Ukraine-Russia war – live: Over 3,000 evacuated in Russian city after undetonated bomb found
Thousands have been evacuated from their homes in the Russian city of Belgorod after an undetonated bomb was found.
Over 3,000 people were evacuated on Saturday two days after Russia accidentally dropped a bomb on the same city, which is located about 25 miles from the border with Ukraine.
It is not known if the bomb came from the same aircraft. However, the undetonated device was found in the same area as the bomb that was accidentally dropped on Thursday evening.
Local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov said that 17 apartment buildings had to be cordoned off “within a radius of 200 metres” of the undetonated bomb.
At least two people were injured after the bomb was dropped on Thursday evening, which left a crater of about 20 metres wide.
Buildings were destroyed and a car was blown on to the roof of a nearby shop.
The Russian defence ministry admitted that one of its fighter jets had “accidentally discharged aircraft ordnance” over the city.
Key Points
Vladimir Putin ‘struggling to maintain narrative’ justifying war in Ukraine
Wagner chief expresses concern over Ukrainian counterattack
Three injured in Russian misfire on own city
Fighting in Ukraine slowed by severe mud, says UK
Over 3,000 evacuated in Russian city after undetonated bomb found
Over 3,000 evacuated in Russian city after undetonated bomb found
Saturday 22 April 2023 18:50 , Martha Mchardy
Thousands have been evacuated from their homes in the Russian city of Belgorod after an undetonated bomb was found.
Over 3,000 people were evacuated on Saturday two days after Russia accidentally dropped a bomb on the same city, which is located about 25 miles from the border with Ukraine.
It is not known if the bomb came from the same aircraft. However, the undetonated device was found in the same area as the bomb that was accidentally dropped on Thursday evening.
Local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov said that 17 apartment buildings had to be cordoned off “within a radius of 200 metres” of the undetonated bomb.
At least two people were injured after the bomb was dropped on Thursday evening, which left a crater of about 20 metres wide.
Buildings were destroyed and a car was blown on to the roof of a nearby shop.
The Russian defence ministry admitted that one of its fighter jets had “accidentally discharged aircraft ordnance” over the city.
ICYMI: Ukrainian soldier who lost leg to run London Marathon for unity against Russia
13:00 , Matt Mathers
A Ukrainian soldier who lost his leg and has been fighting on the front line wearing a prosthesis will run the London Marathon to raise money and share a message of unity against Russian aggression.
Roman Kashpur lost his leg in 2019 when he stood on a mine, but fought on the front line in Ukraine wearing a prosthesis for six weeks after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
The 26-year-old, from Khmelnyk in Vinnytska, has since moved into a role training fellow troops and on Sunday he will run in the 43rd London Marathon to represent his country and raise money for Citizen – a charity that supports Ukrainian servicemen with amputations.
Aisling Grace reports:
Ukrainian soldier who lost leg to run London Marathon for unity against Russia
Russia's Medvedev warns Moscow will scrap grain deal if G7 bans exports
12:25 , Matt Mathers
Russian former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea Grain deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine.
The Group of Seven (G7) countries are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported last week, citing Japanese government sources.
France, Baltic states dismayed after China envoy questions Ukraine sovereignty
11:48 , Matt Mathers
France and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania expressed dismay after China’s ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet countries like Ukraine.
Asked about his position on whether Crimea is part of Ukraine or not, Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye said in an interview aired on French television on Friday that historically it was part of Russia and had been offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
"These ex-USSR countries don’t have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereign status," Shaye added.
France responded on Sunday by stating its "full solidarity" with all the allied countries affected, which it said had acquired their independence "after decades of oppression".
"On Ukraine specifically, it was internationally recognized within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China," a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that China will have to clarify whether these comments reflect its position or not.
The three Baltic states, all formerly part of the Soviet Union, reacted along the same lines as France.
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Son of Vladimir Putin's spokesman says he served with Wagner in Ukraine
11:13 , Matt Mathers
The son of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman claimed in an interview published on Saturday that he had served in Ukraine under an assumed name as an artilleryman in the Wagner mercenary force, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported.
Nikolai Peskov, the 33-year-old son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, told the privately-owned newspaper that he had served in Ukraine, a rare, public example of the son of a senior Russian official fighting in the war.
"It was on my initiative," Peskov, whose father has served as Putin’s spokesman since 2008, said in an interview. "I considered it my duty."
