Vladimir Putin said that the West’s economic “blitzkrieg” against Moscow had failed, as he vowed to achieve the “clear and noble” aims of the invasion.
Speaking after talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in the Russian far east, Putin said: “That Blitzkrieg on which our foes were counting on did not work.” He added that Russia’s financial system was operating well.
However, the Russian President conceded that the risk of harm from Western sanctions could rise in the medium and longer term, and said he hoped “common sense” would prevail.
Putin also dismissed claims that Russian forces were struggling against Ukrainian resistance and had been forced to withdraw from around major cities, including the capital Kyiv.
“Our actions in certain regions of Ukraine were just related to containing (enemy) forces, destroying military infrastructure, creating conditions for a more active operation in Donbas,” Putin said.
He added earlier in the day that he had no doubts that Russia would achieve all of its objectives in Ukraine.
Follow the latest updates below.
04:55 PM
MoD issues Ukraine intelligence update
04:42 PM
French forensic experts arrive in Bucha to help investigate war crimes
French forensic experts have arrived in Bucha near Kyiv to help Ukrainian authorities establish what happened in the town where hundreds of bodies have been discovered since Russian forces withdrew.
Ukraine says the people were killed by Russian forces during their occupation of the area.
The number of people killed has not yet been independently verified.
The discovery of so many slain civilians in Bucha after the Russian withdrawal provoked a global outcry. Moscow has denied responsibility and dismissed allegations its troops committed war crimes as fake news.
04:29 PM
400 bodies buried in Severodonetsk since start of war
Around 400 civilians have been buried in the town of Severodonetsk near the frontline in eastern Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, the area’s regional governor said today.
“In Severodonetsk, pits are dug with a tractor and graves are systematised in the register… During the 48 days of the war about 400 burials,” Sergiy Gaiday said, referring to civilians.
04:14 PM
Russia in final stage of regrouping its forces, says Ukrainian governor
Russia is shelling Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk round the clock and Moscow is now in the final stages of regrouping its forces in the area, Donetsk’s governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said today.
He also said that Russian forces were not allowing residents of the besieged port city of Mariupol in the south of the region to leave even in their own cars.
Mr Kyrylenko made the comments on national television.
04:08 PM
Ukraine dispatch: Major operation to clear Russian landmines under way
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04:01 PM
Explained: The deadly chemical and biological weapons Russia could deploy
President Biden has previously issued a stark warning that Russia is considering using chemical weapons in Ukraine.
But what would that actually involve?
After the Soviet Union’s collapse, the new Russian Federation was left in possession of the largest chemical and biological weapons stockpiles in the world. Moscow signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993, declaring an arsenal of nearly 40,000 tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, phosgene, lewisite and VX.
While that declared stockpile was destroyed under OPCW oversight, circumstantial evidence and Russia’s past history of lying about chemical weapons suggests that it may retain other banned weapons.
03:57 PM
Central Europe torn on severing Russian energy supplies
Former communist countries in Central Europe were split today on whether to sever vital Russian energy supplies as their foreign ministers met near Prague.
On the bloc’s eastern flank, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have vowed to minimise their energy dependence, a legacy of four decades of communist rule in the region during the Soviet era.
But Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a fourth straight term this month, has taken a more cautious approach.
“We have one clear red line which is the energy security of Hungary,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after meeting his Austrian, Czech, Slovak and Slovenian counterparts.
In 2021, Russia supplied 45 per cent of the EU’s coal imports, 25 per cent of its oil imports and around 45 per cent of its gas imports.
03:49 PM
PM updates Biden on Kyiv meeting with Zelensky
I’ve just spoken to @POTUS and updated him on my meeting with President @ZelenskyyUa in Kyiv this weekend.
Our joint focus remains on supporting President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom.
Putin’s barbaric venture cannot be allowed to succeed. pic.twitter.com/qAewW0flHl
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 12, 2022
03:46 PM
Kyiv says negotiations with Russia ‘extremely difficult’
Kyiv said that ongoing talks with Russia to end the war were “extremely difficult” after Moscow accused Ukrainian negotiators of slowing down discussions by changing demands.
“Negotiations are extremely difficult. The Russian side adheres to its traditional tactics of public pressure on the negotiation process, including through certain public statements,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said in written comments to reporters.
Talks to end Russia’s nearly two-month assault on Ukraine have continued since early in the fighting but offered no concrete results.
