UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin met one-on-one Tuesday for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, with the United Nations later saying that the pair had agreed in principle on the UN and Red Cross being involved in the evacuation of civilians from the besieged steel plant in Mariupol.
A Soviet era monument to friendship between Ukraine and Russia in Kyiv during its demolition on Tuesday April 26, 2022. – Copyright Efrem Lukatsky/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom announced that it was suspending gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, after the two countries refused to pay for gas in rubles. European gas prices have spiked by as much as 24% as a result.
Read the blog below to see how events unfolded on Wednesday 27 April:
09:08
-
Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria.
-
Ukraine retains control over the majority of its airspace, according to the latest intelligence report from the British Ministry of Defence.
-
Germany close to gas independence from Russia, says vice chancellor.
-
UN chief and Russia’s Putin agree in principle that the UN and Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from the besieged steel plant in Mariupol.
-
Refugees continue to stream out of eastern Ukraine.
11:31
Germans told to take their foot off the pedal to reduce Russian fuel reliance
Germany’s influential ADAC auto club is calling on its 21 million members to help reduce the country’s oil imports from Russia by driving less and taking their foot off the gas where possible.
In an open letter posted on its website Wednesday, the club’s leadership said driving more slowly and anticipating stops were among the ways drivers could reduce fuel consumption by up to 20%.
They also urged drivers to consider whether they really need to take the car or could switch to walking, cycling or public transport instead.
The German government says it wants to wean the country off Russian oil imports by the end of the year.
Austrian Chancellor refutes ‘propaganda’ claims over gas payments
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer is pushing back against “fake news” claims he says are spreading in Russian media, that Austria would break EU sanctions and pay for Russian gas deliveries in rubles.
Russia’s state-owned Gazprom has cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after President Putin’s demands to be paid for the gas in rubles were not met.
“Before fake news of Russian propaganda is spread further hear” wrote Nehammer.
“Of course [Austrian oil and gas company] OMV will continue to pay for gas deliveries from Russia in euros. Austria is sticking to the jointly agreed EU sanctions to the point and comma” he said.
10:53
UK says West should send heavy weapons, tanks and planes to Ukraine
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says the West should send more military equipment, including planes, to Ukraine to bolster its fight against the Russian invasion.
In a speech in London on Wednesday morning, Truss says “the fate of Ukraine remains in the balance” and calls for Western nations to increase military support for Kyiv.
“Heavy weapons, tanks, aeroplanes – digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production.”
She says that “if Putin succeeds there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe. We would never feel safe again. So we must be prepared for the long haul and double down on our support for Ukraine.”
Truss is also calling for tougher economic sanctions on Russia, saying the West must cut off Russian oil and gas imports “once and for all.”
Extracts of the speech were released in advance by the Foreign Office.
NATO nations have supplied Ukraine with military gear including missiles and armored vehicles, but have been reluctant to send fighter planes out of concern about escalating the conflict.
(AP)
10:46
Hungary gas supplies ‘unaffected’ by Gazprom action
Peter Szijjarto said in a video on Facebook Wednesday that “the news that Gazprom’s deliveries to Bulgaria have stopped may be worrying,” but the transit of Russian gas to Hungary via Bulgaria would continue.
He said: “I would like to reassure everybody that the non-delivery of gas to Bulgaria does not mean the stop of transit through Bulgaria.”
Gazprom said it would suspend gas deliveries to Bulgaria and Poland beginning on Wednesday after those countries refused to comply with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that European countries pay for gas in rubles.
Szijjarto said Hungary receives around 3.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year via a pipeline that passes through Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia. He added that supply was assured after Hungary reached an agreement with Russia whereby gas payments would be made to Gazprombank in euros and then converted into rubles.
10:30
Russia claims it destroyed “large quantity” of Western weapons in Ukraine
The Russian military said on Wednesday it destroyed a “large quantity” of weapons delivered to Kiev by the US and European countries, as efforts intensify to arm Ukraine against Moscow .
