Yahoo News Ukrainians may have to 'fully retreat from Luhansk' to avoid being surrounded, governor warns
Ukrainian forces may have to fully retreat from their final pocket of resistance in the eastern Luhansk region to avoid being surrounded by advancing Russian troops, a regional governor has warned.
"We have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat," Serhiy Gaidai, the Luhansk regional governor, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
However, he said that the "Russians will not be able to capture Luhansk region in the coming days as analysts have predicted".
It comes as Russian troops captured the strategic town of Lyman and encircled most of the city of Severodonetsk as they continue in their bid to capture the whole of the Donbas region.
Oleskiy Arestovych, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, admitted that Lyman had fallen, and that the well-organised Russian attack there showed Moscow's military was improving its tactics and operations.
Follow the latest updates in Saturday's live blog.
06:43 PM
And that's all for today...
Thanks very much for following today's liveblog.
Here are five key updates from today:
Russian strikes on a military facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro left nearly a dozen people dead and more than 30 others injured, a local defence official said.
Moscow-backed separatist forces captured Lyman, a strategic town that sits on a road leading to key eastern cities still under Kyiv's control.
Russia will need huge financial resources to fund its ongoing military operation in Ukraine, Anton Siluanov, the finance minister, admitted.
Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was not eager to talk to Vladimir Putin, but that it will likely be necessary to end the war.
EU countries are negotiating a deal on Russian oil sanctions that would embargo shipment deliveries but delay sanctions on oil delivered by pipeline to win over Hungary and other landlocked member states.
05:37 PM
Ukrainian and Belarusian teams won't be facing each other
Teams from Belarus and Ukraine will be prevented from being drawn against each other in European competitions "until further notice", UEFA announced on Friday.
The decision has been made to ensure the "safety and security of the teams" due to Belarus' support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian clubs and its national side have been barred from all European competitions since March 1. Russia have also been banned from the 2022 World Cup by FIFA.
The body has forced Belarusian teams to play their home matches on neutral grounds and behind closed doors since March.
05:00 PM
Ukraine military may have to retreat from Luhansk cities, governor says
The governor of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, which has almost completely fallen under Russian control, on Friday said it was possible that Kyiv's forces would be forced to retreat from the final pocket of resistance to avoid being captured.
"The Russians will not be able to capture Luhansk region in the coming days as analysts have predicted," Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said in a post on the Telegram messaging service, referring to the near-surrounded cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
"We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat," he said.
04:31 PM
Italy discusses unblocking ports with Zelensky
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, have discussed ways to free up exports to tackle the food crisis that is threatening the world's poorest countries.
Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports has prevented shipments of grain, a major export product of both countries. Russia accuses Ukraine of mining the ports, while Kyiv has hit out at Russian "blackmail."
In a phone call, Draghi assured Zelensky of the Italian government's support for Ukraine along with the rest of the European Union countries.
"We expect further defense support from our partners," Zelensky said in a tweet.
"[We] raised the issue of fuel supply. Ways to prevent the food crisis were discussed. We have to unblock ports together," he added.
04:11 PM
Watch: Russian politician demands an end to Putin's war in a rare protest at a local parliament meeting
03:33 PM
Putin ready to deliver gas and discuss prisoner swap, says Austria
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him on a telephone call on Friday that Moscow would meet its natural gas delivery commitments and was ready to discuss a prisoner swap with Ukraine.
He made the comments to reporters after the two leaders held a 45-minute call.
03:20 PM
More than 100 refuseniks dismissed from Russian army
A Russian court on Thursday ordered the dismissal of more than 100 National Guard officers who had refused to be deployed to Ukraine, the first official ruling on a case that has shed light on internal dissatisfaction with the war.
The dispute involved some 115 members of the Russian National Guard, a domestic security agency separate from the armed forces, from the North Caucasus, in what appears to be the largest group of officers to refuse to partake in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A military court in the Kabardino-Balkaria region ruled on Thursday that the guardsmen “arbitrarily refused to perform an official assignment” when they refused to deploy in what Russia calls its “special military operation”.
The men had appealed against being fired but the ruling, which was posted on the court’s website, backed the guardsmen’s superiors, saying the men were guilty of “flagrant violations”.
The hearing was held behind closed doors for reasons of “military secrecy”.
