Russia-Ukraine news live: Putin suffered 100,000 casualties in 5 months, says US

The Russian military has suffered 100,000 casualties, comprising deaths and injuries, in the last five months in its continuing invasion of Ukraine, the White House said, concluding Vladimir Putin’s “winter offensive” in the Donbas as a failure.

The figure, based on US intelligence estimates, includes more than 20,000 deaths.

Of these, at least 10,000 killed are soldiers of the private Wagner military group, according to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.

“Russia’s attempt at a winter offensive in the Donbas largely through Bakhmut has failed,” Mr Kirby said, adding that while Moscow has seen some gains in Bakhmut, they came at a “terrible, terrible cost”.

On the war frontline, Ukrainian units have forced Russian troops to leave from some positions in Bakhmut amid fierce battles, a top Ukrainian general said.

New Russian units are being “constantly thrown into battle for Bakhmut” despite taking heavy losses, he said.

Key Points

• 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December, say US

• Ukrainian troops throw out Russia from some positions in Bakhmut – official

• Explosion derails freight train in Russian border region

• Russia missile attack on Ukraine injures 25, damages homes

• Barrage of missile fired over Kyiv, air defence activated

• All missiles directed at Kyiv destroyed, says Ukraine

• Ukraine shoots down 15 out of 18 Russian missiles fired overnight

Russia suffered 100,000 casualties in Ukraine war since December

04:57 , Arpan Rai

Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed, since December, the White House said.

Ukraine has largely rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s forces are struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

Read the full story here:

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Ukrainian troops throw out Russia from some positions in Bakhmut – official

03:57 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian units have forced Russian troops to leave from some positions in Bakhmut amid fierce battles, a top Ukrainian general said.

“The situation (in Bakhmut) is quite difficult,” Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Ukrainian commander of ground forces, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

“At the same time, in certain parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions” in recent days, he said.

This comes as the White House believes that more than 20,000 Russian fighters have been killed in Ukraine since December.

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

03:30 , Joe Middleton

The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Ukraine war: Aerials of building hit by Russian missiles

02:30 , Joe Middleton

Russian forces suffer radiation sickness after digging trenches and fishing in Chernobyl

01:30 , Joe Middleton

Russian troops who dug trenches in Chernobyl forest during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

Ukrainians living near the nuclear power station that exploded 37 years ago, and choked the surrounding area in radioactive contaminants, warned the Russians when they arrived against setting up camp in the forest.

But the occupiers who, as one resident put it to The Times, “understood the risks” but were “just thick”, installed themselves in the forest, reportedly carved out trenches, fished in the reactor’s cooling channel – flush with catfish – and shot animals, leaving them dead on the roads.

Russian troops suffer sickness after digging and fishing in Chernobyl

‘World’s largest sing-along’ to take place in solidarity with Ukraine ahead of Eurovision

Tuesday 2 May 2023 00:30 , Joe Middleton

A campaign to create the world’s largest sing-along in solidarity with Ukraine during the Eurovision Song Contest is bringing together choirs, musicians and the general public.

HelpUkraineSong is asking people to perform and upload a version of the 1967 Beatles song “With a Little Help from My Friends”.

The Museum of Liverpool will then hold a “flash mob” moment at midday on the day of the final, 13 May, with people at famous UK attractions including the London Eye, Blackpool Tower and Warwick Castle, joining in simultaneously. Gatherings will also take place around the world.

‘World’s largest sing-along’ to show support for Ukraine ahead of Eurovision

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Monday 1 May 2023 23:40 , Joe Middleton

Decades after the catastrophe, now a byword for state secrecy, crucial elements remain a mystery, Andy Gregory writes.

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Fresh wave of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine leave 34 wounded

Monday 1 May 2023 22:36 , Joe Middleton

A Russian missile barrage across Ukraine wounded at least 34 people in one eastern city, just hours before an explosion inside Russia derailed a freight train.

The attack on Pavlohrad was part of the second wave of nationwide long-range missile strikes in three days, an apparent revival of a tactic that Moscow used throughout the winter – often targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A huge crater had been blasted in the back garden of a house that was strewn with debris on Pavlohrad’s outskirts. Homes nearby were badly damaged. In the city centre, the windows of a dormitory that serves a chemical plant had been blown out.

Fresh wave of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine leave 34 wounded

US Speaker McCarthy: Russia must pull out of Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 21:38 , Joe Middleton

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy emphatically stressed his support for military aid to Ukraine on Monday, blistering Russia‘s “killing of the children” and distancing himself from some in his party who oppose additional major U.S. aid to stave off the Russian invasion.

In Israel on his first trip abroad as speaker, McCarthy flatly rejected a suggestion at a news conference that he does not support sending military and financial aid to Ukraine — and he amplified his positions on other issues back home, including his demand for debt limit negotiations with President Joe Biden.

US Speaker McCarthy: Russia must pull out of Ukraine

Relatives bury children killed in Russian missile attack

Monday 1 May 2023 20:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Relatives and friends cried next to coffins on Sunday as they buried children and others killed in a Russian missile attack on this central Ukrainian city, while fighting claimed more lives elsewhere.

Almost all of the 23 victims of the attack on Friday died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in Uman. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said six children were among the dead.

Mykhayl Shulha, 6, cried and hugged relatives next to the coffin of his 11-year-old sister Sofia Shulha during Sunday’s funeral, while others paid respects to a 17-year-old boy.