Representatives from Moscow and Kyiv have held in-person meetings twice in Turkey, most recently towards the end of March.
03:41 PM
21,000 civilians have been killed in Mariupol says mayor
The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol said the latest estimate was that about 21,000 civilians in the port city had been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion.
In televised comments, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said it had been difficult to calculate the exact number of casualties since street fighting had started.
03:38 PM
Germany’s president confirms that his Kyiv visit was blocked by Zelensky
Germany’s president has confirmed that the Ukrainian government blocked him from travelling to Kyiv, reports Justin Huggler in Berlin
“I was ready for it, but obviously I have to acknowledge it wasn’t wanted in Kyiv,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
The trip was blocked by Volodymyr Zelensky, who refused to meet Mr Steinmeier, according to Germany’s Bild newspaper.
Mr Steinmeier said he wanted to visit Kyiv to send a “strong signal”.
But Ukraine has blamed him for close German ties with Russia established when he was foreign minister under Angela Merkel.
03:25 PM
Russian court sentences journalists to ‘corrective labour’ for protest violations
Four journalists who worked for a Moscow student magazine were sentenced to two years of corrective labour by a Russian court today for encouraging minors to take part in anti-Kremlin protests, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The independent DOXA outlet was set up by students and university graduates at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics in 2017, covering student life, higher education, politics and science.
Police detained the four journalists in April 2021 after raiding the magazine’s editorial office.
The raid coincided with a crackdown on allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose arrest and jailing in early 2021 sparked several nationwide protests that police said were illegal and broke up using force.
03:07 PM
US cannot confirm use of chemical agents in Mariupol
The US cannot confirm the potential use of chemical agents by Russia in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol at this time, a senior US defence official said today.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US did not have information to confirm any movement of chemical agents by Russia in or near Ukraine.
Hanna Malyar, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister, said Kyiv was checking unverified information that Russia may have used chemical weapons while besieging Mariupol.
03:03 PM
Ukrainian official says peace talks with Russia very hard but continuing
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said negotiations were very hard but were continuing after he was asked about comments by Vladimir Putin earlier today that peace talks between the two countries were at a dead-end
Mr Podolyak also told Reuters that Russia was trying to put pressure on the talks with its public statements and that negotiations were continuing at the level of working sub-groups.
02:45 PM
Zelensky reportedly blocks German President’s Kyiv visit
Volodymyr Zelensky has reportedly blocked plans by Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to visit Kyiv, reports Justin Huggler in Berlin.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has faced criticism at home over his failure to travel to Ukraine.
But it appears plans for Mr Steinmeier to go in his place have been stymied by the Ukrainian government.
The German president was planning to travel to Kyiv on Wednesday in a show of solidarity with Ukraine but Mr Zelensky refused to meet with him, according to the German newspaper Bild.
“We all know about Steinmeier’s close ties to Russia, which were also shaped by the Steinmeier formula. He is currently not welcome in Kyiv. We’ll see if that changes,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed Ukrainian diplomat as saying.
02:27 PM
Ukraine’s ‘inconsistency’ slowing down peace talks says Putin
Vladimir Putin said that lack of consistency in Ukraine’s demands was slowing down talks on ending Russia’s military operation there.
“Yesterday the Ukrainian side changed something again. Such inconsistency on fundamental points does create certain difficulties in reaching final agreements,” the Russian president said at a press conference after visiting a space launch site in far eastern Russia.
02:11 PM
Putin says rising inflation will heap pressure on Western politicians
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that inflation and rising food and petrol prices in Western countries would start to put pressure on politicians there.
Talking about Russia’s confrontation with the West over Ukraine, Putin said that time would put everything in its proper place.
01:49 PM
Russian convoy buildup around Ukraine
01:33 PM
Zelensky accuses Russian troops of ‘hundreds of rapes’
Volodymyr Zelensky said investigators had received reports of “hundreds of cases of rape” in areas previously occupied by Russian troops, including sexual assaults of small children.
“Hundreds of cases of rape have been recorded, including those of young girls and very young children. Even of a baby!” the Ukrainian President told Lithuanian lawmakers via video link.
01:29 PM
Airbus urges West not to boycott Russian titanium
Airbus urged the West not to block imports of titanium from Russia, saying sanctions would damage Western manufacturing while barely harming Russia’s economy.
