Closing summary
The time in Kyiv is 9.20pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s news:
Russia’s foreign ministry dismissed the G7 summit in Japan as a “politicised” event which it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements.
The US president, Joe Biden, has announced a new package of military aid of up to $375m to Ukraine, telling its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that the US is doing all it can to strengthen Ukraine’s defence. The package includes ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.
Biden told a press conference that he had received a “flat assurance” from Zelenskiy that he would not use western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory. Biden said F-16 warplanes could, however, be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area”.
In a G7 speech, Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine was “an obvious expression of rationality”, and sought support for his “peace formula”. He thanked western leaders for achieving “a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected”, but questioned: “Is this enough?”
There has been some confusion over whether Russia has taken the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Vladimir Putin congratulated troops on its “liberation”. At the G7 meeting, Zelenskiy asserted that Bakhmut had not been captured by Russia and that Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but that he could not give clear information. He added that Bakhmut reminded him of pictures of a totally destroyed Hiroshima after the second world war. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said that Ukrainian forces had partly encircled Bakhmut along the flanks and still maintained control of a private sector in the city.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said on Sunday he had visited frontline positions near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, where he thanked troops defending the area. In a Telegram post, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance along the flanks of the ruined city.
In a press conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s peace formula offers a vision of a world of peace that will “paralyse other potential aggressors”.
Zelenskiy added that as well as regaining the northern territories, it was imperative that Ukraine recaptured the southern and eastern regions currently occupied by Russia.
Russia has announced indictments in absentia for a judge and prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) who issued a war crimes warrant for President Vladimir Putin. A statement from the national investigative committee said the judge, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and the prosecutor, Khan Karim Asad Ahmad, are both charged with “preparing to attack a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations”.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied Russian claims the Kremlin has captured the key Donbas city of Bakhmut, saying Ukrainian forces still held positions in the city.
“Bakhmut is not occupied by Russian Federation as of today,” he told a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
The Wagner mercenary group claimed that Russia had seized the last urban areas in Bakhmut, in a video posted on Telegram.
The contested city has been reduced to rubble in the longest battle of the conflict in Ukraine.
Updated
A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to “initiate a peace process,” but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertiliser exports Africa desperately needs, according to a mediator who helped broker the talks, who made the comments in an interview with the Associated Press.
Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what they have characterised as a peace mission.
The talks will probably be next month, Ollivier said.
He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out “logistics” for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would probably have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said.
Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Zambia.
The talks also have the approval of the US the EU, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday.
Updated
Russia has announced indictments in absentia for a judge and prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) who issued a war crimes warrant for President Vladimir Putin.
A statement from the national investigative committee said the judge, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and the prosecutor, Khan Karim Asad Ahmad, are both charged with “preparing to attack a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations”.
They both also face other charges. Conviction could bring prison terms of up to 12 years, AP reported.
The committee also said other ICC officials were being investigated.
Updated
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said on Sunday he had visited frontline positions near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, where he thanked troops defending the area.
In a Telegram post, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance along the flanks of the ruined city.
Summary
It’s been a busy day, with plenty of speeches from the G7 summit in Hiroshima and confusion over exactly what has happened in Bakhmut, after conflicting accounts from Russia and Ukraine. Here are all the key points:
Russia’s foreign ministry dismissed the G7 summit in Japan as a “politicised” event which it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements.
The US president, Joe Biden, has announced a new package of military aid of up to $375m to Ukraine, telling its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that the US is doing all it can to strengthen Ukraine’s defence. The package includes ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.
Biden told a press conference that he had received a “flat assurance” from Zelenskiy that he would not use western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory. Biden said F-16 warplanes could, however, be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area”.
In a G7 speech, Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine was “an obvious expression of rationality”, and sought support for his “peace formula”. He thanked western leaders for achieving “a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected”, but questioned: “Is this enough?”
