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đź”´ Live:Wagner claims capture of Bakhmut, Ukraine says army still “holds” city
Issued on: 02/04/2023 – 11:25
This video grab taken from a video posted on Telegram channel @concordgroup_official on March 3, 2023, shows Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner speaking to the camera from a rooftop.01:43
This video grab taken from a video posted on Telegram channel @concordgroup_official on March 3, 2023, shows Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner speaking to the camera from a rooftop. © AFP
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The head of Russia’s Wagner private military company on Monday claimed the capture of the east Ukraine town of Bakhmut “in a legal sense”, saying his units had taken the main city administration building. The fight for Bakhmut is the longest battle of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian forces have invested heavily in the struggle for Bakhmut even though analysts say the city carries little strategic value. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
03:11am: Russia to place nuclear weapons near Belarus’ borders with NATO
Russia will move its tactical nuclear weapons close to the western borders of Belarus, the Russian envoy to Minsk said on Sunday, placing them at NATO’s threshold in a move likely to further escalate Moscow’s standoff with the West.
In one of the Russia’s most pronounced nuclear signals since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine 13 months ago, President Vladimir Putin said on March 26 that Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
The weapons “will be moved to the western border of our union state and will increase the possibilities to ensure security,” Russian ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, told Belarusian state television.
02:40am: Ukraine says army still “holds” Bakhmut
Ukraine’s army said Sunday it still “holds” the eastern city of Bakhmut, after Russia’s Wagner mercenary group claimed it had captured the town “in a legal sense” by occupying its administration building.
“The enemy has not stopped its assault of Bakhmut. However, Ukrainian defenders are courageously holding the city as they repel numerous enemy attacks,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on its Facebook page.
12:43am: Russia says US behind Ukraine’s pressure on Moscow-linked Orthodox church
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said late on Sunday that the U.S. was behind the pressure that Ukrainian authorities have been exerting on the Russian-aligned wing of the Orthodox Church in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which Kyiv says has ties with Russia, defied an eviction order last week from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery in the capital. On Saturday, a top Ukrainian cleric from the church was sentenced to house arrest.
“It’s no secret that the (President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy regime is not independent in its anti-clerical policy. The Orthodox schism, hitting this sphere of life, is a goal that has been long proclaimed in Washington,” the ministry said in a statement, without providing evidence.
12:00am: Wagner group claims capture of Ukraine’s Bakhmut ‘in a legal sense’
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said late on Sunday that his forces have raised the Russian flag over the administration building of the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine.
“From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken,” Prigozhin said in an audio message posted by his press service on the Telegram messaging app. “The enemy is concentrated in the western parts.”
11:52pm: Six killed in ‘massive attack’ in east Ukraine
A “massive attack” of Russian missiles killed six people on Sunday in residential areas of Kostyantynivka, near Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the resistance against what he called “the biggest force against humanity of our time”.
Zelensky was speaking on the first anniversary of the discovery of bodies of civilians killed in Bucha, a town near Kyiv that has become a symbol of the alleged war crimes carried out by Moscow during the invasion.
Russia has accused Ukraine and its allies of staging the atrocities.
9:00pm: Russian foreign ministry pays tribute to blogger killed in blast
Russia’s foreign ministry on Sunday paid tribute to a prominent military blogger killed by a bomb at a cafe in St Petersburg on Sunday, lashing out at Western governments for failing to react to the attack.
Bloggers like Vladlen Tatarsky “are defenders of the truth”, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram, adding that the lack of reaction from Western governments “despite their concerns for the welfare of journalists and the free press speaks for itself”.
7:28pm: Situation in Bakhmut is “especially hot”, Ukraine’s Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the military situation around the city of Bakhmut, besieged by Russian forces for months, was “especially hot”.
Zelensky also said in his nightly video address that two people had died in a Russian mortar attack in the northern region of Sumy. He noted earlier reports that Russian shelling had killed six people in the city of Kostyantynivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
6:34pm: Leading military blogger killed in St Petersburg cafe blast, Russian news agencies report
A leading Russian military blogger was killed Sunday by a suspected bomb blast at a cafe in Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing officials.
“One person was killed in the incident. He was military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky. Sixteen people were injured,” Interfax news agency quoted the interior ministry as saying.
4:58pm: Blinken urges ‘immediate release’ of US journalist in call with Lavrov
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday called for the “immediate release” of US journalist Evan Gershkovich in a call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, a spokesperson said.
Blinken “conveyed the United States’ grave concern over Russia’s unacceptable detention of a US citizen journalist. The Secretary called for his immediate release,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement, adding that the top US diplomat also urged Moscow to release detained US citizen Paul Whelan.
4:56pm: Lavrov slams ‘hype’ over US journalist’s arrest in call with Blinken
US officials and Western media should refrain from “hype” over this week’s arrest of US journalist Evan Gershkovich, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a call on Sunday.
Russia’s foreign ministry also said Lavrov told Blinken that “a court will determine his future fate”, referring to Gershkovich, who has been detained on espionage charges.
2:07pm: Russia will not send fencers to Poland due to ‘unacceptable’ conditions
Russia will not send fencers to an Olympic qualifier event in Poland this month because of “unacceptable” conditions, the head of Russia’s Fencing federation was quoted by Russian media as saying on Sunday.
