Closing summary
It’s coming up to 10pm in Ukraine, and the Ukraine blog is closing.
Here’s a summary of today’s key events:
Exit polls show Vladimir Putin winning a huge majority in Russia’s presidential election which had only one possible result. Polls suggest 71-year-old Putin has won the election with nearly 88% of the vote, and will overtake Joseph Stalin to become Russia’s longest-serving leader for more than 200 years. Putin was standing for the six-year term against three candidates from parties who have not criticised his rule nor his invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Putin was “imitating” yet another election, adding that Russian leader would stop at nothing to rule forever and his election has no legitimacy.
Britain, Poland, German and the US have criticised the election process as neither free nor fair. The British Foreign Office minister David Cameron said the elections had been held illegally in Ukrainian territory and offered “a lack of choice for voters and no independent monitoring”. The Polish Foreign Office said that voting took place in conditions of extreme repression. The German Foreign Ministry described the process as a pseudo-election and the White House said the elections were “obviously not free, nor fair”.
Nationwide turnout was 74.22% at 6pm when polls closed, officials said, surpassing the 67.5% seen in 2018.
At least 74 people were arrested across Russia in connection with the election, according to OVD-Info. Despite tight controls, there have been several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations.
Anti-Putin protests took place outside polling stations as Russian citizens lined up to vote at Russian embassies around the world.
A Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv earlier today killed a man and wounded eight people.
That’s it from me, Donna Ferguson. It’s been a privilege for me to write the blog today. Thanks for following along. If you want to continue following news on the Russian presidential elections, go to https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia
Foreign Office minister David Cameron has spoken out about the election:
The polls have closed in Russia, following the illegal holding of elections on Ukrainian territory, a lack of choice for voters and no independent OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) monitoring. This is not what free and fair elections look like.”
The Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv earlier today killed a man and wounded eight people, Ukrainian officials have said.
Ukraine’s ministry of internal affairs shared images of damaged houses, wrecked or burnt-out cars, including one with a pair of abandoned shoes and other damaged items strewn on the ground alongside its open driver’s door, and rescue workers helping people leave the scene and dousing a blackened car.
“Police found an injured girl with shrapnel wounds who was given first aid on the spot and taken to hospital,” the ministry said on its Telegram channel of the aftermath in Mykolaiv.
There was a record turnout at today’s presidential elections in Russia, according to Russian election officials.
Nationwide turnout was 74.22% at 6pm when polls closed, officials said, surpassing 2018 levels of 67.5%.
Updated
Here’s President Zelenskiy’s reaction to the exit polls in full:
These days, the Russian dictator imitates another “elections.” Everyone in the world understands that this person, like many others throughout history, has become sick with power and will stop at nothing to rule forever. There is no evil he would not do to maintain his personal power. And no one in the world would have been safeguarded from this. I am grateful to every state, leader, and international organization that has and will continue to call these things by their proper names. Everything Russia does in Ukraine’s occupied territories is a crime. There should be a fair response to everything the Russian murderers did in this war to secure Putin’s eternal rule. Only one thing scares him the most: accountability. This imitation of “elections” has no legitimacy and cannot have any. This person must end up on the dock in The Hague. This is what we must ensure. Anyone in the world who values life and decency.”
He addressed his people in Ukrainian in a video posted on X:
These days, the Russian dictator imitates another "elections." Everyone in the world understands that this person, like many others throughout history, has become sick with power and will stop at nothing to rule forever.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 17, 2024
There is no evil he would not do to maintain his personal… pic.twitter.com/zu1see37kl
Updated
The exit poll result means Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to power in 1999, will overtake Joseph Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader for more than 200 years.
The Polish Ministry has also reacted to the exit polls:
From 15 to 17 March 2024, so-called presidential elections took place in Russia. The voting took place in conditions of extreme repression against society, making it impossible to make a free, democratic choice.”
The British Foreign Office has commented on the elections:
By illegally holding elections on Ukrainian territory, Russia demonstrates that it is not interested in finding a path to peace. The UK will continue to provide humanitarian, economic and military aid to Ukrainians defending their democracy.”