02:49 PM
Putin says Ukraine of 'sabotaging' negotiating process
Russian president Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of "sabotaging" the negotiating process between the two countries, the Kremlin said.
He was speaking to Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in a phone call on Friday.
Putin also informed Nehammer about actions that Russia was taking to secure safe passage for vessels in the Azov and Black Seas, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have stalled. The last face-to-face peace talks were on March 29.
02:28 PM
War in Ukraine: latest pictures
02:07 PM
Turkey talks stall on Nato bid by Sweden and Finland
Talks between Turkish officials and delegations from Sweden and Finland have made little headway overcoming Ankara's objections to their Nato membership bids, and it is not clear when further discussions will take place, according to two Reuters sources.
Swedish and Finnish diplomats met in Turkey on Wednesday in an attempt to appease the Nato member and reach a deal that would allow for a historic enlargement of the Western alliance.
The two Nordic states formally applied to join Nato last week to boost their security. All 30 Nato members must approve enlargement plans.
Turkey challenged their bid to join on the grounds that they harbour people linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and others it deems terrorists, and because they halted arms exports to Ankara in 2019.
"It is not an easy process," a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Friday, adding that Sweden and Finland must take "difficult" steps to win Ankara's support.
"Further negotiations will continue. But a date doesn't seem very close."
02:00 PM
Ukraine demands Germany cut or halt Nord Stream 1 gas flows
Ukraine's state gas company and gas infrastructure operator have issued a request to the German government to either halt or severely curtail gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the head of the head of gas system operator said on Friday.
The request argues that the operation of the pipeline is allowed under German law on the basis that it contributes to the strengthening of he security of gas supplies to Europe, but that Russia had "violated these principles," the head of Ukraine's gas system operator Serhiy Makogon told national television.
01:33 PM
Russia admits it will need huge financial resources for more war
Russia will need huge financial resources to fund its military operation in Ukraine, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov admitted on Friday.
Siluanov said Russia had earmarked 8 trillion roubles ($123 billion) of stimulus to support the economy in the current circumstances.
"(These are) huge amounts of money. We need these resources to support the economy, to support our citizens," Siluanov told a university audience.
12:48 PM
Romania and Poland hopeful for Sweden and Finland Nato bids
Romania and Poland hope Sweden and Finland will be able to join Nato despite Turkey's reluctance, the country's foreign ministers said Friday during a visit to Ankara.
Stockholm and Helsinki submitted their bids to join Nato last week, reversing decades of military non-alignment, after political and public support for membership soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But Turkey, a Nato member, is throwing a spanner in the works as any membership must be unanimously approved by all members of the military alliance.
"Unlike many, I am optimistic... I am convinced that this disagreement will be resolved in the best way, in the spirit of Nato solidarity," Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said at a joint press conference with his Romanian and Turkish counterparts.
"Sweden and Finland becoming members of Nato is vital to making us stronger," he said, though adding that their joining "should however benefit all Nato allies, including Turkey".
Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said he supported "constructive dialogue".
12:16 PM
EU may clinch summit deal to sanction Russian oil shipments, officials say
European Union countries are negotiating a deal on Russian oil sanctions that would embargo shipment deliveries but delay sanctions on oil delivered by pipeline to win over Hungary and other landlocked member states, officials said on Friday.
"The idea is to split the oil embargo into pipeline and seaborne deliveries," said one official. "Pipeline would get an exemption for some time to organise a replacement."
Another official said that an agreement could be reached by EU member states' ambassadors in Brussels on Sunday, on time for their leaders to agree at a May 30-31 summit.
Hungary's resistance to oil sanctions - and the reluctance of a handful of other countries - has held up implementation of a sixth package of sanctions by the 27-member EU against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
11:56 AM
Russia 'strengthening defensive positions' in Kherson region
Russian forces are fortifying their defensive positions in Ukraine's Kherson region, which lies just north of Crimea, while shelling Ukraine-controlled areas on a daily basis, the region's Ukrainian governor Hennadiy Laguta told a media briefing on Friday.
He said that the humanitarian situation was critical in some parts of the region and that people are finding it almost impossible to leave occupied territory, with the exception of a 200-car convoy that left on Wednesday.
