Closing summary
In Kharkiv and parts of the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region, 200,000 residents have gone without electricity since last Friday’s attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure. Emergency power outages have also reportedly been introduced in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sacked the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council and replaced him with the head of his foreign spy agency on Tuesday in a new shake-up that follows the overhaul of the military high command last month. No reason for the changes was given.
Nato is considering shooting down Russian missiles that stray too close to its borders, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, Andrzej Szejna, told Polish media outlet RMF24. Szejna said that “(Russia) knew that if the missile moved further into Poland, it would be shot down. There would be a counterattack.” Poland’s armed forces said that Russia violated Poland’s airspace at 4:23am (0323 GMT) on Sunday morning with a cruise missile launched at targets in western Ukraine.
The director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, said, without evidence, that the US, Britain and Ukraine were behind Friday’s Moscow concert hall attack, in which at least 139 people were killed, state news agency Tass reported. He was also quoted as saying that the number of accomplices in the concert hall attack would increase past the current number of 11 detainees. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a close Putin ally, has said that Ukraine was “of course” behind Friday’s deadly attack on the Moscow concert hall, despite Kyiv denying any involvement in the shooting, which Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.
A Russian court on Tuesday remanded an eighth suspect in custody over the attack on the Moscow concert hall, officials said. The court’s press service said the latest suspect to be remanded was a man originally from the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported. Officials said he was ordered to be held in detention until at least 22 May, without detailing the exact accusations against him.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, accused by Russia of spying, has had his pre-trial detention extended by three months to 30 June, a Moscow court said. The latest decision to extend Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention “feels particularly painful, as this week marks one year since Evan was arrested and wrongfully detained,” Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador, said. “Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is also doing in the case of Paul Whelan.”
Russia is trying to expand its forces in the north-west of the country, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update, adding that most of Russia’s troops remain dedicated to fighting in Ukraine.
Ukrainian security officers arrested two people suspected of acting on behalf of Russia as they tried to blow up a railway line used to supply weapons to the east for Kyiv’s war effort, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Tuesday. The detainees, identified as residents of the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, planted an explosive device by the line in central Poltava region and planned to detonate it remotely, but they were caught red-handed by SBU officers, the statement said.
Thank you for following today’s latest news. This blog is closing now but you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
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Hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity after attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
In Kharkiv and parts of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, 200,000 residents have gone without electricity since last Friday’s attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
“Very serious damage to the power system makes it impossible to connect all people and houses to the grid and there are parts of the city where blackouts last 4-6 hours,” Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, told state television.
“Today underground transport is already working, however … (other) electric transport is not working today in Kharkiv,” he said.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of Ukrenergo, which operates Ukraine’s transmission lines, told a televised news briefing in Kharkiv the company had a plan to restore power supply.
“It’s still hard to guarantee any timeline, but we’re talking about a period of 7-10 days, maybe two weeks when we can restore normal power supplies to the city. Provided there is no new destruction,” he said.
Emergency power outages have also been introduced in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa, Reuters reported.
Deputy Odesa governor Serhiy Kropyva told national television 23,000 residents were without electricity as of Tuesday noon while “the transport system was almost completely restored”.
He said the maritime Black Sea transport corridor continued to function despite the attacks.
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Nato 'considering shooting down Russian missiles that approach its borders' - Polish deputy foreign minister
Nato is considering shooting down Russian missiles that stray too close to its borders, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, Andrzej Szejna, has told Polish media outlet RMF24.
Szejna said that “(Russia) knew that if the missile moved further into Poland, it would be shot down. There would be a counterattack.”
“Various concepts are being analysed within Nato, including for such missiles to be shot down when they are very close to the Nato border,” he added, noting that this would need Ukrainian approval if it were to happen.
The comments come after Poland’s armed forces said that Russia violated Poland’s airspace at 4:23am (0323 GMT) on Sunday morning with a cruise missile launched at targets in western Ukraine. Poland is a Nato member.
Russia’s ambassador to Poland, Sergei Andreyev, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Warsaw in connection to the incident, but did not turn up yesterday. He told state-run RIA Novosti that this was because the Polish side did not provide evidence of any airspace violation.
There have been other reported violations of Polish territory since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
According to the general staff of the Polish armed forces, a Russian missile entered the airspace of the Nato member at the end of December.
In April 2023, a military object was found in a forest close to the village of Zamość near the northern city of Bydgoszcz. It was later reported to be a Russian missile.
