Exactly three months after Russia began its Ukraine invasion, Russian forces on Tuesday launched an all-out assault to encircle Ukrainian troops in the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk straddling a river in eastern Ukraine. Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
7:21pm: Germany, Poland negotiating tanks for Ukraine
Germany has rejected suggestions that it is reneging on a promise to provide Poland with tanks to make up for those that Warsaw has delivered to Ukraine.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told German broadcaster Welt that he was “very disappointed” Berlin had not fulfilled its promise on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Poland.
Speaking after a meeting with her Polish counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the issue had been discussed in order to resolve “misunderstandings.”
5:30pm: EU suspends import duties on Ukrainian goods
EU ministers on Tuesday agreed to suspend import duties on all products from Ukraine in a bid to help the country’s battered economy survive Russia’s military assault.
European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the suspension was a temporary measure that “will make it easier for Ukraine to continue trading in the face of Russia’s aggression and will provide overall support to the Ukrainian economy”.
Bilateral trade between the EU and Ukraine, an agricultural export powerhouse, accounted for €52 billion of trade last year, according to the EU executive.
5:04pm: Russian military campaign in most active phase, Ukraine says
Russia‘s military campaign in Ukraine has entered its most active phase, Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said on Tuesday.
Three months after invading Ukraine, Russian forces are trying to encircle Ukrainian troops in twin cities straddling the Siverskyi Donets River in eastern Ukraine. Motuzyanyk said Russian forces had not given up attempts to cross the river.
4:25pm: Eighty-two percent of Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions, poll says
Eighty-two percent of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should not sign away any of its territories as part of a peace deal with Russia under any circumstances, according to a new survey by one of the country’s top pollsters.
In the poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology between May 13-18 and released on Tuesday, 82 percent of respondents said they did not support territorial concessions, even if it prolonged the war and increased the threat to Ukraine‘s independence.
3:53pm: Russian lawmakers move to make it easier to shut down foreign media
Russian lawmakers on Tuesday backed legislation allowing prosecutors to shut down foreign media outlets without a court order, in the latest move against the press during Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.
The lower house State Duma adopted in first reading amendments allowing authorities “to quickly respond and give a mirror response to unfriendly actions against our media abroad”.
Russian state-run media including television network RT and news agency Sputnik have been banned in several Western countries since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.
The new legislation would allow the prosecutor general to unilaterally shut down foreign media operating in Russia if foreign governments take “hostile” steps against Russian media abroad.
3:53pm: Russia bars entry to 154 members of British House of Lords
Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday announced that it was imposing an entry ban on 154 members of the UK parliament’s House of Lords in retaliation for sanctions against Russian senators over Ukraine.
“In response to a decision taken in March by the British government to put almost all Russia’s Federation Council members on a sanctions list, on a reciprocal basis, personal sanctions are being introduced against 154 members of the House of Lords,” the ministry said in a statement.
3:25pm: EU proposes to make seizing assets easier, including of sanctioned oligarchs
The EU Commission wants to make it easier to confiscate assets linked to serious illegal activities and suspected criminals, including those evading European Union sanctions against the Kremlin, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
The legislative proposal, due to be published on Wednesday and still subject to changes, is aimed at addressing a longstanding weakness in the EU, where many states lack sufficiently robust legal frameworks to seize criminal assets, making it easier for criminals to hide their resources and benefit from illegal activities.
The war in Ukraine has further exposed this weakness, as many states are struggling to freeze assets of people sanctioned by the EU for their ties to the Kremlin – and many more lack legal powers to confiscate frozen assets.
3:21pm: Putin ‘miscalculated’ Ukrainian, international response to invasion
Three months after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, “it certainly has not been the success that Vladimir Putin expected it to be and hoped it to be when he launched what he called the ‘special military operation'”, said FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Philip Turle. “He thought then that his soldiers were going to be welcomed in with open arms into what was a former Soviet state, that the war would last for three days and that he would easily overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky.”
“Nothing could have been further from the truth,” Turle continued. “I think he miscalculated the resistance of the Ukrainians; I think he miscalculated the coming together of the international community.”