Germany’s Foreign Ministry also commented:
The pseudo-election in Russia is neither free nor fair, the result will surprise nobody. Putin’s rule is authoritarian, he relies on censorship, repression & violence. The “election” in the occupied territories of Ukraine are null and void & another breach of international law.”
It’s worth remembering that voting for the presidential election also took place for the first time in the four Ukrainian regions Russia partly controls and has claimed since 2022.
Voting also took place in Crimea, which Moscow took from Ukraine in 2014.
Kyiv regards the election on occupied territory as illegal and void.
Speaking about the anti-Putin protests that have taken place outside Russian embassies today, Ruslan Shaveddinov of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation said:
We showed ourselves, all of Russia and the whole world that Putin is not Russia that Putin has seized power in Russia.
Our victory is that we, the people, defeated fear, we defeated solitude – many people saw they were not alone.”
Updated
“Putin’s task is now to imprint his worldview indelibly into the minds of the Russian political establishment” to ensure a like-minded successor, according to Nikolas Gvosdev, director of the National Security Program at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.
For a U.S. administration that hoped Putin’s Ukraine adventure would be wrapped up by now with a decisive setback to Moscow’s interests, the election is a reminder that Putin expects that there will be many more rounds in the geopolitical boxing ring.”
The nationwide turnout for the elections surpassed 2018 levels of 67.5%, Reuters reports.
There was no independent tally of how many of Russia’s 114 million voters took part in the opposition demonstrations, but tens of thousands of police and security officials were out in force.
At least 74 people were arrested on Sunday across Russia, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors crackdowns on dissent.
Reuters journalists report seeing an increase in the flow of voters, especially younger people, at noon at polling stations in Moscow, St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg, with queues of several hundred people and even thousands.
This is significant because supporters of Putin’s most prominent opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, had called on Russians to come out at a “Noon against Putin” protest to show their dissent against a leader they cast as a corrupt autocrat.
Some of the voters who turned up at noon said they were protesting, though Reuters reports there were few outward signs to distinguish them from ordinary voters.
The poll suggesting Putin won the election means the 71-year-old, who has been in power for more than two decades, now has another six-year term in office.
Commenting on the exit poll, President Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address that “the Russian dictator is simulating another election,” and that Putin was “sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever”.
He added:
There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections and there cannot be. This person should be on trial in The Hague. That’s what we have to ensure.”
Updated
The US has also cast doubt on the exit poll result.
The White House said the elections in Russian were “obviously not free, nor fair” given how Putin has imprisoned his opponents and prevented others from running against him.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said there is no legitimacy in Russia’s “imitation of elections”.
He said he thinks Putin seeks to rule forever.
Updated
Exit polls show Vladimir Putin winning huge majority
Exit polls show Vladimir Putin winning a huge majority in Russia’s presidential election which had only one possible result.
An exit poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre suggests 87.97% of people voted for the incumbent, with 24.4% of the precincts counted.
Another exit poll by pollster FOM showed Putin won 87.8%. First official results indicated the polls were accurate.
Putin was standing against three candidates from parties who have not criticised his rule nor his invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
Reuters reporters have been out interviewing Russian voters in Latvia.
Earlier today, about 100 anti-Putin protestors gathered in front of the polling station at the Russian embassy in Riga.
Vladimir, a permanent resident in Latvia who gave only his first name, said he came to cast a blank ballot. “I don’t want war, I don’t want things like in Ukraine,” he added.
Andrei, a 28-year-old voting in the Russian election for the first time, said he would vote against Putin even though the result of the election is “probably obvious”, as he felt it was a way he could oppose the war.
Kirill Martynov, editor in chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe, an independent Russian media outlet founded in Riga in April 2022 after the introduction of wartime censorship in Russia, said he planned to oppose this elections by spoiling the ballot.
Older Russian citizens were more reticient with reporters. Some elderly voters interviewed outside the polling station merely said it was their civic duty to vote, but did not reveal which candidate they would support.
Latvian police and border guards were checking voters’ documents outside the polling station. The Latvian State Police chief, Armands Ruks, said the controls were to ensure Russian citizens taking part in the voting did not break the law.
