Summary
As the time approaches 9pm in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, here is a roundup of today’s news.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of attempting an overnight drone strike on the Kremlin with the aim of killing the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that two drones had been used in the attack, but they had been disabled by Russian defences. In a statement published on its website, the Kremlin stated it considered the attack a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the president of the Russian Federation. Unverified video footage appeared to show a drone striking the Kremlin.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied responsibility for the attack. “We don’t attack Putin, or Moscow, we fight on our territory,” he said.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medevdev said that Zelenskiy should be “eliminated” in retaliation.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said the US can not confirm Russian reports that Ukraine targeted Putin with a drone strike in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Russia launched a third nightly round of attacks on Kyiv in six days, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said on Wednesday, with a drone hitting a building in the Dnipropetrovsk region as Moscow steps up attacks on its neighbour. Ukraine’s air force command said its forces destroyed 21 of the 26 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia, while Kyiv officials said air defence systems eliminated those sent over the city, with no initial reports of casualties or destruction.
Sixteen people have been killed in the attacks on Kherson oblast on Wednesday. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said 12 of them had been killed in the city centre itself. The figure includes three killed at a supermarket in Kherson city, in an attack that left five injured.
A fuel storage facility near a key bridge in Russia’s south-western region of Krasnodar was on fire in the early hours of Wednesday, the regional governor said, but there were no initial reports of casualties. Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency has reported that the fire at an oil facility in Volna was caused by “the fall of a drone”. Smoke from the fire can be seen from across the Kerch Strait in occupied Crimea.
Zelenskiy has said the White House did not advise him about the leak of highly classified US intelligence documents that received widespread attention around the world last month. “I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Zelenskiy was quoted as saying in an interview with the Washington Post published on Tuesday. “It is unprofitable for us,” he added. “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”
Finnish media are reporting that Zelenskiy visited the capital of Finland, Helsinki. He gave a joint press conference with the president, Sauli Niinistö, and also had meetings with other leaders from the region.
A group of Nordic countries have backed Ukraine to become a member of Nato and the EU after a joint statement during President Zelenskiy’s visit to Finland. The group of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland issued a joint statement in which they said: “The Nordic countries will continue their political, financial, humanitarian and military support for as long as it takes.”
There appears to be a developing row over the leaked news earlier that Volodymyr Zelenskiy intended to visit Berlin on 13 May. Reuters, citing the German media outlet t-online, reported that sources close to the Ukrainian government said the announcement of Zelenskiy’s visit was “irresponsible”, and that it was doubtful whether the trip could still take place.
Ukraine and the EU have reached an agreement to continue their “economic visa-free” deal for another 12 months. The initial deal was struck last year after the outbreak of war. It means that Ukrainian businesses will be able to continue to sell goods to the EU without any quotas, export duties or tariffs. Access for agricultural goods has also been agreed, according to Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, on Telegram.
That’s all for today. Thank you for following along.
Updated
Ukraine and the EU have reached an agreement to continue their “economic visa-free” deal for another 12 months.
The initial deal was struck last year after the outbreak of war. It means that Ukrainian businesses will be able to continue to sell goods to the EU without any quotas, export duties or tariffs.
Access for agricultural goods has also been agreed, according to Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, on Telegram.
It comes as the EU agreed to speed up its ammunition delivery to Ukraine on Wednesday (see 12.13pm). In March foreign ministers agreed to supply Ukraine with €2bn of shells.
Updated
Medvedev says drone attack leaves Russia no option but to 'eliminate' Zelenskiy
The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said an alleged overnight drone attack on the Kremlin left Moscow with no option but to “eliminate” the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and his “clique” in Kyiv.
The deputy chair of the Russian security council is a close ally of his predecessor and successor and has been a harsh critic of Kyiv.
Zelenskiy denied Kyiv was behind the incident, which the Kremlin said was an attempt on Vladimir Putin’s life but did not result in any casualties.
Updated
President Zelenskiy has said that Russia did not appear to be interested in extending the Black Sea grain deal, but that Kyiv was focused on looking for partners to fulfil the deal and was not looking for Russian interest.
The grain deal mediated by Turkey and the UN is due to expire on 18 May. Zelenskiy made the comments at a press conference in Helsinki.
It was struck last year amid mounting stocks of grain in Ukraine that were unable to be exported, driving up the prices of grain and products across the world.