He said that he had served out his contract for a little under half a year under an assumed name to hide his true identity. He received a medal for bravery, the newspaper said.
Asked about his father’s views of his service, Nikolai said: "He’s proud of me, I think. My father told me that I made the right decision."
Watch: Drone footage shows explosions and smoke over Bakhmut
10:15 , Matt Mathers
The Ukrainian military released drone footage on Saturday, 22 April, from Bakhmut, which shows several explosions around the city.
Footage shows explosions and smoke over war-torn Bakhmut, which has been the scene of heavy fighting for months.
Reuters verified the location from the buildings and road layout seen in the video, which matched satellite imagery of the area.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Russian assault troops had captured three more districts in the western part of Bakhmut.
Watch here:
Drone footage shows explosions and smoke over Bakhmut
Why Russia’s war in Ukraine is bad news for polar bears, too
09:45 , Matt Mathers
The invasion is first and foremost a human tragedy but it is also dire for wildlife, stalling scientific work on the bears and other species threatened with extinction, writes Dino Grandoni
Read Dino’s piece here:
Why Russia’s war in Ukraine is bad news for polar bears, too | Dino Grandoni
ICYMI: Putin struggling to ‘maintain narrative used to justify the war’, says UK
09:15 , Matt Mathers
Russia is struggling to maintain the narrative that its conflict in Ukraine is similar to the Soviet Union’s battle against the Nazis in the Second World War, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (Mod) has said.
President Vladimir Putin consistently said he wanted to “denazify” Ukraine in the run up to his country’s invasion in February last year.
Putin, assisted by the country’s state media, has exploited the memory of the Second World War, which is a lynchpin of Russia’s national identity.
Joe Middleton reports:
Putin struggling to ‘maintain narrative used to justify the war’, says UK
Russia expels 20 German diplomats
08:45 , Matt Mathers
Russia said it was expelling more than 20 German diplomats in a tit-for-tat move
Germany did not immediately confirm any expulsions of its own, but said the arrival of a Russian government plane in Berlin was connected to the issue.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency said Germany had decided to expel more than 20 Russians.
Latest updates in the Ukraine war
08:15 , Matt Mathers
Economy
The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers called for the "extension, full implementation and expansion" of a critical deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. Russia, which invaded its neighbour in February 2022, has strongly signalled that it will not allow the deal to continue beyond May 18.
Russia’s richest people added $152 billion to their wealth over the past year, helped by high prices for natural resources - rebounding from the huge losses they experienced after the start of the war in Ukraine, Forbes Russia said.
Latest updates in the Ukraine war
07:45 , Matt Mathers
Diplomacy, legal
Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday he did not want to "please anyone" with his views about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after provoking criticism in the West for suggesting Kyiv shared the blame for the war
Russia is advising citizens to avoid travel to Canada, citing what it calls numerous cases of discrimination against Russians, including physical violence, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.
Ukraine plans to deploy software from U.S. data analytics provider Palantir Technologies Inc to help it prosecute alleged war crimes committed by Russia, the company told Reuters.
Latest updates in the Ukraine war
07:15 , Matt Mathers
Fighting
At least five Russian missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and surrounding districts late on Saturday night, causing some damage to civilian buildings, local officials said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Russian forces had captured three more blocks in the western part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
Units from Belarus returned home from Russia on Saturday after training on how to use the Iskander tactical missile system to launch nuclear weapons, the Belarusian defence ministry said.
Why Vladimir Putin needs Xi Jinping now more than ever
06:00 , Joe Middleton
The autocrats may be exaggerating when they tout their ‘no-limits’ friendship, but Beijing is indeed willing to step up its support if the Russian regime reaches the brink of collapse, experts tell Arpan Rai.
Why Vladimir Putin needs Xi Jinping now more than ever
Drone footage shows explosions and smoke over Bakhmut
05:00 , Joe Middleton
Brazil's Lula kicks off visit to European ally Portugal
03:59 , Joe Middleton
Portugal’s president welcomed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil on an official visit Saturday, as the Brazilian leader looks to strengthen ties with his country’s natural partner in the European Union.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa received Lula and Brazilian first lady Rosangela da Silva in an official ceremony at the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon. Portugal is home to over 250,000 Brazilians, and some were on hand to cheer the visiting president.
The trip is Lula’s first to a European country since he defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and won a third non-consecutive term in October. While in Portugal, the left-wing leader aims to aims to secure about a dozen agreements on trade and migration.
