Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv troops say defensive lines ‘barely exist’ as Putin flaunts captured US tanks
LIVE – Updated at 18:59
Russia has pushed Ukraine onto the back foot on the battlefield as Kyiv grapples with shortages of troops and ammunition.
Outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers are being forced to pull back, one village after another, as intense fighting roils the countryside surrounding Avdiivka nearly three months after the strategic city fell to Russia.
Ukrainian forces are now racing to build more defensive fortifications at places along the around 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.
The sting for Ukraine is sharpened after Russia launched an exhibition on Wednesday which proudly displays over 30 captured military vehicles from Ukraine, including US and UK-made, since the invasion began.
The exhibition was unveiled on Russia’s International Workers’ Day and will be open for a month for visitors.
It comes as a Russian ballistic missile struck a postal depot in the Ukrainian port of Odesa late on Wednesday, injuring 14 people and triggering a large fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
Pictures and a video posted online showed flames and billowing clouds of smoke engulfing buildings and firefighters training their hoses on areas still ablaze. Most of the loading area appeared to have been reduced to a shell.
Key Points
- No safety in retreat: Ukrainian soldiers say rear defensive lines barely exist amid Russian advance
- US accuses Russia of using chemical weapons against Ukrainan troops
- Russian ballistic missile strike hits Odesa
- US hits China with sweeping sanctions over support for Russia’s war in Ukraine
15:41 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
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David Cameron, in Kyiv, promises Ukraine aid for ‘as long as it takes’
15:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron promised three billion pounds ($3.74 billion) of annual military aid for Ukraine for “as long as it takes” on Thursday, adding that London had no objection to the weapons being used inside Russia.
“We will give three billion pounds every year for as long as is necessary. We’ve just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment,” he told Reuters in an interview on a visit to in Kyiv, adding that the aid package was the largest from the UK so far.
“Some of that (equipment) is actually arriving in Ukraine today, while I’m here,” he said.
Cameron said Ukraine had a right to use the weapons provided by London to strike targets inside Russia, and that it was up to Kyiv whether to do so.
“Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself,” Cameron told Reuters outside St. Michael’s Cathedral.
“It’s absolutely crucial, not just in terms of the weapons it will bring, but also the boost to morale that it will bring to people here in Ukraine.”
Ukraine war not likely to end anytime soon, says top US spy
15:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia is likely to press its aggressive tactics in its war in Ukraine but the conflict is unlikely to end anytime soon, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Thursday.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine‘s infrastructure to hamper Kyiv’s ability to move weapons and troops to the front and slow its defense production.
(REUTERS)
Russian guided bombs injure six children in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region
14:47 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russian guided bombs struck civilian infrastructure and private houses in Ukraine‘s northeastern Kharkiv region, injuring at least six children and one adult, local officials said.
The town of Derhachi, a frequent site of Russian aerial strikes, came under another attack on Thursday.
“Two of the children received minor injuries to their limbs, and four – moderate injuries,” regional governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.
Kharkiv, which lies about 30 km (18 miles) from the border with Russia, and the surrounding region have long been targeted by Russian attacks but the strikes have become more intense in recent months, hitting civilian and energy infrastructure.
Russia says it sees no point in Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland
14:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia said on Thursday it saw no point in a conference being planned by Switzerland in mid-June to discuss how to end the Ukraine conflict and to which Moscow is not currently invited.
The Swiss government said on Thursday that “at this stage” Russia is not among the dozens of countries invited, adding that while it was open to including Russia, Moscow had repeatedly underlined it had no interest.
Switzerland in January said it would host the summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow did not see it as a credible initiative.
“We don’t understand what kind of milestone it is, this peace conference,” he told reporters. “What kind of conference can we talk about, what kind of serious conference with serious expectations of some kind of results, without the participation of Russia?
“This is completely impossible, and it is clear that this is some kind of initiative that is not focused on results,” he said.
The Swiss government said in a statement, “A peace process without Russia is not possible.”
A 98-year-old Ukraine woman says she walked 10km under fire to escape Russians
12:57 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
A 98-year-old Ukrainian woman said she walked 10 kilometres under shelling, supporting herself with sticks and sleeping on the ground, leaving an area of the country now occupied by Russia to try and reach areas controlled by Kyiv.
In a video posted by Ukraine’s police on social media on Monday, seen below, the woman, identified as Lidia Stepanivna, said she had walked without food or water and fell several times, but her “character” kept her going.
“I survived that war (Second World War), and I am surviving this war,” Stepanivna said in the video, which shows her sitting on a bed in a shelter, dressed in an oversized coat and a scarf tied on her head, a wooden stick still in her hand. “I’m left with nothing. But I left my Ukraine on feet.”
A 98-year-old Ukraine woman says she walked 10km under fire to escape Russians
No safety in retreat: Ukrainian soldiers say rear defensive lines barely exist amid Russian advance
12:27 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
During pitched battles with far better-armed Russian forces, Ukrainian soldier Batyar’s unit has few options.
Devastating Russian aerial glide bombs that can drop up to 1.5 tons of explosives out of range of most of Ukraine’s air defenses are gnawing away at his men’s positions in a new tactic.
Yet, to retreat carries no promise of safety — the rear defensive lines meant to give them cover barely exist, he said.
