That’s all for this evening, thanks for following along, we are now closing the blog for today.
You can view all of our latest coverage of the war in Ukraine here.
Iran and Russia are looking to build a factory in Russia that could supply more than 6,000 Iranian-designed drones for the war in Ukraine, according to reports.
The Wall Street Journal says the two governments are moving ahead with plans, and that an Iranian delegation went to Russia in January to visit the planned site.
There has been controversy over Iran supplying drones, which have wreaked havoc on Ukrainian civilian areas and infrastructure since the war began.
Iran initially said it had supplied drones to Russia but that they were sent before the war broke out. However, evidence from Ukraine suggested that more and more have been supplied as the conflict continues.
Updated
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will visit Mali this week, in a trip that the west African country’s government says will strengthen defence and security ties.
It will be the first time a Russian foreign minister has visited Mali, and is part of a push by Moscow to extend its influence over countries in Africa. The continent has remained divided in UN votes over the invasion of Ukraine, with Mali abstaining on a vote in October to condemn Russia.
There have been reports that mercenaries from the Wagner group, which is linked to the Russian state, were in Mali last year and that they allegedly took part in a massacre during an offensive against militants linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State. UN experts have called for an independent investigation into war crimes by the Malian government and Wagner forces.
Mali’s growing friendliness with Russia has also coincided with a breakdown in relations with France, the country’s former colonial power, Reuters reports. Last year, the rift led Paris to withdraw all its troops, who had been battling militants since 2013.
“This high-level visit is in line with the political choice made by the transitional government to expand and diversify strategic partnerships,” the Malian government said.
Updated
Summary
Today’s key developments so far:
Helping to arm Ukraine so it can defend itself against Russia is the swiftest path to achieving peace, the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said, writing in in the Times of Malta before a visit on Tuesday to the Mediterranean island.
Ukraine will not use longer-range weapons pledged by the United States to hit Russian territory and will only target Russian units in occupied Ukrainian territory, defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said.
Ukraine expects a possible major Russian offensive this month, but Kyiv has the reserves to hold back Moscow’s forces even though not all the west’s latest military supplies will have arrived in time, said Reznikov.
The German prosecutor general, Peter Frank, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper his office had collected “hundreds” of pieces of evidence showing war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine.
The former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said that Vladimir Putin made him a promise he would not try to kill Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during a trip to Moscow shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia said fierce fighting was continuing in the northern parts of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been the focus of Russian forces’ attention for weeks. Yevgeniy Prigozhin, rejected reports in Russian media that Ukrainian troops were abandoning Bakhmut, saying: “Fierce battles are going on in the northern quarters for every street, every house, every stairwell.”
The situation on the frontlines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle, President Zelenskiy, said on Saturday.
The embattled eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut has become “increasingly isolated”, according to the latest assessment by the UK Ministry of Defence. “Over the last week, Russia has continued to make small advances in its attempt to encircle the Donbas town of Bakhmut,” the MoD tweeted on Sunday.
Ukrainian forces remain in control of the village of Bilohorivka, the Luhansk region governor, Serhiy Haidai, has said, adding that the situation there is tense, but under control.
Zelenskiy has revoked the citizenship of several former influential politicians. He would not list the names but said they had dual Russian citizenship.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Vladimir Putin “has not made any threats against me or Germany” in his telephone conversations with the Russian president, Bild am Sonntag reported. The former British prime minister Boris Johnson, speaking to the BBC for a documentary last week, said the Russian leader had threatened him with a missile strike that would “only take a minute”. The Kremlin said Johnson was lying.
Price caps on Russian oil probably hit Moscow’s revenues from oil and gas exports by nearly 30% in January, or about $8bn, compared with a year before, the International Energy Agency (IEA) chief, Fatih Birol, said on Sunday.
The European Union is taking another big step toward cutting its energy ties with Russia. The 27-nation bloc is banning Russian refined oil products such as diesel fuel and joining the US and other allies in imposing a price cap on sales to non-western countries. The ban takes effect from Sunday.
Updated
More on Russia’s defence ministry accusing Ukraine of preparing to blow up buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and then accuse Moscow of carrying out war crimes and targeting civilians in a false flag operation.
On Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said Kyiv planned to detonate three medical buildings – dispensaries and a hospital – and “accuse Russia of an allegedly ‘deliberate attack’ on civilian objects”, Reuters reports. .
