The retired US general who led NATO in Europe from 2013 to 2016 says Vladimir Putin's aims in Ukraine are "weapons out, NATO back, and no America" — but the Russian President is getting exactly the opposite.
Look back at how events unfolded in our blog.
Key events
- Russian diplomat says a ceasefire is not a good option now
- Former NATO commander says Putin is 'getting exactly what he didn't want' in Europe
- Lavrov says Ukraine's true position is being determined in Washington
- Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas says the world cannot let Putin 'get away with aggression'
- NATO is 'engaged in war' according to Russia's Foreign Minister
- International Criminal Court joins team probing alleged war crimes in Ukraine
Live updates
By Jonathan Hepburn
Good night
And this is where we leave you for today. Keep an eye on news.abc.net.au for more developments, or come back in the morning when we'll be blogging again.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Macron approves delivery of artillery pieces to Ukraine
Fresh from his successful re-election to France's presidency, Emmanuel Macron has made good on a pre-election promise to send more arms to Ukraine.
AP reports that he has given the green light to send truck-mounted Caesar cannons capable of firing six rounds per minute over 40 kilometres or more.
They could allow Ukrainian forces to hunt Russian artillery that has been pounding cities from afar.
French forces have used the cannons to great effect against Islamic State forces in Iraq and in other conflicts.
Macron has previously been secretive about France's military aid to Ukraine, but he name-dropped the Caesar cannons in an April 21 interview. He also mentioned Milan anti-tank missiles, although those had already been reported.
Macron did not give numbers. Citing unidentified French sources, newspaper Ouest-France said 12 Caesars will be drawn from the French arsenal and that 40 Ukrainian artillery soldiers were arriving for training at a military base in the south of France.
Macron said his "red line" remains not entering into direct conflict with Russia, but within that limit, "we must provide maximum help to the Ukrainians."
His armed forces minister tweeted that thousands of shells would also be part of the delivery.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Russian diplomat says a ceasefire is not a good option now
Reuters is reporting that Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, thinks Ukraine would only use a ceasefire as an opportunity to try to discredit Moscow.
He said Russia had opened humanitarian corridors but they were not being used by Ukraine.
"And Ukraine is also compromising our efforts to open these corridors, so we don't think a ceasefire is a good option right now," he said.
He also rejected Ukraine's accusations that Russia struck residential areas in the Black Sea port city of Odesa on Saturday, and repeated Moscow's ongoing stance that the Ukrainian military was to blame for civilian casualties.
Earlier, Russia had pledged to open a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol on Monday, but the offer was met with scepticism by Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine does not consider the route safe and added that Russia had breached agreements on similar evacuation routes before.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Private zoo holds on in Mariupol
In besieged Mariupol, zoo owner Savely Vashura stayed to look after the animals in his care.
He said even during the heaviest of shelling, zoo workers made sure the animals were fed and watered every day, but some had been killed during the strikes.
He spoke to Associated Press journalists who were invited into the city by the pro-Russian separatist Donetsk People's Republic.
"When there was shelling, we fed them and gave them water to drink. We didn't leave them without [food] for one day. We would pick the moments. When shells fall nearby, people would jump to the ground. But we had no one killed, apart from the animals, no people died."
Vashura said a shell exploded very near the zoo three days ago, but the situation was now "more or less stable" as Moscow's forces fought to dislodge the last Ukrainian troops in the battered port city.
He said food for the animals had started to come in the form of humanitarian aid from Russia, including directly from Moscow Zoo.
Before that, he had been forced to feed the carnivores with the remains of animals killed by the shelling.
That toll included five camels, four ostriches, six monkeys, a Scottish highland cow and a leopard.
But the zoo has been able to welcome a fresh litter of racoons.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Ukrainian women train to demine their country
Six Ukrainian women have started demining training in Kosovo to dispose of explosive ordnances back home.
They are the first group of Ukrainian deminers to be trained by private company MAT Kosovo.
Instructors are teaching them how to dispose of unexploded ordnance, such as cluster munitions, minefields, booby traps and other explosive remnants.
Trainer Artur Tigani said Kosovo remembered war:
"[What] we have is still fresh in our memories, although it's passed about 23 years now. It's still fresh in our memories, the difficulties we met when we started clearance in Kosovo. So the training centre is built upon our experience and it's like firsthand experience."
Trainee Anastasiia Minchukova, 20, said she was "dreaming about peace, about sleeping in my bed not worried about going to bomb shelters all the time".