“Sheds with a large amount of foreign weapons and ammunition, delivered to the Ukrainian forces by the United States and European countries, were destroyed with high-precision Kalibr missiles fired from the sea at the aluminum plant of Zaporizhia”, in the south-east of Ukraine, said the Russian Ministry of Defense.
He did not specify which weapons were destroyed in the strike.
The Russian military also claims to have carried out airstrikes against 59 Ukrainian targets, including 50 where troops were located and four ammunition depots.
(AFP)
10:14
Zelenskyy calls for controls on Russia’s nuclear facilities
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for “global control over Russia’s nuclear facilities and nuclear technology” in light of the country’s aggressive actions in Chernobyl and at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
10:18
Russia using gas as an ‘instrument of blackmail,’ says European Commission president
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has released a statement in response to Gazprom’s moves this morning to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria:
“The announcement by Gazprom that it is unilaterally stopping delivery of gas to customers in Europe is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail. This is unjustified and unacceptable. And it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier.
We are prepared for this scenario. We are in close contact with all Member States. We have been working to ensure alternative deliveries and the best possible storage levels across the EU.
Member States have put in place contingency plans for just such a scenario and we worked with them in coordination and solidarity.
A meeting of the gas coordination group is taking place right now. We are mapping out our coordinated EU response. We will also continue working with international partners to secure alternative flows. And I will continue working with European and world leaders to ensure the security of energy supply in Europe.
Europeans can trust that we stand united and in full solidarity with the Member States impacted in the face of this new challenge. Europeans can count on our full support.”
09:34
Gas prices spike in Europe after Russia halts delivers to Poland and Bulgaria
European gas prices have spiked by as much as 24% following Gazprom’s statement this morning that it was suspending deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria starting Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
The spike comes even as the weather turns warmer in the Europe, lessening the demand for the natural gas for heating homes and businesses, it added.
09:30
International Energy Agency backs Poland and Bulgaria as Gazprom cuts their gas supplies
Fatih Birol, the executive director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, has tweeted that his organisation strongly supports Poland and Bulgaria after Russian state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom said it had cut gas supplies to the countries after they refused to pay for shipments in rubles.
“Gazprom’s move to completely shut off gas supplies to Poland is yet another sign of Russia’s politicisation of existing agreements & will only accelerate European efforts to move away from Russian energy supplies,” he wrote, adding: “IEA strongly supports Poland & Bulgaria as they respond to this latest weaponization of energy supplies
08:55
Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria
Russia’s state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom says it has cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay for shipments in rubles.
Gazprom said in a statement that it hasn’t received any payments since April 1 from Poland and Bulgaria and was suspending deliveries to them starting Wednesday.
It warned that if they siphon gas intended for other European customers, the deliveries to Europe will be reduced to that amount.
The move follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to switch to rubles in payments for Russian gas supplied to Europe.
08:44
Poland arrests Russian and Belarusian accused of espionage
The Polish government has released a statement saying that it has identified “a citizen of the Russian Federation and a citizen of Belarus who were engaged in espionage activities in Poland.”
The men were detained on 21 and 22 April, and are suspected of espionage activities for the Russian secret services, according to the statement.
It added: “The material collected by the SKW [Military Counterintelligence Service] indicates that a Russian and a Belarusian, acting on behalf of the Russian intelligence against Poland, carried out activities aimed at identifying the functioning of the Polish Armed Forces, including the presence of the army in the Polish-Belarusian border zone.”
“The investigation on the basis of the materials of the Military Counterintelligence Service was initiated by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, the Military Department.”
07:58
Blasts heard in Russia
Series of blasts were heard in the early hours of Wednesday in three Russian provinces bordering Ukraine, authorities said, and an ammunition depot in the Belgorod province caught fire around the same time.
Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a fire at the ammunition depot near the Staraya Nelidovka village had been extinguished and no civilians have been injured.
Russia this month accused Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod with helicopters and opening fire on several villages in the province.
The Belgorod province borders Ukraine’s Luhansk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions, all of which have seen heavy fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine two months ago.