In November 2022, a stray Ukrainian missile struck the Polish village of Przewodów in the south, killing two people and raising fears at the time of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.
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You can listen to the latest episode of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast here:
In it, the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, Andrew Roth, explores the Kremlin’s reaction to Friday’s terror attack and the battle for the narrative over who was responsible.
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We have some more quotes from the head of Russia’s FSB security agency, Alexander Bortnikov, who said earlier, without evidence, that the US, Britain and Ukraine were behind Friday’s Moscow concert hall attack, in which at least 139 people were killed.
He also reportedly said on Tuesday that while those who had “ordered” the attack had not been identified, the assailants were heading to Ukraine and would have been “greeted as heroes”.
“We believe the action was prepared both by the radical Islamists themselves and, of course, facilitated by western special services, and Ukraine’s special services themselves have a direct connection to this,” Bortnikov was cited as saying by Russian news agencies.
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Ukraine's security council secretary dismissed - decree states
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has dismissed the security council secretary, Oleksiy Danilov, from his post, according to a decree published today.
The head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, was appointed in his place, another decree said. No reason was given for the change.
Ukraine’s national security and defence council has a coordinating role on issues of national security and defence under the president. It comprises the country’s top political, security and defence chiefs.
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Ukraine has responded after the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, said – without evidence – that the US, Britain and Ukraine were behind Friday’s Moscow attack.
“There are irrefutable facts, common (in different countries) understanding of causes and consequences, complete disbelief even by neutral countries in the ‘Ukrainian trace in the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall,’” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president’s office.
“Why such a demonstrative display of collective inadequacy? What are the resonances?” he said.
Once again. This is now chronic. There are irrefutable facts, common (in different countries) understanding of causes and consequences, complete disbelief even by neutral countries in the "Ukrainian trace in the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall". And nevertheless, after…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 26, 2024
Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, said that he spoke with the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, about assistance to Kyiv and the confiscation of frozen Russian assets.
“We also talked about setting up an international task force with the participation of Ukraine for the development of practical solutions for the confiscation. I thanked David Cameron for his strong personal support and commitment to this process,” he added.
With the 🇬🇧 Foreign Secretary @David_Cameron we discussed the assistance to 🇺🇦 and the confiscation of frozen assets from the russian federation. We also talked about setting up an international task force with the participation of Ukraine for the development of practical… pic.twitter.com/OhVXV6sJBB
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) March 26, 2024
Ukraine’s daily electricity imports will reach their highest this year on Tuesday after a string of Russian missile strikes on critical infrastructure caused blackouts in many regions, the energy ministry said.
The sweeping attacks, the biggest of which came on Friday, have caused significant damage to generating and transmission facilities, forcing Kyiv to halt power exports and rely on imports.
Power imports are expected to reach 18,649 megawatt hours (MWh) on Tuesday, up from 14,900 MWh on Sunday, the ministry said.
By contrast, Ukraine had exported 3,300 MWh the day before the first wave of Russian attacks on Friday.
Vietnam Communist party secretary Nguyen Phu Trong invited Vladimir Putin to visit the south-east Asian country during a telephone call on Tuesday, Vietnamese state media reported.
“President Putin happily accepted the invitation and agreed for the two sides to arrange (the visit) at a suitable time,” official Vietnam news agency reported, according to Reuters.
Vietnamese state media reported in October that Putin had accepted an invitation from Vietnam’s president for a visit, but that has not taken place.
The invitation was extended months after The Hague-based international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader.
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Russia's spy chief says US, Britain and Ukraine were behind Moscow concert hall attack - report
The director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, has said, without evidence, that the US, Britain and Ukraine were behind Friday’s Moscow concert hall attack, in which at least 139 people were killed, state news agency Tass reported.
Ukraine has denied Russian accusations of involvement in the attack, for which the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility.
Western countries have said their intelligence indicates that Islamic State-K, Islamic State’s Afghan offshoot, was responsible.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said yesterday that the terrorist attack was conducted by radical Islamists, but repeated his earlier assertion the attackers had planned to escape to Ukraine before they were arrested.
Bortnikov has also reportedly said that the number of accomplices in the concert hall attack would increase past the current number of 11 detainees.
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Summary of the day so far...
