radiation they absorbed after the catastrophe.
The contaminated trees were later dug up and buried, but seeds from them were taken and grown to see what effect the radiation had on them. When I visited in 1990, scientists at the Chernobyl Research Centre showed me the result: saplings, many with bizarre mutations, some with needles growing backwards. Scientists estimated the contaminated area would not be safe for 24,000 years, give or take a thousand.
Before the war, tourists could visit around the area, but only with a permit and with official tour guides who have Geiger counters and know where to go. There are still many radioactive ‘hot-spots’ and no go areas.
It is possible the Russian troops did not know of the danger. On the day after the disaster, it was the sixth item on the Soviet news and locals were kept in the dark as radiation rained down on them. In 2019, when the Chernobyl mini-series was broadcast, Vladimir Putin dismissed it as American misinformation and said Russia would make its own ‘version’ of the tragedy blaming the CIA.”
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told the Australian parliament that his country is “undefeatable” against Russia as long as it can count on the support of the global community.
In a virtual speech to MPs and senators in Canberra, the Ukrainian president requested Australia send Bushmaster armoured vehicles to assist in the fight against Russia, saying they would “do much more for our common freedom and security than staying parked on your land”.
“You have very good armoured personal vehicles, Bushmasters, that could help Ukraine substantially, and other pieces of equipment that could strengthen our position in terms of armaments,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy accused Vladimir Putin of “nuclear blackmail” and said that an unchecked Russia was a “threat” to the world, suggesting its actions may inspire other nations to follow suit, in a thinly veiled warning to the parliament he was addressing.
“The distance between our countries is big, it’s thousands of kilometres … but there’s no such thing as distance for the brutality and chaos that Russia brought to the east of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.
“Whatever is happening in our region because of the Russian aggression … has become a real threat to your country and your people as well,” he said. “This is the nature of the evil. It can instantly cross any distance, any barriers, destroy lives.”
Read more from Josh Butler and Daniel Hurst on this: Volodymyr Zelenskiy asks Australia to send armoured vehicles to help fight Russia
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Here are some more of the pictures that have appeared recently on the newswire depicting the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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Gen Sir Nick Parker, former commander of land forces in the British army, has somewhat controversially said Nato has been “defeated”, and called for a smaller coalition of nations to develop an offensive counter-strategy to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
PA Media quote him telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Nato’s bluff was called. We were unable to stop the Russians trampling all over Ukraine and now Nato is holding the line of the 2004 expansion, along the line of the Baltic states and Poland and Hungary and Romania.
And what it has to do is to defend that line, it’s in what in military terms we would call a defensive position.
And I don’t think it has the capacity to move on to the offensive with its 30 nations all with slightly different views.
We need to have a smaller coalition of nations who can start to develop an offensive counter-strategy to Putin.
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Moscow would not refuse a meeting between its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, but any talks between them would need to be substantive, RIA news agency has cited the Russian foreign ministry saying.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said earlier today that Turkey was working to bring together the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers for further talks after hosting peace negotiations in Istanbul this week.
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17 buses already on way from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol – more buses to follow
The Ukrainian government is sending 45 buses to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
Seventeen buses have already left for Mariupol from Zaporizhzhia, around 220 kilometres (136 miles) to the north-west
“Tonight, we received a message from the International Red Cross Committee that the Russian Federation confirms its readiness to open access for the humanitarian convoy to the city of Mariupol with transit through the city of Berdiansk,” she said in video posted on Telegram. “We are sending 45 buses to the Mariupol corridor.”
Agence France-Presse report that another 28 were waiting for authorisation to pass the Russian checkpoint in Vasylivka, near Zaporizhzhia.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that buses arrive in Mariupol today and pick up people who have not yet been able to get out of the city,” Vereschuk said.
The Russian defence ministry yesterday had said that a humanitarian corridor would be opened from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, from 10am (0700 GMT) on Thursday.
