Summary
The time is now approaching 9pm in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital on a day where the leader of Russia’s Wagner group has threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut in an ongoing row with the Kremlin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenary force, said in a sudden and dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would leave Bakhmut, which they have been trying to capture since last summer. Prigozhin said they would pull back on 10 May – ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war – because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place.
Earlier Prigozhin released a video showing him standing in a field of Russian corpses, personally blaming top defence chiefs for the losses suffered by his fighters in Ukraine. Prigozhin’s expletives were bleeped out in the video published by his press service, in which he yelled “We have a 70% shortage of ammunition. Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where is the ******* ammunition?”. The reference to defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov appeared to reignite the simmering feud between Prigozhin and the Russian establishment forces.
In a coded response, defence minister Sergei Shoigu has carried out an inspection of troop readiness for forces that are engaged in the war against Ukraine.
Authorities in the Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia have begun evacuating villages near the frontline. The Russian imposed governor Yevgeny Balitsky announced the move in anticipation of a Ukrainian offensive aimed at retaking the area. It is believed that about 70,000 civilians could be taken away from the area.
“In the past few days, the enemy has stepped up shelling of settlements close to the frontline,” Balitsky said. “I have therefore made a decision to evacuate first of all children and parents, elderly people, disabled people and hospital patients.”
It is believed that Russia is bringing Wagner forces from along the frontline to Bakhmut, according to Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar. She said that Russia wanted to capture the city before the victory day holiday on 9 May.
Residents in Kherson are readying themselves ahead of a 56-hour curfew due to begin on Friday evening. The violence in the oblast has intensified this week, with 23 people killed by Russian strikes on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed one of its own drones after it lost control over Kyiv on Thursday. Andriy Yermak, Ukraine presidential chief of staff, initially said an enemy drone that had been shot down. But the air force later clarified it was Ukrainian and had been destroyed to avoid “undesirable circumstances”. No casualties were reported.
The White House has dismissed as “ludicrous” claims by Russia that Washington orchestrated drone strikes on Moscow, saying the US was not involved in the incident and accusing Russia of lying. National security council spokesman John Kirby said: “One thing I can tell you for certain is that the US did not have any involvement with this incident, contrary to [Vladimir Putin spokesman] Mr Peskov’s lies, and that’s just what they are: lies.” Earlier, Dmitry Peskov said: “Decisions about such terrorist attacks are taken in Washington” and that Kyiv “just implements these decisions”.
Finnish power utility Fortum has formally notified the Kremlin that it strongly objects to what it said was Russia’s “unlawful” seizure of its subsidiary in the country. In his regular morning press conference, Kremlin spokesperson Peskov responded by saying the seizure was in accordance with Russian legislation.
Bill Clinton has said that he knew in 2011 it was just “a matter of time” before Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine. “Vladimir Putin told me in 2011 – three years before he took Crimea – that he did not agree with the agreement I made with Boris Yeltsin,” the former US president recalled. “He said … ‘I don’t agree with it. And I do not support it. And I am not bound by it.’ And I knew from that day forward it was just a matter of time.”
Video footage has emerged overnight of a scuffle between a Ukrainian delegate and a Russian delegate during a gathering of Black Sea nations in the Turkish capital Ankara. The footage shows the Russian delegations secretary, Valery Stavitsky, snatching a Ukrainian flag out of the hands of his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksandr Marikovski, who unfurled the flag behind another Russian delegate who was mid-interview at the parliamentary assembly of the Black Sea economic cooperation group in Turkey.
Russian forces in Ukraine are so degraded they cannot mount any significant offensive moves and are focused for now on consolidating control of occupied territory, the US intelligence chief said. Avril Haines said Putin’s strategy is likely to be to prolong the conflict until western support for Kyiv wanes.
Putin must be brought to justice for his war in Ukraine, Zelenskiy said on Thursday during a visit to The Hague, where the international criminal court (ICC) is based. “We all want to see a different Vladimir here in the Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law,” Zelenskiy said in a speech. “I’m sure we will see that happen when we win,” he said, adding: “Whoever brings war must receive judgment.”
That’s all for today. Thank you for following along.
Another set of talks about the Black Sea grain deal has ended in deadlock, after Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN did not find an agreement over new ships able to export grain.
The UN deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, said the daily inspections of previously authorised ships would continue. The current agreement is due to end on 18 May.