11:43 AM
2.9m Ukrainian refugees move on from border states
The United Nations said Friday that, of the more than 6.6 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries, 2.9 million have moved on to other European nations.
Refugees, the vast majority women and children, have poured across Ukraine's borders since the Russian invasion on February 24.
"According to the latest data we have available... 2.9 million refugees have moved beyond countries neighbouring Ukraine," UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told a briefing in Geneva.
A UNHCR graphic showed the largest numbers of Ukrainian refugees in non-neighbouring countries were in Germany, the Czech Republic and Italy.
A total of 6,659,220 Ukrainians have fled the country since the invasion. Of those, more than 3.5 million have headed west into Poland.
Around 100,000 refugees per day were arriving at the Polish border in early March but the number has slowed to around 20,000 throughout May.
11:26 AM
Dispatch: In Ukraine’s valleys of death, a lethal game of hide and seek is playing out
10:51 AM
'Around 10 dead' in Russian strike on central Ukraine military base
Russian strikes on a military facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Friday left nearly a dozen people dead and injured more than 30 others, a local defence official said.
"A national guard training centre was hit this morning by Iskander missiles. People were killed. Unfortunately, about 10 people died and between 30 and 35 people have been injured," Gennady Korban, the regional head of the national guard, told local Ukrainian media.
Dnipro has escaped the brunt of damage inflicted by Russian forces in more than three months of fighting, and the city early on became was a hub for displaced Ukrainians fleeing fighting further east.
The region's governor Valentin Reznitchenko had earlier said that strikes Friday had caused "serious destruction" and that rescue workers were searching for people under the rubble of damaged buildings.
The strikes come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that 87 people were killed in Russian strikes on a Ukrainian military base north of the capital Kyiv on May 17.
10:26 AM
Kremlin accuses Ukraine of 'contradictory' statements on peace talks
The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for the fact that peace talks between the two countries are frozen, saying it was unclear what Kyiv wanted.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters: "The Ukrainian leadership constantly makes contradictory statements. This does not allow us to fully understand what the Ukrainian side wants."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that he had tried repeatedly to organise a meeting with Putin to end the war, but that Russia did not appear to be ready yet for serious peace talks.
"There are things to discuss with the Russian leader. I'm not telling you that ... our people are eager (for me) to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are living through," Zelensky said.
"What do we want from this meeting? ... We want our lives back... We want to reclaim the life of a sovereign country within its own territory," he said.
The last known face-to-face peace negotiations were on March 29.
10:15 AM
Rebel Russian politicians hit out at Putin in Far East
A group of Russian politicians have appealed to Vladimir Putin to stop the Ukraine war in a daring speech, only to be labelled “traitors” by the governor.
The presentation of an annual report by Oleg Kozhemyako, the Primorye governor, on Friday morning in Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast was disrupted by a Communist lawmaker who stood up from his seat and read out an appeal to President Putin.
“Almost three months since the start of the military operation has shown that it is impossible to succeed with military means,” Leonid Vasyukevich was heard saying in a video.
“Further actions will mean more dead and injured soldiers. We demand an immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops.”
The petition was signed by four Communist lawmakers. Mr Kozhemyako, the highly unpopular local governor, asked the speaker to remove Mr Vasyukovich and his colleagues from the room for violating the chamber’s regulations.
He said the deputies were “smearing the Russian army and our defenders who are fighting Nazis. Traitors!”
Vladivostok, situated nearly 7,000 kilometres east of Ukraine and home to many ethnic Ukrainians, is known as one of Russia’s most protest-prone regions.
09:57 AM
Pictured: British troops in war games in Estonia
Units from the Royal Tank Regiment and Royal Welsh Battlegroup are taking part in Nato's Exercise Hedgehog in the Baltic regions.
See the photos here.
09:45 AM
Ukraine needs to face reality and talk to Putin, says Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said Ukraine was not eager to talk to Russia's Vladimir Putin but that it has to face the reality that this will likely be necessary to end the war.
"There are things to discuss with the Russian leader. I'm not telling you that to me our people are eager to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are living through," Mr Zelensky said in an address to an Indonesian think tank.
"What do we want from this meeting... We want our lives back... We want to reclaim the life of a sovereign country within its own territory," he said, adding that Russia did not appear to be ready yet for serious peace talks.