A meeting will be held on Friday in Istanbul between the deputy defence ministers of Ukraine, Russia and Turkey to discuss the deal.
Russia has said it will withdraw from the deal if it continues to be unable to export its own agricultural products, which it argues is being hampered by westerns sanctions on related sectors like banking and insurance.
Zelenskiy denies responsibility for drone strike
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has responded to Russian accusations that Ukraine was behind a drone attack on the Kremlin, purported to have been an effort to kill Vladimir Putin.
In a press conference in Helsinki, where he is visiting the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, Zelenskiy said: “We don’t attack Putin, or Moscow, we fight on our territory.”
Updated
A group of Nordic countries have backed Ukraine to become a member of Nato and the EU after a joint statement during President Zelenskiy’s visit to Finland.
The group of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland issued a joint statement in which they said: “The Nordic countries will continue their political, financial, humanitarian and military support for as long as it takes.”
Iceland’s prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, said that Ukraine will be the “main focus” of the Council of Europe summit in the country’s capital, Reykjavik, later in May.
Her Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, said he welcomed the steps the EU was taking to send ammunition to Ukraine. “We continue to support Ukraine’s merit-based accession process towards EU membership,” he added, according to Reuters.
Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said: “This war has to end and the aggressor needs to end it.”
Updated
The attack on the Kremlin came from a relatively sophisticated operator, initial signs suggest.
Samuel Bendett, a drone specialist with the US Center for Naval Analyses, said that judging by the video of the second drone raid “it looks like it has thin wings”.
That would point to an attack from an established operator, although not necessarily a state actor, using a drone such as a £7,500 Chinese-made Mugin-5.
Fixed-wing drones have longer ranges and flight times than simple and cheap quadcopters, and a craft like a Mugin-5 can theoretically fly for seven hours at about 75 mph, making long range operation possible.
Analysts also speculated the drone could be a Ukrainian-made UJ-22, which has a similar speed and range, according to the manufacturer’s website, but the brief film footage and difficulty expanding to a clear image meant any firm identification was impossible.
A series of raids on Russian territory using drones have been attributed to Ukrainian actors or Russian partisans, including an attack at the end of April on the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol in Crimea, which Russian sources said was conducted by a swarm of Mugin-5s.
Drones can be pre-programmed to strike a specific target from a distance, but it was nevertheless surprising that one could get so close to the Kremlin before it was apparently shot down.
Updated
Sixteen killed in shelling in Kherson region
Sixteen people have been killed in the attacks on Kherson on Wednesday.
The Ukraine prosecutor general’s office said 12 of them had been killed in the city centre. It has launched a “pre-trial” investigation of war crimes after the attacks on a supermarket and the railway station. An ambulance crew at the station reported being targeted.
Three were killed at the supermarket, with five injured.
The oblast-wide figures also include three engineers who were working to restore power near the villages of Stepanivka and Muzikyvka, near Kherson.
Officials added that 22 people have been injured. A child has been taken to hospital in a serious condition.
Updated
Blinken: 'We can't validate drone strike reports'
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said the US can not confirm Russian reports that Ukraine targeted Vladimir Putin with a drone strike in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Speaking to reporters, he said that “we simply don’t know” when asked about the validity of reports.
He said: “[We] take anything coming from the Kremlin with a large shaker of salt.”
Blinken said that the war is already a strategic defeat for Russia, and the US is confident Ukraine will regain more of its land in any counteroffensive.
Updated
Our video team have put together this report with the footage that purports to show an overnight drone attack on the Kremlin in Moscow.
The speaker of Russia’s parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, has said Russia should use “weapons capable of stopping and destroying” what he termed “the Kyiv terrorist regime” in response to a reported drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday, which Russian authorities have blamed on Ukraine.
Reuters reports that in a statement posted on Telegram, Volodin said that Russia should not negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after the purported attack.
In October 2022 Ukraine passed a law ruling out peace talks with Russia while Vladimir Putin remained president.