Russia has issued a list of demands it wants to be met for the agreement to continue, which was struck last year to alleviate the global food crisis caused by buildups of grain in Ukraine.
Updated
Here’s a selection of photographs from Ukraine today.
Updated
The all-clear from air raid alerts has now been given in central Ukraine, the Ukrainian Euromaidan Press news website has reported.
Warnings are still in place for eastern Ukraine, including Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv.
Loud explosions were reported in the Donetsk oblast in the last hour after sirens were sounded.
Updated
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and most Ukrainian regions announced air alerts on Friday, officials said.
The number of air alerts has risen sharply in recent days, and Kyiv alone has issued six alerts in the last three days warning of Russian attacks.
Updated
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has discussed preparations for the Victory Day parade on 9 May in a meeting with his Security Council, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the Kremlin.
Moscow has said the parade will go ahead as planned despite its assertion that Ukraine tried to kill Putin in a drone attack against the Kremlin in the early hours of Wednesday.
Kyiv has denied any involvement in the incident.
Updated
More on the evacuation from Zaporizhzhia. We have quotes from the Russian head of the occupied-region confirming the evacuation.
Yevgeny Balitsky cited an increased shelling of villages and towns near the frontline.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports him writing on social media: “In the past few days, the enemy has stepped up shelling of settlements close to the frontline.
“I have therefore made a decision to evacuate first of all children and parents, elderly people, disabled people and hospital patients.
“There will be a temporary evacuation”
This includes the town of Enerhodar, which is where the region’s nuclear power station, the biggest in Europe, is.
Updated
Russia planning to evacuate 70,000 people in occupied Zaporizhzhia region – reports
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass is reporting that the plan to evacuate civilians from near the frontline in occupied Zaporizhzhia involves moving 70,000 people.
It quotes Andriy Kozenko, a Russian-imposed minister for the economy in the occupied Ukrainian territory which Russia has claimed to annex, saying:
In general, a total of about 70,000 people are expected to be relocated. We are still saying that there are priority categories – these are children, families with children. To date, relocation has already begun in the Polohivskyi district, they are moving to the city of Berdiansk. This figure is already about 500. There are collection points.
Tass reports that “the movement of residents from the settlements shelled by the Ukrainian military in the Zaporizhzhia region is voluntary, the authorities of the region said.”
Ukrane has repeatedly accused Russia of forcibly deporting children, a claim which Russia has denied. The international criminal court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova over the forced deportation of children.
Updated
In what seemed like a coded response to the criticism from the Wagner group founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, earlier today [see 9.59am], the Russian state-owned news agency Tass is reporting that the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has carried out an inspection of troop readiness. Tass reports a statement from the ministry:
The minister of defence of the Russian Federation, general of the army Sergei Shoigu, in the southern military district, inspected the readiness of military equipment and weapons sent to the units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the areas of the special military operation to carry out tasks for their intended purpose.
“Special military operation” has been Russia’s preferred official term for its invasion of Ukraine and claim to annex four of Ukraine’s regions that Russian forces partially occupy.
Updated
Ukraine’s defence ministry has found the time to cut a social media video thanking the UK for its assistance during the war, on the eve of the coronation of King Charles III.
Soundtracked by The Clash’s London Calling, the clip shows Ukrainian service personnel using UK-supplied weapons, and also features clips of Volodymyr Zelenskiy meeting King Charles, the former prime minister Boris Johnson, the current British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, as well as British forces training Ukrainian soldiers.
On the eve of the historic coronation, we'd like to thank our British friends for your friendship. We are grateful for your unwavering support and partnership, especially in the past year! pic.twitter.com/bJgg4Qfsr5
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 5, 2023
Updated
Russia evacuating frontline villages in occupied Zaporizhzhia
The Russian-imposed governor of Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, has said on Friday he had ordered the evacuation of villages close to the frontline with Ukrainian forces there, saying that Ukrainian shelling had intensified in recent days.
Reuters notes that a widely expected Ukrainian spring counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion is viewed as likely to take in the Zaporizhzhia region, about 80% of which is held by Russian forces. Late last year the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed the whole Zaporizhzhia region, along with three other partly occupied regions.
Updated
Russia’s ambassador has been summoned to the Polish foreign ministry and handed a protest note regarding a statement of the former ombudsman for children of Russia, Pavel Astakhov, calling for the murder of the Polish ambassador, a Polish foreign ministry spokesperson has said.
