Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s troops abandon positions in Bakhmut amid Kyiv’s counterattack
A Russian brigade has abandoned its position on a bridge in Bakhmut, allowing Ukrainian forces to capture it, Ukraine said.
“It’s official. [Yevgeny] Prigozhin’s report about the flight of Russia’s 72nd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from near Bakhmut and the ‘500 corpses’ of Russians left behind is true,” Ukraine’s Third Separate Assault Brigade said in a statement.
Vladimir Putin’s soldiers Russian units in some parts of Bakhmut have retreated by up to two kilometres (1.2 miles), Ukrainian colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
Bakhmut has been the epicentre of the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since the Second World War for nearly 10 months now.
The chief of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries confirmed Russian troops fleeing their positions on a bridge near Bakhmut.
“Our army is fleeing. The 72nd Brigade pissed away three square km this morning, where I had lost around 500 men,” Yevgeny\
Prigozhin said, complaining his troops were receiving only 10 per cent of the shells they needed.
Key Points
Ukraine says Russian brigade seriously damaged
Putin’s troops ‘abandon’ Bakhmut, Wagner chief claims
Wagner Group to be labelled terrorist organisation
Journalist working for AFP killed in rocket attack in Ukraine
Ukraine mocks Putin’s ‘loneliest little tank in the world’
Russian brigade abandons bridge near Bakhmut
03:54 , Arpan Rai
A Russian brigade has abandoned its position on a bridge in Bakhmut, allowing Ukrainian forces to capture it, Ukraine said.
“It’s official. [Yevgeny] Prigozhin’s report about the flight of Russia’s 72nd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from near Bakhmut and the ‘500 corpses’ of Russians left behind is true,” Ukraine’s Third Separate Assault Brigade said in a statement.
A Russian brigade is typically formed of several thousand troops.
This development was earlier referred to by the chief of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries.
“Our army is fleeing. The 72nd Brigade pissed away three square km this morning, where I had lost around 500 men,” Prigozhin said, complaining his troops were receiving only 10 per cent of the shells they needed.
Russia fines Google over 'LGBT propaganda' and 'false information'
09:50 , Martha Mchardy
A Russian court fined Alphabet’s Google 3 million roubles ($38,600) on Thursday for failing to delete YouTube videos it said promoted “LGBT propaganda” and “false information” about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported.
Over the last year Moscow has levied dozens of fines against Western tech companies as part of a drive to ramp up control over what Russian internet users see online.
As well as passing strict censorship laws shortly after it dispatched troops into Ukraine, Russia also last year strengthened its laws against what it calls the “promotion of LGBT propaganda”.
Under the new law, which widens Russia’s interpretation of what qualifies as “LGBT propaganda” and has been heavily criticised by independent human rights groups, any action or the spreading of any information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality in public, online, or in films, books or advertising, could incur a heavy fine.
Russian prosecutors said Google had refused to remove several videos posted on YouTube, including one from a blogger deemed a “foreign agent” by Moscow about how same-sex couples raise children and about the LGBT community in St. Petersburg, the TASS news agency reported.
The Russian subsidiary of Alphabet’s Google filed for bankruptcy last year after authorities seized its bank accounts following a December 2021 fine of 7.2 billion roubles ($92.6 million) over what Russian authorities said was the company’s “repeated failure” to delete content.
Watch: Putin ‘doesn’t have enough Novichok’ to kill opponents, claims former state journalist
09:43 , Martha Mchardy
Ukraine needs more time for counter-offensive, Zelensky says
09:28 , Martha Mchardy
Ukraine needs more time to launch a counter-offensive against Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Zelensky said in an interview broadcast Thursday by the BBC that it would be “unacceptable” to launch the assault now because too many lives would be lost.
“With (what we have) we can go forward and be successful,” the Ukrainian president said.
“But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable,” he was quoted as saying. The interview was reportedly carried out in Kyiv with public service broadcasters who are members of Eurovision News, including the BBC.
“So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.”
Ukraine is receiving advanced Western weapons, including tanks and other armoured vehicles, and Western training for its troops as it gears up for an expected assault.
Tributes paid to ninth Brit killed in Ukraine
09:12 , Martha Mchardy
Tributes have been paid to a “very special” British military volunteer killed during fighting in Ukraine.
