Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
Russia threatens Kyiv
Russia’s defence ministry warns it will intensify attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil, after accusing Ukraine of targeting Russian border towns.
Russian officials accuse Ukraine of sending two helicopters across the border to bomb a town in Russia’s southern Bryansk region, wounding seven people including a toddler. Ukraine has denied the accusations.
“The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or sabotage committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime on Russian territory,” it says.
Russia hit a “military” factory outside Kyiv late Thursday using Kalibr sea-based long-range missiles, the ministry added.
The Ukrainian presidency says explosions were heard in the Vasylkiv area outside the capital.
‘Polish mercenaries’ killed
Russia’s defence ministry says that it has killed up to 30 Polish mercenaries fighting for Ukrainian forces in the country’s northeastern region of Kharkiv.
Its strategic rocket forces “eliminated up to 30 Polish mercenaries” in a strike on the village of Izyumskoe, not far from the city of Kharkiv, it says.
Five killed in east
Ukraine says that Russian strikes have killed five people in the east of the country after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow’s forces were aiming to “destroy” the region.
Two people were killed and two more wounded in the eastern Lugansk region while another three were killed and seven wounded in the neighbouring Donetsk region, the Kyiv presidency says.
Russian flagship sinks
Russia’s guided-missile cruiser Moskva sinks in the Black Sea after being damaged, Russia’s defence ministry says.
“While being towed… towards the destination port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded. Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank,” the state news agency TASS quotes the ministry as saying.
The ministry had earlier said that the fire had been contained and the ship could remain afloat.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says that the sinking of the Moskva dealt a “big blow” to the Black Sea fleet.
CIA nuclear warning
Russia’s setbacks could lead President Vladimir Putin to resort to using a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon, CIA director William Burns says.
“Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,” Burns says.
Genocide debate
Leaders on either side of the Atlantic diverge on whether to label Russia’s actions in Ukraine as “genocide”.
According to AFP, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says US President Joe Biden, who has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of genocide, was “right” in his choice of words.
But French President Emmanuel Macron, who is campaigning for re-election, said such “verbal escalations” were unhelpful, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz steers clear of using the term.
Kharkiv offensive
At least 503 civilians have been killed in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, the local governor Oleg Synegubov says.
He writes on Telegram that the dead included 24 children.
The city near the Russian border has been on the eastern frontline since the start of the war and suffered massive destruction.
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