Closing summary
Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the Dnipro River are frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday. Yuriy Sobolevskiy, the deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said the raids were intended to reduce the combat capability of Russian troops who have been shelling Kherson city since being forced to retreat. “Our military visit the left [eastern] bank very often, conducting raids. The Ukrainian armed forces are working, and working very effectively,” Sobolevskiy told Ukrainian television.
One person has been killed and 10 wounded in a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”
Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv oblast, said: “Rescue operations are ongoing at the site of the rocket attack in the center of Kupyansk. Unfortunately, the woman who was under the rubble died. Rescuers have just recovered her body. According to our information, one more person may be under the rubble. Special services are doing everything possible to find her. There are no military facilities near the museum building, which was hit by an enemy S-300 missile. The enemy is deliberately hitting civilian infrastructure and terrorising the civilian population.”
The number of daily casualties Russia is suffering has fallen by about 30% in April, UK intelligence has said. In its daily intelligence briefing, the Ministry of Defence reported that the drop was probably due to the end of Russia’s winter offensive, which, it added, had largely failed. The MoD also said Russia was now likely to be preparing its troops for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Kyiv admitted it was behind a drone attack in the bay of Sevastopol, Ukrainian authorities confirmed. However, officials rejected Russian claims that the attack had put the operation of the grain corridor at risk.
Russia has switched to defensive positions in all its areas of combat apart from Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov. In an interview with RBC Ukraine on Monday, he said: “The only places on the frontline where they are making attempts are in the city of Bakhmut, an attempt to cover the city of Avdiivka from the north, and localised fighting in the city of Marinka. Both in Avdiivka and Marinka the tactics are identical to those in Bakhmut – just an attempt to wipe the settlement off the face of the Earth.”
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has proposed to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow has threatened to terminate from 18 May. Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, and said this was threatening prospects of extending the deal.
Russia’s foreign ministry has said it is expelling a Moldovan diplomat in what it cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova. The ministry said in a statement it had summoned Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow to announce the expulsion, as well as to protest against what it called “unfriendly steps towards Russia” and “regular anti-Russian statements” from Chișinău.
Sweden is expelling five Russian diplomats, its foreign minister told public broadcaster SVT on Tuesday.
Lithuania’s parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of allowing border guards to turn back migrants who illegally enter the country. Lithuania borders fellow EU states Latvia and Poland, as well as Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In 2021, Latvia declared a state of emergency and Lithuania began planning a razor-wire fence to stop record numbers of migrants crossing its border from Belarus. Authorities in the two Baltic states and Poland accused the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, of orchestrating the crossings in a form of “hybrid warfare”.
A former commander in Russia’s Wagner mercenary group seeking asylum in Norway has pleaded guilty to being involved in a fight outside an Oslo bar and carrying an air gun in public and said he felt “very ashamed”. Andrei Medvedev, 26, crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in January and has spoken out about his time fighting with Russian invasion forces in Ukraine.
Ukraine has rescued 138 civilians, including its own nationals and citizens of Georgia and Peru, who were trapped by fighting in Sudan, Ukraine’s military intelligence said.
Britain and France’s sports ministers insisted on Tuesday that Russian and Belarusian athletes must never compete as neutrals as recommended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because they could still be funded by their governments.
A court in Russia has convicted a former police officer of publicly spreading false information about the country’s military after he criticised the war in Ukraine to his friends over the phone. The ex-officer, Semiel Vedel, was sentenced on Monday to seven years in prison and barred from working in law enforcement for four years after his release.
Risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, are steadily growing, the Tass news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Tuesday. Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministry’s head of nuclear non-proliferation, told the Russian state news agency that Washington was escalating the risks through its conduct with Moscow.
The world may have “reached the dangerous, possibly even more dangerous, threshold” than it did during the cold war, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the UN security council at a meeting he chaired as part of Russia’s rotating presidency of the body on Monday. Guterres said the invasion of Ukraine was “causing massive suffering and devastation”.
A woman charged with killing a pro-war Russian military blogger using explosives was denied bail by a Russian court on Monday. Darya Trepova, 26, is accused of killing Vladen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, on 2 April. He was presented with a statuette containing a bomb while giving a talk at a cafe in St Petersburg.
Ukrainian authorities said on Monday that Russian forces were “forcibly evacuating” civilians in the parts of the Kherson region that they still occupy, a day after it was claimed Ukrainian forces had established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnipro River. The claim cannot be verified, but it comes amid an apparent increase in Ukrainian military activity in the south of the country which some analysts have interpreted as a potential precursor to Kyiv’s long-anticipated counteroffensive.
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, voiced hope that EU membership talks with Kyiv could begin this year, during a visit on Monday to the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr. “It will be a hard process and the requirements need to be fulfilled 100%,” she said, speaking alongside Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Estonia has been one of Ukraine’s largest donors per capita and this was Kallas’s first visit after her party won a landslide victory for her pro-Ukraine platform last month.
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said his ruling ANC party has resolved to quit the international criminal court, which last month issued an arrest warrant against Putin. The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, meaning Pretoria, which is due to host the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit this year, would be required to detain him on arrival.
