2h ago
09.42 CEST
Opening summary
It has gone
10.30am in Kyiv and in Moscow. This is our latest Guardian blog covering all
the latest developments over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Ukraine
has pulled back troops near several villages in the north-eastern Kharkiv
region, where Russian forces have been advancing and pounding settlements along
the border since last week, Kyiv announced.
“In some
areas, around Lukyantsi and Vovchansk, in response to enemy fire and assaults
from ground troops, and to save the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses,
our units manoeuvred and moved to more advantageous positions,” the Ukrainian
military announced overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, reports the Agence
France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
“Donetsk
and Kharkiv regions are where it is most difficult now,” Ukrainian president
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address on Tuesday evening.
More on
that in a moment, but first, here are the other latest developments:
Large
fires were reported around the Russian-controlled Belbek airbase on occupied
Crimea on Wednesday morning after the governor of nearby Sevastopol said the
city had come under “massive” Ukrainian missile attack. Nasa’s satellite fire
monitoring system, Firms, showed several large hotspots on the Belbek airbase.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor, confirmed a missile attack on the airbase, as
well as over the Black Sea, and said “fragments of a downed missile” fell on
the city itself. The Russian defence ministry later said 10 Atacms long-range
missiles had been launched at Crimea.
The US
is considering sending an extra Patriot air defence battery to Ukraine,
according to Bloomberg. It comes after the US secretary of state, Antony
Blinken, arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday on his first visit to Ukraine since a major
US aid package was passed last month. Blinken, who arrived by train from Poland
in an unannounced visit, met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Some of
it has already arrived and more of it will be arriving,” said Blinken of the US
aid. “And that’s going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian
aggression on the battlefield.”
Zelenskiy
described the US aid as crucial, and thanked Blinken, but also said Ukraine
desperately needed two more air defence systems to protect the city of Kharkiv,
which has been hit repeatedly by Russian strikes in recent weeks.
Blinken
joined band 19.99 on stage at Barman Dictat, picking up a red guitar to play
Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. “Your soldiers, your citizens –
particularly in the north-east, in Kharkiv – are suffering tremendously. But
they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of
the world is with you and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for
the free world. And the free world is with you, too,” Blinken said before
playing the song.
Russia
said on Tuesday it had taken a 10th border village, Buhruvatka, in Kharkiv
region. The police chief in Vovchansk, a town 5km (three miles) from the border
that has been the target of one of the main Russian thrusts, reported exchanges
of fire in the north of the town.
Russian
strikes on residential areas in the centre of Kharkiv city injured 20 people on
Tuesday, officials said.
Ukrainian
grid operator Ukrenergo said on Tuesday that power shortages caused by damage
from Russian strikes had prompted controlled countrywide cuts from 9pm to
midnight. “The reason is a significant shortage of electricity in the system as
a result of Russian shelling as well as increased consumption because of cold
weather,” Ukrenergo said.
The
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will visit China on 16-17 May, Chinese state
media reported.
Joe
Biden has signed legislation broadly supported in Congress that prohibits any
imports of Russian uranium into the US from 12 August. Russia provides about
20-30% of the enriched uranium used in the US and Europe and 44% globally,
according to the US energy department. The legislation will release $2.72bn in
funding for the energy department to invest in uranium enrichment inside the
US.
Russia
has put its Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile into service, the Tass
state news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the system’s chief designer.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário