Summary of the day
Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
In their deepest attack into Russia yet, a Ukrainian drone struck the primary unit of the third largest Russian oil refinery in the Tatarstan region, more than 1,100 km (690 miles) from Ukraine. A Kyiv intelligence source said the attack on Tatarstan hit a facility where Russia produces Shahed drones, which are frequently used in assaults on Ukrainian territory. The strike caused a fire at the facility, the source said, adding that such attacks would continue in order to reduce Russia’s oil revenue. Tatarstan officials said earlier on Tuesday that the attack didn’t disrupt industrial production, while Nizhnekamsk’s mayor said the attempt to strike a refinery was thwarted by air defenses.
A senior Russian politician has said drone attacks on Russia will only stop ‘when Kyiv is taken’. A translation of Andrei Kartapolov’s remarks suggests he accused Ukraine of carrying out ‘despicable terrorist’ attacks, calling it a ‘vile enemy’ which is striking Russia ‘on the sly’. In response to the attack, the Kremlin said that it was working to minimise the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes.
The Register of Damages for Ukraine opened formally in The Hague, during a conference bringing together senior ministers and officials from Ukraine, the Netherlands and European institutions. Ukrainians can enter claims for damages to their property as a result of Russia’s invasion via a new mechanism launched on Tuesday, with officials expecting as many as 10 million requests overall. The initial launch focuses on claims of damage or destruction to residential property from the invasion. Between 300,000 and 600,000 claims are expected in this category.
President Vladimir Putin vowed to ‘get those who ordered the attack on Moscow’ and urged Russia’s law enforcement agencies to tighten security at mass gatherings. Putin said it is important to determine ‘not only the perpetrators of this outrage, but all links in the chain and its beneficiaries.’ He added: ‘Those who use this weapon against Russia should realise it’s a double-edged weapon.’ Previously, top Russian officials have accused Ukraine and the West of being involved, even though the attack has been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Russian spy service chief Sergei Narynshkin has also said on Tuesday that while the US did send Moscow intelligence ahead of the attack, it was ‘too general.’
Russia has announced new top brass in wake of March Moscow attack. The Russian defence ministry on Tuesday announced that it was appointing several officers to senior military positions. Adm Alexander Moiseev was appointed head of the navy, Vice Adm Konstantin Kabantsov was appointed as commander of the Northern Fleet, and Vice Adm Sergei Pinchuk was named as commander of the Black Sea fleet.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said it is “absolutely essential” that Ukraine gets more munitions and air defences, when speaking to media in France on Tuesday.
France announces plans to propose EU-wide level sanctions on Russain companies spreading ‘disinformation,’.
Pytor Verzilov, the unofficial spokesperson of the feminist opposition group Pussy Riot, has been sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to eight years and four months for social media posts criticising the war in Ukraine. He left Russia in 2020, and announced last spring that he had joined the Ukrainian army, although it is unclear if he is still there. Reuters reports he could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Russia has accused International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Tuesday of taking part in a “conspiracy” with Ukraine to exclude its strongest athletes from this year’s Paris Games. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram that Bach had ‘entered into a political-administrative and, apparently, criminal conspiracy with one specific party’ – meaning Ukraine – ‘to exclude strong sports competitors from international competitions’.
Russia accuses International Olympic Committee President of “conspiracy” with Ukraine
Russia accused International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Tuesday of taking part in a “conspiracy” with Ukraine to exclude its strongest athletes from this year’s Paris Games.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova made the allegation after two Russian pranksters known as Vovan and Lexus published a recording of a conversation with Bach in which he was falsely led to believe he was speaking to an African sports official.
Bach said in the call that the IOC had established a special panel to monitor the media and the internet and ensure that Russian athletes who had made political statements in support of their government could not take part in the Olympics.
“We have also offered to the Ukrainian side – not only offered, but asked them - to provide us with their knowledge of the behaviour of such (Russian) athletes or officials,” Bach could be heard saying in English on the recording.