Jay Morais, 52, from Bristol, fought in some of the fiercest battles in the country’s eastern region — including the Donbas cities of Severodonetsk and Bakhmut.
The death of Mr Morais, a veteran of the French foreign legion who signed up to fight last year, was confirmed by Ukraine on Tuesday.
He is thought to have died in Kharkiv in February after fighting Russian troops further east, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Morais is the ninth known British national to have died in Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on 24 February last year.
Lidiya Martynova, his Ukrainian fiancée, told the paper he was a “very special guy”. He met Ms Martynova, a local humanitarian volunteer, while serving in the war.
Matt Mathers reports:
Tributes paid to ninth Brit killed in Ukraine
Putin ‘doesn’t have enough Novichok’ to kill critics, claims former Russian state TV journalist
09:09 , Martha Mchardy
President Putin “doesn’t have enough Novichok” to kill his growing number of critics, a former Russian state TV journalist has claimed.
Russian dissident Marina Ovsyannikova told Sky News an “isolated” President Putin does not have enough Novichok to kill his critics, which have grown in number since the war in Ukraine began.
“I think that Putin doesn’t have enough Novichok for all his opponents. Because actually when the war started, many more people started speaking against the regime and many more will do that,” she said.
Ms Ovsyannikova worked for Channel One Russia television channel from 2003 until last year when she made headlines for her on-air protest against the war in Ukraine.
Military-grade nerve agent Novichok was used in the 2018 Salisbury poisonings and to attack Russian opposition politician, Alexei Navalny in 2020.
Ms Ovsyannikova also said that she hopes that the Russian president could be toppled by those around him.
Nearly 17m people displaced by war last year
07:45 , Katy Clifton
The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) reached a record 71.1 million worldwide last year due to conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and climate calamities like the monsoon floods in Pakistan, according to data published today.
The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) said that figure represented a 20 per cent increase since 2021, with an unprecedented number of people fleeing in search of safety and shelter.
IDMC said that nearly three-quarters of the world’s displaced people live in 10 countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ukraine and Sudan, due to conflicts that prompted significant displacement in 2022.
The war in Ukraine triggered nearly 17 million displacements last year, according to IDMC.
Nearly 10,000 Russian convicts joined military last month, says UK MoD
07:05 , Arpan Rai
The Russian defence ministry has ramped up a scheme to recruit prisoners to fight in Ukraine since the start of this year and it is likely that up to 10,000 convicts signed up in April alone, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.
“From summer 2022, prisoners were the key pool of recruits for the Wagner Group private military company’s operations in Ukraine. However, the group highly likely lost access to the Russian penal system in February 2023 when its public feud with the [defence ministry] was escalating,” it said in its latest intelligence update.
The MoD said the Russian defence ministry’s prisoner recruitment campaign is “part of a broader, intense effort by the Russian military to bolster its numbers, while attempting to avoid implementing new mandatory mobilisation, which would be very unpopular with the Russian public”.
Russia planning to evacuate more than 3,000 workers from nuclear plant town
06:41 , Arpan Rai
Russian forces are planning to evacuate more than 3,000 workers from the town housing Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the war-hit nation’s southern part, threatening a “catastrophic lack” of personnel, Ukraine’s state-owned Energoatom company said.
“Information was obtained that the Russian occupationists were preparing for the “evacuation” of about 3,100 people from the satellite town of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” it said in a statement.
It added that by displacing thousands, Russian “occupationists prove their inability to ensure the operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as there is now a catastrophic lack of skilled personnel”.
This comes as the Russian defence ministry and a Russia-backed official claimed that their forces struck a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the region.
Imagine Dragons release music video shot on war frontline in Ukraine
06:04 , Arpan Rai
American pop band Imagine Dragons have released a music video for their single “Crushed” shot on the frontline of the war in Ukraine.
Announcing the release on Twitter, the American rock band wrote: “Our video for ‘Crushed’, filmed on the frontlines of Ukraine, is out now. It follows Sasha, a young boy who endured months of shelling in his town.
“Sasha’s story is heartbreaking, and there are thousands more like him who desperately need help. Even today, his family is without electricity and other basic utilities.”
Imagine Dragons release music video filmed on the front lines of Ukraine
Zelensky creates two more military administrations in Kherson
05:47 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has set up two military administrations in Kherson oblast.
