Summary
We’re closing this live blog down now. Thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of the day’s main events:
Russia or pro-Russian elements are likely behind the leak of several classified US military documents posted on social media, US officials told Reuters. The news agency reported that they said the documents offer a partial, month-old snapshot of the war and appear to have been doctored to downplay Russian losses.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was charged with espionage in Russia and entered an official denial, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing the Russian state news agency Tass. Leaders of both the Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate denounced Gershkovich’s arrest and called for his immediate release, in a rare joint statement.
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia was concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out despite Russia’s numerical superiority. Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said that Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut, understood Russian intentions and that Moscow had tactical success in some places but was paying a high price for it.
Earlier, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence briefing that Russian forces have “highly likely advanced into the [Bakhmut] town centre, and has seized the West Bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.”
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach after documents providing details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia were leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports. The documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the Times said. Information in the documents is at least five weeks old, with the most recent dated 1 March, the report said.
The documents also detail expenditure rates for munitions under Ukraine military control, including for the Himars rocket systems, the US-made artillery rocket systems that have proved highly effective against Russian forces. The New York Times report quotes military analysts who warn that some documents appear to have been altered in a disinformation campaign by Russia. In one document Ukrainian troop deaths are inflated and Russian battlefield losses are minimised.
The Ukrainian headquarters of the armed forces supreme command has discussed measures to prevent leaks of military information at a meeting. The presidential statement made no mention of a leak having occurred. Kyiv also dismissed the leaked documents as a Russian disinformation effort.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Friday during a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, that obstacles to Russian agricultural exports were increasing, and that they had discussed what Lavrov described as a “failure” to implement the terms of the Black Sea grain initiative. Çavuşoğlu said he agreed with Russia on the need to lift restrictions on Russian grain and fertiliser exports before the deal could be extended further.
Imports of Ukrainian grain to Poland will be temporarily halted to mitigate the impact on prices, but transit will still be allowed, the new Polish agriculture minister, Robert Telus, said on Friday. The move comes as thousands of farmers protested across Romania over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic and border checkpoints with tractors and trucks and urging the European Commission to intervene.
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports that Russian security forces claim to have “detained an agent of the security service of Ukraine and his accomplice in the Kherson region, who were collecting data on the deployment and movement of troops”.
Ukraine has rejected the suggestion from the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that it give up Crimea to end the war with Russia, which annexed the peninsula in 2014.
Leaders of parties in the US Senate have denounced the arrest of Gershkovich and called for his immediate release, in a rare joint statement, AFP reports.
The incident is seen as a serious escalation of Moscow’s crackdown on the media and comes as Moscow’s relationship with Washington has become increasingly tense because of the invasion of Ukraine. The senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and the Republican leader Mitch McConnell said:
We strongly condemn the wrongful detention of US citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and demand the immediate release of this internationally known and respected independent journalist.
Gershkovich, who worked for AFP in Russia before taking a job with the Wall Street Journal, has reportedly been formally charged with espionage.
He was accused of spying for the United States, Russian news agencies reported, charges he, his paper and the US government deny. The US president Joe Biden has also called for Gershkovich’s release. The senate leaders said:
Let there be no mistake: journalism is not a crime. We demand the baseless, fabricated charges against Mr Gershkovich be dropped and he be immediately released.
Schumer and McConnell also reiterated their “condemnation of the Russian government’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish independent journalists and civil society voices”.
Russian forces have launched 18 airstrikes, five missile strikes and 53 attacks from multiple rocket launchers between Thursday and Friday mornings, the AP reports, citing the Ukrainian military.
According to a General Staff statement, Russia was concentrating the bulk of its offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, focusing on the cities and towns of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk province.
Most of Friday’s battlefield reports concerned the four Ukrainian provinces Russia annexed in September: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Putin has ordered his military to gain complete control of the provinces, while Ukraine has indicated it will soon launch a counteroffensive to take back more territory.
In the latest fighting, the Ukrainian military said it downed a Russian Su-25 ground attack jet near Marinka. A video showed a big explosion as the plane slammed into the ground, with its pilot descending on a parachute. The Russian military, in keeping with its general silence on losses, didn’t confirm the warplane’s downing, the AP reports.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been charged with espionage in Russia and has entered his official denial, the Associated Press (AP) reports, citing the Russian state news agency Tass.