Widening sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to titanium, used widely in aerospace, would not be appropriate, Chief Executive Gullaume Faury told shareholders.
Airbus is nonetheless accelerating a search for alternative non-Russian supplies in the long term, while its needs are covered by stockpiles in the short and medium term, he added.
01:27 PM
Mayor of Bucha says 403 bodies found so far
The mayor of the Ukrainian town of Bucha near Kyiv said that authorities had so far found 403 bodies of people they believed were killed by Russian forces during their occupation of the area but that the number was growing.
Anatoliy Fedoruk added during a briefing that it was too early for residents to return to the town, after Russian soldiers retreated late last month.
The figure given by Mr Fedoruk has not yet been independently verified.
01:24 PM
Lukashenko says the world will quickly go hungry without fertilisers
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that without fertilisers there would be no harvest and global hunger would quickly increase, the Russian news agency RIA reported.
Belarus and Russia are major producers of potash fertilisers. Western sanctions on both countries since Russia sent troops into Ukraine have disrupted shipments.
Lukashenko was speaking after talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Russian Far East.
01:20 PM
Putin claims the West’s economic ‘blitzkrieg’ has failed
Vladimir Putin said that Russia’s financial system was operating well and the West’s economic “blitzkrieg” had failed, but said the risk of harm from sanctions could rise in the medium and longer term, Russian news agencies reported.
Speaking after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in the Russian Far East, Putin said regarding the sanctions that he hoped common sense would prevail in the West.
01:17 PM
Cyprus Orthodox Church head says ‘no excuse’ for Ukraine war
Vladimir Putin is waging an unchristian and nonsensical war against the people of Ukraine, the influential Orthodox Church leader of Cyprus said today.
Archbishop Chrysostomos II publicly criticised the invasion of Ukraine by fellow Christian Orthodox brethren Russia, to which the Cyprus Church has close ties.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has blessed his country’s conflicts abroad, and is a pillar of Putin’s ruling apparatus.
“There is no excuse to go and destroy another country,” his Cypriot counterpart told state TV broadcaster CyBC.
“To go and flatten another country for no reason makes no sense,” Chrysostomos added.
“I am saddened because people are being killed,” said Chrysostomos.
He argued there was “no logic” to Putin’s actions, which show “he is not behaving like a Christian”.
01:14 PM
Putin says Ukraine has deviated from Istanbul talks
The Russian President said that Kyiv had deviated from agreements achieved at talks in Istanbul.
He also said that the situation in Bucha, where the dead bodies of Ukrainian civilians have been found in mass graves, was “fake”.
12:52 PM
Watch: Russian military column seen heading towards Donbas
[embedded content]
12:46 PM
Putin says what is happening in Ukraine is tragic
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that what was happening in Ukraine was a tragedy but that Russia had no choice but to launch a special military operation, Russian news agencies reported.
12:37 PM
Russia will counter attempts to isolate Moscow and Minsk, Putin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow would counter attempts to isolate Russia and Belarus and stressed the need to deepen integration between the countries in light of Western sanctions, RIA news agency reported.
Putin was speaking after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in the Russian Far East.
12:32 PM
British fighter and unit ‘to surrender to Russian forces in Mariupol’
A unit of Ukrainian marines that includes a number of British volunteers is set to surrender to Russian forces in Mariupol, it has been reported.
Aiden “Johnny” Aslin told relatives on Wednesday morning that his unit, which has been surrounded without resupply for more than 40 days, had run out of both food and ammunition and had no choice but to surrender.
“He said when he gets there he will not be in touch. He was trying to use his phone until he couldn’t, but they were getting ready. He is not texting or calling anymore so I think they are on their way [into captivity],” a source who spoke to him on Wednesday said.
“They have been encircled since March 1. They are absolutely isolated. What happened today was they completely ran out of food and ammunition, they have no weapons, they can’t fight anymore because they have no ammunition. So they actually have no choice,” added the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
12:22 PM
World Bank says it is preparing $1.5 billion aid package for Ukraine
The World Bank is preparing a new, $1.5 billion support package for war-torn Ukraine, including a $1 billion payment from the development lender’s fund for the poorest countries, World Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday.
Malpass, speaking in Warsaw, said the package was enabled by Monday’s approval of $1 billion in International Development Association aid, as well as a $100 million payment to neighboring Moldova.