“For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the ministry statement said last night. The Russian ministry asked Kyiv to guarantee the “unconditional respect” for the ceasefire.
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The boss of the British spy agency GCHQ has claimed that demoralised Russian soldiers in Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft. Sir Jeremy Fleming, in a speech given in Australia, said Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, “massively misjudged” his chances for a swift military victory in Ukraine and claimed that his advisers were “afraid to tell him the truth”.
Here are some video clips of his talk:
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A new fund-raising effort for LGBTQ+ people fleeing Ukraine because of the war has been launched today by campaigning group All Out.
Matt Beard, executive director at All Out, said: “These funds are supporting LGBT+ Ukrainians with evacuation, shelter, food, water, medication and legal support. This is happening both inside the country and in neighbouring countries like Romania.
“Thousands of people are still being forcibly displaced every day. They all need our immediate and ongoing help. And LGBT+ Ukrainians are feeling particularly vulnerable.”
Transgender people have already experienced difficulties in crossing the border out of Ukraine, due to issues with documentation. The funds raised are helping organisations like Lambda Warszawa, the oldest Polish LGBT+ organisation in Warsaw. Those working at the organisation say: “We’re dealing with people who are facing multiple traumas. They’re fleeing Ukraine, a homo- and transphobic country ravaged by war, and they arrive in Poland, another country that, while peaceful, is similarly anti-LGBT.”
All Out is a global not-for-profit organisation established in 2010.
“Before the invasion of their country, there was some progress towards equality for all. Now the hopes and dreams of an emerging generation of LGBT+ Ukrainians have been cruelly dashed. Instead of increasing safety, dignity and equality, they face the prospect of the kind of brutal homophobia and transphobia increasingly seen in recent years under the Putin regime,” said Beard.
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Europe must stop buying oil and gas from Russia and should apply new sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, said.
Reuters report Nausėda told a joint news conference with the Danish prime minister: “Europe must stop buying Russian gas and oil, because the Kremlin regime uses this money to finance destruction of Ukrainian cities and attacks on peaceful civilians. The fifth sanction package must deliver a maximum blow to the Kremlin regime.”
Earlier, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, had said she expects more sanctions to be applied, without specifying what they might be.
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Ukraine's president Zelenskiy addresses Australian parliament
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been addressing the Australian parliament via videolink. His appeal to them was based on the threat to global security if Russia is not halted in its ambitions against Ukraine. He told them:
We haven’t seen this in the world, for a country to start a war against a neighbouring country, openly declaring their enslavement or destruction. Not to leave even the name of that nation. Not to have even any opportunity for this nation to live freely.
Zelenskiy went on to specifically warn about the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, telling the Australian parliament:
No one can say any part of the world [is safe] from radioactive contamination which will come if nuclear weapons are used … A country which is using nuclear blackmail should receive sanctions which would show that such blackmailing is destructive for the blackmailer.
He also raised the spectre of aggressive nations being encouraged by any Russian success, saying:
But the most terrible thing, if we don’t stop Russia now, if we don’t hold Russia accountable, than some of the countries of the world that were looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well. The fate of global security is decided now.
Here are a selection of the latest pictures to be sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine:
On Sky News, the UK’s international trade secretary was asked about UK-India relations in the wake of India’s refusal to condemn Russian aggression in Ukraine. Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that “we understand why they’ve chosen to sit on the fence at the moment. They have connections in both directions.”
However she went on to say:
But for us, it’s really important to see all countries who believe in democracy and the rule of law and, indeed, defending your own territorial borders and wanting to have that sovereignty, respected, by those around you, to stand up for that.
The UK’s foreign secretary is currently visiting India, in a trip awkwardly timed as it coincides with India also hosting Russia’s foreign minister Sergie Lavrov. Our diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour has more.
Bus convoy has departed to evacuate civilians from Mariupol – Ukraine's deputy PM
It looks like there is some progress on the humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Mariupol. Reuters report that Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said that a convoy of Ukrainian buses has set out for the southern port city.
