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Ukraine war latest: China ‘ready to call’ Ukraine for first time since war began; Putin promises vending machines in ‘struggle to maintain loyalty’
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president who has positioned himself as a possible peace broker, has not spoken to his Ukrainian counterpart since the war began. Discontent is growing among Russian officials – so the Kremlin is on a charm offensive, according to independent Russia media.
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Chinese president ‘ready to call’ Zelenskyy – but on own timetable View post
Macron meets Xi to push for pressure on Putin View post
Macron has two aims in Beijing – but is unlikely to win any breakthrough on one | Helen-Ann Smith View post
Kremlin ‘struggling to maintain loyalty’ among low-level officials View post
Putin fires top general after ‘heavy casualties’ View post
‘Unusual’ comment by official suggests China may be repositioning itself on war | Sean Bell View post
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12:40
ICYMI: Macron urges Xi Jinping to bring Russia to negotiating table over Ukraine
Emmanuel Macron has told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the war in Ukraine has hit stability and ended decades of peace in the country.
The French president is visiting Beijing alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in an attempt to use Xi’s influence over Russia to promote a peace settlement.
Mr Macron said “Russian aggression in Ukraine has dealt a blow to [international] stability. I know I can count on you … to bring Russia to its senses and bring everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron told Xi.
“We need to find a lasting peace,” Macron said. “I believe that this is also an important issue for China, as much as it is for France and for Europe.”
You can read our story in full in the link below…
Emmanuel Macron urges Xi Jinping to bring Russia to negotiating table over Ukraine
Sky News
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24m ago
12:15
What is the situation in Bakhmut – the ‘fortress’ city in Ukraine’s east
Bakhmut has been the subject of much talk since the war in Ukraine erupted months ago, and the frontline drew closer to the embattled town.
It has been described as a “post-apocalyptic” wasteland and entirely destroyed, while Wagner Group mercenaries continue to clash with Ukrainian defenders.
Today, the situation remains much unchanged.
Battles continued in the streets on Thursday, with Ukrainian troops insisting they are ready to launch their long-awaited counteroffensive when the weather perks up.
Bakhmut is one of the last standing cities in the Donetsk region, but Wagner fighters are pushing hard to take it.
“The battles for Bakhmut continue,” Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said today.
“They are under way in the streets, enemy attempts to encircle the city are failing. Our command fully control the situation with the defensive ‘fortress’.”
The leader of Russia’s private Wagner militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said fighting was continuing in the west of the city.
“It must be said clearly that the enemy is not going anywhere,” he said.
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49m ago
11:50
Four killed in strike on eastern Ukraine – reports
At least four civilians have been killed in an artillery strike on the eastern city of Donetsk, a Russian state-owned news agency reported today.
The RIA agency said a car park in the city’s Kalininsky district had been hit.
Donetsk has been controlled by Russian proxy forces since 2014, but remains close to the frontline of Russia’s war with Ukraine.
It regularly comes under fire from Ukrainian forces, while battles for cities elsewhere in the region rage on.
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1h ago
11:31
In pictures: Russian defence minister inspects military factory
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, visited the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia this afternoon.
The plant assembles the BTR-80 armoured personnel carrier, the Tigr 4×4 multipurpose all-terrain infantry mobility vehicle and civilian vehicles, which are exported worldwide.
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1h ago
10:39
Type of fighter jets donated by Poland aren’t modern enough, says air force
The type of fighter jets donated by Poland yesterday do not fully meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs, one of the most senior commanders in its air force has said.
Serhiy Holubtsov said Kyiv was in dire need of F-16 fighter jets, which were “four or five times” more effective.
Poland announced it would send a total of 16 Soviet-era MiG-29 planes, while Western allies in general – and most importantly the US – have resisted calls for F-16s.
“The F-16 is a fighter that has become a multirole aircraft which can fulfil the entire spectrum of airborne tasks. The MiG-29 unfortunately, is from the last century,” Mr Holubtsov said on national television.
Washington ruled out sending F-16s to Ukraine, with US officials estimating it would take 18 months to complete training and delivery.
But as we reported earlier, air force general Serhii Holubtsov said his pilots who tested in the US had shown they could master the planes on a “significantly reduced” timetable.
He did not specify how long that revised training time might be.
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2h ago
10:19
Ukraine launches app to find allegedly abducted children
Ukraine has launched an app to help find the 19,000 children Kyiv estimates have been allegedly deported to Russia.
Reunite Ukraine, developed with US tech company Find My Parent, aims to connect families separated by the conflict.