"[In Ukraine] there is a huge demand on people who know how to do demining because the war will be over soon," she said.
"We believe there is so much work to be done. I think I will be helpful, absolutely."
Yuliia Katelik,38 and a mother of three from Kramatorsk, said she wanted to be able to protect children and all people.
Reporting and pictures by AP
By Jonathan Hepburn
Top radio chief sees Russia 'thrown back 40 years'
AFP has spoken with Alexei Venediktov, who steered independent radio station Echo of Moscow through 20 years of Vladimir Putin's rule until it was shut down last month.
"The country has been thrown back in every sense, for me it's been set back 40 years," said Venediktov.
"We are now somewhere around 1983 … war is going on in Afghanistan, dissidents are in jail or kicked out of the country and Andropov is in the Kremlin," he said, referring to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, who, like Putin, served in the KGB.
Echo of Moscow was a flagship liberal broadcaster from the time it first broadcast in August 1990, in the final months of the Soviet Union.
Its survival until now was often credited to Venediktov's links with powerful officials, including in the Kremlin and including Putin, who he jokingly referred to as his "drinking buddies" but continued to publicly criticise.
He told AFP that the Kremlin's chief even intervened when officials wanted to shut the station down.
"Putin said three times: 'No, let them work.'"
But when Russia launched the military offensive in Ukraine on February 24, Echo of Moscow described the campaign as a "political mistake".
Echo of Moscow was taken off the air on March 1, and then formally shut down by its board of directors, which is dominated by state energy giant Gazprom.
"I understand [Putin's] logic: he could not keep us because propaganda during such operations must be total," Venediktov said.
Venediktov says he has no plans to follow other independent journalists and flee Russia, and now hosts guests on a YouTube channel that has racked up half a million subscribers.
By Jonathan Hepburn
UK military says Russia is trying to encircle heavily fortified positions in Ukraine's east
The British Ministry of Defence has released its latest assessment of the war on Twitter:
- Russian forces are likely attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the east of Ukraine
- The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east.
- Ukrainian forces have been preparing defences in Zaporizhzhia in preparation for a potential Russian attack from the south.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Former NATO commander says Putin is 'getting exactly what he didn't want' in Europe
The retired US general who led NATO in Europe from 2013 to 2016 says his shorthand summary of Putin's aims in Ukraine and elsewhere on Russia's borders is: "Weapons out, NATO back, and no America."
Philip Breedlove, in an interview quoted by AP, says the Russian President is getting exactly the opposite:
"What has happened is, Mr Putin is getting exactly what he did not want. He's getting more weapons forward, he's getting more NATO forward, and he's getting more America in Europe."
The US has announced extra military financing for Ukraine and allied countries in Europe — not simply donations of weapons, but funds to buy weapons.
The Pentagon is also providing 90 of the US army's most modern howitzers, along with 183,000 rounds of artillery, along with other sophisticated weapons and training on how to use them.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the US was leading the effort to transition Ukraine to Western-style weapons from the old Soviet stock it had relied on until now.
"I only regret that it didn't happen a month or two months ago from the very beginning of the war," Mr Kuleba said.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Lavrov says Ukraine's true position is being determined in Washington
Earlier today, Mick bought you some comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview on Russian state television.
Along with accusing NATO of fighting a proxy war, he said some in his ministry suggested it would be more productive to negotiate with America about ending the war, rather than Ukraine.
"Many of us are convinced that the real position of Ukraine is determined in Washington, London and other Western capitals, and therefore, our political analysts say, why talk with Zelenskyy's team, we need to talk with the Americans, negotiate with them, reach some kind of agreement," he said in a translation provided by AP.
"We still continue to negotiate with the team that Zelenskyy put forward, these contacts will continue, but as for the Americans, it would probably be useful, but any manifestations of interest on their part regarding contacts — on Ukraine or other issues — we do not observe."
He also accused Ukraine of not taking the negotiations seriously and of not reading Russia's proposals.
By Jonathan Hepburn
It has been 36 years since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
On April 26, 1986, the number four reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, contaminating the surrounding area and spreading radiation throughout parts of the USSR and Western Europe.
The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, is in Chernobyl — spelled Chornobly in Ukraine — to step up efforts to help prevent the danger of a nuclear accident during the current war.
The team of IAEA nuclear safety, security and safeguards staff planned to deliver vital equipment and conduct radiological and other assessments at the site, which was held by Russian forces for five weeks before they withdrew on March 31.
