We will be pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for the next few hours.
Before we return, here is a comprehensive rundown of where things currently stand.
- Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Nato of “doing literally nothing” in the face of Russia’s invasion of his country. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kuleba praised the EU for its “revolutionary” decisions to back Kyiv but said the Nato military alliance had been “completely sidelined”.
- Ukraine has again pleaded for more weapons, including multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower. “We need the help of our partners - above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win,” president Zelenskiy said in his national address. Kuleba added his country “badly” needs multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower.
- Zelenskiy rejected the notion that his country should cede territory to make peace with Russia. “Symptomatic editorials began to appear in some Western media stating that Ukraine must allegedly accept so-called difficult compromises by giving up territory in exchange for peace,” he said in his latest nightly address. Those who advise Ukraine to give up territory fail to see the ordinary people, he said, “who actually live in the territory they propose to exchange for the illusion of peace.” Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych added: “No one is going to trade a gram of our sovereignty or a millimetre of our territory. Our children are dying, soldiers are being blown apart by shells, and they tell us to sacrifice territory. Get lost. It’s never going to happen.”
- Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s plan to simplify the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied regions violates international law. The ministry’s statement came after Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree simplifying the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia region.
- Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled. The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said the area was now without gas supplies and had limited water and electricity after the last gas supply station was hit.
- Police in Lysychansk are collecting bodies of people killed in order to bury them in mass graves, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said. Some 150 people have been buried in a mass grave in one Lysychansk district, he added, Reuters reports.
- Russian lawmakers have voted to approve a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers. Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims. Zelenskiy responded: “(They) no longer have enough young men, but they still have the will to fight.”
- A senior United Nations official is due to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss reviving fertiliser exports, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, stressing that the talks were not linked to a resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments, Reuters reported.
- Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors have released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes – including murder and torture – in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country. Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, poured scorn on Moscow’s claim and accused Russia of trying to “blackmail the world”.
- Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said it would be “much more dangerous giving in to Putin than provoking him” during a speech in Stockholm and warned: “All these seemingly small concessions to the aggressor lead to big wars. We have done this mistake already three times: Georgia, Crimea and Donbas.”
- Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said an Italian peace plan for Ukraine was a “fantasy”. Zakharova said at her weekly briefing: “You can’t supply Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans for a peaceful resolution of the situation with the other.”
Here are some of the latest images to come out Ukraine today.
Zelenskiy rejects notion that Ukraine should cede territory to make peace
Zelenskiy has rejected the notion that his country should cede territory to make peace with Russia.
Symptomatic editorials began to appear in some Western media stating that Ukraine must allegedly accept so-called difficult compromises by giving up territory in exchange for peace,” he said in his latest nightly address.
Those who advise Ukraine to give up territory fail to see the ordinary people, he said, “who actually live in the territory they propose to exchange for the illusion of peace.”
Zelenskiy said pressure from those “stuck” in previous centuries are living in a time “when the interests of nations were indeed often traded for attempts to appease the appetites of dictators”.
Earlier in the day, in an expletive-filled tirade, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said some European nations clearly wanted Ukraine to make concessions to Putin.
No one is going to trade a gram of our sovereignty or a millimetre of our territory,” he said in video remarks posted online.
Our children are dying, soldiers are being blown apart by shells, and they tell us to sacrifice territory. Get lost. It’s never going to happen.”
Updated
Ukraine 'badly' needs launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower, Kuleba says
Ukraine continues to plead for more weapons, including multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower.
“We need the help of our partners - above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win,” president Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba added his country “badly” needs multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower.
Russia overwhelms Ukraine in a number of heavy weapons, but the biggest imbalance is with MLRS, mobile batteries of long-range rockets, he said.
Kuleba said he had come to Davos at a “very difficult moment on the frontline” as fighting rages in the eastern Donbas region.
“The battle for Donbas is very much like the battles of the Second World War,” he told journalists.
“Some villages and towns, they do not exist anymore,” he said.
“They were all turned into rubble by Russian artillery fire, by Russian multiple launch rocket systems. It’s devastating.”
Zelensky also told a traditional ‘Ukraine Breakfast’ event on the sidelines of the WEF: “Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can’t see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united.”
Here is a particularly poignant quote made by Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas during a speech in Stockholm earlier today, warning against making any concessions for Russia.
It is much more dangerous giving in to Putin than provoking him.
All these seemingly small concessions to the aggressor lead to big wars. We have done this mistake already three times: Georgia, Crimea and Donbas.”
“I warned about premature calls for a ceasefire and peace. We cannot give anything to the aggressor that it didn’t have before – or the aggression will sooner or later return.
No sign Russia has changed its calculus. I don’t believe in goodwill by an outright aggressor and a cold-blooded war criminal. We must avoid a bad peace. A badly negotiated peace for Ukraine would mean a bad peace for us all.”
Discussed security issues today @FolkochForsvar in Stockholm.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) May 25, 2022
I warned about premature calls for a ceasefire and peace. We cannot give anything to the aggressor that it didn’t have before – or the aggression will sooner or later return. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/nKF3Lkdhhh
Drone footage has illustrated the damage of a missile attack on a train facility in Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region.
Taken on Wednesday, the video shows the aftermath of the strike, which wrecked buildings and infrastructure.
It comes as Ukrainian officials said Russian forces have increased their assault on two key towns in the Donbas region.
A summary of today's developments
- Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Nato of “doing literally nothing” in the face of Russia’s invasion of his country. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kuleba praised the EU for its “revolutionary” decisions to back Kyiv but said the Nato military alliance had been “completely sidelined”.
- Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s plan to simplify the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied regions violates international law. The ministry’s statement came after Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree simplifying the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia region.
- Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled. The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said the area was now without gas supplies and had limited water and electricity after the last supply station was hit.