Two German companies that between them build the Leopard 2 – one of the world’s most advanced battle tanks – have become embroiled in a legal spat over its intellectual property rights. Rheinmetall AG, which was thrust into the spotlight last year as Germany ramped up its defence spending, is being taken to court by its peer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), with a hearing due at a Munich court on 2 May.
Calls for a boycott of Beefeater Gin have been made after its French wine and spirits owner resumed selling the British brand to Russia. “Many companies, in our industry and in others, have made the same choice to maintain a limited presence in the market,” a spokesperson for the company, Pernod Ricard, told the Guardian.
It is time for the Nato alliance to “stop making excuses” and accept Ukraine as a member as the country has demonstrated its readiness and has much to offer, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba said. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Kuleba said the political will of the alliance had been “sorely lacking” on the issue of admitting Ukraine.
Russian human rights groups have filed complaints to seek the repeal of a law that bans people from speaking out against the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Sky News reported.
Speaking during a news conference at the United Nations, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the situation related to the Black Sea grain deal had reached a deadlock, adding there were still obstacles blocking Russian exports.
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Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said the situation relating to the Black Sea grain deal has reached a deadlock, adding that there were still obstacles blocking Russian exports.
The deal was renewed last month for 60 days, but Russia has signalled it may not agree to extend it further unless the west removes obstacles to the exports of Russian grain and fertiliser.
Lavrov made his comments during a news conference at the United Nations.
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A Russian tennis player was refused boarding to a flight operated by the Polish airline Lot, the company confirmed on Tuesday, in an incident that drew an angry response from the athlete on social media.
Vitalia Diatchenko said on Monday she was refused boarding to a Lot flight in Cairo, with the German airline Lufthansa then also refusing to sell her a ticket, Reuters reports.
The 32-year-old said she had been attempting to travel to a tournament in Corsica via Warsaw and Nice. She wrote:
I slept at the airport, I was treated like a third-class citizen (because of my nationality), spent a few thousand euro.
In an emailed statement, Lot confirmed it had not allowed the player to board, citing restrictions introduced by Poland’s interior ministry as a result of the Covid pandemic and updated in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Lot said:
The provisions of the regulation introduce restrictions at certain border crossings, including airport crossings, in relation to citizens of the Russian Federation travelling from outside the Schengen area.
The European Union has banned all flights from Russia and has agreed to limit issuing free-travel Schengen zone visas. In September, Finland joined the Baltic states and Poland in closing its borders to Russian tourists.
Diatchenko, who is ranked 250th in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association, said that when she tried to buy a ticket with Lufthansa she was told she could only enter the Schengen zone via Spain because it had issued her visa.
Lufthansa made no immediate comment.
Unlike many other sports, tennis did not introduce a blanket ban on players from Russia and its ally Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine.
Wimbledon banned players from the two countries last year after the invasion, but said in March it would now accept them as neutral athletes.
Russian and Belarusian players have been competing on the tours and at the other grand slams as neutral athletes.
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Wimbledon to pay for Ukrainian players’ accommodation at grass court events
The All England Lawn Tennis Club has made a number of significant financial gestures towards Ukraine’s crisis response funds and Ukrainian tennis players competing in its tournaments, asserting its support for the country in light of the decision to permit Russian and Belarusian players to return as competitors at Wimbledon this year.
The AELTC and the Lawn Tennis Association have announced they will cover the accommodation costs of two rooms for all main draw and qualifying players who compete at any British grass court event for the entirety of the grass court season.
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Russian human rights groups have filed complaints seeking to repeal a law that bans people from speaking out against the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Sky News reports.
OVD-Info, one of the groups involved, said the aim was to abolish article 20.3.3 of the code of administrative offences banning “public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation to defend the interests of the Russian Federation”.
Violetta Fitsner, a lawyer for OVD-Info, told Sky News:
This article should not exist at all since it prohibits criticising the state, which is unacceptable in a democratic society.
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Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Ukraine:
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It is time for the Nato alliance to “stop making excuses” and accept Ukraine as a member as the country has demonstrated its readiness and has much to offer, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said.
Writing in Foreign Affairs, Kuleba said the political will of the alliance had been “sorely lacking” on the issue of admitting Ukraine.
He wrote:
As I write these lines, an air raid siren is sounding in Kyiv, and Russia is in the midst of a months-long assault on the city of Bakhmut. Moscow is also preparing to repel a series of Ukraine’s counteroffensives. So I have a simple response to anyone who argues that admitting Ukraine to Nato would provoke Russia: are you serious?
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Kyiv admits it conducted Sevastopol drone attack
Kyiv was behind a drone attack in the bay of Sevastopol, Ukrainian authorities have confirmed.
However, officials rejected Russian claims that the attack had put the operation of the grain corridor at risk.
Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian defence spokesperson, told the state broadcaster Suspilne: “The recent events in Crimea concerned exclusively military installations and are in no way connected with the grain agreement, which provides for Ukrainian ports and civilian ports.”
“Ukraine adheres to international obligations, including fulfilling all obligations related to the grain corridor,” Yusov added.