There has been some confusion over whether Russia has taken the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Vladimir Putin congratulated troops on its “liberation”. At the G7 meeting, Zelenskiy asserted that Bakhmut had not been captured by Russia and that Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but that he could not give clear information. He added that Bakhmut reminded him of pictures of a totally destroyed Hiroshima after the second world war. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said that Ukrainian forces had partly encircled Bakhmut along the flanks and still maintained control of a private sector in the city.
In a press conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s peace formula offers a vision of a world of peace that will “paralyse other potential aggressors”.
Zelenskiy added that as well as regaining the northern territories, it was imperative that Ukraine recaptured the southern and eastern regions currently occupied by Russia.
Thanks for following. I’m handing over to my colleague Tom Ambrose who’ll be keeping you updated for the rest of the day.
Updated
Yoon Suk Yeol, the South Korean president, who met Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time on the sidelines of the G7, has said he is planning to provide Ukraine with mine-removing equipment and ambulances.
Yoon added that South Korea would carefully review a list of some non-lethal weapons requested by Zelenskiy.
South Korea signed an agreement with Ukraine on Wednesday on its plan to provide a $130m financial aid package, a day after the visiting first lady of the war-torn country asked for military assistance.
South Korea, a leading producer of artillery shells, has said it was not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its relations with Russia.
Updated
In Moldova, tens of thousands of people have gathered in the capital, Chișinău, to support their pro-western government’s drive towards Europe amid what officials have said are Russian efforts to destabilise their country.
Reuters reports:
Moldova has been badly hit by the impact of Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, which Chisinau has repeatedly condemned, and applied to join the European Union.
President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of seeking to sabotage its European integration by fuelling anti-government protests and propaganda. Moscow denies meddling in Moldova’s affairs.
At the rally organised by her government, Sandu pledged that Moldova would become an EU member by 2030, and said:
Moldova does not want to be blackmailed by the Kremlin.
We don’t want to be on the outskirts of Europe any more.
Updated
Russia accuses G7 of undermining global stability
Russia’s foreign ministry has dismissed the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, as a “politicised” event that it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements.
Reuters reports:
Moscow lashed out after the leaders of the world’s richest democracies said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Kyiv denied.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the Russian foreign ministry said the G7 had “irreversibly deteriorated” and that the forum had become “an ‘incubator’ where, under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxons, destructive initiatives that undermine global stability are prepared”.
The statement accused the G7 of fanning anti-Russian and anti-Chinese “hysteria”.
Russia used to be a member of the G7 club of industrialised democracies, which was previously known as the G8, until Moscow was excluded after its the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.
The summit gave Zelenskiy a chance to lobby for support from other attendees, like the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who have remained uncommitted.
The Russian foreign ministry, in the same statement, accused the G7 of “flirting” with non-western states in an effort to stymie the development of their ties with Moscow and Beijing.
It said it was convinced though that the forum was incapable of reflecting the interests of the Asia-Pacific region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Latin America.
Updated
The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont has been looking into Russia’s claims that its troops have taken Bakhmut, which has been challenged by Ukraine. His full report is here:
Updated
There’s more detail on Reuters on the police investigation in Germany into the possible poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference in Berlin at the end of April, which was organised by Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Media reports said one of the women was a journalist and her symptoms may have already appeared before the conference on 29 and 30 April. She went to the Charité hospital in Berlin.
The second woman was Natalia Arno, director of the NGO Free Russia Foundation. She wrote on her Facebook page that she found the door to her hotel room had been left ajar.
She also wrote: “I woke up at 5am, suffering sharp pain and strange symptoms.”
Updated
A top Ukrainian general has said that Kyiv’s forces controlled an “insignificant” part of the eastern city of Bakhmut, but that the foothold would be enough to enter the devastated city when the situation changed.
In a Telegram post, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kyiv’s forces were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs of Bakhmut and that they were getting closer to a “tactical encirclement” of the city.