- Police in Lysychansk are collecting bodies of people killed in order to bury them in mass graves, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said. Some 150 people have been buried in a mass grave in one Lysychansk district, he added, Reuters reports.
- Russian lawmakers have voted to approve a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers. Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims.
- A senior United Nations official is due to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss reviving fertilizer exports, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, stressing that the talks were not linked to a resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments, Reuters reported.
- Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors have released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes – including murder and torture – in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20m tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country. Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, poured scorn on Moscow’s claim and accused Russia of trying to “blackmail the world”.
- Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said an Italian peace plan for Ukraine was a “fantasy”. Zakharova said at her weekly briefing: “You can’t supply Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans for a peaceful resolution of the situation with the other.”
- Sweden is “obviously” not funding or arming terrorist organisations, its prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said, in response to Turkish claims that it is a hotbed for terrorist groups. Her remarks came as Finnish and Swedish delegations began talks with Ankara today, which Andersson said would provide an opportunity to clear up what she said was “confusion” circulating about Swedish support for different groups.
Updated
The Russian parliament scrapped the upper age limit for contractual service in the military on Wednesday, highlighting the need to replace lost troops, Reuters reports.
In a video address, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, commenting on the new Russian enlistment rules, said: “(They) no longer have enough young men, but they still have the will to fight. It will still take time to crush this will.”
Police in Lysychansk are collecting bodies of people killed in order to bury them in mass graves, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said.
Some 150 people have been buried in a mass grave in one Lysychansk district, he added, Reuters reports. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Russia’s “army is having some tactical success which is threatening to become an operational success in the direction of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk”.
Updated
An increasing number of former global leaders are pushing for an International Anti-Corruption Court, a decade-old idea that has resurfaced more recently in response to the invasion.
A declaration signed by 42 former prime ministers and presidents from around the world and more than 250 figures from 75 countries, signified mounting anger over financial sources of the conflict, the Washington Post reports:
“Corruption among public officials isn’t just a financial problem; it also undermines democracy and the rule of law in a country and exacerbates inequality among its people,” Dutch minister of foreign affairs Wopke Hoekstra said at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in April.
But Hoekstra also emphasized that the Netherlands, which houses the International Criminal Court in The Hague, could only establish an anti-corruption court with the support of many other nations – a level of support that is far from assured.”
American leaders have not signed on, and the US is considered a hotbed of international corruption.
Updated
It is now nearly midnight in Kyiv. I am Gabrielle Canon, here to take you through the latest updates.
Prince Charles spent time in Romania at a Ukrainian refugee center, BBC reports, visiting civilians who have fled the violence. The visit in Bucharest is the first from a senior royal in the region.
Romania has welcomed nearly a million Ukrainians, and tens of thousands continue to cross into the country. Roughly 6 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the invasion.
Prince Charles, who has been vocal about the war calling it a “brutal aggression,” met with families at the center that also provided resources for refugees as they navigate through transitions into a new country.
Updated
A senior United Nations official is due to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss reviving fertilizer exports, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, stressing that the talks were not linked to a resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments, Reuters reported.
Since Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine on 24 February, Ukrainian grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled and more than 20m tonnes of grain are stuck in silos, while Moscow says the chilling effect of western sanctions imposed on Russia over the war have disrupted its fertilizer and grain exports.
The conflict is fueling a global food crisis with prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key global fertilizer exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.
Nebenzia said:
Formally, fertilizers and grain are not under sanctions, but there are logistical, transport, insurance, bank transfer problems [created by western sanctions that] prevent us from exporting freely.
“We are prepared to export fertilizers and grain from our ports to the world market ... I think that should be negotiated with the Ukrainians, not with Russians.”
However, western officials say any deal on access to Ukrainian ports would need Russian agreement, citing what they say is a Russian blockade and a need for security guarantees.
UN secretary-general António Guterres, who visited Moscow and Kyiv last month, is in “intense contact” with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union in a bid to broker what he calls a “package deal” to resume both Ukrainian food exports and Russian food and fertilizer exports.
Nebenzia said that top UN trade and development official Rebecca Grynspan was due to discuss Russian exports during a visit to Moscow in the coming days.
She is coordinator of the UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance that aims to combat global economic shocks from the Ukraine war. Nebenzia also said he believed UN aid chief Martin Griffiths was due to visit Moscow sometime in early June.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric declined to comment.
Updated
Russian forces are advancing in the Luhansk part of the Donbas and it’s grim for many places in that province.
Fighting has reached the ‘outskirts’ of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, AKA Sievierodonetsk, in the region, which had a pre-war population of 100,000, according to AFP.
Here are some of the latest news images coming out of a funeral held in Kyiv after Ukrainian troops were lost in the Donbas.
The Ukrainian flag on a casket.
Updated
The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” have independently verified that Russia has destroyed or damaged at least 56 Ukrainian schools in a manner that indicates a possible war crime, the Associated Press reports.
The Ukrainian government says Russia has shelled more than 1,000 schools, destroying 95. The accounting likely represents just a fraction of potential war crimes committed during the conflict and the list is updated daily.
A geography teacher, Elena Kudrik, lay dead on the floor of School 50 in the eastern Ukrainian town of Gorlovka. Amid the wreckage surrounding her were books and papers, smeared in blood.
In the corner, another lifeless body of Elena Ivanova, the assistant headmaster slumped over in an office chair, a gaping wound torn into her side.
“It’s a tragedy for us ... It’s a tragedy for the children,” said school director Sergey But, standing outside the brick building shortly after the attack.
A few kilometers away, at the Sonechko pre-school in the city of Okhtyrka, a cluster bomb destroyed a kindergarten, killing a child. Outside the entrance, two more bodies lay in pools of blood.
Despite the widespread damage and destruction to educational infrastructure, war crimes experts say proving an attacking military’s intent to target individual schools is difficult.
