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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Samantha Lock (now); Maya Yang, Léonie Chao-Fong, Martin Belam (earlier)

A new ‘iron curtain’ is descending between Russia and the west, Russia’s foreign minister says – as it happened

NATO Vladimir Putin Ukraine Russia United States Finland Moscow Sweden United Kingdom Lysychansk (Geopolitical Entity)
A shell crater in front of a damaged residential building in the town of Siversk, Donetsk Oblast.
A shell crater in front of a damaged residential building in the town of Siversk, Donetsk Oblast. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images

Summary

Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

We will be pausing our live reporting overnight and returning in the morning.

In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the day’s events in our summary below.

  • Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, says a new “iron curtain” is descending between Russia and the west, and that Moscow would not trust Washington and Brussels “from now on”. The process “has begun”, Lavrov said after talks with his counterpart from Belarus. “As far as an iron curtain is concerned, essentially it is already descending,” he added.
  • Ukrainian forces say they have pushed Russian forces from Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea outpost off the southern coast. Russia portrayed the pullout from the island as a “goodwill gesture”. Ukraine’s military said the Russians fled the island in two speedboats following a barrage of Ukrainian artillery and missile strikes.
  • The situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk is “extremely difficult” as Russian forces’ continuous shelling makes it impossible for civilians to evacuate, officials say. “There is a lot of shelling and from multiple directions. The Russian army is approaching from different directions towards Lysychansk,” Luhansk regional governor, Serhiy Haidai said, adding that Russian forces remain on city outskirts where there is currently no street fighting.
  • A cargo ship left the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port of Berdiansk for the first time since the city was seized by Moscow’s troops, according to a pro-Russia official. Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Russia administration, was cited by Russian state media as saying the first cargo ship to leave Berdiansk was carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain to “friendly countries”, without saying what cargo the ship was carrying.
  • Turkey’s president has warned that Ankara could still block Finland and Sweden’s accession to Nato if the two countries fail to fully meet his expectations. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that if the two Nordic countries renege on their promises, including to extradite terror suspects with links to outlawed Kurdish groups, Turkey’s parliament could refuse to ratify the deal reached on Tuesday.
  • Estonian and Latvian defence ministers signed a letter of intent on Thursday at the Nato summit in Madrid for joint procurement of medium-range anti-aircraft systems.“The aggression of Russia in Ukraine clearly shows the need for air defence systems,” Latvian defence minister Artis Pabriks said in a statement.
  • French president, Emmanuel Macron, said France will deliver six CAESAR howitzers and a “significant number” of armoured vehicles to Ukraine. Macron added that the Nato allies meeting in Madrid “unanimously decided” to boost humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine as it attempts to fight of Russian forces.
  • Russia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the British ambassador in Moscow, Deborah Bronnert, to protest against Boris Johnson’s “offensive” remarks regarding Russia and Vladimir Putin. A strong protest was expressed to the ambassador over “the frankly boorish statements of the British leadership regarding Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people”, it said in a statement.
  • Norway’s foreign minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, has said her nation is not blocking Russian access to Svalbard. On Wednesday, Russia accused Norway of disrupting the delivery of critical supplies and threatened retaliation. Huitfeldt said Norway was not blocking Russian access to the Arctic archipelago, only applying international sanctions, and that Russia had other means to reach its settlements.
  • The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, arrived in Moscow where he will urge Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire and seek ways to allow the export of grain from Ukraine. Widodo also met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Wednesday during a visit he described as a “manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine”.

Updated

Satellite images shows smoke rising from Snake Island, off the coast of Ukraine, on Thursday.

Ukrainian forces say they pushed Russian forces from the strategic Black Sea island.

A satellite image shows smoke rising from Snake Island, off the coast of Ukraine.
A satellite image shows smoke rising from Snake Island, off the coast of Ukraine. Photograph: Planet Labs Pbc/Reuters
A general view of Snake Island purportedly taken by Ukraine Operational Command South.
A general view of Snake Island purportedly taken by Ukraine Operational Command South. Photograph: Ukraine Operational Command South/Reuters

New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has assured Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy of her continued support in the country’s fight against Russia, just days after turning down an invitation to visit the country.

Eva Corlett reports to us from New Zealand.

Ardern had been invited to visit Kyiv during her trade mission in Europe but was unable to accept due to timing constraints. Instead, Ardern called Zelenskiy from Brussels on Thursday morning following the Nato Leader’s Summit in Spain:

I passed on New Zealand’s solidarity, and our commitment to keep standing with Ukraine as they fight the illegal invasion of their country.”

A spokesperson from the prime minister’s office says Ardern had also assured the president of New Zealand’s continued support through sanctions on those connected to the Russian government.

In a statement on Twitter, Zelenskiy thanked New Zealand for its support and solidarity, particularly in security:

Discussed further strengthening of sanctions on Russia and ways of bringing the aggressor to justice. Invited to join the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.”

Erdoğan warns Turkey may still block Nordic Nato drive

Just two days after agreeing to lift deal-breaking objections to Sweden and Finland’s Nato accession, Turkey’s president has warned that Ankara could still block the process if the two countries fail to fully meet his expectations.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at the close of the alliance’s summit in Madrid that the 10-article agreement with the Nordic pair was a victory for Ankara and addressed all its “sensitivities”.

He particularly stressed the satisfying of Turkey’s demand for Sweden and Finland to extradite terror suspects with links to outlawed Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric accused of a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

But Erdoğan added that if the two Nordic countries renege on their promises, Turkey’s parliament could refuse to ratify the deal reached on Tuesday. Nato accession must be formally approved by all 30 member states, which gives each a blocking right.

This business will not work if we don’t pass this in our parliament,” Erdoğan said.

First, Sweden and Finland must fulfil their duties and those are already in the text … But if they don’t fulfil these, then of course there is no way we would send it to our parliament.”

US president, Joe Biden, accidentally announced that he had called the leader of Switzerland to discuss abandoning two centuries of neutrality to join Nato — before quickly correcting himself to say he actually meant Sweden.

Speaking at a press conference in Madrid following a Nato summit, he let slip:

Some of the American press will remember when I got a phone call from the leader of Finland saying could he come and see me, then he came the next day and said, ‘Will you support my joining — my country joining Nato?’ We got the telephone. He suggested we call the leader of Switzerland,” Biden said.

Biden quickly clarified:

Switzerland, my goodness, I’m getting really anxious here about expanding Nato — of Sweden.”

Updated

Summary

It’s 1am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:

  • Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced the finalization of the agreement to transfer 39 armored combat support vehicles to Ukraine. At the conclusion of the Nato summit in Madrid, Trudeau said that the ACVSs were originally supposed to be for the Canadian army and were in the process of being delivered but will instead be redirected to Ukraine.
  • A five-year-old Ukrainian refugee died Thursday after being hit by an electric scooter in Nice, French police said. The child and his mother were crossing the Promenade des Anglais, the famous palm-lined street overlooking the Mediterranean, at a pedestrian crossing when the accident happened on Wednesday.
  • Estonian and Latvian defense ministers signed a letter of intent on Thursday at the Nato summit in Madrid for joint procurement of medium-range anti-aircraft systems.“The aggression of Russia in Ukraine clearly shows the need for air defence systems,” Latvian defence minister Artis Pabriks said in a statement.
  • The situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk is “extremely difficult” as Russian forces’ continous shelling makes it impossible for civilian evacuation, the regional governor of Lugansk said on Thursday. “There is a lot of shelling and from multiple directions. The Russian army is approaching from different directions towards Lysychansk,” Serhiy Haidai said, adding that Russian forces remain on city outskirts where there is currently no street fighting.
  • The United States on Thursday blocked a US-based company worth more than $1 billion linked to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, saying the ally of President Vladimir Putin used it to funnel and invest shadowy funds. The Treasury Department said that Kerimov, a billionaire active in Russian politics, secretly managed the Delaware-based Heritage Trust which put its money into a number of large public companies.
  • French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will deliver six CAESAR howitzers and armored vehicles to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports. Macron added that the Nato allies meeting in Madrid “unanimously decided” to boost humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine as it attempts to fight of Russian forces.

That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia who will bring you the latest updates. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.

Updated

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced the finalization of the agreement to transfer 39 armored combat support vehicles to Ukraine.

At the conclusion of the Nato summit in Madrid, Trudeau said that the ACVSs were originally supposed to be for the Canadian army and were in the process of being delivered but will instead be redirected to Ukraine.

“The light armoured vehicles we will be sending over will be extremely effective,” Trudeau told summit reporters. “We’re just glad to help and we’re going to continue to look and respond to things that they need.”