The row has been rumbling for days since Astakhov said on Russian TV that he was surprised the Polish ambassador to Russia was yet to be found in the river Moskva in retaliation for a protest last year in which Russia’s ambassador to Poland was covered in red paint.
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The French senate’s website was offline on Friday after pro-Russian hackers claimed to have taken it down, in the latest cyberattack since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
“Access to the site has been disrupted since this morning,” the upper house of parliament said on Twitter shortly before midday according to Agence France-Presse, saying a team was busy fixing the problem.
A group calling itself NoName on Telegram claimed responsibility, saying it had acted because “France is working with Ukraine on a new ‘aid’ package which may include weapons”.
The same group said it had taken the website of France’s lower-house National Assembly offline for several hours in March.
It also claimed it was behind the disruption of Canadian government websites last month as the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, visited the country.
Updated
Russia is bringing Wagner mercenary fighters from along the frontline to Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian deputy defence minister.
Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television that Moscow wanted to capture the city in time for the victory day holiday on 9 May.
It comes on the same day that the head of Wagner has threatened to pull its forces out of the battle-scarred Ukrainian city.
“The Russians are inclined towards symbolism and their key historic myth is May 9 and they really have set the objective of taking control of Bakhmut by this date,” Maliar said.
“We are now seeing them pulling [fighters] from the entire offensive line where the Wagner fighters were, they are pulling [them] to the Bakhmut direction,” she said, according to Reuters.
Updated
Bahrain’s foreign minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani has visited Ukraine, the first visit by a foreign minister from the gulf state to Ukraine since its formal independence from Russia in 1992.
Zelenskiy said: “I am grateful to Bahrain for its unwavering support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty amid resisting full-scale Russian aggression.”
President Zelensky: "The visit of Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affirs Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani to Ukraine is an important signal of cooperation and support between our countries. Ukraine strives for peace, and that is why I proposed the Ukrainian Peace Formula to the… pic.twitter.com/BZwloN6kB0
— Dénes Törteli 🇪🇺🇭🇺🇺🇦 (@DenesTorteli) May 5, 2023
Updated
Residents of the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson are stocking up on food and water after another night of heavy Russian shelling and before an announced 56-hour curfew due to begin on Friday evening.
A number said they planned to stay indoors before the curfew and planned closure of the city, adding that they had slept in their clothes or gone to shelters because of the intensity of the Russian attack.
Others said they had sent some family outside the city or moved to safer locations further from the river, as they said they were anticipating “something big” over the coming days as Ukrainian forces also stepped up their shelling of Russian positions.
The violence in Kherson has increased markedly this week, with 23 people killed by Russian strikes in the region on Wednesday, including a deadly bombardment of a supermarket that killed eight people.
Read more:
A 16-year-old girl has died in hospital after being seriously injured in the overnight shelling of Kramatorsk in Donetsk on 29 April.
The city’s council confirmed her as Nevara Yelyzaveta Jonivna, and said she died a few months short of her 17th birthday.
“Lisa was a fragile girl, quiet and very modest. She was not only an excellent student, but also a friendly and kind soul who could always cheer up her friends and teachers,” a statement posted on Telegram said.
Summary of the day so far …
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner group mercenary force, said in a sudden and dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would leave the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that they have been trying to capture since last summer. Prigozhin said they would pull back on 10 May – ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war – because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place.
Earlier Prigozhin released a video showing him standing in a field of Russian corpses, personally blaming top defence chiefs for the losses suffered by his fighters in Ukraine. Prigozhin’s expletives were bleeped out in the video published by his press service, in which he yelled “We have a 70% shortage of ammunition. Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where is the ******* ammunition?”. The reference to defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov appeared to reignite the simmering feud between Prigozhin and the Russian establishment forces.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed one of its own drones after it lost control over Kyiv on Thursday. Andriy Yermak, Ukraine presidential chief of staff, initially said an enemy drone that had been shot down. But the air force later clarified it was Ukrainian and had been destroyed to avoid “undesirable circumstances”. No casualties were reported.
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass is reporting that the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region of Russia has been attacked by a drone or drones for the second consecutive day.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said “any self-respecting country” would refrain from speaking to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy following the apparent drone attack on the Kremlin.
