Summary
It is approaching 9pm in Kyiv, here is where things stand.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukrainians must understand that Russia was deploying all possible resources to stop Kyiv’s forces from advancing in the east and south of the country. This comes after reports that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was not advancing quickly. He said: “We must all understand very clearly, as clearly as possible, that Russian forces in our southern and eastern lands are doing everything they can in order to stop our soldiers.”
The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, told reporters that the battles were difficult but said western allies were not putting pressure on Kyiv to advance faster. “Today it’s advancing not so quickly. If we are going to see that something is going wrong, we’ll say so. No one is going to embellish,” he said.
Ukraine acknowledged on Friday its troops were advancing “not so quickly” in a counteroffensive to recapture territory in the east and south of the country from Russian forces.
An alleged Russian intelligence operative accused by the US of smuggling American-developed technology and ammunition to Russia to help its war against Ukraine was extradited from Estonia, federal prosecutors said on Friday.
Vladimir Putin has agreed to extend the Black Sea grain deal, which expires next week, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Friday. Erdoğan told reporters he had spoken with his Russian counterpart about the crucial deal allowing for the export of Ukrainian grain to ease a global food crisis. Moscow played down the Erdoğan’s comments, saying an agreement had not yet been reached to extend the deal.
Yevhen Balitsky, the Russian-imposed leader of occupied Zaporizhzhia, has claimed that Russian air defence systems shot down two UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles on Thursday that Ukraine had fired at Melitopol and Berdiansk.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said a request during the Asean regional forum to withdraw troops from Ukraine was part of a western conspiracy, according to the EU foreign policy chief.
Mercenary fighters from Russia’s Wagner group are training Belarusian soldiers in Belarus, the country’s defence ministry said on Friday. The ministry said: “[Wagner] fighters acted as instructors in a number of military disciplines.
A Ukrainian court has jailed a man for 10 years after finding him guilty of plotting with Russia to blow up transport infrastructure to disrupt foreign arms supplies, Ukraine’s domestic security agency said on Friday. The security service of Ukraine said in a statement that it had detained the man in February before he had been able to carry out his mission.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a meeting with the Ukrainian intelligence chief, who ruled out an invasion from Belarus.
Russia has accused the west of sponsoring “nuclear terrorism” after authorities said a Ukrainian drone had struck the western Russian town of Kurchatov, where a nuclear power station similar to the Chornobyl plant is located. On Telegram, Roman Starovoit said: “A drone crashed in the town of Kurchatov overnight. Fortunately, none of the residents were injured. Critical facilities were not damaged as a result of the drone crash and its subsequent detonation.”
Ukraine claims overnight to have shot down 16 of 17 drones that were launched by the Russian Federation. Suspilne writes that air defence was in operation in the Odesa, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. It reports a person was injured and nearby buildings were damaged when a drone hit a utility company in Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russia is stonewalling in talks about the renewal of a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea, the UK envoy to the UN has warned. Barbara Woodward accused Moscow of “cynical brinkmanship” that makes it increasingly unlikely that the deal will be renewed before Tuesday’s deadline.
Wagner mercenaries are no longer participating in “any significant capacity” in combat operations in Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Thursday, more than two weeks after the group’s aborted mutiny in Russia. “At this stage, we do not see Wagner forces participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder told a news briefing
Three Ukrainian drones were intercepted in the Voronezh region. Governor Alexander Gusev posting to Telegram: “Yesterday, a few kilometres from Voronezh, air defence systems detected and destroyed three UAVs. There were no victims, no injuries, no damage.”
A car explosion has injured three people in a residential sector of the Russian city of Belgorod.
A public poll is to be held to decide what to do with the metal Soviet Union insignia that is due to be removed from Kyiv’s monument to the motherland.
France has posthumously awarded AFP video journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed while working in Ukraine, the Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour).
Poland will respond in kind if Russia closes down its diplomatic missions, the Polish prime minister said on Friday, in response to reports that Moscow had decided to close the Polish consulate in Smolensk.
Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen has said in an interview with the FT that “we in the west need to understand that obviously, this is not charity because Ukraine is fighting for us. They are fighting for our liberty and the European security architecture.” She said that the west remained committed to supporting Ukraine, adding: “I wouldn’t say there’s any fatigue and I hope there never will be.”
That is all for today – thank you for following along. For more updates, follow our live coverage tomorrow.
Updated
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Ukrainians must understand that Russia was deploying all possible resources to stop Kyiv’s forces from advancing in the east and south of the country. This comes after reports that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was not advancing quickly. [see 16:39 BST]
In a video after a meeting with his top commanders, Zelenskiy said:
We must all understand very clearly, as clearly as possible, that Russian forces in our southern and eastern lands are doing everything they can in order to stop our soldiers.
And every thousand metres we advance, every success of every combat brigade deserves our gratitude.
Updated