“The bombing of the medical institutions will be presented as another ‘atrocity’ of Russian troops, requiring a response from the world community and accelerating the supply of long-range missiles to Kyiv [to be used] for strikes on Russian territory,” the defence ministry said.
Reuters reports that the defence ministry provided no evidence for the claims it outlined in a post shared on social media.
There was no immediate response from Kyiv to the claims.
Updated
My Guardian colleague Dan Sabbagh has tweeted:
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine's defence minister, gave an hour plus long press conference in Kyiv going over his tenure in war time. Dismissed talk he would be resigning, emphasised "nobody is in the chair for his whole life" and said that his position was a matter for the president
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) February 5, 2023
and this
Not sure this will kill off the resignation / reshuffle talk as Reznikov faced repeated questions from Ukrainian journalists about corruption allegations but he insisted "my mind and heart is clear"
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) February 5, 2023
Ukraine expects possible major Russian offensive this month – defence minister
Here are the main details from the news conference held by Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, as reported by Reuters:
Ukraine expects a possible major Russian offensive this month, but Kyiv has the reserves to hold back Moscow’s forces even though the latest western military supplies will not all arrive in time.
Russia could launch the new attack for “symbolic” reasons around the first anniversary of its invasion, but its resources were not ready from a military point of view, Reznikov said.
“Despite everything, we expect a possible Russian offensive in February. This is only from the point of view of symbolism; it’s not logical from a military view. Because not all of their resources are ready. But they’re doing it anyway,” he said.
Russian forces have been making incremental advances in the east as Moscow tries to capture the embattled city of Bakhmut and revive its faltering invasion after a string of battlefield setbacks in the second half of last year.
Reznikov said the offensive would probably be launched in the east – where Russia is trying to capture all of the heavily industrialised Donbas region – or the south where it wants to widen its land corridor to the occupied peninsula of Crimea.
He estimated that Russia had 12,000 troops in Belarusian military bases, a number that would not be enough to launch a significant attack from Belarus into Ukraine’s north, reopening a new front.
The United States and other western governments have pledged billions of dollars in new military assistance including tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to help Ukraine withstand a new attack as well as to help Kyiv launch a counteroffensive.
“Not all of the western weaponry will arrive in time. But we are ready. We have created our resources and reserves, which we are able to deploy and with which we are able to hold back the attack,” Reznikov said
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of preparing to blow up buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and then accuse Moscow of carrying out war crimes and targeting civilians in a false flag operation. The defence ministry provided no evidence for the claims, which it outlined in a post shared on social media on Sunday, Reuters reports.
Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov has addressed speculation over his future, saying he he was ready to step down if President Zelenskiy ordered his dismissal.
“No official is in the chair forever. Not one,” Reznikov said at a news conference, the Kyiv Independent reports. “I will do what the head of state suggests to me.”
The statement comes after Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda cited government and military sources saying that Reznikov was likely to be dismissed from his ministerial post next week, and could be appointed justice minister.
According to the publication, the likely replacement for him is Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence.
Updated
Ukraine expects a possible major Russian offensive this month, but Kyiv has the reserves to hold back Moscow’s forces even though not all the west’s latest military supplies will have arrived in time, Ukraine’s defence minister said on Sunday.
At a news conference, Oleksii Reznikov, the official, said Russia could launch the new attack in February for symbolic reasons around the first anniversary of its invasion, but that Moscow’s resources were not ready from a military point of view, Reuters reports.
Updated
Ukraine will not use longer-range weapons pledged by the US to hit Russian territory and will only target Russian units in occupied Ukrainian territory, the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said on Sunday.
The US confirmed on Friday that a new rocket that would double Ukraine’s strike range was included in a £1.8bn US military aid package to help Kyiv fight back Russian forces, Reuters reports.
“We always tell our partners officially that we will not use weapons supplied by foreign partners to fire on Russian territory. We only fire on Russian units on temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory,” Reznikov told reporters at a news conference.
Updated
Germany’s prosecutor general said on Sunday that his office had collected “hundreds” of pieces of evidence showing war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine, calling for an international effort to bring leaders to justice.
“At the moment we are focusing on mass killings in Bucha and attacks on Ukraine’s civil infrastructure,” prosecutor Peter Frank told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
AFP reports:
He said most of the evidence came from interviews with Ukrainian refugees, and the goal was now to “prepare for a possible later court case – whether in Germany or with our foreign partners or an international court”.