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Calls for a boycott of Beefeater Gin have been made after its French wine and spirits owner resumed selling the iconic British brand to Russia.
Since September, Pernod Ricard has exported spirits to Russia – including Beefeater Gin and Jameson whiskey – amounting to tens of millions of dollars, according to Ukraine Solidarity Project, a non-government network of international and Ukrainian citizens.
According to the group, Pernod Ricard ceased exporting Absolut vodka to Russia in April 2023. However, they allege the firm did not stop the sale of its other brands to Russia.
Nick Martlew, the UK director of Ukraine Solidarity Project, said:
Until Pernod Ricard does the right thing and stops serving Putin, we’re calling for a boycott of Beefeater and their other brands, in solidarity with the brave Ukrainians who are risking their lives to fight off Russian invaders. The company is trying to sneak this iconic British brand back on to the shelves in Putin’s Russia, and in doing so is supporting his brutal war against Ukraine. It’s so grubby.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Pernod Ricard told the Guardian they “immediately and continue to” condemn the unjustifiable war and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
In Russia, the spokesperson said the firm has stopped marketing investments, and reduced the number of imported brands and quantities sold, in addition to limited importation of some brands.
“Many companies, in our industry and in others, have made the same choice to maintain a limited presence in the market,” the spokesperson said.
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Two German companies that between them build the Leopard 2 – one of the world’s most advanced battle tanks – have become embroiled in a legal spat over its intellectual property rights, even as they ride a defence boom due to the war in Ukraine.
Rheinmetall AG, which was thrust into the spotlight last year as Germany ramped up its defence spending, is being taken to court by its peer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), with a hearing due at a Munich court on 2 May.
Bowing to pressure from allies, Germany’s government this year agreed to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, one of the big ticket items sought by Kyiv as it gears up to mount a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Duesseldorf-based Rheinmetall makes the cannon of the Leopard 2, while the Munich-based KMW makes its chassis.
But KMW has objected to statements made by Rheinmetall’s chief executive, Armin Papperger, in a newspaper interview with the Neue Zuercher Zeitung in March, in which he was quoted as saying that Rheinmetall owned the rights to the Leopard 2A4 model.
A district court in Munich said in a statement on Tuesday that KMW was seeking legal protection to prevent Rheinmetall from making statements it considered to be “untrue, misleading factual assertions that violate its rights”.
KMW and Rheinmetall declined comment.
It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, the dispute may have on cooperation between the two companies, who last week jointly announced an order from the German army to upgrade 143 Puma fighting vehicles. The order is valued at about 770 million euros ($845m).
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South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said his ruling ANC party has resolved to quit the international criminal court, which last month issued an arrest warrant against Putin.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, meaning Pretoria, which is due to host the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa bloc summit this year, would be required to detain him on arrival.
“Yes, the governing party … has taken that decision that it is prudent that South Africa should pull out of the ICC,” Ramaphosa said during a press conference co-hosted with the visiting president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, AFP reports.
Ramaphosa said the decision, which follows a weekend meeting of the African National Congress (ANC), was reached “largely” because of the court’s “unfair” treatment of certain countries.
He said:
We would like this matter of unfair treatment to be properly discussed, but in the meantime the governing party has decided once again that there should be a pull out.
The arrest warrant against Putin followed accusations that the Kremlin unlawfully deported Ukrainian children. On whether South Africa would arrest Putin, Ramaphosa said “that matter is under consideration”.
But his party’s secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, earlier declared that “Putin can come any time in this country”.
Mbalula told a separate news conference:
This ICC does not serve the interest of all but the interest of a few.
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Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Ukraine:
Ukraine’s military claims it is achieving “impressive results” against forces on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson, says a former spokesperson for President Zelenskiy.
A tweet by Iuliia Mendel quotes the spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command Natalia Humeniuk as saying:
We have managed to hit and destroy artillery pieces, tanks, vehicles, armoured vehicles, and enemy air defense systems … In other words, our work on clearing the frontline of the east bank is quite powerful, but we are still working in a counter-battery mode.
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Britain and France’s sports ministers insisted on Tuesday that Russian and Belarusian athletes must never compete as neutrals as recommended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because they could still be funded by their governments.
Britain’s minister for culture, media and sport, Lucy Frazer told a Council of Europe parliamentary hearing that the IOC recommendations’ absence of reference to state funding was worrying.
“The provisions set out on military and national security agency links are currently minimal. We know that the links between state, military and sport in Russia and Belarus are root and branch,” Reuters reports her as saying at the meeting in Strasbourg. “Many Russian athletes have been active in their support for Putin’s invasion.”
French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said the IOC had “very tangible and basic issues” to clear up before the Olympics start in July next year.
“What is the position the IOC intends to take when it comes to athletes who are funded and financed by the Russian or Belarusian state?” Oudéa-Castéra asked. “Or those who are sponsored or benefiting from financial support from entities having links with Russia or Belarus?”
Paris is hosting the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics. The IOC is to finalise decisions on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at a later date.