Lula annoyed leaders in the EU and the United States last weekend by stating that Ukraine and Russia had both chosen to go to war and that Western military aid was fueling the conflict. He also welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Brasilia on Monday.
Brazil's Lula kicks off visit to European ally Portugal
Aftermath of explosion as Russian warplane accidentally fires into city near Ukraine
03:00 , Joe Middleton
A Russian warplane accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod, Russia, near Ukraine late on Thursday 20 April, causing an explosion and damaging buildings.
Local authorities reported a large blast in the city, which lies just across the border from Ukraine.
The regional governor said two women had been injured when a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane accidentally discharged aviation ammunition.
The Su-34 is a supersonic fighter-bomber jet.
Video footage from the site showed piles of concrete on the street, several damaged cars and a building with broken windows.
One shot showed what appeared to be a car upside down on the roof of a store.
Aftermath of explosion as Russian warplane accidentally fires into city near Ukraine
Minister: Ukraine will win war of technologies
02:00 , Joe Middleton
As Ukrainian and Russian troops fight conventional battles on the front lines, Europe’s first major war of the internet age has also sparked a war of technology as both sides vie for advantage with their drones and satellite communications.
While the two sides have kept pace with one another thus far, Ukraine’s minister in charge of technology told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he was confident his country had the motivation and abilities to out-innovate Russia in the end.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, said unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), electronic warfare, satellite communications and other technologies had been a fundamental part of the war with Russia that began more than a year ago.
Minister: Ukraine will win war of technologies
How ‘Putin’s chef’ and his Wagner Group cronies are cashing in on conflicts around the world
01:00 , Joe Middleton
They’ve drawn most attention in eastern Ukraine, but it seems wherever war breaks out – from Syria to Sudan – this group of mercenaries can be found profiting from bloodshed, writes World Affairs Editor Kim Sengupta.
How ‘Putin’s chef’ and his Wagner Group cronies are cashing in on conflict
Five people sanctioned over imprisonment of British-Russian dissident
Saturday 22 April 2023 23:58 , Joe Middleton
The UK has sanctioned five people including two Russian spies following the imprisonment of a British-Russian dissident for 25 years in Moscow.
Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed on Monday after being convicted of treason and spreading false information about the Russian army in a process he described as a “show trial”.
The Kremlin critic, a close ally of murdered opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, has already survived two poisonings that left him in a coma in 2015 and 2017.
Five people sanctioned over imprisonment of British-Russian dissident
ICYMI: All Nato members agree Ukraine will join, Stoltenberg says
Saturday 22 April 2023 23:00 , Joe Middleton
Russia expels German diplomats in tit-for-tat move
Saturday 22 April 2023 22:19 , Joe Middleton
Russia said on Saturday it was expelling a number of German diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, although Germany did not immediately confirm any expulsions of its own.
Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency said, without citing a source, that Germany was expelling more than 20 Russian diplomats.
A German Foreign Ministry official said Berlin and Moscow had been in contact about their respective representations in the last few weeks, and that the arrival of a Russian government airplane in Berlin was connected to the issue.
Relations between Russia and Germany, which used to be the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas, have fallen apart since Moscow sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February 2022 and the West responded with sanctions and with weapons for Ukraine.
“The German authorities have decided on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“We strongly condemn these actions by Berlin, which continues to demonstratively destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations.”
At least five Russian missiles hit eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, claims local officials
Saturday 22 April 2023 21:22 , Joe Middleton
At least five Russian missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and surrounding districts late on Saturday night, causing some damage to civilian buildings, local officials said.
Russia has for months been launching drones and missiles against a wide variety of Ukrainian targets in a bid to damage vital infrastructure.
Regional governor Oleh Sinegubov, writing on Telegram, said one missile hit a house in the village of Kotliary, just to the south of Kharkiv, while another sparked a major fire in the city itself.
Reuters
Lula does not want to ‘please anyone’ with Ukraine views
Saturday 22 April 2023 20:44 , Joe Middleton
Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday he did not want to “please anyone” with his views about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking in Lisbon at the start of his first visit to Europe since being elected president, Lula said his aim was to “build a way to bring both of them (Russia and Ukraine) to the table”.
“I want to find a third alternative (to solve the conflict), which is the construction of peace,” he told a news conference.
Last week he said the United States and European allies should stop supplying arms to Ukraine, arguing that they were prolonging the war. “If you are not making peace, you are contributing to war,” Lula said.
The White House accused Lula of parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who accompanied Lula at the news conference, said their countries’ stances on the war were different.