The Vynohradove village military administration and Skadovsk city military administration were created yesterday.
Russia says ‘difficult operation’ continues amid counterattack in Bakhmut
04:11 , Arpan Rai
Russia says ‘difficult operation’ continues as Bakhmut will be captured
The Kremlin described the invasion as a "very difficult" military operation amid long-standing hope to capture Bakhmut and control the Ukrainian city.
"The special military operation continues. This is a very difficult operation, and, of course, certain goals have been achieved in a year," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a Bosnian Serb television channel.
"We managed to beat up the Ukrainian military machine quite a bit," he added, citing Russian missile strikes in Ukraine. "This work will continue".
He said he had no doubt that Bakhmut "will be captured and will be kept under control", defending the months-long grinding battle in the region as Russia “is not waging war".
Russia’s Wagner mercenaries to be labelled terror group like Islamic State
02:10 , Sam Rkaina
The UK is set to designate Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group as a proscribed terrorist organisation, it is understood.
The Times quoted a Government source as saying the move was “imminent” and likely to be enacted within weeks after two months spent building a legal case.
Proscription would make it a criminal offence to join Wagner, encourage support for it, display its logo in public or attend its meetings.
Among other organisation on the Government’s proscribed list are the Islamic State, al Qaida and neo-Nazi group National Action.
It comes as Labour demanded ministers formally label the Wagner Group a terror outfit after accusing it of committing “appalling atrocities”.
Click here for the full story.
Russia’s military operation against Ukraine is “very difficult” Kremlin admits
01:15 , Sam Rkaina
Russia’s military operation against Ukraine is “very difficult” but will continue, Tass news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling a Bosnian television station on Wednesday.
Russia has succeeded in severely damaging the Ukrainian military machine and this work will continue, he added in a long interview during which he repeated many of Moscow’s talking points about the conflict.
Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what Moscow calls a special military operation and initially captured significant amounts of territory.
But Kyiv’s forces pushed back last year and are now planning another counteroffensive. Western officials estimate more than 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded.
“The special military operation continues. This is a very difficult operation, and, of course, certain goals have been achieved in a year,” Tass quoted Peskov as saying.
Ukraine continues to shell eastern parts of the country occupied by Russia and Peskov said this demonstrated the need to continue the conflict and push pro-Kyiv forces back.
“We managed to beat up the Ukrainian military machine quite a bit,” said Peskov, noting Russia had launched countless missile strikes against what he said were military targets across Ukraine.
“This work will continue,” he said. Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting mainly civilian targets, a charge Moscow denies.
Tributes to AFP journalist Arman Soldin killed near Bakhmut, Ukraine
Thursday 11 May 2023 00:20 , Sam Rkaina
Tributes have been paid to Arman Soldin, a journalist working for international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) killed in a rocket attack near Bakhmut in Ukraine.
The 32-year-old video co-ordinator was with a team of its journalists travelling with Ukrainian soldiers when the group came under fire with Grad rockets near Chasiv Yar on Tuesday.
Russian forces have been trying to capture the city for nine months, making Bakhmut the focus of the war’s longest battle.
Click here for the full story.
Poland reverts to historic name for Russia's Kaliningrad
Wednesday 10 May 2023 23:24 , Sam Rkaina
Poland is reverting to using its historical name for Kaliningrad, the Russian city and administrative region that sits on its border.
From now on, it will be designated on Polish maps as Krolewiec, based on the recommendation of the government commission for geographic names abroad.
The Kremlin has reacted angrily: spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called it a “process bordering on insanity,” going beyond Russophobia.
The city, formerly known as Koenigsberg, was ceded from Germany to the Soviet Union after the Second World War. In 1946 it was renamed Kaliningrad, after Mikhail Kalinin, one of the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution.
The Polish authorities point out that Kalinin was one of six Soviet officials who ordered the execution of more than 21,000 Polish prisoners of war at Katyn and elsewhere in 1940.
They said the current name was artificial, lacking any connection to the city or the region, but the centuries-old name of Krolewiec was part of Poland’s cultural heritage.
The war in neighboring Ukraine has added to the long-standing tensions between Russia and Poland, an ally of Kyiv which has been supplying Ukraine’s military with weapons and pressing for more international backing for Ukraine.
