Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says Bakhmut ‘is not occupied’; Russia accuses G7 of ‘undermining global stability’ — as it happened
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says during Japan visit that Ukrainian troops are still in eastern city at centre of bloody battle; Moscow calls summit a ‘politicised’ event
Zelenskiy says Bakhmut 'is not occupied' and Ukraine's troops remain in city
Answering questions from journalists, Zelenskiy asserted that Bakhmut had not been captured by Russia and that Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but that he could not give clear information.
He said:
We are fighting thanks to the courage of our people, our warriors.
I clearly understand what has taken place in Bakhmut.
I cannot share with you the tactical views of our military.
Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia Federation as of today. There are no two or three interpretations of those words.
The time in Kyiv is 9.20pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s news:
Russia’s foreign ministry dismissed the G7 summit in Japan as a “politicised” event which it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements.
The US president, Joe Biden, has announced a new package of military aid of up to $375m to Ukraine, telling its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that the US is doing all it can to strengthen Ukraine’s defence. The package includes ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.
Biden told a press conference that he had received a “flat assurance” from Zelenskiy that he would not use western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory. Biden said F-16 warplanes could, however, be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area”.
In a G7 speech, Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine was “an obvious expression of rationality”, and sought support for his “peace formula”. He thanked western leaders for achieving “a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected”, but questioned: “Is this enough?”
There has been some confusion over whether Russia has taken the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Vladimir Putin congratulated troops on its “liberation”. At the G7 meeting, Zelenskiyasserted that Bakhmut had not been captured by Russia and that Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but that he could not give clear information. He added that Bakhmut reminded him of pictures of a totally destroyed Hiroshima after the second world war. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said that Ukrainian forces had partly encircled Bakhmut along the flanks and still maintained control of a private sector in the city.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said on Sunday he had visited frontline positions near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, where he thanked troops defending the area. In a Telegram post, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance along the flanks of the ruined city.
In a press conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s peace formula offers a vision of a world of peace that will “paralyse other potential aggressors”.
Zelenskiy added that as well as regaining the northern territories, it was imperative that Ukraine recaptured the southern and eastern regions currently occupied by Russia.
Russia has announced indictments in absentia for a judge and prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) who issued a war crimes warrant for President Vladimir Putin. A statement from the national investigative committee said the judge, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and the prosecutor, Khan Karim Asad Ahmad, are both charged with “preparing to attack a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations”.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied Russian claims the Kremlin has captured the key Donbas city of Bakhmut, saying Ukrainian forces still held positions in the city.
“Bakhmut is not occupied by Russian Federation as of today,” he told a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
The Wagner mercenary group claimed that Russia had seized the last urban areas in Bakhmut, in a video posted on Telegram.
The contested city has been reduced to rubble in the longest battle of the conflict in Ukraine.
Bakhmut: Zelenskiy denies Russian victory claims in contested city – video
A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to “initiate a peace process,” but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertiliser exports Africa desperately needs, according to a mediator who helped broker the talks, who made the comments in an interview with the Associated Press.
Jean-Yves Ollivier, an international negotiator who has been working for six months to put the talks together, said the African leaders would also discuss the related issue of easing the passage of more grain shipments out of Ukraine amid the war and the possibility of more prisoner swaps when they travel to both countries on what they have characterised as a peace mission.
The talks will probably be next month, Ollivier said.
He arrived in Moscow on Sunday and will also go to Kyiv for meetings with high-level officials to work out “logistics” for the upcoming talks. For one, the six African presidents would probably have to travel to Kyiv by night train from Poland amid the fighting, he said.
Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy have both agreed to separately host the delegation of presidents from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Zambia.
The talks also have the approval of the US the EU, the United Nations, the African Union and China, Ollivier said in a video call with the AP on Friday.
Russia has announced indictments in absentia for a judge and prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) who issued a war crimes warrant for President Vladimir Putin.
A statement from the national investigative committee said the judge, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and the prosecutor, Khan Karim Asad Ahmad, are both charged with “preparing to attack a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations”.
They both also face other charges. Conviction could bring prison terms of up to 12 years, AP reported.
The committee also said other ICC officials were being investigated.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said on Sunday he had visited frontline positions near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, where he thanked troops defending the area.
In a Telegram post, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance along the flanks of the ruined city.
It’s been a busy day, with plenty of speeches from the G7 summit in Hiroshima and confusion over exactly what has happened in Bakhmut, after conflicting accounts from Russia and Ukraine. Here are all the key points:
Russia’s foreign ministry dismissed the G7 summit in Japan as a “politicised” event which it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements.