Relatives bury children killed in Russian missile attack

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

Monday 1 May 2023 19:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

For most residents of Pripyat, Saturday 26 April 1986 seemed a relatively unremarkable day.

Some would have been aware of an incident at the nearby Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, around which the town had sprouted up in the decade prior, but, in the words of one off-duty engineer: “There was no panic. The city lived a normal life. People were sunbathing on the beach.”

But the warning signs were there.

Soviet Union officials were driving the streets, hiding their monitors as they gauged the levels of radiation washing over the pedestrians they passed. Traders had been warned not to sell fresh greens and cabbages at the local market, and street sweepers were washing the streets with foam.

But this had happened during a previous accident at the plant, of which there had been dozens in the past decade, and everything appeared to have been fine.

Decades after the catastrophe, now a byword for state secrecy, crucial elements remain a mystery, Andy Gregory writes

What really happened at Chernobyl? How the world’s worst nuclear accident happened

20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December, say US

Monday 1 May 2023 18:48 , Joe Middleton

The White House said Monday it now estimates that since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed.

Ukraine has largely rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s forces are struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.

Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of Ukrainian ground forces, said that Russia continued to exert “maximum effort” to take the city but that it so far had failed.“In some parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions,” he said.

Russia's Prigozhin renews appeal for more ammunition to seize city of Bakhmut

Monday 1 May 2023 18:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The head of the Wagner private militia on Monday renewed his appeal to Russia‘s defence ministry to increase ammunition shipments to his fighters trying to seize the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin has frequently clashed with Moscow’s defence establishment over the conduct of Russia‘s campaign in Ukraine and what he says is insufficient support being provided to his Wagner soldiers.

In a video posted on his Telegram channel, Prigozhin said he needs at least 300 tonnes of artillery shells a day for the assault.

“Three hundred tonnes a day is 10 cargo containers - not a lot at all ... But we are being given no more than a third of that,” Prigozhin said as he inspected boxes of rifles in a warehouse he said was in the town of Soledar, to the northeast of Bakhmut.

Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of over 70,000, has been levelled by months of artillery shelling and urban combat between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. Prigozhin claimed on April 11 his forces, which are leading the assault, controlled more than 80% of the city.

Wagner is not part of Russia‘s official armed forces, and Prigozhin has previously accused the defence ministry of “betraying” his fighters - and Russia‘s overall war aims - by not providing sufficient ammunition.

In an earlier video in front of a destroyed building in Soledar, Prigozhin said Monday was the anniversary of Wagner’s founding, and that if the group was destined to die, it would be “not at the hands of the Ukrainian army or NATO but because of our domestic bastard-bureaucrats”.

There was no immediate response from Russia‘s defence ministry to Prigozhin’s statements.

Russia says capturing Bakhmut will open up the battlefield for future offensives in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv and the West have played down the city’s strategic importance, though Ukraine has also repeatedly refused to withdraw its troops from there.

Russia launches ‘group missile attack’ hitting Ukraine’s power network infrastructure

Monday 1 May 2023 17:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday that Russia conducted “a group missile strike with long-range precision-guided airborne and seaborne weapons on facilities of Ukraine‘s defence industry... all designated facilities were struck”.

The attacks also damaged Ukraine‘s power network infrastructure, which will take several days to repair, according to energy minister Herman Haluschenko.

He said that nearly 20,000 people in the city of Kherson and the wider region had been left without power, along with an unspecified number of people in the Dnipropetrovsk region, including the city of Dnipro.

Moscow has frequently launched long-range missile attacks during the 14-month war, often indiscriminately hitting civilian areas.

Ukraine has recently taken delivery of American-made Patriot missiles, providing improved anti-missile defences, but it was not clear whether any of them were employed in trying to stop Monday morning’s attack.

Ukraine has also been building up its mechanised brigades with armour supplied by its Western allies, who have also been training Ukrainian troops and sending ammunition, as Kyiv prepares for an expected counter-offensive this spring.

34 injured in Russian missile attack in eastern Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 16:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia launched its second large salvo of missiles at Ukraine in recent days early on Monday, damaging buildings and injuring at least 34 people in the eastern city of Pavlohrad but failing to hit Kyiv, officials said.

Air raid sirens began blaring across the capital at about 3.45am, followed by the sounds of explosions as missiles were intercepted by Ukrainian defence systems.

Eighteen cruise missiles were fired in total from the Murmansk region and the Caspian region, and 15 of them were intercepted, said Ukrainian armed forces commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

The head of Kyiv’s city administration, Serhii Popko, said all missiles fired at the city were shot down, as well as some drones. He did not provide further details, but said more information would be available later.

In Monday’s attack, missiles hit Pavlohrad, in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, injuring 34 people, including five children, according to Serhii Lysak, the region’s top official.

Seven missiles were fired at the city and “some were intercepted” but others hit an industrial facility, sparking a fire, and a residential neighbourhood where 19 apartment buildings, 25 homes, six schools and five shops were damaged, he said.

Missiles also hit three other areas in the region, damaging residential buildings and a school, he said.

Russia missile attack on Ukraine injures 25, damages homes

Monday 1 May 2023 16:06 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia launched its second large salvo of missiles at Ukraine in recent days early Monday, damaging buildings and wounding at least 34 people in the eastern city of Pavlohrad but failing to hit Kyiv, officials said.

Air raid sirens began blaring across the capital at about 3:45 a.m., followed by the sounds of explosions as missiles were intercepted by Ukrainian defense systems.