Russian officials deny targeting civilian structures, and local media reports in Russian-held Gorlovka alleged Ukrainian forces trying to recapture the area were to blame for the blast that killed the two teachers there. But the effects of the destruction are indisputable.
Unicef communications director Toby Fricker, who is currently in Ukraine, agreed.
“School is often the heart of the community in many places, and that is so central to everyday life.”
As the war grinds on, millions of kids are continuing to go to school online. The international aid group Save the Children said it is working with the government to establish remote learning programs for students at 50 schools. Unicef is also trying to help with online instruction.
“Educating every child is essential to preventing grave violations of their rights,” the group said in a statement to the AP.
Updated
Turkey threatens to stall Nato process if Nordic nations fail to act.
Turkey on Wednesday said the Nato accession process for Sweden and Finland would not move forward unless they addressed Ankara’s security concerns, in talks with delegations from both Nordic states, Agence France-Presse writes.
We conveyed our message in very clear terms that the process will not move forward unless Turkey’s security concerns are addressed through concrete steps and within a certain timetable,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters after meeting Swedish and Finnish representatives in the capital Ankara.
Nato member Turkey has opposed the applications of Sweden and neighbouring Finland over what it considers leniency toward Kurdish militant groups.
Stockholm and Helsinki submitted their bids to join the US-led defense alliance last week, reversing decades of military non-alignment, after political and public support for membership soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Turkey is throwing a spanner in the works as any membership must be unanimously approved by all Nato members.
Ankara accuses Stockholm in particular of providing safe haven for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), listed as a terror group by Turkey and its western allies.
They told us they understand Turkey’s security concerns, but we’ll see what steps they will take,” Kalin said, adding that dialogue would continue.
Sweden has imposed embargoes on arms sales to Turkey since 2019 over Ankara’s military offensive in Syria.
Kalin said on Wednesday he was seeing a “positive” attitude on the removal of sanctions in the defense industry.
We don’t think it is appropriate for allies to impose sanctions on each other, that would weaken the alliance and make enemies happy,” he added.
Updated
Summary
It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Nato of “doing literally nothing” in the face of Russia’s invasion of his country. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kuleba praised the EU for its “revolutionary” decisions to back Kyiv but said the Nato military alliance had been “completely sidelined”.
- Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s plan to simplify the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied regions violates international law. The ministry’s statement came after Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree simplifying the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia region.
- Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled. The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said the area was now without gas supplies and had limited water and electricity after the last gas supply station was hit.
-
Russian lawmakers have voted to approve a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers. Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims.
- Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors have released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes – including murder and torture – in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country. Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, poured scorn on Moscow’s claim and accused Russia of trying to “blackmail the world”.
- Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said an Italian peace plan for Ukraine was a “fantasy”. Zakharova said at her weekly briefing: “You can’t supply Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans for a peaceful resolution of the situation with the other.”
- Sweden is “obviously” not funding or arming terrorist organisations, its prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said, in response to Turkish claims that it is a hotbed for terrorist groups. Her remarks came as Finnish and Swedish delegations began talks with Ankara today, which Andersson said would provide an opportunity to clear up what she said was “confusion” circulating about Swedish support for different groups.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today as I hand the blog to my colleague, Joanna Walters. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
Drone footage has illustrated the damage of a missile attack on a train facility in Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region.
The video shows the aftermath of the strike, which wrecked buildings and infrastructure. It comes as Ukrainian officials said Russian forces have increased their assault on two key towns in the Donbas region.
Nato 'doing literally nothing' to stop Russia, says Ukraine
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Nato of “doing literally nothing” in the face of Russia’s invasion of his country.
Kuleba praised the EU for its “revolutionary” decisions to back Kyiv but said the Nato military alliance had been “completely sidelined”.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kuleba said:
Nato as an alliance, as an institution, is completely sidelined and doing literally nothing. I’m sorry to say it.
He said that at the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, “there was a public sentiment that Nato was the strong force and the EU was only capable of expressing various different levels of concern”, adding:
But war is always a test that takes the masks off.
Kuleba praised Brussels for its “revolutionary, groundbreaking decisions, which even they themselves did not expect to make”, and accepted that some Nato allies “are helping us”.
He also dismissed Moscow’s claim that it was ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for ships carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions.
He told the audience at Davos:
You could not find a better example of a blackmail in international relations.
If anyone is buying it, I think there is a problem with that person, and we shouldn’t waste too much time trying to understand why that person is making that point.
Updated
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said victory for Ukraine “does not seem to be an option” and that Berlin is “waiting for Putin to say his war goals are reached”.
Der Spiegel after a plane brief with Scholz on his war goals."Victory for Ukraine does not seem to be an option. The strategy could be called active waiting. The Germans are cautiously supplying arms, participating in boycotts & waiting for Putin to say his war goals are reached"
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) May 25, 2022
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has been pictured meeting soldiers wounded during the conflict in Ukraine.
Wearing a white medical coat, Putin spoke with soldiers at Moscow’s Mandryka military hospital in the first such visit since he sent troops into Ukraine.
After meeting the wounded men, Putin said at a televised meeting with government officials:
These are people who are risking their health and lives for the sake of the people and children of Donbas, for the sake of Russia. They are all heroes.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s plan to simplify the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied regions violates international law.
The ministry said the initiative to make it easier for Ukrainians living in the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson to receive Russian citizenship was further evidence of the Kremlin’s “criminal” war goals.
In a statement, it said:
The illegal issuing of passports … is a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as norms and principles of international humanitarian law.
Updated
Today so far...
Here’s a quick recap of the key events from today:
- Sergiy Gaidai, governor of the eastern region of Lugansk, said Sievierodonetsk was being hammered by air strikes, rockets, artillery and mortars. Russian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine and attacking key cities, particularly the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk in a bid to solidify control over the province and move further into Ukraine.