Vladimir Putin has been accused of illegally transporting Ukrainian children to Russia by the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for his arrest.
Oleksander Fatsevych, deputy head of the Ukrainian national police, said: “If we find even one child in such a way or reunite one family, it will be already a victory, a small one, but with every step we will be able to return children home.”
Police intend to check and confirm personal profiles on the app and act as an intermediary between them.
Mr Fatsevych said this would enable police to gather more data from people in Russia, Belarus or occupied territories who wanted to help the Ukrainian children.
The Kremlin denies abducting children, but has not concealed a so-called humanitarian programme to bring thousands of children to Russia from occupied areas.
Its children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, who also faces an ICC arrest warrant over similar allegations to Mr Putin, said this week that Russia had taken in more than five million refugees from the eastern Donbas region.
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2h ago
09:40
Wikipedia fined by Russia over rock song
Wikipedia’s owner has been fined by a Russian court for not deleting content related to an alternative rock group designated “extremist” by the country.
The Wikimedia Foundation must pay £8,000 over information about a song by the Russian band Psychea, according to Russian news agencies, bringing the total it has been fined in the past year to more than £88,000.
The case is part of Moscow’s drive to crack down on independent publications, with Wikimedia remaining one of the few fact-checked sources of information in Russian.
Wikimedia did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but it has previously said it expects more cases to be brought against it given the number of articles about the war in Ukraine.
Russia has for years sought to launch a home-grown online encyclopaedia, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it was “absolutely necessary” on Tuesday.
“It would contain truly verified and accurate information, objective information,” he said.
“Because we know that Wikipedia has many distortions, very many untruths, very many historical, factual and other mistakes.”
While Moscow has restricted access to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Wikipedia remains freely available.
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3h ago
09:25
Ukrainian special forces near Bakhmut
Members of the Ukrainian special forces and the “Five Separate Assault Brigade” prepare their weapons on a training ground in the region of Bakhmut.
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3h ago
09:10
US tests show Kyiv’s pilots can master F-16 jets ‘significantly’ quicker than expected
US tests show Ukrainian pilots could be trained to fly modern F-16 fighter jets on a “significantly reduced” timetable, Ukraine’s air force has said.
Ukrainska Pravda reported General Serhii Holubtsov as saying two pilots sent to America scored highly in an assessment of their skills.
The visit was undertaken to provide Ukraine with more information on what its pilots needed to learn to fly the planes, which Kyiv insists are necessary to gain an advantage on the battlefield.
“We believed that our pilots would show their [skill] level, and it really happened,” General Holubtsov said, quoted by Pravda.
“Two pilots successfully passed the test in the United States. The assessment given was quite high, and at the end of the report [it was indicated] that a retraining programme for Ukrainian pilots to master F-16 jets could be significantly reduced compared to standard pilot training programmes.”
There has been no agreement from the US or other major military allies to send F-16 fighters as requested.
NATO F-16 jets. File pic
NATO F-16 jets. File pic
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3h ago
08:50
Chinese president ‘ready to call’ Zelenskyy for first time since war began
Xi Jinping is ready to call Volodymyr Zelenskyy – but on his own timetable, according to a French diplomatic source.
China is ready to work with France to “push hard” to start negotiations on ending the conflict, the source said, as Emmanuel Macron visits Beijing.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who is also in Beijing, said she had encouraged Mr Xi to reach out to the Ukrainian president.
This is the first indication of how Mr Xi may respond to the Ukrainian leader’s invitation to meet him in Kyiv.
China’s president hasn’t spoken to Mr Zelenskyy since the outbreak of the war, but flew to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin last month.
State media has quoted Mr Xi as saying China’s policy on Ukraine can be summed up in one sentence: “Promote peace and dialogue.”
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping
AP
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4h ago
08:30
Russia will launch 400,000-strong ‘final attack’ if Ukrainian counteroffensive fails
A failed Kyiv offensive will allow Russia to catch Ukraine short, an adviser to Vladimir Putin has said.
Russia would be able to mobilise 400,000 men for a “final attack” while the West is low on weapons, Dmitry Suslov said.
“If the Kyiv offensive fails, the West will be short of weapons and at that point, Russia will be able to mobilise 400,000 men for the final attack,” he said.
His comments come as some Ukrainian soldiers expressed their eagerness to begin a long-awaited counteroffensive.
Ukraine has been training 40,000 storm troops for an attack and is thought to be building tank brigades using vehicles donated by its allies.
