Closing summary
Russia said its forces had taken control of the village of Novomykhailivka, 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the second advance it has announced in two days. The guardian has not yet verified the claim, reported by the defence ministry. Ukraine’s General Staff said in its regular morning report that Kyiv’s forces continued to hold back Russian attempts to advance near the village. Russia said yesterday its forces had gained territory near the key battleground of Chasiv Yar in east Ukraine, taking control of Bogdanivka, a small village less than three kilometres (two miles) northeast of the town.
A Russian air attack on Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, hit TV broadcast infrastructure, prompting disruptions with the signal, a local official said. “At the moment, there are interruptions in the digital TV signal,” regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
The Kremlin has played down the significance of the $60.7bn US aid package for Ukraine, saying it will not change the situation on the frontlines. “The Russian armed forces are improving their positions at the front … The money allocated and the weapons that will be supplied will not change this dynamic,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “They will lead to new victims on the Ukrainian side. More Ukrainians will die, Ukraine will suffer greater losses.”
European ministers said they were looking urgently at how to provide more air defence to Ukraine but they stopped short of concrete pledges of the Patriot systems that Kyiv values most. Meeting in Luxembourg, foreign and defence ministers from the EU said the US House of Representatives vote to approve a Ukraine aid package at the weekend should not lead to any complacency on their part. Since Kyiv began a push for more Patriots in recent weeks, Germany has been the only EU country to pledge an extra battery. But officials have said it is hard for countries to part with Patriots as they are an integral part of national defences.
Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if Nato decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, said in an interview published on Monday. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce Nato’s eastern flank, we are ready to do so,” Duda said in an interview published by the Fakt daily.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, warned that the support of the US, Britain and France for Ukraine was stoking serious strategic risks that had raised the risk of a direct confrontation between the world’s biggest nuclear powers. Lavrov was quoted as saying the US and Nato were obsessed with the idea of inflicting “strategic defeat” on Russia and there were risks in such confrontation that could lead to an increased level of nuclear danger.
Thank you for following today’s latest news. This blog is closing now but you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
Signal disrupted after Russian air attack hits TV broadcast infrastructure in Kharkiv
A Russian air attack on Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, hit TV broadcast infrastructure, prompting disruptions with the signal, a local official said.
“At the moment, there are interruptions in the digital TV signal,” regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said, adding there were no casualties.
Updated
Russia’s weekly oil refining hit a near 11-month low due to flooding and a slowdown in repairs to plants that were hit by Ukrainian drone attacks, Bloomberg News reported.
“Russia processed 5.22m barrels of crude a day April 11-17,” the report said, citing a person with knowledge of industry data. It added that was about 10,000 barrels a day, or 0.2%, below the average of the prior seven days.
Russian refineries have suffered from Ukrainian drone attacks and technical outages while Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s energy system and cities in an airstrike campaign in recent weeks.
Ukraine attacked eight Russian regions with dozens of long-range strike drones, setting ablaze a fuel depot and hitting three power substations in a major attack early on Saturday, an intelligence source in Kyiv told Reuters.
Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report.
The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history.
For the first time, analysts at the thinktank recorded a rise in military outlay in all five geographical regions: Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania and the Americas.
You can read the full story by the Guardian’s chief reporter, Daniel Boffey, here:
The Associated Press has analysed the significance of the US’s $60bn aid package to Ukraine and reported on how the much-needed American assistance could affect the situation on the battlefield as Russia continues gaining new territory.
The Pentagon has said it could get weapons moving to Ukraine within days if the Senate and President Joe Biden give final approval to the aid package.
But experts and Ukrainian lawmakers said it could take weeks for the assistance to reach troops, giving Russia more time to degrade Ukrainian defences.
The seven-month effort to pass the package effectively held Ukraine hostage to the internal politics of its biggest ally.It also raised concerns about how the shifting sands of American politics will influence future military support.
European partners cannot match the volume and scope of American assistance, which remains Kyiv’s main hope to win the war.But that support has come with red lines, including rules that forbid using western-supplied weapons for strikes inside the Russian Federation. Some Ukrainian officials argue that such limits handicap their ability to cripple the enemy’s more robust capabilities.
Assuming the assistance arrives in the next two months, plans are afoot for a potential late-summer offensive.Analysts have argued that future support should not count on one big decisive battle, but a sustained strategy over many years.
