Summary
We’re closing the blog for now, but we’ll be back soon with more. For now, some key links and updates from the day:
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, asked G7 leaders to supply more air defence systems and for an international monitoring mission on the Belarusian border.
The UN and some Nato countries warned that Moscow may be committing a war crime with its continuing deadly blitz on civilian targets.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, described the attack, in which cruise missiles and armed drones rained down on parks, playgrounds, power stations and other civilian targets, as “a profound change in the nature of this war”.
Roughly 30% of the Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been hit by Russia since Monday, officials said.
The Kremlin has confirmed that President Vladimir Putin will meet his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Thursday to discuss Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has told the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency that he is “open to dialogue” on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Elon Musk denied a report that he spoke with Putin before tweeting a proposal to end the war in Ukraine that would have seen territory permanently handed over to Russia.
Belarus’ defence ministry has said the joint deployment of forces with Russia on its borders is a defensive measure. The moves were to ensure “security” along the border between Belarus and Ukraine, it claimed.
A deputy head of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been kidnapped by Russian forces, Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company Energoatom said.
Russian strikes have damaged hundreds of cultural sites, Zelenskiy says
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia’s military strikes have damaged hundreds of cultural sites around Ukraine, the AP reports.
In a speech to Unesco, the Ukrainian president urged the UN cultural agency to expel Russia, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Unesco World Heritage Committee. Zelenskiy said Ukraine was nominating the Black Sea city of Odesa to be inscribed on the agency’s World Heritage list, AP reported. He also said that 540 “objects of cultural heritage, cultural institutions and religious buildings” have been destroyed or damaged since the start of Russia’s invasion in February. He added:
Why are representatives of Russia still among you? What are they doing at Unesco?”