Eurovision’s preparations for potential Russia cyberthreat ‘in good place’
Wednesday 10 May 2023 22:24 , Sam Rkaina
Eurovision’s preparations for a potential cyberthreat from Russia are in a “really good place” and organisers feel “very confident” about their preparations, the BBC’s managing director of the event has said.
The broadcaster has been working with the European Broadcasting Union’s specialist team and the National Cyber Security Centre ahead of the week-long event in Liverpool.
Ukraine won last year’s competition but Russia’s invasion means the UK is hosting this year, prompting fears of possible interference.
Click here for the full story.
Main developments in Russia
Wednesday 10 May 2023 21:30 , Sam Rkaina
A filling point on the Druzhba pipeline in a Russian region bordering Ukraine has been attacked, the TASS news agency reported, citing Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft.
Two drones tried to attack a military facility in Russia’s Voronezh region but failed, region’s governor said.
Russia’s air defence forces shot down an “enemy” drone in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, its governor said, adding that falling debris damaged a gas pipeline and a house.
Two Russian soldiers from Kamchatka in the far east have been sentenced to two-and-a-half years each in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, human rights group OVD-Info said.
Key developments from Wednesday
Wednesday 10 May 2023 20:37 , Sam Rkaina
A Ukrainian military unit said it had routed a Russian infantry brigade from frontline territory near Bakhmut, claiming to confirm an account by the head of Russia’s Wagner private army that the Russian forces had fled.
Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin complained that his Wagner fighters were still not getting enough shells from the defence ministry to underpin what he said was their advance in Bakhmut.
The war in Ukraine will increasingly be a battle between large numbers of poorly trained Russian troops with outdated equipment and a smaller Ukrainian force with better Western weapons and training, NATO’s top military official said.
Ukraine’s Eurovision want to ‘show how strong Ukrainians are'
Wednesday 10 May 2023 19:12 , Sam Rkaina
Tvorchi, Ukraine’s electro pop-duo entry in Eurovision 2023, said they hoped to shine a spotlight on their country’s fight for freedom when they perform in the grand final in Liverpool on Saturday night.
Formed in 2018 by Ukrainian producer Andrii Hutsuliak and Nigerian-born singer Jeffery Kenny, the pair wrote their song “Heart of Steel” last spring when Ukraine’s soldiers were defending Mariupol.
“We wrote it from how we felt, we didn’t know we would apply to Eurovision,” Kenny said.
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra rode a huge wave of support from across Europe to win the contest last year, but the country was unable to stage the event this year, as the winner usually does, because of Russia’s invasion.
Hutsuliak said Tvorchi would “show the world our message”.
“We’ll show how strong Ukrainians are,” he saids. “We hope we can inspire people all around the planet to take a look at the Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom, for their land, for their families.”
Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny ‘needs urgent medical care'
Wednesday 10 May 2023 18:04 , Sam Rkaina
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture has called on Russia to provide jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny with “urgent and comprehensive” medical care following reports that his health was deteriorating.
Navalny’s supporters said last month that he was suffering from significant stomach pain in jail, which they said could be a sign of some sort of slow acting poison.
“I am distressed by the deteriorating state of Mr Navalny’s health and the apparent lack of satisfactory diagnosis and medical treatment,” Alice Edwards, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said in a statement.
Russia’s penitentiary service has in the past denied allegations that its employees have mistreated Navalny and has said he has always been granted medical treatment when needed.
Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia in 2020.
“He must immediately and continuously be provided with adequate care, including comprehensive medical check-ups, treatment and monitoring of his health situation in a civil hospital,” Edwards said.
The 46-year-old Navalny is serving combined sentences of 11-1/2 years for fraud and contempt of court on charges he says were trumped up to silence him.
Russian authorities say Navalny and his supporters are extremists determined to destabilise Russia. They have outlawed his movement and Navalny himself is facing new charges that could add years to his prison sentence.
Western governments and scores of public figures have called for his release.
Russian forces in parts of Bakhmut ‘retreating due to counter attacks’
Wednesday 10 May 2023 17:26 , Sam Rkaina
A top Ukrainian military commander has said Russian forces in some parts of the eastern city of Bakhmut had retreated by up to 2 km as the result of counter attacks by pro-Kyiv units.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine’s ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram.