- The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a decree simplifying the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said the decree “turns occupation into annexation” and accused Russian forces of “first destroying, then stealing our territories and people”.
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Russian lawmakers have voted to approve a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers. Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims.
- Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors have released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes – including murder and torture – in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.
-
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said Moscow is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country.
- A Russian-backed official in the occupied Ukrainian port of Mariupol said the first ship to leave since Russian forces captured the city would leave in the next few days. The official said the ship would take about 3,000 tonnes of metals to Rostov-on-Don in Russia, Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports. It has not been possible to verify this information.
- Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said an Italian peace plan for Ukraine was a “fantasy”. Zakharova said at her weekly briefing: “You can’t supply Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans for a peaceful resolution of the situation with the other.”
-
Sweden is “obviously” not funding or arming terrorist organisations, its prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said, in response to Turkish claims that it is a hotbed for terrorist groups. Her remarks came as Finnish and Swedish delegations began talks with Ankara today, which Andersson said would provide an opportunity to clear up what she said was “confusion” circulating about Swedish support for different groups.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
A Russian-backed official in the occupied Ukrainian port of Mariupol said the first ship to leave since Russian forces captured the city would leave in the next few days.
The official said the ship would take about 3,000 tonnes of metals to Rostov-on-Don in Russia, Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports.
Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry said that Mariupol’s port was “operating normally”.
It has not been possible to verify this information.
Updated
Wagner Group fighters accused of murdering civilians in Ukraine
Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine.
Ukrainian prosecutors have released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes – including murder and torture – in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.
They say five are Russian soldiers, one is a Russian mercenary with the Wagner Group and the final two are Belarusian mercenaries.
The Guardian has previously reported on the alleged involvement of the soldiers named by prosecutors on Tuesday regarding the systematic torture and murder of civilians in Ukraine including the head of Motyzhyn council, her husband and son.
There have been reports of Wagner fighters on the ground in Ukraine, but these are the first charges against allegedly serving mercenaries, and the first non-Russians charged.
Established in 2014 to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Wagner is allegedly funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful businessman who is closely linked to Vladimir Putin and has faced western sanctions.
Russia has used paid fighters to bolster its forces since the start of the war. It was estimated to have deployed between 10,000 and 20,000 mercenaries from Syria, Libya and elsewhere, including Wagner Group fighters, in its offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region, a European official said last month.
A survivor had previously described to the Guardian how Russian soldiers who were perpetrating a sadistic killing spree lasting days in the village had described Ukraine as a “fairytale” compared with Syria.
Prosecutors said Sergey Vladimirovich Sazanov, 51, born in the town of Rechitsa in Belarus, was one of about 300 Wagner mercenaries who participated in a February 2018 offensive in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. They cited the open-source research group InformNapalm.
Another man, Alexander Alexandrovich Stupnitsky, 32, a native of Orsha in Belarus, was identified as a liaison officer for the assault platoon of the Wagner Group’s 1st reconnaissance and assault company.
The third man identified as a Wagner member, Sergey Sergeevich Sazonov, 33, was born in Kaliningrad and is allegedly the driver of the Wagner Group command vehicle.
Read the full report by Lorenzo Tondo, Isobel Koshiw, Emma Graham-Harrison and Pjotr Sauer.
Updated
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has accused Russia of trying to “blackmail the world” by saying it is ready to unblock Black Sea ports in return for the lifting of sanctions.
Kuleba tweeted that anyone considering accepting Russia’s “game” should “first visit the graves of killed Ukrainian children and talk to their parents”.
Russia now blackmails the world by demanding to lift sanctions in exchange for them unblocking Ukraine’s food exports. Any foreign politician or official who may think of accepting this game should first visit the graves of killed Ukrainian children and talk to their parents.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 25, 2022
Updated
Ukrainian MP Anastasia Radina has been at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and has spoken to Reuters. She told reporters western countries such as Germany must overcome reluctance to supply Ukraine with modern weapons as Kyiv risks running out of stocks. She said:
We have only one choice, and this is to receive modern Nato-style weaponry because we cannot win the war with the Soviet style weaponry that we have. What [the Russians] are doing is waiting for us to run out of weapons or (the) collective west to be less united and more preoccupied with their own problems.
Ukraine needs longer range arms after mainly receiving anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons at the start of the war, Radina said, adding that Kyiv has also asked for ground-based air defence systems to protect Ukrainian cities from attacks.
The German government has been considering supplying a surface-to-air defence system built by Diehl to Ukraine, according to a security source, but a deal has not yet been announced.
Radina said a system like this could help protect not only Kyiv, but also other cities like Kharkiv, Zaporizhya, Mykolaiv and Odesa: “These are cities that need proper air defence systems even more than Kyiv”.
The German government must understand that Ukraine is running out of time, the lawmaker said, adding:
Discussion about tanks is just humiliating. This poses a question with whom Germany really sides. It is time Germany proves in action with whom it stands. And proving in action means: stop supplying Russia with money to basically be able to buy weapons and kill Ukrainian civilians and help Ukraine with proper ammunition.
Updated
Peter Beaumont rounds up the latest developments for us:
Russian forces have launched fresh assaults on towns in eastern Ukraine, with the city of Sievierodonetsk increasingly in danger of being totally encircled.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said delays in arrival of western arms to the frontline had left Kyiv “catastrophically short of heavy weapons”.
The governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said the area was now without gas supplies and had limited water and electricity after the last gas supply station was hit.
Haidai added that Russian forces were attempting to “completely destroy” the city of Sievierodonetsk in an attempt to conquer the Donbas region, near Russia’s border. “They are simply erasing Sievierodonetsk from the face of the Earth,” Haidai said on his Telegram channel.
