Ukraine-Russia news live: White House did not inform Kyiv of Pentagon leaks, says Zelensky

Volodymyr Zelensky has said he was not informed by the White House about a leak of secret US documents about the war in Ukraine, until the information was already out in the public domain.

“I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Mr Zelensky was quoted as saying.

“It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States,” he added.

It comes as a fuel depot facility was set ablaze in Russia’s Krasnodar near Crimea in the early hours today.

The fire has been classified as the highest rank of difficulty, the local governor said. The facility is a critical supply route for Russia into Crimea.

A similar attack had struck the Crimean port of Sevastopol on Saturday where a Russian fuel storage facility was struck with drones.

Meanwhile, Washington is set to unveil a new $300m (£240m) package of military aid for Ukraine, including a short-range air launched rocket and 155-mm Howitzer cannons.

Key Points

• Ukraine equipping up to 40,000 ‘storm’ troops ahead of counter attack

• Vladimir Putin warned of arrest if he attends leaders’ summit

• Russia suffered 100,000 casualties in Ukraine war since December

• Ukrainian forces shell village in Russia’s Bryansk region

• 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December, say US

White House did not inform Ukraine of Pentagon leaks, says Zelensky

04:19 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky said the White House did not inform his administration or him about a leak of secret US documents that grabbed attention around the world last month.

“I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Mr Zelensky was quoted as saying.

Calling it “unprofitable” for Ukraine, he said: “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”

The materials posted online offered a partial, month-old snapshot of the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov has downplayed the negative impact of the Pentagon document leaks and said it contained a mixture of true and false information about his country’s military.

Fuel depot explodes in Russia’s Krasnodar

04:04 , Arpan Rai

A fuel storage facility near a key bridge in Russia’s southwestern region of Krasnodar has been set ablaze in the early hours today, officials said.

“The fire has been classified as the highest rank of difficulty,” Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar, which lies across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.

No immediate casualties have been reported so far.

Preliminary visuals of the explosion showed flames and black smoke billowing over what appeared to be large tanks emblazoned with red warnings of “flammable” in videos posted on Russian social media.

The blaze broke out in the village of Volna, in the Temryuk administrative district, the governor said.

The facility lies close to the Crimean Bridge, or the Kerch Strait bridge, that links Russia’s mainland with the Crimea peninsula it annexed in 2014 from Ukraine.

“Every effort is being made to prevent the fire from spreading further,” Mr Kondratyev added. “There is no threat to residents of the village.”

The Murdochs chatted to Zelensky before firing Tucker Carlson

03:00 , Joe Middleton

Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan both spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky in the months before Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, a major critic of the Ukrainian president, according to reports.

The 92-year-old News Corp executive chairman held an “unreported” call with Mr Zelensky earlier this spring, reported Semafor.

During the conversation, they reportedly discussed Ukraine’s conflict with Russia as well as the March 2022 deaths of Fox News Journalists Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra Kuvshynova in the country.

Graeme Massie reports.

The Murdochs chatted to Zelensky before firing Tucker Carlson

US Speaker McCarthy: Russia must pull out of Ukraine

02:30 , Joe Middleton

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy emphatically stressed his support for military aid to Ukraine on Monday, blistering Russia‘s “killing of the children” and distancing himself from some in his party who oppose additional major U.S. aid to stave off the Russian invasion.

In Israel on his first trip abroad as speaker, McCarthy flatly rejected a suggestion at a news conference that he does not support sending military and financial aid to Ukraine — and he amplified his positions on other issues back home, including his demand for debt limit negotiations with President Joe Biden.

US Speaker McCarthy: Russia must pull out of Ukraine

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

01:30 , Joe Middleton

The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Wednesday 3 May 2023 00:30 , Joe Middleton

Decades after the catastrophe, now a byword for state secrecy, crucial elements remain a mystery, Andy Gregory writes.

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Russian defense chief wants wartime missile output doubled

Tuesday 2 May 2023 23:30 , Joe Middleton

Russia’s defense chief on Tuesday urged a state company to double its missile output, as a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive looms and both sides in the 14-month war reportedly feel an ammunition crunch.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking at a meeting with top military brass, said the state-owned Tactical Missiles Corporation had been fulfilling its contracts in a timely manner.

But, Shoigu added, “right now it is necessary to double the production of high-precision weapons in the shortest possible time.”

Russian defense chief wants wartime missile output doubled

Ludicrous to say Ukraine’s Nato membership is provocative to Russia – Johnson

Tuesday 2 May 2023 22:30 , Joe Middleton

It is ludicrous to say Ukraine’s Nato membership is provocative to Russia and the UK Government should support an application from Kyiv, former prime minister Boris Johnson has said.

He told MPs the next meeting of Nato heads in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July will be an “important test” of the military alliance’s willingness to “fulfil its long-standing promises to Ukraine”.

He said Kyiv should be invited to make the “necessary preparations” to join “as soon as possible” for the sake of “clarity” and “peace” in Europe.

Ludicrous to say Ukraine’s Nato membership is provocative to Russia – Johnson

The Murdochs chatted to Zelensky before firing Tucker Carlson

Tuesday 2 May 2023 21:30 , Joe Middleton

Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan both spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky in the months before Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, a major critic of the Ukrainian president, according to reports.

The 92-year-old News Corp executive chairman held an “unreported” call with Mr Zelensky earlier this spring, reported Semafor.

During the conversation, they reportedly discussed Ukraine’s conflict with Russia as well as the March 2022 deaths of Fox News Journalists Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra Kuvshynova in the country.

Graeme Massie reports.

The Murdochs chatted to Zelensky before firing Tucker Carlson

Ukraine equipping up to 40,000 ‘storm’ troops ahead of counter attack

Tuesday 2 May 2023 20:24 , Joe Middleton

Ukraine’s interior minister has said that eight “storm” brigades – comprising of up to 40,000 troops – are being re-equipped as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Moscow’s invasion.

The brigades are “fully formed” but Ihor Klymenko said that they require two to three weeks of instruction before they are tasked with “appropriate offensive assault operations” alongside the Ukrainian army.