The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, accused by Russia of spying, has had his pre-trial detention extended by three months to 30 June, a Moscow court said. The latest decision to extend Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention “feels particularly painful, as this week marks one year since Evan was arrested and wrongfully detained,” Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador, said. “Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is also doing in the case of Paul Whelan.”
A Russian court on Tuesday remanded an eighth suspect in custody over the attack on the Moscow concert hall that killed at least 139 people, officials said. Moscow earlier announced it had detained 11 people in connection with the attack on the Crocus City Hall. The court’s press service said the latest suspect to be remanded was a man originally from the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported. Officials said he was ordered to be held in detention until at least 22 May, without detailing the exact accusations against him.
Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a close Putin ally, has said that Ukraine was “of course” behind Friday’s deadly attack on the Moscow concert hall, despite Kyiv denying any involvement in the shooting, which Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.
Russia is trying to expand its forces in the north-west of the country, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update, adding that most of Russia’s troops remain dedicated to fighting in Ukraine.
Ukrainian security officers have arrested two people suspected of acting on behalf of Russia as they tried to blow up a railway line used to supply weapons to the east for Kyiv’s war effort, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Tuesday. The detainees, identified as residents of the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, planted an explosive device by the line in central Poltava region and planned to detonate it remotely, but they were caught red-handed by SBU officers, the statement said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has demanded the west supply Kyiv with Patriot air defence missiles to help his country’s troops repel Russian forces. “Give us the damn Patriots,” Kuleba told Politico. “If we had enough air defence systems, namely Patriots, we would be able to protect not only the lives of our people, but also our economy from destruction.”
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Russia is trying to expand forces in the north-west, UK's MoD says
Russia is trying to expand its forces in the north-west of the country, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its latest intelligence update.
The MoD said most of Russia’s troops remain dedicated to fighting in Ukraine, with recruitment adverts still being posted for soldiers.
Moscow will “almost certainly” have to decide whether new units such as the 44th Army Corps remain in their garrison locations once established or if they are sent to Ukraine to “maintain combat power there”, it wrote on X.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 26 March 2024.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 26, 2024
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/LUNXKX1nPb #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/wFHAX4sy5s
Both Russia and Ukraine have increased the tempo of their attacks in recent weeks as Kyiv, which has struggled to find weapons and soldiers after more than two years of war, has promised to retaliate by taking the fighting to Russian soil.
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Russia’s prosecutor general has said that strategic enterprises should be supplied with anti-drone defences, state news agency Tass reported.
Ukraine has in recent months stepped up drone stikes against Russian economic targets, including oil refineries.
Ukraine says weekend attack damaged four Russian naval ships
The Ukrainian navy has said it had damaged four Russian naval ships in a weekend missile attack on Crimea, as it has received updated information.
The armed forces had said previously that an overnight attack from Saturday to Sunday damaged only two amphibious landing ships: the Yamal and the Azov.
But according to updated information: “Ukraine’s defence forces (also) successfully damaged the spy ship Ivan Khurs and the Konstantin Olshansky large landing ship”, the navy said on Facebook.
Ukraine has claimed to have destroyed around a third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the start of the war, usually in attacks at night using sea-based drones packed with explosives.
Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks in recent weeks.
On Saturday, Russia said that it had repulsed a barrage of Ukrainian missiles fired at the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
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Russian court remands eighth Moscow concert hall attack suspect in custody - officials
A Russian court on Tuesday remanded an eighth suspect in custody over the attack on the Moscow concert hall that killed at least 139 people, officials said.
Moscow earlier announced it had detained 11 people in connection with the attack on the Crocus City Hall.
The court’s press service said the latest suspect to be remanded was a man originally from the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported.
Officials said he was ordered to be held in detention until at least 22 May, without detailing the exact accusations against him.
Four men charged on Sunday with carrying out the attack are citizens of Tajikistan.
Three more suspects – reportedly from the same family and including at least one Russian citizen – were charged on terror-related offences on Monday.
Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a close Putin ally, has said that Ukraine was “of course” behind Friday’s deadly attack on the Moscow concert hall.
News outlet SHOT published a video of an exchange in which a reporter asked Patrushev “Isis or Ukraine?” as he walked past. “Of course Ukraine,” Patrushev replied.
Kyiv has denied any involvement in the attack, which Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.
Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council and former head of FSB, answering a reporter’s question - “Was it ISIS or Ukraine?” - says:
— Dmitri Alperovitch (@DAlperovitch) March 26, 2024
“Of course it was Ukraine” https://t.co/Q4WhyIsXbM pic.twitter.com/7c9obgIy98
Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he hoped prosecutors would do everything to ensure that those who attacked the Moscow concert hall on Friday would be justly punished.
Updated
The Kremlin has refused to be drawn on whether it believed there was a link between the Ukrainian leadership and Friday’s Moscow concert hall attack, in which at least 139 people were killed.
Asked during a call with reporters whether there was a direct link between Ukraine and the attack, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “I have nothing to add to what has already been said on this topic.”
Peskov said that Russian officials’ comments on the attack were based on “preliminary data” and that the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee had already reported to Vladimir Putin on Monday about the probe.
Putin has said the attack was carried out by radical Islamists, but also said that the attackers had attempted to escape to Ukraine after the assault on the Crocus City Hall venue. Kyiv has denied any involvement in the attack.
US officials have said they have intelligence indicating it was the Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan (Isis-K), that was responsible, but Russian authorities have not publicly accepted the group’s role.
Eight suspects, natives of the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, have so far been remanded in pre-trial detention on suspicion of involvement in the attacks.
Ukraine detains suspected Russian agents after they tried 'to blow up' strategic rail line - agency
Ukrainian security officers have arrested two people suspected of acting on behalf of Russia as they tried to blow up a railway line used to supply weapons to the east for Kyiv’s war effort, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Tuesday.
The detainees, identified as residents of the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, planted an explosive device by the line in central Poltava region and planned to detonate it remotely, but they were caught red-handed by SBU officers, the statement said.
“The occupiers hoped to ruin logistic routes for weapons, ammunition and fuel for the Ukrainian armed forces,” the SBU said.
It confiscated the phones of the detainees, it said, and identified their handler as an officer of Russia’s main domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The bomb was meant to be detonated during Russian airstrikes that hit critical infrastructure last week, it added. These claims are yet to be independently verified by the Guardian.
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US ambassador in Moscow says Kremlin is using Gershkovich as 'pawn to achieve political ends'
The US ambassador in Moscow has demanded that Russia free the Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, accused by Russia of spying, arguing that the Kremlin was using him and other American citizens as pawns.
The latest decision to extend Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention “feels particularly painful, as this week marks one year since Evan was arrested and wrongfully detained,” ambassador Lynne Tracy was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is also doing in the case of Paul Whelan.”
Whelan was arrested in Moscow in 2018. He was convicted of spying, a charge the US government says is without merit, and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Friday will mark the first anniversary of Gershkovich’s arrest in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg. He has failed in repeated appeals against his detention, which has already been extended several times. No date has been set for his trial.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said Gershkovich could be released at some point in exchange for a Russian prisoner held abroad, but no such deal has so far materialised.
Gershkovich, his paper and the US government all strongly deny the charges, which carry a sentence of up to 20 years in jail.
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The Kremlin said on Tuesday said that a probe into the Moscow concert hall attack that killed 139 people on Friday was continuing, and that those “gloating” about the bloodshed were “scumbags”.
“We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists,” Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said during a meeting with government officials late on Monday.
“We are interested in who ordered it,” he said, adding that the shooting fit in to a wider campaign of intimidation by Ukraine.
“This atrocity may be just one part in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime.”
Putin didn’t mention the affiliate of the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the attack, despite growing evidence that the Afghan branch of IS, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), masterminded the attack.
Kyiv has denied any role in the attack and has accused Russia of falsely suggesting it was to blame to escalate the fighting in Ukraine.
Eight suspects, natives of the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, have so far been remanded in pre-trial detention on suspicion of involvement in the attacks.
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Ukraine's foreign minister demands west gives Kyiv the 'damn Patriot missiles'
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has demanded the west supply Kyiv with Patriot air defence missiles to help his country’s troops repel Russian forces.
“Give us the damn Patriots,” Kuleba told Politico. “If we had enough air defence systems, namely Patriots, we would be able to protect not only the lives of our people, but also our economy from destruction.”
Ukrainian officials believe Patriot surface-to-air missiles are the best defence system to combat the ballistic missiles being launched by Russia.
The foreign minster’s comments come after Russia launched a major wave of missile strikes against Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Monday, as part of its escalating aerial bombardment of the city.
Kuleba and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, renewed appeals to western partners to provide more weaponry to protect against the unrelenting aerial attacks.