After failing to seize Kyiv or Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, Russia is trying to take the rest of the separatist-claimed Donbas’s two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, and trap Ukrainian forces in a pocket on the main eastern front.
In the easternmost part of the Ukrainian-held Donbas pocket, the city of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Siverskyi Donets River and its twin Lysychansk, on the west bank, have become a pivotal battlefield as Russian forces have advanced from three directions to encircle them.
Read more of Peter Beaumont’s report here: Russian assault on eastern Ukraine threatens to encircle Sievierodonetsk
Britain’s defence secretary Ben Wallace has called on Russia to let Ukraine export its grain to help countries where grain scarcity could trigger hunger.
Russia must “do the right thing”, Wallace told reporters in Madrid where he met with his counterpart Margarita Robles.
Reuters reports he rejected the idea to lift sanctions against Russia in return for grain release, but welcomed suggestions that other Black Sea nations might escort Ukraine grain shipments.
Russia calls Italian peace plan for Ukraine a ‘fantasy’
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said an Italian peace plan for Ukraine was a “fantasy”, Reuters reports.
Last week, Italy’s foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, gave the broad outlines of the plan and said he had discussed it with the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, during a visit to New York.
The plan would involve international groups such as the UN, EU and Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to act as facilitators to organise localised ceasefires initially, Di Maio told a news conference in Italy last Friday.
Zakharova said at her weekly briefing today:
You can’t supply Ukraine with weapons with one hand and come up with plans for a peaceful resolution of the situation with the other.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had not yet seen the Italian peace plan but that it hoped to receive it through diplomatic channels.
Zakaharova added:
If they hope that the Russian Federation will seize on any Western plan, then they haven’t understood much.
Sweden is “obviously” not funding or arming terrorist organisations, its prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said, in response to Turkish claims that it is a hotbed for terrorist groups.
Andersson told a Stockholm press conference:
We don’t send money to terrorist organisations, obviously, nor any weapons.
Her remarks came as Finnish and Swedish delegations began talks with Ankara today, which Andersson said would provide an opportunity to clear up what she said was “confusion” circulating about Swedish support for different groups.
She said:
We will naturally go through and discuss the list and sort out a number of things that have been unclear in reporting in the media and statements from other places.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has opposed the Nato membership applications of Sweden and Finland and insisted he will not approve their bids.
On Monday, Turkey published a list of five demands for Sweden, including calls for an end to funding and supplying arms to Kurdish groups in Syria.
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Putin fast-tracks Russian citizenship for residents of occupied Ukraine
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a decree simplifying the process of handing Russian citizenship to residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The decree extends a scheme available since 2019 to residents of areas controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions to acquire Russian citizenship and passports.
Applicants are not required to have lived in Russia, do not need to provide evidence of sufficient funds or pass a Russian language test.
The southern region of Kherson is under the full control of Russian troops, while the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia is partially controlled by Moscow. Moscow has said both regions could become part of Russia.
Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said the decree “turns occupation into annexation” and accused Russian forces of “first destroying, then stealing our territories and people”.
#Russia simplifies procedure 4obtaining its citizenship on occupied #Ukrainian lands. It turns occupation into annexation, 1st destroying, then stealing our territories &people. #RU must Bdefeated, otherwise the 🌎 will return 2Dark Ages, where tyrants ruled the fate of millions. pic.twitter.com/MMLiEZFpwu
— Ivanna Klympush (@IKlympush) May 25, 2022
The occupiers in Kherson and parts of Zaporizhzhia have introduced the rouble as the official currency.
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Slovakia’s prime minster, Eduard Heger, has warned that “if Ukraine fails, Slovakia is next” during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
From Sky News’ Paul Kelso:
Stark message from Slovakian PM Eduard Heger. “If Ukraine fails, Slovakia is next. They have to win”
— Paul Kelso (@pkelso) May 25, 2022
Heger went on to criticise EU countries for relying too heavily on Russian energy and urged leaders to “stop compromising” their principles when dealing with Russia.
Heger said:
We basically traded our values for cheap gas and oil for too long.
Compromising with Putin caused a war in Ukraine. An aggressive war, people are dying.
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, which won this year’s Eurovision song contest, is auctioning off its trophy to raise funds for the Ukrainian army, the group said.
The group’s frontman, Oleh Psiuk, has also offered to sell his signature pink bucket hat, the group announced on Instagram.
Last week, Kalush Orchestra said they intended to auction off the Eurovision trophy and donate the money raised through auction to a charity for the support of Ukraine and its armed forces.
In a previous announcement, the group said:
We plan to put our statuette up for auction and donate all the money to a charity fund that helps the Armed Forces and Ukraine. We are still to select one. See, many people are already donating from abroad, and perhaps many more would like to donate. And this, in our opinion, will be the thing that motivates them. We think it will be beneficial for Ukraine.
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Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder has said on his LinkedIn profile that he declined Gazprom’s offer to join its supervisory board, seemingly contradicting the Russian gas company’s announcement that he had been officially nominated for the post.
“I passed on the nomination for Gazprom’s supervisory board some time ago,” the post said.
I also communicated this to the company. I am therefore surprised by today’s report making claims to the contrary.
On Tuesday, Gazprom had announced Schröder had been officially nominated for a post on the committee, following up an earlier report from February, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview with the New York Times last month, Schröder had failed to give a clear answer on whether he was planning to take the job.
Since then, the Social Democrat politician has faced growing pressure in Germany, where the coalition government voted to strip him of some post-office benefits including his office.
Last Friday, Russian oil company Rosneft announced Schröder was to quit its supervisory board.
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Russian parliament votes to scrap upper age limit for soldiers
Russian lawmakers have voted to approve a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers.
The Russian state Duma approved a law today removing the upper age limit for contractual service in the country’s military, in another sign the country is facing a shortage of infantry to continue its offensive in Ukraine.