Portugal is a founding member of Nato and has sent military equipment to Ukraine. Rebelo de Sousa said Ukraine had the right to defend itself and recover its territory.
Lula arrived in Portugal on Friday for a five-day visit as he strives to improve foreign ties after Jair Bolsonaro’s four years in office, during which Brazil’s relations with many countries including its former colonial power frayed.
Reuters
Why Russia’s war in Ukraine is bad news for polar bears, too
Saturday 22 April 2023 19:58 , Andy Gregory
For three years, Eric Regehr travelled more than 2,000 miles to what he calls “the end of the world”, reports Dino Grandoni.
Not even the coronavirus pandemic stopped the University of Washington biologist’s research on Wrangel Island, high above the Arctic Circle in Russia. When the pandemic grounded Regehr in 2020, his Russian colleagues continued monitoring the remote island’s polar bears, a carnivore many fear may decline as the world warms.
But after Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine early last year, Regehr’s research in Russia stalled. “It’s bad timing,” Regehr says, “because things are changing fast.”
Russia’s war in Ukraine is first and foremost a human tragedy. But it has been dire for wildlife and those who study it, too. Sanctions and other US policies meant to isolate Russia, along with the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent, have chilled scientific collaboration between American and Russian biologists, leading to nixed research trips, cancelled conservation work, restricted funding and uncollected data related to species at risk of disappearing in the coming decades without human help.
You can read the full story here:
Why Russia’s war in Ukraine is bad news for polar bears, too | Dino Grandoni
Drone footage shows explosions and smoke over Bakhmut
Saturday 22 April 2023 19:30 , Joe Middleton
Russia ‘responding in kind’ to mass expulsion of diplomats from Berlin
Saturday 22 April 2023 18:52 , Andy Gregory
Moscow is responding in kind to a mass expulsion of its diplomats from Berlin, Russia’s foreign ministry has said.
“The German authorities took a decision on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany. We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations,” the ministry said.
It did not reveal the number of diplomats involved.
“As a reaction to the hostile actions of Berlin, the Russian side decided to mirror the expulsion of German diplomats from Russia, as well as to significantly limit the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions in our country,” the ministry said.
Germany’s ambassador in Moscow had been notified about the move on 5 April, the ministry said.
Latvia releases batch of seized Russian fertiliser key to Black Sea export deal
Saturday 22 April 2023 17:48 , Andy Gregory
A first batch of Russian fertiliser which Latvia seized last year is being shipped to Kenya by the United Nations’ World Food Programme, Latvia's Foreign Ministry has said.
Russia has cited the seizure as a key stumbling block to its continued participation in a Black Sea grains deal that allows Ukraine to export grains.
A vessel left the port of Riga on Friday with part of the 200,000 tonnes of seized fertiliser, the ministry said.
Several more vessels are due to transport the rest of the fertilizer which was seized in March 2022, a ministry spokesperson said.
Russia has indicated that it will not allow the deal brokered by the UN and Turkey in July 2022 to continue beyond 18 May because a list of demands to facilitate its own grain and fertiliser exports have not been met.
US to commence tank training for Kyiv’s troops
Saturday 22 April 2023 16:51 , Andy Gregory
Washington has said that it will soon start training Ukrainian troops to use its Abrams tanks, as Germany announced a deal to establish a hub in Poland to repair tanks deployed in Ukraine.
The tanks pledged by the US in January will arrive in Germany in the coming weeks for Ukrainian troops to begin training, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters after a meeting with allies at the Ramstein Air Base on Friday.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the training would last about 10 weeks and would involve hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers.
While the tanks will make a difference in the war, they are no silver bullet, said General Mark Milley, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Here are more details about the tanks which Western nations have pledged:
How Leopard tanks could give Ukraine a battlefield edge over Russia
Pentagon leaks suspect was sharing secrets for longer than previously known, report says
Saturday 22 April 2023 15:57 , Stuti Mishra
The suspect behind the leak of sensitive documents from the Pentagon was sharing information online for longer than previously known, a recent report revealed.
Jack Teixeira, an air national guardsman, reportedly leaked sensitive material as far back as the beginning of Ukraine’s invasion in 2022, according to a New York Times report reviewing online postings.
The newspaper reported that a profile matching Mr Teixeira posted secret intelligence on the Russian war effort on a chat group on Discord in February 2022.