Zakharova posted on Telegram that Bach had ‘entered into a political-administrative and, apparently, criminal conspiracy with one specific party’ – meaning Ukraine – ‘to exclude strong sports competitors from international competitions’.
She added: ‘The relationship of IOC President Bach with the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and its officials, and the admissions of a “request to monitor Russian athletes” should be the subject of a thorough investigation.’
Relations between Russia and the IOC have worsened sharply in the run-up to the Olympics, at which Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as neutrals, without their flags and anthems, because of the war in Ukraine. They have also been banned from taking part in the opening parade.
France to propose EU-wide sanctions on Russian companies
France will propose EU-wide level sanctions on Russain companies spreading ‘disinformation,’ said French foreign affairs minister, Stephane Sejourne, announced on Tuesday.
“I will propose putting forward a sanctions regime against those who support a regime of disinformation,” said Sejourne, as he held a news conference in Paris with US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
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UN high commissioner on civilian casualties: 'The conflict is becoming entrenched'
Volker Türk, the UN High commissioner for Human Rights, said Tuesday that the war has killed more than 10,500 Ukrainian civilians and injured more than 20,000.
“The conflict increasingly is becoming entrenched and protracted, punctuated by recurring waves of attacks, as seen across the country last week,” he said in a speech.
Several people were injured in Ukraine’s attacks against the drone factory, region head Rustam Minnikhanov said. It was not immediately clear if they were workers involved with drone production.
A video posted online showed a fixed-wing aircraft diving toward the factory grounds in Yelabuga and setting off a large explosion as it slammed into one of the buildings. Onlookers, including police officers, could be seen diving to the ground as debris was thrown in the air.
Drones strike Yelabuga, Tatarstan: hitting the Elaz-Nefteproduct refinery and the Shahed drone factory. Yelabuga sits 1,200 km from Ukraine's border. pic.twitter.com/8AS1dtUCCW
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 2, 2024
Journalists and online researchers have confirmed that the strikes appeared to have hit dormitories that previously housed the students at the factory site. Read more:
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Russia announces wave of military appointments, urges increased security, in wake of March Moscow attack
The Russian defence ministry on Tuesday announced that it was appointing several officers to senior military positions. Adm Alexander Moiseev was appointed head of the navy.
During the conference call with the senior staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu also said that Vice Adm Konstantin Kabantsov was appointed as commander of the Northern Fleet, and Vice Adm Sergei Pinchuk was named as commander of the Black Sea fleet.
Earlier on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin vowed to track down the masterminds of the Moscow concert hall attack and urged the country’s law enforcement agencies to tighten security at mass gatherings.
Putin said it is important to determine “not only the perpetrators of this outrage, but all links in the chain and its beneficiaries.” He added: “Those who use this weapon against Russia should realise it’s a double-edged weapon.”
Putin said that the masterminds of the concert hall raid sought to “sow discord and panic, strife and hatred in our multi-ethnic country in order to break up Russia from within,” adding that “we mustn’t allow them to do that.”
“Some of them are trying to preserve their hegemony in today’s rapidly changing world at the expense of Russia,” he went on. “Some apparently saw our country as a weak link. They are mistaken.”
Blinken: 'absolutely essential' that Ukraine gets more munitions and air defences
Speaking to the media in France, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said it is “absolutely essential” that Ukraine gets more munitions and air defences.
Reuters reports he told the media “It is absolutely essential to get Ukrainians what they continue to need to defend themselves, particularly when it comes to munitions and air defences.”
In a dig at Republicans in the US house and senate holding up money for Ukraine, he added “It’s another reason why the supplementary budget request that President Biden has made to Congress must be fulfilled as quickly as possible.”
Blinken and French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu earlier visited a factory where arms producer Nexter says it is aiming to increase production.
Pytor Verzilov, the unofficial spokesperson of the feminist opposition group Pussy Riot, has been sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to eight years and four months for social media posts criticising the war in Ukraine.
Reuters reports the Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram channel said that Moscow’s Basmanny district court had found Verzilov guilty of spreading “deliberately false” information about the Russian military.