Germany to buy 50 more Puma fighting vehicles for 1.5 bln euros
Wednesday 10 May 2023 15:57 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Germany will buy an additional 50 Puma fighting vehicles worth a total of 1.5 billion euros ($1.65 billion) for its armed forces after the parliamentary budget committee approved the purchase, the defence minister said on Wednesday.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed last year to ramp up defence spending in response to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, sending weapons to Kyiv and modernising its own military. Some 100 billion euros are available.
The Puma, built by KMW and Rheinmetall, is gradually replacing Germany’s old Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
“This is a good decision,” said Defence Minister Boris Pistorius. “We need this Puma, especially in light of the changed security situation. We also have a responsibility towards NATO,” he said.
Last year, several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a military drill after problems arose during a firing exercise.
Russian mercenary chief says he's still not getting enough shells for Ukraine
Wednesday 10 May 2023 15:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin complained on Wednesday that his Wagner fighters were still not getting enough shells from the defence ministry to underpin what he said was their advance in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
Prigozhin has taken his standoff over the issue with the ministry to new levels in recent days threatening to leave Bakhmut before U-turning and then again raising the prospect of Wagner’s departure, a move he said he’d been warned would be viewed by the defence ministry as treachery.
In an audio statement on Wednesday, he said the defence ministry - which has promised to ensure that all combat units have the resources they need - had been holding long meetings on the shell issue but that there had been no breakthrough.
“We’re not receiving enough shells, we’re only getting 10% (of what we need),” Prigozhin, whose forces have been spearheading the assault on Bakhmut despite taking heavy losses, said in the statement.
“We’re scraping by with a minimal quantity of shells,” he said, saying his men were nonetheless continuing to advance in Bakhmut which he called by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk.
Prigozhin said that the Russian leadership had asked the defence ministry to check the status of Wagner’s shell request, but that bureaucracy meant the process was a slow one.
There was no immediate comment on his latest assertions from the defence ministry while the Kremlin earlier on Wednesday said it had not seen a public appeal for more shells that Prigozhin had made on May 9.
Prigozhin in the same audio statement clarified a crude tirade he had made a day earlier aimed at someone he referred to as “a happy Grandfather,” an ambiguous phrase that fuelled speculation he might be widening his criticism of the way that what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine is being run.
Prigozhin said the target of his anger remained the same however - the army’s top brass.
Analysts have said his erratic behaviour looks like an attempt to try to deflect blame for a lack of swift success - the battle for Bakhmut is in its 10th month.
Ukraine says Russian brigade seriously damaged
Wednesday 10 May 2023 14:21 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukraine‘s military said on Wednesday its forces had seriously damaged though not destroyed Russia‘s 72nd Separate Motor-rifle Brigade near Bakhmut, and that the eastern city remained Moscow’s main target.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the situation remained “difficult” in Bakhmut, but that Moscow was increasingly forced to use regular army forces because of heavy losses among the Wagner private army group.
Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose private Wagner Group is fighting in Bakhmut, said on Tuesday that the 72nd Separate Motor-rifle Brigade had abandoned its positions.
“Unfortunately they have not destroyed the whole (Russian) brigade yet, two companies have been seriously damaged there,” Cherevatyi said in televised comments.
“The situation (in Bakhmut) remains difficult because for the enemy, despite all the white noise Prigozhin is trying to create, it (Bakhmut) is (still) the main direction of attack, the main coveted target.”
Tributes to AFP journalist Arman Soldin killed near Bakhmut, Ukraine
Wednesday 10 May 2023 14:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Tributes have been paid to Arman Soldin, a journalist working for international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) killed in a rocket attack near Bakhmut in Ukraine.
The 32-year-old video co-ordinator was with a team of its journalists travelling with Ukrainian soldiers when the group came under fire with Grad rockets near Chasiv Yar.
Russian forces have been trying to capture the city for nine months, making Bakhmut the focus of the war’s longest battle.
“His death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers faced by journalists every day covering the conflict in Ukraine,” AFP chairman Fabrice Fries said.