Tass said a law enforcement source had informed it that Russia’s Federal Security Service officially charged the American journalist with espionage. Tass did not specify if the action was taken during a court hearing.
In the Russian legal system, the filing of charges means the formal start of a criminal probe. Tass quoted its source as saying:
The FSB investigation charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country. He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia.
The source declined further comment because the case was considered secret. Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich last week and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory. The Wall Street Journal has denied the accusations.
Updated
US suspects Russia behind leak of secret documents – report
Russia or pro-Russian elements are probably behind the leak of several classified US military documents posted on social media that offer a partial, month-old snapshot of the war in Ukraine, three US officials have told the Reuters news agency.
The documents appear to have been altered to lower Russian casualties, the US officials said, adding their assessments were informal and separate from an investigation into the leak itself.
The officials spoke to the news agency on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the matter, and declined to discuss the documents in any detail. The Kremlin and Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. The Pentagon has declined to comment on the authenticity of the documents, which are dated 1 March and bear markings showing them classified as “Secret” and “Top Secret.”
One document posted on social media said 16,000 to 17,500 Russian forces had been killed since the invasion. The US believes the actual figure is much higher, at about 200,000 Russians killed and wounded, officials say.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia was concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out despite Russia’s numerical superiority. Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said that Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut, understood Russian intentions and that Moscow had tactical success in some places but was paying a high price for it.
Earlier, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence briefing that Russian forces have “highly likely advanced into the [Bakhmut] town centre, and has seized the West Bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.”
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach after documents providing details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia were leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports. The documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the Times said. Information in the documents is at least five weeks old, with the most recent dated 1 March, the report said.
The documents also detail expenditure rates for munitions under Ukraine military control, including for the Himars rocket systems, the US-made artillery rocket systems that have proved highly effective against Russian forces. The New York Times report quotes military analysts who warn that some documents appear to have been altered in a disinformation campaign by Russia. In one document Ukrainian troop deaths are inflated and Russian battlefield losses are minimised.
The Ukrainian headquarters of the armed forces supreme command has discussed measures to prevent leaks of military information at a meeting. The presidential statement made no mention of a leak having occurred. Kyiv also dismissed the leaked documents as a Russian disinformation effort.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Friday during a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, that obstacles to Russian agricultural exports were increasing, and that they had discussed what Lavrov described as a “failure” to implement the terms of the Black Sea grain initiative. Çavuşoğlu said he agreed with Russia on the need to lift restrictions on Russian grain and fertiliser exports before the deal could be extended further.
Imports of Ukrainian grain to Poland will be temporarily halted to mitigate the impact on prices, but transit will still be allowed, the new Polish agriculture minister, Robert Telus, said on Friday. The move comes as thousands of farmers protested across Romania over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic and border checkpoints with tractors and trucks and urging the European Commission to intervene.
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports that Russian security forces claim to have “detained an agent of the security service of Ukraine and his accomplice in the Kherson region, who were collecting data on the deployment and movement of troops”.
Ukraine has rejected the suggestion from the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that it give up Crimea to end the war with Russia, which annexed the peninsula in 2014.
Updated
For his part, Xi has said a political settlement is the only “correct” way out of the Ukraine crisis, Reuter reports, citing the foreign ministry. All parties should meet each other halfway to create conditions for a political settlement, Xi told Macron during a dinner, the statement said.
Here’s a little more detail on the French president Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China, where he has been meeting his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Reuters reports that Macron told students in Guangzhou Russia’s war in Ukraine is “a manifest violation of our international law”.
Russia, he told them, was “a country that has decided to colonise its neighbour and not to respect the rules”. Beijing is seen as having much stronger diplomatic ties to – and influence in – Moscow than any western power. Macron said:
The international order is now weakened and we have a responsibility, China and France, to preserve it and at the same time to reinvent it in the light of the realities of the 21st century.
The French president also urged them to embrace a “critical spirit” that would allow them to become “free, rational individuals” – another stark contrast with the rigid, state-controlled education to which Chinese students are subjected.
In a joint statement, both Paris and Beijing pledged to “support all efforts to restore peace in Ukraine”. The statement, which did not name Russia or condemn its offensive, called on all parties to respect international law. In talks with Xi on Thursday, Macron had said:
I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and everyone to the negotiating table.