09:33 AM
Russia mines Black Sea, Ukraine claims
Ukraine has claimed that Russia planted between 400 and 500 Soviet mines across the Black Sea.
They say some of the mines are being dislodged during bad weather and moving, making it even harder to move goods from the country’s ports.
Serhiy Bratchuk, Odesa’s regional military administration spokesman, said Russia has "created a food crisis in the world" with its actions.
Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been barricaded since the war started on February 24. With 20 million tonnes of grain trapped in the country, it has the potential to cause a global food crisis.
09:12 AM
Russia expels five Croatian diplomats in retaliatory move
Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday that it was expelling five staff members of the Croatian embassy in Moscow in response to Zagreb ordering out some of its staff.
Croatia in April told 24 Russian embassy staff to leave over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.
09:02 AM
In photos: Ukrainian soldiers take a break
Today Ukrainian soldiers were photographed taking a well-earned break at a restaurant in Bakhmut.
08:46 AM
Pro-Russia separatists say have captured Ukraine's Lyman
Moscow-backed separatist forces in Ukraine said Friday they had captured Lyman, a strategic town that sits on a road leading to key eastern cities still under Kyiv's control.
Together with Russian troops, separatist forces have "liberated and taken full control of 220 settlements, including Krasny Liman," the breakaway region of Donetsk said on its Telegram channel, using an old name for the town.
There was no immediate confirmation from Russia or Ukraine.
Located in the north of the eastern Donetsk region, Lyman lies on the road to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the capital of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk.
Moscow is focused in Ukraine on securing and expanding its gains in the Donbas region, near the border with Russia and home to pro-Kremlin separatists, as well as the southern coast.
Russian and Moscow-appointed officials in the southern region of Kherson, which is under the full control of Russian troops, and in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia have said both regions could become part of Russia.
08:33 AM
Read: In Ukraine’s valleys of death, a lethal game of hide and seek is playing out
In the leaves, a muzzle barked. A flash of smoke spun out across the field, something whirred into the distance, and the butterflies among the young crops barely flinched.
The howitzers in the trees fired twice in quick succession, then their crews dismounted, scrambled around, replaced dislodged camouflage, and reloaded.
Artillery, rocket launchers and mortars are more likely to decide the outcome of the war in Ukraine than any other weapon system.
In eastern Donbas, massive Russian barrages are pounding a path for the infantry and tanks as they try to surround the city of Severodonetsk - with ghastly consequences for anyone caught in the way.
Read more from our Senior Foreign Correspondent Roland Oliphant and David Rose, in eastern Ukraine, here.
08:17 AM
Separatist leader: more than 5,000 Ukrainian prisoners held in breakaway region
A pro-Russian separatist leader in East Ukraine said that more than 5,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war were being held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, TASS reported on Friday.
07:49 AM
Watch: Zelensky says Russian bombardments could leave Donbas 'uninhabited'
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, has said Russian bombardments could leave the entire region of Donbas "uninhabited", accusing the Russians of wanting to reduce its cities to ashes.
"All this, including the deportation of our people and the mass killings of civilians, is an obvious policy of genocide pursued by Russia," he said in his nightly televised address.
07:28 AM
Russia dusting off 50-year-old tanks
Russia is using 50-year-old tanks in its occupation of southern Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The Southern Grouping of Forces (SGF) is tasked with controlling areas seized by Russia - but they are now dusting over T-62 tanks from deep storage.
The Ministry of Defence said the tanks are likely to be vulnerable to anti-tank weapons.
The move highlights Russia's shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment. they added.
07:08 AM
Russian mother says conscript sons returned from Ukraine 'thin, dirty and exhausted'
A Russian mother has spoken out on the plight of her conscripted sons, who she said were sent to Ukraine despite Vladimir Putin’s assurances.
Marina told the BBC that her sons returned from Ukraine “thin, dirty and exhausted” after being sent over the border at the start of the conflict - contradicting Putin’s assertion that conscripts were not being used on the frontlines.
When hunting for her children, Marina was told false claims that her children had “signed military contracts to be professional soldiers” and would “return as heroes”.
"What on earth are you talking about? They had no plans to sign a contract," she replied.
Marina made an official complaint, knowing that her sons would not have signed up for the war. It was upheld and both sons were returned to Russia.
