A Russian official in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine said Wednesday that the territory was targeted by numerous drones overnight, following an armed incursion into the territory from Ukraine. The news comes after the state TASS news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Russia would achieve all its goals in Ukraine via its "special military operation" or through other means. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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9:50pm: Supplying F16s is a signal that Russia will lose, Zelensky says
Supplying F16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine will be a signal that Russia will lose over its aggression and the faster a decision is implemented on the planes the better, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.
“The very first Ukrainian F-16 will be one of the strongest signals from the world that Russia will only lose because of its aggression. It will be weaker and further isolated,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“The main thing is the speed in training and in supply – meaning the time between decisions in real protection for our skies.
9:41pm: Leader of cross-border raid warns Russia to expect more incursions
The Russian commander of a militia that conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week said on Wednesday his group would soon launch more incursions into Russian territory.
Denis Kapustin, who described himself as the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), said two of his fighters had been “lightly wounded”, and that total losses on his side for the operation were two killed and 10 wounded. Moscow claimed it killed over 70 “Ukrainian nationalists”.
Kapustin also said the fighters had taken a Russian armoured vehicle and anti-drone gun as trophies.
“I think you will see us again on that side,” said Kapustin, who introduced himself by his call-sign White Rex. “I cannot reveal those upcoming things, I cannot even reveal the direction. The ... border is pretty long. Yet again there will be a spot where things will get hot.”
He was asked repeatedly about Western media reports that his militia had used US military equipment that was meant to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion, but declined to answer directly. “I know exactly where I got my weapons from. Unfortunately not from the Western partners,” he said.
The RVC says it is made up of Russians fighting for Ukraine, and against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
9:02pm: Ukraine foreign minister urges African nations to ditch neutrality in Russia war
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is urging African countries to abandon their stances of neutrality towards his country’s war with Russia.
Many African countries have refused to take sides in the European conflict, with several abstaining from votes at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia’s invasion. Ethiopia is one of them.
Speaking in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Kuleba said Ukraine was “very upset that some African countries chose to abstain” and called them to lend Ukraine diplomatic support “in the face of Russian aggression".
“Neutrality is not the answer,” he told reporters. “By being neutral towards Russian aggression against Ukraine, you project neutrality to the violations of borders and mass crimes that may occur very close to you.”
Russia has built a substantial presence in several parts of Africa, where Russian private military contractor Wagner is active, and recently held joint military drills with South Africa. Russia plans to hold an Africa-Russia summit in July
8:54pm: Russia vows ‘extremely’ harsh response to incursions from Ukraine
Russia threatened Kyiv it would respond “extremely” harshly to all future incursions, after Moscow deployed jets and artillery to fight off an armed group that crossed over from Ukraine.
“We will continue to respond promptly and extremely harshly to such actions by Ukrainian militants,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told military officials after two days of fighting in the southern region of Belgorod.
On Wednesday, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that the territory was targeted overnight by numerous drones. Regional authorities said that 13 people had been injured as the region came under sustained artillery and mortar fire
5:11pm: Record number of Russians moved to Finland in 2022
Record numbers of Russians, by far the highest in three decades, moved to neighbouring Finland in 2022, official statistics published Wednesday showed.
A total of 6,003 people moved from Russia to Finland last year, according to Statistics Finland, making it the top country of origin for immigration.
Immigration to Finland was up overall, with almost 50,000 people moving to the country, compared to an average of between 29,000 and 36,000 in recent years.
Since the early 1990s, yearly migration from Russia to Finland has remained below 3,100 people.
“You can see that Russia has many push factors at the moment, which of course have to do with the war in Ukraine,” Johannes Hirvela, Director of Development at the Finnish Immigration Service, told AFP. “Many Russians have arrived as asylum seekers,” he added, noting that at the same time many were arriving for “work reasons".
“Finnish employers have also left Russia, and some of them have wanted their Russian employees to work in Finland,” Hirvela added
4:13pm: Russian warship ‘attacked by Ukrainian drones’ while guarding Black Sea gas pipelines
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that the Russian warship Ivan Hurs had been attacked by Ukrainian uncrewed speedboats in the Black Sea, on the approaches to the Bosphorus strait.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the ministry said the warship had been protecting the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines, which carry gas from Russia to Turkey, partly across the Black Sea.