He reassured reporters that the Canadian army will continue to remain stocked, saying, “Stocks for the Canadian military will be replenished as quickly as possible... We need to make sure that the women and men of the Canadian Forces have the equipment they need to continue their mission and step up as necessary.”

Trudeau added, “We also recognize that the best use, right now, of things like howitzers and sniper rifles and all of the other equipment we’ve been sending to Ukraine — the best use for Canadian security, for geopolitical stability — is to put them in the hands of Ukrainians.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a press conference after the NATO Summit at the IFEMA Convention Center in Madrid, Spain on June 30, 2022.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a press conference after the NATO Summit at the IFEMA Convention Center in Madrid, Spain on June 30, 2022. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated

A five-year-old Ukrainian refugee died Thursday after being hit by an electric scooter in Nice, French police said.

The child and his mother were crossing the Promenade des Anglais, the famous palm-lined street overlooking the Mediterranean, at a pedestrian crossing when the accident happened on Wednesday.

The boy “was holding a bag that his mother was also holding, but was walking a bit ahead of her”, police said, adding they were “hidden by street furniture”.

A 40-year-old on an electric scooter who was going “at excessive speed” could not avoid the child, they said.

“Despite being injured and having fallen, the rider of the electric scooter immediately cared for the child,” they added.

Nice mayor Christian Estrosi, on Twitter, expressed his “deep emotion” over the incident and opposition to self-service scooters.

“We are studying all possible solutions for avoiding these tragedies,” he said.

The boy’s family had arrived in France at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of a French-Ukrainian association in the Riviera, Iryna Podyriako, told the Nice-Matin regional daily.

Updated

Estonian and Latvian defense ministers signed a letter of intent on Thursday at the Nato summit in Madrid for joint procurement of medium-range anti-aircraft systems.

“The aggression of Russia in Ukraine clearly shows the need for air defence systems,” Latvian defence minister Artis Pabriks said in a statement. He added that the move would support regional cooperation and common defense among Baltic countries as the region reacts to to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The Nato summit has sent a clear message that help will be given to those who are ready also to defend themselves,” added Pabriks’ Estonian counterpart Kalle Laanet.

Both Estonia and Latvia are EU and Nato members.

A specific proposal on the procurement of the systems is expected to be unveiled at the end of July, but no details have yet been made public about the cost or delivery dates.

Updated

New satellite images have emerged of Snake Island after Russian forces abandoned the strategic Black Sea outpost earlier this week, indicating remaining equipment that has been left on the island.

Updated

The situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk is “extremely difficult” as Russian forces’ continous shelling makes it impossible for civilian evacuation, the regional governor of Lugansk said on Thursday.

“There is a lot of shelling and from multiple directions. The Russian army is approaching from different directions towards Lysychansk,” Serhiy Haidai said, adding that Russian forces remain on city outskirts where there is currently no street fighting.

Haidai dismissed claims by pro-Russian separatists fighting alongside Russian forces who claim to control half of the city situated across the river from neighbouring Sievierodonetsk, which was captured by the Russian army last week.

He said that the shelling on Lysychansk was “very powerful... meaning it is no longer possible to evacuate” the remaining 15,000 civilians out of the 100,000 civilians that are still in the city.

“It’s very dangerous,” he said, pointing out that the city’s geographical position nevertheless made it easier to defend than Sievierodonetsk.

“We can simply say that the Russians are very numerous and are arriving from all sides. There’s an incredible number of vehicles and artillery.”

Lysychansk is the last major city that Russia needs to control the Lugansk region, one of the two provinces in Donbas that Moscow is attempting to take control over.

The United States on Thursday blocked a US-based company worth more than $1 billion linked to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, saying the ally of President Vladimir Putin used it to funnel and invest shadowy funds.

Agence France-Presse reports:

The Treasury Department said that Kerimov, a billionaire active in Russian politics, secretly managed the Delaware-based Heritage Trust which put its money into a number of large public companies.

Heritage Trust, set up in 2017, brought money into the United States through shell companies and under-the-radar foundations established in Europe, Treasury Department officials said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen vowed that the United States would keep taking action “even as Russian elites hide behind proxies and complex legal arrangements.”

The United States will “actively implement the multilaterally coordinated sanctions imposed on those who fund and benefit from Russia’s war against Ukraine,” she said in a statement.

The action comes weeks after Fiji handed to the United States a $300 million superyacht linked to Kerimov, who has been under US sanctions since 2018 over alleged money laundering and his role in the Russian government.

The United States and European nations have stepped up a crackdown on Russian oligarchs following Putin’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which triggered a slew of Western sanctions.

Kerimov, originally from the Russian republic of Dagestan in the Caucasus, rose to become one of the world’s richest people after the fall of the Soviet Union.

His family controls major gold producer Polyus. The Group of Seven industrial democracies on Sunday agreed on a ban on gold exports from Russia.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, in newly updated figures, ranked him as the world’s 127th richest person with a worth of $13.3 billion.

In this file photo taken on June 16, 2022 crew members get the mooring ropes ready as the yacht Amadea of sanctioned Russian Oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, seized by the Fiji government at the request of the US, arrives at the Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii.
In this file photo taken on June 16, 2022 crew members get the mooring ropes ready as the yacht Amadea of sanctioned Russian Oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, seized by the Fiji government at the request of the US, arrives at the Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii. Photograph: Eugene Tanner/AFP/Getty Images

French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will deliver six CAESAR howitzers and armored vehicles to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports.

Macron added that the Nato allies meeting in Madrid “unanimously decided” to boost humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine as it attempts to fight of Russian forces.

A French soldier stands in front of ‘CAESAR’ self-propelled 155 mm/52-calibre gun-howitzer at the Eurosatory international land and airland defence and security trade fair, in Villepinte, a northern suburb of Paris, on June 13, 2022.
A French soldier stands in front of ‘CAESAR’ self-propelled 155 mm/52-calibre gun-howitzer at the Eurosatory international land and airland defence and security trade fair, in Villepinte, a northern suburb of Paris, on June 13, 2022. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Summary

It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

  • Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said, a new “iron curtain” was descending between Russia and the west, and that Moscow would not trust Washington and Brussels “from now on”. The process “has begun”, Lavrov said after talks with his counterpart from Belarus.
  • The frontline eastern city of Lysychansk is under relentless shelling as Russia presses on with its offensive in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said they were trying to evacuate residents from the city, the focus of Russia’s attacks, where about 15,000 people remained. The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, told Ukrainian television: “Fighting is going on all the time. The Russians are constantly on the offensive. There is no let-up. Absolutely everything is being shelled.”
  • Ukraine’s foreign ministry has announced that it has cut diplomatic ties with Syria, a day after the Syrian presidency officially recognised the “independence” of the two breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The ministry “strongly condemns the decision of the Syrian Arab Republic to recognise the so-called ‘independence’ of the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts”, it said in a statement.
  • Russia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the British ambassador in Moscow, Deborah Bronnert, to protest against Boris Johnson’s “offensive” remarks regarding Russia and Vladimir Putin. A strong protest was expressed to the ambassador over “the frankly boorish statements of the British leadership regarding Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people”, it said in a statement.
  • Norway’s foreign minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, has said her nation is not blocking Russian access to Svalbard. On Wednesday, Russia accused Norway of disrupting the delivery of critical supplies and threatened retaliation. Huitfeldt said Norway was not blocking Russian access to the Arctic archipelago, only applying international sanctions, and that Russia had other means to reach its settlements.
  • The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has arrived in Moscow, where he will urge Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire and seek ways to allow the export of grain from Ukraine. Jokowi, as Widodo is known, also met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Wednesday during a visit he described as a “manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine”.

Russia is using inaccurate missiles from old Soviet stocks for more than 50% of its strikes in Ukraine, leading to significant loss of civilian life, a brigadier general in Ukraine’s armed forces said.

The rate of Russian strikes in Ukraine has more than doubled in the last two weeks, Brigadier Gen Oleksii Hromov said in a news conference, Reuters reports.

He said Russia was trying to hit military and critical infrastructure but using old Soviet missiles that are less accurate.

Hromov said:

The enemy’s targets remain military facilities, critical infrastructure and industry, transport networks. At the same time, the civilian population is suffering significant losses due to (poorly targeted) strikes.

To carry out rocket strikes, the enemy in more than 50% (of cases) is using missiles from the Soviet reserve, which are not sufficiently precise. As a result, civilian buildings are being hit.

More than 200 missiles were fired on Ukraine in the second half of June, an increase of 120 from the first half of the month, Hromov said. He estimated that 68 civilian sites had been hit in the second half of this month.

Russia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the British ambassador in Moscow, Deborah Bronnert, to protest against Boris Johnson’s “offensive” remarks regarding Russia and Vladimir Putin.