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In the UK, the government minister that has been put up for interview duties is Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international secretary for trade. She opened by saying:
The prime minister continues to be very clear that Putin must fail in his outrageous and illegal war in invading Ukraine. And the UK Government continue to work hand in glove with both our US and our EU allies to support Ukraine to defend their territorial country borders, and to make sure that Putin turns his tanks around and takes them home.
On the question of the processing of refugees wanting to come to the UK, Trevelayn said the schemes are “moving at pace”. The UK has so far issued just over 25,000 visas to Ukrainians. Over 4 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their country so far.
Trevelyan was also asked on Sky News about the so-called “golden visa scheme”, where Russian oligarchs had been able to buy themselves residency in the UK by investing at least £2m into the country. Eight people who took advantage of that scheme have subsequently been put on to the list of people sanctioned by the UK government.
Asked whether this showed poor judgement from the government on who it had allowed into the country, Trevelyan entirely side-stepped the question, instead arguing that everybody, including the US and EU, must hold firm on sanctions:
There are some who say, if Putin just demonstrates that he might want to step back, we should all start to unwind these sanctions. Sanctions are there to make it very, very clear that Putin’s war must fail. That Putin’s behaviour is unacceptable. The financial pressures that we are applying with him and to those who support him, who are oligarchs, regardless of where they happen to be living now, cannot sustain their lifestyles. We will not allow that.
Taiwan’s defence ministry has set up a working group to study the tactics of the war in Ukraine, including how the country has been able to hold out against Russia, and has been discussing this with the United States, according to a recent Reuters report.
Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has raised its alert level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, wary of Beijing possibly making a similar move on the island and the possible impact of the war on China’s military thinking on Taiwan.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of parliament, defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said they had had “contact” with foreign countries to talk about how the war was being fought, and had set up their own working group to study it.
Topics Taiwan is following include Russia’s poor military performance and Ukraine’s resistance, he said.
It is not only discussed in exchange meetings between the United States and Taiwan, but also discussed with other countries that have regular contacts with Taiwan.
However, we will not make remarks rashly, but through internal discussions which are important, to get results that are helpful for building armaments and preparing for war.”
A quick snap from Reuters here, that Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expects more sanctions against Russia. She is visiting Lithuania but declined to say what was being discussed.
- This is Martin Belam here now, taking over from Samantha Lock. I will be here for the next few hours. You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Some more images to come from Ukraine illustrate the destruction inflicted on the country.
While the Russian rouble re-emerged from the rubble, oil prices tumbled on Thursday on reports that the United States is considering tapping its reserves to combat a supply crisis sparked by the Ukraine war.
Here is a report from Reuters:
Equities struggled to build on the week’s rally after Russia poured cold water on hopes that ceasefire talks were progressing, leaving the prospect of a protracted war in eastern Europe that has already sent shockwaves through the world economy.
WTI tumbled more than 5% and Brent more than 4% as reports said US President Joe Biden was looking at releasing a million barrels a day for several months as he tries to temper a surge in the market to more than $100.
Concerns about demand in China owing to a lockdown in Shanghai was adding to downward pressure.
The White House this month put an embargo on oil from Russia as part of a series of wide-ranging sanctions against the country for its invasion.
However, that sent prices soaring further and put added upward pressure on world inflation, which was already at multi-decade highs.
Officials said the president would make a statement Thursday on plans to cut energy costs “and lower gas prices at the pump for American families”.
The news comes as the International Energy Agency urges other countries to further tap their reserves.
The Russian rouble has recovered to its pre-war value despite western sanctions on the country’s exports and financial systems.
The currency was trading at 75.5 to one US dollar on Thursday morning, compared with almost 140 to the dollar at the beginning of March when it crashed with the onest of sanctions. That is actually better than it was on 22 February, two days before the invasion, when it was at 80 per dollar.