In the trenches of Bakhmut, the epicentre of the conflict, commander Naza, 21, said: “We are ready, we have to do it, the sooner, the better.
“The enemy must be chased away. At the moment we are waiting for the weather to change, the mud is an obstacle.”
This is a lesson learned from Russia’s failed winter offensive, when the wet conditions forced their tanks onto roads, making them easier targets.
The likes of Poland, Spain and the US have stepped up military assistance ahead of Kyiv’s planned attacks but when exactly they might kick off has not been disclosed.
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5h ago
07:30
‘Unusual’ comment by official suggests China may be repositioning itself on war, says military analyst
The “first seeds” of peace talks later this year may have been sown as Emmanuel Macron visits China, according to military analyst Sean Bell.
The Chinese ambassador to the EU has taken the “rare step” in the past 24 hours of saying his country “does not support the war” and is not supplying weapons to Russia, Bell told Sky News.
He was referring to comments the ambassador made to The New York Times, which he said was a “very unusual” declaration.
“That’s a very forthright statement that China normally does not clarify. It looks like China is trying to re-establish itself as an intermediary,” he said.
“That would suit China domestically as well as its global standing significantly. We are a long way from that at the moment but I think we are starting to see some indications of the dominoes just starting to line up.”
He said one of those dominoes was present on the sidelines of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Poland yesterday, when senior advisers softened their approach to Crimea, saying that if the spring offensive succeeds then Ukraine would be willing to talk with Russia about the peninsula.
Up until now, Ukraine has held a “very firm line” that it will not engage with Vladimir Putin until Russia has vacated Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
“Are we starting to see the first seeds of an opportunity for talks later on this year?” Bell said.
What did the Chinese ambassador say?
Fu Cong gave an interview to The New York Times before Mr Macron’s visit to China this week.
Critics had misinterpreted China’s relationship to Russia, he said, downplaying the two countries’ previous declaration of a “no limits friendship”.
He also said China will not give Russia arms to use in Ukraine now or in future – and strongly criticised Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, for saying in February that China was considering sending Moscow military aid.
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5h ago
06:44
China agrees ‘nuclear weapons should be excluded’ from conflict
The Chinese president agrees nuclear weapons should be excluded from the conflict, Emmanuel Macron has said on a visit to Beijing.
Xi Jinping said he wants peace talks to restart as soon as possible and urged the international community not to escalate the crisis.
Mr Macron asked the leader of China to press Russia to comply with international rules on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, following Mr Putin’s announcement that he will station them in Belarus.
“I know I can count on you to bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table,” the French told the Chinese premier.
The visit today, alongside EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, appears an effort to defrost years of icy relations with Beijing, not least over China’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion.
But Chinese support for Russia appears not to be as unconditional as first thought.
The New York Times has reported its ambassador to the EU as saying previous Chinese statements about the two nations’ “no limit” friendship were “nothing but rhetoric”.
Indeed, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said Mr Putin has “not been able to secure the benefits from the no-limits bilateral partnership with China which he likely hoped for” during his recent meeting with Xi Jinping in Moscow.
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6h ago
06:25
Wagner chief says no signs Ukrainian forces leaving Bakhmut
Ukrainian troops are not retreating from Bakhmut, the leader of the Wagner group has said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s comments undermine earlier posturing that his group had taken “legal control” of the city, when they erected a flag among the rubble of an administrative building at its centre.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy raised the prospect of withdrawal yesterday if his troops were at risk of being encircled, but today Mr Prigozhin said Kyiv’s forces have organised defences among high-rise buildings in the west of the city.
“It must be said clearly that the enemy is not going anywhere,” he wrote in a statement, adding any retreat would likely result in another standoff on the city’s outskirts or in nearby Chasiv Yar.
The mercenary leader, who has often been critical of Russia’s traditional armed forces, appeared to take a veiled swipe at army general Sergey Surovikin while outlining the conditions needed to push Ukrainian troops out of Bakhmut.
“[We need to] make sure that our command is properly organized. I haven’t seen Surovikin for a long time, I don’t know what he’s doing.”
He hinted at ammunition being a further issue, but indicated he was not permitted to speak publicly on the matter further.
For context: Bakhmut is seen as a pivotal symbolic city, rather than a strategic one. President Zelenskyy wants to hold it to maintain support for Ukraine’s resistance among his domestic audience and international allies. President Putin wants the opposite.
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6h ago
06:11
Russian court to hear appeal from detained US journalist
A closed-door Moscow court will consider an appeal to allow a US journalist suspected of espionage out of detention before trial, Interfax has reported.