2:49pm: ‘At least three or four funerals a day’ in Kharkiv in earlier stages of the war
“It was incredibly intense,” FRANCE 24 senior journalist Catherine Norris-Trent said about her recent time in the outskirts of Kharkiv. “
“Since the early stages of the war, Russian forces had been pounding Kharkiv; really hitting the city centre,” Norris-Trent said. “But in March and April those bombs were still hitting the northern, the eastern outskirts of the city day and night, very hard, often in civilian areas. And there were lots of losses every single day — at least three or four funerals a day taking place in each of the cemeteries in the city we visited.”
2:14pm: Finland, Sweden to send teams to Turkey to discuss NATO bids
Finland and Sweden will send delegations to Ankara on Wednesday to try to resolve Turkish opposition to their applications for membership of the NATO military alliance, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Tuesday.
Ankara’s objections have put the brakes on what Sweden and Finland hoped would be a quick accession process as the two countries look to shore up their security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We understand that Turkey has some of their own security concerns vis-a-vis terrorism,” Haavisto said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We think that these issues can be settled. There might be also some issues that are not linked directly to Finland and Sweden but more to other NATO members.”
1:44pm: Navalny loses appeal against nine-year sentence
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday lost his legal appeal against a nine-year prison sentence that he and his allies condemn as politically motivated.
His sentencing came as Moscow pushes on with its military offensive in neighbouring Ukraine and Russian authorities seek to silence remaining government critics.
A Moscow court ruled to “leave the sentence without changes” and for it to enter into force immediately, meaning that the leader of Russia’s embattled opposition will be transferred to a strict-regime penal colony with harsh conditions, including few family visits.
1:31pm: Bucha ‘bustling with life’ as some residents return home
Reporting from Bucha, a Kyiv satellite city where Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces committed mass atrocities during the occupation, FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg says life is returning to the city.
“It’s an astonishing contrast” to the scenes in Bucha in early April, when Russian troops withdrew from western Ukraine, leaving behind the wreckage and trauma of war.
1:14pm: 200 bodies found in Mariupol building rubble
Workers digging through rubble have found 200 bodies in Mariupol, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The bodies found in the basement of a collapsed apartment building were in a state of decomposition and a stench permeated the neighbourhood, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor.
Mariupol has endured some of the worst suffering of the war and became a worldwide symbol of defiance for the months-long resistance put up by Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal steelworks.
11:14am: Sweden, Finland to attend the June NATO summit: Spain’s PM
Sweden and Finland will attend the NATO summit in Madrid next month, said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Finland and Sweden said they have been spurred into joining NATO by Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, reversing generations of military non-alignment.
The NATO summit will be held in Madrid on June 28-30.
10:45am: ‘Large part’ of Russian artillery, air defence systems currently in Donbas
Reporting from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in the Donbas region, FRANCE 24’s Gwendoline Debono says Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the area. Their main objective is the city of Severodonetsk, where Russian troops destroyed a critical bridge a few days ago. But the morale of Ukrainian defenders remains high, says Debono.
10:03am: Poland to order six more Patriot missile batteries
Poland intends to buy six additional Patriot missile batteries, according to Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak.
Poland has been boosting its military capacity after Russia invaded Ukraine. Warsaw has vowed to raise its defence spending to three percent of GDP and more than double the size of its army.
“I signed a Letter of Request concerning six Patriot batteries with omnidirectional radars, launchers and a supply of missiles,” Blaszczak said on Twitter.
Poland already has two Patriot batteries, which are US-made and therefore compatible with NATO systems.
09:38am: In Chernobyl, people recount ‘terrible stories of abuses, of rape’
“It all started here three months ago,” explains FRANCE 24’s Cyril Payen, reporting near a power plant in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernobyl. “At dawn, 4am, three months ago, hour by hour, Russian units crossed the border from Belarus.”
Chernobyl was also one of the first places to be liberated after Russian troops withdrew from western Ukraine after failing to take the capital.
Three months later, people in Chernobyl are recounting “terrible stories of abuses, of rape, of disappearances” that occurred during the Russian advance, says Payen.