“All enemy boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140 kilometres northeast of the Bosphorus,” the statement added
3:19pm: NATO chief says Ukraine joining alliance in midst of a war ‘not on agenda’
Ukraine will not be able to join NATO as long as the war is going on, the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.
“I think that everyone realised that, to become a member in the midst of a war, is not on the agenda,” he said at an event organised by the German Marshall Fund of The United States in Brussels. “The issue is what happens when the war ends.
3:17pm: Ukraine’s main church to switch calendar in move away from Russia
Ukraine’s main Orthodox Church said on Wednesday it had decided to switch to a calendar in which Christmas is celebrated on December 25, a move that distances it from Russia.
Ukrainian Christians, a majority of whom are Orthodox, have traditionally celebrated Christmas on January 7 alongside other predominantly Orthodox Christian countries such as Russia, which invaded Ukraine last year.
“This question arose with new impetus as a result of Russian aggression,” the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) wrote in a Facebook post announcing the change away from the Julian calendar. “Nowadays, the Julian calendar is perceived as connected with Russian church culture.”
It said it would use the Revised Julian calendar from September 1.
Ukraine’s main Catholic Church, which considers about one in 10 Ukrainians to be worshippers, announced a similar change in February
3:10pm Five foreigners to stand trial in Russia for fighting with Ukraine
Five foreign men accused of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces will stand trial in Russia on May 31 on terror-linked charges.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said three British men, a Swedish national and a Croatian man had been accused of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces – including the Azov regiment, which fought against Russian forces during the siege of the southern port city of Mariupol
2:50pm: Pro-Kyiv Russian group says 'didn't lose a single soldier' in Belgorod raids
In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24, the political representative of the Ukraine-based paramilitary group of Russian volunteers that has been involved in cross-border incursions into Russia's Belgorod region in recent days, claims that in contrast to what Moscow has stated, the Freedom of Russia Legion “didn’t lose a single soldier” in the raids.
Speaking to FRANCE 24 from Kyiv where he lives in exile, Ilya Ponomarev also said the group, along with the far-right Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), has taken control of a 40-kilometre strip along the Russian-Ukrainian border and is advancing inside Russia, he added.
“Our guys will be in Moscow and Putin will not be in the Kremlin," he predicted.
Watch the full interview by clicking the player below.
2:37pm: Russia condemns ‘illogical’ US aircraft carrier visit to Norway
Russia on Tuesday harshly criticised a planned visit by a US aircraft carrier to NATO-member Norway later this week as an “illogical and harmful” show of force.
“There are no issues in the North that require a military solution, nor issues that require outside intervention,” Russian embassy spokesman Timur Chekanov told AFP by email. “Considering that Oslo admits that Russia poses no direct military threat to Norway, such shows of force seem illogical and harmful,” he added.
The US Navy announced in early May that the ship had departed Norfolk on its “first combat deployment”, following a shorter two-month deployment in the autumn of 2022.
“The fact that a new aircraft carrier is now making its first visit to Norwegian waters is very positive for our cooperation with the Americans,” Norwegian Defence Minister Bjorn Arild Gram told news agency NTB while on a visit to the massive warship
1:35pm: Russia's Wagner boss says more than 20,000 of his troops died in Bakhmut battle
The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about 20% of the 50,000 Russian convicts he recruited to fight in the 15-month war dying in the eastern Ukrainian city.
The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89. Ukraine hasn't said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.
12:49pm: Russia will react 'extremely harshly' to further attacks, defence minister says
Russia will react "extremely harshly" to further attacks by fighters entering its territory from Ukraine, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.
The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked a Russian border region with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 "Ukrainian nationalists" and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.
"We will continue to respond to such actions by Ukrainian militants promptly and extremely harshly," Shoigu told Defence Ministry officials, in remarks published by the ministry.
12:15pm: Kremlin says Ukraine border raiders' use of Western-made military hardware part of pattern
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that reports that pro-Ukrainian fighters who crossed into Russia earlier this week had used Western-made military hardware were consistent with the West's growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was no secret that the Ukrainian armed forces were receiving more and more equipment from the West.
The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked a Russian border region with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 "Ukrainian nationalists" and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.