Lawyers for the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will try to persuade the judge on 18 April, otherwise he will remain in prison until at least 29 May.
Mr Gershkovich is accused of spying by Russia’s security service, which the Journal said it “vehemently denies” and the White House called “ridiculous”.
He is in Lefortovo prison in Moscow after a hearing at which he was not allowed to meet his lawyer and prosecutors did not share any case materials.
There has been an outpouring of calls for his release from across the Western media landscape.
For context: Russia alleges Mr Gershkovich “was acting on instructions from the American side to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret”.
The WSJ “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich”, it said.
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7h ago
05:35
Explosions rock Russian air base deep behind frontlines – reports
Explosions rocked an air base in a Russian-occupied southern city last night, according to its Ukrainian mayor.
Ivan Fedorov posted a video on Telegram of what he claimed to be one of several explosions at an airfield in Melitopol.
Ambulances were sent to the airfield, he said, despite Russian assertions its air defence system worked successfully.
This follows two other strikes in the city reported by the mayor and independent Russian media yesterday, and a Ukrainian attack on its railway depot last week.
The shelling, deep behind enemy lines, knocked out power in Melitopol last Wednesday.
The attacks come amid growing talk of a counterassault against Russian forces, themselves worn out by a failed winter offensive.
Sky News cannot verify these battlefield reports.
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7h ago
05:09
Swedish NATO bid falters as Hungary says relations at low point
One of the biggest stories this week was Finland officially joining NATO, and its leader used the diplomatic and media event to immediately start pushing the alliance to accept Sweden.
Hungary and Turkey are the only two countries yet to approve its application, and today the former reiterated its opposition by saying relations between Hungary and Sweden were at a low point.
Gergely Gulyas, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said Stockholm must take steps to boost Hungary’s confidence at a news briefing.
Hungarian leader Viktor Orban’s grievances with Sweden are based on the Nordic country’s criticisms of his record on democracy and rule of law.
But NATO diplomats expect him to follow Turkey’s example, who have separately held up Sweden’s bid with disputes over street protests in the Swedish capital which involved the burning of the Quran.
Turkey also accused Sweden of harbouring members of what it considers terrorist groups – an accusation Sweden denies.
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7h ago
04:45
War crimes case opened as five civilians killed in artillery attacks
Russian shelling has killed five civilians in the Donetsk region in the past 24 hours, according to its governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general investigating war crimes has opened a case into the artillery fire on the village of Oleksievo-Druzhkivka, which has killed two women.
Another two people died in Bakhmut and one person in Serhiivka as a result of Russian rockets, Mr Kyrylenko said.
The prosecutor general’s office said it believes the attack on Oleksievo-Druzhkivka, which destroyed homes and farm buildings, was carried out using a “Hurricane” multiple rocket launch system.
Oleksievo-Druzhkivka
Oleksievo-Druzhkivka
Office of the Prosecutor General / Telegram
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8h ago
04:25
Putin ‘struggling to maintain loyalty’ among low-level officials
The Kremlin is on the charm offensive with lower-level local officials as discontent grows among them, according to independent Russia media.
Mr Putin’s administration has instructed regional vice governors to install vending machines, provide free parking and preferential loans, and offer medical insurance for civil servants, Verstka reported.
The programme of privileges extended to scholarships and training seminars for municipal workers.
“The Kremlin is likely increasingly struggling to maintain loyalty among lower-level regional authorities as it continues to place the onus on funding the war on Russian federal subjects,” the Institute for the Study of War said.
The “oddly framed measures”, it said, are likely meant to “pay lip service to the burden placed on regional entities but are unlikely to stimulate a significant increase in support for the war at the regional and local levels”.
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8h ago
04:01
Putin ‘laying groundwork for crackdown’ in occupied regions
Vladimir Putin is likely laying the groundwork for more law enforcement crackdowns in occupied Ukrainian territory, military analysts believe.
By framing Ukraine’s resistance to the invasion as “terrorism” at a meeting with the Russian Security Council yesterday, Mr Putin was setting the conditions for further repression in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
The Russian leader called on the security council “to do everything to integrate” the regions under Russian control, economically, legally and educationally.
He also encouraged the participation of collaborators and informants in law enforcement processes, the ISW noted.
The US think tank said: “Putin has notably invoked the concept of “terrorism” and threats to Russian domestic security to justify domestic repressions and is likely setting conditions for further repressions and law enforcement crackdowns in occupied territories using similar framing.”