In remarks ahead of next week’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, Malpass said the bank’s support was helping Ukraine to provide critical services, including paying wages for hospital workers, pensions and social programs. The aid comes on top of about $923 million in fast-disbursing financing approved by the World Bank last month.
12:12 PM
Russian hackers tried to sabotage Ukrainian power grid, officials say
Russian hackers attempted to launch a destructive cyberattack on Ukraine’s electricity grid last week, Ukrainian officials and cybersecurity researchers said on Tuesday.
The group, dubbed “Sandworm” by security researchers and previously tied to destructive cyberattacks attributed to Russia, deployed destructive and data-wiping malware on computers controlling high voltage substations in Ukraine, the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) said in a statement on its website.
“The victim organisation suffered two waves of attacks. The initial compromise took place no later than February 2022. The disconnection of electrical substations and the decommissioning of the company’s infrastructure was scheduled for Friday evening, April 8, 2022,” the CERT-UA statement said.
Officials managed to prevent the attack from taking place, it added. The statement did not say which Ukrainian energy provider was targeted. Russia has consistently denied accusations it has launched cyberattacks on Ukraine.
Slovakian cybersecurity firm ESET, which said it worked with CERT-UA to foil the attack, described the malware as an upgraded version of a malicious program which caused power blackouts in Kyiv in 2016.
11:46 AM
The latest images from Ukraine
11:35 AM
German gas reserves can last until late summer, says regulator
Germany’s gas reserves would last until at least late summer should Russian supplies stop now, the network regulator said on Tuesday, warning pressure on the European Union to ban Russian energy was building over civilian deaths in Ukraine.
In an interview with weekly Die Zeit, Klaus Mueller, who heads Germany’s Bundesnetzagentur, said current reserves looked slightly better than three or four weeks ago and could even last until early autumn in the event of an immediate supply halt.
With mounting civilian deaths in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, Europe’s largest economy is under pressure to wean itself off Russian gas and oil, as critics say the revenue provides Moscow with vital funds to wage war.
Mueller told Die Zeit reports of atrocities would increase pressure on the EU to ban Russian gas imports, which would force Germany to ration energy – a prospect he said was underestimated by many Germans.
Russia, which says it is conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine to demilitarise and “denazify” its neighbour, accuses the United States and Britain of helping Ukraine prepare fake claims about the alleged persecution of civilians in the conflict.
11:33 AM
Six people found shot dead in basement outside Kyiv, Ukraine prosecutor says
Ukrainian prosecutors said Tuesday that six people had been found shot dead in the basement of a building outside Kyiv, the latest discovery fuelling allegations of Russian atrocities.
“The bodies of six civilians with gunshot wounds were found in a basement during an inspection of a private residence,” the prosecutor general said in a statement, adding that the killings took place in Brovary outside the capital Kyiv.
11:15 AM
What happened in Ukraine this morning?
If you’re only joining us now, here are the latest developments in the Ukraine war.
1. 10,000 feared dead in Mariupol
More than 10,000 civilians have died in Mariupol, the city’s mayor has said.
2. Zelensky fears chemical attacks could be carried out
Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Monday night that Russian forces could use chemical weapons in Ukraine – but he stopped short of saying whether chemical weapons had already been used.
3. Fighting in eastern Ukraine to intensify over next 2-3 weeks
Fighting in eastern Ukraine will intensify over the next two to three weeks as Russia continues to refocus its efforts there, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.
4. Many feared dead under Borodyanka rubble
Hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers are working to clear rubble after two high-rise apartment blocks were destroyed in the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka near Kyiv.
5. Nine humanitarian corridors agreed for Tuesday
Nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Tuesday to evacuate civilians, including from the besieged city of Mariupol by private cars, Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said.
11:11 AM
Russia closes in on Mariupol as part of eastern Ukraine offensive
Russian troops aimed to take control of the city of Mariupol on Tuesday, part of an anticipated massive onslaught across eastern Ukraine, as defending forces tried desperately to hold them back.
Russia is believed to be trying to connect occupied Crimea with Moscow-backed separatist territories Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas, and has laid siege to the strategically located city, once home to more than 400,000 people.
“It is likely that in the future the enemy will try to take control of the city of Mariupol, capture Popasna and launch an offensive in the direction of Kurakhove in order to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk region,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook.
The Russian defence ministry said it army had thwarted an attempt to break the siege with “airstrikes and artillery fire” at a factory in a northern district of the city.