Frank’s office has previously used the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of certain grave crimes regardless of where they took place, to try Syrians over atrocities committed during the country’s civil war. Under the same principle, a group of people from Myanmar last month filed a criminal complaint in Germany, accusing their country’s military of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Frank said his office had begun its Ukraine inquiry in March 2022
“We are not targeting certain specific people in the investigation but rather are collecting information and evidence,” he said. He acknowledged, however, that prosecution of suspected war criminals in Germany was possible only if they were in the country. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock last month called for a tribunal to get around the fact that the international criminal court (ICC), despite launching it own investigation last year, cannot prosecute Russia for any possible war crimes since neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the Hague-based court.
Updated
More on our earlier post on former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett’s claim Putin promised he would not try to kill President Zelenskiy.
Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem reports:
The former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has said in an interview that Vladimir Putin made him a promise he would not try to kill Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during a trip to Moscow shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
Speaking on a podcast with the Israeli journalist Hanoch Daum, published on Sunday, Bennett said he received assurance from Putin that the Ukrainian president’s life would be safe during a secretive visit to the Russian capital last March aimed at mediation during the war’s early days.
“I asked: ‘Are you planning to kill Zelenskiy?’ He said: ‘I won’t kill Zelenskiy.’ I then said to him: ‘I have to understand that you’re giving me your word that you won’t kill Zelenskiy.’ He said: ‘I’m not going to kill Zelenskiy.’”
Bennett said he then called Zelenskiy on his way to Moscow’s airport, who asked: “‘Are you sure?’ and I told him: ‘Yes, 100%, he won’t kill you.’”
Updated
The biggest test of the west’s ability to do harm to the Russian economy comes into force on Monday when the EU imposes a ban on Russian seaborne oil products such as diesel and tries to impose a G7-approved price cap on the same products across the rest of the world.
A ban on Russian seaborne crude came into force on 5 December and this extension to oil products will mean that 70% of Russian energy exports will now be subject to sanction. Oil products represent a third of Russian oil exports, with western Europe importing 600,000 barrels of diesel a month. The G7 set a price cap of $100 per barrel for high-value exports such as diesel and gasoline used for transport and electricity and a lower cap of $45 a barrel for fuel oils
Oil and gas exports formed about 70% of the foreign currency income for the Russian state.
The two bans were agreed by the EU back on 3 June, but only on the basis that the bans came into force months later, giving western economies time to wean off Russian energy.
The Druzhba pipeline providing supplies to the Czech Republic and the majority of Slovakia and Hungary has been exempted.
Oil experts are increasingly at odds about whether the oil sanctions have the potential to achieve their main purpose, which is to reduce income going into the Russian Treasury, so creating deficits that the Russian central bank will find harder to finance as the year goes on.
Critics say the $60 a barrel price caps set for crude oil and oil products are too high since they are both set above the current market rate.
Its defenders say the cap levels maintain stability in the markets and allow alternative purchasers of crude – mainly India and China – to buy at discounted rates, so reducing income to the Russian government.
The UK Treasury said in a weekend statement that Putin’s flagship crude oil Urals has since November been selling around $40 lower than Brent, the global benchmarks.
The price cap is enforced by shippers and traders being denied insurance unless they can attest the oil is being bought below the $60 cap. The UK as the chief supplier of shipping insurance plays a critical role in this. Sixty per cent of the global cover provided by the main shipping insurance club is written in the UK.
The Kyiv School of Economics in a weekend report predicted a decisive turning point was being reached on sanctions as the pressure was applied to Russian oil exports. It predicts Russian real GDP will contract by 6.1% this year. Importantly, the immediate crisis will be followed by an extended period of stagnation. Altogether, we believe that Russia’s economy will be more than 15% smaller in 2024 compared with a no-war/no-sanctions scenario.
Janis Kluge, a member of the working party on sanctions advising the Ukrainian government, claimed Russian oil and gas revenues had dwindled to just 425.5 bn roubles in January 2023. This is about half of the revenue in January 2022. Meanwhile, global oil prices were roughly the same a year ago.
Updated
Price caps on Russian oil probably hit Moscow’s revenues from oil and gas exports by nearly 30% in January, or about $8bn, compared with a year before, the International Energy Agency (IEA) chief, Fatih Birol, said on Sunday.