Reuters reports that the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who is accompanying Macron on his visit, welcomed Xi’s openness to speaking with Zelenskiy. In contrast with the amiable Macron, Von der Leyen has struck a firmer tone in her talks with Chinese officials this week.
On Thursday, she said she had shared her “deep concerns about the deterioration of the human rights situation in China” with officials, and warned Beijing that arms shipments to Russia would “significantly harm” relations.
Updated
Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, freed from a US jail last year, on Friday urged the US ex-president Donald Trump to seek refuge in Russia as his life was “in peril”.
AFP reports Bout, also known as the “Merchant of Death”, was swapped for the US basketball star Brittney Griner in a high-profile prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington in December.
“I believe your life is in peril,” Bout wrote in a telegram sent to Trump and shown to the press in Moscow.
“The Biden administration will not stop just by dragging you through the court/prison industrial complex. They would sooner end your life than let you stand in their way.”
On Tuesday Trump became the first former president of the US to be indicted of a crime when he appeared in a New York courthouse and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges.
Bout told Trump he would find a “safe haven and from here you can lead the fight for the American people”.
Bout was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison when he was swapped for Griner. He has since joined a Russian nationalist party.
Updated
Romanian farmers block borders in protest over Ukrainian grain imports, Poland to halt imports
Imports of Ukrainian grain to Poland will be temporarily halted to mitigate impact on prices, but transit will still be allowed, the new Polish agriculture minister Robert Telus said on Friday. The move comes as thousands of farmers protested across Romania over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic and border checkpoints with tractors and trucks and urging the European Commission to intervene.
“We agreed to limit and for now halt exports to Poland,” Telus told the media after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Reuters reports. “Transit will be allowed but will be closely monitored in both countries, so that Ukraine grain doesn’t stay in Poland.”
Large quantities of Ukrainian grains, which are cheaper than those produced in the EU, have ended up staying in central European states amid logistical bottlenecks, hitting prices and sales for local farmers.
Telus took office on Thursday after his predecessor resigned amid farmers’ protests over falling prices of produce.
In the Romanian capital Bucharest about 200 farmers protested outside the European Commission’s local headquarters, carrying banners which read: “We respected EU rules but EU ignored us”, “You can no longer pass through here” and “Stability for Romanian farmers”.
Across the country, thousands of farmers used tractors, trucks and other machinery to block roads and borders.
“We are talking about unfair competition in the European community,” said Nicu Vasile, the head of theLeague of Romanian Associations of Farm Producers (Lapar). “I know our Ukrainian colleagues also need to sell, but it is unfair competition.”
Updated
China and France in a joint statement reaffirmed their commitment to promote non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy, Reuters reports, citing the official Chinese Xinhua news agency.
The statement also said that China and France were willing to cooperate to solve the financial hardships of developing economies and emerging market economies, and both countries emphasised support for a rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization as its core.
The Ukrainian headquarters of the armed forces supreme command has discussed measures to prevent leaks of military information at a meeting on Friday, Reuters reports, citing the president’s office.
It comes after the New York Times reported that classified war documents detailing secret American and Nato plans for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned offensive against Russia were posted this week on social media channels. The presidential statement made no mention of a leak having occurred. Kyiv has also dismissed the documents referred to by the US newspaper, as a Russian disinformation effort.
Reuters has said it has not immediately been able to review the leaked documents, which the New York Times report said appeared to have been modified in parts.
Updated
Ukraine has rejected the suggestion from the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that it give up Crimea to end the war with Russia, which annexed the peninsula in 2014.
The French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) quotes Oleg Nikolenko, a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman, as saying:
There is no legal, political or moral reason that would justify us having to yield even a centimetre of Ukrainian land. Any mediation efforts to restore peace in Ukraine should be based on respect for the sovereignty and the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
On Thursday, Lula said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “could not get everything” and suggested Ukraine could give up Crimea to begin peace discussions.
Lula has issued a vague proposal to end the Ukraine conflict, expected to be discussed during a trip next week to China, which also put forward a plan. He has proposed creating a group of countries to mediate in the war in Ukraine.
The Brazilian leader said he was “confident” that this group “would be created” after his trip.
Updated
A leak of classified documents detailing secret US and Nato plans to help Kyiv looks like a Russian disinformation operation to sow doubts about Ukraine’s planned counter-offensive, a Ukrainian presidential official has said.
Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters that the leaked data reported by the New York Times on Thursday contained a “very large amount of fictitious information” and that Russia was trying to seize back the initiative in its invasion.
These are just standard elements of operational games by Russian intelligence. And nothing more.
Russia is looking for any ways to seize back the initiative. To try to influence the scenarios for Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans. To introduce doubts, to compromise the … ideas, and finally to intimidate [us] with how ‘informed’ they are.
Reuters has said it has not immediately been able to review the leaked documents.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that the Pentagon was investigating how documents detailing plans to build up the Ukrainian military for a planned offensive had been posted on social media channels this week.
The newspaper report said the documents appeared to have been modified in certain parts. One part offered an estimate for Ukrainian military losses that was far higher than western estimates made available so far. Ukraine does not disclose the scale of its losses and is very sensitive about the subject.
Updated
The Kremlin followed the “important talks” between the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, but said it doubted China would change its position on the Ukraine conflict under external pressure.
China has proposed its own “peace plan” for Ukraine in Beijing’s first major diplomatic intervention into the conflict, but Ukraine and some western leaders remain sceptical of Xi’s close relationship with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
According to Reuters, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has told reporters Moscow “monitored” the talks, but underlined that Russia had its own “rich relations” with Beijing. Asked if he was concerned the European powers could convince Xi, he said:
China is a very serious, very big power with its own sovereign position … This is not the kind of country that changes its positions rapidly under external influence.
After the talks, Xi expressed willingness to speak to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, directly, according to Von der Leyen, while Macron said he had urged Beijing to “bring Russia back to its senses”.
Updated
Russian forces are likely to have seized the centre of the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and are threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces to the west, according to a British intelligence assessment.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said his troops would pull back from the small city, which has been the main focus of Russia’s assault on Ukraine for months, if they came under risk of encirclement.
Asked to comment on the British report, a Ukrainian military command spokesperson told the Reuters news agency the situation was difficult in Bakhmut and that Russian forces were concentrating all efforts to take the city but were not having “strategic success”.
The battle for Bakhmut, one of the last urban centres in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province yet to fall to Russian forces, has proven one of the bloodiest of the war. Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia declared annexed last year and is seeking to fully occupy in what appears to be a shift in its war aims after failing to overrun the country early in the war.
Friday’s daily update from British military intelligence contrasted with the usual emphasis on Ukrainian successes.
Russia has made further gains and has now highly likely advanced into the town centre, and has seized the west bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key 0506 supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.
The Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut and understood Russian intentions. He told Reuters:
The situation is difficult, the enemy is concentrating maximum efforts to capture Bakhmut. However, it is suffering serious losses and not reaching strategic success.
Western analysts say both sides are losing large numbers of troops in the battle for Bakhmut, where Moscow has said it has taken control of the city, including part of the centre. Ukraine has said it is fighting on there to wear down Russian forces before a counter-offensive bolstered by advanced western-supplied weapons.
Updated
Kremlin's strategic aim in Ukraine is 'new world order'
Moscow wants any Ukraine peace talks to focus on creating a “new world order”, the French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) quotes Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
Any negotiation needs to be based on taking into account Russian interests, Russian concerns. It should be about the principles on which the new world order will be based.
According to the agency, he added that Russia rejects a “unipolar world order led by ‘one hegemon’.”
Russia has long said it was leading a struggle against US dominance over the international stage, and argues the Ukraine offensive is part of that fight. The Kremlin said this week it had no choice but to continue its offensive, seeing no diplomatic solution.
Updated
Lavrov has accused the United States of blocking meetings of the Quartet on the Middle East – comprised of Russia, the US, EU and UN.
Speaking at the news conference in Turkey, Lavrov also said he did not rule out a possible face-to-face meeting with US secretary of state Antony Blinken at UN headquarters if there was a “serious proposal” for dialogue.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia was concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out despite Russia’s numerical superiority. Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said that Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut, understood Russian intentions and that Moscow had tactical success in some places, but was paying a high price for it.
Earlier, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence briefing that Russian forces have “highly likely advanced into the [Bakhmut] town centre, and has seized the West Bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.”
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach where documents providing details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia have leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports. The documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the Times said. Information in the documents is at least five weeks old, with the most recent dated 1 March, the report said.