By noon, 351 people were checked at the entrance of the Russian embassy in Riga and 14 were found with expired residency permits, the State Police told local media.
One voter said she was afraid to speak to the media or give her name for fear her residence permit in Latvia might not be extended.
The Russian embassy condemned cases of confiscation of Latvian identity documents from Russian voters, with some citizens now required to appear at the migration service to receive an order to leave.
In Moscow, dozens of brave Russians have been flocking to Alexei Navalny’s grave today to symbolically ‘cast their vote’ for the dead late opposition politician, TV footage showed.
Navalny was buried at the Borisovo cemetery in southern Moscow on 1 March.
Video footage posted on social media by the Novaya Gazeta Europe news outlet and other media showed dozens of Navalny supporters at his grave. They had placed various tributes, with phrases such as “We choose you” written on them, Reuters reports.
Official voting slips which had been amended to include Navalny’s name on the list of candidates with a tick next to it were also visible.
Supporters were shown placing flowers on Navalny’s grave, which was already piled high with flowers.
More than 8 million people have voted online in Russia’s presidential election, an election commission official said on Sunday.
Voting has been taking place over the past three days and involves 114 million voters.
At least a thousand anti-Kremlin Russian emigres queued for hours outside the Russian embassy in Armenia, Reuters reports.
A queue stretching more than one kilometre long snaked through the streets around the large embassy complex in central Yerevan, where voting was being held.
All those who spoke to Reuters said they had come to register their opposition to Vladimir Putin and his policies.
“It’s clear that the president will be elected without us,” said Kirill, a Russian living in Armenia who did not give his surname.
“I came personally to show that I disagree and to show that there are many of us. It seems to me that if the authorities see that there are many of us who disagree, then at least life in Russia may be a little easier for people and maybe some changes will occur.”
Armenia, which allows Russians to stay without a visa, became one of the most popular refuges for Russians opposed to the Kremlin as political repression and conscription ramped up after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Yerevan authorities said in 2023 that over 100,000 Russians had moved to the mountainous South Caucasus country of about 3 million people.
Many of those Russians, who are typically young, anti-war and opposed to President Vladimir Putin, showed up to cast their votes today.
Allies of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who died in an Arctic penal colony last month, had asked his supporters in Russia and abroad to come to the polls at midday on Sunday in a show of strength.
They recommended supporters either spoil their ballots, or to vote for one of the three nominal opposition candidates permitted to run.
One Russian who gave her name as Alina said she had come with her husband without hope of her vote affecting the election’s outcome, but to show how many people shared her views.
“The voting is not the most important thing here,” she said.
Many of those queueing to vote said that they hope one day to return to their homeland in future, even as Putin is set to receive another six-year term in office.
“I dream of returning to Russia,” said Olga Mutovina, a journalist from the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
“I dream of a Russia where there will be independent courts, where the press will work freely, where people will not be imprisoned for their opinions.”
Reuters reports that not all of the Russians who came to vote appeared to be opponents. In London, one man queuing to vote was spotted wearing a top that read ‘Jesus is my saviour. Putin is my president’.
Others at the embassy spoke of their desire to make their voices heard by casting their vote, even if it does not affect the results of the election.
“We haven’t been heard for past 30 years. Nobody listened to us. We moved, we emigrated, and even here, far away from Russia, we feel the consequences of not us not being heard,” voter Natalia Cherednikova said in London.
“This year is so important just to be there for ourselves, even though we all (are) ...fatalistic in terms of the meaning of it and that nobody really cares. It’s just for ourselves that we’ve been here. We have voted. We showed up.”
Russian’s foreign military spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has tried to suggest that Russian citizens did not participate in the anti-Putin protests that have been taking place outside Russian embassies around the world.
She questioned if all those voting at foreign embassies were opponents of Putin and accused Western media of disseminating propaganda about the events.
“Russian citizens did not come to the rallies and performances that unfriendly regimes and their paid information services are trying to present,” Zakharova said.