Eighteen cruise missiles were fired in total from the Murmansk region and the Caspian region, and 15 of them were intercepted, said Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

The head of Kyiv’s city administration, Serhii Popko, said all missiles fired at the city were shot down, as well as some drones. He didn’t provide further details, but said more information would be available later.

Russia missile attack on Ukraine injures 25, damages homes

Why does Russia want to block Ukraine from joining Nato?

Monday 1 May 2023 15:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Tensions along Russia’s border with Ukraine finally erupted into open warfare on 24 February 2022 as Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in the eastern regions of the neighbouring state, confirming fears that had lingered since the preceding December that he was amassing troops intent on an invasion.

The Kremlin leader said he believed that Russia had to take decisive action to extinguish a threat to its national security and that Moscow planned to carry out the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of Ukraine by toppling its leadership, also promising to put an end to eight years of war in which government forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists.

In the 14 months of fighting that have followed, the Russian military has bombarded cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol with intense shelling campaigns in tactics reminiscent of those previously deployed in Chechnya and Syria and become bogged down in gruelling combat in southeastern Ukraine while millions of people have fled for neighbouring Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

Why does Russia want to block Ukraine from joining Nato?

In pictures: People pay respects to dozens killed in Russian strike in Uman

Monday 1 May 2023 14:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Pictures show people paying their respects in front of a damaged multistory residential building, where a Russian strike killed at least 25 people, in Uman, Cherkasy region.

Cradle of Sudan's uprising becomes transit point for those fleeing war

Monday 1 May 2023 14:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Sudanese city of Atbara - birthplace of the uprising that led to the overthrow of strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019 - has become a hub for those fleeing the conflict in Khartoum.

But while it has been spared the heavy fighting that erupted in the capital two weeks ago, the power struggle between rival military factions there has dealt the latest blow to the hopes of Atbara’s pro-democracy activists.

Some of those who arrived in the city, a colonial-era railway hub about 350 km (220 miles) northeast of Khartoum, have sought accommodation in the city. Others are passing through on their way to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast or Sudan‘s northern border with Egypt.

Some are still figuring out their plans.

“We came to Atbara looking for safety after the war in Khartoum. We left our homes and lives there, and we don’t know how we’re going to continue,” said 35-year-old Omeima Yasin, holding her child.

The fighting between Sudan‘s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed hundreds, injured thousands, and displaced 33,000 from the capital, according to the United Nations.

The airport in Khartoum is being fought over and is damaged. Some of those fleeing have tried to leave the country by bus or ship, but most have sought shelter in cities, towns and villages outside the capital.

Atbara, which has a history of political opposition activity and a strong labour movement linked to its railways, was the site of the first big demonstrations against Bashir’s autocratic rule that led to his overthrow in April 2019.

It does not normally receive many visitors, but the strife elsewhere has been a boon for local businesses.

“The hotel has never seen this kind of demand as it has since the start of the war, and that’s caused prices to go up to 30,000 Sudanese pounds ($50) a night,” said an owner of one of the city’s few hotels.

Pope speaks of secret peace 'mission,' help for Ukraine kids

Monday 1 May 2023 13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Pope Francis on Sunday revealed that a secret peace “mission” in Russia‘s war in Ukraine was under way, though he gave no details, and said the Vatican is willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war.

“I’m available to do anything,” Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary. “There’s a mission that’s not public that’s underway; when it’s public I’ll talk about it.”

Francis gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.

Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Francis said the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families.

“All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don’t help,” Francis said.

The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia‘s children’s commissioner, accusing them of war crimes for abducting children from Ukraine. Russia has denied any wrongdoing, contending the children were moved for their safety.

Last week Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with Francis at the Vatican and asked him to help return Ukrainian children taken following the Russian invasion.

“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested, and criminally deported to Russia,” Shmyhal told the Foreign Press Association after the audience.

Francis recalled that the Holy See had facilitated some prisoner exchanges, working through embassies, and was open to Ukraine‘s request to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.

The prisoner exchanges “went well. I think it could go well also for this. It’s important,” he said of the family reunifications. “The Holy See is available to do it because it’s the right thing,” he added. “We have to do all that is humanly possible.”

Putin’s commanders ‘forcing troops into caged pits for being drunk or refusing to fight’

Monday 1 May 2023 12:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian commanders are likely punishing soldiers by forcing them into caged holes in the ground, the Ministry of Defence has said.

In its daily intelligence update on Sunday, the MoD said that troops are likely facing the makeshift dungeons as a form of punishment for actions such as being drunk or refusing to fight in the Ukraine war.

The holes, called “Zindans”, consist of holes in the ground “covered with a metal grille”, it said. The MoD said in the statement that it had heard multiple reports of the Zindans being in use.

Putin’s commanders ‘forcing troops into caged pits for refusing to fight’

Russian forces suffer radiation sickness after digging trenches and fishing in Chernobyl

Monday 1 May 2023 11:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian troops who dug trenches in Chernobyl forest during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

Ukrainians living near the nuclear power station that exploded 37 years ago, and choked the surrounding area in radioactive contaminants, warned the Russians when they arrived against setting up camp in the forest.

But the occupiers who, as one resident put it to The Times, “understood the risks” but were “just thick”, installed themselves in the forest, reportedly carved out trenches, fished in the reactor’s cooling channel – flush with catfish – and shot animals, leaving them dead on the roads.

Reactor No 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded on 26 April 1986. It is commonly referred to the world’s worst civil nuclear incident. Scores died as a result and the USSR collapsed less than six years later.

