Ukraine’s top presidential adviser and negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, said negotiations with Russia on resolving the conflict have been suspended, blaming Moscow’s “stereotypical mindset”.
Since the two delegations met in Istanbul in late March, there have been “no significant changes, no progress”, he said.
Podolyak told reporters:
Objectively speaking, the negotiation process is suspended. Why? There are several reasons. Russia does not demonstrate the key – the understanding of today’s processes in the world and (Russia’s) extremely negative role.
Russia does not understand that the war is “no longer going on according to the rules, their plans, and schedule”, he said, while at the same time the “resistance of Ukraine, the professional resistance just grows, that’s why there’s no way Russia achieves its goals”.
He said the political elite in Russia are afraid of telling the truth and were choosing to “continue negotiations as an element of their propaganda only for domestic use”.
Podolyak added:
In my opinion, it’s a strategic goal of Russians: All or nothing.
He said the Ukrainian delegation does not consider the issue “to withdraw or not to withdraw” from the negotiation process as only expediency and specificity matter at the current stage, adding:
If there is specificity, political negotiations will continue.
Podolyak’s remarks to the media come after Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said that virtually no peace talks are going on at the moment.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that Rudenko told journalists in Nizhny Novgorod:
No, the negotiations are not continuing. Ukraine has practically withdrawn from the negotiating process.
265 Ukrainian fighters surrendered at Azovstal, says Russian defence ministry
Russia’s defence ministry said 265 Ukrainian fighters had surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
More than 50 were heavily wounded, the ministry said, adding that those in need of medical care were transferred to a hospital in the town of Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol.
Russian authorities have released images of what it claims are wounded Ukrainian servicemen who left the steel plant and who are now in Russian custody.
Russian airstrike kills eight in Chernihiv, says state emergency service
Eight people have died and 12 wounded after Russia launched a missile strike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service, Reuters reports.
The regional governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said Russia launched four missiles at around 5am local time. Two of the missiles hit buildings in the village, he said.
In a video posted on Facebook, Chaus said:
In the morning, the enemy fired missiles at the village of Desna. […] According to preliminary reports, we have those killed and many wounded.
It has not been able to independently verify these claims.
Here are some lines from Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, during his regular briefing where he said it would be “outright theft” for G7 countries and EU to seize Russia’s frozen reserves and spend them on behalf of Ukraine.
It comes after Germany’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, said he was open to the idea of seizing Russian state assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Proposals to this effect were already being discussed among the G7 and in the EU, Lindner added.
Peskov said no one had told Russia of such an initiative, which he said would be “illegal, blatant and of course requiring an appropriate response … It would be, in fact, outright theft”.
The Kremlin spokesperson also told reporters that Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol would be treated “in accordance with international standards”.
Sweden’s minister of foreígn affairs, Ann Linde, signs her country’s application for Nato membership in Stockholm. Photograph: Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images
All EU member states will support Finland and Sweden in joining Nato, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said.
EU representatives will discuss the intentions of both Nordic countries to join the alliance, for which they will receive “strong support”, Borrell told reporters before a meeting of the EU foreign affairs council, adding:
They will receive a strong support I’m sure from all member states, because it increases our unity and it makes us stronger.
He added that he “hopes” Nato will overcome Turkey’s objections to Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the alliance:
I am sure the council will support extremely … the membership of Sweden and Finland to Nato. I know that Turkey has put some objections. I hope Nato will be able to overcome them.
Meanwhile, Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, said his country and Sweden will be able to reach an agreement with Turkey over its objectives.
In an address to Sweden’s parliament, Niinistö said:
Statements from Turkey have very quickly changed and become harder during the last few days. But I am sure that, with the help of constructive discussions, we will solve the situation.
Growing numbers of refugees are being made homeless, and in many cases destitute, following relationship breakdowns with their Homes for Ukraine hosts in the UK, community organisations have warned.
Some predict the system could crash entirely amid reports of Ukrainian refugees being asked to leave the homes of their sponsors with as little as one day’s notice, leaving them with no option but to be referred to local authorities as homeless, or if they can afford to, attempt to seek last-minute rented accommodation.