Price caps hit Russia's export revenue by about $8 billion in Jan - IEA official https://t.co/nGsfgDQcXv pic.twitter.com/iUS62XUWaU
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2023
He said the growth in global oil demand this year would come from China and that might need the Opec+ countries to look at their (output) policies.
“And now this year Chinese economy is rebounding … this is putting upward pressure on the demand,” he said, referring to “exploding” demand for jet fuel in China.
Updated
Ukraine exported 5.5m metric tonnes of grain in January, a significant drop in volume compared with the previous month, the country’s agriculture ministry said on Sunday.
The total grain export decreased by 1.3m tonnes due to holdup and obstruction of the passage of outbound vessels by Russia, the Kyiv Independent reports.
According to the ministry, Ukraine has exported 15.4m tonnes of corn and 9.7m tonnes of wheat from July to January.
For over five months following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea were blockaded by the Russian navy.
The UN-backed grain deal, in effect since 1 August, enabled 39.2m tonnes of agricultural products to be exported from Ukraine, much of which has been crucial for the food security of parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Updated
EU ban on Russian refined oil products comes into effect
The European Union is taking another big step toward cutting its energy ties with Russia. The 27-nation bloc is banning Russian refined oil products such as diesel fuel and joining the US and other allies in imposing a price cap on sales to non-western countries.
Europe’s ban takes effect Sunday following its embargo on coal and most oil from Russia. The move is meant to further slash reliance on Russian energy and payments into the Kremlin’s war chest as the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine nears, the Associated Press reports.
European importers have had months since the ban was announced in June to line up new supplies. They have already cut Russia’s share of EU imports to 27% in December from more than half before the war began.
US suppliers have stepped up shipments to record levels, from 34,000 barrels a day at the start of 2022 to 237,000 barrels per day so far in January, according to S&P Global.
New refinery capacity coming on line this year in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and next year in Oman also could help. India is another potential source.
Russia, on the other hand, would have to find new customers.
Updated
Cult Austrian ska-punk band Russkaja has announced its break-up over safety fears due to the Ukraine war.
Russkaja includes six men and one woman and started in Vienna 18 years ago. The Soviet nostalgia band enjoyed great success in the US with its blend of “Russian turbo polka metal”.
“Presented as pro-Russian despite our condemnation” of the invasion of Ukraine, “our group Russkaja has become a daily target on the internet”, the band, which includes a Russian and a Ukrainian, said on Facebook on Saturday.
“The Soviet imagery is forever damaged … [and] the war in Ukraine that Russia started on 24 February 24 2022 no longer allows us to use it satirically,” Russkaja wrote.
“And then we fear for the safety of our team and we don’t want anything serious to happen during a show.”
At first, the band – with one of its tag lines being “peace, love and Russian roll” – had decided to continue performing while clearly showing its support for Kyiv.
The bassist Dimitrij Miller is Ukrainian.
But its logo is in the shape of a red star, its lead singer is from Moscow and some of its lyrics, such as “the Russians have landed”, had to be rewritten.
Signs of hostility have multiplied and “no one in this group wants to represent any more something which, in a time like ours, is exclusively associated with war, death, crime and bloodshed”, Russkaja added.
Russian forces have reportedly seized Ukrainian books from libraries and schools in the occupied eastern Luhansk and burned them in heating plants, according to the National Resistance Center, an organisation run by Ukraine’s Special Forces.
In Russian-occupied Rovenky, Ukrainian books, especially literature, are burned en masse, according to the report, which the Guardian cannot immediately verify.
Earlier, Russian proxies in occupied Luhansk were reportedly ordered to confiscate 365 editions of Ukrainian books from schools and libraries in the region, the Kyiv Independent reports.
It has been claimed Russia has made a deliberate effort to impose propaganda narratives on Ukrainian children through education in the occupied territories since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On speculation over the future of Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov, the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh has tweeted this:
Ukrainian defence sources saying Oleksii Reznikov is not resigning despite swirl of speculation. Press conference due in Kyiv at 3pm
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) February 5, 2023
Russia is concentrating troops and military equipment to stage a decisive offensive around Bakhmut and the Luhansk region, the Institute for the Study of War think tank said, in a Feb 4 report.
ISW analysts said the sustained military effort to encircle Bakhmut has prevented Russia from assembling the troops needed to attack Zaporizhzhia from the east.
Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov is likely to be dismissed from his ministerial post next week, Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported today citing government and military sources.
His likely replacement is understood to be Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR, sources reportedly said.