Russia has bolstered the currency by raising interest rates to 20% – therefore encouraging investment in the rouble – and imposing capital controls which mean that people cannot swap roubles for other currencies.
The Kremlin’s threat to make European gas importers like Germany pay for their supplies in roubles – thus boosting the currency’s value – has also helped. More help has come from China and India, which have increased the amount of Russian oil they are buying thanks to generous discounts from Moscow.
In case you missed the earlier announcement of a possible ceasefire in Mariupol, here are the details we reported earlier.
The Russian defence ministry announced a local ceasefire on Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated from Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol, according to Agence France-Presse.
A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, would be opened from 10am (7am GMT), the ministry said on Wednesday.
“For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the ministry statement said.
The Russian ministry asked Kyiv to guarantee the “unconditional respect” for the ceasefire through written notification to the Russian side, the UNHCR and ICRC before 6am (3am GMT) Thursday.
Moscow also asked the Ukrainian army to commit to ensure the security of the bus convoys along the designated corridor.
The ministry also said it had agreed to a proposal from Kyiv to open in the last 24 hours four new humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia.
Heavy fighting likely to take place in Kyiv in coming days - UK MoD
The UK’s ministry of defence has just released its latest intelligence report, suggesting heavy fighting will likely take place in Kyiv in the coming days.
Despite Russian statements indicating an intended reduction of military activity around Chernihiv, significant Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued.
Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units. Heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of the city in coming days.
Heavy fighting continues in Mariupol, a key objective of Russian forces, however Ukrainian forces remain in control of the centre of the city.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 31 March 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 31, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/dESTQT4irj
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/0NUMTq8nrj
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Zelenskiy doubts Russia's promise to de-escalate fighting
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to Ukraine last night that he doesn’t believe Russia’s vows to de-escalate its fighting.
In a televised speech, Zelenskiy said peace talks with Russia continue “but for the moment there are just words, nothing concrete”.
Today I have few words, not much time, a lot of emotions and even more tasks. It is that kind of moment. A turning point, when we can and should talk only about the most important thing.
Yes, there is an ongoing negotiation process. But these are still words. So far no specifics.”
Zelenskiy spoke of the promise made by Russia to withdraw troops from the north of Ukraine.
We know that this is not a withdrawal, but the consequences of exile. Consequences of the work of our defenders. But we also see that at the same time there is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas. And we are preparing for this.
We do not believe anyone – we do not trust any beautiful verbal constructions. There is a real situation on the battlefield. And now – this is the most important thing. We will not give up anything. And we will fight for every meter of our land, for every person.”
EU and US officials have concurred with Sir Jeremy Fleming’s remarks.
A senior EU diplomat told Reuters earlier:
Putin thought things were going better than they were. That’s the problem with surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ or only sitting with them at the end of a very long table.”
Russian troops were being told that they were taking part in a military exercise prior to the Ukraine invasion, but had to sign a document that extended their duties, said two European diplomats.
“They were misled, badly trained and then arrived to find old Ukrainian women who looked like their grandmothers yelling at them to go home,” added one of the diplomats.
There are no signs at the moment that the situation could foster a revolt within the Russian military, but the situation is “unpredictable” and western powers “would hope that unhappy people would speak up,” said the senior European diplomat to Reuters.
Sir Jeremy Fleming also said there were growing signs that Russian soldiers “short of weapons and morale” were “refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft”.
Fleming said in a speech in Canberra at the Australian National University:
We’ve seen Russian soldiers short of weapons and morale - refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.
Putin has massively misjudged the situation ... We believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth.”
Updated
It looks like being another turbulent day on the international energy markets where oil has dropped nearly 5% in trade so far today to just under $108 a barrel.
The fall has been partly driven by continued lockdowns in China but it will help ease the price surge caused by sanctions on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Oil prices are closely linked to natural gas prices and the cost of the latter also fell on Thursday.