Russian troops suffer sickness after digging and fishing in Chernobyl

Explosion derails freight train in Russian border region

Monday 1 May 2023 11:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

An explosion in a Russian region bordering Ukraine derailed a freight train on Monday, the local governor said in a social media post, adding there were no casualties.

Pictures shared on social media showed several tank carriages laying on their side and dark grey smoke billowing into the air at the site of the derailment in the Bryansk region.

Russian Railways, the country’s rail operator, said the incident occurred at 10:17 Moscow time (0717 GMT). It said the locomotive and seven freight wagons were derailed and the locomotive caught fire.

“An unidentified explosive device went off at the 136-kilometre mark on the Bryansk-Unecha railway line, derailing a freight train,” Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a post on his Telegram channel.

Russian authorities say the region - which borders both Ukraine and Belarus - has seen multiple attacks by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 14 months since Russia invaded. On Saturday, the governor said four civilians died after Kyiv shelled a village just across the border.

The site of the incident, as indicated by the governor, is around 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Russia‘s border with Ukraine.

He did not say who was responsible for the attack.

Separately, the governor of Russia‘s Leningrad region near St. Petersburg said a power line had been blown up overnight and an explosive device found near a second line.

Governor Alexander Drozdenko posted photos of destroyed power lines and metal supports on his Telegram page on Monday morning. He said Russia‘s FSB federal security service was working on the site, and did not say who he believed was responsible for the incident.

Air defences shoot down 15 of 18 missiles launched at Ukraine in dead of night

Monday 1 May 2023 10:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian air defence crews destroyed 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russian forces in the early hours of Monday morning, the military said, as Moscow intensified attacks on its neighbour in recent days.

“Around 2:30 am (1130 GMT), the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine from strategic aviation planes,” a post on the Telegram channel of Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in chief of Ukraine‘s armed forces, read.

It added that 15 out of the 18 missiles launched had been destroyed.

Kyiv’s city officials wrote on the Telegram messaging app that all missiles directed at the capital were destroyed in what they said was the second attack on the city in three days.

“According to (preliminary information), no casualties among the civilian population and no destruction of residential facilities or infrastructure have been recorded,” the city administration said.

Air defence systems were also called into action to shield the Kyiv region, which is a separate administrative entity from the city, from Russian missiles, officials said.

Russia has also launched missiles at other Ukrainian regions overnight, including on Dnipropetrovsk, Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the Dnipro region council, said. Air defence crews shot down seven missiles, but 25 people sought medical help.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad was struck twice overnight, and an industrial enterprise, 19 apartment buildings and 25 private buildings, among others, were damaged or destroyed, he added.

“There were also fires, emergency services are at work,” Lukashuk said.

Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russian-backed administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, posted late on Sunday what he said were pictures and videos of fires in Pavlohrad and said that Russian forces struck at military targets there.

Russia says some recent strikes are designed to hamper Kyiv’s plans for a long-planned counteroffensive in the east.

Oil depot fire part of Ukraine's preparation for counter-offensive

Monday 1 May 2023 09:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Undermining Russia‘s logistics is one of the elements of preparation for the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, a Ukrainian military spokeswoman said on Sunday, after a fire destroyed a large Russian fuel depot in Crimea.

While not directly admitting to striking the fuel storage facility in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, Ukraine‘s military command said that “a fire” destroyed 10 oil tanks with a capacity of about 40,000 tonnes.

The city’s Moscow-installed governor blamed Ukraine and later said the fire had been put out before a disaster occurred.

On Monday, air defence systems were repelling missile attacks in the early hours in the Kyiv region, local authorities said, after air raid alerts were issued throughout all of Ukraine by emergency services.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s southern command, said the fire has cause a great deal of “anxiety” in the Russian military.

“The fact that the enemy’s logistics are undermined ... this work is preparatory for the broad, full-scale offensive, which everyone expects,” Ukrainian media cited Humeniuk as telling national television on Sunday.

“Therefore, the enemy feels that his resources are undermined and begins to manoeuvre.”

On Friday, Ukraine said it was wrapping up preparations for the counter-offensive against Russian forces, although officials gave no date for when that would happen.

Kyiv has said it hopes its planned counteroffensive will change the dynamics of the war that has raged since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago.

Ukrainian defenders oust Russian forces from some positions in Bakhmut

Monday 1 May 2023 08:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian counterattacks have ousted Russian forces from some positions in the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, but the situation remains “difficult”, a top Ukrainian general said in comments released Monday.

During the past few months the battle for Bakhmut has become the fulcrum of a conflict that has seen little shift in front lines since late last year, leaving both sides looking for a breakthrough.

“The situation is quite difficult,” said Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of ground forces, in a statement on Telegram.

“At the same time, in certain parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions.”

Syrskyi made the remarks while visiting front-line troops on Sunday, the military said.

He added that new Russian units, including paratroopers and fighters from the Wagner mercenary group, were being “constantly thrown into battle” despite taking heavy losses.

“But the enemy is unable to take control of the city,” Syrskyi said.

Russian forces have steadily made incremental gains in Bakhmut, but a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Sunday it was still possible to supply the defenders with food, ammunition and medicine.

Ukraine said on Monday its forces had repelled more than 36 enemy attacks on the part of the eastern frontline that stretches from Bakhmut to Maryinka, just west of Donetsk.

Kyiv is preparing to mount a widely expected counteroffensive to retake swathes of territory in the east and south that was occupied by Russian forces following the invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, 15 months ago.