“They came to cast their vote. Who they voted for and how they voted is their free choice. But the fact that they rejected the appeals of the marginalised is obvious to everyone.”
The protesters represent a small fraction of Russia’s 114 million voters and are unlikely to have any impact on the final outcome.
Ukraine has now said that at least six people were wounded in the Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv earlier today, Reuters reports.
“Police found an injured girl with shrapnel wounds who was given first aid on the spot and taken to hospital,” Ukraine’s ministry of internal affairs said on its Telegram channel, detailing the aftermath of a rocket hitting Mykolaiv.
It shared images of damaged houses, wrecked or burnt-out cars, including one with a pair of abandoned shoes and other damaged items strewn on the ground alongside its open driver’s door, and rescue workers assisting people away from the scene and dousing a blackened car with water.
“As a result of the attack, houses, vehicles and infrastructure were damaged,” the ministry said.
Separately, the Ukrainian military said Russian air attacks had damaged agricultural enterprises and destroyed several industrial buildings in Odesa.
Mykolaiv’s regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, said on Telegram that there had been two strikes on Mykolaiv coming from the same direction as the strike on Odesa.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 16 drones and seven missiles, and that 14 drones were destroyed over the Odesa region.
Updated
Protests have been taking place all day long in many cities in Europe next to queues of Russian voters waiting to vote in the presidential elections at their local Russian embassy.
In Montenegro, one woman held a sign calling Putin a killer.
A man outside the Russian embassy in Riga, Latvia, held up a placard equating overthrowing Putin to ending the war.
In Paris, a man held a sign comparing Putin to Hitler.
Updated
Russian nationals living in the UK have been spoiling their presidential election ballots in protest against Putin extending his leadership.
The Russian Democratic Society (RDS) – described as a community of Russian immigrants in the UK – organised a Noon Against Putin demonstration outside the Russian Embassy in London.
On its Facebook event, the group said: “Protesters can express their protest by voting against Putin or by spoiling the ballot by checking two candidates, thus rendering it invalid but not subject to falsification.”
Aleksandra Kallenberg spoke to Sky News outside the Russian embassy in London and told the outlet she had spoiled her ballot by ticking three candidates besides Mr Putin.
“It is important, because I see my people, I see my nation, I see how many people are actually against the regime, against Putin, because our propaganda really tries to show that no-one is actually against (him) … and I see how many people are actually here today and that’s very inspiring,” Ms Kallenberg told the broadcaster.
Dmitrii Moskovskii, also at the London protest, told Sky News that the death of Mr Navalny had triggered a backlash against Mr Putin’s regime.
He said: “Many, many people inside Russia and outside of it have been saying to me that after Navalny’s death, they’ve really realised that this regime is crossing the line, that this regime is no more legitimate and cannot, do not, have a right to exist anymore.”
The crowd outside the embassy chanted “Russia without Putin, Putin is a killer”.
Outside Russian embassies around the world, Russian citizens queuing up to vote in the Russian presidential elections have been protesting again Putin’s rule.
In Moldova, a woman holding a placard depicting Adolf Hitler, Putin and Joseph Stalin protests in front of the Russian Embassy in Chisinau.
As voters queue outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, a woman holds a placard suggesting Putin is a monster.
A woman holds a placard calling for ‘Russian without Putin’ at a protest against the re-election of Putin opposite the Russian Embassy in London.
Summary
As we wait for the exit polls from Russia, here’s a roundup of the latest news today:
Vladimir Putin is poised to tighten his grip on power with an expected landslide victory in the ongoing presidential election. While an emphatic win is expected, opponents of Putin have staged a symbolic noon protest at polling stations with further demonstrations outside Russian embassies around the world.
At least 74 people have been arrested across Russia on Sunday in connection with the ongoing presidential election, according to OVD-Info. Despite tight controls, there have been several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations.
The turnout at Russia’s presidential election has surpassed 2018 levels in the final hours before the polls close. According to the TASS news agency, 67.54% of eligible voters had cast their ballots as of Sunday morning, eclipsing the 67.5% turnout seen six years ago.
Vladimir Putin fears going to war with Nato nations, according to Estonia prime minister Kaja Kallas. Kallas told the BBC that while Putin is well able to “sow fear”, nation leaders should remember that he too has concerns.
Russian proposals for peace are all centred around continued Ukrainian subjugation, Czech president Petr Pavel has claimed. Pavel told Czech Radio on Saturday that the Kremlin’s proposals to date have all been a “diktat”.
British defence secretary Grant Shapps was forced to abandon a trip to Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa because of a Russian missile threat. As he flew to Poland last week, Shapps was notified that a convoy carrying both the Ukrainian president and Greek prime minister had narrowly avoided a Russian missile strike.
At least five people have been injured after Russian forces attacked the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. The region’s governor, Vitalii Kim, has said that the injuries of the victims are not critical.
Ukraine’s GDP rose by 3.6% during the first two months of this year, according to the country’s economy minister. Yulia Svyrydenko said on Sunday that this was driven by “several factors”, including investment demand and agricultural exports.
Long-range attack drones have hit 12 Russian oil refineries during the war so far, according to a Ukrainian intelligence source. The Russian defence ministry has so far confirmed a total of 35 Ukrainian drone incursions across various regions.
Updated
Russian arms exports fell by over 50% between 2019-2023, research finds
Russian arms exports fell by 53% between the periods 2014-2018 and 2019-2023, according to new research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The upshot was that Russia dropped from second to third place in the global arms export rankings. Only 12 countries received major Russian arms in 2023, compared to 31 in 2019.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 17 March 2024.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 17, 2024
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/OU9Qq7F1Ee#StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/gb2kxaeQsP
Putin very good at sowing 'fear' among society but fears Nato war
Vladimir Putin is “afraid” of going to war with Nato nations, the prime minister of Estonia has claimed.
In an interview with the BBC reported by Ukrinform, Kaja Kallas urged nation leaders to also think about “what Putin is afraid of”.
“He has been threatening with nuclear war for quite some time. But it has been only words. He has been very good at sow fear within our societies and listening, what we are afraid of,” said Kallas.
“We also have to think what Putin is afraid of. And he is actually afraid of going to war with Nato countries. He doesn’t want that. And we, of course, don’t want it either,” she added.
Updated
More than 70 people have been arrested across Russia on Sunday in connection with the ongoing presidential election in the country.
OVD-Info, a group that monitors crackdowns on dissent, has reported that 74 arrests have been made nationwide.
Protestors descended upon polling stations in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg at noon to make their feelings known over Vladimir Putin’s ongoing control of the Kremlin.
Reuters has reported that, despite tight controls, there have been several dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations.
A woman was arrested in St. Petersburg after she threw a firebomb at a polling station entrance, and several others were detained across the country for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes.
Dmitry Medvedev, a deputy head of the Russian Security Council chaired by Putin, called for toughening the punishment for those who vandalize polling stations, arguing they should face treason charges for attempting to derail the vote amid the fighting in Ukraine.
Putin looks set for a landslide victory after facing no credible rivals and overseeing a clamping down on political dissent. A new six-year term would enable him to take over Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader for more than 200 years.
Updated
At least five injured after Russian forces attack southern city of Mykolaiv
Russian forces have attacked the southern city of Mykolaiv twice with missiles earlier today.
The Kyiv Independent has reported that at least five people are wounded as a result of the attacks, which saw missiles hit the city one after another at around 2pm local time.
Regional governor Vitalii Kim has said that the injuries of the victims are not critical.
According to the governor, Russia carried out the attack from the same place as its previous strike against Odesa on 15 March. Twenty 21 people were killed in that attack, Moscow’s deadliest in weeks.
Twelve casualties in Belgorod region, one fatal
Ukrainian shelling in the Russian region of Belgorod has killed one man alongside injuring 11 others, the regional governor has said.
Belgorod is one of a number of regions affected by Ukrainian drone incursions overnight. On Sunday morning the Russian defence ministry reported that some 35 incursions had taken place, including in the Kursk and Rostov regions which also border Ukraine.