A strong protest was expressed to the ambassador over “the frankly boorish statements of the British leadership regarding Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people”, it said in a statement.

The ministry said Bronnert was handed a memorandum stating that “offensive rhetoric from representatives of the UK authorities is unacceptable”, adding:

In polite society, it is customary to apologise for such statements.

The ministry said Russia had told her it objected to British statements containing “deliberately false information, in particular about alleged Russian ‘threats to use nuclear weapons’”.

Russia’s move comes after Johnson said Putin would not have started the war in Ukraine if he was a woman and said the military operation was “a perfect example of toxic masculinity”.

Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, also provoked Moscow’s ire after he accused Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, of “every week, threatening to nuke everyone or doing something or another”.

Nato will stick with Ukraine as long as it takes, says Joe Biden

Joe Biden has declared that the US and Nato allies will stick with Ukraine “as long as it takes” at the end of a two-day summit that saw the military alliance promise hundreds of thousands more troops to defend eastern Europe.

The US president also announced another $800m of military aid to Kyiv – but questions remained over how much detail there was behind the plan to create a 300,000-strong force to deter any Russian attack.

Speaking at a final press conference in Madrid on Thursday, Biden was pressed twice as to whether there would be any limit to US military aid and financial support for the regime in Kyiv as the war rages for a fifth month.

“We’re gonna stick with Ukraine, and all of the allies will stick with Ukraine, as long as it takes, and in fact make sure they are not defeated,” Biden told a press conference on Thursday lunchtime.

US President Joe Biden at the Nato summit in Madrid.
US President Joe Biden at the Nato summit in Madrid. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

But the president did not predict that Ukraine would be able to kick the Russians out, even with a continued supply of western weapons. “I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine,” he said.

The president repeated the formulation when asked how long it would be fair for global consumers to pay for higher petrol prices because fighting was ongoing. People would have to wait “as long as it takes; Russia cannot in fact defeat Ukraine”.

Biden said the US would unveil the fresh package of military aid in the next few days comprising “new advanced weapon and air defense systems, more artillery ammunition, counter battery radar, additional ammunition for Himars [rocket artillery] and a couple of large rocket systems”.

US military aid to Ukraine has already exceeded $7bn, Biden added, making Washington easily the largest donor of advanced weapons systems of the type that Kyiv says it desperately needs to blunt a gradual but remorseless Russian advance in the eastern Donbas region.

Read the full story by Dan Sabbagh.

New ‘iron curtain’ already descending between Russia and the west, says Lavrov

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said, a new “iron curtain” was descending between Russia and the west, and that Moscow would not trust Washington and Brussels “from now on”.

Speaking to reporters, Lavrov said:

As far as an iron curtain is concerned, essentially it is already descending.

The process “has begun”, he said after talks with his counterpart from Belarus, AFP reports.

Lavrov accused the EU of not being “at all” interesting in understanding Russia’s interests, adding:

It is interested in what has been decided in Brussels. And what has been decided in Washington has been decided in Brussels.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has denied that Moscow is blocking Ukrainian grain exports and downplayed the impact of missing Ukrainian agricultural goods on the world food market.

In a joint press conference after talks with visiting Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, Putin said:

We do not prevent the export of Ukrainian grain. The Ukrainian military has mined the approaches to their ports, no one prevents them from clearing those mines and we guarantee the safety of shipping grain out of there.

Instead, the Russian leader blamed western sanctions for problems in the global food market and rising prices.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo at the Kremlin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo at the Kremlin. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images

Jokowi, as President Widodo is known, told reporters that Indonesia will continue cooperation with Russia and said it was important to move toward a peaceful resolution of conflict in Ukraine.

He said he had “conveyed” a message from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to Putin, while expressing his “readiness” to help start “communication” between the two leaders.

A shell crater in front of a damaged residential building in the town of Siversk, Donetsk Oblast.
A shell crater in front of a damaged residential building in the town of Siversk, Donetsk Oblast. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
A man walks past a huge crater made from the hit of a Russian rocket in an industrial zone of Kharkiv.
A man walks past a huge crater made from the hit of a Russian rocket in an industrial zone of Kharkiv. Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has announced that it has cut diplomatic ties with Syria, a day after the Syrian presidency officially recognised the “independence” of the two breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

The ministry “strongly condemns the decision of the Syrian Arab Republic to recognise the so-called ‘independence’ of the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts”, it said in a statement.

The statement continued:

In response to this unfriendly act, Ukraine declares the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Syria without the breaking off of consular relations, in accordance with Article 2 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

The Ukrainian side is also initiating the procedure of imposing a trade embargo on Syria, as well as imposing other sanctions on Syrian legal entities and individuals.

From Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian foreign ministry:

Pope Francis has implicitly accused Russia of waging a “cruel and senseless war of aggression” against Ukraine, a day after he condemned the “barbarous” bombing of a crowded shopping centre in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk.

The conflict in Ukraine had pitted Christians against one another, the pope said. He said:

Reconciliation among separated Christians, as a means of contributing to peace between peoples in conflict, is a most timely consideration these days, as our world is disrupted by a cruel and senseless war of aggression in which many, many Christians are fighting one another.

In a clear reference to Russia, the pope said all needed “to recognise that armed conquest, expansionism and imperialism have nothing to do with the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed”.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been speaking at a news conference in Madrid at the end of the Nato summit, where he called for intensified efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

There are “no losers in a just peace”, he said, adding that Ankara was trying to pursue “a balanced policy” because of its heavy reliance on Russian energy imports.

Turkey has supplied Ukraine with armed drones and other weapons, but its leader also enjoys a close working relationship with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Madrid.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Madrid. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Erdoğan said Finland and Sweden must fulfil promises made to Turkey in a deal to lift its veto on their Nato membership bids, including a pledge by Stockholm to extradite 73 “terrorists”.

Ratification of the Nordic countries’ Nato membership bids will not be sent to the Turkish parliament until they meet their promises, including completing legislative changes as soon as possible, he said.

Erdoğan said:

If they fulfil their duties, we will send it to the parliament. If they are not fulfilled, it is out of the question.

Erdoğan said he saw the signing of the trilateral accord as recognition of Ankara’s sensitivities around terrorism and a “diplomatic victory” for Turkey.

Today so far...

It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

  • The frontline eastern city of Lysychansk is under relentless shelling as Russia presses on with its offensive in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said they were trying to evacuate residents from the city, the focus of Russia’s attacks, where about 15,000 people remained. The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, told Ukrainian television: “Fighting is going on all the time. The Russians are constantly on the offensive. There is no let-up. Absolutely everything is being shelled.”
  • One person has been killed and six people have been injured, including an 11-year-old, by Russian attacks in the Kharkiv region, according to Kharkiv’s governor, Oleh Synyehubov. “The enemy is firing from tanks, mortars, artillery and jet artillery on the positions of our military and on peaceful towns and villages,” Synyehubov said in his latest update. None of the claims have been independently verified.
  • Nato leaders yesterday announced a new “strategic concept” in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, describing Moscow as “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and stability”. Leaders also pledged further help to Kyiv and agreed on a package of support aimed at modernising the country’s defence sector.
  • Norway’s foreign minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, has said her nation is not blocking Russian access to Svalbard. On Wednesday, Russia accused Norway of disrupting the delivery of critical supplies and threatened retaliation. Huitfeldt said Norway was not blocking Russian access to the Arctic archipelago, only applying international sanctions, and that Russia had other means to reach its settlements.
  • The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has arrived in Moscow, where he will urge Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire and seek ways to allow the export of grain from Ukraine. Jokowi, as Widodo is known, also met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Wednesday during a visit he described as a “manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine”.
  • Russia’s defence ministry has said more than 6,000 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered or been captured, according to Russian state media. On Wednesday, Ukraine announced the largest exchange of prisoners of war since Russia invaded, securing the release of 144 of its soldiers, including 95 who defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
  • Zelenskiy has announced the end of diplomatic ties between Ukraine and Syria after the Russia ally recognised the independence of eastern Ukraine’s two self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk. “There will no longer be relations between Ukraine and Syria,” Zelenskiy said, adding that the sanctions pressure against Syria “will be even greater”.

Updated

First cargo ship leaves Russian-occupied port of Berdiansk, says pro-Russia official

A cargo ship has left the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port of Berdiansk for the first time since the city was seized by Moscow’s troops, according to a pro-Russia local official.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Russia administration, said on Telegram:

After a stoppage of several months, the first cargo ship has left the Berdiansk port.

Balitsky was cited by Russian state media as saying the first cargo ship to leave Berdiansk was carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain to “friendly countries”, but an edited Telegram post by the Russian-installed official did not say what cargo the ship was carrying, Reuters reports.