Advance announcement of Zelenskiy's visit to Berlin deemed 'irresponsible' – reports
There appears to be a developing row over the leaked news earlier that Volodymyr Zelenskiy intended to visit Berlin on 13 May. Reuters, citing German media outlet t-online, reported that sources close to the Ukrainian government said the announcement of Zelenskiy’s visit was “irresponsible”, and that it was doubtful whether the trip could still take place.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, citing the regional authority, reports that Russia has struck at a village in the Kherson region. It posted to its Telegram channel:
Russian aviation attacked Kizomys in the Kherson region. Released three guided aerial bombs over the village. Three residential buildings were completely destroyed and a gas pipeline was damaged. There are no dead or injured.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has responded strongly to Russia’s claim that “the Kremlin has assessed these actions as a planned terrorist act and an assassination attempt on the president” about the reported drone strike on the Kremlin.
In a tweet, Podolyak cautioned that the event was being used as a pretext for “a large-scale terrorist attack”. He wrote:
As for the drones over the Kremlin. It’s all predictable … Russia is clearly preparing a large-scale terrorist attack. That’s why it first detains a large allegedly subversive group in Crimea. And then it demonstrates “drones over the Kremlin”.
First of all, Ukraine wages an exclusively defensive war and does not attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation.
What for? This does not solve any military issue. But it gives the Russian Federation grounds to justify its attacks on civilians …
Secondly, we are watching with interest the growing number of mishaps and incidents that are taking place in different parts of the Russian Federation. The emergence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles at energy facilities or on Kremlin’s territory can only indicate the guerilla activities of local resistance forces.
As you know, drones can be bought at any military store …
The loss of power control over the country by Putin’s clan is obvious. But on the other hand, Russia has repeatedly talked about its total control over the air.
In a word, something is happening in Russian Federation, but definitely without Ukraine’s drones over the Kremlin.
As for the drones over the Kremlin. It’s all predictable... Russia is clearly preparing a large-scale terrorist attack. That's why it first detains a large allegedly subversive group in Crimea. And then it demonstrates "drones over the Kremlin". First of all, Ukraine wages an…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) May 3, 2023
For some context, when Podolyak refers to “The emergence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles at energy facilities or on Kremlin’s territory can only indicate the guerilla activities of local resistance forces”, in recent days explosives have derailed freight trains in Russia’s Bryansk oblast, an electricity pylon was toppled in Leningrad oblast, and an oil depot was set on fire in Krasnodar, near Crimea. A facility in Sevastopol has also been struck in recent days.
Podolyak states “Ukraine wages an exclusively defensive war and does not attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation”. However, governors of the Russian regions that border Ukraine have frequently reported shelling that crosses the border into Belgorod and Kursk regions.
Updated
The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, has shared on Twitter the video clip doing the rounds on social media that purports to show a drone strike on the Kremlin in Moscow.
«Літаки летять. Будем всіх бомбить» pic.twitter.com/ClM0tqT235
— Андрій Садовий (@AndriySadovyi) May 3, 2023
The Guardian has not independently verified the veracity of the footage, which is also being shared by Russian military bloggers on the Telegram messaging app.
Updated
The leader of Russia’s Wagner group mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said he believes Ukraine’s counteroffensive has begun, after seeing more activity along the frontline.
In a statement published by his press service on Telegram, Prigozhin said that the “active phase” of the counteroffensive would begin in the coming days, Reuters reports.
Updated
Ukraine denies involvement with drone attack
The government in Kyiv has reacted to the Kremlin accusing Ukraine of launching an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin’s life with two drones in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Reuters reports that a senior Ukrainian presidential official said Ukraine has “nothing to do with” the drone srike.
They added an attack on the Kremlin would “change nothing on the battlefield” and would probably “provoke Russia to take ‘more radical'' actions.”
Here’s some Ukrainian reaction to the Kremlin claim that they tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin in the early hours of Wednesday with two drone attacks (see 12:51pm).
Iuliia Mendel, a former spokesperson for Volodymyr Zelenskiy who is now among the Ukrainian voices who are prolific on Twitter tweeted: “Another threat from the Kremlin. At the beginning of the war, it made several attempts to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy and kept silent about this. How much trust do we have in Russian information about alleged Ukrainian drone attacks on the Kremlin? After years of lies and provocations?”
Updated
Russia accuses Ukraine of using drone to attack Kremlin
An interesting report here, as Russia has claimed Ukraine used a drone to try to kill Vladimir Putin overnight.
Footage has circulated on social media of a small smoke cloud rising over the Kremlin in Moscow in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Kremlin said it considered the attack to be a “planned terrorist action”, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.