But first, Ukraine must hold off Russia’s attempts to break defensive lines and entrenched positions.
Norway will provide Ukraine with new contributions, including funding, to improve the country’s air defence, Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, told the TV2 media outlet.
Støre said there are “significant sums” to be directed to Ukraine’s air defence but did not specify the exact amount or what portion of Oslo’s contribution would be financial or in the form of military equipment.
With Russia having stepped up air attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and cities, EU governments are under pressure to supply more protective systems to Kyiv.
“We will return to that when we present the revised budget,” Støre was quoted as saying.
“It is expensive, but preserving peace and freedom costs money. Those who pay the highest price are Ukraine and Ukrainians.”
“It takes time to produce air defences. This means that you have to send air defences from your own warehouses.”
Updated
We reported earlier that Poland’s president said his country would be ready to host the nuclear weapons of Nato’s other members in response to Russia’s moving its nuclear weapons to neighbouring Belarus.
Under Nato nuclear weapons sharing, the US has provided nuclear weapons for Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey to deploy and store.
In Moscow, a Kremlin spokesperson has said any deployment of US nuclear weapons in Poland would be met with steps necessary for Russia’s security.
“The military will, of course, analyse the situation if such plans are implemented, and in any case will do everything necessary, (will take) all the necessary retaliatory steps to guarantee our safety,” Dmitry Peskov said during a daily news conference.
EU ministers fail to pledge Patriot systems to Ukraine at key meeting
European ministers said on Monday they were looking urgently at how to provide more air defence to Ukraine but they stopped short of concrete pledges of the Patriot systems that Kyiv values most, Retuers reports.
Meeting in Luxembourg, foreign and defence ministers from the EU said the US House of Representatives vote to approve a $60bn Ukraine package at the weekend should not lead to any complacency on their part.
“We can be joyous for a day but we have to be prepared for the battle that is coming tomorrow. Therefore there can be no calming down,” Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters as he arrived at the meeting.
With Russia having stepped up air attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and cities, EU governments are under pressure to supply more protective systems to Kyiv.
But countries that have US-made Patriots – which Ukraine already uses and values highly for their ability to shoot down fast-moving ballistic missiles – were non-committal on Monday.
Since Kyiv began a push for more Patriots in recent weeks, Germany has been the only EU country to pledge an extra battery.
Berlin is also leading a drive to get more air defence from other countries for Ukraine, through donations of equipment and financial contributions.
Other European countries including Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden also have Patriot systems.
Officials say it is hard for countries to part with Patriots as they are an integral part of national defences.
Ukrainian officials have countered that the risk of EU countries coming under air attack is extremely low, while Ukraine faces such attacks frequently.
Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson said Stockholm had already agreed to give air defence weapons to Ukraine, including the RBS 70 portable system.
Asked if Sweden would also provide Patriots, he said: “I don’t exclude that possibility but right now we’re focused on a financial contribution but also possibly (more) RBS 70 because that could alleviate some of the pressure on the Patriots.”
Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said: “We are well aware of Ukraine’s need for air defence, and especially Patriots and Spain has always done whatever it could.”
He added: “Since it is a real war, I’m not really a friend of the idea of disclosing too much about what we give, when and from where.”
Earlier we reported on a meeting between EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. We have some more comments from the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, about support for Ukraine:
When asked about the length of time it is taking for EU member states to “step up and do something more for Ukraine”, he said: “Look, we are working for Ukraine every day, not only the day there is a council. We prepare decisions, we inform the member states, we analyse the situation, we present requests, we see what they can do. It is not just because there is a council – and I understand that it is the day of the press – but to support Ukraine, we work every day.
“And today is the day for the member states to see what they can do, which are the needs and if, definitely, they are able to present proposals. But I cannot tell you before, I will tell you after [the meeting].”
He also commented on EU member states’s “capacity to increase support for Ukraine”.
“You know that we have been giving a lot of warnings, letters, asking them to see what we can do. We need more ammunition. We need more launchers, [but] launchers without the interceptors is like a cannon [or] like a gun without ammunition. We need both.
“We need to supply interceptors to the batteries that they already have, and increase the number of batteries. And let’s see what the member states are able to supply, because in Brussels we do not have [it], it is the member states who have it.”