Mr Klymenko said that Kyiv was also planning the “formation of additional units” in parallel with this training, during an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Chris Stevenson reports.

Ukraine equipping up to 40,000 ‘storm’ troops ahead of counter attack

Ukraine war looms over Switzerland UN presidency

Tuesday 2 May 2023 18:18 , Joe Middleton

Russia couldn’t escape its war against Ukraine during its highly contentious presidency of the U.N. Security Council, and the war will still loom over Switzerland as it takes over the monthlong presidency Monday for the first time since becoming a full member of the United Nations in 2002.

Switzerland’s U.N. Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl said at the traditional opening press conference that her country’s approach has been to work for unity of the council’s 15 members and to be “a bridge builder.” She conceded, nonetheless, that she expects “some heated or polarized discussions.”

Fireworks are almost certain during Switzerland’s signature events, starting Wednesday with a session on how to ensure trust to sustain peace in the future and another on May 23 on protecting civilians in armed conflict.

Ukraine war looms over Switzerland UN presidency

Russia’s defence chief urges state company to double missile output

Tuesday 2 May 2023 17:00 , Joe Middleton

Russia’s defence chief has urged a state company to double its missile output, as a possible Ukrainian counter-offensive looms and with both sides in the 14-month war reportedly feeling an ammunition crunch.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking at a meeting with top military brass, said the state-owned Tactical Missiles Corporation had been fulfilling its contracts in a timely manner.

But, Mr Shoigu added, “right now it is necessary to double the production of high-precision weapons in the shortest possible time”.

Analysts have been trying to work out whether Russia is running low on high-precision ammunition, as its missile barrages against Ukraine have become less frequent and smaller in scale.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence noted in an assessment on Tuesday that “logistics problems remain at the heart of Russia’s struggling campaign in Ukraine“.

“Russia does not have enough munitions to achieve success on the offensive,” it said.

Ukraine should be invited to make preparations to join NATO, says former UK prime minister

Tuesday 2 May 2023 16:07 , Joe Middleton

Boris Johnson has said Ukraine should be invited to make the necessary preparations to join NATO “as soon as possible”.

The Tory former prime minister told the Commons: “This summer’s Vilnius summit will be an important test of Nato’s willingness to fulfil its long-standing promises to Ukraine.

“Does he agree with me that it’s now ludicrous to say that Ukraine‘s Nato membership might be in some way provocative to Russia, since Putin has shown what he is willing to do when Ukraine is not a member of Nato and because Ukraine is not a member of Nato? And does he agree that it should therefore be the policy of the Government that Ukraine should be invited to make the necessary preparations to join as soon as possible under the rules for the sake of clarity and stability and peace in Europe?”

The Foreign Secretary James Cleverly paid tribute to Mr Johnson for “the leadership that he showed at a vital point in time”, adding: “Nato’s position in regard to Ukraine is unambiguous. The invitation has been put out for Ukraine to join Nato.

“I think it’s incredibly important that that is not taken off the table. Of course, Russia’s aggression into Ukraine was the provocative action. Ukraine‘s desire to join Nato was an entirely understandable defensive posture because of that threat from the East.”

Denmark to donate £201million of military equipment and financial support for Ukraine

Tuesday 2 May 2023 15:42 , Joe Middleton

Denmark will donate military equipment and financial support to Ukraine worth 1.7 billion Danish crowns (£201 million), the Nordic country’s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said today

The minister also said Denmark will reduce its military presence in Iraq starting in early-2024 and instead focus on the Baltic countries, offering NATO a battalion to defend the region.

The battalion is expected to consist of between 700 and 1,200 soldiers, and is expected to be deployed in Latvia between four and six months every year.

The rest of the year, the troops will remain in Denmark, ready to be deployed to the Baltic states in case of a crisis, the ministry of defence said.

“We must be prepared for the Danish presence in the Baltics to be long-term, and there is a need for balancing between having soldiers on the ground and being ready to deploy them from Denmark,” Poulsen said.

Denmark will withdraw one of its security and escort units of about 105 soldiers in Iraq as of February next year, but will continue to provide staff and advice to NATO’s mission in Iraq, the defence ministry said.

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Tuesday 2 May 2023 15:04 , Joe Middleton

Decades after the catastrophe, now a byword for state secrecy, crucial elements remain a mystery, Andy Gregory writes.

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Ukraine war looms over Switzerland UN presidency

Tuesday 2 May 2023 14:10 , Emily Atkinson

Russia couldn’t escape its war against Ukraine during its highly contentious presidency of the UN security council, and the war will still loom over Switzerland as it takes over the monthlong presidency Monday for the first time since becoming a full member of the United Nations in 2002.

Switzerland’s UN ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl said at the traditional opening press conference that her country’s approach has been to work for unity of the council’s 15 members and to be “a bridge builder.” She conceded, nonetheless, that she expects “some heated or polarized discussions.”

Read more on this here:

Ukraine war looms over Switzerland UN presidency

Norway to boost defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2026

Tuesday 2 May 2023 13:50 , Emily Atkinson

Norway aims to raise its defence spending to at least 2 per cent of GD) by 2026, in line with a long-held goal among members of the Nato alliance, prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Tuesday.

Norway’s defence spending is this year expected to amount to just over 1.4 per cent of GDP, according to the government’s budget projections.

Norway’s spending on defence as a share of overall economic activity declined following the end of the cold war, but the war in Ukraine has shown the need for a stronger military, the government said.

“We have to pay a higher insurance premium. We need to spend a greater share of our common resources on defence, security and preparedness,” Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum told a news conference.

Norway shares a border with Russia in the Arctic. It has never been at war with its eastern neighbour.

Kremlin says US estimates of Russian losses in Ukraine ‘plucked from thin air’

Tuesday 2 May 2023 13:35 , Emily Atkinson

The Kremlin has rejected a US assessment of Russian military casualties in Ukraine as having been “plucked from thin air” and said that Washington had no way of obtaining the correct data.

The White House on Monday estimated that Russia’s military had suffered 100,000 casualties in the last five months, including more than 20,000 dead.

Russia last publicly revealed its own tally of losses in the campaign in September, when defence minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed in the conflict.

