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Summary
It’s slightly past 11pm in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
According to a new law adopted on Thursday, every Ukrainian serviceman is now allowed to take an annual paid leave of ten days. “In a special period during martial law, military personnel may be granted a part of the annual basic leave, as well as leave for family reasons and for other valid reasons with preservation of financial support,” Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zaliznyak wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s General Staff has announced that Russia is withdrawing some of its military units and is preparing to evacuate occupation personnel from certain settlements across Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Russian publishers at a leading Moscow bookfair told Agence France-Presse Thursday they were “all very worried” by new restrictions and feared the return of Soviet-like censorship. Yevgeny Kopyov, of the large Eksmo publishing house, said he was worried by the “broad interpretation” of the LGBTQ propaganda law. He warned that it “may affect a large amount of literature, including the classics,” adding, “Everything will depend on our interaction with the regulatory authorities.”
US president Joe Biden said he has no immediate plans to contact Russian president Vladimir Putin but is prepared to speak with him if he shows an interest in ending the war in Ukraine, and only in consultation with NATO allies. “I have no immediate plans to contact Mr Putin,” Biden said at a White House news conference after talks with French president Emmanuel Macron, Reuters reports.
US president Joe Biden has told the press conference that the US stands with its allies “as strong as ever” against Russia’s “brutal war” against Ukraine. Biden said the support would continue in the face of Russian aggression, which he adds has been “incredibly brutal”. He adds: “I knew Russia was [brutal], but I didn’t anticipate them being as brutal as they have been.”
US president Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have issued a statement beforehand, after a meeting between the two presidents earlier on Thursday. “The presidents strongly condemn Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and stress that intentionally targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure constitutes war crimes whose perpetrators must be held accountable,” part of it said.
EU members are close to agreeing a $60 dollar per barrel price cap on Russian oil, diplomats said Thursday, with just Poland left to give the final nod, Agency France-Presse reports. Europe will begin enforcing an embargo on Russian crude shipments from Monday, so the price cap will apply to oil exported by sea by Moscow to ports around the world.
The British adventurist and TV personality Bear Grylls has become the latest celebrity to meet Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. Grylls posted pictures with Zelenskiy on his Instagram on Thursday afternoon. He wrote that he wanted to know how Zelenskiy was coping for an upcoming programme “but got so much more.”
The UK-based Royal United Services Institute defence and security thinktank published a paper on Wednesday that examined the early days of the Russian invasion in February. A few snippets from the report’s executive summary. It believes that a Ukrainian victory is possible, but “it requires significant heavy fighting”. The paper says that according to operational data from the Ukrainian general staff, Russia had a 12:1 advantage over the Ukrainian forces north of Kyiv in the immediate aftermath of the invasion.
More than 1,300 prisoners have been returned to Ukraine since Russian troops invaded, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday. Zelenskiy was speaking after a new exchange of 50 prisoners with Russian and pro-Russian forces. “After today’s exchange, there are already 1,319 heroes who returned home,” Zelenskiy said on Instagram, posting a photo showing a few dozen men holding Ukrainian flags.
The head of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, said it was too early reach a verdict on talks between Poland and Germany about sending the Patriot air-defence systems from Germany to Ukraine. “We all agree on the urgent need to help Ukraine, including with air defence systems,” Stoltenberg said at a joint news conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
