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🔴 Live: Biden backs F-16 fighter jets, pilot training for Ukraine
Issued on: 19/05/2023 – 04:42
F-16 aircrafts fly during a NATO media event at an airbase in Malbork, Poland on March 21, 2023.
F-16 aircrafts fly during a NATO media event at an airbase in Malbork, Poland on March 21, 2023. © Lukasz Glowala, Reuters
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US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that Washington will support providing advanced warplanes including F-16s to Ukraine and will back efforts to train Kyiv’s pilots, senior White House officials said on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is set to attend the G7 summit in Japan, hailed the move as a “historic decision”. Read our live blog for all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
8:55pm: Zelensky to meet Biden at G7
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with US President Joe Biden “in the coming days” at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, his chief of staff said on television.
The two leaders will discuss a series of topics including the international fighter jet coalition, thanks to which “Ukraine will very soon have everything it needs to protect our skies, our cities and our citizens,” Yermak said.
Yermak confirmed that Zelensky, who on Friday addressed the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia, would go to Japan for the G7.
7:54pm: Russia bans entry to 500 US nationals including Obama
Russia on Friday said it banned entry to 500 Americans, including former ex-Barack Obama, in response to sanctions imposed by Washington.
“In response to the anti-Russian sanctions regularly imposed by the Biden administration … entry into the Russian Federation is closed for 500 Americans,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Also among those listed were television hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers.
6:45pm: US imposes fresh sanctions on hundreds of Russian targets
The US on Friday announced sanctions on more than 300 targets as G7 leaders met in Japan, aiming to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and intensifying one of the harshest sanctions efforts ever implemented.
The move, which targets Russia’s sanctions evasion, future energy revenues and military-industrial supply chains, marks the latest sanctions and export controls targeting Moscow, which have already hit thousands of targets and imposed steep curbs on
Russia.
“Today’s actions will further tighten the vise on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s ability to wage his barbaric invasion and will advance our global efforts to cut off Russian attempts to evade sanctions,” US Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
5:40pm: Biden supports training Ukraine pilots on F-16s, W.House source says
US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that Washington will support training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets that could be supplied to Kyiv, a senior White House official told AFP on Friday.
Biden said the US “will support a joint effort with our allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force”, the official said.
“As the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them,” they added.
5:11pm: China says willing to talk to Poland about political settlement for Ukraine crisis
China attaches importance to Poland’s key role in regional affairs, and is willing to continue to communicate with Warsaw on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, China’s Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs, Li Hui, said on Friday.
China will support the establishment of a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture, Li said at a meeting with Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wojciech Gerwel in Warsaw, according to a foreign ministry statement.
5:01pm: Ex-president Medvedev says Russia recruited over 100,000 troops in 2023
More than 100,000 people have enlisted in the Russian army this year, former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday, as Moscow seeks to recruit volunteers for its offensive in Ukraine.
Moscow has conducted an aggressive military recruitment campaign in recent months as Kyiv gears up for an offensive after months of stalemate in eastern Ukraine.
“Between January 1 and May 19, 117,400 people have been accepted into the ranks of the armed forces on a contractual basis and as part of our voluntary formations,” Medvedev said.
Mededev, who is now deputy chairman of the Kremlin’s Security Council, said Russian officials were continuing to recruit soldiers on contract.
4:27pm: Ukraine says repelled Russian attacks near Bakhmut
Ukraine said on Friday it had repelled attacks by Russian forces trying to recapture land they had lost around the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, where Kyiv says it has inflicted heavy Russian casualties.
A Ukrainian mortar unit near the city told Reuters it had advanced this week, but was facing heavy fire from Russian forces who appeared to have significant strength in manpower and stocks of ammunition.
“The fire was intensive this week. Our forces pushed forward a little, stopped near the canal. It’s hard to push them (the Russians) out of there,” said a soldier with the call sign Medvid, which means “bear” in Ukrainian.
4:14pm: Russia bans Greenpeace for propaganda, trying to ‘change power’
Russia on Friday labelled Greenpeace an undesirable organisation, accusing it of anti-Moscow propaganda and trying to “change power in the country”.
The designation criminalises the work of organisations carrying the brand and puts staff at risk of prosecution.
The Office of the General Prosecutor said the climate advocacy group posed “a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security” of the country.
Since the start of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, Greenpeace activists have been engaged in “anti-Russian propaganda” and called for Russia’s economic isolation, the statement said.
4:05pm: Russia-Georgia flights resume despite protests, strained ties
Direct flights resumed on Friday between Russia and Georgia amid protests and sharp criticism from the South Caucasus nation’s president, just over a week after the Kremlin unexpectedly lifted a four-year-old ban despite rocky relations.