Information in the documents also details expenditure rates for munitions under Ukraine military control, including for the Himars rocket systems, the US-made artillery rocket systems that have proven highly effective against Russian forces. The New York Times report quotes military analysts who warn that some documents appear to have been altered in a disinformation campaign by Russia. In one document Ukrainian troop deaths are inflated and Russian battlefield losses are minimised.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday during a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, that obstacles to Russian agricultural exports were getting tougher, and that they had discussed what Lavrov described as a “failure” to implement the terms of the Black Sea grain initiative. Çavuşoğlu said he agreed with Russia on the need to lift restrictions on Russian grain and fertiliser exports before the deal could be extended further.
Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports that Russian security forces claim to have “detained an agent of the security service of Ukraine and his accomplice in the Kherson region, who were collecting data on the deployment and movement of troops”.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, will hold informal talks in Guangzhou on Friday afternoon.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Kevin Rawlinson will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage.
Updated
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday during a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, that obstacles to Russian agricultural exports were getting tougher, and that they had discussed what Lavrov described as a “failure” to implement the terms of the Black Sea grain deal.
Reuters reports Lavrov said Russia would work outside the grain deal if the West continued to put obstacles in Russia’s way.
Referring to the Ukrainian grain surplus which has been affecting prices in eastern Europe and led earlier this week to the resignation of Poland’s agricultural minister, Lavrov suggested if Europe had a surplus of cheap grain it should provide it to poorer countries.
Updated
Our diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour offers this analysis today:
Beijing this week displaced New York and the UN as the diplomatic capital of the world, hosting two meetings that have the potential to unblock two of the deepest conflicts plaguing the globe – the nine-year-old conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and the 30-year standoff between Riyadh and Tehran.
At a minimum, the contrast between the seriousness of the exchanges in Beijing and the reemergence of the Donald Trump comic opera in the US is enough to remind diplomats of the fragile underpinnings of American institutions.
After abandoning his own fruitless personal efforts to persuade Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine, Macron logically sees China as the only country left with influence on Moscow. “I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and everyone back to the negotiating table,” the French head of state cooed to Xi on Thursday.
With so few levers at the west’s disposal, save more war, Macron may be in effect testing China’s diplomatic intentions, trying to work out whether there are any limits to “the relationship without limits” between Russia and China. There is also a simple warning to Xi: if China feels it cannot afford to see Russia lose this war, it is best to extricate Moscow before military reverses worsen.
Read more of Patrick Wintour’s analysis here: China enters riskier space by positioning itself as diplomatic alternative
Turkey says restrictions on Russian exports must be lifted for grain deal to be extended further
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu have been giving a joint press conference in Ankara.
Çavuşoğlu said that the pair discussed the Black Sea grain initiative, and that he agreed with Russia on the need to lift restrictions on Russian grain and fertiliser exports. Reuters reports he said this needs to be done in order for the deal to be extended further.
At the last extension point of the deal, on 18 March, Russia claimed it had extended it by sixty days, which Ukraine disputed, stating that the initial deal had specified extensions were to be a minimum of 120 days.
Russia has repeatedly complained that the deal has not allowed it to export agricultural products. Ukraine has said it would like to expand the deal to include more ports in the future.
Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports that Russian security forces claim to have “detained an agent of the security service of Ukraine (SBU) and his accomplice in the Kherson region, who were collecting data on the deployment and movement of troops”.
Tass reports:
Data on the routes of movement and types of military equipment and weapons used in the “special military operation” with reference to maps of the area and geographical coordinates were sent to SBU personnel via Internet messengers for transmission to representatives of the armed forces of Ukraine in order to correct artillery and missile and bomb strikes on the positions of the Russian armed forces.
Criminal cases have been initiated which could lead to up to 20 years in jail.
Kherson region is one of the partially occupied areas of Ukraine which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed. Late last year, Russian troops were forced to pull back behind the south bank of the River Dnieper when Ukrainian forces recaptured the city of Kherson, which sits on the north bank.
Updated
Reuters has a quick snap to report, citing Chinese state media, that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, will hold informal talks in Guangzhou on Friday afternoon.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports from Kherson:
In the morning, Russian troops shelled Stanislav with artillery. The projectile hit a residential building, broke through the roof and detonated. A 30-year-old woman and two children were injured. They were taken to the hospital.