The number of casualties has been confirmed by the regional governor for Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, who said earlier on Sunday that a 16-year-old girl was killed in a separate shelling incident in the region.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Updated
Outside Russian embassies around the world, protests are being staged against the re-election of Putin.
UK
France
Latvia
Finland
AFP reports that Moldovan police have detained a man after two firebombs were said to have been thrown at the Russian embassy in the capital city of Chisinau:
Media in Moldova, which borders Ukraine, reported that the embassy, where voting was underway for Russia’s presidential election, was attacked with Molotov cocktails. There were no injuries.
“A man threw two containers of flammable substances over the fence of the Russian embassy in Chisinau,” police said in a statement.
The 54-year-old Moldovan – who said he also has Russian citizenship – was “immediately detained” and being held for questioning, police said.
“He justified his action by some dissatisfaction he has with the actions of the Russian authorities,” police added.
Moldova this week protested Moscow’s decision to open several polling stations in separatist Transnistria during the Russian presidential election.
The country of 2.6 million situated between Ukraine and Romania wanted the vote to be organised only at the Russian embassy in Chisinau.
Updated
Thousands reportedly protest against Putin re-election
Although Vladimir Putin will, once again, to win the Russian presidential election, opponents have today staged a protest against the inevitability of his ongoing grip over the Kremlin.
Supporters of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny gathered at polling stations within Russia and beyond at midday local time for the so-called “Noon against Putin” protest. Many of them planned to spoil their ballot papers, to vote for one of the three opposition candidates, or to write in Navalny’s name.
Reports said thousands of people had taken part in the peaceful protests.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, participated in a protest outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, Germany, alongside others queuing to cast their votes.
Today so far
Vladimir Putin is poised to tighten his grip on power on Sunday with an expected landscape victory in the ongoing presidential election. Opponents staged a symbolic noon protest at polling stations, while the three-day vote has been hit by Ukrainian bombardments and a series of incursions into Russian territory by anti-Putin sabotage groups.
British defence secretary Grant Shapps was forced to abandon a trip to Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa because of a Russian missile threat. As he flew to Poland last week, Shapps was notified that a convoy carrying both the Ukrainian president and Greek prime minister had narrowly avoided a Russian missile strike.
Ukraine’s GDP rose by 3.6% during the first two months of this year, according to the country’s economy minister. Yulia Svyrydenko said on Sunday that this was driven by “several factors”, including investment demand and agricultural exports.
Russian proposals for peace are all centred around continued Ukrainian subjugation, Czech president Petr Pavel has claimed. Pavel told Czech Radio on Saturday that the Kremlin’s proposals to date have all been a “diktat”.
The turnout at Russia’s presidential election has surpassed 2018 levels in the final hours before the polls close. According to the TASS news agency, 67.54% of eligible voters had cast their ballots as of Sunday morning, eclipsing the 67.5% turnout seen in 2018.
Long-range attack drones have hit 12 Russian oil refineries during the war so far, according to a Ukrainian intelligence source. The Russian defence ministry has so far confirmed a total of 35 Ukrainian drone incursions across various regions.
Updated
Long-range Ukrainian attack drones have hit 12 Russian oil refineries during the war so far, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters on Sunday.
Officials in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said drones, launched by the SBU domestic security service, had attacked the Slavyansk oil refinery overnight.
On Sunday morning the Russian defence ministry confirmed a total of 35 Ukrainian drone incursions, including four in the Moscow region and two in the neighbouring Kaluga and Yaroslavl regions.
More Ukrainian drones attacked the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions bordering Ukraine, as well as the southern Krasnodar region.
Ukraine's GDP up by 3.6% in January-February, economy minister says
Investment demand and agricultural exports are two of “several factors” which have driven an increase in Ukraine’s GDP seen during the first two months of this year.
According to Reuters, economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Sunday that Ukraine’s GDP rose 3.6% during this period.
“This was driven by several factors, including investment demand, favourable weather conditions for construction works, agricultural exports, (and) the operation of the Ukrainian sea corridor,” Svyrydenko said on Facebook, citing preliminary data.
She said the expansion of production capacity in the mining industry and stability in the energy sector were additional factors.
