President Zelensky meets US officials
Russia has said it will strengthen its economic ties to China amid western sanctions over its war in Ukraine.
Speaking on Monday, the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the country’s relationship with Beijing “will grow even faster” after it was ostracised by other countries.
Mr Lavrov added that the Kremlin would consider re-establishing links to the west if the opportunity arose.
“If they want to offer something in terms of resuming relations, then we will seriously consider whether we will need it or not,” he said.
His comments come as Russian troops attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces near the city of Severodonetsk in the Donbas region.
“Russia’s capture of the Severodonetsk pocket would see the whole of Luhansk Oblast placed under Russian occupation,” the British ministry of defence (MoD) said on Tuesday.
In other developments, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called for internations support to force Russia to free the Azovstal fighters who surrendered to Russian forces in Mariupol last week.
Ukraine’s leader said his country was ready for a prisoner swap.
Russia releases Jehovah’s Witness follower from prison
Jehovah’s Witness adherent Dennis Christensen has been released from prison in Russia, after serving five years on extremism charges, the religious organisation has said.
Christiansen, a 49-year-old builder, was arrested at a prayer meeting in Oryol, 200 miles south of Moscow, in 2017, after Jehovah’s Witnesses had been banned in Russia after the Supreme Court ruled it extremist.
Chiara Giordano24 May 2022 10:30
Sweden and Finland to attend Nato summit
Sweden and Finland will attend the Nato summit in Madrid next month, Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez revealed during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
Finland and Sweden said they have been spurred into joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reversing generations of military non-alignment to bring about the biggest shakeup in European security in decades.
The Nato summit will be held in Madrid between 28 and 30 June.
Chiara Giordano24 May 2022 10:15
Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny says Ukraine invasion is ‘madman’ Putin’s ‘stupid war’
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has lambasted president Vladimir Putin in a live court hearing, casting him as a “madman” who started a “stupid war” in Ukraine based on lies.
“This is a stupid war which your Putin started,” Navalny told an appeal court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony. “This war was built on lies.”
“One madman has got his claws into Ukraine and I do not know what he wants to do with it – this crazy thief,” Navalny said of Putin.
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed Navalny’s claims about Putin, who it says has won numerous fair elections in Russia since 2000 and remains by far the country’s most popular politician.
Chiara Giordano24 May 2022 10:00
Food shortages could cause more deaths than Ukraine war itself, says Grant Shapps
Famine caused by grain and food shortages due to the invasion of Ukraine could cause more deaths than the war itself, Grant Shapps has warned
The transport secretary said he met with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksandr Kubrakov in Germany last week to discuss how help could be provided to help grain leave.
He told Sky News: “I think it’s absolutely essential that we do, unless there could be a lot of hunger and indeed even famine that could dwarf the numbers involved in the war itself.”
Asked if military ships will be sent, Mr Shapps said: “I can’t go into specific detail, there are a lot of complexities to this including mined waters near Odesa port, clearly the situation with Russia and (Vladimir) Putin and their approach to this could make that very difficult.
“But it’s hard to overestimate how much Ukraine was and is the breadbasket of the world.”
Chiara Giordano24 May 2022 09:45
Russia not ‘chasing deadlines’ in Ukraine, says security council chief
Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev has said Russia will achieve its objectives in Ukraine and is not “chasing deadlines”.
“All the goals set by the president will be fulfilled. It cannot be otherwise, because truth, including historical truth, is on our side,” Mr Patrushev said in an interview with the Russian Argumenty i Fakty newspaper.
“We are not chasing deadlines,” he added.
Chiara Giordano24 May 2022 09:30
US confident Finland and Sweden will resolve Turkish concerns
The United States is confident Finland and Sweden will be able to resolve Turkish concerns for their membership to Nato, deputy US defence secretary Kathleen Hicks has said.
“(We are) confident that Finland and Sweden will be able to resolve those (concerns) with the Turks directly,” she said while speaking alongside her Norwegian counterpart in Oslo.
Chiara Giordano24 May 2022 09:18
Ukraine urges faster weapons deliveries
Ukraine has called on its allies to deliver weapons more quickly.
Dmytro Kuleba, the country’s foreign minister, tweeted: “Too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the arms it needs. Russian offensive in the Donbas is a ruthless battle, the largest one on European soil since WWII.
“I urge partners to speed up deliveries of weapons and ammunition, especially MLRS, long-range artillery, APCs.”
Rory Sullivan24 May 2022 09:02
Russian strike hits Ukrainian arms depot in Donbas, says Kremlin
Russia has claimed to have struck a Ukrainian weapons storage facility in the Donbas.
The Kremlin said the depot was used to store shells for American-made howitzers.
The Independent is unable to verify the report.
Rory Sullivan24 May 2022 08:50
Colombian engineers to teach Ukrainian de-mining techniques
The Colombian military will teach their Ukrainian counterparts about de-mining, the South American country has said.
Diego Molano, the Colombian defence minister, said the team of Colombian soldiers will travel to Europe to run the training, after the US asked for their assistance.
“This training will be given by 11 military engineers who will go to a Nato member country which is a neighbor of Ukraine,” Mr Molano said.
Colombia is one of the world’s most-mined countries, with 2,342 people dying from landmines since 1990, according to the Colombian government.
Rory Sullivan24 May 2022 08:33
Nearly 30,000 Russian soldiers dead, claims Ukraine
Almost 30,000 Russian troops were killed in the first three months of the war, the Ukrainian army has claimed.
Earlier this week, the British government said Russia had lost around 15,000 soldiers, the same number that died during the decade-long Soviet-Afghan war.
Rory Sullivan24 May 2022 08:10