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Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, citing Oleksandr Syrskyi, reports that Russia has “improved” its tactics in the battle for Bakhmut. It posted to its official Telegram channel to state:
For the Bakhmut assaults, the Russians improved their tactics, formed units to compensate for losses, actively use drones and gadgets to coordinate their actions.
Despite the difficult situation, there are several important reasons to retain Bakhmut. This was said by Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the ground forces of the armed forces of Ukraine.
A Ukrainian community in southern Brazil has decided to turn its local football team into FC Mariupol, a top-flight club disbanded after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in a show of solidarity with the war-torn country.
AA Batel, a team from the Prudentópolis region in Paraná, said on Monday they will take on Mariupol’s kit, crest and logo a year after the club’s facilities and stadium were destroyed in the invasion which Moscow calls a special military operation.
“The club represents the identity of our community and our community is more than 70% Ukrainian and Ukrainian descendants,” said the AA Batel president, Alex Lopes. “Ukraine has always been incredibly supportive of great Brazilian football talent and became an important gateway for players to enter the European market. This is the least we could do to help keep their club alive and give hope to Ukrainians all across the world.”
A former commander in Russia’s Wagner mercenary group seeking asylum in Norway has pleaded guilty to being involved in a fight outside an Oslo bar and carrying an air gun in public and said he felt “very ashamed”.
Andrei Medvedev, 26, crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in January and has spoken out about his time fighting with Russian invasion forces in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Medvedev pleaded guilty to fighting outside the Oslo bar on 22 February and preventing a police officer from doing their duty. He also pleaded guilty to carrying an air gun in public on 14 March.
He pleaded not guilty to committing violence against a police officer, the most serious offence he is charged with, for which the maximum penalty is three years in prison.
“He understands that he was out of hand that evening and consumed too much alcohol and there was a fight with people outside the bar,” his lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, said of the 22 February brawl.
“He does not accept the count of using violence towards a policeman. That was a misunderstanding. He never touched the policeman.”
Medvedev said he was “very ashamed” of what had happened and explained his actions by an instinctive body reaction to a pain he felt when taken out of a police van.
“I had no intention to cause harm to police officers,” he told the court.
He also said he had bought an air gun from a shop in Oslo for self-defence, because he feared somebody may attack him. He said he had been verbally abused in public.
It’s illegal to carry air guns in public in Norway.
Prosecutor Vegard Gjertsen asked for a jail sentence of 18 days for Medvedev, including the five days he had already spent under arrest, for the violence against police, and a suspended sentence for the remaining offences to which he had pleaded guilty.
The court is expected to announce its verdict and sentencing by 2 May.
If convicted, Medvedev would not necessarily be expelled from Norway. Were an asylum seeker to be convicted of a violent crime, immigration authorities told Reuters, a temporary residency permit could still be given.
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Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Ukraine:
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Sweden is expelling five Russian diplomats, its foreign minister told public broadcaster SVT on Tuesday.
Tobias Billström said:
Sweden has called up Russia’s ambassador … and informed him that five people who are employed at the embassy have been asked to leave the country as a result of activities that are incompatible with the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.
Sweden expelled three Russian diplomats in April last year after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
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A court in Russia has convicted a former police officer of publicly spreading false information about the country’s military after he criticised the war in Ukraine to his friends over the phone.
The ex-officer, Semiel Vedel, was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison under a law that the Kremlin adopted days after sending troops into Ukraine and has actively used to stifle dissent, AP reports.
In addition to the prison term, he was barred from working in law enforcement for four years after his release.
Authorities accused Vedel of spreading information about Russia’s military actions in Ukraine that deviated from the defense ministry’s official statements.
During three phone conversations with friends last year, Vedel referred to Russia as a “murderer country”, used “Glory to Ukraine” as a greeting and claimed that Russia was suffering “huge losses” in Ukraine, according to the case prosecutor.
Officials deemed the conversations public because Vedel’s phone was wiretapped and an investigator listened in on the calls. That reasoning, which Vedel’s lawyer rejected as absurd, had not been previously used in cases involving spreading misinformation charges.
Vedel, who was born in Ukraine, has said he was merely sharing information he got from his friends in the Kyiv police department whom he trusted.
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Russia’s foreign ministry is expelling a Moldovan diplomat in what it cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova.
The ministry had summoned Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow to announce the expulsion, as well as to protest against what it called “unfriendly steps towards Russia” and “regular anti-Russian statements” from Chisinau, it said in a statement.
Moldova’s foreign minister, Nicu Popescu, called the move “hostile” and said it was the latest episode in decades of Russian efforts to hold back Moldova’s development as an independent state, Reuters reports.
Last week Moldova said it was expelling a Russian diplomat, connected to actions of Russian embassy staff towards Moldovan border guards who had denied entry to a regional Russian politician at Chisinau airport, a government spokesperson had said.
Moldovan police said the Tatarstan governor, Rustam Minnikhanov, had wanted to visit Moldova to boost support for a pro-Russian candidate in a regional election.
Moldova, which applied to join the European Union last year alongside its neighbour Ukraine, has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to destabilise the country, something Moscow denies.