“Will Russian fencers take part in Poland? Of course not, it is unacceptable,” Ilgar Mamedov told RIA Novosti, after Poland said Russian athletes had to sign a written statement saying they did not support Russia’s campaign in Ukraine.
11:57am: Zelensky hails Ukraine a year after repulsion of Russian troops
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday hailed his country for having repulsed Russian troops from areas around Kyiv a year ago.
“You have stopped the biggest force against humanity of our time. You have stopped a force that despises everything and wants to destroy everything that gives people meaning,” Zelensky said on Telegram, along with photos of areas liberated a year ago, when Russian troops retreated from around the Ukrainian capital.
11:33am: Ukraine says at least three killed, six wounded in Russian shelling in east of country
At least three civilians were killed and six wounded in Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine on Sunday morning, a senior Ukrainian official said.
Kostiantynivka, home to about 70,000 people before the war, is just 20 km (12.5 miles) west of Bakhmut, the epicentre of fighting for at least eight months as Russian forces try to capture the city. “Russians have carried out massive shelling of the town of Kostiantynivka,” Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Photos published by Yermak showed the partial destruction of buildings and craters from explosions.
10:38am: Brittney Griner urges Biden to bring home reporter Gershkovich, accused of spying in Russia
US basketball star Brittney Griner, who was freed from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner exchange last year, has urged the Biden administration to keep using “every tool possible” to win the release of a US reporter accused of spying in Russia.
Griner and her wife Cherelle said on Instagram that “our hearts are filled with great concern” for Evan Gershkovich, the journalist arrested by Russia’s FSB security service last week in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
The Kremlin says Gershkovich was using journalism as a cover for spying activity – something his newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, has vehemently denied.
Russia has not made public any evidence to support the charges, under which Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in jail. The White House has described the accusations as “ridiculous” and President Joe Biden has called on Moscow to release him.
10:38am: Ukraine will fight on, army chief vows year after bodies found in Bucha
Ukraine will continue to fight for its independence, the chief of the army said on Sunday, a year after bodies of civilians were found in Bucha after Russian troops retreated.
“We will continue to fight for the independence of our nation,” Valery Zaluzhny wrote on Telegram. His comments came exactly a year after AFP journalists who entered the town of Bucha after the Russian retreat saw bodies of people in civilian clothes lying on the street, including one with hands tied behind their back.
10:18am: EU to guard against any Russia abuse of UN presidency, Borrell says
The European Union will guard against any abuse during Russia’s presidency of the United Nations Security Council during the month of April, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said.
Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, on Saturday assumed its presidency as part of the monthly rotation between its 15 members.
“Despite being a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia continuously violates the very essence of the UN legal framework”, EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell tweeted late on Saturday.
“The EU will stand against any abuse by (the) Russian presidency”, he said. Russia’s ties with the West have sunk to their lowest point since the Cold War over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv has branded the presidency as “a slap in the face”.
Moscow last chaired the council in February 2022, the same month it invaded Ukraine – prompting Kyiv to call for Russia’s removal from the council. Russia will hold little influence on decisions but will be in charge of the agenda.
5:52am: War has killed 262 Ukrainian athletes, sports minister says
Russia’s war against Ukraine has claimed the lives of 262 Ukrainian athletes and destroyed 363 sports facilities, the country’s sports minister, Vadym Huttsait, said on Saturday. Meeting the visiting president of the International Federation of Gymnastics, Morinari Watanabe, Huttsait said no athletes from Russia should be allowed at the Olympics or other sports competitions.
“They all support this war and attend events held in support of this war,” Huttsait said, according to a transcript on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s website.
The International Olympic Committee has recommended the gradual return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition as neutrals. It has not decided on their participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
1:12am: Ukraine cleric accused of glorifying Russia invasion given house arrest
A top Ukrainian cleric from a church with alleged Moscow ties was sentenced to house arrest on Saturday after a hearing into whether he glorified invading Russian forces and stoked religious divisions, the church said.
Kyiv is cracking down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) on the grounds it is pro-Russian and collaborating with Moscow, a charge the church denies. In a statement, the UOC said a Kyiv court also ordered Metropolitan Pavlo to wear an electronic bracelet. The Interfax Ukraine and Ukrinform news agencies said Pavlo had been given 60 days of house arrest.
12:41am: Ukraine furious over Russian UN Security Council presidency, says it is a ‘slap in the face’
Russia, whose leader is accused of war crimes, assumed charge of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday causing fury in Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelensky calling it an absurd and destructive move.
The last time Russia held the rotating presidency of the body responsible for maintaining peace and combating acts of international aggression was in February 2022 when Moscow troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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“Unfortunately, we … have some obviously absurd and destructive news,” Zelensky said in his daily video address, adding that Russian shelling had killed a five-month-old boy on Friday.”
And at the same time Russia is chairing the UN Security Council. It’s hard to imagine anything that proves more the total bankruptcy of such institutions,” he said. The presidency rotates alphabetically each month among the 15 members. Although it is largely procedural, the Kremlin and other Russian officials vowed to “exercise all its rights” in the role.
Kyiv branded Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of April “a slap in the face”, joining a chorus of outrage from Western countries.
>> Read our live blog for all of yesterday’s developments as they unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
