Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy urges patience and says Ukraine ...

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Germany led calls urging caution against targeting China under new European Union sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, during a first discussion among the bloc’s 27 countries on proposed new restrictions, five diplomatic sources said.

Italy backed Germany’s proposal to target foreign companies, rather than countries, over any circumvention of existing sanctions, according to the sources familiar with the Wednesday discussion, behind closed doors. The diplomats spoke under condition of anonymity.

Germany’s diplomatic mission to the EU declined to comment, Reuters said.

Norway took over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council from Russia on Thursday, despite a freeze in cooperation between the western Arctic states and Moscow on the regional polar body due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Norway offered to organise a meeting of the Arctic Council in 2025, the statement said, a significant move because all members participate in meetings, meaning that Russia would also be invited, Reuters reported.

“Acknowledging the conclusion of the Russian Federation’s second chairmanship … and accepting Norway’s offer to chair the Council in 2023-2025, and its offer to host the fourteenth meeting in 2025,” the members of the council said in the statement, datelined from Salekhard, Siberia.

The Arctic Council was created in 1996 to discuss issues affecting the polar region, ranging from pollution to local economic development to search-and-rescue missions.

It comprises the eight Arctic states of Russia, the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark.

Gerhard Schröder, former German chancellor, was guest of honour at Russian embassy 'Victory Day' event

It has emerged that Gerhard Schröder, the former German leader discredited over his failure to denounce his friendship to and business ties with the Russian president Vladimir Putin, was the guest of honour at a reception hosted by the Russian embassy in Berlin on Tuesday evening, to mark ‘Victory Day’, or the role of the Soviet Red Army in conquering Nazi Germany in 1945.

Schröder and his wife, So-yeon Schröder Kim, reportedly rubbed shoulders with Egon Krenz, 86, the last Communist leader of East Germany (GDR). Krenz was forced to resign when the Berlin Wall fell, and was later sentenced to six and a half years in prison for his role in the crimes of the Communist regime, in particular the fatal shootings of people trying to escape the GDR.

Other guests included the leadership of the far-right populist Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD) and high-ranking members of the far-left Die Linke. Guests were served champagne and caviar according to reports.

Schröder, who was chancellor from 1998 to 2005 was a strong advocate for the Nord Stream gas pipeline during his time in office. He has since had roles in the companies Rosneft and Gazprom which he has now officially renounced.

After his resignation from the board of Rosneft over EU sanction concerns, he was spotted in Moscow a year ago by a German reporter, to whom he said:

I’m having a few days holiday in Moscow – it’s a beautiful city.

Pictures of the Schröders, and other guests at the embassy, were leaked to the tabloid Bild.

Russia’s defence ministry has said its forces have continued to advance in the western part of Bakhmut and paratroops were providing support around the Ukrainian city’s flanks, Russian news agencies reported.

The head of the Wagner private army, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said one unit of Russia’s army had abandoned its supporting position and that Ukrainian forces had made gains towards the city as part of a long-awaited counteroffensive by Kyiv.

Reuters could not independently verify either of the assertions, which came amid an escalating dispute between Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian defence ministry over the conduct of the invasion, now in its 15th month.

Prigozhin said that Ukrainian operations were proving to be “unfortunately, partially successful”, in an audio message posted on his Telegram channel.

He said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was “being deceptive” when he said Ukraine’s counteroffensive had been delayed as it waited for more aid from foreign countries. Prigozhin said the counteroffensive was actually going ahead at full speed around Bakhmut.

Russian forces, spearheaded by Wagner, have been waging a bloody assault on the city, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, since last summer. Prigozhin last week claimed his forces controlled about 95%, but threatened to pull out if Moscow did not deliver more ammunition to his fighters.

UK says it is sending long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine

The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has confirmed reports that the UK is donating long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

He told MPs in the House of Commons:

Today I can confirm that the UK is donating Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

Storm Shadow is a long-range, conventional-only, precision strike capability.

The donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law.

Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this.

CNN first reported the decision, citing multiple senior western officials.

It said Britain had received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia.

Ben Wallace makes a statement on Ukraine to the House of Commons today. Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty

Wallace said he would not give further details about the capabilities but added that “while these weapons will give Ukraine new capability, members should recognise that these systems are not even in the same league as the Russian AS-24 killjoy hypersonic missile” or “even the Kalibr cruise missile with a range of over 2,000km, roughly seven times that of a Storm Shadow missile”.

He added:

We will simply not stand by as Russia kills civilians.

Russia must recognise that its actions alone have led to such systems being provided to Ukraine.

The UK’s commitment to be the first country to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles still stands, Downing Street has said amid reports Britain has already supplied the nation with the weaponry.

Asked about the reports before a statement by the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, in the Commons today, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said:

The prime minister announced … [the UK] would be the first country to provide long-range weapons to Ukraine. That has not changed.

The Kremlin has criticised a decision by the United States to transfer to Ukraine the confiscated assets of the conservative Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev, saying it was illegal and would backfire on Washington.

On Wednesday, the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, authorised millions of dollars-worth of Malofeyev’s confiscated assets to be sent for use in Ukraine, the first such instance of confiscated Russian money being used in such a way, Reuters reported.

Asked about the case, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the US had “stolen” the money, and such decisions would “hit it like a boomerang”.

“This undermines the confidence of investors and owners of assets that are somehow connected with America, and this certainly cannot remain without consequences for the United States,” he said.

Peskov said such steps demanded a response but did not say what action Russia would take. He said there was no possibility of contesting it via a lawsuit in the US because “we do not have the opportunity to defend our rights in court”.

The US justice department charged Malofeyev last year with violating sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, saying he had provided financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea.

Garland said the case marked the first US transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine but it would not be the last.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine needs “more time” before it can launch its much-anticipated counteroffensive against Russia, adding that some armoured vehicles promised by the west had yet to arrive.

The president said newly formed brigades were ready to attack: “We can go forward and be successful. But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.”

Zelenskiy’s comments in an interview with several media outlets including the BBC are the clearest sign yet that a big Ukrainian military push is unlikely to take place in the next few weeks.

Ukrainian commanders say Kyiv still lacks vital weapons needed for a successful large-scale campaign. They include long-range artillery systems with a range of 300km, capable of hitting Russian ammunition stores and command centres.

They are increasingly concerned that if the counteroffensive makes only modest territorial gains, Ukraine’s western partners will put pressure on Kyiv to accept an unfavourable peace deal with Moscow.

The founder of Russia’s Wagner group mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Thursday that Ukrainian units had begun their counterattack and were approaching Bakhmut from the flanks.

In a comment his press service published on Telegram in response to a Russian media request about Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive, Prigozhin said Ukrainian operations were “unfortunately, partially successful”.

Morning summary

The time in Kyiv is 1pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s news so far:

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the country needs more time to prepare for a much-anticipated spring counter-offensive, saying, “We can go forward and be successful. But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.”

Zelenskiy said the army had combat brigades that were ready, but were still short of promised armoured vehicles, which were slowly arriving. He stressed that Ukraine was not prepared to cede any territory for peace, saying: “Everyone will have an idea. They can’t pressure Ukraine into surrendering territories. Why should any country of the world give Putin its territory?”

Zelenskiy again denied any Ukrainian responsibility for the drone incident over the Kremlin, saying: “They constantly look for something to sound like a justification, saying: ‘You do this to us, so we do that to you.’ But it didn’t work. Even for their domestic public, it didn’t work”. Russia has accused Washington and Kyiv of masterminding the attack, which it described as an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin. Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time, and no injuries were caused by the drones.

Britain has supplied Ukraine with multiple Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, CNN reported, citing multiple senior western officials. The Ministry of Defence declined to comment, Reuters reported. CNN first reported the decision, citing multiple senior western officials. It said Britain had received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia.

A Ukrainian military commander has said that Russian forces in Bakhmut had been pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, after counter-offensives. Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine’s ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram. He said: “In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometers.”

Russia’s military operation against Ukraine is “very difficult” but certain goals have been achieved, Tass cited the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, as saying on Wednesday. Russia has succeeded in severely damaging Ukraine’s military machine and this work will continue, he added.

A Ukrainian drone attacked an oil storage depot in the Russian border region of Bryansk, the local governor has claimed in a post on his Telegram channel on Thursday. There were no casualties after the attack on the facility near the town of Klintsy, owned by Russia’s Rosneft oil company, though one storage tank was partially damaged, the governor Alexander Bogomaz said.

Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, reiterated on Thursday that he heard about the existence of a military object found in a Polish forest for the first time in April. On Wednesday two Polish media outlets reported that the object found in the forest was a Russian KH-55 missile which could have fallen there in December, Reuters reported.

Belgorod’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has claimed that seven settlements in the Russian region have been left without electricity after Ukrainian shelling over the border.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has claimed that in the last 24 hours Russians have killed three residents of Donetsk region, and wounded two more.

Sweden’s national prosecutor said on Thursday a 50-year-old man had been charged with illegally spreading classified information about a large number of defence installations. Sweden is hoping to be ratified as a member Nato later this year.

Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft said on Wednesday that a filling point on the Europe-bound Druzhba pipeline in a border area between Russia and Ukraine had been targeted in a “terrorist” attack, according to the Tass news agency. Transneft said nobody was injured in the incident, which it called a “terrorist attack”, according to Reuters.

Britain has supplied Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles – CNN

Britain has supplied Ukraine with multiple Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, CNN reported, citing multiple senior western officials.

The Ministry of Defence declined to comment, Reuters reported. CNN first reported the decision, citing multiple senior western officials. It said Britain had received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia.

Last week, a British-led group of European countries asked companies for expressions of interest to supply Ukraine with missiles with a range of up to 190 miles, but Britain said on Tuesday that no final decision on supplying the weapons had been taken.

Britain and other western countries have scaled up their pledges of military aid for Ukraine this year.

Britain said in January it would send 14 of its main Challenger 2 battle tanks to Ukraine that helped prompt other nations including the US and Germany to also supply tanks.