“I have not had any conversations about my resignation from this position,” Reznikov reportedly told Ukrainska Pravda in a soon-to-be-published interview.
An unnamed source confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that Reznikov was very likely to be replaced in the very near future.
Reznikov could be appointed to a new post as justice minister, as “no one in the Presidential Office has any doubt” that Reznikov should stay in the government, according to the Ukrainska Pravda article.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov will likely be dismissed from his ministerial post next week, Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported on Feb. 5, citing government and military sources.https://t.co/B1n2aFvP57
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 5, 2023
According to the report, Denys Maliuska, the current justice minister, could be appointed as an ambassador to a Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Europe.
The report hasn’t provided information on who will head Ukraine’s military intelligence agency if Budanov is appointed as defence minister.
Reznikov, 56, has served as defence minister since Nov. 4, 2021, and has played an important role in the campaigning for and securing of Western military aid.
Arming Ukraine 'only path to peace', says UK foreign secretary
Helping to arm Ukraine so it can defend itself against Russia is the swiftest path to achieving peace, British foreign secretary James Cleverly said in an article published on Sunday.
Writing in the Times of Malta ahead of a visit on Tuesday to the Mediterranean island, which assumed the presidency of the U.N. Security Council at the start of February, Cleverly wrote:
Like all authoritarian rulers, Putin responds only to strength in his opponents. He rejected Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 10-point plan for peace last December. That is why the UK and Ukraine’s friends are doing all they can to bring Ukraine success on the battlefield. And it’s why I’m delighted that Germany and the US are joining the UK in sending tanks to the Ukrainians. Giving the Ukrainians the tools they need to finish the job is the swiftest – indeed the only – path to peace.
The war in Ukraine is expected to dominate the talks between Britain and Malta, a European Union member.
Updated
Russian attacks were reported in seven out of Ukraine’s 25 regions over Feb. 4, hitting Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts with artillery and missiles.
According to the regional governors and officials, at least five civilians were killed and 12 injured, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has revoked the citizenship of several former influential politicians.
“Today, I signed the relevant documents to take another step to protect and cleanse our state from those on the side of the aggressor,” Zelenskiy said during his nightly video address on Saturday.
He would not list the names but said they had dual Russian citizenship.
According to Ukrainian state media, the list includes several top politicians from the office of Viktor Yanukovych, who served as Ukraine’s pro-Russian president from 2010 until he was removed from office in 2014.
The list included Dmytro Tabachnyk, a former minister of education and science, Andriy Klyuyev, a former deputy prime minister and head of Yanukovych’s administration, and Vitaliy Zakharchenko, a former interior minister, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
Ukraine has stripped a number of people of their Ukrainian citizenship and has sanctioned hundreds of Russian and Belarusian individuals and firms since the start of the Russian invasion a year ago.
The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia said on Sunday that fierce fighting was ongoing in the northern parts of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been the focus of Russian forces’ attention for weeks.
Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the founder and head of the Wagner group, said Ukrainian forces were not retreating. Reuters reports.
Russian forces have been attempting to encircle and capture Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Donbas region, for weeks.
Prigozhin rejected reports in Russian media outlets that Ukrainian troops were abandoning Bakhmut. “Ukrainian forces are not retreating anywhere. They are fighting to the last,” he said in a statement published on his Telegram channel.
“Fierce battles are going on in the northern quarters for every street, every house, every stairwell,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said repeatedly in recent days that the situation around the city is tough.
Bakhmut has become “increasingly isolated”, according to the latest assessment by the UK Ministry of Defence.
On Friday, Zelenskiy vowed that his forces will fight for Bakhmut “for as long as we can”, but the situation there is becoming increasingly dire for Ukrainian forces.
If Russian forces manage to capture the city, which has been decimated by months of artillery shelling, it would be their most important strategic advance since last summer.
A former Israeli prime minister who served briefly as a mediator at the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine says he drew a promise from the Russian president not to kill his Ukrainian counterpart
Associated Press agency reports:
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became an unlikely intermediary in the war’s first weeks, becoming one of the few Western leaders to meet President Vladimir Putin during the war in a snap trip to Moscow last March.
While Bennett’s mediation efforts appear to have done little to end the bloodshed that continues until today, his remarks, in an interview posted online late Saturday, shed light on the backroom diplomacy and urgent efforts that were underway to try to bring the conflict to a speedy conclusion in its early days.