Ukrainian warehouses reportedly storing ammunition hit

Monday 1 May 2023 07:43 , Tara Cobham

Warehouses reportedly storing ammunition at a railway depot have been struck by Russian missiles in the Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, it is understood.

The aim seemed to be to hamper Kyiv’s preparations for its counteroffensive, which is set to launch soon.

A video posted on social media shows secondary detonations and a blaze where the strike hit.

This comes as missiles were launched by Russian strategic bombers against Ukrainian cities overnight.

The Ukrainian military reported air defence had shot down 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russia in the early hours of Monday morning.

Russia fortifying Crimea amid fears of Ukraine’s major breakthrough – UK MoD

Monday 1 May 2023 07:05 , Arpan Rai

The recent defences erected by Vladimir Putin’s forces highlight deep concern running among Russian leaders that Ukraine could achieve a major breakthrough, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

“Since summer 2022, Russia has constructed some of the most extensive systems of military defensive works seen anywhere in the world for many decades. These defences are not just near the current front lines but have also been dug deep inside areas Russia currently controls,” the MoD said in its latest intelligence update.

It pointed to the imagery of Russia’s particular effort to fortify the northern border of occupied Crimea, including with a multi-layered defensive zone near the village of Medvedevka.

“Russia has also dug hundreds of miles of trenches well inside internationally recognised Russian territory including in the Belgorod and Kursk regions,” the ministry said.

It added: “However, some works have likely been ordered by local commanders and civil leaders in attempts to promote the official narrative that Russia is ‘threatened’ by Ukraine and Nato.”

All missiles directed at Kyiv destroyed, says Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 06:06 , Arpan Rai

All missiles directed at the capital were destroyed, Kyiv’s city officials wrote on Telegram.

“According to (preliminary information), no casualties among the civilian population and no destruction of residential facilities or infrastructure have been recorded,” the city administration said.

Air defence systems were also called into action to shield the Kyiv region, which is a separate administrative entity from the city, from Russian missiles, officials said.

Ukrainian media also reported blasts in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.

Ukraine shoots down 15 out of 18 Russian missiles fired overnight

Monday 1 May 2023 06:05 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian air defence has shot down 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russia in the early hours today.

“Around 2.30am (1130 GMT), the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine from strategic aviation planes,” the country’s commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram.

It added that 15 out of the 18 missiles launched had been destroyed.

Russia fired cruise missiles of Х-101/Х-555 types on Ukraine, commander Zaluzhnyi said.

Czech president offers support to Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 06:00 , William Mata

Petr Pavel, president of the Czech Republic, has been in Ukraine over the weekend.

The Ukraine defence ministry tweeteed: “After the events of 1968, the Czechs were left to fend for themselves for more than 20 years, all because no one came to their aid.

“Ukraine has over 50 partner countries supporting it. The Russians will be pushed out much faster.”

Late night explosions reported in Ukraine’s Pavlohrad

Monday 1 May 2023 05:48 , Arpan Rai

Loud explosions were heard in Dnipropetrovsk oblast’s Pavlohrad city last evening, officials said.

Mayor Anatolii Vershyna confirmed explosions in the Pavlohrad region while an air raid warning was in force.

Some social media users also reported powerful explosions in the city, damage to buildings and broken windows.

Zelensky and Macron hold Sunday call to speak about Ukraine’s military needs

Monday 1 May 2023 05:24 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron over a phone call and discussed Ukraine’s military needs, both sides said.

Mr Zelensky said he had a long and meaningful talk with Mr Macron during which the two men co-ordinated their positions on the war and on how to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

“I am grateful to France and Emmanuel personally for their support of our country and our people,” he said in an evening video address, in which he also thanked France for promising to send weapons to Ukraine.

The French presidency said Macron had reaffirmed France’s support for Ukraine to the war-time president, and that Mr Macron had given an update on European co-ordination to give Ukraine military help.

Pope Francis wraps up weekend in Hungary with plea

Monday 1 May 2023 05:00 , William Mata

Pope Francis urged Hungarians to open their doors to others on Sunday, as he wrapped up a weekend visit with a plea for Europe to welcome migrants and the poor and for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Francis issued the appeal from the banks of the Danube as he celebrated Mass on Budapest's Kossuth Lajos Square, with the Hungarian Parliament and Budapest's famed Chain Bridge as a backdrop. The celebration provided the visual highlight of Francis' three-day visit that has been dominated by the Vatican's concern for the plight of migrants and the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Vatican involved in secret Ukraine peace mission, says Pope

Monday 1 May 2023 04:48 , Arpan Rai

Pope Francis has confirmed the Vatican’s direct involvement in a peace mission to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“I am willing to do everything that has to be done. There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” the Pope told reporters during a flight home after a three-day visit to Hungary.

“I think that peace is always made by opening channels. You can never achieve peace through closure. ... This is not easy.”

The Pope added that he had spoken about the situation in Ukraine with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and with Metropolitan (bishop) Hilarion, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest.

“In these meetings we did not just talk about Little Red Riding Hood. We spoke of all these things. Everyone is interested in the road to peace,” he said.

Ukraine says it still holds parts of Bakhmut

Monday 1 May 2023 04:25 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine’s troops are holding onto parts of the eastern city of Bakhmut, focus of a prolonged Russian assault, while the head of a major pro-Moscow force said his men were making progress.

“Fierce fighting continues in the city of Bakhmut. The enemy is unable to take control over the city, despite throwing all its forces into the battle and having some success,” said Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar.