It said two drones had been used in the alleged attack, but had been disabled by Russian defences.
Putin was not injured, and there was no material damage to the Kremlin buildings, the Kremlin said.
“The Kremlin has assessed these actions as a planned terrorist act and an assassination attempt on the president on the eve of Victory Day, the 9 May Parade,” RIA said.
It said Putin had not changed his schedule and was working as normal in Novo Ogaryovo, outside Moscow.
“The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit,” it said.
Updated
Three Russian navy ships were observed in the Baltic Sea in the area of the Nord Stream pipeline blasts prior to the sabotage that halted Russian gas flows to Europe in September last year, an investigation by four Nordic broadcasters has found according to Reuters.
The Russian navy ships were traced using satellite images and intercepted radio communication from the Russian fleet, the four broadcasters, Denmark’s DR, Norway’s NRK, Sweden’s SVT and Finland’s Yle, said.
Authorities in Denmark, Sweden and Germany have said the explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and newly built Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines that link Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea were deliberate. But they have yet to publish any findings of their respective investigations.
The Nordic broadcasters found that in June and September last year, the Russian ships sailed from navy bases in St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad to the area northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm where three of the four pipeline leaks happened.
One of the vessels, a tugboat named SB-123 capable of launching mini-submarines, was located in the area on 21 and 22 of September they found.
Separately, the Danish Armed Forces confirmed to Reuters that a patrol vessel had taken 26 photos of a Russian submarine rescue vessel named SS-750 near the Nord Stream blast site on 22 September last year, just days before the explosions happened.
The incident took place seven months into Russia’s war on Ukraine. The Kremlin on Tuesday denied Russian ships had any involvement in the sabotage and called for results of the investigations to be published.
Moscow has, without providing evidence, blamed the explosions on western sabotage. Both the United States and Ukraine have denied having anything to do with the attacks as has Russia.
The Russian ships traced had all switched off their AIS signal, an automatic tracking system used on ship, they said.
The EU has unveiled a plan to boost its defence industry and speed up the supply of ammunition to Ukraine.
In March, EU foreign ministers agreed to supply Ukraine with €2bn worth of shells to replenish rapidly dwindling stocks and bolster its defences against Russia. Part of that plan relies on revitalising the European defence industry, which is not yet in “war industry mode”, the European commissioner for the EU internal market, Thierry Breton, told reporters on Wednesday.
Europe had a “substantial, diversified defence production capacity” with companies in eleven EU member states capable of producing shells, but lacked “the scale today to meet the security needs of Ukraine and our member states” he said.
Breton added he was confident the EU defence industry had the potential to scale up.
“I am confident that within 12 months we will be able to increase our production capacity to 1 million rounds of ammunition per year for Ukraine,” he said.
The European Commission has pledged €500m from the EU budget to fund grants for companies. Public funds could allow factories manufacturing shells and missiles to expand or modernise production capacity or train workers. Breton said the actual figure could be €1bn as member states could match the EU funds.
The French commissioner is also seeking rapid agreement on a regulation that would allow authorities in Brussels to instruct an arms manufacturer to prioritise defence-critical orders.
The set of measures is entitled the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (Asap) in an unusually snappy acronym for the EU.
Ukraine’s government has complained, however, that the EU has been slow in fulfilling a key promise on ammunition. A pledge to procure €1bn worth of ammunition through joint procurement for Ukraine remains bogged down between EU member states in discussions over technical details.
Updated
Weekend curfew in Kherson confirmed
A curfew has been announced in Kherson for this weekend for “law enforcement” reasons.
Oleksandr Prokudin, Kherson’s head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram that it will come in to force at 8pm on Friday and last until 6am on Monday.
He said: “During these 58 hours, it is forbidden to move on the streets of the city. The city will also be closed for entry and exit.”
Prokudin urged residents to stock up in food and water.
He added: “Such temporary restrictions are necessary so that law enforcement officers can do their job and not put you in danger.”
Stringent curfews were regularly in place in cities across Ukraine from the early days of the war, with some remaining in a limited fashion overnight.
Agence France-Presse said that curfews have previously been used for troop and arms movements. The city was only retaken in November during Ukraine’s sweeping counteroffensive.
