Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s been happening today:
Russia has accused Ukraine’s intelligence services of carrying out the murder of Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue. Dugina was killed on Saturday evening when a bomb blew up the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, Russian investigators said. The Guardian has not been able to verify the accusations made by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Ukraine has vehemently denied involvement in Dugina’s killing. A senior Ukrainian official said they believed that Dugin was the target, not the daughter, but argued the victim and her father were not strategically significant figures. Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described the FSB’s accusations as Russian “propaganda” living “in a fictional world”.
Russia’s FSB has claimed the suspect responsible for the killing of Dugina had fled to Estonia. Russian state media reported Moscow was seeking her extradition from Estonia, but a spokesperson for the Estonian police and border guard said they had not received any request for information from the Russian authorities.
The FSB’s claims have raised fears of violent retaliation, with Ukraine bracing itself for an intensification of Russian missile attacks to coincide with its independence day on Wednesday. The country’s military warned that Russia had put five cruise missile-bearing warships and submarines out in the Black Sea and that Moscow was positioning air defence systems in Belarus. Large gatherings have been banned in Kyiv for four days from Monday.
A senior Russian diplomat has ruled out a diplomatic solution to end the war in Ukraine. Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told the Financial Times that there would be no direct talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, adding that Moscow expects a prolonged conflict.
Ukraine’s army chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said almost 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February. This is the first time Ukraine has revealed the scale of its military losses since the war began. It has not been possible to independently verify the figure put forward by Zaluzhnyi.
The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said he opposes a complete ban on visas for Russians. EU foreign ministers are set to discuss banning travel visas for Russian tourists in Prague, with countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Finland calling for a bloc-wide ban in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is finding it difficult to motivate and add “auxiliary forces” to its regular troops in the Donbas, the latest British intelligence update said. The MoD report added that Russia is finding it difficult to motivate its auxiliary forces to join its regular troops in the Donbas. This is leading to commanders likely resorting to using financial incentives to get troops into combat.
Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is planning to speak with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, this week to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and the war in Ukraine, Russian state media agency RIA Novosti has cited a diplomatic source as saying.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned Russia against putting Ukrainian soldiers captured during the siege of Mariupol on trial. In his latest video address, Zelenskiy said that if the “absurd and disgusting trial” of Ukrainian soldiers takes place in Mariupol it will eliminate the possibility of talks with Russia.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and from the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow, see you then.
Updated
The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said he opposes a complete ban on visas for Russians, ahead of talks between the bloc’s foreign ministers next week.
Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said at a conference in Spain earlier today:
To forbid entrance to all Russians is not a good idea. We have to be more selective.
He added that the EU shouldn’t open its doors to oligarchs but that “there are many Russians that want to flee the country because they don’t want to live in this situation”.
Borrell added:
More than 300,000 Russians have [fled] their country because they don’t want to live under the rule of Putin. Are we going to close the door to these Russians? I don’t think it’s a good idea.
EU foreign ministers are set to discuss banning travel visas for Russian tourists in Prague, with countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Finland calling for a bloc-wide ban in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Estonia has said it would pursue a blanket Schengen visa ban on Russian nationals if the EU doesn’t reach an agreement.