In pictures: Town of Pavlohra devastated by Russian military strike

Tuesday 2 May 2023 13:25 , Emily Atkinson

Moscow knows nothing about Vatican peace mission for Ukraine

Tuesday 2 May 2023 13:23 , Joe Middleton

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it knew nothing about a Vatican peace mission for Ukraine.

Pope Francis said on Sunday that the Vatican was involved in discreet efforts to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

He added that it was also ready to help repatriate Ukrainian children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied land.

On the flight home from his visit to Hungary, Pope Francis said: “I am willing to do everything that has to be done. There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it.”

“I think that peace is always made by opening channels. You can never achieve peace through closure. ... This is not easy.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Moscow had no information about the initiative.

Kremlin claims German involvement in Ukraine conflict is growing

Tuesday 2 May 2023 13:10 , Emily Atkinson

Germany’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict is growing by the day, the Kremlin has said, arguing that Berlin had no way of ensuring that weapons it had provided to Kyiv would not be used against Russian territory.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said German-supplied weapons were already being used in the Donbas region, which Russia has declared its own, a step Ukraine and the West have dismissed as illegal.

Window to extend Black Sea grain deal is shrinking, says Kremlin

Tuesday 2 May 2023 13:00 , Emily Atkinson

The Kremlin has said that the window to extend the Black Sea grain deal was shrinking, and that ongoing talks between the parties were continuing, but without any results.

Russia has repeatedly indicated it is prepared to walk away from the deal on May 18 if its demands to ease restrictions on its own agricultural exports are not addressed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that part of the deal concerning Russia’s interests was not being implemented.

Russia working to ensure Victory Day parade can go ahead

Tuesday 2 May 2023 12:50 , Emily Atkinson

The Kremlin says that its security services were working to ensure that Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade on 9 May could go ahead safely in the face of a possible threat from Ukraine.

Several Russian regions have already scaled back events for 9 May - which marks the day when Nazi Germany surrendered at the end of World War Two - citing concerns that pro-Ukrainian saboteurs could target the proceedings.

Ukraine vows not to give up Bakhmut

Tuesday 2 May 2023 12:35 , Emily Atkinson

Ukraine‘s military has vowed not to give up the eastern city of Bakhmut as it prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian ground forces, underlined the importance Kyiv attaches to holding Bakhmut as preparations continue for a counterattack which it hopes will change the dynamic of the war in Ukraine.

“Together with the commanders, we have made a number of necessary decisions aimed at ensuring the effective defence and inflicting maximum losses on the enemy,” Syrskyi said in remarks released after a visit to troops fighting in Bakhmut.

“We will continue, despite all the forecasts and advice, to hold Bakhmut, destroying Wagner and other most combat-capable units of the Russian army,” he told soldiers in video footage of his visit. “We give our reserves an opportunity to prepare and we are preparing for further actions ourselves.”

Inflation inches up in Europe ahead of interes rate decision

Tuesday 2 May 2023 12:13 , Emily Atkinson

Europe‘s painful inflation inched higher last month, extending the squeeze on households and keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to unleash another large interest rate increase.

Consumer prices in the 20 countries using the euro currency jumped 7% in April from a year earlier, just down from the annual rate of 6.9% in March, the European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday.

Food prices eased a little, falling to an annual 13.6% from March’s 15.5%, while energy prices rose a more modest 2.5%.

More on this story here:

Inflation inches up in Europe ahead of interes rate decision

Russia may use civilians and journalists to spy on Denmark - Danish intelligence

Tuesday 2 May 2023 11:41 , Emily Atkinson

Denmark’s intelligence service expects Russia to recruit civilians and use journalists and business people to spy on the country as an alternative to Russian diplomats who were expelled last year on suspicion of espionage.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified Moscow’s need for intelligence gathering in NATO countries, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said in a report on Tuesday.

Controlling the entrance to the Baltic Sea, Denmark would play an important strategic role in a potential military conflict with Russia as a transit point for NATO reinforcements, making the NATO-member a particular focus for Russia, PET said.

Russia’s embassy in Copenhagen did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.

When Denmark, in line with other EU countries, expelled 15 Russian diplomats in April last year, it crippled Russia’s capacity to spy on Danish soil.

“But Russia’s need to obtain information in Denmark has increased ... and PET therefore expects Russia to try to use other ways of spying in Denmark,” PET said.

“...It could be stationing intelligence officers in Denmark outside the diplomatic representations, for example as journalists or business people, using visiting intelligence officers or that the Russian intelligence services to a greater extent recruit any Danish sources in Russia or in third countries.”

Other methods would include different forms of electronic intelligence gathering and cyber espionage, it added.

Shoigu: We have taken steps to accelerate arms production

Tuesday 2 May 2023 11:20 , Emily Atkinson

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu says that Russia had taken measures to accelerate arms production to meet the demands of its campaign in Ukraine, and was successfully attacking Ukrainian depots storing Western arms, Russian news agencies reported.

Shoigu said the army had all the weapons it needed for use on the battlefield in 2023, but called on a major rocket producer to urgently double its output of high-precision missiles, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Top UN trade official to travel 'to Moscow this week’

Tuesday 2 May 2023 10:58 , Emily Atkinson

Top United Nations trade official Rebeca Grynspan is expected to travel to Moscow this week, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, amid a diplomatic push to ensure a deal allowing for the safe export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports is renewed.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February last year, has repeatedly said it will not allow the deal to be extended beyond May 18 unless Western countries removes obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports.

Talks on Black Sea grain export deal ‘set for Wednesday’

Tuesday 2 May 2023 10:30 , Emily Atkinson

Talks on a UN-brokered deal that allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain are scheduled for Wednesday, with all sides in the negotiations involved, a senior Ukrainian source told Reuters.

“Talks are scheduled for tomorrow. All parties... hopefully there will be results,” the unnamed source said.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February last year, has signalled it will not allow the deal agreed last July to continue beyond 18 May because a list of demands to facilitate its own grain and fertiliser exports has not been met.

Vladimir Putin warned of arrest if he attends leaders’ summit

Tuesday 2 May 2023 10:09 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putin could face arrest if he attends a meeting of leading economies in South Africa in August, reports say.