Georgian police on Friday afternoon dispersed protesters who had gathered at Tbilisi airport to meet an Azimuth Airlines flight from Moscow, the first to arrive from Russia since July 2019, with signs and slogans criticising the Kremlin and what they described as the current Georgian government’s pro-Russia course.
Georgia’s pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has previously clashed with the government over mending ties with Moscow, also voiced her opposition in a tweet posted on Friday. “Despite the opposition of the Georgian people, Russia has landed its unwelcome flight in Tbilisi. No to flights to Russia!,” Zourabichvili said.
4:05pm: Russian ex-mayor fined for discrediting army but avoids prison
The dissident former mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city has avoided prison despite being found guilty on Friday in a trial over his criticism of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Roizman, 60, a sharp critic of the Kremlin, is one of the most visible and charismatic opposition figures in Russia. He enjoyed broad popularity while serving as mayor of Yekaterinburg, a city of 1.5 million people in the Ural Mountains.
Roizman, who was mayor from 2013 to 2018, was arrested last August on charges of discrediting the Russian military, under a new law adopted after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. State prosecutors at the time singled out a video broadcast Roizman made in July 2022 in which he criticised Russia’s intervention.
2:46pm: Zelensky thanks Saudi Arabia for supporting Kyiv
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and thanked him for backing Ukraine’s sovereignty, a statement from the presidency said.
“The President thanked the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” Zelensky’s office said, adding that he had invited Mohammed bin Salman to visit Ukraine.
2:29pm: Zelensky says ‘some’ Arab leaders turn ‘blind eye’ to Russian invasion
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused some Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of Russia’s invasion of his country during a speech Friday at an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia.
>> Read more:
Ukraine war exposes splits between Global North and South
“Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here, among you, who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations,” Zelensky told summit attendees, urging them to “take an honest look” at the war.
2:16pm: Zelensky asks for support at Arab league summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged countries at an Arab League summit on Friday to support his peace initiative to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Zelensky, who is making his first trip to Saudi Arabia, said in an address that delegates would each receive the text of the 10-point peace plan and asked them to work with Ukraine directly without intermediaries.
2:14pm: Poland says China should put pressure on Russia to end war
Poland called on China to exert pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine during a meeting between two top officials in Warsaw, the Polish foreign ministry said on Friday.
China’s Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui is on a tour of European capitals and was in Kyiv on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he discussed ways to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict through a political settlement.
In a statement issued following talks between Li and Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wojciech Gerwel, the Polish foreign ministry said that Gerwal had called on Beijing to use its influence to make Russia end the war.
1:49pm: Zelensky’s presence at Arab League summit an ‘extraordinary’ surprise
“There had been rumours Zelensky was going to come but what the Ukrainian president is essentially doing here is gatecrashing what was meant to be the ‘welcome back’ party at the Summit for [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad,” says FRANCE 24’s Douglas Herbert reporting from Jeddah.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives to attend the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023.
04:08
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives to attend the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. © Reuters
12:51am: NATO is boosting capacity on Russia’s borders, Russia’s Patrushev says
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Friday that NATO was increasing its military capacity on Russia’s borders, the TASS news agency reported.
11:50am: ‘Last remnants’ of US-Russia arms control are disappearing, Kremlin says
The Kremlin said on Friday that the “last remnants” of arms control agreements between Russia and the United States were disappearing, after a group of U.S. Republican lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill to scrap the New START agreement on nuclear arms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia’s participation in New START earlier this year.
11:49am: Former Russian mayor fined $3,245 for ‘discrediting’ army
Russian opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman was fined 260,000 roubles ($3,245) on Friday after a court found him guilty of “discrediting” the Russian army, Russian news agencies reported.
Roizman, a former mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg, was detained last August and banned from the internet after he referred to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as a “war” in a YouTube video.
Russia calls the conflict a “special military operation” and people risk prosecution if they use the words “war” or “invasion”.
Popular and charismatic, Roizman is an outspoken supporter of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and has often criticised the Kremlin in sometimes crude language on social media.
11:40am: Zelensky lands in Saudi Arabia to attend Arab League summit
President Volodymyr Zelensky landed on Friday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to attend an Arab League summit, also attended by long isolated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally.
The previously unannounced visit is Zelensky’s first to the Middle East since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, giving the Ukrainian leader an opportunity to address leaders in the region that has been far less united in its support of Kyiv than staunch Western allies.
“Arrived in Saudi Arabia. I will speak at the Arab League summit,” Zelensky said on Twitter, adding he plans to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other leaders.
An Arab League official told AFP Zelenky’s invitation came from Saudi Arabia, not the bloc.
11:12am: Russia says defence minister inspected troops in occupied Ukraine
Russia said on Friday that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited a command post in Ukraine’s southern region of Zaporizhzhia and inspected troops there.