“The defence of Bakhmut is coping with its military tasks,” she said in a Telegram post. The Ukrainian military does not reveal exactly how much of the city is in Russian hands.

Russian forces, which have struggled for months to capture Bakhmut, are slowly taking over more and more of the city.

On Sunday, Russian defence ministry has said its forces had taken four blocks in the western direction in Bakhmut.

And, Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, told the ICTV channel it was still possible to supply the Bakhmut defenders with food, ammunition and medicine and evacuate the wounded.

Vatican involved in ‘secret peace mission'

Monday 1 May 2023 04:00 , William Mata

Pope Francis said Sunday the Vatican was willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war, saying the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families.

“All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don’t help,” Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary.

Francis also revealed a secret peace “mission” was under way. However, he gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.

Barrage of missile fired over Kyiv, air defence activated

Monday 1 May 2023 03:37 , Arpan Rai

Air raid alerts have been issued throughout all of Ukraine by emergency services after a threat of missile strikes in the early hours today.

“The threat of a missile strike!” Kyiv’s regional administration wrote on the Telegram. “Stay in shelters.”

Andriy Yermak, head of president Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said on the Telegram, “Take care of your safety, do not publicise the work of air defence.”

Relatives bury children killed in Russian missile attack

Monday 1 May 2023 03:00 , William Mata

Relatives and friends cried next to coffins on Sunday as they buried children and others killed in a Russian missile attack on this central Ukrainian city, while fighting claimed more lives elsewhere.Almost all of the 23 victims of the attack on Friday died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in Uman. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said six children were among the dead.Mykhayl Shulha, 6, cried and hugged relatives next to the coffin of his 11-year-old sister Sofia Shulha during Sunday’s funeral, while others paid respects to a 17-year-old boy.As mourners held candles, crossed themselves and sang, the priest at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” waved a vessel containing incense over the coffins. He said the deaths had hit the entire community hard.“I live nearby,” said Father Fyodor Botsu. “I personally knew the children, the littlest, from when they were very young, and I personally baptized them in this church. I’m worried with everyone since I have children and I’m a citizen of this country and have been living in this city for 15 years.”He said he prayed “that the war should end and peace should come to our homes, city and country.”

British armed forces chief comments on Ukraine

Monday 1 May 2023 02:00 , William Mata

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin has said he has accompanied the National Security Adviser Tim Barrow and had a meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“We’ve got the capacity to deal with lots of different things at different times. I was in Ukraine earlier this week and met my opposite number General (Valerii) Zaluzhnyi,” he said in defending the British policies in rescuing individuals while also preparing for the coronation.

“I accompanied the National Security Adviser Tim Barrow and we had a meeting with President (Volodymyr) Zelensky.

“We have also been involved in the evacuation from Sudan. And I’m pleased with how that has gone.”

Read the full story here.

Full story: Putin’s commanders ‘forcing troops into caged pits for being drunk or refusing to fight’

Monday 1 May 2023 01:00 , William Mata

Russian commanders are likely punishing soldiers by forcing them into caged holes in the ground, the Ministry of Defence has said.

In its daily intelligence update on Sunday, the MoD said that troops are likely facing the makeshift dungeons as a form of punishment for actions such as being drunk or refusing to fight in the Ukraine war.

The holes, called “Zindans”, consist of holes in the ground “covered with a metal grille”, it said. The MoD said in the statement that it had heard multiple reports of the Zindans being in use.

Read William Mata’s full story here.

Irish criticise statement from Russian ambassador after death

Monday 1 May 2023 00:00 , William Mata

Teachta Dálas, the Irish equivalen to MPs, across the political spectrum have criticised a statement from the Russian ambassador issued in response to the death of an Irishman fighting in Ukraine.

But despite the Irish government stating that its support for Ukraine was "unwavering", and that Russian disinformation would have "no impact" on this, it said that diplomatic channels between the two nations should remain open.

Finbar Cafferkey, from Achill Island in Co Mayo, was killed while serving as a military volunteer in the eastern part of Ukraine.

Irish deputy premier Micheal Martin paid tribute to Mr Cafferkey as "obviously a young man of clear principles", which prompted the Russian embassy in Ireland to question that statement.

Today’s headlines

Sunday 30 April 2023 23:00 , William Mata

At 11pm on Sunday, April 30, we can bring you some of the headlines from the events of the day in Ukraine.

Russian forces suffer radiation sickness after digging trenches and fishing in Chernobyl

Russian troops who dug trenches in Chernobyl forest during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

Train drivers’ union boss hits out over criticism of strike on eve of Eurovision

Aslef’s Mick Whelan said Transport Secretary Mark Harper’s accusation was ‘bizarre’, implying the union was not standing in solidarity with Ukraine.

Putin’s soldiers ‘likely’ put in holes in the ground as punishment for misdemeanors

Russian commanders have “likely” started a harsher punishment regime for their soldiers by placing them in “holes in the ground” called ‘Zindans’, the UK ministry of defence has said.

The Zindans are “improvised cells consisting of holes in the ground covered with a metal grille”, according to UK intelligence.

Russian forces suffer radiation sickness after digging trenches and fishing in Chernobyl

Sunday 30 April 2023 22:00 , William Mata

Russian troops who dug trenches in Chernobyl forest during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

Ukrainians living near the nuclear power station that exploded 37 years ago, and choked the surrounding area in radioactive contaminants, warned the Russians when they arrived against setting up camp in the forest.