Updated
G7 summary
Leaders of the world’s richest democracies said on Sunday they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, something Kyiv denied.
Here is a snapshot from the G7 via Reuters:
Zelenskiy sought support for Kyiv’s “peace formula” to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, telling G7 leaders at the summit in Hiroshima it was “an obvious expression of rationality”.
Zelenskiy played down the fact he did not meet the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on the sidelines of the summit and said it was because of scheduling.
Joe Biden announced a $375m package of military aid, telling Zelenskiy the US was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
Potential allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 warplanes were a message to Russia not to expect to succeed in its invasion of Ukraine even in a prolonged conflict, said Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany.
Biden told G7 leaders that Washington supported the joint allied training programmes, senior US officials said, a significant endorsement as Kyiv seeks to boost its air power against Russia.
The Hiroshima summit gave Zelenskiy a chance to win over countries from the global south such as Brazil and India in an attempt to broaden support for his country in its war against Russia.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said G7 decisions at the summit were aimed at the “double containment” of Russia and China.
Canada would support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary in its conflict with Russia, including the training of Ukrainian soldiers and possibly pilots, said the country’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
The UK published plans to ban imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminium and nickel and announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia, targeting companies connected to the alleged theft of Ukrainian grain.
Updated
As part of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s press conference at the G7, he told reporters that international law could not stand if Russia was able to keep occupied land in any ceasefire deal.
He also said other international leaders could be tempted to “wage similar wars”. “If the level of evil and stupidity in Russia’s actions are left unchecked, the world will inevitably become a wreck,” he said. “It is only a matter of time before other criminals in public office want to wage similar wars.
“If Russia is allowed to keep even a sliver of the territory it occupies, international law will never again apply.”
Updated
Zelenskiy said he would like “all states that are capable” to supply weapons to Ukraine, though he said he understood there could be legislative or constitutional barriers.
He added that he was grateful for western countries’ sanctions against Russia.
Zelenskiy confident Kyiv will receive F-16 fighter jets from West
Zelenskiy said he had secured high-quality weapons from everyone at the G7 summit.
He said he was confident that Ukraine would receive F-16 fighter jets from the west, but was unsure how many.
Dodging a question about when Ukraine’s counteroffensive would begin, he said:
Russia will feel when we have a counteroffensive.
Updated
Speaking at the G7 Summit, Joe Biden said he had received a “flat assurance” from Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he would not use western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory.
Biden told reporters that F-16 warplanes could, however, be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area”.
Updated
Zelenskiy said the pictures of ruined Hiroshima “remind me of Bakhmut and other similar settlements and towns”.
This is just a totally destroyed area, nothing left, not a single person left.
Today it’s a tragedy but in the future there will be reconstruction and recovery.
Updated
Zelenskiy said there was no evidence that Brazil, China and India were sending weapons to Russia.
He added that it was important to “be united together” to involve everyone in the peace formula.
He said he had met almost all the G7 leaders, but there was a scheduling reason for not meeting the Brazilian president.
Updated
Zelenskiy said he was grateful to the US and other western leaders for their support with air defence systems.
We have several months for the training of our pilots and we’ll be working for these people to be as trained and experienced as possible.
I cannot tell you how many aircrafts we will be able to get or when it will take place but we will speed it up because it’s important for us.
Zelenskiy says Bakhmut 'is not occupied' and Ukraine's troops remain in city
Answering questions from journalists, Zelenskiy asserted that Bakhmut had not been captured by Russia and that Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but that he could not give clear information.
He said:
We are fighting thanks to the courage of our people, our warriors.
I clearly understand what has taken place in Bakhmut.
I cannot share with you the tactical views of our military.
Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of those words.
Updated
Zelenskiy said it is only a matter of time before other “criminals in public office” want to emulate Russia’s example.
This is why the peace formula is important, he said.
The power of the Ukrainian peace formula is by stopping Russia’s ambitions we will give the world one additional result, we will paralyse other potential aggressors. When everyone who wants war sees how united and determined the world is when it wants peace there will be no point.
