Ukraine war: Russia scrambles warplanes as explosions sound in Mariupol
Russia scrambled its warplanes after a series of explosions in Mariupol, according to an advisor to the mayor of the city.
Petro Andriushchenko said the explosions came from the direction of the village of Sartana, which is less than 20km from Mariupol.
“After the explosions, the occupiers deployed their aircraft into the sky," he said.
The explosions follow two reported strikes on Saturday, with one said to have landed near the airport.
Russia has sought to play down the alleged attack, which the Mariupol City Council claimed was a “possible hit” on Russian locations.
05:21 PM
Today's top stories
Ukraine has said it is buying time to launch an upcoming counteroffensive by continuing to defend Bakhmut
Swiss neutrality is more important than ever, President Alain Berset said as he defended the controversial ban on transferring Swiss-made arms to Ukraine
Ukraine and Russia have both claimed hundreds of enemy troops were killed over the previous 24 hours in the fight for Bakhmut
Russia's defence ministry said its forces continued to conduct military operations in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, claiming to have killed more than 220 Ukrainian servicemen over the past 24 hours
Iran has reached a deal to buy advanced Su-35 fighter planes from Russia, Iranian state media said on Saturday, expanding a relationship that has seen Iranian-built drones used in Ukraine
05:15 PM
Ukraine 'buying time to prepare counteroffensive' as Bakhmut battle rages
Ukraine has said it is buying time to launch an upcoming counteroffensive by continuing to defend Bakhmut.
A top commander in the Ukrainian army, said his forces were defending the city against fierce and sustained Russian attacks, but that this was necessary to “buy time” for that push.
Some military experts have questioned the sense of continuing to hold the city, but the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, said that it helped win time in preparation for the coming counteroffensive.
"The real heroes now are the defenders who are holding the eastern front on their shoulders, and inflicting the heaviest possible losses, sparing neither themselves nor the enemy," Syrsky was quoted as saying in a statement on Saturday.
04:40 PM
Zelensky spoke with Czech leader Peter Paul on Sunday
Провів розмову з Президентом 🇨🇿 @prezidentpavel. Привітав з офіційним вступом на посаду. Поінформував про ситуацію на фронті, наші безпекові потреби. Говорили про рух 🇺🇦 до 🇪🇺. Домовилися й надалі активно взаємодіяти. Підтримка 🇨🇿 важлива для 🇺🇦 в боротьбі з агресією РФ!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 12, 2023
04:14 PM
Pictured: People look at a destroyed Russian tank in downtown Kyiv
04:10 PM
Swiss president defends neutrality, Ukraine arms ban
Swiss neutrality is more important than ever, President Alain Berset said as he defended the controversial ban on transferring Swiss-made arms to Ukraine.
"Swiss weapons must not be used in wars," he told the NZZ am Sonntag weekly on Sunday.
The long tradition of neutrality has been hotly debated since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
While the wealthy Alpine country, which is not a member of the European Union, has followed the bloc's lead on sanctions targeting Moscow, it has so far shown less flexibility on its military neutrality.
03:39 PM
Ukraine foreign minister doesn't expect jets anytime soon
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says he does not expect Ukraine to receive fighter jets any time soon.
Ukraine has said it desperately needs fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of Soviet MiG and Sukhoi planes and repel Russian forces. But Mr Kuleba says logisitcs currently make that difficult.
"I don't expect the supply of the fighter jets to take place in the near future as it is a very difficult task from a logistical and technical point of view," Kuleba said, adding Ukrainian pilots should trained from now for when the planes do arrive.
03:06 PM
Frozen ground has given way to Spring mud in Eastern Ukraine
The spring mud season has started in Eastern Ukraine.
Things will get better first by May. pic.twitter.com/7CHq7oemaO— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 12, 2023
02:52 PM
Iran says it will buy advanced SU-35 fighter jets from Russia
Iran says it has made a deal to buy SU-35 fighter jets from Russia in a move that will significantly expand the capabilities of its ageing air force, writes Abbie Cheeseman.
The deal had been slated for months, with US and UK officials concerned that it was a quid-pro-quo agreement for the transfer of kamikaze drones being sent to Russia for use against Ukraine.
Iran did not offer any details on the deal that was made to acquire one of Russia’s most advanced combat aircraft.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB quoted Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York as saying that “Iran has finalised a contract for [the] purchase” of the Sukhoi SU-35 fighter planes.
02:31 PM
In pictures: the latest from the war
02:19 PM
Moldova smashes pro-Moscow subversion ring
Moldovan police said they had arrested members of a network "orchestrated by Moscow" to destabilise the small ex-Soviet nation.
After searches on Saturday night, 25 men were questioned and seven of them detained, police chief Viorel Cernauteanu told media.
An agent managed to infiltrate the group led by a Moldovan-Russian, he said, adding that the prosecution had recorded 10 hours of video and audio.