Verzilov has posted frequent criticism on social media of Russia’s war in Ukraine, including videos showing mass graves in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
He left Russia in 2020, and announced last spring that he had joined the Ukrainian army, although it is unclear if he is still there. Reuters reports he could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Last week, the same court sentenced another Pussy Riot activist, Lyusya Shtein, to six years also in absentia under wartime censorship laws.
Ukrinform reports that an intelligence source has told it that Ukrainian forces struck a power plant in Sevastopol in Crimea overnight. Russian unilaterally claimed to have annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014.
‘We will get those who ordered the attack on Moscow’, Putin says
On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin said that ‘We will definitely get to those who ultimately ordered it.’
Putin told a meeting of Interior Ministry officials, ‘We paid a very high price, and the entire analysis of the situation must be extremely objective and professional.’
The 22 March attack on a Moscow concert hall was the worst in Russia for years. More than 130 people were killed as gunmen stormed the complex, days after President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term of office. The Islamic State group (IS) has said four of its members carried out the attack.
Russia’s FSB Security Service said Monday that four people arrested over a foiled “terror” plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month.
Previously, top Russian officials have accused Ukraine and the West of being involved in the deadly Moscow concert hall attack, after it was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
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Damage on Russia's oil refinery not critical, Reuters reports
An industry source has told Reuters that damage to Russia’s Taneco oil refinery, Russia’s third biggest refinery, is not critical and personnel is returning to the site. The drone attack has been Ukraine’s deepest since the war began in February 2022.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu also said on Tuesday that the army is pushing Ukrainian forces westwards. Shoigu said groups of Russian troops “continue to push back the Ukrainian formations” towards the west.
US intelligence on Moscow attack was too general, Russian media reports
Two weeks before the deadly terrorist attack at a Moscow theatre killed more than 130 people in March, the United States intelligence community notified its Russian counterparts of an imminent assault.
But on Tuesday Russian spy service chief Sergei Naryshkin has said that while the US did send Moscow intelligence, it was far too general.
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Ukrainian war damage claims system launches at The Hague
The Register of Damages for Ukraine opened formally in The Hague on Tuesday, during a conference bringing together senior ministers and officials from Ukraine, the Netherlands and European institutions.
Ukrainians can enter claims for damages to their property as a result of Russia’s invasion via a new mechanism launched on Tuesday, with officials expecting as many as 10 million requests overall. The initial launch focuses on claims of damage or destruction to residential property from the invasion. Between 300,000 and 600,000 claims are expected in this category.
“This is the first material step that is being made,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters during the conference.
“It’s extremely important that we met here today, not just to discuss how we will be bringing Russia to account but also launching a very specific procedure that every Ukrainian who has suffered can benefit from,” he added.
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‘We are doing everything to minimise the impact,’ Kremlin responds to Ukraine’s deepest drone attacks so far
The Kremlin on Tuesday said that it was working to minimise the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes, after Kyiv said it hit an oil refinery and a drone factory overnight in Russia’s Tatarstan region, about 1,300 km (800 miles) from Ukrainian-held territory.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said that that they are working on removing the taliban from their terrorist list, as “they are the de-facto authority” in Afghanistan.
Peskov also weighed in on the suspected Israeli airstrike against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, calling it an act of aggression. He said such attacks violated all the foundations of international law.
Ukrainian Intelligence says attacks will continue, to reduce Russia’s oil revenue
Ukraine struck the primary oil refining unit of a major Russian oil refinery in Tatarstan region on Tuesday in an attack conducted by the SBU Security Service and GUR military spy agency, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
The strike caused a fire at the facility, the source said, adding that such attacks would continue in order to reduce Russia’s oil revenue.
Tatarstan officials said earlier on Tuesday that the attack didn’t disrupt industrial production, while Nizhnekamsk’s mayor said the attempt to strike a refinery was thwarted by air defenses. The Guardian could not independently verify these reports.
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Russian MP says drone attacks will stop ‘when Kyiv is taken’
A senior Russian politician has said drone attacks on Russia will only stop when Kyiv is taken.
Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the defence committee of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, made the comments to Russian media.
A translation of Mr Kartapolov’s remarks suggests he accused Ukraine of carrying out “despicable terrorist” attacks, calling it a “vile enemy” which is striking Russia “on the sly”.
After the latest drone attacks on Russia this morning - both over 1,200km from Ukraine - the chair of the State Duma’s defence committee Andrei Kartapolov says they will only cease once Kyiv is takenhttps://t.co/VwmzCEzlcm pic.twitter.com/jTsA151dtm
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) April 2, 2024
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US secretary of state Antony Blinken is expected to hold talks in Paris on Tuesday.
Blinken is scheduled to visit, with Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a weapons’ factory providing howitzer canons to Ukraine, before meeting with French Foreign minister Stephane Sejourne and President Emannuel Macron.
Reuters reports that Macron has in recent weeks adopted a more hawkish stance towards Russia, amid fears that Ukraine is losing ground and support in the war, notably as the United States struggles to approve a multi-billion dollar military aid package for Kyiv.
But, while Ukraine will be high on the agenda, events in the Middle East are likely to take centre stage after the seven members of the World Central Kitchen were killed, in what the NGO called an Israeli military strike in Gaza.
For up-to-date developments on the crisis in the Middle East, follow our live blog.
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Ukrainian attack hit Russian facility producing long-range drones, says Kyiv
We have more details to bring you on the Ukrainian drone attack which targeted a Russian region more than 1,000 km from Ukraine this morning, Ukraine’s deepest attack yet.
A Kyiv intelligence source said the attack on Tatarstan hit a facility where Russia produces Shahed drones, which are frequently used in assaults on Ukrainian territory. This comes after Ukraine’s military spy agency said “significant damage” had been caused to a military target.
Reuters analysis of photographs posted online suggests that one of the drones also hit a unit at Tatarstan’s Taneco oil refinery which accounts for roughly half of its annual production capacity.
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Belarus holds military drills near Ukraine border
Belarus has kicked off military exercises on Tuesday in regions bordering Ukraine and European Union members Lithuania and Poland, the Belarusian defence ministry said.
The three-day drills in the Gomel and Grodno regions aim to train officers and territorial defence troops how to defend their respective regions and how to act in case martial law is enacted, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
Belarus is Russia’s closest ally and was used as a launchpad for the invasion of Ukraine.
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Ministers and officials from dozens of countries are gathering in the Netherlands on Tuesday for a conference on restoring justice in Ukraine, as the war reaches its third year.
The Dutch government said in a statement, “The Netherlands believes it is of vital importance that truth and justice be achieved both for Ukraine and for all victims of Russia’s aggression.”
Among speakers will be the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, which has issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and military officials linked to the war.
During the conference, a register of damage caused by Russia’s invasion will formally open a process that will allow people to submit claims for compensation for damages, loss or injury suffered as a result of the invasion.
Drones strike Russian factories more than 1,000km from Ukraine
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The time in Kyiv and Moscow is coming up to 11am. Russia has reported drone attacks over 1,000 km from Ukraine, according to Agence France-Presse.
On Tuesday, Russia said factories in Tatarstan, more than 1,100 kilometres (690 miles) from Ukraine, had been attacked with people wounded in the strikes.
“Drone attacks took place against factories in Tatarstan at Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk,” Tatar leader Rustam Minnikhanov’s press service said on Telegram.
The attacks “did not cause serious damage and the working of the factories was not affected,” the statement said, adding: “Unfortunately in Yelabuga, there were people wounded”.
There is a special economic zone near Yelabuga that houses chemical and mechanical engineering and metal treatment factories. Nizhnekamsk has a large petrol refinery. Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters that its military carried out the attacks.
Meanwhile Russian drones targeted energy facilities in overnight raids on Ukraine‘s Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions, hitting a target in the latter, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Separately, Ukraine‘s general staff said air defences had downed nine out of 10 drones that attacked the country overnight.
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