Ukraine offers the world salvation from war. To do this we need to unite and make Russia the last aggressor.
Zelenskiy tells G7 Russia has ‘trampled on everything that is civilised’
Zelenskiy said he dreams of rebuilding “all our cities that are in ruins” similar to Hiroshima’s regeneration.
We dream of returning our territories just as we have regained our northern territories that were occupied by Russia, we must regain our eastern and southern territories. We dream of returning our people now in Russian captivity.
We dream of peace after our victory.
I am here in Hiroshima so the world can hear the Ukrainian call for unity. Russia has trampled on everything that is civilised.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is speaking now at the G7 summit.
He said:
Our heroic people are turning history around so we can make war itself become a shadow. I believe that war has no place in the world. Humanity has come a very long way and lost many lives in bloody confrontations, death.
Ukraine is in the middle of a war of destruction. Invaders have come to our land.
Updated
Biden has said that US-Japan relations have never been stronger, adding that “what’s happening in Ukraine affects everyone, even here in the Pacific basin”.
'Putin will not break our resolve', Joe Biden tells G7 summit
In his G7 speech, the US president has pledged “our shared and unwavering commitment to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against this brutal war of aggression and war crimes being committed”.
He said:
Russia started this war and Russia can end it today by withdrawing its troops from internationally recognised borders.
This morning I once more shared and assured President Zelenskiy … that we will not waver. Putin will not break our resolve, as he thought he could two years ago, almost three years ago.
Updated
Summary
Here’s a summary of the last few hours in Ukraine and at the G7 summit in Tokyo:
US President Joe Biden has announced a new package of military aid of up to $375m to Ukraine, telling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the US is doing all it can to strengthen Ukraine’s defence. The package includes ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.
Biden told a press conference that he had received a “flat assurance” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he would not use Western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory. He said F-16 warplanes could, however, be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area.”
In a G7 speech, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine was “an obvious expression of rationality”, and sought support for his “peace formula”. He thanked western leaders for achieving “a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected”, but questioned: “Is this enough?”
There has been some confusion over whether Russia has taken the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Vladimir Putin congratulated troops on its “liberation”. At the G7 meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asserted that Bakhmut had not been captured by Russia and that Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but that he could not give clear information. He added that Bakhmut reminded him of pictures of a totally destroyed Hiroshima after WWII. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said that Ukrainian forces had partly encircled the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut along the flanks and still maintained control of a private sector in the city.
In a press conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s Peace Formula offers a vision of a world of peace, that will “paralyse other potential aggressors”.
Zelenskiy added that as well as regaining the northern territories, it was imperative that Ukraine recaptured the southern and eastern regions currently occupied by Russia.
Updated
German police said they were investigating the possible poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference in Berlin at the end of April, organised by Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Berlin police told Reuters “a file had been opened” after German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing Russian investigative media group Agentstvo, said two women reported symptoms that suggested possible poisoning.
Police gave no further details.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has laid flowers at a cenotaph in Hiroshima honouring those who died after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city in August 1945.
Accompanied by the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, Zelenskiy earlier visited the Peace Memorial Museum, where exhibits show the full horror of the attack, in which an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 people died instantly, with the death toll rising to 140,000 by the end of the year as more succumbed to burns and illnesses caused by exposure to radiation.
The names of more than 300,000 people whose deaths during the past 78 years have been attributed to the bombing are listed at the cenotaph, whose inscription reads: “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.”
After laying bouquets on podiums, Kishida and Zelenskiy lowered their heads and posed for a photograph before listening to an explanation of the memorial from the mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui.
Ukraine has partly encircled Bakhmut, deputy defence minister says
Ukrainian forces have partly encircled the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut along the flanks and still maintain control of a private sector in the city, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar has said.
She made the remarks on the Telegram messaging app shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the battle had ended with a Russian victory.