Separately, Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Russia’s Kursk province, which also borders Ukraine, said that explosions had been heard in Kursk city early on Wednesday which were most likely the sounds of air defence systems firing.
In Voronezh, the administrative centre of another province adjacent to Ukraine, Russia’s TASS news agency cited an emergencies ministry official as saying that two blasts had been heard and the authorities were investigating.
07:29
Ukraine retains control over majority of its airspace, says UK
After two months of fighting, Ukraine retains control over the majority of its airspace, according to the latest intelligence report from the British Ministry of Defence.
“Russia has failed to effectively destroy the Ukrainian Air Force or suppress Ukrainian air defences. Ukraine continues to hold Russian air assets at risk,” it writes.
“Russian air activity is primarily focused on southern and eastern Ukraine, providing support to Russian ground forces. Russia has very limited air access to the north and west of Ukraine, limiting offensive actions to deep strikes with stand-off weapons.”
The report adds that Russia continues to target Ukrainian military assets and logistics infrastructure across the country.
“The majority of Russian air strikes in Mariupol are likely being conducted using unguided free-falling bombs. These weapons reduce Russia’s ability to effectively discriminate when conducting strikes, increasing the risk of civilian casualties.”
07:19
US diplomats return to Ukraine
The US State Department says diplomats have begun returning to Ukraine by making day trips to temporary offices in the western city of Lviv, from neighbouring Poland, according to the Associated Press.
The department said the first group of diplomats crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and traveled to Lviv on Tuesday morning, before returning to Poland later in the day.
The step came just two days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Ukrainian leaders during a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv that the US would start restaffing its diplomatic facilities in Ukraine this week.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the agency has accelerated its review of re-opening the US embassy in Kyiv, which was closed shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. He said operations at the embassy would resume as soon as possible depending on the security situation in the capital.
06:57
Germany close to gas independence from Russia, says vice chancellor
Germany’s vice chancellor says his country has come “very, very close” to independence from Russian oil and that an embargo on deliveries would now be “manageable.”
Speaking Tuesday during a visit to Poland, Economy Minister Robert Habeck — who is also the vice chancellor and responsible for energy — said that his country has cut Russia’s share of its oil supply from 35% before the war in Ukraine to about 12%.
Habeck said “the situation is such that an embargo has become manageable for Germany.”
He added that “the problem that just a few weeks ago seemed very big for Germany has become significantly smaller … so that independence from Russian oil imports has come very, very close.”
06:50
Refugees stream out of eastern Ukraine
As Russian forces intensify their shelling of eastern Ukraine, more people are leaving their homes in search of safety, writes the Associated Press.
In Pokrovsk, a town in the Donetsk region, people lined up Tuesday to board a train headed to the far west of the country along the border with Hungary and Slovakia. One person was lifted onto the train in a wheelchair, another on a stretcher.
The passengers took with them cats, dogs, a few bags and boxes, and the memory of those who did not flee in time.
“We were in the basement, but my daughter didn’t make it and was hit with shrapnel on the doorstep” during shelling on Monday, said Mykola Kharchenko, 74. “We had to bury her in the garden near the pear tree.”
He said his village, Vremivka, about 70 kilometres from Pokrovsk, was under heavy fire for four days and everything was destroyed. With tears in his eyes, Kharchenko said he somehow held himself together at home, but once he reached the train station he fell apart.
06:41
UN chief and Russia’s Putin agree on key Ukraine evacuation
The United Nations says Secretary-General António Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle that the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Mariupol.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that during their one-on-one meeting Tuesday, Guterres and Putin “discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol.”
The sprawling Azovstal steel plant has been almost completely destroyed by Russian attacks but it is the last pocket of organised Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.
An estimated 2,000 troops and 1,000 civilians are said to be holed up in bunkers underneath the wrecked structure.
Dujarric said that following the Guterres-Putin agreement in principle, discussions will be held with the UN humanitarian office and the Russian Defence Ministry on the evacuation.