#Brent falls at $106 a barrel as US considering tapping its Reserves. #OOTT #Oil #WTI #CrudeOil #Reserve #Ruble #oilgas #petroleum pic.twitter.com/vxJaZhD1cy
— Harshvardhan Singh (@harsh4singh) March 31, 2022
Gas markets are still uncertain, however, about how the standoff with Russia over its demand to be paid in roubles will be resolved. Concern about the possible loss of supply in Germany prompted Berlin to activate emergency plans on Wednesday that could eventually lead to gas rationing. Russia supplies around 30% of Europe’s gas – but 40% of Germany’s.
Capital Economics said in a note on Wednesday that the standoff could increase pressure on household incomes if it leads to rsationing and in turn higher prices for commodities and consumer goods.
The industrial sector would bear the brunt of any power rationing imposed as a result of Europe’s shift away from Russian energy, but the direct economic impact of this would be smaller than one might expect. However, the knock-on impact from higher commodity prices would be felt more widely, making output in some sectors even more uneconomic and tightening the squeeze on household incomes.
Updated
Putin ‘misled’ by advisers, White House says
Vladimir Putin has made a strategic miscalculation in launching the invasion of Ukraine and his advisers are “afraid to tell him the truth” about the extent of his error, the boss of British spy agency GCHQ said in a speech on Thursday.
Sir Jeremy Fleming, in a speech given in Australia, said the Russian leader had misjudged the strength of Ukrainian resistance, the western response and the ability of his forces to deliver a rapid victory.
“It all adds up to the strategic miscalculation that western leaders warned Putin it would be. It’s become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and, increasingly, by ordinary Russians too,” Fleming said.
Western security officials want to lay the responsibility for February’s unprovoked invasion on Putin, who they characterise as a dominant, isolated leader who is making poor decisions partly because he no longer gets accurate information or honest opinions from his subordinates.
As a result, Fleming said he believed that the failure to achieve a quick victory must be causing discord in the Kremlin. “Even though we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what’s going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.”
Earlier, US officials made a similar point, arguing that Putin was being misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging western sanctions have been. Kate Bedingfield, director of communications at the White House, said:
We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership.
We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth.
So, it is increasingly clear that Putin’s war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term and increasingly isolated on the world stage.”
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby later agreed with the White House assessment: “It’s [Putin’s] military. It’s his war. He chose it ... the fact that he may not fully understand the degree to which his forces are failing in Ukraine, that’s a little discomforting.”
Some of the latest images to come out of Ukraine provide a striking illustration of life for those living during war.
Fire and smoke light up the night sky in a shade of bright orange, east of Kharkiv.
Once-bustling city streets are seen deserted while a Russian missile lies in a children’s playground.
Women nurse newborn babies in metro stations now being used as bomb shelters.
Zelenskiy warns Russia is preparing a large offensive in Donbas
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that Russia is massing its forces in the eastern region of Donbas in preparation for a big offensive.
Speaking in one of his trademark late-night television addresses from the streets of Kyiv, Zelenskiy said any withdrawal of Russian troops from the regions around Kyiv and Chernihiv – as stated by the Kremlin on Tuesday – was due to Ukrainian resistance.
But he added:
We also see that at the same time there is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas. And we are preparing for this.
This assessment tallied with Russia’s other statement on Tuesday that it had allegedly completed its operations in Kyiv and was turning to the eastern area of Donbas which has been home to two self-styled pro-Russian separatist republics since 2014.
A Russian military report released late on Wednesday said:
All the main tasks of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kyiv and Chernigov [Chernihiv] directions have been completed.
A planned regrouping of troops is taking place in these areas, its goal is to intensify actions in priority areas and, above all, complete the operation to completely liberate Donbas.”
Read more on the military situation, peace talks and other key developments here:
Updated
Summary
Hello. It’s Samantha Lock with you to continue our coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Russian troops are building up in the country’s east, as the White House claimed Putin was being misinformed by his inner circle over the performance of the military.