Maliar said Ukrainian troops are continuing their advances along Bakhmut’s outskirts and have claimed part of the heights overlooking the city.
She wrote:
Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy.
Therefore, the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls.
Maliar added that Ukrainian troops are still defending industrial and infrastructure facilities in Bakhmut.
Updated
Russia’s top lawmaker has called for a ban on Polish trucks transiting Russian territory and for Poland to compensate Moscow financially for what he said was the Soviet rebuilding of the east European country after the second world war.
In a statement, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chair of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said Poland needed to be punished for having “betrayed the historical memory” of the Soviet Union’s liberation of the country from Nazi Germany with a series of hostile acts against Moscow.
In comments certain to deepen a feud with Warsaw, Volodin said Poland existed as a state only “thanks to our country”, said Warsaw should pay Russia more than $750bn to compensate it for Soviet investment in the country after 1945.
He said Poland should also hand back territory it received after the war.
There was no immediate reaction to his comments from Warsaw.
Volodin said a parliamentary committee would begin considering a ban on Polish trucks entering Russian territory as soon as Monday. Such a move, he said, would cause Poland significant financial pain and job losses.
Russia last month promised it would respond harshly to what it said was Poland’s illegal seizure of its embassy school in Warsaw, an act it called a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
Updated
G7 summary
Reuters has posted a useful summary of the key Ukraine-related developments from the G7:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought support for Kyiv’s “peace formula” to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, telling G7 leaders at the summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima it was “an obvious expression of rationality”.
Meeting with Zelenskiy, US President Joe Biden announced a $375m package of military aid to Ukraine, telling him the US was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
Potential allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 warplanes were a message to Russia not to expect to succeed in its invasion of Ukraine even in a prolonged conflict, said the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Biden told G7 leaders that Washington supports the joint allied training programmes, senior US officials said, a significant endorsement as Kyiv seeks to boost its air power against Russia.
The Hiroshima summit gave Zelenskiy a chance to win over countries from the “global south” such as Brazil and India in an attempt to broaden support for his country in its war against Russia.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said G7 decisions at the summit were aimed at the “double containment” of Russia and China.
Canada will support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary in its conflict with Russia, including the training of Ukrainian soldiers and possibly pilots, said the prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Britain published plans to ban imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminium and nickel and announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia, targeting companies connected to the alleged theft of Ukrainian grain.
Zelenskiy arrived on a French government-labelled military aircraft for the G7 summit in Hiroshima, after addressing an Arab League summit, marked an achievement for the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Updated
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region said that Kyiv had struck the Russian-held port city of Berdyansk with British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Reuters reports.
In a statement on Telegram, Vladimir Rogov said that seven missiles had been fired at the city, four of which were Storm Shadow missiles. He said six of the missiles had been intercepted and one had fallen on the edge of the city but had not caused any casualties.
Reuters could not independently verify his assertion.
The founder of Georgia’s national airline Georgian Airways has banned the country’s president from using its services after she said she would boycott the airline over its resumption of flights to Russia, Russia’s TASS news agency reports.
Russia announced this month it was lifting a four-year old ban on direct flights with Georgia and removing a decades-old visa requirement for Georgians travelling to Russia.
President Salome Zourabichvili urged Georgian authorities to thwart the Russian initiative, which they ignored.
Tamaz Gaiashvili, founder of privately-owned Georgian Airways, was cited by TASS on Sunday as saying that Zourabichvili was now “persona non grata” and would be banned until she “apologises before the Georgian people”.
There was no immediate reaction from Zourabichvili.
Although Georgian officials welcomed the resumption of flights, some Georgians who want the South Caucasus country to distance itself from Moscow in favour of the European Union demonstrated against it in central Tbilisi on Sunday.
Many Georgians oppose any rapprochement with Moscow whose troops garrison two breakaway regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - that make up around one fifth of the country’s territory.
