Ukraine news – live: EU agrees on partial Russian oil ban as Belarus plans war drills

Belarus is making preparations to conduct military mobilisation exercises in June and July, reports say.

According to state news agency BelTA, the exercises will be held in the Gomel region which borders Ukraine in the south and Russia to the east.

From 22 June to 1 July, planned exercises with military commissariats - military administrative agencies - and armed forces will be conducted.

“Events of this kind are traditionally held to increase the combat and mobilization readiness of military commissariats, and improve military knowledge and practical skills of those liable for military service,” Andrey Krivonosov, military commissar of the Gomel region, was cited as saying.

Meanwhile, EU leaders have agreed on to ban the export of Russian oil to the 27-nation bloc, its president has announced

“This immediately covers more than two thirds of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine,” EU Council president Charles Michel wrote on Twitter.

It was also agreed that the largest Russian bank Sberbank from the Swift system be cut off, while a further three Russian state-owned broadcasters will be outlawed.

Key Points

• Zelensky visits front line

• Situation in Luhansk ‘extremely escalated’, says governor

• Russia claims to have seized rail hub likely key to next phase in Donbas

• West should send Ukraine more heavy artillery, UK PM says

• Use of US long-range rockets would cross red line, warns Russia

• Ukraine leaders call for more weapons

Estonia calls for more sanctions on Russia

08:57 , Matt Mathers

The EU should go even further and discuss a seventh package of Russia sanctions that would include steps against gas imports, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday, while adding that she did not have high hopes that it would happen.

"I think that gas has to be in the seventh package but I am realistic as well," Kallas told reporters as she arrived for a second day of talks at an EU summit in Brussels. "I don't think it will be there."

About Monday's last-minute deal on oil sanctions, she said: "It's a fair compromise ... this was the best we could get. Yesterday I was very sceptical that we would reach an agreement so that's a positive thing that we did."

Evacuations from Sievierodonetsk not possible at present - city administration

08:25 , Tom Ambrose

Ukraine is still in control of Sievierodonetsk city and its soldiers are fighting slowly advancing Russian troops but evacuations of civilians are not currently possible, the head of the city's administration said on Tuesday.

"The city is still in Ukrainian hands and it's putting up a fight... (but) evacuations are not possible due to the fighting," Oleksandr Stryuk told Ukrainian television.

UK says Russia making slow inroads into Ukraine's Luhansk region

08:02 , Tom Ambrose

British military intelligence said on Tuesday that Russia was advancing slowly into Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, adding that the massing of its forces in a small area raised risks for others elsewhere.

"Progress has been slow but gains are being held. Routes into the pocket likely remain under Ukrainian control," Britain's Ministry of Defence said in a Twitter update.

"Russia has achieved greater local successes than earlier in the campaign by massing forces and fires in a relatively small area. This forces Russia to accept risk elsewhere in occupied territory."

Russian troops were slowly advancing towards the city centre in Sievierodonetsk, the governor of Luhansk region said earlier in the day.

Finland doesn’t take Turkish woes seriously, Erdogan’s spokesperson says

07:50 , Tom Ambrose

Finland has to stop "protecting" what Turkey considers a terrorist organisation and take Turkey's security concerns seriously if it wants Turkey to accept it in NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesperson told a Finnish newspaper on Tuesday.

"The problem is not that Finland would not understand Turkey. Finland refuses to take Turkey's security concerns seriously," Communications Director of the Turkish President, Fahrettin Altun told Finland's largest daily Helsingin Sanomat by email.

Turkey has objected to Finland's and Sweden's joining the Western defence alliance on the grounds they harbour people linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and others it deems terrorists, and because Finland and Sweden halted arms exports to Turkey in 2019, Reuters reported.

Altun's words echoed what Erdogan's chief foreign policy adviser Ibrahim Kalin told his U.S. counterpart on Monday, calling for the two Nordic countries to "take concrete steps regarding the terrorist organisations that threaten Turkey's national security".

"Eventually Finland's government must decide which is more important, to join NATO or protect these kinds of organisations," Altun told the paper.

First ship leaves Mariupol since Russia took the city - separatist leader

07:30 , Tom Ambrose

A ship has left the Ukrainian port of Mariupol for the first time since Russia took the city and is headed east to Russia, Interfax quoted the Russian-backed separatist leader of the Ukrainian breakaway region of Donetsk as saying on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the port said last week that the ship would be loading 2,700 tonnes of metal in Mariupol before travelling east to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Ukraine said the shipment of metal to Russia from Mariupol amounted to looting.