Community leaders said it was happening among typically well-meaning hosts who may have failed to anticipate the enormity of the commitment until refugees arrived in their homes, adding to the stress and trauma of the refugees.
Other factors cited include costs, personality and cultural clashes, hosts not setting house rules, misunderstandings and communication issues.
Iryna Terlecky, a board member of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB), said: “Our community is seeing these cases frequently and our perception is that they’re increasing.”
They also report similar issues among those who arrived on the Ukraine family scheme – either due to space issues or relationship breakdowns. “We are finding that sponsorship relationships are breaking down – in spite of the very clear desire of people to help,” Terlecky said.
A 43-year-old Ukrainian woman told the Guardian she was left homeless, terrified and not knowing where to turn after being asked to leave by her Homes for Ukraine hosts after little more than a week.
Following Russia’s invasion she fled her 22nd-floor flat in Kyiv for Spain but she found it difficult to find work. She met her UK hosts, a couple from Exeter, on Facebook who arranged her flights and documentation.
At first, she said, they all got on well and she felt “loved and cared for”. But their dynamic shifted dramatically when she went to visit a man she had met online. Her hosts have accused her of lying.
“It’s a terrible feeling,” she said, speaking from emergency council accommodation in a hotel. “You feel really happy, loved and cared for and then you feel like you’ve been thrown from a high-rise building to the ground.”
More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers, many of them wounded, have been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol, appearing to cede control of the city to Russia after 82 days of bombardment.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said late on Monday that 53 heavily wounded soldiers were evacuated to a hospital in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk and that more than 200 others were transported through a corridor to Olenivka. An “exchange procedure” will take place to bring evacuees home, she said.
It was unclear how many soldiers remained in the steelworks or the exact number who left, but Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “We hope to save the lives of our boys. I want to underline: Ukraine needs its Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle,” he said in a video statement.
Ukraine deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk this morning said of the wounded servicemen: “After their condition stabilises, we will exchange them for Russian prisoners of war. We are working on the next stages of the humanitarian operation.”
Russia-backed separatists claimed this morning that 256 Ukrainian servicemen who had been in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant “have surrendered” and that 51 were wounded.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Finland and Sweden joining Nato would probably make “not much difference” as the two countries had long participated in the alliance’s military drills.
Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko has said virtually no peace talks are going on at the moment, accusing Ukraine of withdrawing from the process.
Lviv’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, has said overnight a missile hit the Yavoriv regional branch of the Lviv railway, and infrastructure was damaged. Kozytskyi also claims Ukraine’s air defence shot down three cruise missiles last night.
The governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, has claimed that Russian forces suppressed fire from Ukraine on the Russian village of Alekseevka.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is due to appeal against a nine-year prison sentence he was handed in March on charges that he and his allies say are politically motivated
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted that he has held talks with German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen called for US allies to step up financial support for Ukraine on Tuesday, saying that funds announced so far would not be sufficient for the country’s short-term needs as it battles a Russian invasion.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I am handing over to Léonie Chao-Fong.
Russian minister on peace talks: 'Ukraine has practically withdrawn from the negotiating process'
Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko has said virtually no peace talks are going on at the moment, accusing Ukraine of withdrawing from the process.
The Russian Interfax news agency reports that Rudenko told journalists in Nizhny Novgorod “No, the negotiations are not continuing. Ukraine has practically withdrawn from the negotiating process.”
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen called for US allies to step up financial support for Ukraine on Tuesday, saying that funds announced so far would not be sufficient for the country’s short-term needs as it battles a Russian invasion.
“Ukraine’s financing needs are significant,” Yellen said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Brussels Economic Forum, adding that the country’s government continued to function, due to the ingenuity and bravery of its officials.
“In the months until tax collection can resume at pace, Ukraine needs budget funding to pay soldiers, employees and pensioners, as well as to operate an economy that meets its citizens’ basic needs,” Reuters reports Yellen said. “In short order, it will need to turn to repairing and restoring critical utilities and services.”
While Ukraine would eventually need “massive support” for reconstruction and recovery on the scale of the post-second world war Marshall Plan for Europe, the country would have to take this “one step at a time.”
“What is clear is that the bilateral and multilateral support announced so far will not be sufficient to meet Ukraine’s basic needs,” Yellen said.