Other Georgians are more open to the idea however, and the Georgian government has in recent years worked to improve ties with Moscow, declining to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
President Zourabichvili, whose position is largely ceremonial and whose relations with the government are strained, has warned that deepening ties with Russia could jeopardise the country’s chances of the EU one day.
Updated
The Guardian’s Justin McCurry has the full report on everything that’s happened at the G7 today, including the US military aid pledge and Zelenskiy’s speech:
New US $375m military aid package unveiled
US President Joe Biden has announced a new package of military aid of up to $375m to Ukraine, telling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the US was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine’s defence.
Biden, meeting with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the G7 summit of world leaders in Japan, said the military aid package included ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.
He said:
Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine’s back and I promise we’re not going anywhere.
In the meeting, Biden stressed his country’s readiness to help build Ukraine’s long-term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression and US support for a joint effort with allied and partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-16, the White House said.
Zelenskiy thanked the US for the new package, and for the financial assistance of $37 billion to date, his office said.
Updated
Zelenskiy asks G7 leaders whether cooperation so far is 'enough'
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told G7 leaders in an address on Sunday that Kyiv’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine is “an obvious expression of rationality”.
Zelenskiy, who is attending the G7 summit in Japan in person, has in recent months been seeking global support for a “peace formula”.
Thanking western leaders for achieving “a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected”, he said:
The more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russia’s insane path But is this enough?
He added that he planned to spend his day at the G7 discussing the Ukrainian Peace Formula.
We’re united by one more principle - rationality.
We always act practically protecting our values. And the Ukrainian Peace Formula is an obvious expression of rationality. I thank you for supporting our Formula.
Zelenskiy has pushed Western allies and other countries to go further on both economic and military measures to support Kyiv as Russia’s 15-month invasion drags on.
Putin congratulates army for 'liberation' of Bakhmut
Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the Wagner mercenary force and the Russian army for what he called the “liberation” of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk.
In a statement published on the Kremlin website, Putin said that the battle - the longest and bloodiest of the 15-month war - had ended in a Russian victory:
The head of state congratulated Wagner’s assault groups, as well as all members of the units of the Russian Armed Forces who provided them with the necessary support and cover on their flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk (Bakhmut).
All those who distinguished themselves will be presented with state awards.
Updated
Questions over who has control of Bakhmut after Zelenskiy's spokesperson denies president said Russia holds city
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not confirm the capture by Russian forces of the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, his spokesman said on Sunday challenging earlier reports.
Sergii Nykyforov wrote on Facebook suggesting that Zelenskiy’s comments have been misinterpreted:
Reporter’s question: Russians said they have taken Bakhmut. President’s reply: I think no.
In this way, the president denied the capture of Bakhmut.
Updated
German police have opened an investigation after a Russian journalist and an activist who participated in a Berlin conference reported health problems that suggested possible poisoning, Agence France-Presse is reporting, citing the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
“A file has been opened based on the information available,” a Berlin police spokesperson told the Sunday weekly. Berlin police were not immediately available to respond, according to AFP.
The Russian investigative media outlet Agentstvo published an investigation this week reporting on the health problems encountered by two participants at a meeting of Russian dissidents on 29 April and 30 organised by exiled former oligarch turned Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
One participant, identified as a journalist who had recently left Russia, experienced unspecified symptoms during the event and said they may have started earlier.
The report added that the journalist went to the Charite University hospital in Berlin where Putin critic Alexei Navalny was treated after being poisoned in August 2020.
Updated
Zelenskiy appears to confirm loss of Bakhmut saying 'I think no' when asked if Kyiv controls it
Reuters is reporting Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to confirm the loss of the city of Bakhmut to Russia on Sunday, saying “I think no” when asked if it remained in Kyiv’s control.
“I think no,” he said ahead of a meeting with Joe Biden at the G7 summit, according to Reuters. “For today, it is only in our hearts.”