He added that Russia’s Black Sea fleet was “ensuring the security” of the cargo ship, and that the Ukrainian port had been demined. He did not specify the final destination of the cargo.

Berdiansk is a port city on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, in the region of Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine. Earlier this month, Russia’s defence ministry said the ports of Berdiansk and Mariupol were ready to resume grain shipments.

Updated

We reported earlier that Vladimir Putin said G7 leaders would be a “disgusting” sight if they were to undress “above or below the waist”, in response to Boris Johnson’s suggestions that leaders could take their clothes off to “show that we’re tougher than Putin”.

Here’s the video clip, where Putin goes on to reference a poem by Alexander Pushkin, who wrote that “one can still be a man of action, and mind the beauty of one’s nails”.

Joe Biden has said that he is in favour of supplying new F-16 fighters to Turkey, but needs US lawmakers to back it.

Reuters reports the US president rejected suggestions that the new planes were in return for Turkey dropping objections to Finland and Sweden joining Nato, telling the media: “What I said was, I said back in December, as you’ll recall, we should sell them the F-16 jets and modernise those jets as well. It’s not in our interest not to do that.

“And there was no quid pro quo with that. It was just that we should sell, but I need congressional approval to be able to do that. And I think we can get that.”

In another development Greece has sent an official request to the United States for the purchase of 20 Lockheed Martin-made F-35 fighter jets, according to the country’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Reuters reports Nato member Greece spends more than 2% of its gross domestic product on defence spending and has increased its military purchases in recent years as tensions with its neighbour and Nato ally Turkey, have resurfaced.

“Our intention is to acquire an F-35 squadron with a possible option for a second one,” Mitsotakis told reporters after the Nato summit.

Updated

Here is a reminder of why the location of Snake Island is so strategically important for control of the Black Sea and for access to the ports on Ukraine’s southern coast.

The Russian ministry of defence has used its official Telegram channel to forward a message from an account called “War on fakes”, which purports to be a fact check on the situation on Snake Island, repeating Russia’s claim that it voluntarily withdrew from the island rather than being forced off.

The message that the ministry has forwarded says that Russia withdrew from the island because “the object is indeed of strategic importance, but at the moment it has fulfilled its role of controlling the airspace.”

The message goes on to say that “given the constant attacks of the armed forces of Ukraine, large resources were spent on its retention. It is an island of a volcanic type, on which there is practically no vegetation and shelters, and it is difficult to keep it in conditions of open confrontation. At the same time, the Russian garrison successfully withstood several attacks.”

It then says “the decision was made to remove the garrison from the island in order to avoid losses.”

The Telegram channel which the Russian ministry is sharing is widely regarded as disseminating propaganda under the guise of fact-checking, and it has over 700,000 followers. The message concludes “The Ukrainian side is trying to turn this into a victory, including with the help of international media.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has arrived in Moscow, where he will urge Russian leader Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire and seek ways to allow the export of grain from Ukraine.

Jokowi, as President Widodo is known, also visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday, and said he offered to deliver a message on his behalf to Moscow.

Indonesia maintains an “independent and active” approach to foreign policy, and generally seeks to appear neutral. Its formal response to the invasion in February avoided condemning Russia by name as an aggressor and, in April, Indonesia abstained from voting on a resolution to suspend Russia from the UN’s human rights council.

However, Indonesia relies heavily on wheat imports from Ukraine, and has seen increases in the cost of commodities such as noodles and cooking oil. It is expected Jokowi will push for a resolution to ease Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s ports.

Jokowi is one of six world leaders appointed as “champions” of the UN’s Global Crisis Response Group, formed to address the threat of an “unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution” resulting from the war.

Jokowi is also the chair of the Group of 20 nations and is due to host the G20 leaders’ summit in Bali in November. Some nations, including the US, have threatened to boycott the event Putin attends, and in response, Indonesia has invited Ukraine to join the summit as a special guest.

Updated

The Kremlin said the fate of two Britons captured after fighting for Ukraine was a matter for authorities in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier today, the European court of human rights (ECHR) said it had issued an order to Russia to ensure that the British citizens, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, did not face the death penalty.

A Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia was not bound by the order after its parliament passed legislation this month to remove it from the EHCR’s jurisdiction.

Peskov said:

Russia no longer complies with the prescriptions of the EHCR, that’s all there is to say.

British citizens Aiden Aslin (L) and Shaun Pinner (R) and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim (C).
British citizens Aiden Aslin (L) and Shaun Pinner (R) and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim (C). Photograph: EPA

Meanwhile, a UK foreign office spokesperson said it was “doing everything we can to support the men” and that it was in close contact with their families. The spokesperson added:

We condemn the exploitation of prisoners of war for political purposes and have raised this with Russia. We are in constant contact with the Government of Ukraine on their cases and are fully supportive of Ukraine in its efforts to get them released.

Britain has so far declined publicly to raise the issue with authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), whose independence is recognised only by Russia and Syria.

Updated

Boris Jonhson would be a “disgusting” sight if he were to undress “above or below the waist”, Vladimir Putin has said.

The Russian president was responding to Johnson’s remarks during the G7 summit earlier this week, when the UK prime minister suggested leaders could take their clothes off to “show that we’re tougher than Putin”.

Leaders should “show them our pecs”, Johnson joked. His Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, chimed in to say they should put on a “bare-chested horseback riding display”, in reference to Putin’s notorious base-torso photoshoots.

A bare-chested Vladimir Putin on horseback.
A bare-chested Vladimir Putin on horseback. Photograph: Alexei Druzhinin/AP

The Russian leader was asked about western leaders joking about him while on a visit to Turkmenistan today. Putin replied:

I don’t know how they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist. But I think it would be a disgusting sight in any case.

He added that to look good, “it’s necessary to stop abusing alcohol and other bad habits, do physical exercise and take part in sports”.

From Bloomberg’s Kitty Donaldson:

Updated

Here’s more from Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg’s news conference earlier. He told reporters that Greece is willing to provide ships to help export grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports that have been blocked by Russia.

Stoltenberg said:

Greece announced that they are ready to make available ships to get the grain out of Ukraine.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the end of the summit in Madrid.
Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, at the end of the summit in Madrid. Photograph: Bernat Armangué/AP

Updated

Formula One has sought to distance itself from remarks made by its former chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who said he would “take a bullet” for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, whom he described as “a first-class person”.

Ecclestone, who reportedly has been friends with Putin since the introduction of the Russian Grand Prix in 2014, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have been avoided if the latter’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had done more.

Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain if he still regarded Putin as a friend, the 91-year-old billionaire said:

I’d still take a bullet for him. I’d rather it didn’t hurt, but if it does I’d still take a bullet, because he’s a first-class person. What he’s doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia.

Bernie Ecclestone is reported to have been friends with Vladimir Putin since the introduction of the Russian Grand Prix in 2014.
Bernie Ecclestone is reported to have been friends with Vladimir Putin since the introduction of the Russian Grand Prix in 2014. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

After his appearance, a Formula One spokesperson said:

The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in very stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport.

Updated

Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Russia had received an invitation to this year’s G20 summit in Bali but had not yet decided whether Vladimir Putin would attend.

The Kremlin will decide “at the necessary time” whether the Russian president will go to the Indonesian island in person, Peskov said.

His remarks came a day after Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he had accepted an invitation to attend the summit but that his participation would depend on which leaders are also attending – a thinly veiled reference to Putin.

Ukraine’s participation “will depend on the security situation in the country and on the composition of the summit’s participants”, Zelenskiy told journalists following talks with his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, said yesterday that he would most likely attend this year’s G20 summit even if Putin decides to go, adding that to boycott it would simply “leave the whole argument” to Russia and its allies.

Johnson told reporters he would be “absolutely amazed” if Putin went in person to the leaders’ summit in November. Russia remains a member of the G20, despite being expelled from what was the G8.

Updated

Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, is speaking at a news conference in Madrid after the Nato summit.

Johnson describes the summit as “highly successful” and says “virtually everyone” has agreed to give more to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

The governments of the Commonwealth, G7 and Nato are determined to work together to ease the cost of living crisis, he says, which means working together to get the grain out of Ukraine.

If Russia won, the consequences around the world would be dire, Johnson says.

Andrew Sparrow is covering Johnson’s news conference at the Nato summit on our UK politics live blog. I will continue here will global developments on the war in Ukraine, with any top lines that emerge from Johnson’s conference.

Stoltenberg says we live in a more “dangerous” and “unpredictable” world with large-scale military operations in Europe not seen since the second world war.

