Summary of the day so far …
As the time approaches 9pm in Kyiv, that’s all for today, after the founder of the Russian Wagner mercenary group warned about a shortage of ammunition despite increased production, and Ukrainian cities restored power following a wave of rocket attacks on Thursday.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, said on Friday he had thanked the Russian government for a “heroic” increase in production of ammunition, but that he was still worried about shortages for his fighters and the Russian army as a whole. Prigozhin also said Wagner had opened recruitment centres in 42 Russian cities. “In spite of the colossal resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces, we will go forward. Despite the sticks in the wheels that are thrown at us at every step, we will overcome this together,” he said.
Most of Kyiv’s power supply has been restored, officials said, as Ukraine again responded swiftly and defiantly to the latest Russian missile and drone barrage targeting critical infrastructure, Associated Press reports.
US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said in its daily update on Thursday that Wagner appeared to be taking a “tactical pause” in Bakhmut. The ISW believes that Wagner is waiting until enough reinforcements of conventional Russian troops have arrived before taking a back seat in the fierce battle.
Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said the energy situation was difficult following Russia’s barrage of attacks on Thursday. In a message on Telegram, he said “the energy system has suffered significant damage. Nevertheless, critical infrastructure has already been restored in the city, and water supply has been almost completely restored.” However, public transport remained closed.
Switzerland’s government said it would not change its longstanding policy banning the transfer of Swiss-made arms to a third country despite growing pressure from countries to export them to Ukraine. “The federal council is committed to the values of Swiss neutrality and will continue to work to ensure the benefits of neutrality are realised,” it said in a statement.
The UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-country board of governors backed the reappointment of Argentina’s Rafael Grossi to a second four-year term as director general, diplomats at the closed-door meeting said.
Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, visited Kyiv and met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. They attended a church service at St Michael’s Golden Dome Cathedral in memory of the soldier Dmytro Kotsiubailo.
Thousands of people gathered in Kyiv to attend the funeral of the well-known Ukrainian military commander Dmytro Kotsiubailo, nicknamed ‘’Da Vinci’’ and hailed as a national hero and symbol of resistance. Kotsiubailo, who in 2021 was awarded the top military honour of the Order of the Golden Star by Zelenskiy, giving him the title “Hero of Ukraine”, was killed near Bakhmut on Tuesday at the age of 27.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said the war in Ukraine would end at the negotiating table. Sunak said he would support Zelenskiy to be in the “best possible place to have those talks”.
Ukraine handed suspicion notices to three former senior managers of the aircraft manufacturer Antonov for obstructing the country’s military and allowing Russia to destroy the giant Mriya cargo plane at the start of the war.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, congratulated Xi Jinping after the Chinese leader secured an unprecedented third term as president. In a telegram, Putin said he was sure the two leaders could advance their cooperation on the most important regional and international issues.
The Kremlin said it saw risks of possible “provocations” in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two Russian-backed breakaway regions of Georgia, after days of protests in Georgia over a “foreign agents” bill. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow was watching the situation “with concern”.
The war in Ukraine is driven by the interests of several “empires” and not just the “Russian empire”, Pope Francis said in an interview.
The newly installed president of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, barely 10 days after he assumed power. In his first interview with a foreign TV channel, Christodoulides told Greece’s state broadcaster, ERT, that opposing Moscow’s self-styled “special military operation” put the island on the “right side of history”.
Updated
Canada has banned the import of all Russian aluminium and steel products in a move aimed at denying Moscow the ability to fund its war against Ukraine.
“Ukraine can and must win this war. We continue to do everything we can to cut off or limit the revenue used to fund Putin’s illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine,” the Canadian finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, said in a statement, Reuters reports.
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