The country’s authorities reportedly say they would be compelled to detain the Russian leader if he took part in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit after a warrant for his arrest was issued in March by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper, citing sources in the nation’s government, said that a special commission had been established by president Cyril Ramaphosa to look into the arrest warrant.

It concluded that South Africa would have no choice but to arrest Mr Putin if he set foot in the country.

“We have no option not to arrest Putin,” a government official told The Sunday Times. “If he comes here, we will be forced to detain him.”

The Russian president was expected to attend the BRICS summit, though this had not been confirmed by the Kremlin.

Officials are now floating the possibility of virtual attendance – with Mr Putin speaking with leaders via videolink – as a way around the dilemma, the newspaper reports.

“The only option we have is for [Mr Putin] to participate in the summit via Teams or Zoom from Moscow,” sources told the newspaper.

Latest images from Donetsk

Tuesday 2 May 2023 09:48 , Emily Atkinson

Putin orders Russian government to clarify rules on dividend payments to ‘unfriendly’ investors

Tuesday 2 May 2023 09:20 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to “clarify” the procedure for how Russian companies can make dividend payments to shareholders from so-called “unfriendly countries”, reports Reuters.

Russia considers all countries that have hit it with sanctions over its military campaign in Ukraine to be “unfriendly”. It has hit back with its own package of counter-sanctions and capital controls which restrict the ability of companies and investors from these countries to transfer profits or dividends back home.

Eight Ukrainian soldiers killed and four injured in Russian attack on Kherson - report

Tuesday 2 May 2023 08:59 , Emily Atkinson

Eight Ukrainian soliders have been killed and four injured after Russian artillery fire destroyed Ukrainian self-propelled guns and a mortar in the Kherson region, the state-owned Tass news agency reports, citing the emergency services of the Russian Federation.

Ukrainian forces drove Moscow’s troops out of the regional capital Kherson last year, in a significant defeat for Russia. The region remains paritally occupied by Russia, however.

ICYMI: Watch the moment a Russian fighter jet crashes in ball of flames after engine catches fire

Tuesday 2 May 2023 08:52 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A video captured the moment a Russian fighter jet crashed into a ball of flames last week after its engine caught fire.

Watch it here:

Photos show Russian attack on Pavlohrad damages 80 homes

Tuesday 2 May 2023 08:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Russian attack on Pavlohrad attack damaged 80 houses, 24 high-rise apartment buildings, five schools, four kindergartens, and other civilian infrastructure in the city, according to Governor Serhii Lysak.

ICYMI: Watch: Pope Francis meets refugees who fled Ukraine on Hungary visit

Tuesday 2 May 2023 08:09 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

Pope Francis has met with refugees who fled from Ukraine during the invasion as part of his three-day trip to Hungary.

On 29 April, the religious leader attended both the Elizabeth of Hungary Church to meet with less-fortunate people, before heading over to the ‘Protection of the Mother of God’ church, to meet the Greek Catholic community.

The day before, Pope Francis met nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, encouraging him to keep an open-mind when it comes to refugees, particularly because of the country’s close borders with Ukraine.

Watch: Pope Francis meets refugees who fled Ukraine on Hungary visit

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Tuesday 2 May 2023 07:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Ukrainian forces shell village in Russia’s Bryansk region

Tuesday 2 May 2023 07:29 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian forces shelled a village in the Russian Bryansk region bordering Ukraine early on Tuesday, the local governor said in a social media post, a day after an explosion derailed a freight train in the region.

“In the morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled the village of Kurkovichi in the Starodubsky municipal district.” Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a post on his Telegram channel.

“There were no casualties. As a result of the shelling, a fire broke out in one of the households. All emergency services are on site.”

Reuters was not able to independently verify the report. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine. The military, however, reports daily on activities and troops movements in battlefield areas.

On Monday, a locomotive and seven freight wagons were derailed in Bryansk after an unidentified explosive device went off, Bogomaz said.

Russian authorities say the region - which borders both Ukraine and Belarus - has seen multiple attacks by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 14 months since Russia invaded. On Saturday, the governor said four civilians died when a village was struck by shelling from the Ukrainian side of the border.

Putin failing to meet war-time demands, lacks munitions to achieve success – British MoD

Tuesday 2 May 2023 06:57 , Arpan Rai

Vladimir Putin’s forces are facing ammunition shortage, making the deficit a core issue for Russia’s struggling campaign in Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

“On 27 April, Russian military-linked social media claimed that Russia’s deputy defence minister, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, had been dismissed. Mizintsev held the military logistics portfolio, and had only been in post for eight months,” the British defence ministry pointed out.

While Mr Mizintsev’s sacking has not been confirmed yet, there’s speculation about how his future highlights logistics problems remaining at the heart of Russia’s struggling campaign in Ukraine, the ministry said.

Russia does not have enough munitions to achieve success on the offensive, the ministry said.

“Paucity of ammunition drives internal divisions, most notably between Russia’s Ministry of Defence and Wagner Group. Russia continues to give the highest priority to mobilising its defence industry, but it is still failing to meet war time demands,” the ministry said.

It noted that while Russia’s political leaders persist in demanding success on the battlefield, its logistics professionals are stuck in the middle.

Wagner chief complains about ammunition again: ‘10 cargo containers – not a lot at all’

Tuesday 2 May 2023 06:28 , Arpan Rai

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has continued his grievance about lack of ammunition supply to his mercenary fighters and said that the private miltiary group is receiving only a third of artillery shells it needs daily in Bakhmut.

“Three hundred tonnes a day is 10 cargo containers – not a lot at all,” Prigozhin said.

The Wagner chief has often clashed with the Vladimir Putin administration over its conduct of the war in Ukraine and what he says is insufficient support for his fighters.

In a separate update from the war frontline, Mr Prigozhin said his troops advanced some 120m (400ft) into Bakhmut at the loss of 86 of his fighters.

Russian forces have gradually made incremental gains in Bakhmut, but a Ukrainian military spokesperson said the lines to supply defenders with food, ammunition and medicine remain intact.