Emmanuel Macron appears to have received a warm welcome in China’s southern city of Guangzhou. AFP report he was met by hundreds of people at Sun Yat-sen University, with many holding up their mobile phones in the hope of a selfie with him. He was then expected to speak to students in the campus gym and answer their questions.
Updated
At a Chinese foreign ministry briefing this morning, spokesperson Mao Ning has asserted that China is in contact with all sides of the conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency quotes the spokesperson saying:
As for the Ukrainian conflict, China maintains a dialogue with all parties involved, including Ukraine. China always stands for a peaceful settlement and is ready to cooperate with the international community to achieve peace.
Yesterday France’s President Emmanuel Macron, visiting Beijing, said that he knew he could count on China to “bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table.”
Russia paying high price for success in Bakhmut – Ukrainian military official
Ukraine said on Friday that Russia was concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out despite Russia’s numerical superiority.
Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters that Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut, understood Russian intentions and that Moscow had tactical success in some places, but was paying a high price for it.
Earlier the UK Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence briefing that Russian forces have “highly likely advanced into the [Bakhmut] town centre, and has seized the West Bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.”
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, includes these details in its daily news round-up this morning:
At dawn, the Russian army shelled Ochakiv in Mykolaiv oblast. Residential buildings, shops and civil infrastructure were damaged. Two people are injured, one of them is in serious condition.
On the night of 7 April, the Russian military fired an S-300 missile at a private house in Slovyansk, Donetsk region: no one was injured. One person was injured in Bakhmut yesterday.
Imprisoned WSJ reporter given press freedom honour
Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia on spying charges, has been awarded the US National Press Club’s highest press freedom honour as the Washington Post runs an advertisement calling for his release.
Gershkovich, 31, was arrested on Thursday in Ekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city. He is the first US correspondent since the cold war to be detained on espionage accusations. The Journal has denied the charges.
The National Press Club named Gershkovich its John Aubochon Honoree for 2023. In a statement, the organisation called for his release.
Journalist Evan Gershkovich has been dedicated and courageous while reporting from Russia during a period of dramatically increased danger for journalists. In an environment filled with risks, he has consistently delivered honest, bold and enlightening news coverage. Evan’s journalism is the cause of his unjust detention by Russian security forces. Journalism is not a crime and Evan should not be jailed for his profession – he should be honoured for it. We call for Evan to be released immediately and without conditions.”
News of the award came as the Washington Post ran an ad calling for Gershkovich’s release:
The Washington Post ran the following ad today, calling for the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich pic.twitter.com/RA69R4qAN7
— The Washington Post Press Freedom Partnership (@wppressfreedom) April 6, 2023
Ukraine has repaired, and in some cases rebuilt, many of the sites destroyed by Russian attacks, including bridges, roads and government buildings. It is only the beginning of what Kyiv has described as the largest reconstruction effort since the second world war and perhaps the most expensive in history, with an estimated cost of half a trillion dollars.
Here is that effort – in pictures:
Russia has 'highly likely' advanced into centre of Bakhmut - UK intelligence
Russia appears to have made important gains in Bakhmut, the British defence ministry says.
The UK Ministry of Defence says in its daily update that Russian forces have “highly likely advanced into the [Bakhmut] town centre, and has seized the West Bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 7 April 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 7, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/NJNBkledZx
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/KlEvFt4ykR
It adds that, “There is realistic possibility that, locally, Wagner and Russian MoD commanders have paused their ongoing feud and improved cooperation.”
Updated
More now in the leaked Nato files.
Information in the documents also details expenditure rates for munitions under Ukraine military control, including for the Himars rocket systems, the US-made artillery rocket systems that have proven highly effective against Russian forces.
The New York Times report quotes military analysts who warn that some documents appear to have been altered in a disinformation campaign by Russia. In one document Ukrainian troop deaths are inflated and Russian battlefield losses are minimised.
Macron and Von der Leyen’s last day in China
French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Guangzhou in southern China today to meet students on Friday, taking with him a broad delegation of top politicians, business leaders and even celebrities, including composer Jean-Michel Jarre.
On Thursday Macron called on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping Thursday to “bring Russia to its senses” over Ukraine and urged him not to deliver weapons to Moscow.
The French president, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, has made clear he is seeking to dissuade China from supporting Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
“I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and everyone to the negotiating table,” Macron told Xi during a bilateral meeting.
