This blog is closing now but we’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage.
Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska and other officials commemorated 261 children killed by the Russian war against Ukraine by hanging bells near St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. The bells symbolize the voices of killed children, Euromaidan Press reports.
- Top US General Mark Milley said on Saturday that the United States is determined to support Sweden and Finland as the countries pursue Nato membership, a statement underscored by his visit to the USS Kearsarge after it became the largest US warship ever to dock in Stockholm. “It’s important for us, the United States, and it’s important for the other Nato countries to show solidarity with both Finland and Sweden in this exercise,” Milley said ahead of Nato’s annual Baltic Sea naval manoeuvres.
- Ukrainian forces have been managing to push back against Russian troops in fierce fighting in Severodonetsk despite Russia “throwing all its power” into capturing the key eastern city, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday. In an interview aired online, Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said that the Russian army has taken control over most of Severodonetsk, but that Ukrainian forces were still pushing them back.
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Russian anti-aircraft forces have shot down dozens of Ukrainian weapons and are “cracking them like nuts,” said Russian president Vladimir Putin in an interview that aired on Saturday. “Russian news agency RIA, which first cited the comments, quoted Putin as responding to a question about US-supplied arms by saying Russia was coping easily and had already destroyed the weapons by the dozen,” Reuters reported.
- The US expressed support for international investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine, the US embassy in Kyiv announced on Saturday. “Those responsible for war crimes - including direct perpetrators and those who ordered them - must face justice,” the US embassy in Kyiv tweeted on Saturday.
- Western sanctions would not have an effect on Russia’s oil exports, said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday. Lavrov also predicted a significant increase in profits from energy shipments this year, Russian news agency Tass reported.
- Some Ukrainian military units have been withdrawing from the key city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, the Russian army announced on Saturday. “Some units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses during fighting for Severodonetsk, are pulling out towards Lysychansk,” Severodonetsk’s twin city, which sits just across a river, the defence ministry said in a statement.
- A European Union decision to extend sanctions against Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko to his wife is “irrational” because she has never held Russian citizenship or resided in Russia, a representative for the couple said on Saturday. The EU sanctioned Melnichenko’s wife on Friday as part of a sixth round of sanctions against Russia for waging a war against Ukraine. The EU said Aleksandra Melnichenko “takes good advantage of the fortune and benefits from the wealth of her husband”.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, today as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia. Thank you.