08:01am: ‘Strong views’ on invasion at Quad meeting: Australian PM
Australia’s new prime minister, Antony Albanese, has said “strong views” were expressed on Russia at the Quad leaders meeting in Tokyo.
The grouping known as the Quad includes Australia, Japan, the US and India. US President Joe Biden, who is attending the meeting, has been pushing for a coordinated response to the Ukraine invasion, but India has maintained a neutral stance.
Speaking to reporters after the Quad meeting, Albanese said Russia’s “unilateral” attack on the people of Ukraine was an outrage. “Strong views were expressed in the meeting,” he said.
07:39am: In occupied Kherson, discontent on display during organised press tour
At a water treatment plant in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, a worker offers a curt visit of the premises. “I was told to give a tour. So, we are giving a tour. Here is where we stock things,” she says, pointing to a closet. “There is a dryer there,” she continues tersely before moving to the next room.
Russian forces took control of the Kherson region, which borders the Donetsk region to the east and Crimea to the south, early in the war and have installed a pro-Kremlin administration.
Protests have broken out in Kherson city, the regional capital, against the invasion of Ukraine. But on an organised press tour three months after the launch of the invasion, residents selected to speak to the press are tight lipped about their situation – mostly.
05:00am: Ukraine’s Zelensky urges allies to pressure Moscow on prisoner swap
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Monday that Kyiv was ready for an exchange of prisoners with Russia “even tomorrow” and called on his allies to put pressure on Moscow.
“The exchange of people – this is a humanitarian matter today and a very political decision that depends on the support of many states,” Zelensky said in a question-and-answer video link with audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“It is important … to pressure politically on any level, through powerful business, through the closure of businesses, oil embargo … and through these threats actively intensify the exchange of our people for Russian servicemen.”
“We do not need the Russian servicemen, we only need ours,” Zelensky said. “We are ready for an exchange even tomorrow.”
Zelensky said that Ukraine has involved the United Nations, Switzerland, Israel and “many, many countries”, but the process was very complicated.
Several thousand people are in captivity after Russia captured the port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine and as a result of the battle in the eastern Donbas region, he said.
12:05am: US still ‘a ways away’ from sending troops back into Ukraine, says general
The United States is still “a ways away” from any possible decision on whether to re-introduce U.S. troops into Ukraine, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Monday, even as he acknowledged low-level planning underway.
President Joe Biden decided to withdraw American troops from Ukraine before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion in order to avoid a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary.
But changing circumstances including a reopening of the U.S. embassy have raised questions about whether US troops may be required to return to help ensure security of diplomats in a country at war.
At a news conference, Milley acknowledged some degree of staff planning ahead of a potential decision to send US troops back into Ukraine. That planning hasn’t made it to his level for review or to the level of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Then, ultimately, it would be up to Biden.
“At the end of the day, any reintroduction of US forces into Ukraine would require a presidential decision. So we’re a ways away from anything like that,” Milley said.
“We’re still developing courses of action, and none of that’s been presented yet to the Secretary.”
10:56pm: Russia not sure it needs resumed ties with West, will work on ties with China, Lavrov says
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow will consider offers of re-establishing ties with the West and think about whether that is needed, but will focus on developing ties with China.
“If they (the West) want to offer something in terms of resuming relations, then we will seriously consider whether we will need it or not,” Lavrov said in a speech, according to a transcript on the foreign ministry’s website.
He also said Moscow’s goal now is to further develop ties with China.
“Now that the West has taken a ‘dictator’s position’, our economic ties with China will grow even faster,” Lavrov said.
9:53pm: German economy minister expects EU embargo on Russian oil ‘within days’
The EU will likely agree an embargo on Russian oil imports “within days”, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told broadcaster ZDF on Monday.
Habeck warned that an embargo would not automatically weaken the Kremlin as rising prices were enabling it to rake in more income while selling lower volumes of oil. Therefore, one consideration was to no longer pay “any price” for oil, but to agree on upper limits, he said. For that to work, however, many countries would have to get on board.