No safety in retreat: Ukrainian soldiers say rear defensive lines barely exist amid Russian advance
Russia used 300 missiles, 300 drones, 3,200 guided bombs in April against Ukraine, Zelensky says
11:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia used more than 300 missiles, around 300 Shahed-type drones and over 3,200 guided bombs in April attacks on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.
“Only force can stop this terror — the force of our people, the force of the unity of the world, the force of pressure on Russia, the force of air defence systems provided to Ukraine, the force of our soldiers who hold the front line,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram messaging app.
This spring, Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine‘s civilian and energy infrastructure as Kyiv awaited additional help from its allies and its air defences were stretched thin. Moscow says it strikes only legitimate military targets.
Dmitry Peskov says US accusation about chemical weapons is ‘absolutely unfounded’
11:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Commenting on the US accusation that Russia breached a global ban by using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “As always, such announcements are absolutely unfounded and are not supported by anything.
“Russia has been and remains committed to its obligations under international law in this area.”
(via REUTERS)
Russia proposes UN resolution on banning weapons in space, after vetoing similar UN-Japan draft
10:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia has circulated a U.N. resolution calling on all countries to take urgent action to prevent putting weapons in outer space “for all time” a week after it vetoed a U.S.-Japan resolution to stop an arms race in space.
The Russian draft resolution, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, goes further than the U.S.-Japan proposal, not only calling for efforts to stop weapons from being deployed in outer space but for preventing “the threat or use of force in outer space,” also “for all time.”
It says this should include deploying weapons “from space against Earth, and from Earth against objects in outer space.”
Russia proposes UN resolution on banning weapons in space, after vetoing similar UN-Japan draft
Kremlin calls US accusation of chemical weapons use in Ukraine baseless
10:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Kremlin on Thursday denied a US accusation that Russian forces in Ukraine had violated an international ban on chemical weapons.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow remained bound by its obligations under the treaty that bans chemical weapons.
The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating it by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine.
AI must not be allowed to control nuclear weapons, US official warns China and Russia
10:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
A senior US official urged China and Russia to commit to the understanding that only humans, and not artificial intelligence, will be allowed to make decisions on deployment of nuclear weapons.
Washington has made a “clear and strong commitment” underlining that humans have total control over nuclear weapons, State Department arms control official Paul Dean told an online briefing on Thursday. The UK and France have also followed suit, the official said.
“We would welcome a similar statement by China and the Russian Federation,” Mr Dean, who is the principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence and Stability, said.
AI must not be allowed to control nuclear weapons, US official warns China and Russia
Switzerland says Russia not invited ‘at this stage’ to Ukraine peace talks
09:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Swiss government said on Thursday that Russia has not been invited “at this stage” to talks to be held in Switzerland in mid-June aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
“Switzerland is convinced that Russia must be involved in this process,” the Swiss government said in a statement. “A peace process without Russia is not possible.”
Brittney Griner says she thought about killing herself during first few weeks in Russian jail
09:13 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
WNBA star Brittney Griner said she thought about killing herself during her first few weeks in a Russian jail after her 2022 arrest on drug-related charges.
Griner spoke for the first time about her monthslong detention in Russia during an hourlong interview that aired Wednesday night on ABC. Her memoir, “Coming Home,” is set to be released on May 7.
Griner was detained after arriving at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges allegedly containing oil derived from cannabis.
Brittney Griner says she thought about killing herself during first few weeks in Russian jail
Russia’s Gazprom to send 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday
08:46 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russian energy producer Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, in line with the volume sent on Wednesday.
08:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Drone footage shows devastation in Ukrainian city after relentless Russian shelling
Ukrainian drones target energy infrastructure in Russia’s Smolensk region, governor says
08:08 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukrainian drones tried to attack energy infrastructure in Russia‘s Smolensk region, governor Vasily Anokhin said on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday.
He did not say what particular facilities had been targeted, but said emergency workers have been deployed. Many drone attacks in recent months have targeted oil refineries and depots.
US hits China with sweeping sanctions over support for Russia’s war in Ukraine
07:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The US has sanctioned nearly 300 companies and individuals from China, Russia, and several other countries for allegedly supporting Russia’s defence industry and helping it evade American sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
The US Department of the Treasury said on Wednesday that it had imposed sanctions on nearly 200 entities and the State Department on more than 80 to “degrade Russia’s ability to sustain its war machine” in Ukraine.
The sanctioned entities, located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the UAE and Slovakia, have allegedly enabled Russia to “acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad”.
US hits China with sweeping sanctions over support for Russia’s war in Ukraine
Russian ballistic missile strike hits Odesa
07:57 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
A Russian ballistic missile struck a postal depot in the Ukrainian port of Odesa late on Wednesday, injuring 14 people and triggering a large fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
It was the third missile attack on the city in as many days.
Pictures and a video posted online showed flames and billowing clouds of smoke engulfing buildings and firefighters training their hoses on areas still ablaze. Most of the loading area appeared to have been reduced to a shell.
(via REUTERS)
(AP)
US accuses Russia of using chemical weapons against Ukrainan troops
07:56 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The United States accused Russia of violating the global ban on chemical weapons by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops.
Chloropicrin causes severe irritation to the eyes, skin and lungs, and was used in large quantities during World War I, according to the US’s National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety.
In a statement on Wednesday, the State Department said: “The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield.”