The White House has dismissed as “ludicrous” claims by Russia that Washington orchestrated drone strikes on Moscow, saying the US was not involved in the incident and accusing Russia of lying. National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, said: “One thing I can tell you for certain is that the US did not have any involvement with this incident, contrary to [Vladimir Putin spokesman] Mr Peskov’s lies, and that’s just what they are: lies.” Earlier, Dmitry Peskov said: “Decisions about such terrorist attacks are taken in Washington” and that Kyiv “just implements these decisions”.
Finnish power utility Fortum has formally notified the Kremlin that it strongly objects to what it said was Russia’s “unlawful” seizure of its subsidiary in the country. In his regular morning press conference, the Kremlin spokesperson, Peskov, responded by saying the seizure was in accordance with Russian legislation.
Bill Clinton has said that he knew in 2011 it was just “a matter of time” before Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine. “Vladimir Putin told me in 2011 – three years before he took Crimea – that he did not agree with the agreement I made with Boris Yeltsin,” the former US president recalled. “He said … ‘I don’t agree with it. And I do not support it. And I am not bound by it.’ And I knew from that day forward it was just a matter of time.”
Video footage has emerged overnight of a scuffle between a Ukrainian delegate and a Russian delegate during a gathering of Black Sea countries in the Turkish capital Ankara. The footage shows the Russian delegations secretary, Valery Stavitsky, snatching a Ukrainian flag out of the hands of his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksandr Marikovski, who unfurled the flag behind another Russian delegate who was mid-interview at the parliamentary assembly of the Black Sea economic cooperation group in Turkey.
Updated
The Finnish power utility Fortum has formally notified the Kremlin that it strongly objects to what it said was Russia’s “unlawful” seizure of its subsidiary in the country.
Vladimir Putin signed a decree on 25 April to establish temporary control of Fortum’s Russian assets, which the utility has openly tried to sell since the invasion of Ukraine last year.
“With its actions, the Russian Federation has caused the dismissal of PAO Fortum’s CEO and deprived Fortum of its shareholder rights,” Reuters reports the company said on Friday, adding that it was preparing to take legal action.
In his regular morning press conference, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, responded by saying the seizure was in accordance with Russian legislation.
“These actions, first of all, are dictated by the need to protect our own interests against the backdrop of the steps taken by countries unfriendly to us,” Peskov said.
Updated
Prigozhin says Wagner forces will leave Bakhmut next week
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner group mercenary force, said in a sudden and dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would leave the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that they have been trying to capture since last summer.
Reuters reports Prigozhin said they would pull back on 10 May – ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war – because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place.
“I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on 10 May 2023, we are obliged to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the defence ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds,” Prigozhin said in a statement.
“I’m pulling Wagner units out of Bakhmut because in the absence of ammunition they’re doomed to perish senselessly.”
Wagner has been spearheading Russia’s long and costly attempt to capture Bakhmut and Prigozhin said three weeks ago that his men controlled more than 80% of the city.
But Ukrainian defenders have held out, and Prigozhin has vented increasing anger at what he describes as lack of support from the Russian defence establishment.
Earlier today he issued a video in which he accused the leaders of Russia’s official forces of getting fat in their offices while Wagner troops lacked equipment.
Updated
Wagner's Prigozhin blasts Russian armed forces over lack of ammunition
The video that the Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin released earlier today showed him standing in a field of Russian corpses, personally blaming top defence chiefs for the losses suffered by his fighters in Ukraine.
Prigozhin’s expletives were bleeped out in the video published by his press service, in which he yelled “We have a 70% shortage of ammunition. Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where is the ******* ammunition?”
The reference to defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov appeared to reignite the simmering feud between Prigozhin and the Russian establishment forces.
Those responsible would go to hell, Reuters reports Prigozhin shouted, before saying that Wagner’s losses would be five times smaller if it was adequately supplied.
“These are Wagner lads who died today. The blood is still fresh,” Prigozhin said, pointing to the corpses around him. “They came here as volunteers and they’re dying so you can get fat in your offices.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia’s Security Council will most likely discuss the Kremlin drone incident when it meets later today.
Here is the video clip of that scuffle in Ankara yesterday. The footage shows the Russian delegations secretary, Valery Stavitsky, snatching a Ukrainian flag out of the hands of his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksandr Marikovski, who unfurled the flag behind another Russian delegate who was mid-interview at the parliamentary assembly of the Black Sea economic cooperation group in Turkey.