The US president, Joe Biden, has announced a new package of military aid of up to $375m to Ukraine, telling its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that the US is doing all it can to strengthen Ukraine’s defence. The package includes ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.
Biden told a press conference that he had received a “flat assurance” from Zelenskiy that he would not use western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory. Biden said F-16 warplanes could, however, be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area”.
In a G7 speech, Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine was “an obvious expression of rationality”, and sought support for his “peace formula”. He thanked western leaders for achieving “a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected”, but questioned: “Is this enough?”
There has been some confusion over whether Russia has taken the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Vladimir Putin congratulated troops on its “liberation”. At the G7 meeting, Zelenskiyasserted that Bakhmut had not been captured by Russia and that Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but that he could not give clear information. He added that Bakhmut reminded him of pictures of a totally destroyed Hiroshima after the second world war. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said that Ukrainian forces had partly encircled Bakhmut along the flanks and still maintained control of a private sector in the city.
In a press conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s peace formula offers a vision of a world of peace that will “paralyse other potential aggressors”.
Zelenskiy added that as well as regaining the northern territories, it was imperative that Ukraine recaptured the southern and eastern regions currently occupied by Russia.
Thanks for following. I’m handing over to my colleague Tom Ambrose who’ll be keeping you updated for the rest of the day.
Yoon Suk Yeol, the South Korean president, who met Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time on the sidelines of the G7, has said he is planning to provide Ukraine with mine-removing equipment and ambulances.
Yoon added that South Korea would carefully review a list of some non-lethal weapons requested by Zelenskiy.
South Korea signed an agreement with Ukraine on Wednesday on its plan to provide a $130m financial aid package, a day after the visiting first lady of the war-torn country asked for military assistance.
South Korea, a leading producer of artillery shells, has said it was not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its relations with Russia.
In Moldova, tens of thousands of people have gathered in the capital, Chișinău, to support their pro-western government’s drive towards Europe amid what officials have said are Russian efforts to destabilise their country.
Reuters reports:
Moldova has been badly hit by the impact of Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, which Chisinau has repeatedly condemned, and applied to join the European Union.
President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of seeking to sabotage its European integration by fuelling anti-government protests and propaganda. Moscow denies meddling in Moldova’s affairs.
At the rally organised by her government, Sandu pledged that Moldova would become an EU member by 2030, and said:
Moldova does not want to be blackmailed by the Kremlin.
We don’t want to be on the outskirts of Europe any more.
Russia’s foreign ministry has dismissed the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, as a “politicised” event that it said had pumped out anti-Russian and anti-Chinese statements.
Reuters reports:
Moscow lashed out after the leaders of the world’s richest democracies said they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Kyiv denied.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the Russian foreign ministry said the G7 had “irreversibly deteriorated” and that the forum had become “an ‘incubator’ where, under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxons, destructive initiatives that undermine global stability are prepared”.
The statement accused the G7 of fanning anti-Russian and anti-Chinese “hysteria”.
Russia used to be a member of the G7 club of industrialised democracies, which was previously known as the G8, until Moscow was excluded after its the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.
The summit gave Zelenskiy a chance to lobby for support from other attendees, like the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who have remained uncommitted.
The Russian foreign ministry, in the same statement, accused the G7 of “flirting” with non-western states in an effort to stymie the development of their ties with Moscow and Beijing.
It said it was convinced though that the forum was incapable of reflecting the interests of the Asia-Pacific region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Latin America.
The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont has been looking into Russia’s claims that its troops have taken Bakhmut, which has been challenged by Ukraine. His full report is here:
There’s more detail on Reuters on the police investigation in Germany into the possible poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference in Berlin at the end of April, which was organised by Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Media reports said one of the women was a journalist and her symptoms may have already appeared before the conference on 29 and 30 April. She went to the Charité hospital in Berlin.
The second woman was Natalia Arno, director of the NGO Free Russia Foundation. She wrote on her Facebook page that she found the door to her hotel room had been left ajar.
She also wrote: “I woke up at 5am, suffering sharp pain and strange symptoms.”
A top Ukrainian general has said that Kyiv’s forces controlled an “insignificant” part of the eastern city of Bakhmut, but that the foothold would be enough to enter the devastated city when the situation changed.
In a Telegram post, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kyiv’s forces were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs of Bakhmut and that they were getting closer to a “tactical encirclement” of the city.