In the five-hour interview, which touched on numerous other subjects, Bennett says he asked Putin about whether he intended to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
“I asked ‘what’s up with this? Are you planning to kill Zelenskiy?’ He said ‘I won’t kill Zelenskiy.’ I then said to him ‘I have to understand that you’re giving me your word that you won’t kill Zelenskiy.’ He said ‘I’m not going to kill Zelenskiy.’”
Bennett said he then called Zelenskiy to inform him of Putin’s pledge.
“‘Listen, I came out of a meeting, he’s not going to kill you.’ He asks, ‘are you sure?’ I said ’100% he won’t kill you.’”
Bennett said that during his mediation, Putin dropped his vow to seek Ukraine’s disarmament and Zelenskiy promised not to join NATO.
Bennet’s peacemaking efforts did not appear to take off and his time in power was short-lived, reports AP.
'Putin did not threaten me or Germany,' says Scholz
In the interview with Bild am Sonntag, Olaf Scholz said Vladimir Putin “has not made any threats against me or Germany” in his telephone conversations with the Russian president.
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson, speaking to the BBC for a documentary early this week, said the Russian leader had threatened him with a missile strike that would “only take a minute.” The Kremlin said Johnson was lying.
The German chancellor said the conversations he had with Putin made it clear they had very different views of the war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a “special military operation”.
“I make it very clear to Putin that Russia has sole responsibility for the war,” Scholz said.
“Russia has invaded its neighbour for no reason, in order to take parts of Ukraine or the whole country under its control.”
Because it was Germany’s view that Russia’s actions violated Europe’s peace framework, it was providing Ukraine with financial, humanitarian and military help, he said.
Updated
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said Ukraine’s president agreed that weapons supplied by the west will not be used to attack Russian territory.
“There is a consensus on this point,” Scholz said in an interview with the weekly Bild am Sonntag.
Ukraine’s western allies have pledged to arm it with precision rockets and missile systems, as well as tanks, as it tries to push back Russian troops in its east.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has compared the intervention of countries such as Germany with his nation’s struggle during the second world war.
But Scholz rejected the comparison.
“[Putin’s] words are part of a series of absurd historical comparisons that he uses to justify his attack on Ukraine,” he said. “But nothing justifies this war.
“Together with our allies, we are supplying battle tanks to Ukraine so that it can defend itself. We have carefully weighed each delivery of weapons, in close coordination with our allies, starting with America.”
Scholz said that such a consensus-based approach “avoids an escalation”.
Ukrainian forces remained in control of the village of Bilohorivka, the Luhansk region governor, Serhiy Haidai, has said, adding that the situation there is tense, but under control.
“Information is being spread in the Russian Federation about the alleged capture of Bilohorivka and the removal of our people from there,” Haidai told the national broadcaster on Sunday.
“Our troops remain in their positions, nobody has captured Bilohorivka, nobody has entered there, there is no enemy there.”
Some Moscow-installed officials and pro-Russian military bloggers have recently claimed Russian advances in the direction of Bilohorivka, the last part of Luhansk – the northern part of the Donbas – held by Ukrainian forces.
“The situation at the front is tense, but controlled by Ukrainian forces,” Haidai said.
“The number of Russian attacks has ... increased, but all of them have been repulsed by our troops, who remain in their positions.”
Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.
The embattled eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut has become “increasingly isolated”, according to the latest assessment by the UK Ministry of Defence.
“Over the last week, Russia has continued to make small advances in its attempt to encircle the Donbas town of Bakhmut,” the MoD tweeted on Sunday.
“The M03 and the H32 – the two main roads into the city for Ukrainian defenders – are likely now both threatened by direct fire, following the Russian advances.
“Earlier in the week, Wagner paramilitary forces highly likely seized a subordinate route which links Bakhmut to the town of Siversk.
“While multiple alternative cross-country supply routes remain available to Ukrainian forces, Bakhmut is increasingly isolated.”
Russian missile hits residential building in Kharkiv
Two Russian missiles hit the centre of Kharkiv in Ukraine’s north-east, with one of the missiles striking a residential building, Reuters reported the city’s mayor saying on Sunday.
“At this time, it’s known that there is a fire in one of the residential buildings and one injured person,” Ihor Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging platform.
The Kharkiv governor, Oleh Synehubov, said: ““A residential building in the city centre was hit. A fire broke out. So far, three victims are known: a 54-year-old woman and two men aged 51 and 55.”