Updated
Germany’s NTV channel is reporting that Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is in Helsinki today on a rare trip outside Ukraine’s borders, will also visit Berlin next week on 13 May.
Rail deliveries to Russia’s Black Sea port of Taman will be restricted until further notice, Russian Railways said on its website, after Russian officials said a fuel depot had caught fire near a crucial bridge linking mainland Russia to Crimea. Reuters reports the company did not provide the reason for the restrictions.
Summary of the day so far …
Russia launched a third nightly round of attacks on Kyiv in six days, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said on Wednesday, with a drone hitting a building in the Dnipropetrovsk region as Moscow steps up attacks on its neighbour. Ukraine’s air force Command said its forces destroyed 21 of the 26 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia, while Kyiv officials said air defence systems eliminated those sent over the city, with no initial reports of casualties or destruction.
At least three people have been killed and five wounded in a Russian strike on a supermarket in Kherson.
A fuel storage facility near a key bridge in Russia’s southwestern region of Krasnodar was on fire in the early hours of Wednesday, the regional governor said, but there were no initial reports of casualties. Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency has reported that the fire at an oil facility in Volna was caused by “the fall of a drone”. Smoke from the fire can be seen from across the Kerch Strait in occupied Crimea.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the White House did not advise him about the leak of highly classified US intelligence documents that received widespread attention around the world last month. “I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Zelenskiy was quoted as saying in an interview with the Washington Post published on Tuesday. “It is unprofitable for us,” he added. “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”
Finnish media is reporting that Zelenskiy has arrived in Helsinki. Ukraine’s president is expected to give a joint press conference with President Sauli Niinistö later today, and also to have meetings with other leaders from the region.
A 20-year-old man from Mykolaiv has been detained under suspicion of aiding Russian forces by informing them about the bases of the Ukrainian defence forces in the region.
Russia’s security services claim to have foiled a plot to attack leaders of the Russian-imposed government in Crimea. Tass reports that the FSB named Roman Mashovets, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, as one of the architects of the plot, without providing evidence. The FSB said it had detained six citizens of Russia and Ukraine, as well as a citizen of Ukraine and Bulgaria, involved in the transport of explosives and components of explosive devices.
Updated
Here is an image which shows Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s motorcade on the move in Helsinki, a rare visit outside Ukraine’s borders for the president.
Ukraine’s defence forces have issued a video in which a member of Ukrainian service personnel calling himself “Captain Himars” promises Russian soldiers that they avoid striking at barracks in sectors where people are leaking to the Ukrainians the coordinates of armoured vehicles and ammunition stores.
The video also claims that, contrary to what has been stated by Russian’s ministry of defence, no Himars systems on the Ukrainian side have been put out of action. It also shows the weapons being stored in what is described as a Soviet-era bunker built to withstand nuclear attacks.
A friendly reminder from Captain HIMARS...
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 3, 2023
To whom it may concern.
P.S. There hasn't been a single HIMARS system destroyed so far. Want to know why? pic.twitter.com/5hPz9Xu35d
Pope Francis has greeted the foreign envoy of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Vatican. Associated Press reports the encounter comes just days after Francis revealed a secret “mission” was under way to try to put an end to the war in Ukraine.
Metropolitan Anthony attended Francis’s weekly Wednesday general audience in St Peter’s Square. He greeted Francis at the end and presented the pope with an icon, which Francis blessed. Anthony was later seen being led off the stage by one of Francis’ aides.
Francis devoted his remarks at the audience to a recap of his weekend visit to Hungary, during which he made repeated calls for an end to the war.
Updated
We have a piece today on some of the issues facing journalists around the world due to restrictions on press freedom. It includes a contribution from Taisia Bekbulatova from Russia. She writes:
In December 2021, I was declared a “foreign agent” by Russia’s justice ministry. I now have to declare this status on every post, even on Instagram selfies. I refuse to comply. As a result, I could face criminal charges in Russia at any moment.
After the Ukraine war began, I had to evacuate the editorial team of my news website, Holod, from Russia because even writing the word “war” became illegal, and sharing unapproved information risked up to 15 years in prison. It’s difficult for me to count how many laws we have broken in the past year.
Working in exile is challenging. Our correspondents are used to travelling across Russia to cover often dark stories that reveal the true life beyond Moscow. Now, getting such stories is increasingly difficult, but we still manage. Information blockades are like hunger; even if you can no longer prepare gourmet dishes, you must make bread because your audience needs it more than ever.