Among those not able to verify Wagner’s claim of victory in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, is US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War.
In its regular update, not only does it say, “ISW has not observed geolocated footage confirming Prigozhin’s claims as of this publication”, but it also goes on to assess if it really tactically matters anyway.
“Prigozhin’s claimed victory over the remaining areas in Bakhmut is purely symbolic even if true. The last few urban blocks of eastern Bakhmut that Prigozhin claimed that Wagner Group forces captured are not tactically or operationally significant,” it says.
“Their capture does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations or any particularly strong position from which to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks.”
Updated
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. I’m Christine Kearney and here’s a run through of the latest developments.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is attempting to win support from the wider international community during a furious round of diplomacy on the final day of the G7 summit in Hiroshima.
He is due to meet US president Joe Biden for a bilateral meeting on Sunday afternoon amid speculation that Washington could announce a new weapons package for Ukraine.
French president Emmanuel Macron said the G7 summit in Japan was an opportunity to convince big emerging states such as India and Brazil regarding Ukraine. Macron said Zelenskiy’s surprise visit was a “game changer”. The Ukrainian president is due to speak at 7.15 pm (1015 GMT) on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has denied a claim by the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, that the Russian mercenary group has full control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Neither statement can be independently verified.
More on the G7 and other stories shortly. In other news:
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin made the Bakhmut victory claim in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. “Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Prigozhin said. He said that his forces would withdraw from Bakhmut from 25 May for rest and retraining.
The Russian defence ministry also said the capture of Bakhmut had been ‘completed’ and president Vladimir Putin congratulated troops. He said those who had distinguished themselves would be given awards, domestic Russian news agencies reported.
Speaking before the Russian ministry’s statement, Ukraine’s military rejected Prigozhin’s claim and said its troops were continuing to fight in the ruined eastern city. “This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut,” military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters. In its daily update early Sunday, the military also said: ‘Fighting for the city of Bakhmut does not stop.”
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said the situation in Bakhmut was critical, with Ukrainian troops maintaining a defence in the south-western part of the city. “Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” she said on the Telegram messaging app. “As of now, our defenders control some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector.”
The G7 has condemned Russia’s “brutal” war on its neighbour Ukraine “in the strongest possible terms”, calling it a “serious violation of international law”, in its final communique from this week’s summit in Japan. The world leaders called for “just and lasting peace” and recommitted their intention to provide Ukraine with military, financial and humanitarian support.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had invited India to join Ukraine’s peace formula during his talks with the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, on the sidelines of the summit. Zelenskiy said on Telegram that they also discussed Ukraine’s needs in de-mining and mobile hospitals during their first face-to-face meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Reuters reported.
The US president, Joe Biden, will announce a $375m military aid package for Ukraine while in Japan, a US official has said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the package would include artillery, ammunition and Himars rocket launchers, Reuters reported.
Western countries will be running “colossal risks” if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, the Tass news agency quoted the Russian deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, as saying on Saturday. Biden has told G7 leaders that Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters, senior US officials said.
Pope Francis has tasked a leading Italian cardinal with a mission in hopes it can “ease tensions” in the Ukraine war and lead to a path of peace, the Vatican said Saturday. In a brief written statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that Francis had entrusted the mission to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is close to the pontiff. The Associated Press reports that Bruni said the timetable and the mechanics of the mission “are currently under study.”
The international criminal court said on Saturday that it was “undeterred” after Russia put prosecutor Karim Khan on a wanted list over his issuance of an arrest warrant for president Vladimir Putin. Khan, who is British, issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. Khan’s picture could be seen in the Russian interior ministry’s database on Friday.
An aide to the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, has said the object that entered Poland’s airspace last year and was found in April was a Russian-made rocket. Associated Press reports that the aide, Paweł Szrot, said on Radio RMF FM on Friday that the nose of the rocket had been found and that it was “peculiar” because it was made of concrete. It was being examined by experts.