But the Ukrainian army insisted that “the defence of Mariupol continues”.
“The connection with the units of the defence forces that heroically hold the city is stable and maintained,” the Land Forces of Ukraine wrote on Telegram.
10:48 AM
10,000 dead in Ukraine’s Mariupol and toll could rise, mayor says
The besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol yielded up more horrors after six weeks of pummeling by Russian troops, with the mayor saying more than 10,000 civilians have died in the strategic southern port, their corpses “carpeted through the streets.”
As Russia pounded targets around Ukraine and prepared for a major assault in the east, the country’s leader warned President Vladimir Putin’s forces could resort to chemical weapons, and Western officials said they were investigating an unconfirmed claim by a Ukrainian regiment that a poisonous substance was dropped in Mariupol.
The city has seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the war, but the land, sea and air assaults by Russian forces fighting to capture it have increasingly limited information about what’s happening inside the city.
Speaking by phone Monday with The Associated Press, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russian forces of having blocked weeks of attempted humanitarian convoys into the city in part to conceal the carnage. Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000.
10:26 AM
Azov battalion releases video purporting to show victims of Russian ‘chemical attack’
A Ukrainian battalion that has been defending the city of Mariupol since the start of the Russian invasion has released a video purporting to show three victims of what it said was a Russian chemical attack on the besieged city, reports Nataliya Vasilyeva.
The Azov battalion said on Monday Russian aircraft dropped unidentified poisonous substance on their last remaining stronghold at the Azovstal plant Monday night.
“Civilians had minimal contact with the substance and the epicentre was far from civilian locations,” the battalion said on Tuesday, explaining the relatively low impact of the strike.
“It is impossible to investigate the scene of crime due to enemy fire since the Russians continue using the tactics of concealing their own crimes.”
In a video from what looks like a bomb shelter Azov interviewed two medics and three suspected victims of the attack.
09:52 AM
Watch: Ukrainian soldiers shoot down Russian drone with British Martlet missile
A British missile sent in secret to Ukraine appears to have shot down a Russian drone, writes my colleague Tom Ough.
Footage released by the Ukrainian military shows a soldier firing the missile from a shoulder-mounted launch tube. The wild celebrations that follow suggest the missile found its target.
A series of images released following the event suggest the target was an Orlan-10 reconnaissance drone, which are deployed by the Russian army.
The British weapon has been identified as a Martlet, a laser-guided lightweight missile. It was not known that the weapons had been included in Britain’s offering to Ukraine at the time of event in March.
This is also the first time Ukraine has publicly acknowledged its use of a Martlet.
[embedded content]
09:50 AM
‘We don’t intend to be isolated’, Putin says
President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Tuesday that attempts to isolate Moscow would fail, citing the success of the Soviet space programme as evidence that Russia could achieve spectacular leaps forward in tough conditions.
“We don’t intend to be isolated,” Putin said. “It is impossible to severely isolate anyone in the modern world – especially such a vast country as Russia.”
09:29 AM
Russian column seen heading to Donbas
A large column of Russian military has been shown facing in the direction of the Donbas region in a video shared to social media and geolocated by CNN.
The column is seen near Matveev Kurgan, a settlement in Russia’s Rostov region, and is facing north-west towards the Donbas region.
09:27 AM
Zelensky urges EU sanctions on Russian oil and banks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the European Union to slap sanctions on all Russian banks and Russian oil and to set a deadline for ending imports of Russian gas.
He was speaking in a video address to the Lithuanian parliament.
09:26 AM
In pictures: Destruction in Chernihiv after Russian shelling
09:19 AM
Ukrainian troops to be given training on UK soil, minister says
Ukrainian soldiers will be given training on UK soil, James Heappey, the Armed Forces minister, has said.
Speaking on LBC, he said that Ukrainian servicemen will be shown how to use armoured vehicles provided by the UK.
“120 armoured vehicles are in the process of being made ready and the Ukrainian troops that will operate those will arrive in the UK in the next few days to learn how to drive and command those vehicles,” he said.
“There’s more anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons systems we’re sending. There are precision guided weapons.”
LBC presenter Nick Ferrari replied: “That’s tremendous, so we’re going to be training Ukrainian blokes and women on our kit here in the UK?”
Mr Heappey responded: “Yes”.
