Vladimir Putin is “humiliating himself” in front of the entire world, foreign secretary Liz Truss has said.
Speaking at a meeting of fellow G7 foreign ministers in Germany, Ms Truss called for further military support for Ukraine and urged countries to continue to press with economic sanctions until Russia fully withdraws from the conflict.
“(Vladimir) Putin is humiliating himself on the world stage. We must ensure he faces a defeat in Ukraine that denies him any benefit and ultimately constrains further aggression,” she said.
“The best long-term security for Ukraine will come from it being able to defend itself. That means providing Ukraine with a clear pathway to Nato-standard equipment.”
Her views were echoed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who used his overnight address to claim the Russia has suffered “obvious” strategic defeat.
Follow the latest updates below.
06:54 AM
Britain urges more weapons for Ukraine
Britain urged allies to keep arming Ukraine and to ramp up sanctions against Russia, as the Group of Seven industrialised nations held talks in northern Germany on Friday.
“It is very important at this time that we keep up the pressure on Vladimir Putin by supplying more weapons to Ukraine, by increasing the sanctions,” said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss this morning as she arrived for a second day of talks with her G7 counterparts.
“G7 unity has been vital during this crisis,” she added.
06:38 AM
Oil depot, military office targeted in Moldova’s separatist region
Authorities in Moldova’s Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria has said two attempted attacks were carried out on infrastructure in the regional capital Tiraspol.
The incidents come after a string of attacks were reported in the separatist region with fears mounting of a spillover from the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.
“At around 4:15 in the morning, a car stopped near an oil depot of one enterprise, from which an unidentified man got out, threw a Molotov cocktail towards the building and fled,” the interior ministry of the self-proclaimed republic said in a statement.
It said that some grass caught fire but it was “quickly” extinguished.
Around 30 minutes later, “two Molotov cocktails were thrown” at a conscription office in central Tiraspol.
“One bounced off onto the sidewalk, the other got stuck in window grates. The fire was promptly extinguished by security,” the ministry said.
The self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria bordering Ukraine seceded from Moldova in 1992 after a brief war with Chisinau. Around 1,500 Russian soldiers have been based there ever since.
06:20 AM
Ukraine damages Russian ship near Snake Island
Ukraine said it had damaged a Russian navy logistics ship near Snake Island, a small but strategic outpost in the Black Sea.
Renewed fighting around Snake Island in recent days may become a battle for control of the western Black Sea coast, according to some defence officials, as Russian forces struggle to make headway in Ukraine’s north and east.
“Thanks to the actions of our naval seamen, the support vessel Vsevolod Bobrov caught fire – it is one of the newest in the Russian fleet,” said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration.
Satellite imagery provided by Maxar, a private U.S.-based company, showed the aftermath of what it said were probable missile attacks on a Russian Serna-class landing craft near the island, close to Ukraine’s sea border with Romania.
Images also showed recent damage to buildings on the island, which became famous for the foul-mouthed defiance of its Ukrainian defenders early in the invasion.
05:30 AM
MoD: Ukraine prevents Russians crossing river in Donbas
Ukrainian forces have successfully prevented an attempted Russian river crossing in the Donbas, the Ministry of Defence said in its regular Twitter bulletin on Friday.
Images suggest that Russia has lost armoured manoeuvre elements of at least one battalion tactical group and the deployed pontoon bridging equipment while crossing the Siverskyi Donets river west of Severodonetsk, the MoD said in its intelligence update.
Read more: A bridge too far for Russian invaders as whole battalion destroyed in failed river crossing mission
05:16 AM
Zelensky: Russians who attack schools are ‘sick and incurable’
Russian forces who attacked schools in the Chernihiv region were on Thursday night branded ‘sick and incurable’ by Ukraine’s president.
Volodymyr Zelensky also condemned what he suggested were senseless attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donbas.
Mr Zelensky said: “Of course, the Russian state is in such a state that any education only gets in its way. But what can be achieved by destroying Ukrainian schools? All Russian commanders who give such orders are simply sick, and incurable.”
Noting that Thursday is International Nurses Day, Mr Zelensky also thanked Ukraine’s nurses and other medical workers for their part in the fight. He said since the invasion began, the Russian military had damaged 570 medical facilities, destroying 101 hospitals.
04:34 AM
Keep up sanctions until Russia withdraws, Truss tells G7
The Foreign Secretary has urged a meeting of G7 foreign ministers to maintain sanctions against Russia until it has fully withdrawn from Ukraine.
The BBC reported Liz Truss used the meeting in Germany to urge for rolling sanctions until all troops have left the country.
Ms Truss implored for more help to be provided militarily, saying: “(Vladimir) Putin is humiliating himself on the world stage. We must ensure he faces a defeat in Ukraine that denies him any benefit and ultimately constrains further aggression.”
“The best long-term security for Ukraine will come from it being able to defend itself. That means providing Ukraine with a clear pathway to Nato-standard equipment.”
04:10 AM
Russians are ‘cowards hiding behind air strikes’
Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces of being “cowards who hide behind air strikes” after the Kremlin targeted a refinery in the Kremenchuk, on the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donbas.
In his nightly video address to the nation, Ukraine’s president said: “They are cowards, and they try to hide the truth behind missiles, air strikes and artillery shelling.”
“Therefore our task is to fight until we achieve our goals in this war: to free our land, our people and secure our security.”
Mr Zelensky also accused Russian forces of bombing schools in Ukraine. A school in Novhorod-Siverskyi, in the Chernihiv region, was on Thursday destroyed by Russian shelling, below.
02:09 AM
Siemens leaves Russia after 170 years
German industrial giant Siemens AG says it is exiting Russia, where it has operated for almost 170 years.
“We condemn the war in Ukraine and have decided to carry out an orderly process to wind down our industrial business activities in Russia,” Roland Busch, the Munich-based company’s chief executive, said on Thursday.
Siemens had been one of the first companies to put all new business in Russia, along with international deliveries to the country, on hold following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The company said it had been evaluating the situation with the aim of ensuring the safety of its 3,000 employees in Russia.
The maker of trains and industrial equipment said the Russia sanctions shaved off about 600,000 euros (£510,000) from its fiscal second-quarter results, which were reported on Thursday.
01:04 AM
100 children killed in one month
Nearly 100 children were killed in Ukraine in the past month, the UN’s children’s agency said on Thursday, as it warned of a “child rights crisis”.
Omar Abdi, deputy executive director of Unicef, told the UN Security Council that children are paying “an unconscionably high price” in the war, with 239 confirmed killed and 355 wounded since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24. He said the actual numbers are much higher.
“These attacks must stop,” Mr Abdi said. “Ultimately, children need an end to this war – their futures hang in the balance.”
Mr Abdi said the school year came to a standstill after Russia invaded, and as of last week at least 15 of 89 Unicef-supported schools in the country’s east had been damaged or destroyed in the fighting.
Millions of children have been forced to flee their homes.
12:52 AM
Today’s top stories
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British troops are “ready to go and fight” Russia in a “lethal” way if called upon, the head of an elite unit has said
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The Russian army’s attempt to build a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river ended in catastrophic failure when a significant portion of a battalion was wiped out by Ukrainian artillery
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Russian soldiers have been caught on CCTV shooting two unarmed Ukrainian civilians dead
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Finland was preparing on Thursday night for Russia to cut gas supplies in retaliation for its imminent application to join Nato
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Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, will urge Western allies to go “further and faster” to support Ukraine to “constrain Putin’s aggression”
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Boris Johnson should order that Britain’s weapons stockpiles are stepped up to “at least at the scale of the Cold War arsenals” as he faces further pressure to increase defence spending