Ukrainian troops undergo military training in Kharkiv

Tuesday 2 May 2023 05:57 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine shot down 15 Russian missiles, says Zelensky

Tuesday 2 May 2023 05:47 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine shot down a total of 15 Russian missiles fired on the besieged country from midnight to 7am yesterday, averting a massive barrage of missiles through air defence systems.

“Last night alone, from midnight to 7 in the morning, we managed to shoot down 15 Russian missiles. But, unfortunately, not all of them. Not all of them yet. We are working with our partners as actively as possible to make the protection of our skies even more reliable,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

Putin’s ‘winter offensive’ on Ukraine has failed, says White House

Tuesday 2 May 2023 05:25 , Arpan Rai

Russia’s attempt at a winter offensive in the Donbas largely through Bakhmut has failed, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.

“Last December, Russia initiated a broad offensive across multiple lines of advance, including toward Vuhledar, Avdiivka, Bakhmut, and Kreminna. Most of these efforts stalled and failed. Russia has been unable to seize any strategically significant territory,” he told reporters yesterday

Mr Kirby said that while Russians have made some incremental gains in Bakhmut, it has come at a “terrible, terrible cost” and that Ukraine’s defence in the region remain strong.

“Russia has exhausted its military stockpiles and its armed forces,” Mr Kirby said.

He added that most of the Wagner mercenary group’s soldiers were “Russian convicts thrown into combat in Bakhmut without sufficient combat or training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control”.

“It’s really stunning, these numbers,” Mr Kirby added, saying the total is three times the number of American casualties in the Guadalcanal campaign in the Second World War.

The US is readying another weapons package for Ukraine which will be announced soon, he said.

Russia suffered 100,000 casualties in Ukraine war since December

Tuesday 2 May 2023 04:57 , Arpan Rai

Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed, since December, the White House said.

Ukraine has largely rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s forces are struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

Read the full story here:

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Ukrainian troops throw out Russia from some positions in Bakhmut – official

Tuesday 2 May 2023 03:57 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian units have forced Russian troops to leave from some positions in Bakhmut amid fierce battles, a top Ukrainian general said.

“The situation (in Bakhmut) is quite difficult,” Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Ukrainian commander of ground forces, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

“At the same time, in certain parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions” in recent days, he said.

This comes as the White House believes that more than 20,000 Russian fighters have been killed in Ukraine since December.

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Tuesday 2 May 2023 03:30 , Joe Middleton

The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Ukraine war: Aerials of building hit by Russian missiles

Tuesday 2 May 2023 02:30 , Joe Middleton

Russian forces suffer radiation sickness after digging trenches and fishing in Chernobyl

Tuesday 2 May 2023 01:30 , Joe Middleton

Russian troops who dug trenches in Chernobyl forest during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

Ukrainians living near the nuclear power station that exploded 37 years ago, and choked the surrounding area in radioactive contaminants, warned the Russians when they arrived against setting up camp in the forest.

But the occupiers who, as one resident put it to The Times, “understood the risks” but were “just thick”, installed themselves in the forest, reportedly carved out trenches, fished in the reactor’s cooling channel – flush with catfish – and shot animals, leaving them dead on the roads.

Russian troops suffer sickness after digging and fishing in Chernobyl

‘World’s largest sing-along’ to take place in solidarity with Ukraine ahead of Eurovision

Tuesday 2 May 2023 00:30 , Joe Middleton

A campaign to create the world’s largest sing-along in solidarity with Ukraine during the Eurovision Song Contest is bringing together choirs, musicians and the general public.

HelpUkraineSong is asking people to perform and upload a version of the 1967 Beatles song “With a Little Help from My Friends”.

The Museum of Liverpool will then hold a “flash mob” moment at midday on the day of the final, 13 May, with people at famous UK attractions including the London Eye, Blackpool Tower and Warwick Castle, joining in simultaneously. Gatherings will also take place around the world.

‘World’s largest sing-along’ to show support for Ukraine ahead of Eurovision

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Monday 1 May 2023 23:40 , Joe Middleton

Decades after the catastrophe, now a byword for state secrecy, crucial elements remain a mystery, Andy Gregory writes.

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Fresh wave of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine leave 34 wounded

Monday 1 May 2023 22:36 , Joe Middleton

A Russian missile barrage across Ukraine wounded at least 34 people in one eastern city, just hours before an explosion inside Russia derailed a freight train.

The attack on Pavlohrad was part of the second wave of nationwide long-range missile strikes in three days, an apparent revival of a tactic that Moscow used throughout the winter – often targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A huge crater had been blasted in the back garden of a house that was strewn with debris on Pavlohrad’s outskirts. Homes nearby were badly damaged. In the city centre, the windows of a dormitory that serves a chemical plant had been blown out.

Fresh wave of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine leave 34 wounded

US Speaker McCarthy: Russia must pull out of Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 21:38 , Joe Middleton

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy emphatically stressed his support for military aid to Ukraine on Monday, blistering Russia‘s “killing of the children” and distancing himself from some in his party who oppose additional major U.S. aid to stave off the Russian invasion.

In Israel on his first trip abroad as speaker, McCarthy flatly rejected a suggestion at a news conference that he does not support sending military and financial aid to Ukraine — and he amplified his positions on other issues back home, including his demand for debt limit negotiations with President Joe Biden.

US Speaker McCarthy: Russia must pull out of Ukraine

Relatives bury children killed in Russian missile attack

Monday 1 May 2023 20:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Relatives and friends cried next to coffins on Sunday as they buried children and others killed in a Russian missile attack on this central Ukrainian city, while fighting claimed more lives elsewhere.

Almost all of the 23 victims of the attack on Friday died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in Uman. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said six children were among the dead.

Mykhayl Shulha, 6, cried and hugged relatives next to the coffin of his 11-year-old sister Sofia Shulha during Sunday’s funeral, while others paid respects to a 17-year-old boy.

Relatives bury children killed in Russian missile attack

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Monday 1 May 2023 19:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

For most residents of Pripyat, Saturday 26 April 1986 seemed a relatively unremarkable day.

Some would have been aware of an incident at the nearby Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, around which the town had sprouted up in the decade prior, but, in the words of one off-duty engineer: “There was no panic. The city lived a normal life. People were sunbathing on the beach.”