09:04 AM
Putin says Russia will achieve ‘noble’ aims of its Ukraine military campaign
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine would undoubtedly achieve what he said were its “noble” objectives.
“Its goals are absolutely clear and noble,” Putin said of Russia’s military campaign.
Speaking at an awards ceremony at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East, Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies that said Moscow had no other choice but to launch a military operation to protect Russia and that a clash with Ukraine’s anti-Russian forces had been inevitable.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
08:52 AM
Vladimir Putin says Russia and Belarus will cooperate on space projects
Russia and Belarus will cooperate on infrastructure projects in space, RIA news agency quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying on Tuesday during a meeting with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
08:42 AM
Putin says Russian forces acting bravely and efficiently in Ukraine, TASS reports
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian forces carrying out Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine were acting bravely and efficiently and using the most modern weapons, TASS news agency reported.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
08:41 AM
Russia’s economy set for biggest contraction since 1994, Kudrin says
Russia’s economy is on track to contract by more than 10 per cent in 2022, the biggest fall in gross domestic product since the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.
Russia is facing soaring inflation and capital flight while grappling with a possible debt default after the West imposed crippling sanctions to punish President Vladimir Putin for sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine.
Russia’s economy and finance ministries are currently working on new forecasts, RIA state news agency quoted Mr Kudrin, who now serves as head of the Audit Chamber, as saying.
“The official forecast would be for more than around a 10 per cent contraction,” said Mr Kudrin, who served as Putin’s finance minister from 2000 to 2011, according to RIA.
Previous Russian government forecasts envisaged gross domestic product growth of three per cent this year after the economy expanded by 4.7 per cent in 2021.
08:39 AM
Singer Cher wades into Ukraine arming debate
Cher has said that if we don’t arm Ukraine more “we may live [to] regret it”, in a tweet posted this morning.
The singer warned that Ukraine is “the only thing between Russian aggression and Europe” and that “Russia won’t just breathe down Europe’s back, it will try [and] break it” if more tanks and weapons are not provided by the West.
UKRAINE’S 2ND
LARGEST COUNTRY IN EUROPE AFTER RUSSIA. IT BOARDERS 7 COUNTRIES & IS THE ONLY THING BETWEEN RUSSIAN
AGGRESSION & EUROPE. IF WE DONT ARM UKRAINE WITH TANKS,ETC. WE MAY LIVE 2 REGRET IT, BECAUSE RUSSIA
WONT JUST BREATHE DOWN EUROPE’S BACK,
IT WILL TRY N BREAK IT.— Cher (@cher) April 12, 2022
08:33 AM
Ukraine war causes higher demand for liquidity from firms, says OeNB
The war in Ukraine is leading to greater demand for liquidity among Austrian companies, the country’s national Bank, the OeNB, said on Tuesday, adding it expected demand for loans, especially short-term ones, to rise in the second quarter.
“Due to the uncertain situation, (banks) expect more cautious investment activity by companies or delays to investment projects,” said the Austrian National Bank, adding this might dampen demand for long-term loans for investment.
There were sufficient funds available for lending, it said.
08:28 AM
Putin flies into Russian far east for Ukraine talks with Belarusian leader
President Vladimir Putin flew into Russia’s far east Amur region on Tuesday for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expected to focus on Ukraine and Russian-Belarusian integration.
The two leaders were due to head to the Vostochny Cosmodrome to mark Russia’s annual Cosmonautics Day, commemorating the first manned space flight made in 1961 by the Russian Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
They were also expected to inspect the spaceport and meet staff, and to give a joint news conference at around 11am GMT.
08:07 AM
Russian-backed forces deny using chemical weapons in Mariupol, Ifax reports
Russian-backed separatist forces did not use chemical weapons in their attempts to take full control of the city of Mariupol despite Ukrainian allegations to the contrary, Eduard Basurin, a separatist commander, told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said earlier on Tuesday that Kyiv was checking unverified information that Russia may have used chemical weapons while besieging the southern Ukrainian port city.
08:03 AM
The latest images from Ukraine
07:55 AM
Nato military chief says joining alliance is up to Sweden and Finland
The chair of Nato’s military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, said on Tuesday that it is the sovereign right of countries such as Sweden and Finland to decide if they want to join the alliance.
Speaking to reporters in Seoul, Admiral Bauer said Nato was not a demanding association, and had not pressured any state to join, or for any countries to provide weapons to Ukraine.