In remarks to the press after their meeting, Xi said he “stood ready to issue a joint call with France” for the resumption of “peace talks as soon as possible”, according to Chinese state media Xinhua.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who is accompanying Macron on his visit, welcomed Xi’s openness to speaking with Zelensky.
She said that in her own meeting Thursday with Chinese leaders, she warned that arms shipments to Russia would “significantly harm” relations.
“As a member of the UN security council, there is a big responsibility and we expect that China will play its role and promote a just peace, one that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, one of the cornerstones of the UN charter,” Von der Leyen said.
Pentagon investigating leak of US and Nato files – report
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach that saw documents that provide details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia have leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports.
“We are aware of the reports of social media posts, and the Department is reviewing the matter,” Deputy Press Secretary of the US Department of Defence Sabrina Singh said.
The documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the Times said.
Information in the documents is at least five weeks old, with the most recent dated 1 March, the report said.
One of the documents summarized the training schedules of 12 Ukraine combat brigades, and said nine of them were being trained by US and Nato forces, and needed 250 tanks and more than 350 mechanized vehicles, the newspaper said.
The documents – at least one of which carried a “top secret” label – were circulated on pro-Russian government channels, it said.
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.
Our top story this morning:
The Pentagon is investigating a reported security breach that saw documents that provide details of US and Nato plans to help prepare Ukraine for a spring offensive against Russia have leaked to social media platforms, the New York Times reports.
And European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and French president Emmanuel Macron are in China for the final day of their three-day visit.
Here are the other key recent developments:
China’s president Xi Jinping expressed willingness to speak to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the head of the European Commission said, after French president Macron urged Beijing to talk sense to Russia over the war in Ukraine. Xi, who has sought to position China as a potential mediator in the conflict but is seen by the West as favouring Russia, responded by saying he hoped Moscow and Kyiv could hold peace negotiations as soon as possible.
However, an adviser to Russian president Putin rated the chances of peace talks starting this year at “zero” and a top Ukrainian official ruled out talks with Moscow about territory until it withdraws all troops, pushing back on a colleague who had touted the idea of negotiations to resolve the Russian occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
Earlier, an advisor to Zelenskiy had suggested Ukraine may be willing to discuss the future of Crimea with Moscow if its forces reach the border of the Russian-occupied peninsula. Andriy Sybiha, the deputy head of the president’s office, expressed Kyiv’s interest in negotiations should Ukrainian forces reach the region’s administrative border as a result of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive many expect will begin in the coming months.
But Mykhailo Podolyak, another senior adviser to Zelenskiy, ruled out peace talks until Russian forces have left all of Ukraine, including the Russian-occupied Crimea. Posting to Twitter on Thursday, Podolyak said there was “no question of any territorial concessions or bargaining of our sovereign rights”. Crimea has been under Russian occupation since February 2014 and was illegally annexed by Moscow the following month after a sham referendum.
Putin held talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in Moscow to discuss expanding economic cooperation and bolstering defence ties between the two countries. The talks held at the Kremlin on Thursday involved senior Russian and Belarusian officials and followed the leaders’ one-on-one meeting on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the pair did not discuss the placement of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.
The Kremlin has said Russia is taking steps to “ensure our safety” and defended its decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Finland formally became Nato’s 31st member on Tuesday, doubling the length of the transatlantic defensive alliance’s land border with Russia. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would keep an eye on any Nato military deployments to Finland and respond accordingly.
The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia group has said there are no signs of Ukrainian forces leaving Bakhmut, and that fighting continues to rage on in the western part of Ukraine’s eastern city. In a Telegram post, Prigozhin, who has been critical of Russia’s military top brass, made clear he was not satisfied with the support he was receiving from the country’s mainstream forces.
A Russian girl sent to an orphanage after drawing an anti-war sketch at school has been taken from the facility by her mother, the Kremlin children’s rights commissioner has said. In a case that drew international outrage, the father of 13-year-old Maria Moskalyova was convicted of discrediting the Russian military and handed a two-year prison term, and his daughter was sent to the orphanage.
A Moscow court will consider an appeal by lawyers for Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent arrested on espionage charges in Russia, to lift his pre-trial detention. The hearing on 18 April will be held behind closed doors since Russia considers information related to the charges as classified, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the court’s press service. Russia’s refusal to give consular access to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is “inexcusable,” the White House said.
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