The increase of EU’s military support to Ukraine is on top of the agenda at the jumbo EU Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers’ Council. "Today is the day for the Member States to see if they are able to present proposals", said HR/VP @JosepBorrellF ahead of the meeting. pic.twitter.com/NVcm6yohqV
— European External Action Service - EEAS 🇪🇺 (@eu_eeas) April 22, 2024
Summary of the day so far...
Russia said on Monday its forces had taken control of the village of Novomykhailivka, 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the second advance it has announced in two days. The guardian has not yet verified the claim, reported by the defence ministry. Ukraine’s General Staff said in its regular morning report that Kyiv’s forces continued to hold back Russian attempts to advance near the village. Russia said yesterday its forces had gained territory near the key battleground of Chasiv Yar in east Ukraine, taking control of Bogdanivka, a small village less than three kilometres (two miles) northeast of the town.
The Kremlin has played down the significance of the $60.7bn US aid package for Ukraine, saying it will not change the situation on the frontlines. “The Russian armed forces are improving their positions at the front … The money allocated and the weapons that will be supplied will not change this dynamic,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “They will lead to new victims on the Ukrainian side. More Ukrainians will die, Ukraine will suffer greater losses.”
EU ministers said Europe “cannot relax” its support for Kyiv after the US House of Representatives passed the long-delayed military aid package for Ukraine. Baiba Braže, Latvia’s new foreign minister, warned against slackening the EU’s efforts to aid Ukraine in its defence against the continuing Russian attack. “We dodged a historic bullet, but unfortunately many more bullets are on the way. Therefore we can be joyous today but we have to be prepared for the battle that is coming tomorrow,” Braže’s Lithuanian counterpart, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said. “We have to continue to speak about how we are going to assist Ukraine further.” EU foreign ministers are meeting today to discuss the war in Ukraine and crisis in the Middle East.
Greece and Spain are under mounting pressure from their EU and Nato allies to provide more air defence systems to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.
Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if Nato decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, said in an interview published on Monday. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce Nato’s eastern flank, we are ready to do so,” Duda said in an interview published by the Fakt daily.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, warned that the support of the US, Britain and France for Ukraine was stoking serious strategic risks that had raised the risk of a direct confrontation between the world’s biggest nuclear powers. Lavrov was quoted as saying the US and Nato were obsessed with the idea of inflicting “strategic defeat” on Russia and there were risks in such confrontation that could lead to an increased level of nuclear danger.
Updated
We have some more information on Russia’s claim that its forces have taken control of the village of Novomykhailivka (see earlier post at 11.50 for more details).
Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement that its Southern group of forces had fully taken Novomykhailivka “and improved the tactical situation along the frontline”.
The Russian gains, if confirmed, underline the urgency for Ukraine of taking delivery of more than $60bn in new US military aid that the House of Representatives approved over the weekend.
Updated
Peter Tschentscher, the mayor of the German city of Hamburg, has arrived in Kyiv to show his support for Ukraine.
“Our support in the crisis must continue. Hamburg continues to stand firmly by the side of the people of Ukraine,” the city’s senate wrote in a post on X.
„Unsere Unterstützung in der Krise muss fortgeführt werden. Hamburg steht weiterhin fest an der Seite der Menschen in der Ukraine.“ Mit dieser Botschaft im Gepäck ist Bürgermeister @TschenPe heute mit dem Nachtzug in Kyiv angekommen. pic.twitter.com/sCoc1e3lzv
— Hamburger Senat (@Senat_Hamburg) April 22, 2024
In a separate post, Tschentscher said he will be speaking with Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, about cooperation between the two cities, among other topics.
Kyiv and Hamburg signed the ‘Pact for Solidarity & Future’ in April 2022, forming a strategic partnership and agreeing to support one another in times of crisis.
Updated
A bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers have arrived in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in a show of solidarity with troops continuing to fight against the Russian invasion.
U.S. Embassy Kyiv is pleased to welcome a bipartisan congressional delegation today — @CongressmanKean, @USRepKeating, @RepDean, and @RepNateMoran. Your visit is another reminder that our commitment to Ukraine is unwavering. pic.twitter.com/yTgYEe006Y
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) April 22, 2024
The visit comes after US House speaker, Mike Johnson, ended months of stalling on the aid package for Ukraine’s desperate defence against Russia – as well as billions for allies including Israel and Taiwan – and finally forced a vote on it in the House of Representatives on Saturday.
In a bipartisan vote, 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans joined to support Ukraine, with 112 Republicans – a majority of the GOP members – voting against.