“Sergei Shoigu inspected the forward command post of one of the formations of the Vostok group of troops in the Zaporizhzhia direction,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
10:41am: G7 agrees new sanctions to ‘starve Russia’s war machine’
Leaders from the Group of Seven nations agreed to new sanctions on Friday that they said would “starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine”.
The measures, announced at the summit in Hiroshima, include restrictions on exports of items “critical to Russia on the battlefield”, as well as ones targeting entities accused of moving material to the front for Moscow.
10:35am: G7 leaders says Ukraine has budget support for 2023 and early 2024
G7 leaders on Friday said they had ensured that Ukraine had the budget support it needs for this year and early 2024 as they renewed their commitment to provide financial and military support in its fight against Russia.
“Today we are taking new steps to ensure that Russia’s illegal aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine fails and to support the Ukrainian people in their quest for a just peace rooted in respect for international law,” they said in a statement at the G7 summit, which kicked off in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Friday.
10:00am: Ukraine says Russia trying to recapture land around Bakhmut
Russian forces are trying to recapture land they have lost around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut but Kyiv’s forces are repelling the attacks, Deputy Ukrainian Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday.
Russian forces have gained some ground inside the city itself, but they do not control it and fighting rages on, Maliar said in televised comments.
9:49am: Russian forces dig in at Ukrainian nuclear plant, witnesses say
Russian military forces have been enhancing defensive positions in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine in recent weeks, four witnesses said, ahead of an expected counteroffensive in the region.
The new measures, described by two Ukrainians who work at the power plant and two other residents in the city of Enerhodar, include laying more mines and digging new trenches around the city.
The Russians have had firing positions set up atop some of the plant’s buildings for several months. Nets have been erected in a possible deterrent to drones.
There is concern in the international community that the six-reactor nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, could be caught up in fighting, particularly as military analysts expect Ukraine to try to push Russian forces back in the Zaporizhzhia region.
9:41am: Zelensky on way to Arab League meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on his way to the Arab League meeting in Saudi Arabia, a source familiar with the meeting told Reuters.
Zelensky will then travel on to the G7 meeting in Hiroshima in Japan from the Saudi city of Jeddah on a French government plane, the source told Reuters.
>> Read more:
Syria’s Assad arrives in Saudi Arabia for Arab League summit in normalisation of ties
9:09am: Russia’s Prigozhin says Bakhmut will not fall in next two days
Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that the city of Bakhmut was unlikely to fall to his mercenary forces in the next two days as fighting raged around Ukrainian soldiers holed up in a makeshift “fortress” in the south of the city.
“Bakhmut has still not been taken,” Prigozhin said in a voice message posted on Telegram. “Bakhmut is unlikely to be taken either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. … There is a quarter known as the ‘Airplane’ – it is like an impregnable fortress from a bed of multi-storey buildings in the southwest of Bakhmut, where incredibly heavy battles are going on.”
Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian defenders have held out. If Russia took the city, it would provide a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities it has long coveted in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
8:06am: UK issues new Russian sanctions, targeting grain theft
Britain announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia on Friday, including against companies connected to the theft of Ukrainian grain and those involved in the shipment of Russian energy.
7:37am: Ukraine says repels latest drone and missile attack
Ukrainian air defence repelled another Russian air attack early on Friday morning, destroying 19 drones and missiles out of 28 launched, Ukrainian military said.
“Three calibre missiles launched from the Black Sea and 16 drones were shot down. Shelling continues on an almost daily basis,” Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television. “Not all targets were hit.”
Russia has increased the number of missile and drone attacks this month, which Kyiv attributes to Moscow’s fear of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
5:53am: Zelensky to join G7 leaders in Japan
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday to join the G7 leaders summit in person, a European Union source told Reuters.
2:30am: No reported casualties after air raid alerts
Air raid alerts remained in force into the early morning throughout western Ukraine, but only in two regions in the east and Russian-annexed Crimea in the south.
The head of Kyiv’s military administration said Russian forces had sent successive waves of drones towards the capital, the 10th attack this month and the second in less than 24 hours.
“This Kremlin tactic is an attempt to overwhelm our anti-aircraft forces and put psychological pressure on civilians. It won’t happen!” Serhiy Popko wrote on Telegram. “All air targets sent toward Kyiv were destroyed by our anti-aircraft defences.”
Several regions reported anti-aircraft units in operation.
1:30am: UK to ban Russian diamonds at G7 in fresh round of sanctions
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Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to announce a ban on Russian diamonds and imports of metals from Russia including copper, aluminium and nickel in support for Ukraine, his government said in a statement.
Britain is also targeting an additional 86 people and companies from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military industrial complex, in addition those involved in energy, metals and shipping industries.
They include those supporting the Kremlin to actively undermine the impact of existing sanctions, as Britain continues to work with G7 partners to tackle all forms of sanctions circumvention, the government said.
Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