In April last year, our website, along with all independent media, was blocked by Russian authorities. We counter this by actively working on various platforms, including social media and email. But our audience remains hungry for information they can trust.
You can read more of the stories from journalists around the world here: Blocked, censored, jailed or laid off – why it’s never been harder to be a journalist
Zelenskiy arrives in Finland
Finnish media is reporting that Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in Helsinki. Ukraine’s president is expected to give a joint press conference with president Sauli Niinistö later today, and also to have meetings with other leaders from the region.
At least three killed in Russian strike on supermarket in Kherson
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that at least three people have been killed and five wounded in a strike on a supermarket in Kherson.
Citing the ministry of internal affairs, it reports on Telegram:
Today, around 11am (9am BST), the Russian army struck a hypermarket in Kherson. Currently, three dead and five wounded are known. These are the employees and visitors of the institution.
The post is accompanied by an image of the aftermath of the strike, which includes what appears to be a dead body lying outside an entrance to the store.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.
Citing security forces, Suspilne reports a 20-year-old man from Mykolaiv has been detained under suspicion of aiding Russian forces by informing them about the bases of the Ukrainian defence forces in the region.
This view from Crimea looking out across the Kerch Strait towards Krasnodar clearly shows the plume of smoke rising from the oil depot fire, which Russian media has reported was started by “the fall of a drone”.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, offers this round-up of overnight developments on its Telegram channel. It writes:
At night, the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine with 26 ‘Shahed’ drones. Air defence forces shot down 21 of them in the centre, south and east of the country, the air force reported.
In Kropyvnytskyi, an oil depot was attacked at night, in Dnipro they hit an administrative building, and in the Mykolaiv oblast, due to an attack on the Kutsurubsk community, private households were occupied. People were not injured.
In Zaporizhzhia, the private sector was targeted: one house was completely destroyed, two were heavily damaged, and about 40 more houses had broken windows. There are no injured.
Drones also attacked Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region at night: a country house and an infrastructure object were destroyed, five high-rise buildings were damaged.
Updated
Russia’s security services claim to have foiled a plot to attack leaders of the Russian-imposed government in Crimea, the peninsula that the Russian Federation claimed to annex in 2014.
Tass reports that the FSB named Roman Mashovets, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, as one of the architects of the plot, without providing evidence.
Tass quotes the FSB statement saying:
Members of an undercover intelligence group operating in Crimea were detained – six citizens of Russia and Ukraine, as well as a citizen of Ukraine and Bulgaria, involved in the transport of explosives and components of explosive devices. The channel for the supply of British explosives and components of explosive devices from Bulgaria through Turkey and Georgia to Russia under the guise of supplying electric stoves has been cut off.
Tass claims that the targets of the plot were the head of the Russian-imposed Republic of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, chair of the Crimean parliament Vladimir Konstantinov, and the mayor of Yalta, Yanina Pavlenko.
Updated
Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency has reported that the fire at an oil facility in Krasnodar in Russia was caused by “the fall of a drone”. On its Telegram channel it posted:
A tank with oil products in the village of Volna in the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar territory caught fire due to the fall of a drone. This was reported to us by the emergency services.
The post was accompanied by a video of firefighters at the site that had been posted by the regional governor, Veniamin Kondratiev.
Head of the district, Fedor Babenkov, earlier wrote on Telegram:
I went to the place of emergency in the village of Volna. Special services are working on the territory of the JSC Tamanneftegaz enterprise. The fire area is 1,200 sq metres. There were no victims.
Updated
Russia has claimed that the Black Sea grain initiative has not allowed it to export agricultural products. State-owned news agency Tass outlines this morning what Russia is looking to achieve with any extension of the deal. It writes:
The Russian foreign ministry indicated that a further decision to extend the deal would depend on the reconnection of Rosselkhozbank [Russian state-owned agricultural bank] to the Swift payment system, the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services, the lifting of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, the lifting of the ban on access to ports, the resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, [and] unblocking foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies associated with the production and transportation of food and fertilisers.
The state-owned Anadolu Agency in Turkey is quoting Turkey’s defence minister, Hulusi Akar, saying that Ukraine and Russia’s deputy defence ministers will meet in Istanbul on Friday. He said:
During the meeting, some issues starting with the grain initiative will be discussed. In this regard, we can say that the sides are looking warmly at the extension of the duration. Our wish is that this initiative is extended without any trouble.
Russia’s public pronouncements about the prospects for extending the deal have been anything but warm in recent days. Yesterday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that part of the deal concerning Russia’s interests was not being implemented, and that the window to extend the deal was shrinking.
Updated
Just a few minutes after Reuters snapped that a meeting about the grain deal would take place in Istanbul on Friday, it reports that Russia’s foreign ministry has immediately said that talks on the 5 May have not been agreed.
More details soon …
Updated
Grain deal meeting set for Istanbul on Friday – reports
Reuters has a quick snap to report that Turkey’s defence minister has said that on Friday a meeting will be held in Istanbul between the deputy defence ministers of Ukraine, Russia and Turkey to discuss the Black Sea grain initiative.
Russia has said it will withdraw from the deal from 18 May if it continues to be unable to export its own agricultural products, which it argues is being hampered by westerns sanctions on related sectors like banking and insurance.
Ukraine has previously expressed a willingness to agree an extension of the deal for up to a year to provide certainty to the market, and wished to include additional ports, including Mykolaiv, in the arrangement.
Updated
Dnipro hit in latest Russian strikes, says Ukraine
Russia launched a third nightly round of attacks on Kyiv in six days, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said on Wednesday, with a drone hitting a building in the Dnipropetrovsk region as Moscow steps up attacks on its neighbour.
Ukraine’s air force Command said its forces destroyed 21 of the 26 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia, while Kyiv officials said air defence systems eliminated those sent over the city, with no initial reports of casualties or destruction.
One of Wednesday’s drones hit an administrative building in Dnipro, the administrative centre of the Dnipropetrovsk region, its governor, Serhiy Lisak, said on Telegram, and set it on fire, although that was put out by morning.
Air defence units shot down seven drones over the region, he added.
New Zealand announces additional support for Ukraine
New Zealand’s government has announced an increase in its support for Ukraine. New Zealand does not have troops in Ukraine, but has provided training and humanitarian funds since the invasion began.
A deployment of 95 New Zealand defence personnel working to train Ukrainian troops near London will be extended by a year to 30 June 2024, prime minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement Wednesday. Two personnel will participate in western-led space training programs in Poland, but will not enter Ukraine, Hipkins added.
New Zealand will give just over $5m NZD to various initiatives supporting Ukraine, including Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, the UNHCR, and the international criminal court’s Office of the Prosecutor and Trust Fund for Victims. Additional sanctions will target 18 entities and 9 individuals supporting Russia.
Hipkins said: “Unfortunately the conflict appears set to continue for some time. We and likeminded partners will not back off and allow Russia to impose their might on the innocent people of Ukraine.”
Since March 2022, New Zealand has deployed 440 defence personnel to support Ukraine, including nearly 300 who trained Ukrainian soldiers in Britain.
Russia launches unsuccessful strikes on Kyiv overnight
Russia launched a third nightly round of attacks on Kyiv in six days, city authorities said early on Wednesday, but air defence systems destroyed all its drones, with no immediate reports of casualties or destruction.
Air raid sirens blared for several hours in Kyiv, the surrounding region and most of eastern Ukraine, with the skies clearing only at dawn.
“All enemy targets were identified and shot down in the airspace around the capital,” Kyiv’s military administration said on the Telegram messaging app, citing initial details.
Russia used Iranian-made Shahed drones in the attacks, it added. It was not immediately known how many drones were shot down.
Pentagon leaks: we weren’t told about intelligence breach, Zelenskiy says
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the White House did not advise him about the leak of highly classified US intelligence documents that received widespread attention around the world last month.
“I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Zelenskiy was quoted as saying in an interview with the Washington Post published on Tuesday.
“It is unprofitable for us,” he added. “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”
Asked if trust between the US and Ukraine had been strained by the Pentagon leaks, which showed Washington was allegedly spying on senior Ukrainian officials, including Zelenskiy, he said: “I cannot risk our state” and suggested it wasn’t worth damaging US support for Kyiv. “Where I can speak frankly, I do it. But there are high risks,” he added according to the paper.
