Boris Johnson has said any peace talks over Ukraine are likely to fail and compared holding talks with Vladimir Putin to negotiating with a crocodile.
The Prime Minister said dealing with the Russian president was like “a crocodile when it’s got your leg in its jaws” and said it was vital that the West continued arming Ukraine.
“It is very hard to see how the Ukrainians can negotiate with Putin now given his manifest lack of good faith,” Mr Johnson said.
“His strategy, which is evident, is to try engulf and capture as much of Ukraine as he can and perhaps to have some sort of negotiation from a position of strength.”
The PM said Putin had made it clear that he wants to take more Ukrainian territory and could launch a renewed assault on the country’s capital, Kyiv.
Putin boasted on Wednesday night that he had unleashed the first successful test of a new nuclear missile known as “Satan II”, which carries a dozen warheads and could be used to strike enemies around the world.
The United States described the test as “routine” and said it was not considered a threat.
Follow the latest updates below.
02:33 AM
G20 walkout as Russia’s representative starts speaking
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Ukraine’s Finance Minister, Serhiy Marchenko, walked out of a Group of 20 meeting as Russia’s representative started talking.
Several finance ministers and central bank governors also left the room, according an official. Some ministers and central bank governors who attended the meeting virtually turned their cameras off when Russian President Vladimir Putin’s representative spoke, the person said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of Ms Yellen’s walkout: “Certainly we support her steps and it’s an indication of the fact that President Putin and Russia has become a pariah on the global stage.”
The incident came amid the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, in which finance leaders try to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. The brutal effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine have taken centre stage, and US Treasury Department officials said earlier this week that Ms Yellen would try to avoid contact with Russians who planned to attend some G20 virtually.
02:28 AM
Italy signs new gas deal in attempt to end dependence on Russia
Italy has penned a deal with Angola to ramp up gas supplies from the southern African country as it urgently scrambles to break away from Russian gas over the Ukraine war.
A declaration of intent was signed to develop “new” natural gas ventures and to increase exports to Italy, a statement from the Italian foreign minister announced.
“Today we have reached another important agreement with Angola to increase gas supplies,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said.
“Italy’s commitment to differentiate energy supply sources is confirmed.”
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi wants to add Angola and Congo-Brazzaville to a portfolio of suppliers to substitute Russia, which provides about 45 per cent of Italian gas.
“We do not want to depend on Russian gas any longer, because economic dependence must not become political subjection,” he said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“Diversification is possible and can be implemented in a relatively short amount of time – quicker than we imagined just a month ago.”
01:46 AM
Troops ignore Russian ultimatums
Remaining Ukrainian troops holed up in a vast steel works in Mariupol have ignored ultimatums by Russia to surrender and made clear on Wednesday that their stance had not changed.
David Arakhamia, a senior Ukrainian negotiator, said in an online post that he and fellow negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak were in constant contact with Ukrainian forces in the city.
“Today, in a conversation with the city defenders, a proposal was put forward to hold direct negotiations, on site, on the evacuation of our military garrison,” Mr Arakhamia said.
“For our part, we are ready to arrive for such negotiations at any time as soon as we receive confirmation from the Russian side.”
Inside the Azovstal steelworks: The sprawling underground city standing between Vladimir Putin and the fall of Mariupol
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01:40 AM
Ukraine offers to hold Mariupol talks with Russia
Senior Ukrainian negotiators have offered to hold special talks with Russia in Mariupol without conditions in a bid to evacuate troops and civilians from the besieged port city.
Negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted on Wednesday that the talks could be “one on one. Two on two. To save our guys, (the far right) Azov (battalion), military, civilians, children, the living and the wounded”.
Ukraine accused Russian forces on Wednesday of failing to observe a local ceasefire agreement long enough to allow large numbers of women, children and elderly people to flee the city, which has been largely pounded to rubble by Russian forces.
01:25 AM
Vladimir Putin tests ‘Satan II’
Vladimir Putin on Wednesday night boasted that he had unleashed the first successful test of a new nuclear missile known as “Satan II”, which carries a dozen warheads and could be used to strike enemies around the world.
The “superheavy” 200-tonne intercontinental ballistic missile was a “present to Nato”, according to the Kremlin, and would make Moscow’s enemies “think twice”.
Putin’s sabre-rattling came at a moment of extreme geopolitical tension, coinciding with the first days of the next phase of Russia’s eight-week-old war in Ukraine as its troops began their assault on the eastern Donbas region.