Russia says it has taken control of village in Ukraine's Donetsk region
Russian forces have taken control of the village of Novomykhailivka 40 kilometres southwest of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Russia’s defence ministry has said.
Ukraine’ General Staff said in its regular morning report on Monday that Kyiv forces continued to hold back Russian attempts to advance near the village.
Neither of the claims have yet been independently verified by the Guardian.
Russia said on Sunday its forces had gained territory near the key battleground of Chasiv Yar in east Ukraine, taking control of Bogdanivka, a small frontline village less than three kilometres (two miles) northeast of the town.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the US Senate to rapidly ratify the long-delayed military aid package passed by Congress over the weekend, warning that his country was preparing its defences amid fears there could be a large Russian offensive before the fresh supplies reach the frontline.
Moscow’s forces have been able to outshell Kyiv by a ratio of at least five to one, rising to 10 to 1, meaning that Ukrainian artillery have been increasingly unable to prevent Russian forces from massing in advance of ground attacks.
Updated
Ukraine’s national railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, has lifted its temporary ban on all cargo transportation in the direction of the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, the company has said.
Ukrzaliznytsia said earlier this month it had suspended all deliveries to Chornomorsk for April 11-17 and then extended it to 22 April. It gave no reason for the decisions.
Ukrainian media reported that Russian attacks may have damaged railway tracks to the port’s cargo terminals.
Chornomorsk, near the southern city of Odesa, is one of Ukraine’s biggest seaports. The Odesa region, key to Ukrainian exports, is under almost daily attack from Russian drones and missiles targeting energy and transport infrastructure.
Russia says new US aid to Ukraine will not change situation on battlefield
A new US package of military aid to Ukraine will not change the situation on the frontlines, where Russia has the upper hand, the Kremlin said.
“The Russian armed forces are improving their positions at the front … The money allocated and the weapons that will be supplied will not change this dynamic,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“They will lead to new victims on the Ukrainian side. More Ukrainians will die, Ukraine will suffer greater losses.”
In the Ukraine bill, of the $60.7bn, a total of about $23bn would be used by the US to replenish its military stockpiles, opening the door to future US military transfers to Ukraine.
Another $14bn would go to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, in which the Pentagon buys advanced new weapon systems for the Ukrainian military directly from US defence contractors.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday urged Washington to quickly turn the bill into law and proceed with the actual transfer of weapons, saying long-range arms and air defence systems were top priorities.
“I think this support will really strengthen the armed forces of Ukraine and we will have a chance for victory,” Zelenskiy said.
Russia said the American defence industry will be the real beneficiary of the package.
“We also recognise that most of this money will remain in the United States. The United States will become richer and will receive additional dividends by providing assistance to Ukraine. For (President Vladimir) Putin, this was expected,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin has said that any move by the US to seize frozen Russian assets would be illegal, set a dangerous precedent and be challenged in court, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said such a move (see post at 08.37) would constitute an encroachment on private and state property and would lead to retaliation and legal action.
The Kremlin, commenting on a possible 14th package of EU sanctions against Russia, also said on Monday it understood that sanctions would continue to expand.
It came after Sweden’s foreign minister said the EU’s next package of Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia should include targeting a shadow fleet of tankers moving Russian oil to circumvent sanctions.
After the US House of Representatives on Saturday approved a $61bn aid package for Ukraine, the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, looks at what it could mean for the country’s war against Russia:
Europe must continue to support Kyiv, EU ministers say after US House approves Ukraine aid package
Europe “cannot relax” its support for Ukraine following US lawmakers’ approval of a $61bn (€57bn, £49bn) aid package, Kyiv’s most vocal allies in the region have said.
Baiba Braže, Latvia’s new foreign minister, warned against slackening the EU’s efforts to aid Ukraine in its defence against the continuing Russian attack.
“As Europeans we have to step up; we can’t relax, even though the US has passed the aid package,” she said.
Her Lithuanian counterpart, Gabrielius Landsbergis, struck a similar note in describing the long-delayed approval by the US House of Representatives of a $61bn aid package for Ukraine on Saturday.
“We dodged a historic bullet, but unfortunately many more bullets are on the way. Therefore we can be joyous today but we have to be prepared for the battle that is coming tomorrow,” he said. “We have to continue to speak about how we are going to assist Ukraine further.”