Here is a comprehensive rundown of the latest developments over the past 12 hours:
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The Russian defence ministry announced a local ceasefire on Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated from Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol, according to Agence France-Presse.
- Russia and Ukraine will resume online peace talks on Friday 1 April. A senior Ukraine official said leaders of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, could meet “soon”, but the Kremlin downplayed hopes of an early breakthrough. Ukraine’s president said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday that “for the moment there are just words, nothing concrete”.
- Zelenskiy said he talked to Joe Biden for an hour on another “very active diplomatic day”, thanking the US president for a new $1bn humanitarian aid package and an additional $500m in direct budget support. Zelenskiy said: “The support of the United States is vital for us. And now it is especially important to lend a hand to Ukraine, to show all the power of the democratic world.”
- The Ukrainian president also said he was cautious of Russia’s “verbal constructions” and described the movement of Russian troops as “not a withdrawal, but the consequences of exile”. “Yes, there is an ongoing negotiation process. But these are still words. So far no specifics,” he added.
- A recent Russian military report appears to contradict Russia’s promise to withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s north following “meaningful” progress at peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday. The report from Russia’s ministry of defence published in a Telegram post late on Wednesday states Russia is merely undertaking a “planned regrouping of troops” after successfully completing its military objectives in Kyiv and Chernihiv.
- Russian shelling continued on Wednesday despite Moscow saying on Tuesday that it would scale back its attacks around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. However, reports citing the Pentagon said that Russian forces were “walking away” from the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
- UK, US and EU officials say Putin has been misled over Russian military performance. Putin has received misinformation about how well Russia is doing and how much the sanctions have affected the country because some of those closest to him are afraid to tell him the truth, according to a speech planned by the head of Britain’s GCHQ spy service on Thursday.
- Sir Jeremy Fleming said that some Russian soldiers are refusing to carry out orders, and that they are poorly equipped and have low morale.
- Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a briefing: “It’s his [Putin] military. It’s his war. He chose it...the fact that he may not fully understand the degree to which his forces are failing in Ukraine, that’s a little discomforting.
- Global restrictions on exports of industrial components to Russia have hit car and tank production. A carmaker has shut down and tank production has halted, according to the US.
- President Joe Biden’s administration is considering releasing 1 million barrels of oil a day for several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to reduce gasoline prices, two senior US officials have said.
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The Russian rouble has recovered to its pre-war value despite western sanctions on the country’s exports and financial systems.
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Germany could ration power if a standoff over a Russian demand to pay for fuel with roubles disrupts or halts supplies.
- President Joe Biden’s administration is also considering releasing 1 million barrels of oil a day for several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to reduce gasoline prices, two senior US officials said.
- Liz Truss, Britain’s foreign secretary, is due to land in India on Thursday to urge Narendra Modi’s government to reduce its strategic dependency on Russia. Her arrival in New Delhi coincides with that of her sparring partner Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, who will be making his first visit since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The UK has announced new laws targeting the access of Russian oligarchs to “UK aviation and maritime technical services”, according to the Foreign Office.
- Eight Russian oligarchs on the UK sanctions list over their links to Vladimir Putin were granted “golden visas” to live in Britain. The individuals were granted the right to live in the UK after promising to invest at least £2m under the controversial tier 1 investor visa scheme, the UK government has admitted.
- Russian hackers have recently attempted to penetrate the networks of Nato and the militaries of some eastern European countries, according to a report by Google’s threat analysis group. The report did not say which militaries had been targeted in what Google described as “credential phishing campaigns” launched by a Russian-based group called Coldriver, or Callisto.
- Slovakia has said it will expel 35 Russian diplomats based on information provided by intelligence services. Fellow EU countries Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and the Czech Republic have all announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats suspected of spying.
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It could take at least a year for Ukraine to hold a referendum on its neutrality - a key Russian demand to end the war - according to the head of Ukraine’s delegation at peace talks with Russia.
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