“Thanks to the positive performance of key sectors of the economy, we expect sustainable growth for the entire first quarter,” she added.
Ukraine’s GDP rose 3.5% in January, having grown by 5% in 2023 after a 28.8% fall in the previous year.
The turnout at Russia’s presidential election is approaching 70% with hours remaining until the polls close.
At 67.54% as of Sunday morning, the number of eligible voters casting their ballots has surpassed 2018 levels according to the TASS news agency.
Turnout in 2018 was 67.5%; the highest ever turnout in a modern Russian presidential election was in June 1991, when turnout reached 74.7%.
The ongoing election, which has been hit by Ukrainian bombardments and a series of incursions into Russian territory by anti-Putin sabotage groups, will end in a landslide victory for Vladimir Putin who is running virtually unopposed.
Grant Shapps abandons Odesa trip after Kremlin became aware of travel plans
British defence secretary Grant Shapps was forced to abandon a trip to Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa because of a Russian missile threat.
As he flew to Poland from RAF Northolt last week, Shapps was notified that an armoured convoy carrying both the Ukrainian president and Greek prime minister narrowly avoided a Russian missile strike while visiting the port city on 6 March.
Shapps arrived in Kyiv the following day for talks with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on 7 March, after which the planned onward journey to Odesa was called off.
Read more here:
Georgia breakaway state has discussed becoming part of Russia, according to report.
The self-titled independent state of South Ossetia has discussed becoming part of Russia, the Russian news agency RIA has claimed.
South Ossetia broke away from Georgian rule in a war in 1991-92. In 2008, Russia recognised as independent both this state and the separate breakaway region of Abkhazia.
This came after Russian troops repelled a Georgian attempt to retake South Ossetia in a five-day war in 2008.
According to a report by Reuters, RIA cited the head of South Ossetia’s parliament as confirming on Sunday that discussions over becoming part of Russia have taken place.
The two regions make up a fifth of Georgia’s territory.
“We are discussing all these issues in close coordination with Russia, taking into account our bilateral relations and treaties,” Alan Alborov, the chairman of South Ossetia’s parliament, has been quoted as saying by RIA.
“When we come to this idea together with the Russian Federation (about joining the Russian Federation), we will do it.”
Updated
Putin responsible for ‘parody’ election marred by propaganda and vote fixing
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine reveals a man ‘cut off from political and military realities’, whose obsession with supposed western plotting and a return to a pre-Soviet imperial Russia drives his quest to be all-conquering.
An expected landslide for Putin in the ongoing election has been made possible by the lack of credible rivals and huge levels of spending on propaganda, vote-fixing in occupied Ukraine, and unopposed nationwide campaigning.
Read more here:
Updated
Here are some of the latest images of Belgorod coming in via news agency wires:
Russian proposals for peace have been a ‘diktat’, the president of the Czech Republic has claimed.
It is impossible to imagine Russia and Ukraine negotiating a peace agreement because Russia’s proposals are all centred around continued Ukrainian subjugation, according to Czech president Petr Pavel.
The Kyiv Independent has reported comments made by Pavel to Czech Radio on Saturday, in which he claimed that “all Russian proposals so far have been in fact a diktat”.
“The Kremlin has presented its list of conditions that it as an aggressor has no right to put forward.”
Ukraine has maintained throughout that the peace talks should be held on the basis of its 10-step peace formula, which includes a full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. Russia has rejected this proposal.
Updated
Russia responds to Macron’s ceasefire request with weapons demand
Russia’s response to Emmanuel Macron’s request for a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympic games has been to ask France to stop supplying weapons to the country.
The French president made the request in an interview from Paris on Saturday, with Reuters reporting that Macron said a ceasefire is “what has always happened”.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to this request by urging the French president to cease weapon supplies, the TASS news agency reported.
Zakharova also said Macron should have proposed the same ceasefire to the sides of the conflict in the Middle East.
Updated
Putin critics call for protests at polling stations
Critics of Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin regime have called for massive protests at Russian polling stations on Sunday, the final day of a presidential election that is guaranteed to cement his hardline rule.