Read Emily Atkinson’s full story here.

Loss estimates of Russian military

Sunday 30 April 2023 21:00 , William Mata

The Armed Forces of Ukraine has given its latest update on the losses of Russian troops. Some of the headline figures are:

- 190,510 soldiers have died, an increase of 470 from Saturday,

- 7,189 all purpose vehicles have now been eliminated, a rise of five,

- 3,699 Russian tanks are now out of action.

The figures have not been verified by the Kremlin.

Government teases Stacey Dooley documentary

Sunday 30 April 2023 20:00 , William Mata

The British Ministry of Defence has advertised a new documentary called Stacey Dooley: Ready For War

The trailer features the presenter talking to Ukrainian Mykola, who was a florist before the war, and now joins his two brothers in fighting against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The documentary is now streaming on iPlayer.

Zelensky makes video address to Ukrainians

Sunday 30 April 2023 19:00 , William Mata

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has tweeted a message of encouragement to his supporters.

“Russian invaders won’t take away our peace – a natural part of Ukrainian character,” he tweeted.

“Peace & the desire for freedom for our entire country, all our regions, cities & communities. We'll definitely gain it. Glory to everyone who is in combat for Ukraine! Thank you to everyone in the world who helps!”

Ukraine: Sunday, April 30 in pictures

Sunday 30 April 2023 18:00 , William Mata

Russia says its forces take four blocks in western Bakhmut - RIA

Sunday 30 April 2023 16:45 , William Mata

Russia's Ministry of Defence on Sunday said its forces had taken four blocks in western Bakhmut, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported - Reuters has said.

The news agency could not independently confirm the claim.

Russian forces have been struggling for months to capture the city in eastern Ukraine.

Pope on the banks of the Danube in final Mass in Hungary

Sunday 30 April 2023 15:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Tens of thousands of Hungarians flocked to Budapest’s main square Sunday for Pope Francis’ final Mass, gathering on the banks of the Danube as the pontiff wrapped up a weekend visit to the heart of Europe with pleas for a peaceful end to Russia’s war next door.

The Mass on Kossuth Lajos Square, with the Hungarian parliament and Budapest’s famed Chain Bridge as a backdrop, provided the visual highlight of Francis’ three-day visit that has been dominated by the Vatican’s concern for the plight of neighboring Ukraine.

Citing local organizers, the Vatican said some 50,000 people were participating at the Mass, more than 30,000 of them in the square on a brilliantly sunny spring morning. Among them were President Katalin Novak and Hungary’s right-wing populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, whose lukewarm support for Ukraine has rankled fellow European Union members.

Pope on the banks of the Danube in final Mass in Hungary

Four civilians killed in Ukrainian shelling on Russia’s Bryansk

Sunday 30 April 2023 14:49 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Four civilians died as a result of Ukrainian shelling on a village just over the border in Russia‘s Bryansk region on Saturday evening, a local governor said.

“Four civilians have been killed,” Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on the Telegram messaging app. Two other citizens were being treated in hospital, Bogomaz said.

Bogomaz earlier said that one residential building had been completely destroyed and two other houses partially destroyed.

Bogomaz blamed the incident on “Ukrainian nationalists”. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the 14-month-old Russian invasion on Ukraine.

“Work is continuing at the site of the incident to remove rubble and clear the area,” Bogomaz said. “A state of emergency has been introduced in the village.”

Russia‘s Bryansk region borders Ukraine. The village of Suzemka, where the incident occurred, is around 10 kms (6.2 miles) from the border.

Russia says its forces take four blocks in western Bakhmut

Sunday 30 April 2023 14:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia‘s Ministry of Defence on Sunday said its forces had taken four blocks in western Bakhmut, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

Reuters could not independently confirm the claim. Russian forces have been struggling for months to capture the city in eastern Ukraine.

The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

Sunday 30 April 2023 13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

It was a month into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces had withdrawn from around Kyiv and in their wake Bel Trew and her team stumbled on a body by an abandoned Russian camp.

His hands were tied. He had been burned and shot in the back. Soldiers said he was a teenager.

As Bel tried to find out who he was and what had happened, she uncovered a nightmare world: a nation struggling to find thousands of its missing and to identify its dead.

The Body in the Woods by Bel Trew is streaming now on Independent TV and on your smart TV.

The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

Russia blames Ukraine drone attack for major Crimea oil depot fire

Sunday 30 April 2023 13:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian officials have claimed a Ukrainian drone strike caused a massive fire to erupt at an oil depot in Crimea, in the latest in a series of attacks on the annexed peninsula as Russia braces for an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said the oil depot was attacked by “two enemy drones” and four oil tanks had burned down. A third drone was shot down from the sky, and one more was deactivated through radio-electronic means.

He said the fire at the city’s harbour had been assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it would be to extinguish. However, he reported that the blaze had been contained.

Russia blames Ukraine drone attack for major Crimea oil depot fire

In pictures: scenes from Bakhmut

Sunday 30 April 2023 12:23 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Putin’s soldiers ‘likely’ put in holes in the ground as punishment for misdemeanors

Sunday 30 April 2023 11:22 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian commanders have “likely” started a harsher punishment regime for their soldiers by placing them in “holes in the ground” called ‘Zindans’, the UK ministry of defence has said.

The Zindans are “improvised cells consisting of holes in the ground covered with a metal grille”, according to UK intelligence.

Behaviours which warrant such a punishment include drunkenness and soldiers attempting to terminate their contracts.