He says:

At the same time, we also know that this can get worse. Because if this becomes a full-scale war between Russia and Nato, then we’ll see suffering, damage, death, and destruction at a scale which is much, much worse than what we see in Ukraine today.

Stoltenberg says Nato has two tasks: one is to provide support to Ukraine, the other to prevent escalation beyond Ukraine. “That is the reason why Nato is not part of the conflict on the ground,” he adds.

Nato has increased its eastern presence with more than 40,000 troops “to remove any room for miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow about our readiness to protect every inch of Nato territory”, he says.

Sweden and Finland to sign Nato accession protocol on Tuesday, says Stoltenberg

Sweden and Finland are expected to formally sign the Nato accession protocol on Tuesday, Stoltenberg says.

The accession protocol must then be ratified by all 30 allied parliaments to allow both countries to become part of Nato and benefit from the alliance’s collective defence clause.

The presidents of both Nordic countries will take part in the signing of the protocol on Tuesday “but the reality” is that the decision has already been taken by Nato leaders yesterday at the summit, Stoltenberg says.

Updated

Stoltenberg says Nato leaders decided today to support Ukraine “to make sure Ukraine prevails as an independent sovereign state in Europe”.

He describes Vladimir Putin’s “brutal” war against Ukraine as “absolutely unacceptable” with ramifications over the entire world.

Stoltenberg says:

It’s President Putin that should withdraw its forces and end this war immediately by stopping attacking a democratic sovereign nation and causing so much suffering in Ukraine.

He says Finland and Sweden have the right to choose their own path and to join Nato, and that leaders are “prepared for any eventuality”.

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is speaking at a news conference after the second and final day of the military alliance’s summit in Madrid.

Stoltenberg describes the summit as “transformative” and says leaders agreed on a “fundamental shift in our deterrence and defence”.

Stoltenberg says:

We agreed to invite Finland and Sweden to join our alliance, and we agreed on long-term support for Ukraine.

Nato leaders also addressed the global food crisis “which is a direct result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”, he added.

The impact of the food crisis is “severe”, including on some of the world’s most vulnerable people, he said.

He says Nato allies discussed efforts to mitigate the crisis and get the grain out of Ukraine by land and sea.

Russian ex-president Medvedev says sanctions could be justification for war

Russia’s former president and current deputy security council chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, said sanctions against Moscow may be seen as an act of aggression and justification for war.

Reuters is quoting Medvedev as saying:

I would like to point out once again that under certain circumstances such hostile measures can also qualify as an act of international aggression. And even as a casus belli (justification for war).

Russia has the right to defend itself, he added.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, in St Petersburg on Wednesday.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, in St Petersburg on Wednesday. Photograph: SPUTNIK/Reuters

Updated

A key adviser to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Mykhailo Podolyak, has dismissed Russian claims that it had pulled its forces from Snake Island as “a gesture of goodwill” to allow Kyiv to export agricultural products.

Russia’s defence ministry said its armed forces had “completed their tasks on Snake Island” in a statement earlier today.

In response, Podolyak, who is also the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team, tweeted that “in order for Moscow to show its goodwill, we have to beat it up regularly”.

Updated

As Nato leaders gather in Madrid for a summit playing out in the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the spotlight has landed on a ubiquitous staple found in bars and restaurants across Spain: Russian salad.

International officials and journalists were bemused to find the salad – a combination of potatoes, mayonnaise and vegetables known as ensaladilla Rusa – being sold as “potatoes salad Russian style” at the summit venue.

“Russian salad at a Nato summit? I’m a little surprised by that choice of dish,” the journalist Iñaki López told the Spanish media outlet la Sexta.

Russian salad on a menu at the Nato summit media centre restaurant.
Russian salad on a menu at the Nato summit media centre restaurant. Photograph: Sabine Siebold/Reuters

While the name did little to dampen its popularity – the dish reportedly sold out in hours – within a day it had been renamed, with the menu now listing it as “traditional salad”.

The Spanish chef José Andrés went one step further, adding tomato dumplings and calling the dish Ukrainian salad in a show of solidarity at the dinner he coordinated for visiting defence and foreign ministers on Tuesday.

It was an extension of a rebrand that began last month when Andrés announced he would change the dish’s name at all his restaurants, joining a wave of bars and restaurants to have done so in recent months.

Among the first was Mesón Martín, a three-decade old restaurant in the northern city of Zaragoza. “Friends, we’ve decided to change the name of the famous salad,” the restaurant announced on social media in late February. “From today, you will find the Kyiv salad on our menu, in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”

Read the full story by Ashifa Kassam here: ‘I’m a little surprised’: Nato summit venue in Madrid serves ‘Russian salad’

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has congratulated his country’s armed forces for doing a “great job” after Russian forces were reportedly pushed back from Snake Island.

Yermak tweeted:

KABOOM!

No Russian troops on the Snake Island anymore. Our Armed Forces did a great job.

More kaboom news to follow. All will be Ukraine.

Yermak later wrote that the Ukrainian army was “restraining the enemy” and that he was expecting more weapons “to knock the Russian troops out”.

Updated

Russia’s defence ministry said more than 6,000 Ukrainian fighters had been captured or surrendered, the Russian state-owned news agency Ria reports.

Ukrainian military intelligence said yesterday that it had secured the release of 144 of its soldiers, including 95 who defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, in the largest exchange of prisoners of war since Russia invaded.

The exchange of prisoners of war was organised by direct order of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Ria cited the ministry as saying.

It is not possible to independently verify these claims.

Updated

Vladimir Putin has said Moscow is “open” to a dialogue on “strategic stability, preserving non-proliferation regimes for weapons of mass destruction and improving the situation in the field of arms control”.

The Russian president said efforts would require “painstaking joint work” and would go towards preventing a repeat of “what is happening today in the Donbas” in remarks to a legal forum in his home city of St Petersburg, Reuters reports.

He once again claimed Russia launched its invasion into Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in the eastern Donbas region from persecution from Kyiv, and accused Ukraine of “crimes against humanity” – allegations that Kyiv and the west have said are baseless and used to justify Putin’s unprovoked act of aggression.

Today so far …

  • Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have expelled Russian forces from the strategically important Black Sea island Zmiinyi, better known as Snake Island. Ukraine’s reported recapture of the island would weaken any potential plans Russia may have for a future land attack on that stretch of coastline. Ukraine’s armed forces said: “During the night, as a result of a successful military operation with our missile and artillery units on Snake Island, the enemy hastily evacuated the remnants of the garrison in two speedboats and probably left the island. Currently, Zmiinyi is covered with fire, explosions are heard. The final results of the operation are being investigated.”
  • The Russian ministry of defence confirmed it had withdrawn, claiming it was a “step of goodwill” to facilitate grain shipments and calling on Kyiv to demine Ukraine’s waters. Russia claimed: “This decision will not allow Kyiv to speculate on the topic of the impending food crisis, referring to the impossibility of exporting grain due to Russia’s total control of the north-western part of the Black Sea. Now the word is up to the Ukrainian side, which has not yet cleared the Black Sea coast near its shores, including the port waters.”
  • The frontline city of Lysychansk is under relentless shelling as Russia presses on with its offensive in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said they were trying to evacuate residents from the city, the focus of Russia’s attacks where about 15,000 people remained. The regional governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian television: “Fighting is going on all the time. The Russians are constantly on the offensive. There is no let-up. Absolutely everything is being shelled.”
  • One person has been killed and six people have been injured, including an 11-year-old, by Russian attacks in the Kharkiv region according to the latest status update of Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv.
  • The European court of human rights (ECHR) said it had issued an order to Russia to ensure that two Britons captured after fighting for Ukrainian forces do not face the death penalty. It is likely to have limited effect. This month, the Russian parliament passed legislation to end the jurisdiction of Europe’s top human rights court in Russia, and two weeks ago a Kremlin spokesperson, in reference to another ECHR ruling, said Moscow no longer implemented its decisions.
  • Nato leaders yesterday announced a new “strategic concept” in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, describing Moscow as “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and stability”. Nato has invited Sweden and Finland to become members of the military alliance, according to a communique published by the Nato summit in Madrid. Leaders also pledged further help to Kyiv and agreed on a package of support aimed at modernising the country’s defence sector.
  • Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, earlier issued fresh warnings that Russia would respond in kind if Nato set up military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they joined Nato. He said it was inevitable that Moscow’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm would sour over Nato membership.
  • Putin also pushed back against allegations that Russian forces were responsible for a strike on a crowded shopping centre in the Ukrainian town of Kremenchuk on Monday in which 18 people were killed. “Our army does not attack any civilian infrastructure site. We have every capability of knowing what is situated where,” Putin said. Moscow said its military fired a “high-precision air attack at hangars where armament and munitions were stored” and the explosion of those weapon caches caused a fire in the nearby shopping centre – a claim discredited by first-hand accounts from survivors and expert analysis.
  • Sweden will send more anti-tank weapons and machine guns to Ukraine, Sweden’s defence ministry said on Thursday. The arms package, which also includes equipment for mine clearing, is valued at around £40m ($49m).
  • Spain will gradually raise defence spending to near the equivalent to 2% of the country’s gross domestic product by 2029, the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said.
  • The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said it is a “realistic” ambition to push Russian forces out of Ukraine entirely. Truss has described Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, as “an appalling dictator perpetrating a war that was neither legal nor justified” and said that “he has ordered the most appalling crimes to be committed in Ukraine.”
  • Norway’s foreign minister has said her nation is not blocking Russian access to Svalbard. On Wednesday Russia accused Norway of disrupting the delivery of critical supplies and threatened retaliation. Anniken Huitfeldt said: “Norway is not breaking the Svalbard Treaty. The shipment that was stopped at the Norwegian-Russian border has been stopped on the basis of the sanctions that prohibit Russian road transport companies from transporting goods on Norwegian territory”. She said Russia could deliver supplies in a different way, exclusively by ship or by air.
  • Trade through Lithuania to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad could return to normal within days as officials edge towards a compromise deal, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
  • British government complacency is allowing Russian “dirty money” to flow into the UK despite the war in Ukraine, MPs have warned. The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said the failure of ministers to take effective action meant assets “laundered” through the City of London were being used to finance Putin’s war.
  • Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has spoken of his visit to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, describing the visit as a “manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine.”
  • Ukraine announced the largest exchange of prisoners of war since Russia invaded, securing the release of 144 of its soldiers, including 95 who had defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. Ukrainian military intelligence said that most of the Ukrainians released had serious injuries, including burns and amputations, and were now receiving medical care.
  • Zelenskiy announced the end of diplomatic ties between Ukraine and Syria after the Russia-ally recognised the independence of eastern Ukraine’s two separatist republics, Donetsk and Luhansk. “There will no longer be relations between Ukraine and Syria,” Zelenskiy said, adding that the sanctions pressure against Syria “will be even greater.”