Alastair Jamieson has more:
Tributes to ‘talented and courageous’ AFP journalist Arman Soldin killed in Ukraine
Ukraine’s first lady says 19,000 children have been illegally taken by Putin to ‘wipe their memories’
Wednesday 10 May 2023 13:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukraine’s first lady has suggested 19,000 Ukrainian children have been “illegally taken” by Vladimir Putin to “wipe their memories to retrain them into becoming Russians”.
Olena Zelenska spoke to Good Morning Britain in an interview aired on Tuesday morning (9 May).
“This is scary, 19,000 Ukrainian children now are illegally taken to Russia, this is a lot. They are not cars, fridges, cattle. They are people, children,” she said.
“Russia is making efforts to wipe their memories to retrain them into becoming Russians.”
Ms Zelenska added thousands of Ukrainian children have been “traumatised psychologically”.
Ukraine’s first lady says Putin has illegally taken children to ‘wipe their memories’
EU takes aim at countries helping Russia to avoid sanctions
Wednesday 10 May 2023 13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
A top European Union official on Tuesday urged the 27 member nations to take trade measures against countries that help the Kremlin to circumvent the bloc’s sanctions against Russia.
During a visit to Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the measures - which would set a new precedent for EU action - should be part of a fresh round of Russia sanctions which the member countries are discussing.
“We recently see a growth of highly unusual trade flows through the European Union and certain third countries. These goods then end up in Russia,” von der Leyen said, standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
She did not name the countries, but EU officials have raised concerns about certain flows of goods through China and Iran for some time.
EU takes aim at countries helping Russia to avoid sanctions
Poland summons Russian ambassador over fighter jet incident
Wednesday 10 May 2023 13:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Poland summoned Russia‘s ambassador on Wednesday over an incident involving a Russian fighter jet and Polish border guard aircraft over the Black Sea early in May, a spokesperson for the Polish foreign ministry said.
The near-miss incident put NATO’s air policing units in a higher state of readiness and worsened already-hostile relations between Russia and Poland, which has been a strong supporter of Ukraine as it battles a Russian invasion.
The incident on May 7 occurred when a Polish border guard aircraft, on patrol for the European Union’s border agency Frontex, narrowly avoided a collision with a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea, Romania and Poland have said.
“We strongly condemn the provocative and aggressive behaviour of the Russian side, which is a serious international incident,” ministry spokesperson Lukasz Jasina wrote on Twitter.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw was not immediately available for comment.
The Russian ambassador was summoned to Poland’s foreign ministry earlier this month over a statement made by the former ombudsman for Russian children calling for the murder of the Polish ambassador.
A single tank, fewer soldiers and no flypast: Putin gives angry speech at stripped-back Victory Day parade
Wednesday 10 May 2023 12:47 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
After Russia attacked Ukraine with its latest barrage of cruise missiles, Vladimir Putin made an angry speech to mark Victory Day in Moscow, hitting out at Western countries for starting what he claims is a “real war” against Russia.
However, in a sign of the toll his invasion of Ukraine has taken on Russia’s forces, the annual military parade across Red Square was pared back, as Moscow throws manpower and weaponry at the frontlines following an underwhelming winter campaign and an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“Today, civilisation is once again at a decisive turning point,” Mr Putin said as he again sought to defend his invasion of Ukraine by painting Russia as having been cornered by “Western global elites”. “A real war has been unleashed against our motherland,” he said.
Chris Stevenson reports:
Kremlin calls Polish decision to rename Kaliningrad 'hostile act'
Wednesday 10 May 2023 12:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Poland’s decision to rename the Russian city of Kaliningrad in its official documents was a “hostile act”.
Kaliningrad was known by the German name of Koenigsberg until after World War II, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union and renamed to honour Soviet politician Mikhail Kalinin.
Warsaw said on Tuesday that Kalinin’s connection to the 1940 Katyn massacre - when thousands of Polish military officers were executed by Soviet forces - had negative connotations and that the city should now be referred to as Krolewiec, its name when it was ruled by the Kingdom of Poland in the 15th and 16th centuries.
“The current Russian name of this city is an artificial baptism unrelated to either the city or the region,” Poland’s committee on geographical standardisation said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision “bordered on madness”.
“We know that throughout history Poland has slipped from time to time into this madness of hatred towards Russians,” he told a daily news briefing.