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Earlier we reported on a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in Kharkiv region that killed one person and wounded 10.
Below are the latest images showing the aftermath of the attack and ongoing rescue efforts.
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The Kremlin has rejected what it said were lies that president Vladimir Putin had lookalike body doubles who stood in for the 70-year-old leader and that he spent much of his time shielding in a nuclear bunker.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, listed what he said were fabrications about Russia in a speech that touched on the country’s history since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, the causes of the Ukraine war and the alleged perfidy of western society, Reuters reports.
Speaking at a Moscow conference, Peskov said:
You have probably heard that he (Putin) has very many doubles who work instead of him while he sits in a bunker … Yet another lie … You see yourselves what our president is like: he always was, and is now, mega-active – those who work next to him can hardly keep up with him.
He added:
His energy can only be envied. His health can, God willing, only be wished for. Of course, he doesn’t sit in any bunkers. This is also a lie.
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed speculation that Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, is ill.
During a state visit to Moscow last month, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, told Putin he was convinced voters would support the Russian leader again in a presidential election due in 2024. Putin has not yet said whether he will seek another term.
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The enemy within? Ukraine’s Moscow-affiliated Orthodox church faces scrutiny
Father Mykola Danylevych, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Moscow-affiliated Orthodox church, answered the phone before quickly hanging up. “I told you to call me on an encrypted line!” Danylevych, like his fellow high-ranking clergymen at the church, are in a state of paranoia and panic – their church, the biggest in Ukraine, is under threat.
“We are not holier than thou, we admit that there are some unresolved matters on our side … but we are for individual responsibility, not collective,” said Danylevych.
Since November, the Ukrainian state has been investigating the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church – alleging it is an arm of the Kremlin, disguising Russian propaganda as religious teachings.
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A proposal by the UN chief on improving and extending a deal on the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain can succeed only if the international community collectively pressures Russia, a senior Ukrainian official has said.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, set out proposals for a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of the agreement in a letter to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
In comments to Reuters, the Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, wrote:
Guterres’s absolutely justified initiative can succeed only if the international community collectively pressures Russia …Ukraine, on the other hand, will continue to follow the agreements with Turkey and the UN and will continue to deliver grain cargoes to their destination, solving the problem of global food supply.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a global shortfall in food supplies was not primarily attributable to a lack of Russian and Ukrainian grain on the market. It also restated its position that provisions relating to Russian grain exports had not been properly implemented.
Podolyak also denied an assertion by Russia’s defence ministry that Kyiv was trying to attack its ships in the Black Sea, actions it said threatened prospects for the extension of the grain export deal.
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The Black Sea grain deal is not working for Moscow, the Kremlin has reaffirmed on Tuesday, a day after the head of the United Nations handed Russia a letter with proposals to improve and expand it.
According to Reuters, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters:
Despite the fact that so much time has passed, (the deal) has not yet been implemented, it has not come together as a package, the conditions that concerned us have still not been realised …therefore, while the circumstances don’t add up in favour of this deal, we continue to observe.
The deal was brokered by Turkey and the UN in July to allow Kyiv to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports that had been severed after Russia invaded Ukraine five months earlier.
Russia has signalled that it will not allow the deal to be extended beyond 18 May unless obstacles to its own food and fertiliser exports are removed.
On Monday, a UN spokesperson said the secretary general, António Guterres, had proposed to Vladimir Putin a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of the agreement.
The proposal was outlined in a letter that Guterres asked the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to deliver to Putin.
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Here are the latest images from Ukraine and elsewhere:
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Summary of the day so far …
Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the Dnieper River are frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday. Yuriy Sobolevskiy, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said the raids were intended to reduce the combat capability of Russian troops who have been shelling Kherson city since being forced to retreat. “Our military visit the left (eastern) bank very often, conducting raids. The Ukrainian armed forces are working, and working very effectively,” Sobolevskiy told Ukrainian television.
One person has been killed and ten wounded in a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in Kharkiv region. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said “The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, said “Rescue operations are ongoing at the site of the rocket attack in the center of Kupyansk. Unfortunately, the woman who was under the rubble died. Rescuers have just recovered her body. According to our information, one more person may be under the rubble. Special services are doing everything possible to find her. There are no military facilities near the museum building, which was hit by an enemy S-300 missile. The enemy is deliberately hitting civilian infrastructure and terrorizing the civilian population.”
The number of daily casualties Russia is suffering has fallen by about 30% in April, UK intelligence has said. In its daily intelligence briefing, the Ministry of Defence reported that the drop was probably due to the end of Russia’s winter offensive, which, it added, had largely failed. The MoD also said Russia was now likely to be preparing its troops for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Russia’s foreign ministry has said it is expelling a Moldovan diplomat in what it cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova. The ministry said in a statement it had summoned Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow to announce the expulsion, as well as to protest against what it called “unfriendly steps towards Russia” and “regular anti-Russian statements” from Chișinău.