Updated

Russians pushed from Snake Island, Ukrainian forces say

Ukrainian forces say they have pushed Russian forces from Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea landmass off the southern coast near the city of Odesa.

Ukraine’s reported recapture of the island weakens any potential plans Russia may have for a future land attack on that stretch of coastline.

Russia’s ministry of defence stated that it had completed its assigned tasks and was tactically withdrawing to allow for grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

“In order to organise humanitarian grain corridors as part of the implementation of joint agreements reached with the participation of the UN, the Russian Federation decided to leave its positions on Zmiinyi Island,” the defence ministry said.

Ukraine said it had forced Russian troops to flee overnight on two speed boats. The statement, by Ukraine’s southern command, said explosions could still be heard and the island was covered in smoke, appearing to indicate that battles were continuing.

Snake Island was made famous when Russia first captured it in February. A Ukrainian soldier posted on the island told an attacking Russian warship to “go fuck yourself”, which has become one of the most popular Ukrainian slogans of resistance since the invasion.

The blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports by Russia has caused grain prices to soar, threatening famine in several countries.

Updated

The European court of human rights (ECHR) said it had issued an order to Russia to ensure that two Britons captured after fighting for Ukraine do not face the death penalty.

It is likely to have limited effect. This month, the Russian parliament passed legislation to end the jurisdiction of Europe’s top human rights court in Russia, and two weeks ago a Kremlin spokesman, in reference to another ECHR ruling, said Moscow no longer implemented its decisions.

Reuters reports the ECHR said it had issued an order for interim measures, telling Russia it “should ensure that the death penalty imposed on the applicants was not carried out; ensure appropriate conditions of their detention; and provide them with any necessary medical assistance and medication”.

Two British citizens Aiden Aslin, left, and Shaun Pinner, right, and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim, centre, sit behind bars in occupied Donetsk.
Two British citizens, Aiden Aslin, left, and Shaun Pinner, right, and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim, centre, sit behind bars in occupied Donetsk. Photograph: AP

Earlier this month, a court in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine sentenced the British citizens Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner to death, alongside Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim, accusing them of “mercenary activities”.

Both Britons have said they were serving in the Ukrainian marines, making them active-duty soldiers who should be protected by the Geneva conventions on prisoners of war. UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss said “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.”

Updated

Understandably, with images of smoke rising from Snake Island being shared, Ukrainian commentary on the Russian withdrawal from the strategic Black Sea island is suggesting that the Russian statement it was a goodwill gesture is a cynical ploy to mask a defeat. Vitaliy Kim, governor of Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, has just posted to Telegram a screenshot of the news about Snake Island, with the message “We look forward to a step of goodwill in Kherson in the near future.”

Norway denies it is blocking Russian access to Arctic islands

As well as its dispute with Lithuania over access of goods to Russian exclave Kaliningrad, Russia has claimed that Norway is breaching a deal which gives Russia access to Svalbard. Yesterday Russia accused Norway of disrupting the delivery of critical supplies and threatened retaliation.

Norway’s foreign minister has today told Reuters that Norway is not blocking Russian access to the Arctic archipelago, only applying international sanctions, and that Russia has other means to reach its settlements.

Svalbard, midway between Norway’s north coast and the North Pole, is part of Norway, but Russia has the right to exploit the archipelago’s natural resources under a 1920 treaty, and some settlements there are populated mainly by Russians.

“Norway is not breaking the Svalbard Treaty,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said.

“The shipment that was stopped at the Norwegian-Russian border has been stopped on the basis of the sanctions that prohibit Russian road transport companies from transporting goods on Norwegian territory.”

“Norway is not trying to prevent supplies from reaching Barentsburg,” she added, referring to the main Russian settlement on Svalbard, which exploits a coal mine.

Russia could deliver supplies in a different way, exclusively by ship or by air, she added, and not just by road.

Sweden will send more anti-tank weapons and machine guns to Ukraine, Sweden’s defence ministry has said.

Reuters reports the arms package, which also includes equipment for mine clearing, is valued at around £40m ($49m).

Russia confirms withdrawal from Snake Island, claims it is 'step of goodwill'

The Russian ministry of defence has confirmed in its daily operational briefing that it has withdrawn from Snake Island in the Black Sea, claiming it is a “step of goodwill” to facilitate grain shipments. It writes:

On 30 June, as a step of goodwill, the armed forces of the Russian Federation completed their assigned tasks on Zmiinyi Island and withdrew the garrison stationed there.

Thus, it has been demonstrated to the world community that the Russian Federation does not interfere with the efforts of the UN to organise a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products from the territory of Ukraine.

This decision will not allow Kyiv to speculate on the topic of the impending food crisis, referring to the impossibility of exporting grain due to Russia’s total control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea. Now the word is up to the Ukrainian side, which has not yet cleared the Black Sea coast near its shores, including the port waters.

The armed forces of the Russian Federation continue a special military operation in Ukraine.

Kyiv has previously said it would not demine the waters around its port as they were needed as a defensive measure against Russia’s Black Sea fleet approaching Ukraine’s southern coast and launching sea-based attacks on the cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv.

Updated

At the Nato summit in Madrid this week sweeping changes to the western military alliance were agreed by leaders, including a huge increase in the number of troops deployed in Europe. 300,000 troops across the continent will be placed at high readiness in case Russia threatens a military attack on any member of the alliance, and Finland and Sweden will be formally invited to join.

Forces to be allocated specific allies to defend: A significant change is that forces will be “earmarked” to defend specific allies. Britain will commit an extra 1,000 UK-based troops and one of its two new aircraft carriers to the defence of Estonia, where Britain already has about 1,700 personnel deployed. US president Joe Biden announced the stationing of a brigade of 3,000 combat troops in Romania, two squadrons of F-35 fighters in the UK and two navy destroyers in Spain.

Heavy equipment pre-positioned near borders with Russia: Secretary general Jens Stoltenberg explained that the new strategy meant heavy equipment would be pre-positioned near Nato borders, with the ability to rapidly move people into place to use it. Before the summit, Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas had claimed that existing Nato defence plans would give Russia the time to wipe Tallinn off the map before western troops could be mobilised.

Russia identified as main threat to Nato, rather than “partner”: A new 2022 Nato strategic concept document was published, which identified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the driving force behind the changes. It states “The Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine has shattered peace and gravely altered our security environment. Its brutal and unlawful invasion, repeated violations of international humanitarian law and heinous attacks and atrocities have caused unspeakable suffering and destruction.”