Relations between Poland and Russia have historically often been very strained, including during and after World War Two.
Moscow says it liberated Poland when its forces drove out Nazi German forces at the end of the war. Most Poles believe the Soviet Union replaced Nazi occupation with another form of repression.
More recently, Poland, a member of the NATO military alliance, has strongly backed Ukraine after Russia‘s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, and has stepped up the demolition of memorials to fallen Soviet troops across the country.
Why North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Russia aren’t competing at Eurovision this year
Wednesday 10 May 2023 12:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
This week, Liverpool plays host to thousands of international guests as the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest gets underway.
Despite Ukraine’s win at last year’s competition, the UK city will put on the show on their behalf as the continued war with Russia makes it impossible to stage there.
The events at the Liverpool Arena will welcome 37 nations this year, as opposed to 40 in 2022.
Countries that will not make an appearance include North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Montenegro, as well as Russia for a second year running.
Russia was banned from competing in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. The banning decision was upheld by the European Broadcasting Union for 2023.
Why North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Russia aren’t competing at Eurovision this year
Putin’s Victory Day parade proves just how much pressure he is under
Wednesday 10 May 2023 11:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
It is meant to be a show of military might, but this year has only highlighted the war of attrition Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has become, writes Chris Stevenson:
Vladimir Putin’s annual Victory Day speech meandered down a familiar path that we have seen several times over the last few months – blaming the West for trying to destroy Russia culturally, while continuing to pervert the historical record by saying that it is only Russia that has truly fought Nazism.
The narrative he is trying to push is that the “real war” is not the one Moscow started in Ukraine, but one being waged on Russia by the West using Kyiv as a proxy. So far, so predictable. But the emphasis was clearly on convincing Russians of the need to push on, and the pride the country should have in the military personnel taking part in this war, whether they are fighting on the frontlines, providing supplies, or treating the injured. The phrase “There’s nothing stronger than love for the motherland” was among Putin’s closing words.
Analysis: Putin’s Russian Victory Day show proves just how much pressure he’s under
Staffing level is latest peril facing Ukraine nuclear plant
Wednesday 10 May 2023 11:21 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia plans to relocate around 2,700 Ukrainian staff from Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s atomic energy company claimed Wednesday, warning of a potential “catastrophic lack of qualified personnel” at the Zaporizhzhia facility in Russia-occupied southern Ukraine.
Workers who signed employment contracts with Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom following Moscow’s capture of the Zaporizhzhia plant early in the war are set to be taken to Russia along with their families, Energoatom said in a Telegram post.
Energoatom did not specify whether the employees would be forcibly moved out of the plant nor was it immediately possible to verify Energoatom’s claims about Moscow’s plan.
Removing staff would “exacerbate the already extremely urgent issue” of staff shortages, Energoatom said.
The Moscow-installed governor of the region ordered civilian evacuations from the area last Saturday, including from the nearby city of Enerhodar where most plant workers live. The full scope of the evacuation order was not clear.
Staffing level is latest peril facing Ukraine nuclear plant
Two Russian soldiers sentenced to jail for refusing to fight
Wednesday 10 May 2023 11:08 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Two Russian soldiers from Kamchatka in the far east have been sentenced to two and a half years each in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, human rights group OVD-Info said on Wednesday.
In separate rulings, the men, identified in military court documents as Alexander Stepanov and Andrei Mikhailov, were found guilty of refusing orders to go into combat during wartime. Russian President Vladimir Putin amended the criminal code last year to include prison sentences of up to three years for such violations.
The 35th Garrison Military Court in Kamchatka handed down the sentences to Stepanov and Mikhailov on April 25 and April 27, respectively. The men have not yet been sent to prison and have the option to appeal.
Putin ordered the mobilisation of an extra 300,000 troops last September to bolster Russia‘s war effort in Ukraine, where the army has sustained heavy losses in nearly 15 months of war. The move, unprecedented since World War Two, prompted hundreds of thousands of Russian men to flee the country to avoid being called up.
In February, a 20-year-old conscript soldier from the northern Urals committed suicide by hanging himself from a belt at his military station outside Moscow after he refused to go to Ukraine, OVD-Info reported.
“I do not want to obey people who inspire nothing but fear and disgust,” the soldier, Sergei Gridin, wrote in a suicide note. “Therefore, I decided to die here, in my native land, without someone else’s blood on my hands.”