In the nearby town of Slavutych, built to house evacuated personnel, a night service has been held at a memorial to those who died after the disaster.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Zaporizhzhia erects mock tombstone for Vladimir Putin
By Jonathan Hepburn
Analysis suggests Russian forces are attacking Mariupol steelworks because the defenders cannot be starved out quickly enough
In its latest assessment, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says Russian forces have resumed ground assaults against the Azovstal Steel Plant, but it is unclear why.
The institute says Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on April 21 that Russia would cease its assaults on the plant to prevent further Russian casualties.
However, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych and adviser to the Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko separately reported that Russian forces were carrying out ground attacks against Azovstal.
The scale of these attacks can not be independently confirmed.
The ISW suggests that Russian commanders may think they will be unable to starve out remaining Ukrainian defenders in the coming weeks.
Several experts have said Putin wants to demonstrate significant successes by May 9 — which is celebrated in Russia as Victory Day, commemorating the country's key role in winning World War II.
If the Kremlin wants Azovstal taken by then, ISW says, it will probably mean hasty and costly Russian attacks.
It is otherwise unclear why Russian forces would resume ground attacks on the facility after previously stating their intent to starve out the remaining defenders, who are highly unlikely to be able to break out and are almost certainly low on supplies.
By Jonathan Hepburn
Retired NATO commander says Russian train station attacks were meant to intimidate civilians
The attacks Russia launched overnight on five railway installations around Ukraine are widely understood to be an attempt to disrupt logistics — to prevent Ukraine from getting weapons and other resources from allies.
But AP is reporting that Philip Breedlove, a retired US general who was NATO's top commander from 2013 to 2016, says there was another motivation behind the strikes.
"I think they're doing it for the legitimate reason of trying to interdict the flow of supplies to the front," he said.
"The illegitimate reason is they know people are trying to leave the country, and this is just another intimidation, terrorist tactic to make them not have faith and confidence in travelling on the rails."
By Jonathan Hepburn
Good afternoon
Mick has handed over the blog, and I'll be taking you into the afternoon.
It's now 6:30am in Kyiv.
By Michael Doyle
Russia claims Ukraine has fired at one of its villages
Russia claims several buildings have been damaged in the Golovchino village in Russia's Belgorod province after a Ukrainian attack on Tuesday morning.
Reuters is reporting that the region's Governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on messaging app Telegram without citing evidence the attack was from Ukraine forces.
Hours earlier, Gladkov said at least two people had been hurt in an attack on another village, Zhuravlyovka.
By Michael Doyle
Russia says Ukraine is provoking by getting NATO involved
In an interview on Russian state television, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said weapons supplied by Western countries “will be a legitimate target".
He said Ukraine asking NATO for help was provoking Russia.
By providing weapons, NATO forces are “pouring oil on the fire” he said, according to a transcript on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.
By Michael Doyle
News reports say Sweden and Finland will apply for NATO membership in May
Two newspapers — one Swedish, the other Finnish — are reporting the governments of Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit NATO applications at the same time and that it will happen in the middle of next month.
The Associated Press, quoting Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, said the Swedish government has expressed a wish to Finland that they apply together in the week ending May 22, and Swedish government sources confirmed the information to Sweden's Expressen tabloid.
Though not members, both Nordic countries closely cooperate with NATO, allowing, among other things, the alliance's troops to exercise on their soil.
Helsinki and Stockholm have also substantially intensified their bilateral defence cooperation in the past years.
By Michael Doyle
It is 5am in Kyiv
It is early morning in Kyiv, with reports of heavy attacks on Monday.
Russia has confirmed it has targeted Ukraine's railway network and has warned the West not to underestimate the threat of nuclear war.
The UK says it believes as many as 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine.
The US is expected to host defence talks in Germany today, with more than 40 nations.
By Michael Doyle
UK believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since the start of the war
The UK government says it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion two months ago.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said 25 per cent of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine "have been rendered not combat effective", and Russia had lost more than 2,000 armoured vehicles and more than 60 helicopters and fighter planes.
Russia has acknowledged 1,351 military casualties, according to the Associated Press.
Mr Wallace said in parliament the UK expects Russia to continue its focus on the Donbas region, trying to connect it to Crimea via Mariupol.
By Michael Doyle
US to host defence talks in Germany
The United States will host more than 40 countries today in Germany for Ukraine-related talks.
Reuters is reporting the talks will focus on arming Kyiv, according to US officials.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is holding the event at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, following a trip to Kyiv, where he pledged additional support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's war effort.