Russian fighters slowly approaching the centre of Sievierodonetsk, says governor

06:53 , Arpan Rai

The Russian fighters aiming to capture the key city of Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk are slowly making their way to the centre of the city, officials said.

The Ukrainian soldiers, however, are not at risk of being encircled as they could retreat to Lysychansk across the river, the regional governor Sehiy Gaidai said on the Ukrainian state televison on Tuesday.

Russia claps back on EU oil ban: ‘Will find other importers'

06:40 , Arpan Rai

Russia has responded to the latest punitive move by the European Union which banned oil imports from Moscow partially and said that the Kremlin will other importers for its oil.

Remarking on the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s statement, Russian permanent representative to international organistations said that the EU is not in a good shape.

“As she rightly said yesterday, Russia will find other importers. Noteworthy that now she contradicts her own yesterday’s statement. Very quick change of the mindset indicates that the EU is not in a good shape,” Mikhail Ulyanov said.

The top Russian official was reponding to Ms Leyen’s tweet which said the oil sanctions against Russia “will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year.”

Advancing Russian forces meet resistance in Donbas

06:10 , Arpan Rai

In a setback for Moscow, the Russian forces have not managed to advance as rapidly as they had planned in their bid to capture Sievierodonetsk, a Moscow-backed separtist leader said, reported state-run TASS news agency on Tuesday.

A third of the key city is “already under our control” but progress has been less rapid than hoped, the leader of the Moscow-backed Luhansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, told TASS.

Russian troops could not make inroads as the advance was complicated by the presence of several large chemical plants in the Sievierodonetsk area, TASS reported.

Ukraine war: 32 journalists killed during conflict

05:24 , Arpan Rai

At least 32 journalists have lost their lives in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on 24 February, the country’s Institute of Mass Information said.

Of these, eight journalists were killed while out on assignments reporting on the war, reported The Kyiv Independent citing the institute’s data.

This comes shortly after a French journalist died in a Russian bombardment which struck a vehicle he was riding in evacuating civilians from eastern Ukraine, officials said.

French president Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the journalist saying: “Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was in Ukraine to show the reality of war.”

Recap: EU leaders agree on partial embargo on Russian oil

04:51 , Arpan Rai

European Union leaders have agreed on imposing a partial oil embargo on Russia in a bid to target the country’s “huge source of financing for its war machine” late on Monday.

The partial oil ban will cover only Russian fuel brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline.

This latest move, a watered down agreement, will cover more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia, “cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine. Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war,” EU council president Charles Michel said on Twitter.

“The sanctions will immediately impact 75% of Russian oil imports. And by the end of the year, 90% of the Russian oil imported in Europe will be banned,” Mr Michel said.

In the last three months of Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has already imposed five previous rounds of sanctions but the sixth package of measures announced at the beginning of May had been held up by concerns over oil supplies.

Read the full story here:

EU leaders agree on partial embargo on Russian oil

Europe will have to give up Russian oil - Zelensky

04:32 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday pushed for the termination of Russian oil’s flow into Europe as he said the country should pay a higher price for its aggression.

“I am grateful to Charles Michel, President of the European Council, for supporting the interests of Ukraine, the interests of the whole of Europe and for trying to find the necessary compromises as soon as possible so that the European Union’s sixth sanctions package can be adopted. Russia must feel a much higher price for its aggression,” Mr Zelensky said.

The key point is, of course, the oil, he added.

“I believe that Europe will have to give up Russian oil and oil products in any case. Because this is about the independence of Europeans themselves from Russian energy weapons,” the Ukrainian president said.

He added that “the sooner this happens, the more complete the abandonment of Russian oil will be, the greater the benefit will be for Europe itself in the end.”

Germany to extend length of some visas

03:00 , Emily Atkinson

Germany has announced that it will remove some of the red tape involved in visa processing.

This will make it easier for critics of the Russian government to relocate to the country.

Those able to qualify for a longer stay include human rights activists, employees of NGOs and civil society groups, and journalists who have taken a stand against the war, Reuters reports.

The change was announced by an interior ministry spokesperson on Monday.

It will guarantee a longer stay than the current 90 days permitted under the Schengen tourist visa.

Watch: Russian foreign minister denies claim Putin has any type of illness

02:00 , Emily Atkinson

Putin loses two more colonels in Ukraine war including ‘best’ paratroop commander

01:00 , Emily Atkinson

Two more Russian colonels have been killed in Ukraine - including the country’s “best paratroop commander” delivering another blow to Vladimir Putin’s war.