07:20 AM
Russia claims it destroyed ammo depots in two Ukrainian regions
The Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday that its missiles had destroyed ammunition depots in Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv regions.
The ministry said Russian forces had struck an ammunition depot and hangar at the Starokostiantyniv airbase in the Khmelnytskyi region, as well as an ammunition depot near Havrylivka north of the capital Kyiv.
07:11 AM
Albania’s former ‘Stalin City’ looks West with Nato airbase
In an Albanian city once named for Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, dozens of Soviet- and Chinese-made planes rust in the open air on a former communist airbase, some with flat tyres, others covered with dust.
The site in the central city now called Kucova is being transformed into a modern Nato airbase, a symbol of Albania’s westward shift – and a key military buffer in Europe as Russia wages war in Ukraine.
The renovation project was agreed in 2018 by the Balkan state and Nato, which has already committed $55 million (50.4 million euros) to the project, according to Albanian sources.
Construction began at the beginning of the year, ahead of Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine that has sparked fears of a spillover into Nato and EU member states.
Though the timing of the Kucova base redevelopment was a coincidence, for some it is a welcome one.
06:49 AM
Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline in Donbas region
06:23 AM
Gazprom continues gas exports to Europe via Ukraine, Ifax reports
Russian state-owned gas producer Gazprom continued to supply natural gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday in line with requests from European consumers, the Interfax news agency reported.
Requests stood at 74.5 million cubic metres for April 12, Interfax reported, citing Ukraine’s gas pipeline operator.
06:11 AM
Nokia to stop doing business in Russia
Telecoms equipment maker Nokia is pulling out of the Russian market, its CEO told Reuters, going a step further than rival Ericsson , which said on Monday it was indefinitely suspending its business in the country.
Hundreds of foreign companies are cutting ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and after unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow.
While several sectors, including telecoms, have been exempted from some sanctions on humanitarian or related grounds, Nokia said it had decided quitting Russia was the only option.
“We just simply do not see any possibilities to continue in the country under the current circumstances,” Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said in an interview.
He added Nokia would continue to support customers during the exit process, and it was not possible to say at this stage how long the withdrawal would take.
06:07 AM
Ukraine deputy PM says nine humanitarian corridors agreed for Tuesday
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said nine humanitarian corridors had been agreed for Tuesday to evacuate civilians, including from the besieged city of Mariupol by private cars.
Ms Vereshchuk said in a statement that five of the nine evacuation corridors were from Ukraine’s Luhansk region in the east of the country, which Ukrainian officials have said is under heavy shelling.
06:03 AM
Ukraine’s displaced seek clothes
Ukrainian dentist Yana held up a small jean jacket against her five-year-old daughter Maya to see if it might fit at an aid distribution centre in western Ukraine.
The mother of two said she had spent 12 days in a basement hiding from shelling in the eastern city of Kharkiv near the Russian border, before the Ukrainian army could organise a convoy of cars and buses to evacuate them in early March.
Yana, who had her own dentist’s practice in Kharkiv, said former clients had offered her family shelter in Lviv.
But she broke down in tears explaining that her mother and mother-in-law had stayed behind.
05:56 AM
Pregnant Ukrainian mother: ‘We have nothing’
Expectant mother Tatyana Kaftan has spoken of fleeing her home in Ukraine’s south following Russian bombardment.
Standing between boxes of donated clothes in western Ukraine, she clutched a soft baby onesie and a tiny pair of trousers against the green jumper clinging to her belly.
Expecting her first child and with her due date just three weeks away, she arrived in the city of Lviv three days ago.
“We left everything at home,” the 35-year-old travel agent said, who drove with her husband all the way from Mykolaiv on the Black Sea.
“We have nothing.”
05:44 AM
Russia’s focus remains on Donetsk and Luhansk
Russia’s attacks remain focused on Ukrainian positions near Donetsk and Luhansk, with further fighting around Kherson and Mykolaiv, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
“Russian forces continue to withdraw from Belarus in order to redeploy in support of operations in eastern Ukraine,” the ministry posted on Twitter.
04:58 AM
Russia aims to take control of Mariupol
Russian troops were on Tuesday aiming to take control of the city of Mariupol as defending forces tried desperately to hold them back.
Russia is believed to be trying to connect occupied Crimea with Moscow-backed separatist territories Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas, and has laid siege to the strategically located city.