He said the woman was hospitalised with shrapnel wounds.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.
Updated
Situation on eastern frontlines 'very difficult now', Zelenskiy says
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Saturday the situation on the frontlines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle.
The Kremlin has been pushing for a significant battlefield victory after months of setbacks, with Russian forces trying to close grip on the town of Bakhmut and fighting for control of a nearby major supply route for Ukrainian forces.
Russian troops are also trying to capture the coal mining city of Vuhledar, about 75 miles (120km) south-west of Bakhmut, in the eastern region of Donetsk.
“I’ve often had to say the situation at the front is tough, and is getting tougher, and it’s that time again … The invader is putting more and more of his forces into breaking down our defences,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“It is very difficult now in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Lyman and other directions,” he continued.
Earlier in the day, the deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, wrote on Telegram that Russian efforts to break the defences in Bakhmut and Lyman had failed.
Lyman, which lies just to the north of Bakhmut, was liberated by Ukrainian forces in October.
“This week, the Russian occupation forces threw all their efforts into breaking through our defence and encircling Bakhmut, and launched a powerful offensive in the Lyman sector,” Malyar said. “But thanks to the resilience of our soldiers, they did not succeed.”
On Friday, Zelenskiy vowed that his forces will fight for Bakhmut “for as long as we can”, but the situation there is becoming increasingly dire for Ukrainian forces.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has been reporting daily numerous combat clashes in the area and Moscow military bloggers have claimed a number of unverified Russian successes along the frontline.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s ongoing live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the situation on the frontlines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle.
“I’ve often had to say the situation at the front is tough, and is getting tougher, and it’s that time again … The invader is putting more and more of his forces into breaking down our defences,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Saturday.
“It is very difficult now in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Lyman and other directions,” he continued.
The Kremlin has been pushing for a significant battlefield victory after months of setbacks, with Russian forces trying to close grip on the town of Bakhmut and fighting for control of a nearby major supply route for Ukrainian forces.
More on that story soon.
In other developments:
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Zelenskiy has agreed that weapons supplied by the west will not be used to attack Russian territory. “There is a consensus on this point,” Scholz told Bild am Sonntag. Scholz rejected Vladimir Putin’s comparison of the intervention of the west with Russia’s struggle during the second world war as “absurd”. “We have carefully weighed each delivery of weapons, in close coordination with our allies, starting with America,” he said, adding that such a consensus-based approach “avoids an escalation”.
The Ukrainian president has revoked the citizenship of several former influential politicians, in what he said was another step to “cleanse” the country of pro-Russian influences. Zelenskiy would not list the names, but said they had dual Russian citizenship. According to Ukrainian state media, the list includes several top politicians from the office of Viktor Yanukovych, who served as Ukraine’s pro-Russian president from 2010 until he was removed from office in 2014.
Portugal has become the latest country to say it will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, the prime minister, António Costa, said. An inventory has been done of its stocks, with Lisbon asking Germany for parts to help repair them so they can be deployed to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy spoke to UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on Saturday. The president said he had thanked Sunak for the training of Ukrainian troops so they will be able to use British Challenger tanks.
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, has authorised the country to begin using seized Russian money to aid Ukraine, according to US media. The money would come from assets confiscated from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev after his April indictment for alleged sanctions evasions, he added.
Ukraine has introduced emergency energy shutdowns in Odesa after a “technological accident” at a high-voltage electricity substation, which has previously been damaged by Russian attacks. Half a million people are without power and officials have warned repairs could take weeks. The government said it would appeal to Turkey for help and ordered the energy ministry’s stocks of high-power generators to be sent to the city.
Germany has collected evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, the country’s prosecutor general said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday, adding that he saw a need for a judicial process at international level. He said the amount of evidence was in the “three-digit” range.
More than 18.1m border crossings have taken place out of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022, according to data from the UN.
The bodies of killed British volunteers Christopher Parry and Andrew Bagshaw have been returned by Russian troops in a prisoner exchange. They were both killed in Ukraine last month. A total of 116 Ukrainian troops have come home after being captured, with 63 being sent back to Russia.
The number of Russian soldiers around the southern city of Mariupol has increased by about 10,000 to 15,000, according to an adviser to the city’s mayor. Petro Andriushchenko wrote on Telegram that it means the total amount of troops is now about 30,000. They are stationed in villages in the district.