Images of some of the destroyed vehicles broadcast on Russian state media showed US-made military hardware.
11:50am: Russian minister says F-16s supplied to Ukraine would be 'legitimate target', RIA reports
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that any US-built F-16 fighter jets that were supplied to Ukraine would be a "legitimate target" for Moscow, the RIA news agency reported.
11:42am: WHO condemns Russia's aggression in Ukraine in vote
The World Health Organisation assembly passed a motion on Wednesday condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on healthcare facilities.
The motion passed by 80 votes to 9, with 52 abstentions. The Western-led motion, put forward at the UN agency's annual meeting, also called for an assessment of the impact of Russia's aggression on the health sector.
There was no immediate reaction from Russia. Moscow has consistently denied targeting civilians during what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
11:33am: Russia announces new wave of Ukrainian asset seizures in Crimea
Russian-installed authorities in Crimea said Wednesday they were nationalising another wave of Ukrainian assets on the annexed peninsula, including a flat belonging to Ukraine's first lady and an official building of the Crimean Tatar minority.
Russia annexed the peninsula from Kyiv in 2014 and in February last year it launched its large-scale offensive on Ukraine from directions including Crimea in the south.
"Crimea is continuing to nationalise assets of Russia's enemies," the Kremlin-appointed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on social media. "A number of facilities are being transferred to the republic's ownership," he added.
Aksyonov said this included a flat in the historic resort of Yalta that belongs to Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
He also said a building in the city of Simferopol that belonged to the Mejlis – a representative body of the Crimean Tatar Muslim minority – was included in the drive. After its annexation of Crimea, Russia banned the Mejlis, declaring it an extremist organisation, and has jailed members of the community since.
11:04am: US aircraft carrier, world's biggest, arrives in Oslo for NATO exercises
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, sailed into Oslo on Wednesday, a first for such a US ship, in a show of NATO force at a time of heightened tension between NATO and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The ship and its crew will be conducting training exercises with the Norwegian armed forces along the country's coast in the coming days. "This visit is an important signal of the close bilateral relationship between the US and Norway and a signal of the credibility of collective defence and deterrence," said Jonny Karlsen, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the operational command centre of the military.
Norwegian media reported the aircraft carrier would sail north of the Arctic Circle. Karlsen declined to comment on the reports.
NATO member Norway shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and last year became Europe's largest gas supplier after a drop in Russian gas flows. The Norwegian military and NATO allies have been patrolling around offshore oil and gas platforms since the autumn, following explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
10:52am: Russian PM tells China's Xi: We will push back against sanctions, RIA reports
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told Chinese President Xi Jinping in China on Wednesday that Moscow and Beijing would push back against attempts by countries to use sanctions to "impose their will", Russia's RIA news agency reported.
10:31am: Russia set to terminate agreement on military visits, Finland says
Russia has informed neighbouring Finland that it will terminate a bilateral agreement on mutual visits to military installations, the Finnish defence ministry said late on Tuesday.
The bilateral agreement, signed in 2000, provided for one annual Russian assessment visit to Finland and a similar visit by Finland to the Leningrad Military District in north-west Russia, the Finnish ministry said in a statement.
Finland last month joined the NATO military alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, drawing a threat from Moscow of "counter-measures".
The bilateral agreement, last applied in 2019 before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, was among several post-Cold War measures taken to improve East-West relations.
The broader Vienna Act, agreed within the framework of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which also provides for mutual inspection and evaluation visits, would not be affected by the termination, Finland said.
10:08am: Crimean Bridge closed due to 'drills', Russian-backed chief says
The Russian-built Crimean Bridge which links the Crimean peninsula to the Russian region of Krasnodar has been closed for several hours on Wednesday due to "ongoing drills", the Russian-backed head of Crimea's administration said.
"The Crimean bridge is closed due to ongoing exercises in the area. Traffic will be restored in a few hours," Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram.
9:53am: West sees Russia and China as threat to its dominance, Russia FM Lavrov says
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said that the West saw Russia and China as "adversaries" that posed what he called an existential threat to the West's "dominance".
"As evidenced by statements made at the recently concluded G7 summit in Japan, the West views Russia and China as strategic adversaries posing almost an existential threat to its dominance," Lavrov said.
