A Russian ammunition depot near the border with Ukraine caught fire overnight, as local authorities said a series of blasts had struck three Russian provinces on the border.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod regional governor, said the fire at the ammunition depot near the village of Staraya Nelidovka had been extinguished and no civilians were injured.
Separately, Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Russia’s Kursk province, which also borders Ukraine, said that explosions had been heard in Kursk city early on Wednesday, which were most likely the sounds of air defence systems firing.
In Voronezh, the administrative centre of another province adjacent to Ukraine, two blasts were heard and authorities are investigating, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
It comes just days after fires broke out at two oil depots in the Russian city of Bryansk in what appears to be mounting strikes on Russian territory, with Moscow also accusing Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod earlier this month.
Follow the latest updates below.
08:04 AM
Russia says it destroyed ‘large batch’ of Western-supplied arms
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had destroyed a large quantity of Western-supplied weapons in Ukraine with long-range missiles.
“On the territory of the Zaporizhzhia aluminium plant, high-precision long-range sea-based Kalibr missiles destroyed hangars with a large batch of foreign weapons and ammunition supplied by the United States and European countries for Ukrainian troops,” the ministry said in a briefing.
07:57 AM
Zelensky visits Illia Matviienko, whose parents were killed in Mariupol
07:49 AM
Bulgarian PM accuses Russia of blackmail over gas supplies
Russia’s warning it was shutting off gas supplies to Bulgaria over demands to change the payment scheme is a grave breach of a current contract and amounts to blackmail, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said today.
Mr Petkov said Bulgaria was currently reviewing all of its contracts with Gazprom, including for transit of Russian gas to Serbia and Hungary, because “one-sided blackmail was not acceptable”.
Mr Petkov has talked to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had assured him the 27-member bloc would have a common response, he said.
Russian energy giant Gazprom said it had halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland for failing to pay in roubles.
07:47 AM
Russia attacking Azostval steel plant, says aide to Mariupol’s mayor
Russian forces are attacking the Azostval steel plant where Ukrainian fighters and some civilians are holed up in the southern city of Mariupol, an aide to the city’s mayor said.
Petro Andryushchenko said no agreements had been reached on trying to evacuate civilians from Mariupol today.
07:18 AM
US spies helped Ukraine know exactly when and where Russian bombs would fall
The US revealed the coordinates of Russian forces and aircraft in an unprecedented information sharing operation that helped repel Kyiv assault, reports Rozina Sabur.
The US helped foil Moscow’s efforts to take Kyiv and repelled its advances elsewhere by sharing such detailed intelligence that Ukraine knew exactly when and where Russian bombs would fall, it has emerged.
In an unprecedented information sharing operation, US spy agencies have even divulged the coordinates of Russian forces and aircraft to Ukrainian forces, allowing them to pre-empt attacks.
The intelligence led Ukraine to shoot down a Russian plane carrying hundreds of troops to Hostomel Airport in the Kyiv suburbs in the early days of the war, according to NBC News.
The shoot-down helped thwart Moscow’s hopes of flooding the area with troops and equipment, a significant setback for Russia in its attempt to take the capital.
07:10 AM
Hungary’s Russian gas supply running smoothly, says minister
Hungary is receiving Russian gas as normal via Serbia and Bulgaria despite a clash between the latter and Russian gas supplier Gazprom, Hungary’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Gazprom said on Wednesday it had halted deliveries to Bulgaria and Poland due to an absence of payments in roubles.
“I want to assure everyone that the non-delivery of gas shipments to Bulgaria does not mean a halt in transit shipments via Bulgaria,” Peter Szijjarto said on his Facebook page.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on “unfriendly” countries to pay for gas imports in roubles, a demand only a few buyers have complied with, including Hungary, which signed a long-term gas supply deal with Russia last year.
Mr Szijjarto said Hungary’s next payment was due on May 22 and the country would transfer funds in euros to Gazprombank to be converted into roubles.
06:53 AM
Swiss freeze $9 billion in sanctioned Russian wealth
The amount of Russian assets frozen under sanctions Switzerland has adopted has risen to around 9 billion Swiss francs ($9.34 billion), it has been reported by the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper.
That would be around 1.5 billion francs more than Swiss authorities had reported on April 7.
In a sharp deviation from the country’s traditional neutrality, Switzerland has adopted European Union sanctions against Russians involved in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
06:40 AM
Ukraine says several villages in east captured by Russian forces
Ukraine announced this morning that Russian forces had pushed deeper into the east of the country and captured several villages, as part of Moscow’s offensive to take control of the Donbas.
The defence ministry said that Russian forces had pushed out Kyiv’s army from Velyka Komyshuvakha and Zavody in the Kharkiv region and had gained control over Zarichne and Novotoshkivske in the Donetsk region.