“If it were my war against [Vladimir] Putin, and there were two of us on the battlefield, I would tell everyone what I think of them. But here the story is a little different. We are all responsible.”
Russian fuel storage facility on fire
A fuel storage facility near a key bridge in Russia’s southwestern region of Krasnodar was on fire in the early hours of Wednesday, the regional governor said, but there were no initial reports of casualties, Reuters reports.
Flames and black smoke billowed over what appeared to be large tanks emblazoned with red warnings of “Flammable” in videos posted on Russian social media, although Reuters could not independently verify either the fire reports or the videos.
“The fire has been classified as the highest rank of difficulty,” Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar, which lies across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.
The blaze broke out in the village of Volna, in the Temryuk administrative district, he said. It lies close to the Crimean Bridge, or the Kerch Strait Bridge, that links Russia’s mainland with the Crimea peninsula it annexed in 2014 from Ukraine.
The incident comes after a drone strike set ablaze a Russian fuel storage facility in the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Saturday, in what Moscow said was a Ukrainian attack.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks in Russia and on Russian-controlled territory.
Updated
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
A fuel storage facility near a key bridge in Russia’s southwestern region of Krasnodar was on fire in the early hours of Wednesday, the regional governor said, but there were no initial reports of casualties.
“The fire has been classified as the highest rank of difficulty,” Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar, which lies across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.
The incident comes after a drone strike set ablaze a Russian fuel storage facility in the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Saturday, in what Moscow said was a Ukrainian attack.
And Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the White House did not advise him about the leak of highly classified US intelligence documents that received widespread attention around the world last month.
We’ll have more on these two stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments in the war:
Ukraine has formed eight new “storm” brigades to take part in a future counteroffensive amid growing speculation about its timing and whether it can inflict serious defeats on Russia. The Ukrainian interior ministry said it had “fully formed” initial brigades comprising up to 40,000 troops, but they would need further training before being ready to fight.
An explosion derailed a freight train for the second day in a row in a Russian region bordering Ukraine on Tuesday, sending both the locomotive and some cars off the tracks, authorities said. It occurred in the western Bryansk region, which borders both Ukraine and Belarus. Russian officials say pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups have made multiple attacks there since 2022.
The US plans to announce as soon as Wednesday a new $300m military aid package for Ukraine that will for the first time include a short-range air-launched rocket, two US officials have said. The rockets could help Ukraine weaken Russian ground positions and provide advancing Ukrainian ground forces with air support for a spring offensive.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said his country was inflicting heavy blows to Ukraine across the entire frontline but the supply of weapons was crucial to success. In a meeting with Moscow’s top military officials, Shoigu said Russian combat operations were engaged “along the entire line of contact”, fighting Ukraine and its “unprecedented military assistance from the west”.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said German-supplied weapons were already being used in the Donbas region, which Russia has illegally annexed. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Monday that Germany had insisted, like other Nato member countries, that the weapons it was supplying to Ukraine must not be used against Russian territory. The Donbas is not Russian territory.
Ukraine’s military vowed on Tuesday not to give up the eastern city of Bakhmut as it prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces. General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces, underlined the importance Kyiv attaches to holding Bakhmut as preparations continue for a counterattack that it hopes will change the dynamic of the war.
Russia’s military has sustained 100,000 deaths and injuries in the past five months in fighting against Ukraine, mostly in the Bakhmut region, the White House has estimated. The national security spokesperson John Kirby said the figure, based on US intelligence estimates, included more than 20,000 dead.
The Kremlin rejected the US assessment of Russian military casualties in Ukraine as having been “plucked from thin air” and said Washington had no way of obtaining the correct data.
Turkey’s trade data has started to reflect that Ankara has stopped allowing the re-exportation of sanctioned western goods to Russia after repeated warnings from Washington, a senior US treasury official has told reporters.
All parties in the Black Sea grain initiative will meet for talks on Wednesday, according to a senior Ukrainian source. Additionally, the senior UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan is expected to travel to Moscow this week.
At least six Russian regions have scrapped 9 May Victory Day parades to mark the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany amid fear of Ukrainian attacks. The governor of Saratov, 400 miles from the border, announced that its parade was off because of “safety concerns”.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reported that three apartment buildings and a school were damaged in Kramatorsk in a strike by Russian S-300 missiles that caused one injury.