The three-day vote has already been hit by Ukrainian bombardments and a series of incursions into Russian territory by anti-Putin sabotage groups.
Read more here:
Updated
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage on Ukraine. It is just after 10.30am in Kyiv and 11.30am in Moscow. Here are the headlines:
Russia accused Ukraine of using “terrorist activities” to try to disrupt its presidential election and former president Dmitry Medvedev decried as “traitors” the scattered protesters who started fires at voting booths and poured dye into ballot boxes. A Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive close to a polling station in the annexed Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Russian state news agency Tass said. No injuries or damage were reported and Reuters could not independently verify the incident.
The Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region caught on fire on Sunday after a Ukrainian drone attack and one person died from a suspected heart attack, local officials said. Videos online showed explosions and fire, along with the sound of drones approaching the site.
On Sunday morning, the Russian defence ministry reported 35 Ukrainian drone incursions, including four in the Moscow region and two in the neighbouring Kaluga and Yaroslavl regions. More Ukrainian drones attacked in the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions bordering Ukraine, and in the southern Krasnodar region, the defence ministry said.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, praised the Ukrainian military for its new “long-range capability”, in a statement posted on Saturday night. “What our own drones are capable of is a true Ukrainian long-range capability. Ukraine will now always have a strike force in the sky,” he said on social media.
Zelenskiy’s comments followed Ukrainian drones striking two Rosneft oil refineries in Russia’s Samara region, leaving one facility on fire on Saturday, the region’s governor said. The Volga river region’s Syzran refinery was on fire, Dmitry Azarov said on Telegram. Officials also confirmed an attack on the Novokubyshev refinery. Numerous other attacks during the past week have caused major damage to Russian oil refineries.
Attacks continued on Russia’s Belgorod oblast, with the Russian ministry of defence claiming air defence shot down 15 rockets. A man and a woman were killed in Belgorod oblast on Saturday, and another person was killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian city of Grayvoron, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. The fresh bombardments on Saturday prompted authorities to close schools and shopping centres.
Five people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in the village of Glotovo, two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Gladkov said. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state media Vladimir Putin was being “constantly briefed” by his military leaders on the situation at the border. Putin is all but certain of victory in the election after dissent has been crushed.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian “reconnaissance groups” had attempted an incursion from Ukraine’s Sumy region. That followed an armed incursion claimed by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin on Tuesday in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. Russia’s defence ministry claimed its security forces killed 30 fighters. In contrast, the Russian Volunteer Corps – one of the groups that claimed to have crossed the border on Tuesday – released a video saying it had captured 25 Russian soldiers.
Resistance forces set off an explosion near a polling station in Russian-occupied Skadovsk in the Kherson oblast, injuring five Russian soldiers, the national resistance centre of Ukraine said. The explosion forced Russian administration in Skadovsk to cancel voting at polling stations and allow it only at places of residence, the centre said.
There had been 11 attempts to set fire to polling stations in Russia, along with 19 cases of ballot boxes being spoiled with greenery and paint, Nexta reported. Russian authorities have proposed eight-year prison sentences for those involved.
The death toll in the Russian attack on civilian infrastructure in Odesa rose to 21 after an injured emergency worker died in hospital. The ballistic missile attack blasted homes in the southern city on Friday, followed by a second missile that targeted first responders, officials said. It was Moscow’s deadliest attack in weeks and caused the British defence secretary, Grant Shapps, to abandon a trip because of a Russian missile threat. More than 50 people were still in hospital, Odesa deputy mayor Svitlana Bedreha said on Saturday, according to Ukrainian state media.
Russian shelling killed a 51-year-old man in the Donetsk oblast and injured another, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said. Russians shelled the Donetsk oblast about 11,000 times this week, Filashkin said.
There has been a record growth in the number of Russian men ages 31 to 59 with disabilities, the UK defence ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing. “The increase in the number of men with disabilities was most likely due to the growth in military invalids,” the UK defence ministry said. “This is almost certainly the case. A significant majority of the over 355,000 casualties that the Russian armed forces have suffered as a result of the conflict in Ukraine have been wounded personnel.”
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