06:37 AM
Raab: Russia halting gas supply to Poland will add to pariah status
Russia’s decision to cut off gas supply to Poland will add to its status as an economic and political pariah, Dominic Raab said this morning.
“It (halting gas supply) will have a … very damaging effect on Russia as well because it is becoming further and further, more and more, not just a political pariah, but an economic pariah,” the Deputy Prime Minister told Sky News.
06:28 AM
Pictured: A crater next to an apartment in Lyman, Donetsk
06:17 AM
Russian natural gas arriving unrestricted in Austria
Russian natural gas deliveries to Austria are continuing unrestricted and there is no indication that this will change, Austrian energy minister Leonore Gewessler told ORF radio on Wednesday.
Asked if there were any indications that gas from Russia could be cut off as in Poland or Bulgaria, Ms Gewessler said: “No, we have no such indications … deliveries to Austria remain unrestricted.”
Austria obtains 80 per cent of its gas from Russia.
06:04 AM
Poland ready to help Germany import non-Russian oil
Poland is ready to help Germany import non-Russian oil, its climate minister Anna Moskwa said today, as its Western neighbour aims to find alternative to Russian supplies after Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24.
“We are ready to express our solidarity with Germany…and support them in their complete departure from oil, from Russian resources,” Ms Moskwa told state owned Polskie Radio.
05:48 AM
Russian gas continues to flow to Bulgaria for time being
Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria continue to flow for the time being, Vladimir Malinov, executive director of Bulgarian gas network operator Bulgartransgaz said on Wednesday.
It comes as Bulgaria’s energy ministry said Russia’s Gazprom had informed Bulgarian state gas company Bulgargaz it would halt gas supplies as of Wednesday.
The ministry is set to give a news briefing on the situation later on Wednesday morning.
05:27 AM
Ukraine retains control over majority of its airspace
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has advised Ukraine retains control over the majority of its airspace.
“Russia has failed to effectively destroy the Ukrainian Air Force or suppress Ukrainian air defences,” the ministry posted on Twitter.
“Ukraine continues to hold Russian air assets at risk.”
The ministry said Russian air activity was primarily focused on the areas of southern and eastern Ukraine, providing support to Russian troops on the ground.
Russia has very limited air access to the north and west of Ukraine, limiting offensive actions to deep strikes with stand-off weapons, the ministry added.
03:32 AM
Russia agrees with UN on evacuating civilians from steel plant
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Tuesday for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, agreeing on arranging evacuations from a besieged steel plant in the battered city of Mariupol.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Russian leader and UN chief discussed “proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol.”
Mr Dujarric said they also agreed in principle that the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel complex.
Discussions will be held with the UN humanitarian office and the Russian Defense Ministry on the evacuation, Mr Dujarric said.
The meeting lasted nearly two hours and Putin and Mr Guterres sat at opposite ends of a long white table in a room with gold curtains bordered in red.
02:36 AM
Blasts heard in Russian city of Belgorod
A series of blasts sounded in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Fire engulfed the ammunition depot in the province following the explosions.
Mr Gladkov said no civilians were injured by the fire, which broke out at a facility near Staraya Nelidovka village.
01:51 AM
In pictures: Homes, towns destroyed as Russia’s invasion continues
01:39 AM
Chinese drone giant DJI suspends business in Russia and Ukraine
Drone giant DJI Technology Co Ltd will temporarily suspend business in Russia and Ukraine, becoming the first major Chinese company to halt sales to Russia since the invasion began.
“DJI is internally reassessing compliance requirements in various jurisdictions,” the company said in a statement late on Tuesday.
“Pending the current review, DJI will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine.”
Although Western firms have pulled out of Russia in protest, many Chinese companies have not -mirroring Beijing’s stance of refraining from being critical of Moscow.
Ukrainian officials have accused DJI, the world’s largest maker of consumer and industrial drones, of leaking data on the Ukrainian military to Russia.
But last month DJI dismissed those accusations as “utterly false”.
01:33 AM
Today’s top stories
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Boris Johnson said he does not share concerns that Vladimir Putin will use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine as he suffers more losses
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Russian gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria have been cut off in an escalation of tensions between Moscow and the West
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Liz Truss will call for an increase in defence spending on Wednesday, saying the West has overseen a “generation of underinvestment” which led to the invasion of Ukraine
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The UK has imported around £220 million worth of Russian oil since the Kremlin sent troops and tanks across the border into Ukraine in February
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Russia has hinted at an invasion of Moldova, saying it “would like to avoid” intervening in the breakaway region of Transnistria but suggesting it might have to act
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Russian soldiers are forcing civilians to dig mass graves and bury the dead in exchange for food and water, the mayor of Mariupol has claimed
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Vladimir Putin is widely expected on Wednesday to scrap key governors’ elections in Russia set for this autumn because of Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine
