Zelenskiy renews long-range weapon call in EU summit address
Jennifer Rankin
Jennifer Rankin reports for the Guardian from Brussels:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has renewed his call for more long-range weapons from western allies, as he addressed EU leaders meeting in Brussels.
The Ukrainian president was speaking to the EU summit via video link, from a moving train in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, where he recounted news from the frontline. On Wednesday, Zelenskiy visited frontline military positions near the besieged city of Bakhmut, where he met Ukrainian serviceman and held a moment of silence for those killed in the war. Earlier today he was in Kherson region.
His account of the “devastating” scenes he had witnessed was said to be emotional and to have had a big impact on the 27 EU leaders and top officials in Brussels listening to him. On one occasion the secure line cut out, but was soon reconnected.
According to an EU source, he warned European leaders of five factors that could prolong the war, including delays in the delivery of long-range missiles, lack of modern aircraft and weaknesses in western sanctions.
EU leaders are now discussing the Russian invasion, where they are expected to endorse a decision to supply a million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine within the next 12 months to replenish its dwindling stocks.
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Russian forces have left the town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region, the Ukrainian military’s general staff has said. Reuters quotes its evening report outlining conditions on the front lines as saying:
As of 22 March 2023, all units of the occupying army that had been deployed in the town of Nova Kakhovka in Kherson region, have left the city.
The town is located on the east bank of the Dnipro River, where Russian forces redeployed last November after abandoning positions on the west bank in the face of a counter-offensive by Ukrainian troops.
The report said Russian troops had stolen appliances, valuables, clothing and mobile telephones from nearby houses as they departed.
Finland rubber-stamps legislation allowing it to join NatoFinland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, has signed legislation to make his country part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) during a ceremony on Thursday.
Last year, Finland sought to join the military alliance in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, and legislation incorporating Nato’s founding treaties was passed in parliament in Helsinki on 1 March.
Hungary and Turkey, the only Nato members that have yet to ratify Finland’s membership, have both signalled they will soon do so.
European Union leaders have held talks with the UN chief, António Guterres, on sanctions imposed on Russia and are also expected to endorse a plan to supply more artillery shells to Kyiv.
Reuters reports that Guterres’ participation in the EU summit, where global food security was also discussed, comes days after the renewal of a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey on the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea that is seen as crucial to overcoming a global food crisis.
The 27 EU leaders were also due to get an update on the war from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, via video link. Arriving for the two-day summit, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said:
We need to ensure that grain exports, for example from Ukraine, can continue.
The Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, spoke against any easing of sanctions on Moscow under the grain deal and called for a tighter price cap on Russian oil exports.
The US has pushed back against Russian demands that western sanctions be eased before Moscow allows Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports to continue beyond mid-May, saying there are no restrictions on Russian farm products or fertilisers.
Inside the EU, the issue of fertiliser exports is blocking more sanctions against Russia’s ally Belarus. The bloc says new sanctions are needed to stop Belarus from serving as a route to bypass the existing Russia trade restrictions.
But Lithuania opposes what it calls “fertiliser oligarch” exemptions proposed to ensure Belarusian fertilisers continue flowing to third countries, arguing that that would weaken the sanctions regime overall, diplomats said.
Proponents say such carve-outs, similar to those the EU has in place under its sanctions against Russia, are necessary to ensure food security and refute Moscow’s charge that EU measures – rather than Russia’s invasion – are driving the global crisis.
Diplomats involved in preparing the summit were sceptical of any imminent breakthrough.
Earlier, William met Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, at the presidential palace, where they discussed the war in Ukraine. The former’s spokesperson said:
The conversation was warm and friendly, and predominantly focused on the ongoing conflict with the war in Ukraine, particularly its impact on Polish society.
The Prince of Wales took the opportunity to thank the president and the Polish people who have done so much to support the people of Ukraine who’ve fled here. They discussed the importance of the need for ongoing support to Ukraine and its people.