Currently, only Russians aged 18-40 and foreigners aged 18-30 can enter into a first contract with the army.
The law was introduced last week by members of the ruling United Russia party, who said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals.
A note accompanying the proposed law read:
For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40-45.
The lawmakers added that the proposed legislation would also make it easier to recruit civilian medics, engineers and operations and communications specialists.
Military experts say Russia is facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses in Ukraine after a series of military setbacks that have forced Moscow to reduce its war aims.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again here to bring you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag – you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
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Lithuania will transfer 20 M113 armoured personnel carriers as well as military trucks and de-mining vehicles to Ukraine, its defence ministry said.
The vehicles are worth a total of €15.5m (£13.2m), the ministry said, Reuters reports.
Lithuanian defence minister, Arvydas Anusauskas, said in a statement:
The coordinated help from us and the allies is the deciding factor for the Ukrainian victory.
Lithuania, which borders the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad as well as a huge stretch of Belarus, is among the European countries most vulnerable to Russian aggression.
Previously, Lithuania has provided military support to Ukraine worth €100m, the statement added.
Russia says will allow food shipments to leave Ukraine, if sanctions dropped
Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko.
Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia invaded, with more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos in the country.
“We have repeatedly stated on this point that a solution to the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the lifting of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions,” Rudenko was quoted as saying, according to Reuters.
“And it also requires the demining by the Ukrainian side of all ports where ships are anchored. Russia is ready to provide the necessary humanitarian passage, which it does every day.”
The Kyiv Independent reports Russian bombing in Kramatorsk, Donetsk (eastern Ukraine):
⚡️Russian missiles hit residential area in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 25, 2022
Mayor of Kramatorsk Oleksandr Honcharenko reported that several residential buildings had been destroyed or damaged due to the airstrikes which hit the city overnight, but there are no casualties.
Zelenskiy says west lacks unity over Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been speaking via video link at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum:
Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can’t see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united.
In particular, he criticised Europe:
We are on the European continent and we need the support of a united Europe.
He added:
Is there this unity regarding the accession of Finland and Sweden to Nato? No, no. So, is there a strong joint west? No.
Updated
The £4.25bn takeover of Chelsea football club has been completed after Roman Abramovich agreed to the UK government’s terms for the sale, ending a tumultuous period that raised fears over the club’s existence in the wake of the Ukraine war.
A new era at Stamford Bridge can officially begin after a bid led by Todd Boehly, a part-owner of baseball’s LA Dodgers, was given permission to go through. The government issued the licence after it said it was “now satisfied that the full proceeds of the sale will not benefit Roman Abramovich or any other sanctioned individual”. Abramovich was hit with sanctions after the Russian invasion.
The sale will follow a two-step process under which £2.5bn will go into an escrow account until the government is satisfied the funds will go to a charity for victims of the war in Ukraine. Boehly’s group has committed to invest a further £1.75bn in the club. Crucially, Abramovich has agreed to legally binding guarantees allowing his £1.6bn loan to Chelsea to go into a frozen account under government control.
The government has sought assurances that the charity will be independent of Abramovich. Mike Penrose, a former Unicef UK executive director, has been asked to run the foundation.
“Late last night the UK government reached a position where we could issue a licence that permits the sale of Chelsea football club,” a government statement said. “Following the sanctioning of Roman Abramovich, the government has worked hard to ensure Chelsea football club has been able to continue to play football. But we have always been clear that the long-term future of the club could only be secured under a new owner.”
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Updated
Igor Volobuyev spent two decades working in the heart of the Russian business establishment, first for Gazprom and then for its affiliate Gazprombank, where until February this year he was vice-president.
Then Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine in late February, and Volobuyev decided he could no longer stand living in Russia. He packed a small rucksack of possessions and a stack of cash, and flew out of the country on 2 March, pretending he was going on holiday.
A few days later, he crossed from Poland into Ukraine, where he spent his childhood years. Now, he spends his days trying to convince officials to provide him with Ukrainian documents and allow him to sign up for military service.
“I want to go to the place where I can defend my homeland with a weapon, I’m trying every day,” he said, in an interview in the suburbs of the capital, Kyiv. “I am never going back to Russia.”
Hundreds of thousands of Russians are believed to have fled the country since Putin launched the war, and many intellectuals, journalists and activists have voiced their opposition to the conflict. However, among the political and business elites, defections have been extremely rare. Despite reports of widespread dismay over the invasion of Ukraine, only a tiny handful of people have spoken publicly to condemn the war.
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv in western Ukraine, has posted his latest update for the region. He reports that overnight there were two air raid warnings, including one sparked “as the enemy launched missiles from the Black Sea”, but he says “the threats did not materialise. Everything is calm in Lviv region.”
Updated
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken again at the World Economic Forum in Davos this morning. Reuters reports he told an audience that he was only willing to talk directly to Vladimir Putin and not via intermediators.
He added that if the Russian president “understands reality” there was the possibility of finding a diplomatic way out of the conflict.
The Ukrainian president said Moscow should withdraw its troops back to the lines in place before Russia began its invasion on 24 February.
“That might be a first step towards talks,” he said, adding that Russia has been playing for time in its talks with Ukraine.
Yesterday a close ally of Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, said any peace would have to recognise that “final” decisions had already been made about the future of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and that any peace deal that suggested Russia should pull out of Crimea would be treated as a threat of war.
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Russia’s RIA Novosti is carrying some quotes from Rodion Miroshnik, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic’s ambassador to Russia. He said their forces, alongside the Russian army and fighters from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, have broken through Ukrainian defences in the Luhansk region. He posted on Telegram:
Ukrainian defence is crumbling. An active assault on Zolote is underway. The peacekeeping forces are advancing towards Maloryazantsevo, Volcheyarovka. What part of the Ukrainian military formations left these settlements, and what part remained, is not yet known exactly, but the trend is clearly visible.