Following Germany’s recent decision to deliver an additional Patriot air-defence system to Ukraine, EU member states are under growing pressure to transfer similar military kit to the battlefields, rather than leaving them in storage.
“We have been asking all member states to do whatever they can in order to increase the air-defence capacity of Ukraine,” said the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, when asked whether he was seeking a contribution from Spain, reported to be facing requests to open its stores.
EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday are discussing the war in Ukraine and crisis in the Middle East, where they are expected to impose further sanctions on Iran.
The EU has already sanctioned Iranian officials and organisations for their role in supplying Russia with military hardware in its assault on Ukraine, as well as Iran’s repression of domestic human rights protesters.
“We are going to take measures with respect to the production and export of missiles and drones,” Borrell said, when asked about Iranian sanctions.
Some EU member states are wary of heavy diplomatic punishment for Iran, fearing the consequences for attempts to revive the frozen nuclear agreement, the JCPOA.
More hawkish member states are seeking to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
“How many fronts does Iran need to open for us to get serious about sanctioning them,” said Landsbergis, who favours the designation. “I hope that two, we reach the limit, where we actually can impose serious sanctions that would actually restrict their military industry from fighting in Ukraine and for fighting against Israel.”
In an interview with Suspline media, a Ukrainian National Guard officer said Russian troops were “advancing very successfully” in the direction of Chasiv Yar, a town in the Donetsk region that lies 5-10km (3-6 miles) from Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May 2023.
“Russian troops are advancing very successfully in the direction of Chasiv Yar. Battles are already taking place on the outskirts of the city of Chasiv Yar. It must be understood that the outskirts of the city were practically destroyed a year ago, there are no hard fortifications,” the officer, Volodymyr Cherniak, said.
He added: “Now, after the Russian military managed to gain a foothold in the Bohdanivka area, they pulled all possible resources there, and have dug in well.”
These claims are yet to be independently verified by the Guardian.
Ukraine’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, has said Russia aims to capture the town by 9 May, the date Russia marks as the Soviet victory in the second world war.
Updated
Greece and Spain are under mounting pressure from their EU and Nato allies to provide more air defence systems to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.
Sources told the outlet that, during a Brussels summit last week, some EU leaders urged the Spanish and Greek prime ministers, Pedro Sánchez and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to give some of their systems to Kyiv, which has a catalogue of absolutely critical military requirements, including artillery shells, air defence missiles and deep-strike rockets.
Spain and Greece’s combined armed forces possess more than a dozen Patriot systems, as well as others such as S-300s, the FT reported.
Ukraine is thought to have only two Patriot anti-missile systems, one of which it uses to defend Kyiv, while the other has been deployed closer to the frontline, in effect leaving large parts of the country exposed.
Russia has knocked out several power stations by targeting them with numerous missiles, causing electricity shortages in some parts of Ukraine, including the second city of Kharkiv, home to 1.3 million people.
Poland ready to host nuclear arms - president
Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if Nato decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, said in an interview published on Monday.
Poland, a Nato member and a staunch supporter of Ukraine, shares a border with both Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and with Belarus, Moscow’s ally.
Kaliningrad was cut off from Moscow when Lithuania became independent during the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
“If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce Nato’s eastern flank, we are ready to do so,” Duda said in an interview published by the Fakt daily.
Duda spoke to the Polish media after a visit to New York, where he held meetings at the UN and discussed the war in Ukraine with former US president Donald Trump. In March, he visited Washington DC, where he met with US President Joe Biden.
Discussions about nuclear cooperation between Poland and the US have been ongoing “for some time”, he said.
“I have already talked about this several times. I must admit that when asked about it, I declared our readiness,” Duda said.
“Russia is increasingly militarising Kaliningrad. Recently it has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” he added.
In June 2023, Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia had sent tactical nuclear arms to Belarus, which borders Ukraine and Poland.
Updated
Russia says west is 'teetering dangerously' on brink of conflict between nuclear powers
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has warned that the support of the US, Britain and France for Ukraine was stoking serious strategic risks that had raised the risk of a direct confrontation between the world’s biggest nuclear powers.
Lavrov said the US and Nato were obsessed with the idea of inflicting “strategic defeat” on Russia and there were risks in such confrontation that could lead to an increased level of nuclear danger, Reuters reported.