Finland and Sweden formally invited to join: A deal agreed between Finland, Sweden and Turkey cleared the way for the formal invitation of the two Baltic states into the alliance. Their membership now has to be ratified individually by the parliaments of all 30 existing allies.

Defence spending to increase: Nato’s target that 2% of GDP of each country be spent on defence will in the future be seen as “more of a floor than a ceiling” said Stoltenberg.

New environmental impact policy: The alliance also agreed a new way of calculating the carbon emissions cost of defence. Stoltenberg described the climate crisis as “the defining challenge of our time” and said the alliance “cannot choose between having green militaries or strong militaries. They must be both.”

Strengthened cyber defences and energy resilience: Nato committed itself to increased cooperation on electronic warfare and pledged to “ensure reliable energy supplies to our military forces.”

An eye to China: The Nato document states that China’s “malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target allies” and that China’s “stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values”. The leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the South Korea attended a Nato summit for the first time.

The strategic concept document stated “Our vision is clear: we want to live in a world where sovereignty, territorial integrity, human rights and international law are respected and where each country can choose its own path, free from aggression, coercion or subversion.”

Ukraine claims Russian forces have withdrawn from Snake Island

The armed forces of Ukraine have made the following claim on Telegram:

During the night, as a result of a successful military operation with our missile and artillery units on Snake Island, the enemy hastily evacuated the remnants of the garrison in two speedboats and probably left the island.

Currently, Zmiinyi is covered with fire, explosions are heard. The final results of the operation are being investigated.

Images circulating on social media of Zmiinyi Island – popularly known as Snake Island – appear to show equipment on fire at the scene.

The small island is a strategically important location in the Black Sea, and became famous early on in the campaign where it was the site of a radio exchange between Ukrainian and Russian forces where a Russia warship was told “go fuck yourself”.

Updated

The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said it is a “realistic” ambition to push Russian forces out of Ukraine entirely.

She has told listeners to BBC radio in the UK: “All of Ukraine that has been invaded by Russia is illegally occupied. And, ultimately, the Russians need to be pushed out of all of that territory.”

PA Media report that asked whether the government believes Russia can be pushed out of all of Ukraine within a foreseeable timeframe, she said: “It is realistic, and that is why we are supplying the extra lethal aid we’re supplying.”

Updated

Spain will gradually raise defence spending to near the equivalent to 2% of the country’s gross domestic product by 2029, the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said.

“The government is committed to raising our defence budget to close to 2% of GDP by 2029,” Reuters reports he told national TV station TVE.

All Nato member countries have committed to spend on defence the equivalent of 2% of their GDP.

Updated

In the UK, Labour’s opposition defence spokesperson has described the government’s plan for British armed forces as “embarrassing”. He demanded, in the light of Nato’s new strategic concept, that the government halt planned cuts to the number of British soldiers over the next few years. On Sky News, John Healey told viewers:

The frustration for me is that at a time when you’ve just reported Nato is planning an extra 300,000 combat ready troops, we in Britain are set to cut, over the next three years, another 10,000 soldiers from the British army. Now this is embarrassing. It is not responding to the growing threats we face. And it is putting into question Britain’s ability to fulfil our Nato obligations, where I want Britain to continue to be the leading European nation within Nato.

I want to see the government do what 14 other countries have already done since the invasion started, which is reboot our defence planning, review defence spending, and reform the massive waste that goes on in military procurement. At the moment, the government is refusing to do that and we are lagging behind.

Healey also welcomed the capabilities that prospective new members Sweden and Finland would bring to the alliance, saying:

Finland and Sweden certainly strengthen Nato as a defensive alliance. When you put their fighter jets, for instance, together with the Norwegians, that is 250 of the best fighter jets in the world. This will strengthen the whole alliance. It will be part of the response to the Russian aggression that we have to live with for the next decade.

Former UK representative to Nato, Sir Adam Thomson, has been interviewed on Sky News in the UK, and he said that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine would inevitably drive up defence spending in the west. He said:

It is undeniable that we are in the 21st century version of a cold war – small ‘c’, small ‘w’. The dynamics are all very familiar to anyone who lived through the 20th century cold war, and I’m afraid those dynamics are going to drive rising defence spending.

Thomson also had a warning for his former Nato colleagues over cybersecurity, saying:

Cyber can be dramatically destabilising and disruptive of a society and on the economy. It is a feature of the Ukraine conflict, but although there has been very extensive Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine, the Ukrainians have proved more resilient and Russia doesn’t seem to have extended its cyber activities so far to western Nato countries.

But it is undeniably now a domain of modern warfare. Nato has integrated it as such, along with space, in its military thinking, and it is going to require substantial investment by allies. Nato likes to say that the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link. And not all allies are very strong links as far as cyber resilience is concerned.

One person has been killed and six people have been injured, including an 11-year-old, by Russian attacks in the Kharkiv region according to the latest status update of Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv.

The 11-year-old girl has been hospitalised as a result. Synyehubov reports her condition as “average”. He posted to Telegram that:

The fighting continues in the region. In the Kharkiv direction, the occupiers are conducting defensive battles, trying to restrain our military. The enemy is firing from tanks, mortars, artillery and jet artillery on the positions of our military and on peaceful towns and villages.

None of the claims have been independently verified.

Truss: defence underspending by western alliance a factor in allowing Putin to invade Ukraine

The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said that one of the reasons that Russia was able to invade Ukraine was because of underspending on defence in Europe.

Appearing on Sky News, she said:

I’ve been very clear that the entire free world, the western alliance, does need to focus more on deterrence. We need to focus more on defence. And what we know is prevention is better than cure.

The lesson that Putin learned from underspending on defence was that he could invade a sovereign nation, and we simply can’t let our guard down again, we can’t allow that to happen again.

Asked about the size of British armed forces, and warnings from within the army that it isn’t big enough, she said:

I would say that we need a full range of capabilities to deal with the threats that we face now. Whether those are cyber threats, whether those are land-based threats, naval threats, and we have the balance right. But of course we need to continue to evolve, because we’re seeing, you know, we never expected in our lifetimes to see this kind of war on in Europe.

Updated

Truss: Putin 'has ordered the most appalling crimes' in Ukraine

UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has described Russian president Vladimir Putin as “an appalling dictator perpetrating a war that was neither legal nor justified” and said that “he has ordered the most appalling crimes to be committed in Ukraine.”

Speaking on Sky News in the UK, she told viewers:

We’ve seen the systematic rape of women. We’ve seen the attacking of civilians, including at the shopping centre this week. And what we need to make sure is not only are the Ukrainians successful in pushing Russia out of Ukraine, but also that people are held to account for these appalling crimes that have been committed.

I’ve not met Vladimir Putin. I do not know the motivations for carrying out this appalling war. All I know is that we have to make it our absolute priority to stop this war, to push Vladimir Putin and the Russian troops out of Ukraine, otherwise we will live in a much less safe Europe.

Updated

The frontline eastern city of Lysychansk is under relentless shelling as Russia presses on with its offensive in eastern Ukraine, according to officials.

Regional Governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian television:

Fighting is going on all the time. The Russians are constantly on the offensive. There is no let-up.

Absolutely everything is being shelled.”

Ukrainian authorities said they were trying to evacuate residents from the city, the focus of Russia’s attacks where about 15,000 people remained under relentless shelling.

Russian forces are trying to encircle the city as they try to capture the industrialised eastern Donbas region.

Vladimir Putin earlier issued fresh warnings that Russia would respond in kind if Nato set up military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they joined the US-led alliance.

He said it was inevitable that Moscow’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm would sour over Nato membership.

Footage of Putin’s remarks can be viewed in the video below.

Mariupol theatre attack is a war crime, Amnesty says

A theatre sheltering civilians destroyed in March in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol was likely hit by a Russian airstrike in a war crime, Amnesty International says.

Oksana Pokalchuk, head of Amnesty’s Ukraine branch, told AFP:

Until now, we were speaking about an alleged war crime. Now we can clearly say it was one, committed by the Russian armed forces.”

“These explosions were caused by something really big: two 500km (1,100-pound) bombs” dropped from a plane, she added, dismissing Russian claims that the theatre was hit in a false-flag attack by the city’s Ukrainian defenders.

The Amnesty team interviewed 52 survivors and first-hand witnesses, about half of whom were either in the theater or nearby. Using satellite imagery from that morning, they determined that the sky was consistently clear enough for any pilot to see the word “CHILDREN” written in giant Cyrillic letters in the building’s front and back.

The 16 March airstrike devastated the building, collapsing its rear and side walls directly onto a field kitchen used as a community gathering space for food, water and scarce news about evacuations and the war.