Updated
I’ll hand over now to my colleague Martin Belam in London.
Nike has reportedly decided not to renew a franchising agreement with Inventive Retail Group, a company that operates 37 Nike-branded retail stores in Russia.
The company temporarily closed all of its own stores in Russia in March, and has halted web sales in the country.
More from AFP:
In the village of Yakovlivka, 55-year-old Ukrainian soldier Andriy hid in a ditch as shells fired by encroaching Russians whistled past.
“Our guys have stopped firing back,” he whispered after glancing up and down the road.
“We do not want to provoke them, because then the Russians will start shooting at us even harder.”
'They are simply erasing Sievierodonetsk from the face of the earth'
Russian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine and attacking key cities, particularly the industrial city of Severodonetsk, the AFP has reported.
Sergiy Gaidai, governor of the eastern region of Lugansk, said Sievierodonetsk was being hammered by air strikes, rockets, artillery and mortars in a bid to solidify control over the province and move further into Ukraine.
“The situation is very difficult and unfortunately it is only getting worse,” Gaidai said, describing what he termed a “full-scale offensive in all directions” in a video on Telegram.
“The Russian army has decided to completely destroy Sievierodonetsk. They are simply erasing Sievierodonetsk from the face of the earth,” he said.
Thousands of troops were sent to capture Lugansk region, Gaidai said, adding that the bombardment of Sievierodonetsk was so intense it was too late for its 15,000 civilians to leave.
In Moscow, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made it clear Russia was settling in for a long war.
Updated
Ukraine’s news channels unite to cover war
In an age of social media and satellite television, the singular wartime news bulletin evokes images of families tuning in to the radio during the second world war. But in Ukraine, the state-backed broadcast has remerged, albeit with a 21st-century spin.
Shortly after Russia invaded, the country’s main TV channels started broadcasting the same content 24 hours a day, nicknamed the United News telemarathon. Each channel has a daily slot on the broadcast, which is shown simultaneously on all the channels.
United News was initially aired by five channels owned by various Ukrainian oligarchs as well as the publicly owned channels. It has since been signed into law and now includes all Ukrainian channels that used to show news.
The head of Ukraine’s parliamentary broadcasting committee said he believed the arrangement should continue until the war ends.
While some say there are critical strategic justifications for the telemarathon, others argue that it amounts to a monopoly of the information space by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s team and could be exploited for political purposes.
“The telemarathon is the information war equivalent of our anti-aircraft systems and I think it’s the most optimal option for Ukraine right now,” said Svitlana Ostapa, the deputy head of Detector Media, a media monitoring organisation that tracks propaganda, disinformation and political interference in Ukraine. “It helps protect Ukrainians from Russian fakes and prevents panic among the population.
In 2014, Russian propagandists and their allies released a barrage of disinformation about the Maidan revolution, Crimea and events in eastern Ukraine that experts said worked to destabilise the country.
There are also more practical reasons for the channels working together. “Most of the journalists left Kyiv and the channels simply could not cope individually,” Ostapa said. “The top ministers and officials do not have the time to comment to more than half a dozen channels, and this format means they are communicating with the population once a day and not being seen to favour one channel.”
Read more:
Brazil has turned to natural fertilisers over concerns that the war in Ukraine will disrupt crucial fertiliser imports, AFP has reported.
The agricultural superpower is the world’s fourth-biggest consumer of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium based fertilisers and imports 80% of its supply, 25% of which comes from Russia.
From AFP:
That is causing farmers in the South American giant to turn to alternatives, including remineralizers, or “agrominerals” - pulverized, nutrient-rich rocks that are spread on fields before planting.
Brazil, which authorized remineralizers for agricultural use in 2013, is the world leader in the technique, which is also used in the United States, Canada, India and France, among others.
“Brazil is a tropical country, and the rains tend to wash away soil nutrients. Rock powder rebuilds the soil and renews it,” says Marcio Remedio, mineral resources director at the Brazilian Geological Service.
The technique also “allows plants’ roots to develop better and capture the nutrients they need to grow,” says Suzi Huff Theodoro, a geologist at the University of Brasilia.
“We have rocks with the right profile in various parts of the country, and the cost is significantly cheaper” than chemical fertilisers, she told AFP.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivered a video address on Tuesday to mark the three month anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, and said the country’s ability to resist Russia had been a surprise and a source of inspiration to the rest of the world.
We must always remember that we have survived these three months thanks to tens and thousands of feats of those who have defended the state. And at the cost of tens of thousands of lives of Ukrainian men and women killed by the occupiers.
Zelenskiy then mocked the claim by Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu that Russia was deliberately slowing down its offensive in Ukraine to allow civilians time to evacuate. He said:
Well after three months of searching for an explanation why they failed to break Ukraine in three days, they came up with nothing better than to say they had allegedly planned to do so.
He then spoke of the worsening situation in the Donbas region, and called for foreign governments to continue to provide military support in the form of weapons and equipment, saying that was “the best investment in maintaining stability in the world.”
Zelensky: “The longer this war lasts, the greater will be the price of protecting freedom not only for Ukraine, but also for the whole free world. Therefore the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine — MLRS, tanks, and other weapons — is the best investment in maintaining stability.” pic.twitter.com/JmH3aEKPUD
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 24, 2022
Updated
Our reporter Isobel Koshiw in Kyiv has some more information on the Ukrainian soldiers who were captured by Russian forces after the three-month siege of the Azovstal steel plant.
The last group of Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the steel works surrendered on Friday.
Koshiw writes:
Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov battalion, was able to briefly call his wife, Kateryna, who said she had also been told that the prisoners had not been subjected to violence. It was not immediately clear if Prokopenko had been able to speak freely during the conversation.