Lt Col Alexander Dosyagayev, 34, was a commander of an airborne assault battalion of the 104th paratrooper regiment.

Troops from his 104th air assault regiment were reportedly in Bucha, which was the scene of alleged rape and torture atrocities by Vladimir Putin’s forces earlier in the war.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley has more:

Putin loses two more colonels in Ukraine war including ‘best’ paratroop commander

EU leaders agree to ban export of Russian oil, says president

Tuesday 31 May 2022 00:00 , Emily Atkinson

EU leaders have agreed on to ban the export of Russian oil to the 27-nation bloc, its president has announced

“This immediately covers more than two thirds of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine,” EU Council president Charles Michel wrote on Twitter.

The leaders also agreed to cut off the largest Russian bank Sberbank from the SWIFT system and to ban three more Russian state-owned broadcasters.

Belarus to conduct military mobilisation exercises near Ukraine border

Monday 30 May 2022 23:09 , Emily Atkinson

Belarus is making preparations to conduct military mobilisation exercises in June and July, reports say.

According to tate news agency BelTA, the exercises will be held in the Gomel region which borders Ukraine in the south and Russia to the east.

From 22 June to 1 July, planned exercises with military commissariats - military administrative agencies - and armed forces will be conducted, BelTA reported, citing Andrey Krivonosov, military commissar of the Gomel region.

“Events of this kind are traditionally held to increase the combat and mobilization readiness of military commissariats, and improve military knowledge and practical skills of those liable for military service,” he reportedly said.

Military training will take place with those liable for military service from 28 June 16 July for territorial defence formations, Krivonosov said.

Watch: Zelensky visits Kharkiv front line in rare trip outside Kyiv

Monday 30 May 2022 22:51 , Emily Atkinson

Zelensky says Russia hopes for famine crisis

Monday 30 May 2022 22:29 , Emily Atkinson

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says the Russian blockade of Ukrainian sea ports prevents Kyiv from exporting 22 million tons of grain.

In his nightly address Tuesday, Zelensky said the result is the threat of famine in countries dependent on the grain and could create a new migration crisis.

He charges that “this is something the Russian leadership clearly seeks.”

Zelensky accuses Moscow of “deliberately creating this problem so that the whole of Europe struggles and so that Ukraine doesn’t earn billions of dollars from its exports.”

He calls Russia‘s claims that sanctions don’t allow it to export more of its food “cynical” and a lie.

French journalist hit by shell shrapnel dies in Ukraine

Monday 30 May 2022 22:10 , Emily Atkinson

A 32-year-old French journalist has died after being hit by shell shrapnel as he documented an evacuation operation in eastern Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has said.

Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, who worked for the news channel BFMTV, was killed on Monday on a road near the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk.

The French president said his thoughts were with the victim’s family and friends.

“Aboard a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot,” Mr Macron said.

Rory Sullivan has more:

French journalist hit by shell shrapnel dies in Ukraine

Monday 30 May 2022 21:50 , Emily Atkinson

Protesters gathered outside EU buildings before a summit in Brussels today, holding signs like “No to Russian oil and gas.”

‘No sane person’ thinks Putin is ill, says Russian foreign minister

Monday 30 May 2022 21:30 , Emily Atkinson

In case you missed it...

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has denied that Vladimir Putin is ill, and lashed out at persistent western comments about the health of the country’s president.

In a rare interview with French television, Mr Lavrov said “no sane person” would regard the Russian leader as suffering from ill health.

In recent weeks it has been reported that Mr Putin has had cancer, lost his eyesight and has been given three years to live.

“I don’t think that sane people can see in this person signs of some kind of illness or ailment,” Mr Lavrov told the TF1 channel. “You can watch him on screens, read and listen to his speeches.

Sofia Barbarani reports:

‘No sane person’ thinks Putin is ill, says Russian foreign minister

Watch: No 'high expectations’ Russian crude oil supply solved in next two days, says Von Der Leyen

Monday 30 May 2022 21:10 , Emily Atkinson

Nato’s support for Ukraine is unbreakable, Spanish PM says

Monday 30 May 2022 20:50 , Emily Atkinson

Russia will not acheive its military objectives in Ukraine in the face of Nato’s unbreakable support for Kyiv, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has said.

During an event marking the 40th anniversary of Spain’s Nato membership, Sanchez said: “Supporting Ukraine with determination is the only way to ensure that the Europe and the world we have built has a certain future.”