Reuters has a quick snap that Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s Wagner group mercenary force, said in a statement on Friday that his forces would leave Bakhmut on 10 May.
Earlier Prigozhin released a video in which he appeared to angrily criticise Russian authorities for their lack of support of his Wagner forces.
It should be noted that on previous occasions Prigozhin has made dramatic statements, then rowed back on them. Last week he offered to suspend artillery fire on Ukrainian forces in besieged Bakhmut and then said later it was a joke.
More details soon …
Updated
Lavrov: 'any self-respecting country' would refuse to speak to Zelenskiy after Kremlin drone incident
Russia’s foreign minister has said “any self-respecting country” would refrain from speaking to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy following the apparent drone attack on the Kremlin.
Speaking in India, Sergei Lavrov said:
As for the terrorist attack over the Kremlin and over the residence of the state leader, we have made our attitude clear. I think we shouldn’t wait for any more incidents and provocations.
Zelenskiy and his team are doing everything in the media space, and in their practical steps, to ensure that any self-respecting country would refrain from talking to them or communicating with them. This is a fact.
We have always been willing to deal with the consequences of the US attempts to pump Ukraine with weapons. We see there is a growing understanding that such problems cannot be settled on the on the contact line in Donbas.
I think everybody understands that what is going on is geopolitical. Without resolving the key geopolitical problem, which is the west’s desire to retain its hegemony and to dictate its will upon everyone, without resolving that, no crisis will be settled anywhere.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is giving a press conference at the moment in Panaji in India. We will bring you any key lines that emerge.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, one of the occupied regions of the Donbas which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed, has said that in the last 24 hours two residents of the region were killed and five were wounded by Russian shelling.
He also posted to Telegram to say that overnight a commercial enterprise Kramatorsk was struck, with nobody injured as a result.
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass is reporting that the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region of Russia has been attacked by a drone or drones for the second consecutive day. It cites the emergency services telling it:
The drone attacked the territory of the Ilsky refinery, as a result of which a fire broke out on an area of 60 sq metres. At present, open burning has been eliminated.
Updated
Bill Clinton: I knew in 2011 it was 'just a matter of time' before Putin attacked Ukraine
The FT this morning is carrying quotes from Bill Clinton in which he says that he knew in 2011 it was just “a matter of time” before Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine.
Citing an appearance by the former US president alongside his wife Hillary, Joshua Chaffin writes:
Bill Clinton said he realised in 2011 it was “just a matter of time” before Vladimir Putin would move on Ukraine after a chilling discussion with Russia’s president in Davos, Switzerland.
During that encounter, Clinton said, Putin rejected a US-brokered deal agreed by his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, to respect Ukraine’s territory in exchange for Kyiv relinquishing its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal.
“Vladimir Putin told me in 2011 — three years before he took Crimea — that he did not agree with the agreement I made with Boris Yeltsin,” the former US president recalled. “He said . . . ‘I don’t agree with it. And I do not support it. And I am not bound by it.’ And I knew from that day forward it was just a matter of time.”
In the same piece, Hillary Clinton spoke of how the war might come to an end:
To end hostilities, Hillary Clinton argued, Ukraine must either defeat Russia or at least regain the territory lost in the east since Russia’s invasion last year. “They need leverage,” she said. “I wouldn’t trust him [Putin] at a negotiating table under any circumstances, unless Ukrainians – backed by us – have enough leverage.”
Video footage has emerged overnight of a scuffle between a Ukrainian delegate and a Russian delegate during a gathering of Black Sea nations in the Turkish capital Ankara. The incident happened on Thursday, after Olesandr Marikovski’s Ukrainian flag was snatched away from him to stop him photobombing a video interview with Russia’s lead delegate, Reuters reports.
Marikovski posted the video of himself scrapping with the Russian and retrieving his blue and yellow flag on his Facebook page. The incident took place in a hallway of the parliament building, where the Organisation of the Black Sea economic cooperation (BSEC) assembly was being held.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Updated
The UK Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update that “a recent uptick in Russian rail accidents in areas bordering Ukraine, attributed to sabotage committed by unknown actors, has almost certainly caused short-term localised disruption to Russian military rail movements”.