The prince said he was very much looking forward to seeing the president and first lady at the coronation. He also thanked him for attending the late queen’s funeral.
William also echoed his grandmother the queen by laying a wreath at a monument dedicated to soldiers. Queen Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh did the same during their state visit to Poland in 1996.
William was greeted by a guard of honour and carried the assortment of flowers to the monument, spending around 10 minutes there before leaving. On the wreath was a note reading: “In memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Prince William visits the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw, in Poland. Photograph: Tim Rooke/Rex/ShutterstockThe Prince of Wales has praised the resilience of young Ukrainian refugees living in Poland.
William, on the second day of his surprise trip to the country, visited the Hala Koszyki food hall in Warsaw to speak to those who have fled Ukraine. He joined them at tables on Thursday afternoon and heard about their experiences settling into Polish life. William told them:
It must be very difficult to start an entire new life in a new country. It’s amazing how resilient you are. That shines out.
He also spoke to people who have hosted refugees, and thanked them for their kindness. William was greeted by well-wishers outside the venue and given flowers. Three women held a sign thanking him for the visit.
One of them, Olga Mieszejewska-Buchalik, who travelled three hours from south Poland, told reporters:
I said that we really appreciated his support for our nation and Ukraine.
Vonya Bultruski, 26, who spoke to the prince, told the PA news agency:
I told him how much his support for refugees means, he’s a very kind man. I’m very happy to see him in Poland, it is a big moment for my country.
Marta Galinska, 47, a milliner, gave William a pink felt hat she made for the Princess of Wales.
Zelenskiy renews long-range weapon call in EU summit address
Jennifer Rankin
Jennifer Rankin reports for the Guardian from Brussels:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has renewed his call for more long-range weapons from western allies, as he addressed EU leaders meeting in Brussels.
The Ukrainian president was speaking to the EU summit via video link, from a moving train in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, where he recounted news from the frontline. On Wednesday, Zelenskiy visited frontline military positions near the besieged city of Bakhmut, where he met Ukrainian serviceman and held a moment of silence for those killed in the war. Earlier today he was in Kherson region.
His account of the “devastating” scenes he had witnessed was said to be emotional and to have had a big impact on the 27 EU leaders and top officials in Brussels listening to him. On one occasion the secure line cut out, but was soon reconnected.
According to an EU source, he warned European leaders of five factors that could prolong the war, including delays in the delivery of long-range missiles, lack of modern aircraft and weaknesses in western sanctions.
EU leaders are now discussing the Russian invasion, where they are expected to endorse a decision to supply a million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine within the next 12 months to replenish its dwindling stocks.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, has this report from Kherson on its official Telegram channel, citing the state emergency department:
Four fires broke out in the Kherson region during the day as a result of shelling by the Russian army. A warehouse was on fire in Kherson, a car and the remains of a cable caught fire in Beryslav. And in Antonivka, a private house and a non-residential building were on fire.
The office of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, have issued a couple of photographs of his visit to Kherson region today.
Zelenskiy being shown around streets in Kherson region. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/ReutersZelenskiy speaking with people living in a village in Kherson region. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/ReutersIt is Zelenskiy’s second trip outside Kyiv this week, having visited the frontline city of Bakhmut yesterday.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, visited the occupied city of Mariupol on Saturday evening in his first trip to one of the areas that Russia has claimed to annex from Ukraine.
Medvedev may have dismissed western claims that Russia is running out of weapons with which to continue its war on Ukraine, but Reuters is reporting that the conflict has left Moscow unable to deliver vital defence supplies it had committed to India’s military.
New Delhi has been worried about just such a situation, with Moscow its largest source of defence equipment. An Indian air force statement on Thursday is the first official confirmation it has come about.
The statement was made to a parliamentary committee, which published it on its website on Tuesday. An air force representative told the committee that Russia had planned a “major delivery” this year that would not take place. A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in New Delhi told Reuters: “We don’t have information which may confirm the stated.”