On the frontlines, Zelenskiy, who has stressed his country’s dire need of air defence missiles, has warned that Ukrainian troops are rationing artillery shells amid ammunition shortages.
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Russian court extends detention of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months
A Moscow court has extended the pre-trial detention of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 30 June.
His detention had already been extended several times but no date has been set for his trial.
Gershkovich was detained in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg while on a reporting trip at the end of last March. Russia’s FSB Security Service claimed he was collecting state secrets about the country’s military-industrial complex.
Gershkovich, his paper and the US government all strongly deny the charges, which carry a sentence of up to 20 years.
Belarus’ president, Alexander Lukashenko, has inspected a tank battalion near the Lithuanian border and gave orders that any “provocation” there must be met with force, a Telegram channel close to his administration said.
“I will say publicly: any provocation must be stopped by military means,” Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, was quoted as saying.
“Any violation of the state border is a shoot-to-kill.”
Lithuania, an EU and Nato member that has offered support to Belarus’ opposition, has seen its relations with Minsk deteriorate sharply in recent years.
Belarus has provided logistical support to Moscow throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Lukashenko, the president of Belarus since 1994, backed Russia’s invasion by allowing Moscow to use its territory to launch the war, but is faced with a crippled economy that is heavily reliant on trade with Russia.
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Moscow said on Tuesday a Russian working for Ukrainian security services died when an explosive device in his possession detonated during arrest in the Samara region, alleging he was planning an attack.
“When the perpetrator was apprehended, the IED he had seized detonated, leaving him with fatal injuries. Neither security personnel nor civilians were injured,” the FSB security services said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. This claim has not been independently verified.
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Russia has been discussing the location of a future Russian military base in the Central African Republic (CAR), Russian state-run news agency Tass has cited the Russian ambassador to the CAR as saying.
“Talks are currently ongoing between defence ministries of the two states. As far as is known, the place to locate the base is being selected,” Alexander Bikantov said.
The Central African Republic, a former French colony, has become one of Russia’s closest African allies in recent years, playing host to one of the Wagner group mercenary army’s largest foreign operations.
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Opening summary
Good morning, it has just passed 10.30am in Kyiv and 11.30am in Moscow. Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian navy has claimed a tactical victory after it said it had struck the Konstantin Olshansky landing ship, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014, with a missile.
“Currently, this ship is not combat-capable,” Ukrainian navy spokesperson, Dmytro Pletenchuk, said on Tuesday morning.
Russia took the Konstantin Olshansky from Ukraine, along with most of Kyiv’s navy, when its troops occupied the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
“It had gone through a renovation and was being prepared for use against Ukraine, so unfortunately the decision was taken to strike this (ship),” Pletenchuk said.
Built in 1985, the ship was transferred to the Ukrainian navy in 1996 when the naval fleet of the Soviet Union was divided up, according to the Kyiv Independent.
In other developments:
Investigations are continuing into Friday evening’s devastating terror attack at the Crocus city hall in Moscow in which at least 139 people were killed. Four suspects have already appeared in court showing signs of torture. Overnight the news wires services reported that Russian investigators were questioning the men’s families in Tajikistan. The central Asian country has suffered from a long-running extremist Islamist insurgency. Despite Islamic State claiming responsibility for the attack, Vladimir Putin continues to suggest that there is a Ukrainian link. On Monday night he said: “This atrocity may be just one part in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime.” No evidence has been provided for Ukraine’s involvement.
Finland and Sweden think there is need for a new round of EU sanctions against Russia, Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, has said.
Ukraine shot down all 12 attack drones launched overnight by Russia over the southern Mykolaiv and eastern Kharkiv regions of the country, Kyiv’s air force said.
Any global peace summit on Ukraine that excludes Russia is simply “absurd” and will fail, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on Tuesday. “Can the Ukrainian problem be resolved without Russia’s participation? The reply is clear – it cannot,” he told the news outlet Argumenty I Fakty. “Because Ukraine has been turned into an instrument in the hands of the collective west with whose help it intends, so it seems to them, to put more pressure on Russia, restrain Russia and abandon it to the fringes of development. And, should they succeed, to finish it off,” he added. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called for an international peace summit, and earlier this year Switzerland said it would host the meeting.
Iceland has announced it is joining the Czech initiative, which is aiming to deliver at least 800,000 shells sourced from around the world, in addition to the EU commitments.
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