It adds: “Although its Railway Troop Brigades are capable of restoring lines quickly, these incidents will increase pressure on Russia’s internal security forces, who will highly likely remain unable to fully protect Russia’s vast and vulnerable rail networks from attack.”
Updated
Video shared on social media captured the moment a Ukrainian drone was brought down over Kyiv as onlookers cheered. The device, initially believed to be Russian, was taken down by air defence over the city. The air force later said the device was Ukrainian and had been destroyed to avoid “undesirable circumstances”. No casualties were reported from the incident.
You can read the story on it here.
Our defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, has produced some analysis on the recent Kremlin drone attack, writing that despite Zelenskiy’s denials it mirrors Kyiv’s tactics.
He writes:
Who exactly flew two drones over the Kremlin at around 3am on Wednesday is likely to be one of many questions that will remain unanswered until the Ukraine war ends, if not some while after that.
But it is curious how many want to speculate about a Kremlin false-flag operation given how embarrassing it is to see video footage of drones flying over the Senate dome, housing Vladimir Putin’s presidential offices, before they were blown up.
The response in Russia - where civilian drone flights have been banned in dozens of regions and GPS is being jammed in Moscow - suggests panic and a tightening of electronic security, rather than a planned escalation, he writes.
Consider the more plausible alternative. Ukraine, and partisan groups aligned to it, have been building up their capabilities throughout the war. Drone attacks inside Russia – sometimes at great distances – are nothing new.
You can read the analysis here.
Updated
The Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, has assured his Russian and Indian counterparts of deepening bilateral ties, promising that “coordination and cooperation” will only grow stronger, in a show of solidarity with two of China’s biggest neighbours, reports Reuters.
Here is some more detail from Reuters’ report:
Qin met in India on Thursday with other foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a bloc of nations spanning most of Eurasia, with Beijing seeking to preserve stable relations with countries in the region as ties with the West, particularly Washington, remain tense.
The United States has long urged China to help resolve the war in Ukraine even though Beijing has refused to denounce Russia’s military moves as an invasion. In a landmark move last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke directly with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time since Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine.
During his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the SCO meeting, Qin said China is “willing to maintain communication and coordination with Russia to make tangible contributions to the political settlement of the crisis” in Ukraine.
The two sides also agreed to strengthen communication and coordination with other SCO member-states and maintain the bloc’s “unity”, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry on Friday.
They additionally agreed to strengthen coordination in the Asia-Pacific, the ministry said, without giving details.
The SCO bloc includes Russia, India, China, Pakistan and four Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran and Belarus were expected to be inducted into the SCO at a summit in New Delhi in July, an Indian foreign ministry official said.
Updated
Australian Associated Press reports that further assistance for Ukraine is expected, and that there is speculation that a possible support package, organised jointly by Australia and the US, could be announced as soon as the end of the month.
The US and Australia are reportedly working together on an assistance package that could mirror Canberra’s agreement with Paris to jointly supply ammunition to repel the Russian invasion, AAP says. This comes ahead of a visit by President Joe Biden to Australia.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters in Canberra on Friday: “We are a big supporter of the Ukrainian efforts to repel the Russian invaders and that will be represented in the budget,” he told reporters in Canberra on Friday. Chalmers will hand down the budget on 9 May.
Kyiv has submitted a wish list of aid ahead of the federal budget on Tuesday, which includes Hawkei armoured vehicles, artillery and ammunition.
Hundreds of Ukrainian-Australians rallied around Australia on Saturday, calling for the government to provide Hawkeis to help defend their homeland.
In February, Australia announced it would send drones to Ukraine and expand sanctions against Russian government, military and media figures as part of a pledge to stand with Kyiv “for as long as it takes”.
Updated
Russia says high waters threaten dam near Ukrainian nuclear plant
A Russian official has warned that record high water levels could overwhelm a major dam in southern Ukraine and damage parts of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Reuters reports.
Reuters quotes comments given by Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the general director of nuclear energy firm Rosenergoatom, to Tass agency. Karchaa says that if the Nova Kakhovka dam did rupture, the power cable line for the Zaporizhzhia plant’s pumping stations would be flooded.
“This (would create) functional problems for the operation of the plant and risks for nuclear safety,” he told Tass.
Here is some more background from Reuters’ report:
Last November, after Russian forces withdrew from the nearby southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, satellite imagery showed significant new damage to the dam.