Pentagon leaks suspect shared secrets for longer than previously known
Russia claims to capture three more districts in western Bakhmut
Saturday 22 April 2023 14:50 , Andy Gregory
Russia claims its “assault troops” have captured three more districts in the western part of Bakhmut, which is the last area of the city still held by Kyiv’s forces.
In an update on Saturday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said: “The airborne troops were restraining the Ukrainian units on the flanks and supported the actions of the assault squads to capture the city.”
The Russian military sometimes refers to the Wagner group of fighters as “assault troops”.
Ukraine recently conceded that Russia had made gains in the city, but said its troops were still holding on.
Thousands evacuated after explosive found in Russian city, says governor
Saturday 22 April 2023 13:44 , Andy Gregory
Thousands of residents have been evacuated after an explosive was found in the Russian city of Belgorod, its governor has said.
People have been told to leave seventeen apartment blocks in the city near Ukraine’s eastern border, he added, two days after Russia admitted its warplane had accidentally bombed the city, injuring three people.
It was not immediately clear if the two incidents were related, and Kyiv has previously warned that Moscow could stage false-flag attacks in order to justify harsher actions in Ukraine.
Military explosive experts have decided to “neutralise” the explosive at a training ground, Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
“The operational headquarters decided to evacuate 17 apartment buildings within a radius of 200 metres. According to preliminary data, it is more than 3,000 people. Anyone who needs help with temporary accommodation, it will be provided,” he said.
Kyiv joining Nato could cause ‘final collapse’ of European security, Russia claims
Saturday 22 April 2023 12:55 , Andy Gregory
Russia’s defence ministry has criticised Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg’s remarks that Ukraine will one day join the military alliance as “short-sighted and simply dangerous”.
Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Nato wanted to defeat Russia and claimed that the alliance was keeping Ukraine – which is fighting for its survival – motivated by promising membership after the war ended.
“It could lead to the final collapse of the European security system,” she claimed on Telegram.
Bakhmut fighting reaches last part of city held by Kyiv, Russia claims
Saturday 22 April 2023 11:59 , Andy Gregory
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed yesterday that assault troops were fighting in western parts of Bakhmut, the last part of the frontline Ukrainian city still held by Kyiv’s forces.
Kyiv admitted that Russian forces had made some advances in fierce fighting for Bakhmut, but insisted that the situation was under control.
It came as Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was actively preparing new units that had yet to appear on the front line, as the Wagner mercenary chief – whose units have been leading Russia’s charge in Bakhmut – expressed concern over the new units and looming Ukraining counterattack.
“Today we are killing those who were trained in Ukraine but the ones coming from Germany will be technologically educated,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio recording released on Telegram. “The West has handed over 230 tanks and 1,500 other armoured vehicles. This, too, is enough to provide serious opposition.”
He added: “They will attack ... they will come and try to tear us apart, and we must resist.”
Russia ‘struggling to maintain narrative’ justifying war in Ukraine, claims UK
Saturday 22 April 2023 11:21 , Andy Gregory
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has suggested that Russia’s leadership is “struggling to maintain consistency” in the narrative it uses to justify its war in Ukraine – according to which, the invasion is purportedly analogous to the Soviet experience in the Second World War.
In an intelligence update, the ministry said: “On 18 April 2023, Russian state media announced the cancellation of this year’s Immortal Regiment ‘Great Patriotic War’ remembrance marches on ‘safety’ grounds. In reality, the authorities were highly likely concerned that participants would highlight the scope of recent Russian losses.
“This follows Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin publicly questioning whether there are actually any ‘Nazis’ in Ukraine, going against Russia’s justification for the war.
“The authorities have continued attempts to unify the Russian public around polarising myths about the 1940s.
“On 12 April 2023, state news agency RIA Novosti reported ‘unique’ documents from FSB archives, implicating the Nazis in the murder of 22,000 Polish nationals in the Katyn Massacre of 1940. In reality, FSB’s predecessor agency, the NKVD, was responsible. Russia’s State Duma officially condemned Joseph Stalin for ordering the killings in 2010.”
Crimea activates air defences
Saturday 22 April 2023 10:11 , Sam Rkaina
The top official in the Russian-annexed Crimea region of Ukraine has said air defence systems have been activated this morning.
“Air defence forces worked in the sky over Crimea. No damage or casualties. I ask everyone to remain calm and trust only trusted sources of information,” the official, Sergei Aksyonov, said on the messaging app Telegram.
He did not say what the target of the air defences was or specify the location of the military activity.