Don't shut door on foreigners, migrants, Pope Francis says in Hungary

Sunday 30 April 2023 11:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Pope Francis on Sunday presided over a big outdoor Mass where he urged Hungarians not to close the door on migrants and those who are “foreign or unlike us,” in contrast to the anti-immigrant policies of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

More than 50,000 people gathered in and around the square behind Budapest’s iconic neo-gothic parliament building, a symbol of the capital on the Danube, to see the pope on the last day of his visit to the country.

He continued a theme he began on the first day of his visit on Friday, when he warned against the dangers of rising nationalism in Europe, but put it in gospel context, saying that closed doors were painful and contrary to the teachings of Jesus.

Orban, a populist who was attending the Mass, sees himself as a protector of Christian values. He has said he would not allow Hungary to be transformed into an “immigrant country,” as he claims others in Europe have become, unrecognizable to its native peoples.

In his homily, 86-year-old Francis said that if Hungarians wanted to follow Jesus, they had to shun “the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference towards the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close towards those who are foreign or unlike us, towards migrants or the poor”.

Francis believes migrants fleeing poverty should be welcomed and integrated because they can culturally enrich host countries and boost Europe’s dwindling populations. He believes that while countries have a right to protect their borders, migrants should be distributed throughout the European Union.

Orban’s government has built a steel fence on the border with Serbia to keep out migrants.

In his homily, Francis also spoke against doors “closed to the world”.

‘Thick’ Russian forces suffer radiation sickness after digging trenches and fishing in Chernobyl

Sunday 30 April 2023 10:31 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian troops who dug trenches in Chernobyl forest during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

Ukrainians living near the nuclear power station that exploded 37 years ago, and choked the surrounding area in radioactive contaminants, warned the Russians when they arrived against setting up camp in the forest.

But the occupiers who, as one resident put it to The Times, “understood the risks” but were “just thick”, installed themselves in the forest, reportedly carved out trenches, fished in the reactor’s cooling channel – flush with catfish – and shot animals, leaving them dead on the roads.

‘Thick’ Russian troops suffer sickness after digging and fishing in Chernobyl

What are the ‘dragon’s teeth’ defences being erected by Russia in Ukraine?

Sunday 30 April 2023 09:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian forces have been erecting “dragon’s teeth” defensive barricades in areas of Ukraine they control, in anticipation of an imminent counteroffensive by Kyiv, according to the latest satellite imagery of the warzone.

The defensive obstacles, pyramid-shaped concrete shards also nicknamed “devil’s teeth” for their resemblance to a fanged jawline, can be seen running between anti-tank ditches and troop-manned trenches from western Russia through eastern Ukraine towards Crimea, in aerial imagery recorded by Capella Space, Reuters reports.

The layered, zig-zagging lines are intended to make life as difficult as possible for any oncoming Ukrainian forces, as Russia seeks to protect the territory it has seized.

What are the ‘dragon’s teeth’ defences being erected by Russia in Ukraine?

Ukraine welcomes EU deal on continued farm exports

Sunday 30 April 2023 09:06 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine on Saturday welcomed the European Union’s hard-fought deal to keep farm exports flowing into and through the bloc to world markets, saying that the Middle East and Africa would specifically stand to benefit from it.

Late Friday, the 27-nation EU ended a damaging internal standoff over a destabilizing glut of Ukraine farm imports by granting five eastern member countries the right to temporarily ban the most problematic produce while allowing all farm products to transit onward.

Resolving the issue allows the EU to maintain a unified stance in the face of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. “We welcome that we resolved this issue,” Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Stockholm.

Ukraine welcomes EU deal on continued farm exports

Pope visits refugees, urges Hungary to show charity to all

Sunday 30 April 2023 08:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Pope Francis thanked Hungarians on Saturday for welcoming Ukrainian refugees and urged them to help anyone in need, as he begged for a culture of charity in a country where the prime minister has justified firm anti-immigration policies with fears that migration threatens Europe’s Christian culture.

On the second day of a visit to Hungary, Francis met with refugees and poor people at St. Elizabeth’s church, which was named for a Hungarian princess who renounced her wealth to dedicate herself to the poor as a follower of the pope’s namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.

Speaking in the white-brick church in Budapest, Francis recalled that the Gospel instructs Christians to show love and compassion to all, especially those experiencing poverty and pain and “even those who are not believers.”

Pope visits refugees, urges Hungary to show charity to all

Wagner threatens Bakhmut withdrawal

Sunday 30 April 2023 08:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner Group has threatened to withdraw troops from Bakhmut, saying they had enough ammunition left only for days.

In a nearly 90-minute video interview with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov published on Saturday, Mr Prigozhin said: “If the shortage of ammunition is not replenished, then ... most likely, we will be forced to withdraw part of the units.”

He was quoting a letter he said was sent to Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu, giving an 28 April deadline.

It was not immediately known when the interview was recorded.

Mr Prigozhin has often blamed regular armed forces for not giving his men the ammunition they need and has sometimes accused top brass of betrayal.

“We need to stop deceiving the population and telling them that everything is fine,” he was quoted as saying in the interview.

“I must honestly say: Russia is on the brink of a disaster.”

ICYMI: Pope Francis meets refugees who fled Ukraine on Hungary visit

Sunday 30 April 2023 07:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Pope Francis has met with refugees who fled from Ukraine during the invasion as part of his three-day trip to Hungary.

Watch:

Watch: Pope Francis meets refugees who fled Ukraine on Hungary visit