Both sides have accused each other of planning to breach the dam using explosives, which would flood much of the area downstream and would likely cause major destruction around Kherson.
Karchaa’s comments represent a significant contrast from those made in late March by Ukrainian officials, who said they feared the Zaporizhzhia facility could face a shortage of water to cool reactors by late summer because Russian forces had let water out of a reservoir that supplied the plant.
Russian troops took over the plant as they invaded parts of Ukraine last year. It is at the centre of a nuclear security crisis due to near-constant shelling in its vicinity which Kyiv and Moscow blame on each other.
Updated
Here are some images of the drone that Ukraine shot down over Kyiv, after it suffered a suspected technical malfunction. The air force said it had been destroyed to avoid “undesirable circumstances”. No casualties have been reported as yet. You can read the story on it here.
Our correspondent Peter Beaumont has reported on the heavy shelling in Kherson, where a 56-hour curfew is due to start on Friday evening amid a marked increase in the intensity of Russian attacks on the southern city this week.
Some residents said they had sent some family away from the city or moved to safer locations further from the river, adding they were anticipating “something big” over the coming days as Ukrainian forces also stepped up shelling of Russian positions.
There is mounting speculation about the timing of the long-anticipated Ukrainian spring counteroffensive, which officials have suggested may be imminent.
You can read the full report here.
China will persist in promoting peace talks on the Ukraine crisis, and is “willing to maintain communication and coordination with Russia to make tangible contributions to the political settlement of the crisis”, China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, said in a statement on Friday.
The statement referred to Qin’s meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa, India, on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Below is a selection of the most recent events.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed one of its own drones after it lost control over Kyiv on Thursday. Andriy Yermak, Ukraine presidential chief of staff, initially said an enemy drone that had been shot down. But the air force later clarified it was Ukrainian and had been destroyed to avoid “undesirable circumstances”. No casualties were reported.
The White House has dismissed as “ludicrous” claims by Russia that Washington orchestrated drone strikes on Moscow, saying the US was not involved in the incident and accusing Russia of lying. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “One thing I can tell you for certain is that the US did not have any involvement with this incident, contrary to [Vladimir Putin spokesman] Mr Peskov’s lies, and that’s just what they are: lies.” Earlier, Dmitry Peskov said: “Decisions about such terrorist attacks are taken in Washington” and that Kyiv “just implements these decisions”.
Russian forces in Ukraine are so degraded they cannot mount any significant offensive moves and are focused for now on consolidating control of occupied territory, the US intelligence chief said. Avril Haines said Putin’s strategy is likely to be to prolong the conflict until western support for Kyiv wanes.
Vladimir Putin must be brought to justice for his war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday during a visit to The Hague, where the international criminal court (ICC) is based. “We all want to see a different Vladimir here in the Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law,” Zelenskiy said in a speech. “I’m sure we will see that happen when we win,” he said, adding: “Whoever brings war must receive judgment.”
The US ambassador to Russia visited former US marine Paul Whelan, who has been detained in a remote Russian prison for more than four years. Ambassador Lynne Tracy said: “The US government will continue to engage Russian authorities on his case so Paul can come home as soon as possible.” She did not reveal his condition or what they discussed. Whelan was detained in 2018 and is serving a 16-year sentence for espionage. Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips over the war in Ukraine.
Residents of the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson were stocking up on food and water after another night of heavy Russian shelling and before an announced 56-hour curfew due to begin on Friday evening. A number said they planned to stay indoors before the curfew and planned closure of the city, adding that they had slept in their clothes or gone to shelters because of the intensity of the Russian attack.
Ukrainian air defences said they downed 18 out of 24 kamikaze drones that Russia launched in a pre-dawn attack on Thursday. In a statement, Kyiv city administration said that all missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital for the third time in four days, have been destroyed. No casualties were reported.
Russian emergency services extinguished a fire at a large oil refinery in Russia two hours after it was hit in a drone attack, Tass news agency reported early on Thursday. TASS said the incident occurred at the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region, and that four drones were used. A day earlier, a fuel depot further to the west caught on fire near a bridge linking Russia’s mainland with the occupied Crimea peninsula.
Finland has received a diplomatic note from Russia complaining over vandalism at a Russian consulate on the demilitarised Aland island located in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, the Finnish foreign ministry said on Thursday.
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