Russia moves to 'denounce' European armed forces treaty - decree
Wednesday 10 May 2023 10:47 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia may formally “denounce” the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
The decree formally appoints Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov to represent Putin during parliamentary proceedings on denouncing the treaty, which aimed to regulate the number of forces deployed by Warsaw Pact and NATO countries.
Russia announced in 2015 that it was completely halting its participation in the treaty.
Wagner chief claims Putin’s troops ‘abandon’ Bakhmut
Wednesday 10 May 2023 10:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed that Vladimir Putin’s troops have started to abandon their positions in Bakhmut.
“Today one of the units of the defence ministry fled from one of our flanks... exposing the front,” Mr Prigozhin said in a video.
The leader’s statement follows a week of emotionally charged threats to withdraw Wagner from the bloody frontline of Bakhmut due to a lack of ammunition.
Britain set to ban Russia's Wagner Group
Wednesday 10 May 2023 09:22 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Britain is set to formally classify Russian mercenary force Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation, which would impose financial sanctions and other penalties, as a way of increasing pressure on Russia.
Wagner mercenaries have spearheaded Russia‘s months-long assault on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
The Home Office has been building a case for two months and proscription was “imminent” within weeks, the The Times reported, citing a government source.
If enacted, it would be a criminal offence to belong to Wagner, attend its meetings, encourage support for it or carry its logo in public, the paper said.
The designation would also impose financial sanctions on the group, and there would be implications for Wagner’s ability to raise money if any funds went through British financial institutions, the newspaper added.
There has been no evidence that Wagner or individuals linked to the group are operating in Britain since the war in Ukraine started, the report said.
However, there had been “suspicions” the group helped move money out of Britain after financial sanctions were imposed on Russian oligarchs and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the newspaper said, citing a government source.
Britain’s Home Office said it was looking into the report.
Ukraine’s first lady says 19,000 children have been illegally taken by Putin to ‘wipe their memories’
Wednesday 10 May 2023 08:58 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukraine’s first lady has suggested 19,000 Ukrainian children have been “illegally taken” by Vladimir Putin to “wipe their memories to retrain them into becoming Russians”.
Olena Zelenska spoke to Good Morning Britain in an interview aired on Tuesday morning (9 May).
“This is scary, 19,000 Ukrainian children now are illegally taken to Russia, this is a lot. They are not cars, fridges, cattle. They are people, children,” she said.
“Russia is making efforts to wipe their memories to retrain them into becoming Russians.”
Ms Zelenska added thousands of Ukrainian children have been “traumatised psychologically”.
Ukraine’s first lady says Putin has illegally taken children to ‘wipe their memories’
No quick deal in sight as EU countries start talks on new Russia sanctions
Wednesday 10 May 2023 08:38 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
European Union states hold a first discussion on Wednesday on proposed new sanctions over Russia‘s war in Ukraine that would target Chinese and Iranian firms and allow export curbs on third countries for busting existing trade restrictions.
Talks among EU envoys start at 0800 GMT and are set to be heated, according to one diplomat, with Russia hawks upset the plan doesn’t go far enough but others wary of damaging their international ties.
Widely differing perspectives mean a quick deal is not expected, several diplomats said.
The EU’s chief executive unveiled the plan on a symbolic trip to Kyiv on Tuesday - a counterbalance to annual celebrations in Moscow of the World War Two victory over Nazi Germany that President Vladimir Putin likens to his invasion of Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the new sanctions would focus on cracking down on circumvention of Russia trade curbs already in place, and were designed “in very close coordination” with Group of Seven (G7) nations.
“If we see that goods are going from the European Union to third countries and then end up in Russia, we could propose to the member states to sanction those goods’ export. This tool will be a last resort and it will be used cautiously,” she said.
She added the EU would stop transit via Russia of more of its exports, including advanced tech products and aircraft parts.
Diplomatic sources familiar with the proposal - drafted by von der Leyen’s Commission - said it also included blacklisting “tens” of new companies, including from China, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The new sanctions would highlight that oil tankers are not allowed to offload in high seas or arrive in ports with their GPS trackers off, an attempt to push back against flouting G7 restrictions on trading Russian oil, according to the sources.