"They allowed me to come and take my younger son home for the day," Marina said. "While I was driving to collect him, I called and asked him if there was anything he needed. 'Mum, I don't need anything,' he replied, 'just you'.
"When I saw him he looked a total mess. The lads that came back from there were so thin, dirty and exhausted. Their clothes were torn. My son said: 'It's better that you don't know what happened there.' But all that mattered to me was that he had come back alive."
06:43 AM
Fighting in Donbas reaches maximum intensity
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar told journalists that fighting in the east had reached "its maximum intensity" since Russia invaded its neighbour on February 24.
Pro-Moscow separatist groups have since 2014 controlled parts of Donbas, but Russia now appears set on taking the whole region.
"Enemy forces are storming the positions of our troops simultaneously in several directions. We have an extremely difficult and long stage of fighting ahead of us," Mr Malyar said.
Three people have died in recent Russian attacks on Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which stand on the crucial route to Ukraine's eastern administrative centre in Kramatorsk.
06:24 AM
Putin ready to help overcome food crisis if West lifts sanctions
Moscow is ready to make a "significant contribution" to averting a looming food crisis if the West lifts sanctions over Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday.
Russia was slapped with unprecedented sanctions after Putin ordered troops into neighbouring Ukraine on February 24.
The sanctions and military action have disrupted supplies of fertiliser, wheat and other commodities from both Russia and Ukraine. The two countries produce 30 per cent of the global wheat supply.
"Putin emphasises that the Russian Federation is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertiliser, subject to the lifting of politically motivated restrictions by the West," the Kremlin said in a statement following the call.
It added that Putin also spoke about the "steps taken to ensure safety of navigation, including the daily opening of humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilian ships from the ports of the Azov and Black Sea, which is impeded by the Ukrainian side".
The United States scoffed at Putin's offer.
"Now they're using economic tools, as weapons. They're weaponizing food. They're weaponizing economic assistance. I guess we shouldn't be surprised by that, since they've weaponized everything else, including lies and information," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
06:07 AM
Washington warns Kyiv about strikes in Russia
Russian shelling killed at least seven civilians and wounded 17 in the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, authorities said.
Meanwhile, as the United States and its allies provide Ukraine with increasingly sophisticated arms, Washington has held discussions with Kyiv about the danger of escalation if it strikes deep inside Russia, US and diplomatic officials told Reuters.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the West that supplying weapons to Ukraine capable of hitting Russian territory would be "a serious step towards unacceptable escalation", Tass news agency said.
05:50 AM
Battle over $325m Russian-owned superyacht continues
The US has won the latest round of a legal battle to seize a $325 million Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji, with the case now appearing headed for the Pacific nation's top court.
The case has highlighted the thorny legal ground the US finds itself on as it tries to seize assets of Russian oligarchs around the world.
Fiji's Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed an appeal by Feizal Haniff, who represents the company that legally owns the superyacht Amadea. Haniff had argued the US had no jurisdiction under Fiji's mutual assistance laws to seize the vessel, at least until a court sorted out who really owned the Amadea.
Haniff said he now plans to take the case to Fiji's Supreme Court and will apply for a court order to stop US agents sailing the Amadea from Fiji before the appeal is heard.
As part of its ruling, the appeals court ordered that its judgment not take effect for seven days, presumably to give time for any appeals to be filed.
The US argues that its investigation has found that behind various fronts, the Cayman Islands-flagged luxury yacht is really owned by the sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, an economist and former Russian politician.
04:50 AM
Guilty pleas from Russian soldiers on trial
Two Russian soldiers accused of war crimes in Ukraine appeared at a second trial hearing in the northeastern town of Kotelva.
The Russian servicemen, Alexander Alexeevich Ivanov and Alexander Vladimirovich Bobykin, are charged with shelling civilian infrastructure with a multiple rocket launcher. Both soldiers pleaded guilty at the hearing held at the Kotelevsky District Court.
If convicted, the servicemen could face up to 12 years in prison.
Their defence attorney asked for eight years, saying the two were only following their officers' orders.
Asked if they wanted to make any declarations at the end of the hearing, Bobykin said: "I admit what I did, I regret the actions our troops committed, I believe that in the future the war will end and the peace we are all waiting for will come."
Ivanov made no comment.
The trial is adjourned to May 31.