But the warning signs were there.

Soviet Union officials were driving the streets, hiding their monitors as they gauged the levels of radiation washing over the pedestrians they passed. Traders had been warned not to sell fresh greens and cabbages at the local market, and street sweepers were washing the streets with foam.

But this had happened during a previous accident at the plant, of which there had been dozens in the past decade, and everything appeared to have been fine.

Decades after the catastrophe, now a byword for state secrecy, crucial elements remain a mystery, Andy Gregory writes

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December, say US

Monday 1 May 2023 18:48 , Joe Middleton

The White House said Monday it now estimates that since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed.

Ukraine has largely rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s forces are struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of Ukrainian ground forces, said that Russia continued to exert “maximum effort” to take the city but that it so far had failed.“In some parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions,” he said.

Russia's Prigozhin renews appeal for more ammunition to seize city of Bakhmut

Monday 1 May 2023 18:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The head of the Wagner private militia on Monday renewed his appeal to Russia‘s defence ministry to increase ammunition shipments to his fighters trying to seize the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin has frequently clashed with Moscow’s defence establishment over the conduct of Russia‘s campaign in Ukraine and what he says is insufficient support being provided to his Wagner soldiers.

In a video posted on his Telegram channel, Prigozhin said he needs at least 300 tonnes of artillery shells a day for the assault.

“Three hundred tonnes a day is 10 cargo containers - not a lot at all ... But we are being given no more than a third of that,” Prigozhin said as he inspected boxes of rifles in a warehouse he said was in the town of Soledar, to the northeast of Bakhmut.

Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of over 70,000, has been levelled by months of artillery shelling and urban combat between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. Prigozhin claimed on April 11 his forces, which are leading the assault, controlled more than 80% of the city.

Wagner is not part of Russia‘s official armed forces, and Prigozhin has previously accused the defence ministry of “betraying” his fighters - and Russia‘s overall war aims - by not providing sufficient ammunition.

In an earlier video in front of a destroyed building in Soledar, Prigozhin said Monday was the anniversary of Wagner’s founding, and that if the group was destined to die, it would be “not at the hands of the Ukrainian army or NATO but because of our domestic bastard-bureaucrats”.

There was no immediate response from Russia‘s defence ministry to Prigozhin’s statements.

Russia says capturing Bakhmut will open up the battlefield for future offensives in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv and the West have played down the city’s strategic importance, though Ukraine has also repeatedly refused to withdraw its troops from there.

Russia launches ‘group missile attack’ hitting Ukraine’s power network infrastructure

Monday 1 May 2023 17:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday that Russia conducted “a group missile strike with long-range precision-guided airborne and seaborne weapons on facilities of Ukraine‘s defence industry... all designated facilities were struck”.

The attacks also damaged Ukraine‘s power network infrastructure, which will take several days to repair, according to energy minister Herman Haluschenko.

He said that nearly 20,000 people in the city of Kherson and the wider region had been left without power, along with an unspecified number of people in the Dnipropetrovsk region, including the city of Dnipro.

Moscow has frequently launched long-range missile attacks during the 14-month war, often indiscriminately hitting civilian areas.

Ukraine has recently taken delivery of American-made Patriot missiles, providing improved anti-missile defences, but it was not clear whether any of them were employed in trying to stop Monday morning’s attack.

Ukraine has also been building up its mechanised brigades with armour supplied by its Western allies, who have also been training Ukrainian troops and sending ammunition, as Kyiv prepares for an expected counter-offensive this spring.

34 injured in Russian missile attack in eastern Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 16:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia launched its second large salvo of missiles at Ukraine in recent days early on Monday, damaging buildings and injuring at least 34 people in the eastern city of Pavlohrad but failing to hit Kyiv, officials said.

Air raid sirens began blaring across the capital at about 3.45am, followed by the sounds of explosions as missiles were intercepted by Ukrainian defence systems.

Eighteen cruise missiles were fired in total from the Murmansk region and the Caspian region, and 15 of them were intercepted, said Ukrainian armed forces commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

The head of Kyiv’s city administration, Serhii Popko, said all missiles fired at the city were shot down, as well as some drones. He did not provide further details, but said more information would be available later.

In Monday’s attack, missiles hit Pavlohrad, in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, injuring 34 people, including five children, according to Serhii Lysak, the region’s top official.

Seven missiles were fired at the city and “some were intercepted” but others hit an industrial facility, sparking a fire, and a residential neighbourhood where 19 apartment buildings, 25 homes, six schools and five shops were damaged, he said.

Missiles also hit three other areas in the region, damaging residential buildings and a school, he said.

Russia missile attack on Ukraine injures 25, damages homes

Monday 1 May 2023 16:06 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia launched its second large salvo of missiles at Ukraine in recent days early Monday, damaging buildings and wounding at least 34 people in the eastern city of Pavlohrad but failing to hit Kyiv, officials said.

Air raid sirens began blaring across the capital at about 3:45 a.m., followed by the sounds of explosions as missiles were intercepted by Ukrainian defense systems.

Eighteen cruise missiles were fired in total from the Murmansk region and the Caspian region, and 15 of them were intercepted, said Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

The head of Kyiv’s city administration, Serhii Popko, said all missiles fired at the city were shot down, as well as some drones. He didn’t provide further details, but said more information would be available later.

Russia missile attack on Ukraine injures 25, damages homes

Why does Russia want to block Ukraine from joining Nato?

Monday 1 May 2023 15:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Tensions along Russia’s border with Ukraine finally erupted into open warfare on 24 February 2022 as Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in the eastern regions of the neighbouring state, confirming fears that had lingered since the preceding December that he was amassing troops intent on an invasion.

The Kremlin leader said he believed that Russia had to take decisive action to extinguish a threat to its national security and that Moscow planned to carry out the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of Ukraine by toppling its leadership, also promising to put an end to eight years of war in which government forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists.

In the 14 months of fighting that have followed, the Russian military has bombarded cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol with intense shelling campaigns in tactics reminiscent of those previously deployed in Chechnya and Syria and become bogged down in gruelling combat in southeastern Ukraine while millions of people have fled for neighbouring Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

Why does Russia want to block Ukraine from joining Nato?