At the same event, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said that the “cold blast of conflict” would overshadow the upcoming historic Nato summit that Sanchez will host in Madrid in late June.

Bombed-out Mariupol - in pictures

Monday 30 May 2022 20:30 , Emily Atkinson

Son-in-law to former Russian leader ‘quits as Putin’s advisor’

Monday 30 May 2022 20:02 , Emily Atkinson

The son-in-law of Russia’s former leader has quit his role as a Kremlin advisor, reports claim.

Valentin Yumashev helped Vladimir Putin come to power and was an unpaid advisor, giving him little influence over the president’s decision-making.

But his departure removes one of the last links inside Putin’s administration to Boris Yeltsin’s rule, a period of liberal reforms and of Russian opening up towards the West.

Reuters adds:

Lyudmila Telen, first deputy executive director of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre, a foundation where Yumashev is a member of the board of trustees, told Reuters Yumashev had given up his Kremlin advisor role in April.

Asked why he left the role, she said: “It was his initiative.”

A second person familiar with Yumashev’s thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that Yumashev in April ceased to be a presidential advisor.

Zelensky addresses EU leaders

Monday 30 May 2022 19:43 , Emily Atkinson

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the EU to remain united and quickly adopt a new package of measures to stop Moscow’s “war machine”, according to a senior diplomat.

Addressing a gathering of the bloc’s 27 leaders in Brussels in a 10-minute video, Mr Zelensky reminded leaders of the atrocities going on in his country, including the death of civilians and children, telling them “it is crucial that sanctions are adopted as soon as possible”.

Moscow begins exporting Ukraine grain to Russia

Monday 30 May 2022 19:30 , Emily Atkinson

A senior administrator in Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Kherson region said on Monday that they had begun exporting grain to Russia, in a move that is likely to anger Kyiv and deepen concerns over an impending global food crisis.

“We have space to store [the new crop] although we have a lot of grain here,” Kirill Stremousov told Russian state-owned news agency TASS. “People are now partially taking it out, having agreed with those who buy it from the Russian side.”

Since the start of the invasion on 24 February Russia has blockaded all of Ukraine’s seaports and interrupted its grain exports. This in turn has impacted global food prices, caused food insecurity, and affected vulnerable populations.

Sofia Barbarani reports:

Moscow begins exporting Ukraine grain to Russia

Anti-Russian Ukrainians blamed for Melitopol car bomb

Monday 30 May 2022 19:13 , Emily Atkinson

Russian investigators have suggested a car bomb that exploded in the Russia-controlled city of Melitopol on Monday may have been the work of Ukrainians opposed to Moscow.

According to Russia‘s Investigative Committee and a Ukrainian official, the blast, which injured three people, according to preliminary information, was “organised by Ukrainian saboteurs.”

“On 30 May 2022, an explosion reportedly took place in the centre of Melitopol near a residential building at the time of distribution of humanitarian aid, which was organized by Ukrainian saboteurs,” the Russian investigative committee claimed.

Reuters adds:

Melitopol’s exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov also reported the explosion in separate statement, adding that it occurred near a building that belongs to the head of Russia-appointed administration.

He said it was possible that the explosion was the work of local resistance as the city’s inhabitants continued to protest against the occupation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier on Monday condemned the explosion, saying attacks against civilian infrastructure in Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine were “outrageous”.

Briton who joined Ukrainian army pictured in handcuffs after being captured by Russian troops

Monday 30 May 2022 18:40 , Emily Atkinson

A volunteer from the UK who fought alongside Ukrainian troops in Mariupol has been pictured in handcuffs after being captured by Russian forces.

Aidan Aslin, 28, moved to Ukraine in 2018 and later joined the nation’s armed forces, but was forced to surrender two days ago after Russian attacks cut off supplies and ammunition to the besieged port city.

An image shared on his official social media account, which is currently being run by one of his friends, showed Mr Aslin in handcuffs, with damage to his eyes and forehead.

My colleague Joe Middleton reports:

Brit who joined Ukrainian army pictured in handcuffs after capture by Russian troops

French foreign minister visits Bucha

Monday 30 May 2022 18:27 , Emily Atkinson

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has said it is important that his French counterpart Catherine Colonna also visited Bucha - the sight of Russian atrocities.Moscow has pressed the West to lift sanctions against it over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis worsened by Kyiv’s inability to ship grain while under attack.