There has been no immediate response from Rosoboronexport, which is the Russian government’s weapons export arm. The report does not mention specifics of the delivery, Reuters says.
Medvedev also dismissed any suggestion of talks with western European powers as “useless” and spoke contemptuously about western politicians, claiming a “catastrophic drop in competence and elementary literacy of EU leaders”.
I have no illusions that we could communicate with them again any time soon. It makes no sense to negotiate with certain countries and blocs – they only understand the language of force.
Medvedev, who heads a panel coordinating weapons production, derided western claims that Moscow is running out of weapons and said Russian weapons industries had increased output. He said Russia would produce 1,500 battle tanks this year and boost production of other weapons to meet its army’s needs. His claims could not be independently verified.
The most important thing now is to make it all in necessary volumes, and we are launching new factories to do that.
He said that the Russian military already had good intelligence drones and loitering munitions, but acknowledged that it had yet to deploy long-range strike drones.
Relations with west worse than ever, says MoscowHere’s some more detail on those comments made by Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Putin-chaired Security Council, who we quoted earlier as saying that any attempt to arrest the Russian president would amount to a declaration of war.
According to the Associated Press (AP), he has told reporters in Russia that Moscow’s relations with the west have hit an all-time low. Asked whether the threat of a nuclear conflict has eased, he said:
No, it hasn’t decreased, it has grown. Every day when they provide Ukraine with foreign weapons brings the nuclear apocalypse closer.
Medvedev also denounced the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin as legally null and void, claiming the move added to a “colossal negative potential” in the already bitterly strained ties.
Our relations with the west are already worse than they have ever been in history.
Medvedev challenged Ukraine’s sovereignty in comments that could reflect Moscow’s plans to extend its gains.
Honestly speaking, Ukraine is part of Russia. But, due to geopolitical reasons and the course of history, we had tolerated that we were living in separate quarters and had been forced to acknowledge those invented borders for a long time.
The AP reports that, since Putin sent troops into Ukraine, Medvedev has emerged as one of the most hawkish Russian officials, with observers interpreting his position as an apparent attempt to curry favour with Putin.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has visited the southern region of Kherson, where he toured local infrastructure the he promised to restore after Russia’s invasion.
The visit, to a region where Ukraine staged a successful counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces late last year, was his second outside Kyiv this week, Reuters reports. On Wednesday, he visited troops near the eastern frontline city of Bakhmut.
On Thursday, under footage of his visit to Kherson region that was posted on Telegram, Zelenskiy wrote:
I spoke with local residents about their current issues and needs. We will restore everything, we will rebuild everything. Just like with every city and village that suffered because of the occupiers.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive last year pushed Russian troops out of the regional capital after months of occupation. Workers in the region are now busy restoring power and the water supply. In a separate post showing him inspecting energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian president wrote:
We have to ensure full restoration and protection of our energy sector. I am grateful to everyone who works for this and returns the light to our people.
‘Try Putin in absentia’, Ukrainian prosecutor urgesRussian leaders should be put on trial for the invasion of Ukraine even if they cannot be arrested and brought to court in person, Kyiv’s top prosecutor has said.
Gen Andriy Kostin said a planned tribunal for the crime of aggression should hold so-called trials in absentia.
He was speaking to Reuters after meeting the international criminal court (ICC)‘s chief prosecutor in The Hague, where the court is based. Last week, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, accusing him and his children’s commissioner of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia.
While the ICC can prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine, it cannot prosecute the crime of aggression due to legal constraints.
International support is growing for the creation of a special tribunal that would prosecute Russian leaders for the 13-month-old invasion itself, considered by Ukraine and western leaders to be a crime of aggression. Kostin said the special tribunal should go after “the highest political and military leadership, including Putin, for the crime of aggression”.
I believe that it could be (held) in absentia, because it’s important to deliver a matter of justice for international crimes even if perpetrators are not in the dock.