Lithuania’s parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of allowing border guards to turn back migrants who illegally entered the country. Lithuania borders fellow EU states Latvia and Poland, as well as Belarus, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In 2021, Latvia declared a state of emergency and Lithuania began planning a razor-wire fence to stop record numbers of migrants crossing their borders from Belarus. Authorities in the two Baltic states and Poland accused the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, of orchestrating the crossings in a form of “hybrid warfare”.
Ukraine has rescued 138 civilians, including its own nationals and citizens of Georgia and Peru, who were trapped by fighting in Sudan, Ukraine’s military intelligence said.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Geneva Abdul will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage. We also have live coverage of the Sudan crisis with Harry Taylor.
Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, has appeared on television in Ukraine and given an update via Telegram on the situation in Kupyansk after the strike on the museum earlier today. He posted:
Rescue operations are ongoing at the site of the rocket attack in the center of Kupyansk. Unfortunately, the woman who was under the rubble died. Rescuers have just recovered her body. According to our information, one more person may be under the rubble. Special services are doing everything possible to find her.
There are no military facilities near the museum building, which was hit by an enemy S-300 missile. The enemy is deliberately hitting civilian infrastructure and terrorizing the civilian population.
Work on identifying collaborators is ongoing in the region. Currently, prosecutor’s offices manage more than 1,000 such cases. Some of them have already been brought to court. Anyone found guilty of collaborating with the enemy will receive a just punishment.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Since February 2022, the UN has recorded 6,596 civilians killed and 11,684 injured in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.
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Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, is reporting that its correspondents have heard explosions in Kherson.
Kherson official: Ukrainian forces 'conducting raids' across Dnieper River 'very often'
Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the Dnieper River are frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday.
Yuriy Sobolevskiy, the deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said the raids were intended to reduce the combat capability of Russian troops who have been shelling Kherson city since being forced to retreat. “Our military visit the left (eastern) bank very often, conducting raids. The Ukrainian armed forces are working, and working very effectively,” Sobolevskiy told Ukrainian television.
“The results will come as they did on the right bank of the Kherson region when, thanks to a complex and long operation, they were able to liberate our territories with minimal losses for our military. The same thing happens now on the left bank.”
Russian forces have held the eastern side of the Dnieper River near Kherson since retreating from the southern city in November after months of occupation, but Ukraine is expected to launch a spring counteroffensive to try to recapture more territory. Kherson is one of the partially occupied regions of Ukraine which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed.
Sobolevskiy gave no further details, saying a military operation requires “informational silence”.
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Lithuania’s parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of allowing border guards to turn back migrants who illegally entered the country, a tally of votes showed, Reuters reports.
Lithuania borders fellow EU states Latvia and Poland, as well as Belarus, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
In 2021, Latvia declared a state of emergency and Lithuania began planning a razor-wire fence to stop record numbers of migrants crossing their borders from Belarus, amid claims Minsk was using the arrivals as leverage on EU states to reverse sanctions.
Authorities in the two Baltic states and Poland accused the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, of orchestrating the crossings in a form of “hybrid warfare”.
Ukraine says it has rescued 138 civilians from Sudan
Ukraine has rescued 138 civilians, including its own nationals and citizens of Georgia and Peru, who were trapped by fighting in Sudan, Ukraine’s military intelligence said on Tuesday.
Reuters reports the GUR military intelligence agency said that it had evacuated 87 citizens of Ukraine, who were mostly aviation specialists – pilots and technicians – and members of their families.
“Citizens of Georgia and Peru were also evacuated. A total of 138 citizens were saved. Among them are 35 women and 12 children,” it said on Telegram app.
The evacuees were now in Egypt and receiving medical help, food, and water, the agency aid.
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Russia’s foreign ministry has said it is expelling a Moldovan diplomat in what it cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova.
The ministry said in a statement it had summoned Moldova’s ambassador in Moscow to announce the expulsion, as well as to protest against what it called “unfriendly steps towards Russia” and “regular anti-Russian statements” from Chișinău.
Pope Francis leaves on Friday on a three-day trip to Hungary, where the war in Ukraine, migration and Europe’s Christian roots are expected to top the agenda in his public addresses and private talks with nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán.
Reuters reports that while its main purpose is meeting Hungarian Catholics, Francis acknowledged on Sunday that its content is affected by current events.
“It also will be a trip to the centre of Europe, which continues to be battered by frigid winds of war, while the movement of so many people has put urgent humanitarian issues on the agenda,” he said.
Orbán has said Hungary and the Vatican are the only two European states that can be described as “pro-peace” regarding Ukraine.
Both Orbán 59, and the pope, 86, have called for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war and Francis has urged Ukraine to be open to dialogue with “aggressor” Russia, something Ukraine so far has ruled out.
Hungary, which supports a sovereign Ukraine but still has strong economic ties to Russia, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine.
Risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, are steadily growing, the TASS news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Tuesday.
Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministry’s head of nuclear non-proliferation, told the Russian state news agency that Washington is escalating the risks through its conduct with Moscow.
Since the start of its invasion on Ukraine 14 months ago, Moscow has issued regular charges against the US and what it calls “the collective West” for raising the risks of a nuclear war, rhetoric intended to deter Kyiv’s allies.