In pictures: People pay respects to dozens killed in Russian strike in Uman

Monday 1 May 2023 14:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Pictures show people paying their respects in front of a damaged multistory residential building, where a Russian strike killed at least 25 people, in Uman, Cherkasy region.

Cradle of Sudan's uprising becomes transit point for those fleeing war

Monday 1 May 2023 14:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Sudanese city of Atbara - birthplace of the uprising that led to the overthrow of strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019 - has become a hub for those fleeing the conflict in Khartoum.

But while it has been spared the heavy fighting that erupted in the capital two weeks ago, the power struggle between rival military factions there has dealt the latest blow to the hopes of Atbara’s pro-democracy activists.

Some of those who arrived in the city, a colonial-era railway hub about 350 km (220 miles) northeast of Khartoum, have sought accommodation in the city. Others are passing through on their way to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast or Sudan‘s northern border with Egypt.

Some are still figuring out their plans.

“We came to Atbara looking for safety after the war in Khartoum. We left our homes and lives there, and we don’t know how we’re going to continue,” said 35-year-old Omeima Yasin, holding her child.

The fighting between Sudan‘s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed hundreds, injured thousands, and displaced 33,000 from the capital, according to the United Nations.

The airport in Khartoum is being fought over and is damaged. Some of those fleeing have tried to leave the country by bus or ship, but most have sought shelter in cities, towns and villages outside the capital.

Atbara, which has a history of political opposition activity and a strong labour movement linked to its railways, was the site of the first big demonstrations against Bashir’s autocratic rule that led to his overthrow in April 2019.

It does not normally receive many visitors, but the strife elsewhere has been a boon for local businesses.

“The hotel has never seen this kind of demand as it has since the start of the war, and that’s caused prices to go up to 30,000 Sudanese pounds ($50) a night,” said an owner of one of the city’s few hotels.

Pope speaks of secret peace 'mission,' help for Ukraine kids

Monday 1 May 2023 13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Pope Francis on Sunday revealed that a secret peace “mission” in Russia‘s war in Ukraine was under way, though he gave no details, and said the Vatican is willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war.

“I’m available to do anything,” Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary. “There’s a mission that’s not public that’s underway; when it’s public I’ll talk about it.”

Francis gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.

Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Francis said the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families.

“All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don’t help,” Francis said.

The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia‘s children’s commissioner, accusing them of war crimes for abducting children from Ukraine. Russia has denied any wrongdoing, contending the children were moved for their safety.

Last week Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with Francis at the Vatican and asked him to help return Ukrainian children taken following the Russian invasion.

“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested, and criminally deported to Russia,” Shmyhal told the Foreign Press Association after the audience.

Francis recalled that the Holy See had facilitated some prisoner exchanges, working through embassies, and was open to Ukraine‘s request to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.

The prisoner exchanges “went well. I think it could go well also for this. It’s important,” he said of the family reunifications. “The Holy See is available to do it because it’s the right thing,” he added. “We have to do all that is humanly possible.”

Putin’s commanders ‘forcing troops into caged pits for being drunk or refusing to fight’

Monday 1 May 2023 12:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian commanders are likely punishing soldiers by forcing them into caged holes in the ground, the Ministry of Defence has said.

In its daily intelligence update on Sunday, the MoD said that troops are likely facing the makeshift dungeons as a form of punishment for actions such as being drunk or refusing to fight in the Ukraine war.

The holes, called “Zindans”, consist of holes in the ground “covered with a metal grille”, it said. The MoD said in the statement that it had heard multiple reports of the Zindans being in use.

Putin’s commanders ‘forcing troops into caged pits for refusing to fight’

Russian forces suffer radiation sickness after digging trenches and fishing in Chernobyl

Monday 1 May 2023 11:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian troops who dug trenches in Chernobyl forest during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

Ukrainians living near the nuclear power station that exploded 37 years ago, and choked the surrounding area in radioactive contaminants, warned the Russians when they arrived against setting up camp in the forest.

But the occupiers who, as one resident put it to The Times, “understood the risks” but were “just thick”, installed themselves in the forest, reportedly carved out trenches, fished in the reactor’s cooling channel – flush with catfish – and shot animals, leaving them dead on the roads.

Reactor No 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded on 26 April 1986. It is commonly referred to the world’s worst civil nuclear incident. Scores died as a result and the USSR collapsed less than six years later.

Russian troops suffer sickness after digging and fishing in Chernobyl

Explosion derails freight train in Russian border region

Monday 1 May 2023 11:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

An explosion in a Russian region bordering Ukraine derailed a freight train on Monday, the local governor said in a social media post, adding there were no casualties.

Pictures shared on social media showed several tank carriages laying on their side and dark grey smoke billowing into the air at the site of the derailment in the Bryansk region.

Russian Railways, the country’s rail operator, said the incident occurred at 10:17 Moscow time (0717 GMT). It said the locomotive and seven freight wagons were derailed and the locomotive caught fire.

“An unidentified explosive device went off at the 136-kilometre mark on the Bryansk-Unecha railway line, derailing a freight train,” Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a post on his Telegram channel.

Russian authorities say the region - which borders both Ukraine and Belarus - has seen multiple attacks by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 14 months since Russia invaded. On Saturday, the governor said four civilians died after Kyiv shelled a village just across the border.

The site of the incident, as indicated by the governor, is around 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Russia‘s border with Ukraine.

He did not say who was responsible for the attack.

Separately, the governor of Russia‘s Leningrad region near St. Petersburg said a power line had been blown up overnight and an explosive device found near a second line.

Governor Alexander Drozdenko posted photos of destroyed power lines and metal supports on his Telegram page on Monday morning. He said Russia‘s FSB federal security service was working on the site, and did not say who he believed was responsible for the incident.

Air defences shoot down 15 of 18 missiles launched at Ukraine in dead of night

Monday 1 May 2023 10:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian air defence crews destroyed 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russian forces in the early hours of Monday morning, the military said, as Moscow intensified attacks on its neighbour in recent days.

“Around 2:30 am (1130 GMT), the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine from strategic aviation planes,” a post on the Telegram channel of Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in chief of Ukraine‘s armed forces, read.