However, on Monday the Ukrainian army insisted that “the defence of Mariupol continues”.
“The connection with the units of the defence forces that heroically hold the city is stable and maintained,” the Land Forces of Ukraine wrote on Telegram.
In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made another plea to his allies for more weapons to boost the defence of the city.
“We are not getting as much as we need to end this war sooner. To completely destroy the enemy on our land … in particular, to unblock Mariupol,” he said.
03:47 AM
Vladimir Putin to meet with Belarusian President
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will meet with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday to discuss the invasion in Ukraine and Western sanctions, news agencies in Russia and Belarus have reported.
Mr Lukashenko has insisted that Belarus must be involved in negotiations to stop the conflict in Ukraine.
He has also claimed Belarus had been unfairly labelled “an accomplice of the aggressor”.
The European Union, the US and other countries have included Belarus in the sweeping sanctions imposed on Russia.
02:35 AM
More than 121,000 children taken from Ukraine, UN ambassador claims
Russia has taken more than 121,000 children out of Ukraine, Ukraine’s UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya has claimed.
He alleged Moscow has also reportedly drafted a bill to simplify and accelerate adoption procedures for orphans and even those who have parents and other relatives.
Mr Kyslytsya said most of the children were removed from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol and taken to eastern Donetsk and then to the Russian city of Taganrog.
01:54 AM
Borodyanka destruction: Photos show region under rubble
01:43 AM
UN verifies 142 Ukrainian children killed
The United Nations has confirmed 142 children have been killed and 229 injured since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, although the actual number of deaths are likely much higher.
The UN’s children’s agency on Monday said nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children had fled their homes.
UNICEF’s emergency programs director, Manuel Fontaine, who just returned from Ukraine, described having 4.8 million of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children displaced in such a short time as “quite incredible”.
“They have been forced to leave everything behind – their homes, their schools and, often, their family members,” he told the UN Security Council.
“I have heard stories of the desperate steps parents are taking to get their children to safety, and children saddened that they are unable to get back to school.”
01:23 AM
Pentagon can’t confirm drone report out of Mariupol
The US cannot confirm reports that a drone had dropped a “poisonous substance” on Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in Mariupol, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
However, Mr Kirby noted the administration’s persistent concerns “about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine”.
01:02 AM
Borodyanka: ‘We don’t know how many are under the debris’
Hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers are working to clear rubble after two high-rise apartment blocks were destroyed in the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka near Kyiv.
It comes as seven bodies were found on Monday, with the bodies of 19 people recovered so far, the state emergency services said in a statement.
“We don’t know the final number of people under the debris,” ministry press officer Svetlana Vodolaga told Reuters.
“We just have information that during the shelling from this particular building there were calls from people who were under the debris.”
In other parts of the town, volunteers cleared rubble from a children’s playground.
“It’s shocking (seeing this). What else can I say,” Borodyanka resident, Maria Glushenko, said.
“People died, young people died. Such good people.”
12:37 AM
Russian spy chief ‘thrown in jail’
Vladimir Putin has thrown a top spy chief into prison amid concern over apparent leaks to the US about Russia’s plans in Ukraine, according to reports.
A report on Monday suggested Colonel General Sergei Beseda, the head of the FSB’s foreign intelligence unit, has been sent to Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison, typically used to house those suspected of treason.
In the weeks preceding the invasion, US media repeatedly quoted intelligence sources that seemed to have a unique insight into the Kremlin’s preparations for the war.
Read more: Russian spy chief ‘thrown in jail’ as Vladimir Putin ‘turns on security officials’
11:52 PM
Three people ‘have clear signs of chemical poisoning’, Azov claim
Andrei Biletsky, the founder of Ukraine’s Azov battalion, has claimed that three people were suffering effects from an unknown toxic substance following an attack in Mariupol.
“Three people have clear signs of poisoning by warfare chemicals, but without catastrophic consequences,” he said in a video address on Telegram.
The claims have not been verified and are under investigation by the Foreign Office.
Senior Donetsk separatist official Eduard Basurin had spoken of the possibility of using chemical weapons against the southern port city that has resisted Russian bombardment for weeks.
Mr Basurin said the besieging forces could “turn to chemical troops who will find a way to smoke the moles out of their holes”, Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted him as saying on Monday.
Russia has denied committing any war crimes during its offensive in Ukraine.