Yermakov said:
If the United States continues to follow its current course of confrontation with Russia, with the stakes constantly escalating on the verge of sliding into direct armed conflict, then the fate of START (nuclear arms treaty) may be a foregone conclusion.
The US told Russia in March that it will cease exchanging some data on its nuclear forces following Moscow’s refusal to do so, calling it a response to Russia’s suspending participation in the New START treaty.
Yermakov did not provide details of the alleged US confrontational approach in the excerpts from the TASS interview published so far.
Yermakov added:
The most acute threat today is associated ... with the danger of nuclear escalation as a result of a direct military confrontation between nuclear powers. And these risks, to the deepest regret, are steadily growing.
Moscow and Beijing will assess the West’s potential involvement in the global expansion of the US anti-missile system, which “clearly undermines strategic stability,” he added
Here are some of the latest images from Ukraine coming through from news agencies:
Russia’s foreign ministry has summoned the Moldovan ambassador in Moscow over the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova, state-owned news agency RIA reported.
Last week, Moldovan government press secretary Daniel Voda told reporters the decision to expel a Russian diplomat was connected to the actions of embassy staff towards Moldovan border guards at Chisinau airport.
Moldova, which applied to join the European Union last year alongside its neighbour Ukraine, has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to destabilise the country, something Moscow denies.
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One killed, 10 wounded in strike on museum in Kupyansk
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to his Telegram channel to say that one person has been killed and 10 wounded in a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in Kharkiv region. He writes:
Kupyansk, city centre, local history museum. The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods. We have no right to forget about it for a single second. We must and will respond!
So far, it is known about a dead employee of the museum, and 10 wounded. There are still people under the rubble. Elimination of the consequences of shelling continues. All necessary services are involved.
Eternal memory to the deceased and condolences to the relatives. All those guilty of these war crimes will definitely be brought to justice and it will be merciless.
Ukrainian officials are distributing on social media a video clip that purports to show the aftermath of the attack.
Russia attacked Kupiansk, Kharkiv region with S300 rockets.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 25, 2023
Five people reported wounded so far. There are people under the debris.
Rescue work continues.#RussiaIsATerroristState
📹: Presidential office pic.twitter.com/sEc8tKv2Yi
The claims have not been independently verified.
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Russia's casualty rate falls as preparation for Ukraine offensive begins – UK
The number of daily casualties Russia is suffering has fallen by about 30% in April, UK intelligence has said.
In its daily intelligence briefing, the Ministry of Defence reported that the drop was probably due to the end of Russia’s winter offensive, which, it added, had largely failed.
The MoD also said Russia was now likely to be preparing its troops for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
It said:
Over April 2023, Russia’s average daily casualty rate has highly likely fallen by around 30 per cent. This follows exceptionally heavy Russian casualties over January-March 2023.
Figures released by the Ukrainian General Staff suggest a reduction from a daily average of 776 Russian casualties in March, to an average of 568 so far in April. Defence Intelligence cannot verify Ukraine’s exact methodology, but the general trend is likely accurate.
Russia’s losses have highly likely reduced as their attempted winter offensive has failed to achieve its objectives, and Russian forces are now focused on preparing for anticipated Ukrainian offensive operations.
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Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has posted a video on Telegram that purports to show the aftermath of an attack in the Kharkiv region. He writes:
The Russians shelled the centre of the city of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region with S-300. They hit the museum. There are people under the rubble, it is already known about more than five wounded.
The claims have not been independently verified.
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The Russian foreign minister has strongly criticised Nato members’ activities in the western Pacific, specifically the alliance between Australia, Britain and the US, and also strengthening US ties with Japan, South Korea and a number of south-east Asian countries.
Sergei Lavrov also accused the US embassy in Moscow of blocking Russian journalists from accompanying him to New York by approving their visas only after his plane left.
The Russian minister stressed that multilateralism was a key part of the UN charter and accused the United States and its allies of “destroying globalization” despite touting its benefits.
Lavrov said the west was promoting a “rules-based order” where nobody had seen the rules and which bars access to modern technologies and financial services to punish countries it disagreed with. The west had imposed a series of economic sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
“Let’s call a spade a spade. Nobody allowed the western minority to speak on behalf of all humankind,” he said.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador, told the council that Russia’s actions during the 14-month war showed the invasion of Ukraine was not an isolated incident.
“This does not just concern Ukraine or Europe,” she said. “It concerns all of us. Because today it’s Ukraine, But tomorrow it could be another country, another small nation that is invaded by its larger neighbour.”
Representatives of about 50 countries spoke, with many pointing to the increasing confrontation among UN member states. They stressed the importance of preserving multilateralism, including by reforming the security council to reflect the 21st-century instead of the post-second world war power structure.
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Moscow accuses Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships on Black Sea, ‘jeopardising grain deal’
Russia’s defence ministry on Monday accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, which it said was threatening prospects for a deal on grain exports.