Lavrov said:
The westerners are teetering dangerously on the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences …
Of particular concern is the fact that it is the ‘troika’ of western nuclear states that are among the key sponsors of the criminal Kyiv regime, the main initiators of various provocative steps. We see serious strategic risks in this, leading to an increase in the level of nuclear danger.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, told western countries in February they risked provoking a nuclear war if they sent troops to fight in Ukraine, warning that Moscow had the weapons to strike targets in the west.
This was in reference to a suggestion, floated by French President Emmanuel Macron, of European Nato members possibly sending ground troops to Ukraine – a suggestion that was quickly rejected by many EU members and his since faded away.
Western security analysts say Moscow’s statements are designed to deter and intimidate, but they have not prevented the US and its Nato allies from providing aid, intelligence, training and weapons to Ukraine – including tanks and long-range missiles.
Updated
Russia now has grounds to confiscate western assets after the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow the potential transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine, a senior Russian lawmaker has said.
“Washington has passed a law on the confiscation of Russian assets in order to provoke the EU to take the same step, which will be devastating for the European economy,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the Duma speaker and close ally of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said.
“Our country now has every reason to make symmetrical decisions in relation to foreign assets,” said Volodin.
Volodin said that of the $280bn of Russian assets frozen abroad, only $5 to $6bn was in the United States while about €210bn ($224bn) was in the European Union.
NBC said the House passed the “REPO Act” which would allow the Joe Biden administration to confiscate billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets sitting in US banks and transfer them to Ukraine for reconstruction.
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome to our Ukraine blog.
Russia said on Sunday its forces had advanced towards the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine and seized control of the settlement of Bohdanivka, as Kyiv said it urgently needed promised US support to fend off a full-scale offensive.
“Units of the Southern grouping group of forces have fully liberated the settlement of Bohdanivka … and have improved the situation along the frontline,” Russia’s defence ministry wrote on Telegram.
Control of Bohdanivka, located just to the west of the Russian-held city of Bakhmut, has been in doubt for some time.
The village lies 5km east of Chasiv Yar, a heavily fortified hilltop town and forward artillery base for the Ukrainian army, providing protection for some of the area’s largest cities, including Kramatorsk and Slaviansk.
The Russian report could not be independently verified and there was no comment from Ukraine regarding Bohdanivka.
It came as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that Ukraine was preparing for a major push from the Russians, reiterating warnings from his army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi that Russia aims to capture Chasiv Yar by 9 May, one of Russia’s largest public holidays and which marks Moscow’s victory over Nazi forces in the second world war.
In other developments:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the US Senate to rapidly ratify the long-delayed military aid package passed by Congress over the weekend, warning that his country was preparing its defences amid fears there could be a large Russian offensive before the fresh supplies reach the frontline. “We really need to get this to the final point. We need to get it approved by the Senate … so that we get some tangible assistance for the soldiers on the frontline as soon as possible, not in another six months,” he said. “I hope we will be able to stay, and the weapons will come on time, and we will repel the enemy, and then we’ll break the plans of the Russian Federation with regards to this full-scale offensive,” Zelenskiy added.
In the interview with US television network NBC, he also said that Saturday’s vote showed Ukraine would not be “a second Afghanistan”, whose pro-western government collapsed during an US-led pull out in the summer of 2021. Zelenskiy said his immediate priorities were air-defence systems such as the US-made Patriots and long-range missiles such as Atacms, which can travel up to 186 miles (300km) and which the House has called on the Pentagon to provide promptly.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the delay in US military assistance for Ukraine had “real consequences” on the battlefield, but said Kyiv will “prevail” as long as they are equipped with the weapons they need to fend off the Russian invasion. In an interview with MSNBC, he said: “The Ukrainians have now, for months, been outgunned, roughly one to five, one to 10, depending on what part of the frontline you are talking about.” He added: “We have seen that fewer Russian missiles and drones have been shot down simply because they lack air defence systems and also ammunition.”
The EU’s next package of sanctions should include steps against a shadow fleet of tankers moving Russian oil to circumvent sanctions, Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
“Adopting the 14th sanctions package is one of the most important things,” Billstrom said as he arrived at the meeting. “We will see to it that we both include an import ban on liquefied natural gas as well as measures to curb the Russian shadow fleet.”Ukrainian air defence units destroyed 5 of the 7 Shahed-type drones and one Orlan-10 reconnaissance drone that Russia launched overnight, the air force said on Monday. The drones were reportedly launched from Cape Chauda in occupied Crimea.
Updated