It added that 15 out of the 18 missiles launched had been destroyed.

Kyiv’s city officials wrote on the Telegram messaging app that all missiles directed at the capital were destroyed in what they said was the second attack on the city in three days.

“According to (preliminary information), no casualties among the civilian population and no destruction of residential facilities or infrastructure have been recorded,” the city administration said.

Air defence systems were also called into action to shield the Kyiv region, which is a separate administrative entity from the city, from Russian missiles, officials said.

Russia has also launched missiles at other Ukrainian regions overnight, including on Dnipropetrovsk, Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the Dnipro region council, said. Air defence crews shot down seven missiles, but 25 people sought medical help.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad was struck twice overnight, and an industrial enterprise, 19 apartment buildings and 25 private buildings, among others, were damaged or destroyed, he added.

“There were also fires, emergency services are at work,” Lukashuk said.

Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russian-backed administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, posted late on Sunday what he said were pictures and videos of fires in Pavlohrad and said that Russian forces struck at military targets there.

Russia says some recent strikes are designed to hamper Kyiv’s plans for a long-planned counteroffensive in the east.

Oil depot fire part of Ukraine's preparation for counter-offensive

Monday 1 May 2023 09:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Undermining Russia‘s logistics is one of the elements of preparation for the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, a Ukrainian military spokeswoman said on Sunday, after a fire destroyed a large Russian fuel depot in Crimea.

While not directly admitting to striking the fuel storage facility in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, Ukraine‘s military command said that “a fire” destroyed 10 oil tanks with a capacity of about 40,000 tonnes.

The city’s Moscow-installed governor blamed Ukraine and later said the fire had been put out before a disaster occurred.

On Monday, air defence systems were repelling missile attacks in the early hours in the Kyiv region, local authorities said, after air raid alerts were issued throughout all of Ukraine by emergency services.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s southern command, said the fire has cause a great deal of “anxiety” in the Russian military.

“The fact that the enemy’s logistics are undermined ... this work is preparatory for the broad, full-scale offensive, which everyone expects,” Ukrainian media cited Humeniuk as telling national television on Sunday.

“Therefore, the enemy feels that his resources are undermined and begins to manoeuvre.”

On Friday, Ukraine said it was wrapping up preparations for the counter-offensive against Russian forces, although officials gave no date for when that would happen.

Kyiv has said it hopes its planned counteroffensive will change the dynamics of the war that has raged since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago.

Ukrainian defenders oust Russian forces from some positions in Bakhmut

Monday 1 May 2023 08:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian counterattacks have ousted Russian forces from some positions in the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, but the situation remains “difficult”, a top Ukrainian general said in comments released Monday.

During the past few months the battle for Bakhmut has become the fulcrum of a conflict that has seen little shift in front lines since late last year, leaving both sides looking for a breakthrough.

“The situation is quite difficult,” said Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of ground forces, in a statement on Telegram.

“At the same time, in certain parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions.”

Syrskyi made the remarks while visiting front-line troops on Sunday, the military said.

He added that new Russian units, including paratroopers and fighters from the Wagner mercenary group, were being “constantly thrown into battle” despite taking heavy losses.

“But the enemy is unable to take control of the city,” Syrskyi said.

Russian forces have steadily made incremental gains in Bakhmut, but a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Sunday it was still possible to supply the defenders with food, ammunition and medicine.

Ukraine said on Monday its forces had repelled more than 36 enemy attacks on the part of the eastern frontline that stretches from Bakhmut to Maryinka, just west of Donetsk.

Kyiv is preparing to mount a widely expected counteroffensive to retake swathes of territory in the east and south that was occupied by Russian forces following the invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, 15 months ago.

Ukrainian warehouses reportedly storing ammunition hit

Monday 1 May 2023 07:43 , Tara Cobham

Warehouses reportedly storing ammunition at a railway depot have been struck by Russian missiles in the Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, it is understood.

The aim seemed to be to hamper Kyiv’s preparations for its counteroffensive, which is set to launch soon.

A video posted on social media shows secondary detonations and a blaze where the strike hit.

This comes as missiles were launched by Russian strategic bombers against Ukrainian cities overnight.

The Ukrainian military reported air defence had shot down 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russia in the early hours of Monday morning.

Russia fortifying Crimea amid fears of Ukraine’s major breakthrough – UK MoD

Monday 1 May 2023 07:05 , Arpan Rai

The recent defences erected by Vladimir Putin’s forces highlight deep concern running among Russian leaders that Ukraine could achieve a major breakthrough, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

“Since summer 2022, Russia has constructed some of the most extensive systems of military defensive works seen anywhere in the world for many decades. These defences are not just near the current front lines but have also been dug deep inside areas Russia currently controls,” the MoD said in its latest intelligence update.

It pointed to the imagery of Russia’s particular effort to fortify the northern border of occupied Crimea, including with a multi-layered defensive zone near the village of Medvedevka.

“Russia has also dug hundreds of miles of trenches well inside internationally recognised Russian territory including in the Belgorod and Kursk regions,” the ministry said.

It added: “However, some works have likely been ordered by local commanders and civil leaders in attempts to promote the official narrative that Russia is ‘threatened’ by Ukraine and Nato.”

All missiles directed at Kyiv destroyed, says Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 06:06 , Arpan Rai

All missiles directed at the capital were destroyed, Kyiv’s city officials wrote on Telegram.

“According to (preliminary information), no casualties among the civilian population and no destruction of residential facilities or infrastructure have been recorded,” the city administration said.

Air defence systems were also called into action to shield the Kyiv region, which is a separate administrative entity from the city, from Russian missiles, officials said.

Ukrainian media also reported blasts in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.

Ukraine shoots down 15 out of 18 Russian missiles fired overnight

Monday 1 May 2023 06:05 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian air defence has shot down 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russia in the early hours today.

“Around 2.30am (1130 GMT), the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine from strategic aviation planes,” the country’s commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram.

It added that 15 out of the 18 missiles launched had been destroyed.

Russia fired cruise missiles of Х-101/Х-555 types on Ukraine, commander Zaluzhnyi said.