01:53 PM
Kyiv and Moscow say hundreds of enemy troops killed in Bakhmut
Ukraine and Russia have both claimed hundreds of enemy troops were killed over the previous 24 hours in the fight for Bakhmut.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, said on Saturday that 221 pro-Moscow troops were killed and more than 300 wounded in Bakhmut. Russia's defence ministry said that up to 210 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the broader Donetsk part of the frontline.
While Moscow did not specify Bakhmut casualties, the eastern Donetsk town, now nearly deserted, has been the site of one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the year-long war, with both sides admitting suffering and inflicting significant losses in Bakhmut.
On Saturday British military intelligence said that Russia's Wagner mercenary group has taken control of most of the eastern part of Bakhmut - an advance that the group's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on Wednesday.
01:24 PM
Switzerland to dismantle outdated missiles instead of sending them to Ukraine, according to local media
⚡️Media: Switzerland to dismantle outdated missiles instead of sending them to Ukraine.
Switzerland is getting rid of outdated Rapier surface-to-air missiles that could have been used by Ukraine to shoot down low-flying targets, Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported.— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 12, 2023
12:40 PM
Russia says forces continue attack in Ukraine's Donetsk region
Russia's defence ministry said its forces continued to conduct military operations in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, claiming to have killed more than 220 Ukrainian servicemen over the past 24 hours.
"In the Donetsk direction... more than 220 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle, 3 armoured fighting vehicles, 7 vehicles, as well as a D-30 howitzer were destroyed during the day," the defence ministry said.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the defence ministry's claim.
12:30 PM
Russia made no advances in Bakhmut on Saturday, says ISW
New: #Russian forces did not make any confirmed advances within #Bakhmut on March 11. @criticalthreats
Our latest: https://t.co/U0sK1WbhHo pic.twitter.com/ZgmTs2629K— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) March 11, 2023
12:10 PM
Czech President says he will go on a state visit to Poland on Thursday
Czech President Petr Pavel has announced that he will go on a state visit to Poland on Thursday.
It will be his second state visit after Slovakia, symbolizing the strengthening relationship between Poland and Czechia following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/FTPCSx82AO— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 11, 2023
11:45 AM
Latest update from the Ministry of Defence
The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.
The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 11 March 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/Q556veYzIS
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/RTRuEc0HP5— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 12, 2023
11:06 AM
Turkish defence minister says he believes Black Sea grain deal will be extended
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said he believes that a deal allowing Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea will be extended from its current March 18 deadline.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Turkey last July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain blockaded by Russia's invasion to be safely exported from three Ukrainian ports.
The deal was extended for 120 days in November and will renew on March 18 if no party objects. However, Moscow has already signalled it will only agree to an extension if restrictions affecting its own exports are lifted.
10:43 AM
Thousands join anti-government protest in Prague
Thousands took to the streets of Prague on Saturday in protest against the Czech government, high inflation and demanding an end to the country's military support for Ukraine.
The Czech Republic has been battling record inflation levels for a year mainly because of a spike in energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
In February, annual inflation in the EU and NATO member state of 10.5 million people reached 16.7 percent.
10:25 AM
Losing Bakhmut won't impact Ukraine's 'strategic corridors', says deputy PM
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna has underscored the human cost of Russia's assault on Bakhmut.
"Thousands of Russian soldiers died at a considerable rate in this battle," she said. "The human mass of its infantry is a formidable weapon, it seems inexhaustible in volume and in time."
But even if it did capture the "small town", she added, "it will not impact the strategic corridors we still control in the region".
10:09 AM
'Wagner closes in on administrative centre of Bakhmut'
Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner, said that his forces were close to the administrative centre of Bakhmut.
Standing on the rooftop of a high-rise building in what is said to be Bakhmut, Prigozhin is seen in a video pointing towards a building in the distance.
"This is the building of the town administration, this is the centre of the town," he said, clad in full military gear.
"It is one kilometre and two hundred metres away."
09:51 AM
Ukraine readies counteroffensive as Russia inches forward in Bakhmut
The Ukrainian military was preparing on Sunday for an upcoming counteroffensive, with a top commander saying his forces' ongoing defence of Bakhmut in the face of fierce and sustained Russian attacks was necessary to "buy time" for that push.
The remarks came as British intelligence said the frontline had shifted in the fight for Bakhmut - the longest and bloodiest battle of Moscow's year-long invasion - but that any further Russian advance in the devastated town would be "highly challenging".
09:37 AM
Iran to buy Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, says broadcaster
Iran has reached a deal to buy advanced Su-35 fighter planes from Russia, Iranian state media said on Saturday, expanding a relationship that has seen Iranian-built drones used in Russia's war on Ukraine.
"The Sukhoi-35 fighter planes are technically acceptable to Iran and Iran has finalised a contract for their purchase," the broadcaster IRIB quoted Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York as saying.
IRIB's report did not carry any Russian confirmation of the deal, details of which were not disclosed. The mission said Iran had also inquired about buying military aircraft from several other unnamed countries, IRIB reported.