International courts very rarely hold trials in absentia and the ICC’s rules state specifically that an accused suspect shall be present during trial.
The only recent example of an international trial in absentia was in the case of Lebanon, for which a UN-backed tribunal convicted three men for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri.
Russia has publicly said it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia in what it presents as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and abandoned children in the conflict zone.
Summary of the day so far … The UN nuclear agency’s chief said that the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant “remains perilous” after a Russian missile strike this month disconnected the plant from the grid. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant needs a reliable electricity supply to operate pumps that circulate water to cool reactors and pools holding nuclear fuel.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Thursday that it had ended rescue attempts in Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, where it is now known that nine people died in a suspected Russian drone attack in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reported that on Wednesday shelling in the Donetsk region killed two people and injured four others, while one person was killed and two were wounded in the Kherson region.
Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, said: “The aggressor does not give up hope of taking Bakhmut at any cost, despite the losses in manpower and equipment.” He added that Russia was losing “considerable strength” and that “very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we once did near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliia and Kupiansk”, all areas that Ukraine has previously liberated from Russian occupation.
The UK Ministry of Defence said that “Russia has made gains of up to several kilometres” in the Luhansk region, and that “Russian commanders are likely trying to expand a security zone west from the defence lines they have prepared along higher ground, and integrate the natural obstacle of the Oskil River. They likely seek to recapture Kupiansk, a logistics node.”
Any attempt to arrest President Vladimir Putin after the international criminal court (ICC) issued a warrant for the Kremlin chief would amount to a declaration of war against Russia, his ally Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, while directly threatening to attack the seat of any government that allowed it to happen.
A video is circulating on social media of the Ukrainian national flag flying from a tall mast in Crimea, a region annexed by Russia in 2014. It appears to have been filmed near the village of Hrushivka.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Thursday he would discuss a peace plan for Ukraine with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, during an official visit to China next week.
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, on Thursday spoke against any weakening of sanctions against Russia under a deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, and called for the G7 to tighten its oil cap to squeeze Russia’s revenue more.
A former New Zealand soldier who drew an online following with his dispatches from the frontline of the Ukraine war has been killed. The death of Kane Te Tai, 38, was confirmed by New Zealand’s foreign ministry Thursday, citing Ukrainian government sources. Te Tai, who fought with the International Legion, is the third New Zealander known to have died in Ukraine.
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Thursday he would discuss a peace plan for Ukraine with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, during an official visit to China next week.
“We will also talk about Ukraine where the most important thing is to be able to guarantee a stable and lasting peace,” Reuters reports Sanchez told the media in Brussels.
Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, on Thursday spoke against any weakening of sanctions against Russia under a deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, and called for the G7 to tighten its oil cap to further squeeze Russia’s revenue.
“We know that Russia is earning less from the oil. We see the economic sanctions, including the oil price cap, are having am effect on the Russian economy and their ability to fuel the war machine,” Reuters reports her saying on arriving to talks among the EU’s 27 national leaders in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
“We should continue with that,” she said, adding that Estonia would agree to raise the cap again should oil prices rise. She spoke against any weakening of sanctions against Russia as sought by Moscow in the grain deal talks. “We shouldn’t weaken the sanctions,” she said.
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, speaks on arrival for the EU summit in Brussels. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty ImagesA video is circulating on social media, reported by Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, of the Ukrainian national flag flying from a tall mast in Crimea, a region annexed by Russia in 2014 in a move which is not widely recognised internationally. It appears to have been filmed near the village of Hrushivka.
A Ukrainian flag flies from a communications tower near the village of Hrushivka, about 18km north of the town of Sudak in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea. Even after 9 years of Russian military occupation, some Crimeans still seem prepared to risk demonstrating patriotism. pic.twitter.com/sgTE3ahwCc
— Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) March 23, 2023The Guardian has not independently verified the location, or the date the video was made.
The air alarm which has been in force across Ukraine for much of the last two hours has ended.