“He said he was ‘OK’ and asked how I was,” Kateryna Prokopenko told the Guardian on Tuesday. “I’ve heard from other sources that the conditions are more or less satisfactory.”
At least 1,000 Ukrainian fighters, including members of the Azov battalion, were transferred to Russian-held territory last week after the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol was taken by Russian forces.
The Azov battalion has played a central role in Russia’s justification for its invasion, which was originally launched with the supposed goal of “denazification”. Officials in Kyiv have suggested they could be swapped in a prisoner exchange, but some Russian officials have called for them to face trial or even execution on “terrorism” charges.
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, has declared a state of emergency due to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Orban, who was returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in April, announced in a Facebook video that his government would assume emergency powers in order to be able to respond more quickly to the challenges created by the war. It will allow the Hungarian government to approve measures by decree.
Orban said:
The world is on the brink of an economic crisis.
The first measures will be announced on Wednesday, he said.
Ukraine has already started using long-range cannons it received from France government officials have said.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, promised to send a shipment of the Ceaser cannons, which are described as “the trump card of the French artillery”, at the start of the month.
Ukrainian infrastructure minister Volodymyr Omelyan shared the update from the Ukrinian army’s commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, on Tuesday night.
He said the long-range weapons had been rolled out after artillerymen had received two or three hours of training.
Гаубиці «Caesar» вже на передовій
— Volodymyr Omelyan (@V_Omelyan) May 24, 2022
Це — самохідна артилерійська установка нового покоління, яка вражає противника на відстані більше 20 км з високою точністю.
Наші артилеристи швидко опанували нові САУ, фактично за 2-3 години, - Головнокомандувач ЗСУ Валерій Залужний. pic.twitter.com/qjGu8FUwPb
As we’ve reported, Russian forces are currently attempting to seize Donbas’ two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, and trap Ukrainian forces in a pocket on the main eastern front.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that Moscow was seeking to destroy the industrial Donbas region.
More from Reuters:
Russian forces took control of three towns in the Donetsk region including Svitlodarsk, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told an affiliate of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult. All the remaining strength of the Russian army is now concentrated on this region,” Zelenskiy said in a late Tuesday address. “The occupiers want to destroy everything there.”
Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment out-of-hours.
The easternmost part of the Ukrainian-held Donbas pocket, the city of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Siverskiy Donets River and its twin Lysychansk, on the west bank, have become a pivotal battlefield. Russian forces were advancing from three directions to encircle them.
“The enemy has focused its efforts on carrying out an offensive in order to encircle Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk,” said Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, where the two cities are among the last territory held by Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military said it had repelled nine Russian attacks on Tuesday in the Donbas where Moscow’s troops had killed at least 14 civilians, using aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars and missiles.
Reuters could not immediately verify the information.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Calla Wahlquist and I’ll be taking you through developments for the next few hours.
This is how things currently stand:
- Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that Moscow was seeking to destroy the industrial Donbas region amid intense fighting in the eastern region. The Ukrainian president said in his nightly address on Tuesday that “the situation in Donbas is extremely difficult. All the remaining strength of the Russian army is now concentrated on this region”.
- Russian forces have taken control of three Donetsk towns including Svitlodarsk, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, with the key city of Sievierodonestsk surrounded on three sides.
-
The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region said the situation there “is only getting worse” as Russian troops advance. “It is getting worse with every day and even with every hour,” said governor Sergiy Gaidai. “They are simply eliminating Sievierodonestsk from the earth.”
- The bodies of more than 200 people have been discovered in the rubble of a high-rise apartment building in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, according to a Ukrainian official. Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor Vadym Boychenko, said workers found the bodies while digging through a basement underneath the collapsed building.
- Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian forces after the three-month siege of the Azovstal steel plant are being held in “satisfactory” conditions, according to the unit commander’s wife, amid uncertainty over the fate of the prisoners. At least 1,000 Ukrainian fighters, including members of the Azov battalion, were transferred to Russian-held territory last week after the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol was taken by Russian forces.
- Ukraine is gathering the bodies of dead Russian soldiers found in formerly occupied towns in the hope of exchanging them for prisoners of war or for Ukrainian bodies. In Kharkiv, 60 bodies were retrieved and stacked in a refrigerated rail carriage, Reuters reports.
- Ukrainian prosecutors have launched a war crimes investigation in Kharkiv’s Gorky Park which was hit by about 50 shells in three months of war. “Hitting civilian targets, civilian infrastructure, trying to kill civilians and destroy cultural heritage, are considered war crimes. An error can happen once or twice, but there are 56 hits recorded. It’s not an accident. They were targeting the park,” Ukrainian prosecutor Roman Petrenko said.
- A new survey has found that 82% of Ukrainians believe that their country should not sign away any of its territories as part of a peace deal with Russia under any circumstances
- Turkish officials will meet with Swedish and Finnish delegations in Ankara on Wednesday to discuss the Nato bids by the two Nordic countries. Finland’s foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, said his country and Sweden would send delegations to the Turkish capital to try to resolve its opposition to their applications for membership in the military alliance.
- A Russian court has rejected an appeal from opposition leader Alexei Navalny against a nine-year prison sentence he is serving for large-scale fraud and contempt of court, charges which he denies. Navalny lambasted President Vladimir Putin during court hearing, casting him as a madman who had started a “stupid war” in Ukraine based on lies.
- Russia’s foreign ministry has announced a ban on 154 members of the British parliament’s House of Lords on entering the country, in a tit-for-tat move for sanctions against Russian officials over Ukraine. It accused them of having “used their authority to whip up anti-Russian hysteria in the UK”.
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to be the “beginning of the third world war” that could spell the end of civilisation, the veteran philanthropist and former financier George Soros has warned from the World Economic Forum in Davos that autocratic regimes were in the ascendant and the global economy was heading for a depression.