9:06am: Problems continue despite renewal of Black Sea grain deal
Although Russia agreed to renew the Black Sea grain deal on May 17 for 60 days, the deal is not working in practice, says the deputy head of the Ukrainian ports authority. According to the Ukrainian government, 1.5 million tonnes of grain remain stocked on ships at the port, waiting to be exported, as ships are not allowed to come pick it up. Many African countries in particular are disappointed that the deal has only been renewed for two months. As such, six African heads of state are due to visit Ukraine and Russia in June to discuss the deal.
FRANCE 24's correspondant Gulliver Cragg tells us more from Odesa.
9:01am: Drone attacks overnight in Russian border region, governor says
A Russian official in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine said Wednesday that the territory was targeted by numerous drones overnight, following an armed incursion into the territory from Ukraine.
"The night was not entirely calm. There were a large number of drone attacks. Air defence systems handled most of them," governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on social media, adding: "The most important thing is that there are no casualties."
7:50am: Russia PM says relations with China at 'unprecedented' high level
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Wednesday that ties with China are at an "unprecedented" high level, characterised by mutual respect of each other's interests and the desire to jointly respond to challenges.
"As our Chinese friends say, unity makes it possible to move mountains," Mishustin told Chinese Premier Li Qiang during a meeting in Beijing.
Mishustin was the highest ranking Russian official to visit the Chinese capital since Moscow sent thousands of its troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
6:32am: Russia extends arrest of US journalist Evan Gershkovich by 3 months
A Russian court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months in a closed-door hearing emblematic of the secrecy that has marked the case against the first United States correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges.
Gershkovich, a 31-year-old American citizen, was ordered to be held until August 30. He was arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the US government have denied the charges.
Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing wasn’t announced in advance, and the entire case has been wrapped in secrecy.
Russian authorities haven’t detailed what – if any – evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges.
6:18am: China willing to work with Russia to take pragmatic cooperation to new level, says premier
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday that China was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a "new level".
Pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia has shown a "good" development trend, and the scale of investment between the two is also continuously seeing an upgrade, Li told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during a meeting in Beijing.
Mishustin was the highest ranking Russian official to visit the Chinese capital since Moscow sent thousands of its troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
6:07am: Russia will achieve all its goals in Ukraine, TASS reports citing Kremlin spokesman
Russia will achieve all its goals in Ukraine either through its "special military operation" or through all other means, the state TASS news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Wednesday.
"Russia is taking under consideration only the completion of its special military operation: ensuring its interests, achieving Russia's goals either through the special military operation, or by other available means," Peskov told TASS, answering a question on whether Russia would consider the possibility of freezing the conflict.
Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation", while Kyiv and its Western allies call it an unprovoked aggression to grab land.
4:05am: Russia's newest nuclear submarine to move to permanent Pacific base in August, reports TASS
The Russian navy's newest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine will move to a permanent base in the Kamchatka Peninsula in August, Russia's TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, as Moscow steps up its Pacific military presence.
The Generalissimo Suvorov, which entered service at the end of 2022, carries up to 16 nuclear-tipped Russian Bulava missiles, each of which can carry more than one nuclear warhead.
"The submarine Generalissimo Suvorov will make an inter-naval transition from the Northern Fleet (in the Arctic) to the Pacific Fleet in August," the state TASS news agency reported, citing a source close to the military department. "The transition will be carried out along the Northern Sea Route, including in a submerged position."
Russia has been boosting defences in its vast far eastern regions bordering Asia-Pacific, accusing the US of expanding its presence there and raising security concerns in Japan and across the region.
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Key developments from Tuesday, May 23:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that Training Ukrainian pilots in flying US-built F-16 fighter jets does not directly involve NATO in the war in Ukraine. "Ukraine has the right of self-defence ... We help Ukraine to uphold that right," he told reporters.
Russia said Tuesday that its armed forces had beaten back and then wiped out a group of militants and military hardware that were dispatched to its southern Belgorod region from Ukraine. It reported that one resident of the Belgorod region was killed. Kyiv has denied involvement in the attacks.
Ukraine's prosecutor general's office said that it has launched criminal proceedings into "the forced transportation/deportation of over 19,000 children" from the occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, and Kharkiv, including to Belarus.
Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