03:49 AM
Russian forces wiping towns from the face of the Earth
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with the West to send multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine as soon as possible to give it a chance against the Russian offensive in the eastern Donbas.
"We are fighting for Ukraine to be provided with all the weapons needed to change the nature of the fighting and start moving faster and more confidently toward the expulsion of the occupiers," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address to the nation.
He said Russian forces were wiping some eastern towns from the face of the Earth and the region could end up uninhabited.
"They want to turn Popasna, Bakhmut, Lyman, Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk into ashes as they did with Volnovakha and Mariupol," Mr Zelensky said.
In the shelling on Thursday of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Mr Zelensky said at least nine people were killed and 19 wounded. Among those killed was a five-month-old baby and the infant's father, with the child's mother seriously injured.
Mr Zelensky also had harsh words for members of the European Union who are resisting imposing even tougher sanctions on Russia including a ban on the import of Russian oil and gas, the major source of revenue for Moscow.
03:08 AM
Fish and chips to take a battering due to sanctions
Ministers are preparing to hit Russian seafood imports with punitive trade tariffs in a move that could cripple Britain’s fish and chips shops, Joe Barnes and Nick Gutteridge write.
Government sources said there is a “clear intention” to include Russian whitefish exports, including cod and haddock, in an upcoming wave of sanctions against Moscow.
“It is included on a list of Russian products we’ve said we intend to introduce tariffs on,” a government source told The Telegraph on Thursday.
“There are no timescales on when we intend to introduce the tariffs but we’ve made it very clear we intend to introduce them.”
Whitefish was originally amongst the Russian exports earmarked to be slapped with a 35 per cent tariff by the UK in March in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but was eventually left out.
Read more: Chippies under threat in latest round of Russian sanctions
02:11 AM
Intense fighting in Sievierodonetsk
The Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk is the centre of fierce fighting in the east of the country.
Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said the city was holding out even though a Russian reconnaissance and sabotage group went into a city hotel.
Mr Stryuk said at least 1,500 people had been killed in Sievierodonetsk and about 12,000 to 13,000 remained in the city, where 60 per cent of residential buildings had been destroyed.
Sievierodonetsk is the only part of the Luhansk region in the Donbas under Ukrainian government control, and Russian forces have been trying to cut it off from the rest of Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Mr Stryuk said the main road between the neighbouring town of Lysychansk and Bakhmut to the southwest remained open, but travel is dangerous.
He said only 12 people were able to be evacuated on Thursday.
01:51 AM
In pictures: Scale of destruction – homes lost in Russian attacks
01:40 AM
'Show me one Nazi in the village!'
Russia's rationale of a "special military operation" to "demilitarise and de-Nazify" Ukraine drew a snort of derision in one village near Kharkiv that came under fire.
"Show me one Nazi in the village! We have our nation, we are nationalists but not Nazis nor fascists," said retired nurse Larysa Kosynets.
Elsewhere, in the strategic southern port city of Mariupol, occupying authorities cancelled school holidays to prepare students to switching to a Russian curriculum, said a Ukrainian official.
"Throughout the summer, children will have to study Russian language, literature and history as well as math classes in Russian," city official Petro Andryushchenko wrote on social media.
01:15 AM
Today's top stories
A Russian court has ordered the dismissal of more than 100 National Guard officers who refused to be deployed to Ukraine, the first official ruling on a case that has shed light on internal dissatisfaction with the war
The war in the Donbas has hit its fiercest point so far, Kyiv has warned as Russia pressed on with its attempt to seize the crucial eastern Ukraine region
Russian meddling in the Western Balkans risks tipping the region back into war, Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, warned on a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Snake Island has gained a new significance in recent weeks: as a possible key to unlocking the looming global food shortage sparked by a Russian blockade on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports
Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of Russia’s Chechnya, has threatened to attack Poland unless it agrees to withdraw its support of Ukraine
Ministers are preparing to hit Russian seafood imports with punitive trade tariffs in a move that could cripple Britain’s fish and chips shops
Russian forces have driven lorries with huge LED screens through the war-ravaged streets of Mariupol pumping out pro-Kremlin propaganda to the local population
Volodymyr Zelensky has crushed calls for Ukraine to cede some of its territory to Russia, comparing it to the appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the run-up to the Second World War