Zelensky warns of Russia food supply 'blackmail’

Monday 30 May 2022 18:07 , Emily Atkinson

Ukraine’s president has called on France not to succumb to Moscow’s “blackmail” over food supplies at a meeting with France’s foreign minister Catherine Colonna.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said that Russia is using food security issues in an attempt to have international sanctions eased.

Ukraine has accused Russia of looting grain and farm equipment from regions its troops hold in Ukraine and of obstructing Ukraine’s exports of grain.

Biden says US will not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach Russia

Monday 30 May 2022 17:49 , Emily Atkinson

President Joe Biden has said that the US will not send rocket systems to Ukrain that would be able to reach Russia, Reuters reports.

Ukrainian officials have been asking allies for longer-range systems including the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS, that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away.

“We’re not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia,” Biden told reporters after arriving back at the White House after a weekend in Delaware.

Biden did not rule out providing any specific weapons system, but instead appeared to be placing conditions on how they could be used. Biden and his team are working on a new package of military equipment and it is expected to be announced in coming days.

The MLRS was under consideration, but nothing with long-range strike capabilities outside of battlefield use, a senior administration official said.

Watch: Russian soldier gives finger to Ukrainian drone before it hits tank

Monday 30 May 2022 17:34 , Emily Atkinson

Officials pay tribute to ‘deeply shocking’ death of French journalist

Monday 30 May 2022 17:11 , Emily Atkinson

French foreign minister Catherine Colonna called the death of BFM TV journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff “deeply shocking.”

“France demands that a transparent inquiry be launched as soon as possible to shed full light on the circumstances of this tragedy,” she added.

Here a few more tributes paid to Mr Leclerc-Imhoff:

French journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff killed in Donbas

Monday 30 May 2022 16:46 , Emily Atkinson

A 32-year-old French journalist has been killed Ukraine’s Donbas region after being hit by shell shrapnel while covering a Ukrainian evacuation operation.

French news broadcaster BFM TV said its journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was fatally hit while “covering a humanitarian operation in an armored vehicle” near Sievierodonetsk, a key city in the east of Ukraine.

He had worked for the television channel for six years.French president Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Leclerc-Imhoff on Twitter:

The Independent’s defence and diplomatic editor Kim Sengupta has also tweeted a tribute:

Donetsk under siege - in pictures

Monday 30 May 2022 16:32 , Emily Atkinson

Russia ready to facilitate transit of grains from Ukraine ports, says Putin

Monday 30 May 2022 16:20 , Emily Atkinson

President Vladimir Putin has told his Turkish counterpart that Moscow was ready to facilitate unhindered sea transit of cargoes, including grains from Ukrainian ports,

According to a Kremlin readout, Putin also told president Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call today that Russia may export significant volumes of fertilisers and food in case sanctions against the country are lifted.

Moscow TV presenter says Russia should invade UK and take Stonehenge

Monday 30 May 2022 16:08 , Eleanor Sly

A Russian television personality with close links to Vladimir Putin has threatened Britain, claiming the despot’s invasion could stretch as far as Stonehenge.

Firebrand anchorman Vladimir Solovyov, known as ‘Putin’s Voice’, and ranted that Russia could invade Britain and target Boris Johnson’s foreign secretary Liz Truss, the Daily Mirror reported.

When asked by the Ukrainian political analyst Vasil Vakarov where Putin’s savage regime would stop its war, he replied: “Well, when we have to, then we will.

Tom Ambrose writes:

Moscow TV presenter says Russia should invade UK and take Stonehenge

‘No sane person’ thinks Putin is ill, says Russian foreign minister

Monday 30 May 2022 15:49 , Eleanor Sly

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied that Vladimir Putin is ill, and lashed out at consistent western comments about the health of the country’s president.

In a rare interview with French television, Mr Lavrov “no sane person” would regard the Russian leader as suffering from ill health.

In recent weeks it has been reported that Mr Putin has had cancer, lost his eyesight and has been given three years to live.

Sofia Barbarani reports:

‘No sane person’ thinks Putin is ill, says Russian foreign minister

Monday 30 May 2022 15:30 , Eleanor Sly

EU will reach consensus on oil embargo, Scholz

Monday 30 May 2022 15:05 , Eleanor Sly

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he expects that the European Union will reach a consensus on an oil embargo against Russia.

He did not, however, give a time frame when it might happen.

“Everything I hear sounds like there could be a consensus - and sooner or later there will be”, Reuters reports he told reporters as he arrived in Brussels for an EU summit.