“The terrorist actions of the Kyiv regime jeopardize the next extension of the grain deal beyond 18 May this year,” it said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
The defense ministry said an analysis of the route taken by Ukrainian naval drones launched 23 March and 24 April showed they originated in the water area of the port of Odesa that is designated for the implementation of the Black Sea initiative.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
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More now from the UN meeting on Monday evening, where the US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Russia a “hypocritical convener” of the meeting whose “illegal, unprovoked and unnecessary” war in Ukraine “struck at the heart of the UN charter and all that we hold dear.”
Britain’s UN ambassador, Barbara Woodward, said countries had seen “what Russia’s idea of multilateralism means for the world” – the trampling of the UN charter and a war that had brought unimaginable suffering to Ukraine and been “an unmitigated disaster for Russia, too”.
The 27-member European Union called Russia’s attempt to portray itself as a defender of the UN charter and multilateralism “cynical”, saying it is “in contempt” not only of the UN charter but UN general assembly resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces.
But the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, defended what Moscow calls its “special military operation”, reiterating accusations that Ukraine was promoting “Nazi practices” and banning the Russian language and culture, and Nato was planning to expand into Ukraine.
He stressed, however, that “it’s not all about Ukraine” but what he called the west’s plans to leverage the Ukrainian government in the hope of weakening Russia.
“We cannot consider the Ukrainian issue separately from the geopolitical context,” Lavrov said. “It’s about how international relations will continue to be shaped through the establishment of a sound consensus on the basis of balance of interests, or through aggressive and volatile advancement of Washington’s hegemony.”
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At the meeting, the UN secretary general and the ambassadors of the US, Britain, France and their allies all pointed to the UN charter’s underlying principle requiring all countries to support the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every nation – which Russia violated by invading Ukraine and illegally annexing several regions.
“The world is standing at a historic crossroads now,” China’s UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, told the council.
“Humanity is facing unprecedented global challenges. Acts of hegemony and bullying are causing colossal harm to the world. Politics are creating huge divisions and confrontations. It has become all the more urgent and important to uphold the UN charter.”
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Risks of conflict between major powers at ‘historic high’ says UN chief
The UN chief and representatives from western countries berated Russia’s top diplomat as he chaired a UN meeting Monday, accusing Moscow of violating the UN charter by attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, responded by defending his country’s military action and accusing the US and its allies of undercutting global diplomacy, the foundation of the United Nations, which was created to prevent a third world war.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, called cooperation among the UN’s 193-member states the organisation’s “beating heart” and “guiding vision”, and he warned the security council that global collaboration was under the greatest strain since the creation of the United Nations in 1945 on the ashes of the second world war.
Tensions between major powers are at a “historic high” and so are the risks of conflict “through misadventure or miscalculation”, he said, pointing first and foremost to the war in Ukraine.
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Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.
Our top story this morning: The UN chief and representatives from western nations berated Russia’s top diplomat as he chaired a UN meeting Monday, accusing Moscow of violating the UN Charter by attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.
Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council that global collaboration is under the greatest strain since the creation of the United Nations in 1945 on the ashes of the second world war.
We’ll have more on the tense meeting shortly. In the meantime here are the other key recent developments:
Russia has switched to defensive positions in all its areas of combat apart from Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov. In an interview with RBC Ukraine, he said: “The only places on the frontline where they are making attempts are in the city of Bakhmut, an attempt to cover the city of Avdiivka from the north, and localised fighting in the city of Marinka. Both in Avdiivka and Marinka the tactics are identical to those in Bakhmut – just an attempt to wipe the settlement off the face of the Earth.”
UN secretary-general António Guterres has proposed to Russian president Vladimir Putin a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow has threatened to terminate from 18 May. Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, which it said was threatening prospects of extending the deal.
A woman charged with killing a pro-war Russian military blogger using explosives has been denied bail by a Russian court. Darya Trepova, 26, is accused of killing Vladen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, on 2 April. He was presented with a statuette containing a bomb while giving a talk at a cafe in St Petersburg.
Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces are “forcibly evacuating” civilians in the parts of the Kherson region that they still occupy, a day after it was claimed Ukrainian forces had established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnieper River. The claim cannot be verified, but it comes amid an apparent increase in Ukrainian military activity in the south of the country which some analysts have interpreted as a potential precursor to Kyiv’s long anticipated counter-offensive.
Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas voiced hope that EU membership talks with Kyiv could begin this year, during a visit to the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr. “It will be a hard process and the requirements need to be fulfilled 100%,” she said, speaking alongside Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Estonia has been one of Ukraine’s largest donors per capita and this was Kallas’s first visit after her party won a landslide victory for her pro-Ukraine platform last month.
Beijing has insisted it respects the status of the independent nations that emerged from the USSR after remarks by China’s ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states sparked outrage in EU capitals. “The Chinese side respects the status of the member states as sovereign states after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” the foreign ministry’s spokesperson Mao Ning said, adding that on the issue of territorial sovereignty, Beijing’s position was consistent and clear.
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed confidence that the bloc would complete a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine after Kyiv expressed frustration at wrangling among EU member states. “Yes, still there is some disagreement. But I am sure everybody will understand that we are in a situation of extreme urgency,” Borrell said.