Trade through Lithuania to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad could return to normal within days as officials edge towards a compromise deal, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Kaliningrad, which is bordered by EU states and relies on railways and roads through Lithuania for most goods, has been cut off from some freight transport from mainland Russia since 17 June under sanctions imposed by Brussels.

European officials are in talks about exempting the territory from sanctions, paving the way for a deal in early July if EU member Lithuania drops its reservations, said the people, who declined to be named because the discussions are private.

It is proving hard for Europe both to stand by strict sanctions and avoid further escalation with Russia so European officials, with the backing of Germany, are seeking a compromise to resolve one of their many conflicts with Moscow, said one of the people.

A view shows freight cars, following Lithuania’s ban of the transit of goods under EU sanctions through the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
A view shows freight cars, following Lithuania’s ban of the transit of goods under EU sanctions through the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Photograph: Vitaly Nevar/Reuters

If the traditional route for Russian goods to Kaliningrad, first via its ally Belarus and then Lithuania, is not restored, the Baltic state fears Moscow could use military force to plough a land corridor through its territory, the person said.

Germany, meanwhile, has soldiers stationed in Lithuania and could be sucked into a confrontation alongside its Nato allies if that were to happen.

Europe’s biggest economy is also heavily reliant on Russian gas imports and would be vulnerable to any reduction in flows if the Kaliningrad dispute escalated.

“We have to face reality,” said one person with direct knowledge of the EU discussions, describing Kaliningrad as “sacred” for Moscow.

“[Putin] has much more leverage than we have. It’s in our interests to find a compromise,” he said, conceding that the eventual outcome may appear unfair.

One of the people with direct knowledge of the matter said they expected a compromise deal would be found by 10 July and a second person said it could be announced next week.

Inaction on Russian 'dirty money' shameful, UK MPs say

British government complacency is allowing Russian “dirty money” to flow into the UK despite the war in Ukraine, MPs have warned.

The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said the failure of ministers to take effective action meant assets “laundered” through the City of London were being used to finance Putin’s war, according to PA Media.

In a highly critical report, it said the government was slow to impose sanctions, adding it was “shameful” it had taken the war to galvanise the government into action.

It said the measures still “do not go far or fast enough” and did little to address the “fundamental mismatch” between the resources available to the law enforcement agencies and the individuals they are targeting.

PA cites sections of the report as saying:

The Government’s unwillingness to bring forward legislation to stem the flow of dirty money is likely to have contributed to the belief in Russia that the UK is a safe haven for corrupt wealth. It is shameful that it has taken a war to galvanise the Government into action.

Although ministers have spoken eloquently in the House about the need to clamp down on kleptocrats, rhetoric has not been matched by constructive action. Meanwhile, corrupt money has continued to flow into the UK.

Without the necessary means and resources, enforcement agencies are toothless. The threat (that) illicit finance poses to our national security demands a response that is seen to be serious.”

The committee chairman, Tom Tugendhat, said:

For far too long successive governments have allowed malign actors and kleptocrats to wash their dirty money in the London ‘laundromat’.

Complacency has left the door open to corrupt wealth taking root and morally bankrupt billionaires using the UK as a safe deposit box.”

Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has spoken of his visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, describing the visit as a “manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine.”

Sharing a photo of the two leaders to Twitter on Thursday, Widodo said:

The visit to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is a manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine.

The spirit of peace never fades. I offered to carry a message from President Zelenskiy for President Putin who I would also visit.

Zelenskiy also thanked his Indonesia counterpart during his latest national address:

For the first time in all the years of independence, the President of Indonesia, a very influential state that may suffer significantly from the food crisis provoked by Russia, paid a visit to Kyiv today. Therefore, these were important negotiations that opened for Ukraine another strategic direction of relations with Asia.”

Putin issues warning to Finland and Sweden after joining Nato

Vladimir Putin has issued fresh warnings that Russia would respond in kind if Nato set up military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they joined the US-led alliance.

Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying he could not rule out that tensions would emerge in Moscow’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm over their joining Nato.

The Russian president told a news conference in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat:

We don’t have problems with Sweden and Finland like we do with Ukraine. We don’t have territorial differences.

If Finland and Sweden wish to, they can join. That’s up to them. They can join whatever they want.”

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, issued fresh warnings that Russia would respond in kind if Nato set up military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden.
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, issued fresh warnings that Russia would respond in kind if Nato set up military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden. Photograph: Contributor/8523328/Getty Images

However, he warned “if military contingents and military infrastructure were deployed there, we would be obliged to respond symmetrically and raise the same threats for those territories where threats have arisen for us”.

Russia has repeatedly warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, saying the “serious military and political consequences” of such a move would oblige it to “restore military balance” by strengthening its defences in the Baltic Sea region, including by deploying nuclear weapons.

Updated

Summary and welcome

Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you as we continue to report all the latest news from Ukraine.

Here are all the major developments as of 8am in Kyiv.

  • Nato leaders have announced a new “strategic concept” in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, describing Moscow as “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and stability”. Nato has invited Sweden and Finland to become members of the military alliance, according to a communique published by the Nato summit in Madrid. Leaders also pledged further help to Kyiv and agreed on a package of support aimed at modernising the country’s defence sector.
  • Russian president Vladimir Putin issued fresh warnings that Russia would respond in kind if Nato set up military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they joined the US-led alliance. If Sweden and Finland wanted to join Nato then they should “go ahead” Putin said. “But they must understand there was no threat before, while now, if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond in kind and create the same threats for the territories from which threats towards us are created.”
  • Putin also pushed back against allegations that Russian forces were responsible for a strike on a crowded shopping centre in the Ukrainian town of Kremenchuk on Monday in which 18 people were killed. “Our army does not attack any civilian infrastructure site. We have every capability of knowing what is situated where,” Putin said. Moscow said its military fired a “high-precision air attack at hangars where armament and munitions were stored” and the explosion of those weapon caches caused a fire in the nearby shopping centre – a claim discredited by first-hand accounts from survivors and expert analysis.
  • Ukraine announced the largest exchange of prisoners of war since Russia invaded, securing the release of 144 of its soldiers, including 95 who defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. Ukrainian military intelligence said that most of the Ukrainians released had serious injuries, including burns and amputations, and are now receiving medical care.
  • The frequency of shelling on the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk is “enormous”, the regional governor of Luhansk said on Wednesday. Lysychansk “is constantly being shelled with large calibres. The fighting is continuing at the outskirts of the city. The Russian army is trying to attack constantly,” Serhiy Haidai said.
  • At least four people were killed and five wounded by a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv, local officials said. Photographs from the scene showed smoke billowing from a four-storey building with its upper floor partly destroyed by the attack on Wednesday morning. Moscow admitted to the strike on the city but said its forces had hit what it called a training base for “foreign mercenaries” in the region.
  • US president Joe Biden announced that the US will increase its military forces across Europe with more land, sea and air deployments. During the Nato summit in Madrid, Biden announced the stationing of a brigade of 3,000 combat troops in Romania, two squadrons of F-35 fighters in the UK and two navy destroyers in Spain. Nato members are expected to announce further commitments to a strengthening of forces on the alliance’s eastern flank.
  • Britain will also commit an extra 1,000 troops and one of its two new aircraft carriers to the defence of Nato’s eastern flank. The forces will be earmarked for the defence of Estonia, where Britain already has about 1,700 personnel deployed, but they will be based in the UK, ready to fly out to defend the Baltic country if deemed necessary.
  • Separately, Downing Street said it has pledged another £1bn ($1.2bn) in military aid, almost doubling the UK commitment to military support. Defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said some money would likely be spent on supplying longer-range rocket artillery. This will be a “first step” to allow Ukraine to move towards “mounting offensive operations” to regain territory,” Downing Street said.
  • Zelenskiy announced the end of diplomatic ties between Ukraine and Syria after the Russia-ally recognised the independence of eastern Ukraine’s two separatist republics, Donetsk and Luhansk. “There will no longer be relations between Ukraine and Syria,” Zelenskiy said, adding that the sanctions pressure against Syria “will be even greater.”
  • Ukraine and the European Union have signed an agreement that liberalises road transport. According to the agreement, Ukrainian carriers no longer need to obtain permits to enter the European Union.
  • Turkey says it will seek the extradition of 33 alleged Kurdish militants and coup plot suspects from Sweden and Finland under a deal to secure Ankara’s support for the Nordic countries’ Nato membership bids. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dropped weeks of resistance to Sweden and Finland joining Nato after crunch talks ahead this week’s Nato summit.
Rescue teams work to remove debris at the Amstor shopping mall targeted by a Russian missile strike in Kremenchuk, Ukraine.
Rescue teams work to remove debris at the Amstor shopping mall targeted by a Russian missile strike in Kremenchuk, Ukraine. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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